SPOILERS – Don’t read this if you don’t want to know!
Summary of “Not in Portland”
The scene opens with Juliet holding a black bag, while looking out over the ocean. Next, we see her waking down a badly lit corridor, where she passes Ethan, who says, “Hello”. She goes into a room where a woman wearing a head scarf is sleeping, and prepares a shot. The woman wakes up, and Juliet gives her the injection in her stomach. The woman is Juliet’s sister. They’re in Miami.
Scene switches to the operating room, which is a replay of the last scene of the last episode. Jack tells Kate to run.
Kate and Sawyer beat up Danny and the other man that had guns on them. Tom wants Juliet to stitch Ben up, but Jack points out that she can’t because she isn’t a surgeon.
Tom asks what to do, and Juliet tells Tom to go after Kate and Sawyer. Jack says he’ll let Ben die if that happens. Juliet says that he won’t let Ben die, and tells Tom to go after Kate and Sawyer, and if necessary, to kill them.
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Flashback: Juliet uses an access card to enter a bio-medical research facility marked “Security Level 5”. While she’s walking down a hallway, she gets a phone call confirming an interview she has. She enters a dark lab, and takes two bottles of a drug from a refrigerator unit. She’s interrupted by a man and a woman who come into the lab, and start kissing. Juliet’s phone goes off. The man goes to investigate, and finds Juliet. He asks why she’s at the lab. She makes up and excuse, but he doesn’t believe her. He introduces her to the woman he’s with, and introduces Juliet as his ex-wife.
In the operating room, Juliet tells Jack that Kate and Sawyer aren’t going to make it because they’re on an island two miles away from the island they landed on. Juliet wants to come to a “peaceful resolution”. Jack asks if she wants a peaceful resolution, why she would ask to have Ben killed, which she denies. They argue until Tom stops them. Tom tells Juliet to leave the room since she can’t help Ben at this point. As she leaves, she tells Tom not to believe Jack because Jack wouldn’t just let a patient die.
Out in the area with the zoo cages, Danny is yelling to get someone’s attention. A man comes to let them Danny and the other man out of the cage that Sawyer and Kate put them in.
Kate and Sawyer run through the jungle, and they get to the beach. They see the island they landed on. Kate calls Jack to tell him they need a boat, just as Danny starts shooting at them. Kate and Sawyer go running, finally hiding behind a couple of trees. Sawyer shoots until the bullets run out, and just as one of the men is about to shoot them, Alex comes out of the jungle and slingshots one of them. Alex leads Kate and Sawyer to a hole in the ground that’s covered with grass and leaves. The men go past.
In the operating room, Tom asks Jack if Juliet really asked Jack to kill Ben. Jack says she did. Both men are surprised to hear Ben talking to them, despite still being on the operating table. He asks to talk to Juliet.
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Flashback: Juliet works at a computer when the woman that was with her ex-husband (Edmund) tells her that Edmund wants to see her. The woman turns out to be a new research assistant.
In his office, Edmund tells Juliet that “he wants in” to whatever Juliet is up to, despite the ethical implications. He says that with his name involved with the project, it would be viewed as “cutting edge science”. He tells her to think about it.
Outside of the operating room, Tom tells Juliet that Ben is asking for her.
Kate, Sawyer and Alex get out of the hole and Alex says she has a boat. Alex wants them to help Karl escape from wherever he’s being held. They agree.
Jack tells Ben that he stopped the surgery, and Ben says that he’s been listening for a while. Juliet enters, and Ben tells Jack that he wants to speak to Juliet alone. Jack doesn’t want to, but finally agrees when Ben says he only has 27 minutes left. Jack says they can talk for three minutes.
Jack and Tom go to the observation room above the operating room, while Ben talks to Juliet. We can’t hear what they’re saying. Tom introduces himself to Jack while they both watch Juliet and Ben. Tom says that “Juliet and Ben” have “history”. Juliet leaves the room, and tells Jack that she wants him to go back in and finish the surgery. Jack asks why he would do that, and Juliet says she’s going to go help Kate and Sawyer escape.
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Flashback: Juliet is getting a presentation from a man named Mr. Alpert from Mittlelos Bioscience, which he says is outside of Portland. He says that the people that work there are happy, and privately funded. He says they organize trips around Portland. She asks why she’s been recruited. He counters with the fact that she had successfully impregnated a male field mouse. He then shows her an series of MRIs. Juliet says they are MRIs of a womb, of a woman that she thinks is in her seventies. The man says that the woman is actually 26. Juliet asks what could have caused it, and he says that she would have full access to find out if she goes to work for Mittlelos. She says that she can’t, because of her ex-husband. He says that if they would be able to reach out on her behalf, or if there was something she would respond to…. She blurts out that maybe if Edmund were hit by a bus, and then says that what she just said was totally inappropriate. She tells him that whatever they think she is, she’s not, and leaves.
Juliet goes into the control room where she looks on all the screens, and finally sees Kate, Sawyer and Alex. She’s surprised to see Alex.
Outside of a set of large doors, a man named Aldo is reading a book while standing on guard. Kate, Sawyer and Alex discuss what to do. Kate says she has an idea.
Alex brings Kate and Sawyer to Aldo, telling him that they got loose and that her dad told her to bring them to where Aldo is. Aldo calls Danny, and while he’s talking on the radio, Sawyer jumps him. Sawyer threatens Aldo, but Aldo won’t say where Karl is. Kate grabs the gun and threatens to shoot Aldo in the knee, so Aldo quickly tells her where Karl is. Kate knocks Aldo out with the butt of the gun.
They race down the hallway, and find Karl in room 23. The room is dark, but very loud industrial techno music is playing and messages and pictures are being flashed on the screen. Karl is strapped into a chair with an IV, wearing glasses that magnify what he’s seeing. Karl stares straight ahead, and is non-responsive. They get him out of the room, where Sawyer asks for the boat.
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Danny slaps Aldo awake just as Juliet runs up to them. Juliet tells Danny that Ben wants Kate and Sawyer to let them go, but he doesn’t believe her, and runs off after them.
Juliet comes back after the interview, and her sister tells her that Juliet’s research has worked. Her sister is pregnant. She has a pregnancy test and blood test to prove it. Her sister says all she has to do now is get healthy.
Flashback: Outside of his office building, Juliet tells Edmund that her research worked, and that her sister is pregnant. He says that he wants to see the results, and Juliet tells him that she’s not going to make her research public. He steps out into the street, turns to ask why she’s concerned, and he’s hit by a bus.
In the operating room, Tom tells Jack that he doesn’t like blood. Jack asks why they didn’t just take Ben to have the surgery. Tom starts to says, “Ever since the sky turned purple, we…” and is interrupted by a stream of blood from Ben’s back. Jack accidentally nicked an artery.
Sawyer, Kate, Alex and Karl make it to the small sailboat, and start to push it into the water. Karl wakes up enough to say “Danny, Danny”. Danny is on the beach, pointing his gun at Sawyer. Just as he’s about to shoot, Juliet calls out, Danny turns, and she shoots him.
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Jack asks for Tom’s help in the surgery.
Juliet tells Kate and Sawyer to leave, but tells Alex to stay. Alex asks why, and she says that her father would never let Karl live if Alex wasn’t there when he woke up. Alex kisses Karl goodbye. Just as they’re about to leave, Juliet hands Kate a radio.
Tom brings Jack the radio, and Kate assures Jack that they’re safe. Jack asks Kate to tell him the story he told her when they first met. She tells him the story of the surgery that he nearly messed up, but how he ended up saving the girl. Jack tells her to promise him to not come back to the island after him.
Kate and Sawyer leave in the boat with Karl, leaving Alex and Juliet on the beach.
Flashback: Juliet is in a morgue where she has to sign some paperwork. She starts to cry.
Jack is in the observation room looking at Ben when Juliet enters. He asks what’s going to happen to him now. She says, “Until they figure out what to do with you”. He wants to know what she and Ben talked about. She says it doesn’t matter. Jack says it matters to him after all he’s been through.
Flashback: Someone hands Juliet a packet of tissues. It’s Ethan. She recognizes him but can’t remember where she’s seen him. Then she sees Mr. Alpert. She asks what he’s going there, and he says he saw what happened on the news, and wanted to express is condolences personally. She realizes that said in the interview that she said that if her ex-husband was hit by a bus that she would be able accept the offer, and is a little freaked out about it. Alpert says he doesn’t remember her saying that, and presses her to accept the offer. He says that she can be back within six months, before her sister gives birth. She’s surprised to hear him say this, and asks how he knows that. He says they have a very through recruitment process. She asks if her sister can go too. Alpert tells her that won’t be possible because they’re not quite in Portland.
Juliet tells Jack that she’s been on the island 3 year, 2 months and 28 days. She says that Ben made a deal with her to let her go home. Juliet leaves.