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Lost

Stranger in a Strange Land

Season 3, Episode 9, Aired 2/21/07

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Episode Summary

Jack bargains with Ben to save Juliet while Kate and Sawyer struggle with the consequences of their escape.

7.6

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Cast & Crew

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Elizabeth Mitchell

Juliet Burke
Evangeline Lilly

Kate Austen
Josh Holloway

James "Sawyer" Ford

Fan Episode Reviews (154)

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I liked it!

9.0

"Superb"

By VGFreak8, Mar 22, 2011 Report Abuse

Jack has flashbacks of how he got the tattoo. He meets a woman with a gift of seeing who people really are and marking them. She marks him against her will and locals beat him up and tell him to leave.

Jack is moved to Sawyer's cage. Juliet has killed one of the Others, so she is on trial. Sawyer, Kate and Karl get to the other island. Jack saves Juliet's life by making a deal with Ben. He has an infection, so Jack agrees to take care of him. Sawyer talks to Karl about Alex.

This episode was great! The flashbacks didn't make too much sense to me though. This episode gets a 9.0 out of 10!moreless

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2 2
ok

8.9

"Great"

By efc91, Mar 22, 2011 Report Abuse

Juliet is put on trial for killing Pickett. With Jack and Ben's help, Juliet does not receive the death penalty. The Others and Jack return to the Others' suburban-like homes on the main island. Flashbacks show Jack getting his tattoos during a strange vacation in Thailand. Stranger in a strange land is probably the worst episode of Lost yet can't beleave how poor this episode was, I have enjoyed every single episode of Lost so far but this one was terible nothing happened Jacks flashbacks were boring and the island stories were pointless, I can't remember anything good to say about this episde.moreless

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There is alot to take in at this point as this episode is split, we have 3 of them leaving the island, Jack having flashbacks to his time in Phucket and Juliet having to face a court of the others, for her actions taken in the last couple of episodes.moreless

9.1

"Superb"

By captainbritain, Mar 22, 2011 Report Abuse

The 3 in the boat are half way across when Kate says that they have to go back for Jack, Sawyer disagrees saying it was Jack's wishes for them to leave him, Karl in a semi-daze tells them that if they go back they will kill them both, then mutters "God loved you as he loved Jacob" and passes out.

Tom goes into the room Jack is being kept in and tells him they are going to move him, Jack says is that your way of saying you are going to kill me, Tom asks him what kind of people does Jack think they are, so he rattles off a list of crimes only to get told, would you like some stones for your glasshouse and is moved to the bear cages outside, possibly the one Sawyer was in.

He settles down and shortly after Tom brings him a sandwich, Jack says he likes it the way Juliet does it, lightly grilled and with sticks in them, he asks after the other woman, the figurative sheriff, but when he is asked about himself helping out Kate and Sawyer he remains still and ends the conversation.

Kate believes that they should be heading around the shore, not into land, Sawyer argues saying they have no food, water or a map to navigate around the island and that they can go and camp on the island for the night. They get onto land and whilst it is still light Sawyer offers mardy Kate some fruit, who refuses and Karl tells them they should not fight as they are lucky to be alive and to be together. They talk to Karl about things, like projects, back yards and names of made up constellations.

Juliet is escorted to Jacks cage and asked if he'll help with Ben, as he has got an infection around his stitches. Jack refuses to help Juliet of Ben. Later Isabelle, the sheriff, approaches Jack talking chinese and asking if he knows what it means as it can be hard to translate, he says he does. He is taken to a room in the hydra where he is asked to explain questions regarding claims that Juliet asked him to kill Ben, he remains very silent and lies and says that he made it up to cause disdain amongst the ranks.

From Jack's flashbacks we learn that he spent about 6 weeks in Phuket, most of which is spent with a tattoo-artist / personality seer, but he makes her see into him and then tattoo it to his body, but she doesn't want to as he is an outsider, not allowed, but he insists, the following morning he is beaten by her brother and friends and told to leave the beach and country.

The following day Jack is like and feels like an exhibit, as the ones taken by the others are outside the bear cages, Cindy the stewardess is there, but the qustions are making Jack angry and he shouts at them to leave which they do. Alex comes to see him, breaks the cctv camera and lets him out in order to go and see her father, to get Juliet's execution stopped, which they do after he has promised to see that Ben is looked after properly.moreless

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Actually, this episode is underrated. Some of the script was dodgy, but the story was pretty good.

7.0

"Good"

By PabloExobar, Mar 22, 2011 Report Abuse

First. TV.com scores are really tricky. By TV.com's rating system this episode should be around 4-5. Between "poor" and "average". But... it's at 7.9. However, 7.9 is awfully low compared to other episodes, even though 7.9 is "Good", almost "Great."

my point is that TV.com ratings are flawed. I think this episode is underrated becuase in reality this 7.9 score is probably a 5. Anyway, the reason this is underrated is because some people just automatically start hating an episode if it's Jack centric. Yes, it was not nearly the best Jack episode, but there were a couple of very decent scenes.

I'd say the flashbacks had all the weak parts. It felt a bit forced, Achara's character was way too artificial, it was simply bad writing. Her lines were all like "I'm mysterious" "I have a secret" "I cant tell you anything, you're not supposed to know!" Not cool. Because of this, the conclusion of the flashback might be very confusing for the majority. The island plot on the other hand was between Good and Above Average. At only one point I thought it was weak-ish, and that was Kate and Sawyer letting Karl go. That was cheap!

The previous episode's theme was "LOVE". Now, Sawyer letting Karl go just so he can reunite with his love, if we follow the concept of the previous episode is ok. BUT NO, it is not! Sawyer letting Karl go would've been fine if he actually answered some of the most obvious questions. Heck, Sawyer, the guy who hates being not answered to was happy to let Karl go without him even telling him WHO the hell the others are.

Apart from this, it was a good episode. Finding out a bit about the others' community(that they have a law system) and developing the relationship of Jack and Juliet were great elements.

Overall, perhaps, the weakest effort of season 3, but that's saying alot: It was still good!moreless

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Every Season of Lost so far I have seen has had at least one real dud and this is one for Season 3. And the timing couldn't have been worse!!!!

4.0

"Poor"

By martync7, Mar 22, 2011 Report Abuse

As if things for Lost wern't bad enough with rapidly declining viewing figures and disparaging fan comments, the writers turn in this added salt to the wound. I'm not sure if it is the worst of the series to date but it is pretty close. Up to now I have always enjoyed Jack flashback episodes and could never agree with fans negative remarks about them. How could you not love episodes like All the Best Cowboys... and Do No Harm from Season 1 or Man of Science, Man of Faith from Season 2. Most fans criticisms are targeted at the flashbacks themselves rather than the island action. I personally enjoy the Jack flashbacks - they are always copelling, emotional and full to the brim with tension and they never harm the momentum of the island action, which Kate flashbacks or Jin and Sun flashbacks tend to do.
Post-Man of Science, Man of Faith, however, I would agree that his episodes haven't had the same punch as is expected. The Hunting Party fell a little flat come the end, A Tale of Two Cities offered some exciting moments but the scope was limited to a few characters and locations and did harm the dynamic of The Others somewhat. And that brings us to this one which hurts the dynamic of the show. Some people complained about the lack of answers again but that is not something I grumble at. I let the writers tell the story the way they want and hope that they tie up everything come the end. I don't try to hasten all this to happen overnight. Others complained about the flashback itself, which I would agree is the weakest flashback yet. The island action is not that much better, however, as not much happens to carry the episode along. There have been few episodes where my attention has been averted to something else whilst watching. Boring is a harsh word to use but it is the best way to describe what happens. So the writers try to answer some more questions but none of those answers are important enough to really move the plotline along. But as I have said before, I don't mind that too much. After all people should not complain, as the last three episodes have all given us answers, even if they're not the answers we were looking for.
The thing that is sorely missing from this episode and indeed much of the 3rd season so far is the sense of the adventure that we had in past seasons. As soon as the season began the narrative and visual landscape changed. The Others' true colors had been revealed which harmed the mystery and creepiness of the show and focus on the Hydra station limited the freedom to move the characters from point A to B with an adventure. The show needs to get back the Missions, the treks that was key to teh show's success in the earlier days.
Seeing characters communicating is good for the character drama, if it is really gripping and compelling but you can have too much of it and this season has seen too much of it so far.
This is my only complaint but Season 2 started off a little slow too only for it to fire on all cylinders in the second half. I can only imagine that that will be the case with this season and as the ratings improved considerably from here on in that is sure to be the case.
This would be Lost's lowest point before the revival. From this point on Lost would regroup, reinvent and restore itself to its former glories. But as more fans drifted by the wayside it could have been too late to prove it to the masses!moreless

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Trivia, Notes, Quotes and Allusions

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Trivia
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- When Jack is at the beach with Achara preparing and flying his kite, the shorts he is wearing switch from being wet to dry and back again many times. Edit
- Jack's kite was designed by Buteo Huang and is known as the Starbird. Edit
- Although Isabel is one of the Others, this is her only appearance on the series. Edit
Notes
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- Kimberley Joseph (Cindy) passed from recieving the "Guest Starring" credit, to the "Co-Starring" credit, even though she changed it in "The Other 48 Days", but the other way around. Edit
- Although they are credited, Naveen Andrews (Sayid), Yunjin Kim (Sun), Jorge Garcia (Hurley), Henry Ian Cusick (Desmond), Daniel Dae Kim (Jin), Rodrigo Santoro (Paulo), Dominic Monaghan (Charlie), Kiele Sanchez (Nikki), Terry O'Quinn (Locke), and Emilie de Ravin (Claire) don't appear in this episode. Edit
- This is a Jack-centric episode. Edit
Quotes
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- Jack: (to Alex) I saved your father because I said I would. Edit
- Jack: Is he still in charge? Alex: What? Jack: Ben, your father, is he still in charge? Will that woman, Isabel, do what he says? Alex: Yeah. Jack: Get me out of this cage! Edit
- Alex: I want to ask you something. They're not watching anymore so you can tell me the truth. Jack: Okay. Alex: Ben. Why'd you save his life? All this time... after all he did to you and your people you should hate it. But you still fixed him up, even after your friends got away. Why? Jack: You're his daughter. Alex: Answer the question. Jack: I'll answer your question if you answer one of mine. Where's Juliet? Alex: She's with the rest of them. They're gonna read her verdict. Edit
Allusions
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- Tom: See this glass house you're living in Jack? How about I get you some stone? Tom is making a reference to the saying, "He who lives in a glass house shouldn't throw stones." Edit
- Brady Bunch: Sawyer calls Karl Bobby Brady. The Brady Bunch was an American television situation comedy, based around a large blended family. The show originally aired from 1969 to 1974, also on the ABC network. The precocious and often overlooked Bobby was often portrayed as a whimsical dreamer; fantasizing about having various adventurous lifestyles such as being a race car driver, a cowboy, and an astronaut. Edit
- Episode Title: It could also be a reference to Exodus 2:22: "And she bare him a son, and Moses called his name Gershom, for he said, I have been a stranger in a strange land." Gershom is a Hebrew name that means "exile" (according to Hanks and Hodges' A Dictionary of First Names) or that can also literally mean "Stranger" (from the phrase "ger sham"). "Stranger in a strange land" is also the title of a Robert A. Heinlein novel, in which the main character has special abilities, including the ability to make things and people disappear. The book is also where the word "grok" originates. Edit