Thursday, April 12. 2007
LOST: "One of Us" [SPOILERS]
Well, maybe I was hyped up too much from reading Doc Jensen's "Greatest Episode Evar!" article or something, but "One of Us" didn't pack the punch it should have. Were there lots of answers? Eeehhhh, maybe. A couple, OK a few... but as usual more questions were brought up....
This episode was mostly about Juliet's flashback, which was plot-focused, rather than character-focused, in my opinion. I dunno, I've got mixed feelings on these "plot" flashbacks. They're going to be necessary in order to make things make sense, but they lack the "completeness" the character-focused ones do, which connect the characters more to their circumstances.
This episode was mostly about Juliet's flashback, which was plot-focused, rather than character-focused, in my opinion. I dunno, I've got mixed feelings on these "plot" flashbacks. They're going to be necessary in order to make things make sense, but they lack the "completeness" the character-focused ones do, which connect the characters more to their circumstances.
So there were only two stories going on this time. One being the flashback, and the other Jack and Co.'s return to the beach camp, which also features Claire.
Mittelos, The Freshmaker!(tm)
Let's start with Juliet's flashback, which brought her story to completion from the time she left "the real world" up until the time she winds up cuffed to Kate, from last weeks episode. I think she's the only character to have such a "completion" so far. Everyone else we've only got bits and pieces.
We start with her and her sister, Rachel, arriving at the HQ of Mittelos Bioscience (whose logo resembles an hourglass I might add, lending more credence to the "Lost Time" business.) They are met at the gate by the mysterious Mr. Alpert, and everyone's favorite psycho doc, Ethan. They inform Juliet that she'll have to be escorted the rest of the way. She has a sad parting with her sister, and promises she'll be back in time for her to give birth. Rachel tells her, "don't blow it!" and they go their separate ways. (Who was watching on the camera above, I wonder?)
The three of them are sitting in what looks like a departure gate for "Herarat Aviation." J says something to the effect of "six months seeming like an eternity" to which Richard replies "time flies once you're there." Idle chitchat or clues to the temporal nature of the island? Who knows?!
He mixes up something in a glass of OJ and tells J to drink it. It's a tranquilizer, since the trip can get rather "intense" as Ethan puts it. She waffles a bit, wondering why she's agreed to this since she can find out nothing about Mittelos. Richard tells her its "quite a leap" for a job opportunity, and that "deep down you know the place we're going to take you is special, you'll see things you never imagined."
And she chugs the glass (Drink Me!) and promptly passes out.
Curiouser and Curiouser
She awakes to find herself strapped into a rack onboard the Others' submarine, and starts to freak out (understandable, really.) Ethan comes by and frees her, apparently its so she wouldn't fall out(!) Fact is, they've already arrived, and Ethan points up out of the hatch (nice allusion to the Swan hatch I might add.) Juliet climbs up and out of the sub, and on to the dock, where we see Ben approaching, and he introduces himself.
This sub must be solely a set dressing piece, as it looks way to small to be anything formerly-military that might've been "commandeered" by Mittelos, DHARMA or anyone else. Where the heck is there room in that thing for ballast, or an engine room, or batteries! I digress....
The next time we see Juliet is some time later, she's just lost a patient on the operating table. A pregnant woman named Sabine(?). She goes off to the same rocks where Desmond bashed in Kelvin's head(!) to sulk and contemplate.
Ben comes to talk to her, to tell her that it wasn't her fault, that the patient knew the risks. She says she needs a "control" subject, that she wants to take someone off the island. Of course Ben tells her that she's not taking anyone off the island, he's sorry but there's nothing more he can do.
She of course wants to go home, back to her sister like she promised. He informs her that Rachel's cancer has returned, and gives J her chart and records, which came from Mikhail. She continues to press about going home, and Ben tells her that she still can... or she can stay here, and if she does he will cure her sister(!) And then tells her, "Jacob said he would take care of it himself, unless you don't have faith in him." (Cue the "revelation music!")
We return to Juliet, who is apparently having a fling with none other than Goodwin, the Other who infiltrated the "tailies." There's a knock on the door, and she's delivered Ben's x-rays. She studies them, obviously in shock at what she's seeing.
She goes off to Ben's cabin, and tells him what she's discovered. He is obviously shocked, and so is she. "If you can cure cancer, then why do you have it?" "I don't know!" Juliet is now furious, and just plain "goes off" on Ben about him lying to her. Of course Ben insists he's told the truth and kept his word. Juliet breaks down at this point, and just wants to go home. The cold answer from Ben is, of course, "no."
Then we wind up at the point we started this season (and have already returned to once already, this makes the 3rd time now!) Only we get to see Juliet preparing her hut for the book club meeting, and her distress while looking in the mirror makes a lot more sense now. The plane breaks up, etc. etc. (we've been here already guys!) and Ben's statement about "I guess I'm out of the book club" seems a lot more relevant, as he orders Goodwin, Juliet's fling, off to work. Then we get the continuation of this segment, as Ben wants to talk to her, "let's take a walk." (Kind of a deja vu moment as he told Kate the same thing if you recall.)
They head off towards the Flame Station, and give Mikhail fair warning of their arrival ("Don't shoot us!") We get to see the Flame in its operational glory, as he's got about six screens tuned into different feeds all covering the disapperance of Flight 815. Ben tells him to uplink to Richard, and puts on a headset.
A feed of Rachel appears on one of the screens, playing with a roughly two-year old child in a park. Juliet is ecstatic at this, and Ben explains to her that Rachel's cancer mysteriously went into remission and she gave birth a short time later. He then tells Richard to "get back here" and the feed goes dead. Juliet wants more, though. He tells her, "see, I'm not a liar" and says that she'll have to find more mothers(!) and that there might be one on the plane(!!)
Ah, and then we close Juliet's backstory with the most important bit of all. She and Ben are sitting at a table, and they are discussing the plans for her to infiltrate the beach camp. It turns out she wasn't left behind after all, and all of our suspicions are correct. Ben tells her they've "activated Claire's implant, she'll be symptomatic in 48 hrs." (Don't worry, we'll get to that!) and that "I'll see you in a week!" (BONK!)
Who Are You?
Then we get back to "current affairs" as Jack, Sayid, Juliet, and Kate make their way from the Barracks back to camp. They (well, Sayid does) decide to stop for the night at the stream. Jack and Kate go off to get firewood, and he tells Kate all about the deal he made, that he just kept his head down and did what he had to do.
Which leaves Juliet alone with Sayid. In this awkward moment, Juliet comes out and tells Sayid, "OK, lets have it."
He wants to know everything. "Who are you?" Referring not only to her, but all of the Others. "If I told you who I was, if I told you everything, you'd kill me." "What do you think I'll do if you don't!" Ouch!
Jack returns, and Sayid says he's going to get what he wants by any means, and Jack tells Sayid no. Juliet is "under his protection." Which I think just put a nice wall up between Jack and Sayid.
Meanwhile, back on the beach, Aaron is crying up a storm in his makeshift crib. Charlie comes to investigate, and finds a very-sick Claire sleeping nearby. He takes Aaron and tells her to get more rest.
Return to Sayid, furiously hacking his way through the brush, with Jack and Juliet a ways behind. "Are you nervous?" "Hell, yes!"
The gang is all on the beach, and Claire emerges, looking quite bad, asking for aspirin. Sawyer in his newfound decency offers to get her some, and then they all spot Jack coming around the bend. Sawyer offers up a Sawyer-like "S.O.B" and then sees Kate, and earns his SAG pay with that look.
It's hugs and kisses all around as Jack and Kate reunite with everybody. Kate and Sawyer most of all. Then Sawyer spots Juliet standing in the wings, "What the hell is she doing here." And the spooky music kicks in.
I Had The Day Off
So Juliet is sitting on the beach, currently inbetween groups, and Hurley comes and sits next to her. (What a pal!) He tells her he doesn't remember her from the dock, but he had a bag over his head. And she replies "I had the day off."
Hurley was sent over to keep an eye on her, and he tells her that the last one, Ethan, "Charlie got upset (bit of an understatement don't you think?) and we buried him over there."
It's night now, and the beachies are all discussing Juliet, and what to do. Sawyer learns of Jack's "deal" and is not at all happy about it. At all. Just then Claire gets a terrific nosebleed and Charlie and Jack rush her away.
Of course Juliet chimes in that she knows what's wrong and she can help. "I did it to her!"
Sawyer and Sayid start plans of their own. Neither one likes where this situation is headed.
Juliet finally gets to Claire, and tells Jack all about Claire's dilemma. About the medication designed, by her, to keep her alive. That pregnant women on the island, their bodies turn on the baby. That Ethan had been sneaking into camp to get blood samples from Claire, and to give her the injections of vaccine.
Of course once they discovered Ethan wasn't even on the plane, Ethan took things into his own hands, and Claire's kidnapping wasn't in the plan, that Ethan did all of that on his own (which doesn't explain Tom's being there I don't think, nor his reference to Jacob at that time, either.)
There is supposedly a stash of vaccine near the caves, and that she must go get it or Claire will die. Jack tells her to go get it. (We hear Juliet and Ben discuss this later, at the table described above.)
Coincidentally, this "drop point" is underneath that same tree we last saw Eko under before his untimely demise (only now, being winter, it's leafless.) She grabs the case, and as she does, Sawyer and Sayid emerge from the jungle, guns drawn.
Sayid is here to "test the validity of her statement" about killing her if he knew everything. There isn't time for this, and Juliet proceeds to tell each of them about all the terrible things they've done, and that its ironic these two are now the camp's "moral police." "The last thing either of you need is more blood on your hands." And she grabs the case and walks off.
J comes back to claire, and Charlie starts questioning Jack about her. "Do you trust her?" "Do you trust me?" And Charlie's answer is a rather reluctant, "yes." And J gives the injection. Jack tells her, "if this doesn't work I won't be able to protect you." And it cures her (for now, and not instantly either) much to the delight of Charlie. Claire doesn't seem to remember anything, either.
Juliet is once again sitting on the beach, seemingly "cast out." Jack arrives with an armful of "tent fixins" and sits down, and tells her Claire is OK. He also tells her that the group is now OK with her, that they're willing to give her the benefit of the doubt, but eventually they need answers. "Why don't you?"
Jack seems to think that Juliet is different from the Others, that he saw it in her eyes when the sub exploded. "You want off this island more than anything else, and that makes you one of us."
Conclusions
Now, like I said above, I don't think this episode was nearly as important as it was made out to be. These "plot" flashbacks, which started with Desmond's season two finale flashback are interesting, and fill in some of the blanks, but don't seem to carry the same weight for me that the character ones do. Sure they're required. Otherwise how would we get from points previous to where we are now?
I also think its interesting that C&D chose to close up Juliet's story so quickly. Maybe there's more to it yet, but it seems all nice and tidy. Too nice and tidy. From her introduction to Alpert and Ethan, all the way to her predicament at the beach, it seems completed. And she'd be the only character to have this honor.
The Big Q&A
Answers
Next Time
Not sure if they did a 'next week' preview or not(!) It looked to be a mishmash of snippets from the last few shows of this season. Honestly I couldn't make sense of any of it it went by so fast!
[EDIT: You know, thinking about it, I'm betting they didn't make the entire trip via submarine. Duh! They were sitting in the airline departure gate after all... Still, why the need to drug her for the entire trip?]
Technorati Tags: LOST, One of Us, episodes, reviews, theories, spoilers, juliet, ben, claire, jack, mittelos
Mittelos, The Freshmaker!(tm)
Let's start with Juliet's flashback, which brought her story to completion from the time she left "the real world" up until the time she winds up cuffed to Kate, from last weeks episode. I think she's the only character to have such a "completion" so far. Everyone else we've only got bits and pieces.
We start with her and her sister, Rachel, arriving at the HQ of Mittelos Bioscience (whose logo resembles an hourglass I might add, lending more credence to the "Lost Time" business.) They are met at the gate by the mysterious Mr. Alpert, and everyone's favorite psycho doc, Ethan. They inform Juliet that she'll have to be escorted the rest of the way. She has a sad parting with her sister, and promises she'll be back in time for her to give birth. Rachel tells her, "don't blow it!" and they go their separate ways. (Who was watching on the camera above, I wonder?)
The three of them are sitting in what looks like a departure gate for "Herarat Aviation." J says something to the effect of "six months seeming like an eternity" to which Richard replies "time flies once you're there." Idle chitchat or clues to the temporal nature of the island? Who knows?!
He mixes up something in a glass of OJ and tells J to drink it. It's a tranquilizer, since the trip can get rather "intense" as Ethan puts it. She waffles a bit, wondering why she's agreed to this since she can find out nothing about Mittelos. Richard tells her its "quite a leap" for a job opportunity, and that "deep down you know the place we're going to take you is special, you'll see things you never imagined."
And she chugs the glass (Drink Me!) and promptly passes out.
Curiouser and Curiouser
She awakes to find herself strapped into a rack onboard the Others' submarine, and starts to freak out (understandable, really.) Ethan comes by and frees her, apparently its so she wouldn't fall out(!) Fact is, they've already arrived, and Ethan points up out of the hatch (nice allusion to the Swan hatch I might add.) Juliet climbs up and out of the sub, and on to the dock, where we see Ben approaching, and he introduces himself.
This sub must be solely a set dressing piece, as it looks way to small to be anything formerly-military that might've been "commandeered" by Mittelos, DHARMA or anyone else. Where the heck is there room in that thing for ballast, or an engine room, or batteries! I digress....
The next time we see Juliet is some time later, she's just lost a patient on the operating table. A pregnant woman named Sabine(?). She goes off to the same rocks where Desmond bashed in Kelvin's head(!) to sulk and contemplate.
Ben comes to talk to her, to tell her that it wasn't her fault, that the patient knew the risks. She says she needs a "control" subject, that she wants to take someone off the island. Of course Ben tells her that she's not taking anyone off the island, he's sorry but there's nothing more he can do.
She of course wants to go home, back to her sister like she promised. He informs her that Rachel's cancer has returned, and gives J her chart and records, which came from Mikhail. She continues to press about going home, and Ben tells her that she still can... or she can stay here, and if she does he will cure her sister(!) And then tells her, "Jacob said he would take care of it himself, unless you don't have faith in him." (Cue the "revelation music!")
We return to Juliet, who is apparently having a fling with none other than Goodwin, the Other who infiltrated the "tailies." There's a knock on the door, and she's delivered Ben's x-rays. She studies them, obviously in shock at what she's seeing.
She goes off to Ben's cabin, and tells him what she's discovered. He is obviously shocked, and so is she. "If you can cure cancer, then why do you have it?" "I don't know!" Juliet is now furious, and just plain "goes off" on Ben about him lying to her. Of course Ben insists he's told the truth and kept his word. Juliet breaks down at this point, and just wants to go home. The cold answer from Ben is, of course, "no."
Then we wind up at the point we started this season (and have already returned to once already, this makes the 3rd time now!) Only we get to see Juliet preparing her hut for the book club meeting, and her distress while looking in the mirror makes a lot more sense now. The plane breaks up, etc. etc. (we've been here already guys!) and Ben's statement about "I guess I'm out of the book club" seems a lot more relevant, as he orders Goodwin, Juliet's fling, off to work. Then we get the continuation of this segment, as Ben wants to talk to her, "let's take a walk." (Kind of a deja vu moment as he told Kate the same thing if you recall.)
They head off towards the Flame Station, and give Mikhail fair warning of their arrival ("Don't shoot us!") We get to see the Flame in its operational glory, as he's got about six screens tuned into different feeds all covering the disapperance of Flight 815. Ben tells him to uplink to Richard, and puts on a headset.
A feed of Rachel appears on one of the screens, playing with a roughly two-year old child in a park. Juliet is ecstatic at this, and Ben explains to her that Rachel's cancer mysteriously went into remission and she gave birth a short time later. He then tells Richard to "get back here" and the feed goes dead. Juliet wants more, though. He tells her, "see, I'm not a liar" and says that she'll have to find more mothers(!) and that there might be one on the plane(!!)
Ah, and then we close Juliet's backstory with the most important bit of all. She and Ben are sitting at a table, and they are discussing the plans for her to infiltrate the beach camp. It turns out she wasn't left behind after all, and all of our suspicions are correct. Ben tells her they've "activated Claire's implant, she'll be symptomatic in 48 hrs." (Don't worry, we'll get to that!) and that "I'll see you in a week!" (BONK!)
Who Are You?
Then we get back to "current affairs" as Jack, Sayid, Juliet, and Kate make their way from the Barracks back to camp. They (well, Sayid does) decide to stop for the night at the stream. Jack and Kate go off to get firewood, and he tells Kate all about the deal he made, that he just kept his head down and did what he had to do.
Which leaves Juliet alone with Sayid. In this awkward moment, Juliet comes out and tells Sayid, "OK, lets have it."
He wants to know everything. "Who are you?" Referring not only to her, but all of the Others. "If I told you who I was, if I told you everything, you'd kill me." "What do you think I'll do if you don't!" Ouch!
Jack returns, and Sayid says he's going to get what he wants by any means, and Jack tells Sayid no. Juliet is "under his protection." Which I think just put a nice wall up between Jack and Sayid.
Meanwhile, back on the beach, Aaron is crying up a storm in his makeshift crib. Charlie comes to investigate, and finds a very-sick Claire sleeping nearby. He takes Aaron and tells her to get more rest.
Return to Sayid, furiously hacking his way through the brush, with Jack and Juliet a ways behind. "Are you nervous?" "Hell, yes!"
The gang is all on the beach, and Claire emerges, looking quite bad, asking for aspirin. Sawyer in his newfound decency offers to get her some, and then they all spot Jack coming around the bend. Sawyer offers up a Sawyer-like "S.O.B" and then sees Kate, and earns his SAG pay with that look.
It's hugs and kisses all around as Jack and Kate reunite with everybody. Kate and Sawyer most of all. Then Sawyer spots Juliet standing in the wings, "What the hell is she doing here." And the spooky music kicks in.
I Had The Day Off
So Juliet is sitting on the beach, currently inbetween groups, and Hurley comes and sits next to her. (What a pal!) He tells her he doesn't remember her from the dock, but he had a bag over his head. And she replies "I had the day off."
Hurley was sent over to keep an eye on her, and he tells her that the last one, Ethan, "Charlie got upset (bit of an understatement don't you think?) and we buried him over there."
It's night now, and the beachies are all discussing Juliet, and what to do. Sawyer learns of Jack's "deal" and is not at all happy about it. At all. Just then Claire gets a terrific nosebleed and Charlie and Jack rush her away.
Of course Juliet chimes in that she knows what's wrong and she can help. "I did it to her!"
Sawyer and Sayid start plans of their own. Neither one likes where this situation is headed.
Juliet finally gets to Claire, and tells Jack all about Claire's dilemma. About the medication designed, by her, to keep her alive. That pregnant women on the island, their bodies turn on the baby. That Ethan had been sneaking into camp to get blood samples from Claire, and to give her the injections of vaccine.
Of course once they discovered Ethan wasn't even on the plane, Ethan took things into his own hands, and Claire's kidnapping wasn't in the plan, that Ethan did all of that on his own (which doesn't explain Tom's being there I don't think, nor his reference to Jacob at that time, either.)
There is supposedly a stash of vaccine near the caves, and that she must go get it or Claire will die. Jack tells her to go get it. (We hear Juliet and Ben discuss this later, at the table described above.)
Coincidentally, this "drop point" is underneath that same tree we last saw Eko under before his untimely demise (only now, being winter, it's leafless.) She grabs the case, and as she does, Sawyer and Sayid emerge from the jungle, guns drawn.
Sayid is here to "test the validity of her statement" about killing her if he knew everything. There isn't time for this, and Juliet proceeds to tell each of them about all the terrible things they've done, and that its ironic these two are now the camp's "moral police." "The last thing either of you need is more blood on your hands." And she grabs the case and walks off.
J comes back to claire, and Charlie starts questioning Jack about her. "Do you trust her?" "Do you trust me?" And Charlie's answer is a rather reluctant, "yes." And J gives the injection. Jack tells her, "if this doesn't work I won't be able to protect you." And it cures her (for now, and not instantly either) much to the delight of Charlie. Claire doesn't seem to remember anything, either.
Juliet is once again sitting on the beach, seemingly "cast out." Jack arrives with an armful of "tent fixins" and sits down, and tells her Claire is OK. He also tells her that the group is now OK with her, that they're willing to give her the benefit of the doubt, but eventually they need answers. "Why don't you?"
Jack seems to think that Juliet is different from the Others, that he saw it in her eyes when the sub exploded. "You want off this island more than anything else, and that makes you one of us."
Conclusions
Now, like I said above, I don't think this episode was nearly as important as it was made out to be. These "plot" flashbacks, which started with Desmond's season two finale flashback are interesting, and fill in some of the blanks, but don't seem to carry the same weight for me that the character ones do. Sure they're required. Otherwise how would we get from points previous to where we are now?
I also think its interesting that C&D chose to close up Juliet's story so quickly. Maybe there's more to it yet, but it seems all nice and tidy. Too nice and tidy. From her introduction to Alpert and Ethan, all the way to her predicament at the beach, it seems completed. And she'd be the only character to have this honor.
The Big Q&A
Answers
- The Flame Station was operational at least up until the plane crash, so Mikhail was lying about it not working. Where was all of that gear though when Locke and Sayid were there? Also confirms that it was the "link" to the outside world.
- Also confirms that Mikhail was at least in contact with the Others. Still doesn't bring any info about "the purge" or how the Others connect with DHARMA. But they seem to get along OK. Sort of.
- Ethan and Claire. OK, so Ethan did it all on his own. Plausible (see below)
- Folks are normally brought to the island via the submarine. Confirmed.
- Juliet was not exiled from the Others, and we can put that baby to bed (also see below)
- But is Juliet really working for Ben? Who is "playing" who here? Is she just doing this to get away? Will she indeed meet up with Ben again in a week?
- Why didn't Locke find the communications gear in the Flame? What happens now that its blown up? Is the cable a backup?
- Implant? Eh? What does that mean?
- Why was Tom at the medical station when Claire and Ethan were there, if it wasn't planned? Did they just "run with it" once they found out? How did he manage to supply the place? And there were more than just Ethan and Tom there if I recall. Did Ben find out and order the place abandoned?
- Is the sub some sort of time machine? (bear with me!) We saw that Juliet needed to get drugged for the trip. We also saw Richard "retreive" Locke's father in a very short time. Normally a trip from the States to the South Pacific in a little sub like that would take, what, weeks at best?
- Who the hell is this Alpert guy anyway?!
- Is there any more relevance to the Mittelos logo being an hourglass?
- Herarat Aviation? I couldn't find anything about Herarat, but it is a close pronunciation to "Ararat" which is the supposed resting place of Noah's Ark, a boat which fled the first destruction of the planet, which DHARMA hopes to prevent again...
- The tree. Maybe they keep going back there because its a cool looking tree. I don't know.
- The sub. Is that just a made up prop piece or can anyone identify it? It seems awfully small to me to be making such long trips, unless its a time machine of course...
- Rachel. Mere coincidence that she was cured? How did Ben do it? Did he get cancer in Rachel's stead?
- Who is this Jacob guy? I imagine this will come out eventually, and it will be big.
Next Time
Not sure if they did a 'next week' preview or not(!) It looked to be a mishmash of snippets from the last few shows of this season. Honestly I couldn't make sense of any of it it went by so fast!
[EDIT: You know, thinking about it, I'm betting they didn't make the entire trip via submarine. Duh! They were sitting in the airline departure gate after all... Still, why the need to drug her for the entire trip?]
Technorati Tags: LOST, One of Us, episodes, reviews, theories, spoilers, juliet, ben, claire, jack, mittelos
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The PlanetLOST Season Three Recaps
Now that the fun is over (for a while it seems!) Here's a quick reference to the season three recaps and analysis threads.... Man, some of these feel like soooo long ago!A Tale of Two CitiesThe Glass BallerinaFurther InstructionsEvery Man for Himsel
Now that the fun is over (for a while it seems!) Here's a quick reference to the season three recaps and analysis threads.... Man, some of these feel like soooo long ago!A Tale of Two CitiesThe Glass BallerinaFurther InstructionsEvery Man for Himsel
Weblog: Planet LOST
Tracked: May 30, 20:10
Tracked: May 30, 20:10
I think "Ethan wasn't supposed to kidnap Claire" may be part of J's cover-lie. They implanted a device in Claire that would (along with who knows what other possible functions) make her appear sick. That's a heck-of-a-lot of foresight on the Others' part!
Maybe your "foresight" isn't that far fetched, either. If Desmond can see into the future....
I expected 3 years of living in Otherville to explain how J became such a cold-blooded killer, but the same day the plane crashed she's still a weak, weepy "PLEASE let me go!"?
And Jack trusts her because of how badly she wants to go home? How quickly he forgets the lesson of Michael!
The one irritating aspect of the Others is that they have become the ever-present, all powerful, and indestructable antagonist. From Ethan and Juliet's crouching tiger fighting abilities, to Claire's implant, knowing literally everything about the Losties, etc...The Losties need to start to get the upper hand, if only in small ways, to continue to make the show intriguing. Otherwise, all we can do is wait for the next surprise that shows how "powerful" the Other are.
I think a more interesting point of speculation is "Why must they have a submarine to do the transit?" Is it for secrecy, or is there some sort of presence above the surface that makes it impossible, or improbable, to be able to access the island from the surface. In fact, could there be some sort of "defense system" that would disable, destroy or misdirect any intruder? Look at what happened to Flight 815 as it approached and tried to pass over the island?