I've been looking forward to this week's episode since the first preview last Thursday -- not that that's any different than any other week, but this episode looks pretty intense. There are radiation suits and guns and oh-so-many-more chances to have our minds blown by electromagnetism and the space-time continuum.

Here's what ABC.com has to say about the show:

Juliet receives an unwelcome visit from someone from her past and is given orders to track down Charlotte and Faraday in order to stop them from completing their mission -- by any means necessary. Meanwhile, Ben offers Locke an enticing deal.

Ah, an enticing deal indeed.

Andrew's tsunami prediction might just be right. The rain has started falling. Then again, the weather on the island seems to follow people's moods -- the more tense, the more rain (which I think is an effect of the island and not the writer's taking the easy way out).

We have a flash back this episode, for once, and this therapist character is interesting.

The big question about the therapist -- Harper -- is if she is real or not when Juliet sees her in the jungle. Kate's black horse and Hurley's imaginary friend both weren't real, but they appeared in the jungle.

And just what are Charlotte and Faraday up to.

Well -- commercial break is over. Harper is real.

Charlotte and Faraday are headed to The Tempest -- a new hatch, I suppose -- that apparently controls the power on the island and has a big vat of mustard gas. Or, because this isn't the Great War, some other type of fatal gas.

We also found out that Juliet is "The Other Woman" for Goodwin.

Harper doesn't seem like a very sympathetic character at all.

Also, I think the chemical burn on Goodwin's arm may have come from mixing up the fatal gas at the Tempest. Why else would Harper and Juliet -- linked by Goodwin -- be the two "others" chosen to focus on that hatch.

Can Faraday turn on the gas?

Can -- and will -- Juliet shoot and kill another man?

Also, does anyone know how Shakespeare's "The Tempest" might tie in here?

So we have confirmation that Ben has a thing for Juliet -- I've suspected it for a long time, but now we know for sure. This whole love quadrilateral between Harper-Goodwin-Juliet-Ben is a little annoying, if you ask me. The question: Who is the "she" Juliet looks like?

The most interesting thing here, I think, is Ben's connection to the outside world, even while he's still locked in the basement. Ben tells Locke he has to "show him" who is leading the people on the boat, but how?

Harper appeared suddenly in the woods with the whispering noises that we haven't heard in a while now. Is it possible that the "others" -- at least the original occupants like Richard -- can kind of teleport around the island? Maybe fold time?

I wish I was kidding about that.

That was a huge segment.

Charles Widmore -- Penny's father, Desmond's one-time potential father-in-law -- is apparently the owner of the boat parked 80 miles off shore, in an effort to "exploit" the island. I don't think it can stop there, though. What about Hanso, what about DHARMA?

Maybe someone who knows more about the Lost Experience online can answer those questions. If you can, post a comment.

Also, what a fantastic commercial break. You know they aren't going to come back to Ben and Locke until the end of the show, either.

Ah, the suspense.

That revelation is more suspenseful than The Tempest. We know that won't kill everyone at least.

It's strange to see Ben showing any kind of positive emotion. Somehow, despite everything we know about him, he comes off as kind of pathetic in his attempts to woo Juliet. This episode has made him a slightly more sympathetic character.

At the same time, he's setting up Goodwin to die. That really isn't making him soft and cuddly.

Juliet is also about to get into trouble in the present.

If there's one thing I've learned from this show, it's that if you are looking for two people, you can't point a gun at one of them and not expect the other to come out of nowhere with another pistol.

One of the things that makes this show so great is the way that the heroes and villains trade places, sometimes several times in the same show.

At the end of this episode we are left with a lot of questions about who is good and who is bad.

Most of the comments posted last night on my "Gut Reaction" to the episode focused on one question: Who's Ben's man on the boat?

Reader Andy B. posted his thoughts for who the "man on the boat" was. Here were his options, and my thoughts.