"Lost" Diary -- Another Woman

"So because last week's 'Lost' was so good, does that automatically mean that this week's has to suck?"

That was the IM I got from my friend Chris on Thursday morning and now I have the fear of God in me. Is it possible? Can "Lost" be that good last week and this week too? One can only hope ...

For all you "Lost" Diary newbies, here's how it goes: I gather with a group of friends watching "Lost," writing what happens on the show as it happens, and throwing in my two cents along the way. I am watching tonight's episode of "Lost" alone as Ari and Lauren are in Las Vegas. How is it I get emails from total strangers wanting to watch "Lost" with me and my own friends bail on my constantly? Let's roll:

9:00 -- Time for my new favorite game: flashback or flashforward? Now, I know all we have had so far this season are flashforwards, but I don't think we're done with flashbacks just yet -- at least I hope. I'm going flashback, but I know I'm probably wrong.

9:01 -- Hang on a sec, isn't Tom dead? Has to be a flashback.

9:02 -- "Welcome to the island." -- Harper to Juliet. Winner!!!

9:03 -- "We want you to feel at home." Ben to Juliet. As always, even the most gracious words sound ultra-creepy when Ben says them.

9:04 -- Faraday and Charlotte have gone missing, and on cue it begins raining, the island starts whispering and Harper appears out of nowhere. I'm assuming she's real, but you never know with "Lost."

9:07 -- Ok, so Faraday and Charlotte are headed to the tempest (whatever that is) to release the gas and kill everyone -- or at least that's what Ben thinks.

9:08 -- "Ben is exactly where he wants to be." -- Harper. Didn't Miles say the same thing when Kate had him tied up in that shed?

9:09 -- Under the cover of whispers (yes, I said whispers), Harper disappears. Seriously, WTF?!!?!??

9:10 -- All our favorite dead Others are back this week. Good times.

9:11 -- Apparently Harper is Goodwin's wife. Now, we know Harper is still alive and we know Goodwin and Juliet got it on -- so I guess that means Juliet is a slut.

9:12 -- Once again, Jack asks someone a really, REALLY important question -- but when they don't answer, he just let's it go. Jack might be a great doctor, but he'd make a shitty cop.

9:13 -- Based on their conversation, it sure seems like Faraday and Charlotte are planning on doing what Ben thinks they are planning on doing. Ben's never really wrong.

9:17 -- Kate, for a change, is not acting like an idiot and asking all the right questions.

9:18 -- Wait, scratch that.

9:19 -- "It's very stressful being an Other, Jack." -- Juliet

9:20 -- Goodwin busts in on Ben and Juliet with the offer of an egg salad sandwich -- that sly dog!

9:21 -- Harper knows Juliet has been sleeping with her husband and apparently Harper is afraid of what Ben would do. And did you catch Harper's "You look just like her comment"? Has to be Annie, right?

9:22 -- Claire wants to interrogate Miles to find out why he and his crew are really on the island -- and she's actually making sense, which confuses me. Charlie dying has done wonders for her.

9:23 -- "Don't you want to know whose boat it is?" -- Claire

9:24 -- Ben and Locke are throwing out so many good quotes, I can't even keep up.

9:26 -- Another fantastic Ben/Locke scene. First off, why doesn't Locke see that Ben is right? They are on the same side in this. And secondly, the man the freighter people work for has to be Penny's dad, right?

9:30 -- Juliet in a bikini. Not bad. Not bad at all.

9:31 -- "What's Ben gonna do?" -- Goodwin. Hmmm, something tells me we are about to find out.

9:32 -- Apparently what he can do is send Goodwin off to die.

9:33 -- Jack and Juliet find Kate passed out in the bushes -- and Juliet uses that as an opportunity to leave Jack behind.

9:34 -- I need silence please -- Locke and Ben scene, Locke and Ben scene, Locke and Ben scene!!!

9:35 -- "I taped over the game." -- Ben. Has the playing of any tape on "Lost" ever not been completely awesome? I am downright giddy right now.

9:36 -- Ladies and gentlemen, Charles Widmore.

9:37 -- "If 5,000 people came out to see a piece of mold, how many people do you think would come here to see you?" -- Ben to Locke

9:38 -- Ben just told Locke that the Widmore file is "the last bargaining chip" he has left. Now that I don't believe.

9:39 -- Last chance -- who is Ben's man on the boat?

9:43 -- Hold the phone -- Jack just got a straight answer out of Kate!!! First time for everything.

9:44 -- Out of all the creepy things Ben has said and done, where does cooking a ham rank? It's got to be up there.

9:45 -- Zach and Emma are on the list, apparently. I love all the "list" talk, but when do we actually get to find out something about it?

9:46 -- WARNING: MANUAL ENTRY OVERRIDE DENIED

9:52 -- Faraday is trying to say that he's trying to make the gas inert. He'd be more convincing if he weren't wearing a GAS MASK!!!

9:52 -- Cat fight.

9:54 -- Ok, so Faraday succeeded in making the gas inert so that Ben couldn't use it against them later. I'm having some problem figuring out what to make of all this.

9:56 -- Ben couldn't just tell Juliet that Goodwin was dead, he had to show her his rotting, decaying corpse.

9:57 -- "How could you possibly not understand that you're mine?" -- Ben to Juliet. That's not creepy, it's just kinda sad (with a touch of crazy thrown in).

9:59 -- Jack and Juliet finally kiss. I don't have Lauren hear to gauge the female reaction, but let me try. "That slut!"

10:00 -- "See you guys at dinner." -- Ben

"So because last week's 'Lost' was so good, does that automatically mean that this week's has to suck?"

Eh, guess so.

Look I can't flat out declare this episode a clunker, but it really did only one thing for me and that's question my undying love for Ben. I know he wants to protect the island at all costs, but I am starting to doubt how pure his intentions really are. Is he really all about the island -- or is he all about himself?

The rest of this episode (I think we all suspected the freighter was Widmore's) I could have done without. I give it a C+. The Ben/Locke scenes were great and Juliet in a bikini did not disappoint. Hey, I'm still a guy here!

Here's my question to you this week: Even though "Lost" has cut its season down to 16 eps (and even less after the strike) we're still getting dud episodes. Is "Lost" better served with even fewer eps, say 12? Works for HBO, Showtime and FX. Just a thought.