Juliet, Juliet — who in the heck art thou?

ABC is offering all six fall episodes of "Lost" on its Web site (www.abc.com) for free — mandatory viewing if you're contemplating tuning in for the first time.

Don't have all those hours to spare?

A recap and a brief peek at this Wednesday's episode:

With two-faced Michael (Harold Perrineau) and son Walt (Malcolm David Kelley) presumably sailing off to civilization, surgeon Jack (Matthew Fox), fugitive Kate (Evangeline Lilly) and conman Swarthy — I mean Sawyer (Josh Holloway) — are held captive by the "Others," who, you might remember, were once into book clubs.

The "Others" are led by ringleader "Henry Gale" — real name Benjamin Linus (Michael Emerson) — who is ruthless (remember the bunny?). They've caged Kate and Sawyer at their zoo-turned-commune, an experience that helps further the like/lust between the twosome. Jack's jailed in a (drained) aquarium, fending off the attention of fertility doc Juliet (Elizabeth Mitchell) and her pleadings for him to eat. She reveals that the Others know every nook-and-cranny of his past. But right when you think she's just Ben's puppet, she (covertly) urges Jack to kill Ben.

Ben, who has the lock on TV death stares, has a fatal spinal tumor, and Jack, being a spinal surgeon, chooses to operate on him, eyeing freedom. But Jack be clever: He slices Ben where he shouldn't. Now Ben's on the operating table about to die, and Jack, with his hands literally in Ben's back, demands Sawyer and Kate be let go.

Juliet has sworn that it's Ben who's the one not to be trusted, but it's she who proves maddening to Jack come Wednesday. She's been stuck in Otherdom, we learn, for too long, and she's sick of it. So she makes Jack yet another proposal, further drawing out the drama of will or won't evil Ben die?

Meanwhile, Ben, even while prone on a surgical table, is still able to exert his influence over Juliet.

This Wednesday's episode revolves around a flashback of Juliet's — the first flashback of an "Other" — and we learn she's: 1) used to living next to water; and 2) familiar with men in her life bossing her around. Pre-island, she shelved her ethics while pursuing biomedical research. That research, though, entices a prospective employer (Hanso?!), who woos her to take a job in Portland!

But it's not quite in Portland ...

Back on the island (the Others' island; not the Losties' island, because there are two, remember?), a pair of characters last seen way back in the fall — that girl with the slingshot, the guy once caged across from Sawyer — reappears. Their arrival sheds more light on Ben and the sorts of creepy things the Others do.

As she has all along, ever-resourceful Kate shows she's soft (she cries) and tough (she whacks). Sawyer wisecracks. But, thankfully, Ben is nowhere near any rabbits.

Hurley (Jorge Garcia) fans will have to remain patient, because neither he, Locke (Terry O'Quinn), Sayid (Naveen Andrews), Claire (Emilie de Ravin), Charlie (Dominic Monaghan), Sun (Yunjin Kim), Jin (Daniel Dae Kim), Desmond (Henry Ian Cusick) nor any of the "tailies" appears.

Alas, Mr. Eko (thrashed by the smoke monster) remains dead.

He deserved better.

Florangela Davila: 206-464-2916 or fdavila@seattletimes.com