Five-Legged Iguana

LOST Season 3 Episode 15 (WARNING: SPOILERS)
“Left Behind”

Getting back to the Others plot thread, the episode opens with Locke saying goodbye to Kate, before things go totally off the wall, and Kate gets gassed, and wakes up in the jungle, handcuffed to Juliet!
That’s an interesting notion, which, among other things, lets Kate in on the fact that Jack knows she and Sawyer got it on, and that she “broke his heart,” as Juliet puts it.
The gals even get into a scuffle that ends with Kate dislocating Juliet’s shoulder (which she then admits has already been dislocated a number of times in the past).
By the time they get back to the Barracks, Ben and company are gone, having left Jack and Sayid behind. The episode ends with Jack deciding that Juliet comes back with them to the camp.
You know what? I don’t trust Juliet. I’ve said it before: Anything she does and says is suspect in my eyes.
For all I know this is all a ploy so the Others have someone on the inside. As Juliet says to Kate, Ben loves mind games.
Centerpiece of the episode: definitely the Monster chasing Kate and Juliet through the jungle. As per the usual though, all we see is the black smoke, which apparently doesn’t like the sonic barrier that surrounds the Barracks. Hmmmm.
I’m still of the mind that “the Monster” is mechanical in nature, and that it’s moving largely underground, and the smoke we see is its exhaust. (Though why the smoke often seems sentient is beyond me.)

Meanwhile, Hurley pulls a fast one to groom Sawyer for taking the leadership reins (since all the alpha dogs are gone from the camp), also another interesting idea.
Of course, the one Sawyer’s gonna have a difficult time to get on his side is Sun, and no one can blame her, really. She was used as a pawn in Sawyer’s power games, roughed up and terrorized. She should make Sawyer squirm a good long time.

As for the flashbacks, they’re centered on Kate, as she crosses paths with Cassidy (who, of course, doesn’t mention the name of the con man who broke her heart and knocked her up).
The episode’s flashbacks are okay, as far as they go, but I’m not certain they add anything particularly significant to our knowledge of Kate. Even her meeting Cassidy seems a bit gimmicky, since it wasn’t exactly pivotal. (It’s not like Cassidy was thinking of an abortion and Kate convinces her to keep the baby.)

At any rate, the episode was fine, and certainly better than “Stranger in a Strange Land” (arguably still the lowest point of the season), so it’s all good, so far.
We’re approximately two months away from season’s end, and I’m honestly not sure where we’re going and what the cliffhanger’s gonna be this time out, but hey, I’m all eyes and ears.