By my estimation, "The Other Woman" was the weakest LOST episode to date. That spot once belonged to last season's Niki and Paulo led "Expose" episode, but it belongs to them no more.

Last night's episode just felt off. The writing was heavy handed. The acting was good, but not great. The direction was off. Even Anya made the remark that the editing was off.

One of the great things about LOST is that it's been able to pull off being multiple different shows while also fitting into it's own unique genre. So you have the Doctor Jack medical stuff, the Jin and Sun fairy tale stuff, the Boone and Shannon CW/WB style show, etc. Even last year's "Expose" was kind of a fun, one-off "Twilight Zone" style show. But last night's episode felt very much like a "Guiding Light" style soap opera. So with that in mind, last night's episode was a pretty good soap opera.

But it's not what I expect from LOST.

It all just felt unnecessary to me. I didn't need an episode that expanded on Juliet and Goodwin's relationship. I didn't need an episode to expand on Ben's infatuation with Juliet. All of that was hit upon last year. I mean, maybe when it's all said and done, in the grand scheme of the epic novel that is LOST, it'll be beneficial to have everything fleshed out between all of the characters, but this episode did very little to calm viewers' anxieties about not getting answers.

I thought all of the stuff between Ben and Locke last year was pretty good, but so far, they've provided very little in the way of intrigue. I don't think Locke's actions are completely believable. And Ben has been reduced to little more than a snarky one-liner machine.

That being said, I still have the feeling that the first few episodes of this season are gearing up for something big. It just sucks continuing to wait for this big moment to happen.

I also have a few complaints about other things that are going on:

- I hated that scene where Ben is walking back to his house after being let go. If Ben ends up turning on the LOSTies again, then I think Locke has proven to be a major letdown this year. But I also think that this may be the start of Locke starting to play Ben. I think that the tables are going to be turned. But we shall see. WE NEED A FRIGGIN' LOCKE EPISODE!!! DAMN!!!

- I don't buy that Jin and Sun would go off into the jungle looking for Daniel and Charlotte. Does anyone think that Jin and Jack would actually let a pregnant sun walk around the monster filled jungle?

- Locke's still carrying money in his pocket? What? Unless there's a future episode that shows that Locke took the money from someplace upstairs just so he could be snarky to Ben, I don't buy that he would have a wallet in his pocket. His wallet would have been the first thing he threw away when he first walked on that beach.

That being said, I have a feeling that the dollar he gave him is going to come in handy somehow. We know that the island can reproduce things. I wonder if that's how Ben got rich. By exploiting the properties of the island to make himself into a millionaire.

- Jack and Juliet's kiss felt forced to me. I didn't feel like they earned it. And maybe worse, I don't feel that the Kate-Sawyer-Jack triangle needed a fourth. I think in some ways, it all but sealed Juliet's fate. You know she has to die now.

- I like that LOST finally has an uber villain in Charles Widmore. I think that Jin and Sun's dad will also be one of the villains of the show, but it was nice that they finally answered whose boat that it was. Now let's get some payoff.

So far, season 4 is my least favorite of the LOST seasons. That being said, if season 4 is nothing more than a set up for the final two seasons, then so be it. The producers have said that season 4 is about getting off the island and the immediate aftermath. Season 5 is going to be about "why" they should have never left the island. And season 6 is going to be about what happens when they get back. So yeah, it seems to me like season 4 is little more than set up. That doesn't make it any less frustrating.

- Matt