Juliet Burke

Dr. Juliet Burke
Actor	Elizabeth Mitchell
ImageSize	248px
First	"A Tale of Two Cities"
Last	N/A
Juliet Burke
AKA	Julie, Jules
Age	Unknown (around late 30's)
Place	Miami
Profession	Fertility doctor
Status	Alive
Images	Images of Juliet

Dr. Juliet Burke (née Carlson) is a member of the Others, and was introduced in the episode "A Tale of Two Cities". She seems unhappy with her allegiance (particularly, it seems, with Ben's position of authority), and lived at the Barracks until the Others abandoned the site. As a result of killing Danny Pickett and attempting to murder Ben, she has received a mark on her body and her status among the Others is uncertain. When the Others left the Barracks, she stayed behind in order to infiltrate the survivors camp and gain their trust.

Juliet is a calm, intelligent woman with a background in medicine. She seemed at one time to be a central figure in the Others' activities, but unhappy with her private life. She can also be dangerous as she showed in her attempt to convince Jack to kill Ben during a medical procedure.

Off the Island

Juliet treats her sister Rachel. ("Not in Portland")

According to her Mittelos Bioscience biography, Juliet recieved her B.S. in Biology from the Florida State University in Tallahassee and her Ph.D. from Miami Central University. Before 2001, Juliet was a fertility doctor working under her ex-husband, Edmund Burke, at the Miami Central University Medical Research Laboratory, a biological research facility in Miami. While working on her research in the labs, she was secretly administering her experimental treatments to her sister, Rachel, who was stricken with cancer. Chemotherapy had left her unable to have children.

One night Juliet sneaks into the the laboratory to steal some medicine for her experiment on Rachel. Edmund Burke, her ex-husband, and a woman named Sherry stumble upon her, and Edmund asks what Juliet is doing. Juliet says she was just correcting a mistake, and Edmund tells her to go home and leave Sherry and himself in the dark.

Juliet attends her meeting with Dr. Alpert from Mittelos Bioscience, who is presenting a slide show about their facilities in Portland, Oregon, in the hope of recruiting her as a head of a team of highly trained people. His pitch of independent funding and research freedom intrigues Juliet, who asks why they are interested in her. Alpert talks about Juliet's research, in which she managed to impregnate a male field mouse, and is clearly impressed with her work.

He asks her to examine a slide of a CT sequence. Juliet assesses that it is a human womb, and judging by the scan, most likely of a barren patient in her 70s. However, she is told that the woman is in fact just 26 years old, and that she could find out why if she worked with them. However, Juliet begins to cry, stating that her ex-husband Edmund would never let her go, jokingly saying that short of his getting hit by a bus, she would not be able to leave the University. Apologizing, she leaves, adding that she is no leader.

Back at home, Juliet tells her sister about the interview and her feelings of failure, but is shocked to learn that she has not failed, and that Rachel is pregnant. Rachel has the box and instructions for a Widmore Home Pregnancy Kit on the table. With the resolve that all she must do now is get healthy again, Rachel and Juliet embrace, and talk about confronting Edmund.

Juliet crying at the morgue, next to Edmund's corpse. ("Not in Portland")

Juliet finds Edmund talking on his cell phone to his mother outside the lab. She tells him that Rachel is pregnant, but refuses to allow collaboration and testing on her sister. As Edmund argues, he steps out into the street and is hit by a bus and killed.

Juliet goes to the morgue to identify Edmund's body and sign paperwork. The doctor leaves her alone, and she starts to cry. She is interrupted by the appearance of Alpert and Ethan Rom. She then begins to think back to her interview with Alpert where she had spoken about Edmund getting hit by a bus. Alpert brushes off the comment, saying that Juliet must still be in shock, and that he doesn't recall her statement. He asks her once more to join Mittelos, asking her to just give them six months, in order for her to be able to return to Miami in time for her sister's delivery. Juliet is shocked, and asks how they knew about her sister's pregnancy. Alpert replies that "we're very thorough in our recruitment process". When Juliet asks whether she can bring her sister with her to Portland, Alpert tells her that it may be difficult for her to get her treatment at such a remote facility, as it is in fact "not quite in Portland". ("Not in Portland")

Later, after Juliet hugs Rachel good-bye and tells her that she'll be back to see the baby born, she is asked by Richard Alpert to drink orange juice with tranquilizer to prepare her for the journey to the Mittelos facility. When she hesitates, Alpert tells her that she has a gift and they hired her specifically because they believe that gift is unique. She drinks the orange juice too fast and quickly becomes unconscious. ("One of Us")

On the Island

Juliet and Amelia, before the book club meeting in The Barracks. ("A Tale of Two Cities")

Before meeting the survivors

Juliet's first three years on the Island were a battle between her and Ben to return home. Ben blackmailed her into staying after her six months were up by promising to cure Rachel's cancer, which, he said, had come out of remission.

During that time, she became intimate with Goodwin. She also discovers Ben's tumor and confronts him about Rachel's cancer status. ("One of Us")

Juliet and Goodwin in bed after having sex. ("One of Us")

Later, she hosts a book club meeting about her favorite novel, Stephen King's Carrie. During the discussion, Adam calls her Julie. Here, Juliet jokes about a lack of free will, presumably on the Island, just before a loud noise prompts all of them to take cover and then go outside. Standing with Ben, Juliet looks up to see Oceanic Flight 815 break apart in the sky. ("A Tale of Two Cities")

Ben then calls after Juliet asking if he can have a moment to speak with her. Juliet and Ben approach the Flame, calling out to Mikhail so he doesn't open fire. Inside they are greeted with a stack of TV monitors showing Oceanic Flight 815 leaving, and news reports possibly reporting that the flight is missing. Ben points out the date on a newspaper rather blatantly to Juliet but she doesn't seem to care. Mikhail connects Ben to Richard and a video feed of a healthy Rachel with long hair is shown as she plays with her toddler son Julian. Juliet is overjoyed and grips the screen while crying. Ben points out that he wasn't lying. He coldly closes the connection with Richard and Mikhail shutting down the video feed. Juliet frantically begs for a few more moments. She asks again to return home, but Ben says she cannot leave until she finishes her research, and suggests that there might be a pregnant woman on the plane. ("One of Us")

She accompanied Ben to the Pearl in October, where they discussed getting Jack to do surgery on Ben as they watched the survivors on a monitor. Juliet tells Ben that she finds the station creepy, and they leave. They left behind a walkie, which Paulo, who had been watching them from the bathroom, took. ("Exposé")

After meeting the survivors

In terms of the show timeline, what she does after this event for some time is unknown. It is unknown how she reacted to the death of her lover, Goodwin. She claims to have been working on Claire to aid her during her pregnancy ("One of Us"), which fits in with her role on the Island, but she is never actually seen doing this. 69 days after the crash, she introduces herself to Jack who is being held at the Hydra station. She asks Jack questions about himself in an attempt to build a rapport, as well as offering him food. When she enters his cell, Jack attacks her and holds her hostage. Ben arrives but does not seem to care about Juliet's predicament, locking her out as Jack opens a hatch door, allowing water to flood into the room. Juliet then knocks Jack unconscious, returning him to his cell. Juliet then reveals that she knows a lot about Jack, showing him a file that she claims is "your life". As Juliet manages to gain Jack's trust, she is congratulated in private by Ben, and it becomes clear that there is some kind of tension between the two. ("A Tale of Two Cities")

Juliet films herself on videotape ("The Cost of Living")

Juliet is later seen holding a gun to Kate to cease Sawyer's insurrection; later, Sawyer ominously describes Juliet's indifference to Kate -- that she would have willingly shot Kate, "no problem," to stop him. Juliet and Jack continue to have contact whilst he is being held in the Hydra station. A relationship begins to form between the two, and Jack attempts to exploit this by suggesting that Ben has authority over her. She says that "Ben and I make decisions together," reminiscent of Locke's words when Ben was captured by the survivors, implying that Juliet and Ben are perhaps at odds with each other, as John was with Jack. ("The Glass Ballerina")

Perhaps influenced by Jack's words, Juliet defies Ben and takes Jack to help her save the life of Colleen, who was shot by Sun in the stomach. Juliet panics, as she is not a surgeon, and tries to help Jack in vain as Colleen's pulse soon flats. Afterwards, she admits to Jack that she is actually a fertility doctor, and is not used to death. As they speak, Jack questions her point-blank about X-rays he saw, which suggested a man in his 40s needed a spinal operation. Jack surmises that this is why he was taken by the Others, as Juliet stares, saying nothing. ("Every Man for Himself")

At Colleen's funeral, Ben confronts Juliet about her letting Jack see his X-rays. Juliet responds that she didn't tell Jack that the X-rays were Ben's; Ben did. (Jack played Ben on that one, taking his limited information and making an educated guess). Juliet proceeds to make a videotape that covertly asks Jack to "accidentally" kill Ben during surgery, suggesting that he is dangerous and that several of the Others want him dead. In the meantime, she sang the virtues of Ben and why he should be helped--for the benefit of the video cameras and microphones. According to Ben, Juliet bears a "striking resemblance" to Sarah Shephard, Jack's ex-wife. This could be to show that he used Juliet to be nice to Jack because she looks like his ex-wife and he will trust her more--or to use her to manipulate Jack. ("The Cost of Living")

Juliet at Ben's operation ("I Do")

The next day, Juliet orders Kate to go with her to the underwater section of the Hydra to convince Jack that he must operate on Ben's tumor, or else Danny would kill Sawyer. Kate doesn't succeed in her mission, but from the monitoring room, Jack sees her and Sawyer having sex in the bear cage, and Jack agrees to Ben's offer to presumably take Jack off the Island after the surgery is complete. That night, after Jack begins, he slits Ben's kidney sac, and makes demands of Juliet and the Others. He contacts Kate with one of their walkies, telling her that she and Sawyer have an hour to run away before the Others would go after them. Juliet watches the scene--behind her mask, it's unknown if she's delighted or frightened. ("I Do")

She then decides to call Jack's bluff, noting he wouldn't let anybody die deliberately, and orders the Others to capture Kate and Sawyer, killing them if necessary. However, after a private conversation with Ben, she reverses her attitude and tells the Others to let Kate and Sawyer go. She checks the surveillance system to find their location, and sees that Alex is helping them. She goes after the trio, and tries to call off the Others. Pickett disagrees with her, saying Ben would rather die than let them go, but then Juliet herself seals the deal by shooting Pickett just before he can murder Sawyer and Kate (and her--he turns to shoot her when she calls his name). She then allows Kate, Sawyer, and Karl to leave, though she forces Alex to stay behind, and allows Kate to repeat "the story" Jack asked for as a confirmation of their safety. Juliet later confesses to Jack that Ben agreed to finally let her go "home" if she saved his life by helping Jack's friends escape. She also tells him that she has been on the Island for 3 years, 2 months and 28 days. ("Not in Portland")

Juliet held captive ("Stranger in a Strange Land")

Juliet was then arrested by the Others, and passes Jack in the hallway as he is leaving the Hydra. Juliet is put in the Hydra, and Jack is put in Sawyer's cage. She later visits him, wanting him to help Ben (his stitches are infected). Jack refuses. Later, Jack and Tom are called into Isabel's office for interrogation. Jack says he lied about Juliet telling him to kill Ben. Isabel sees through the lie and sentences Juliet to death. Jack, however, saves Ben in exchange for Juliet's life, and in the end she is merely marked (scars placed onto her lower back). Jack treats her wounds (the possible beginning of a love connection), and the two board the Others' yacht to take Ben 'home'. ("Stranger in a Strange Land")

They returned to the barracks, and prepared to leave the Island in the submarine. However, hours before they were set to leave, Locke, Sayid and Kate appear, and Locke destroyed the submarine with the C-4, thus preventing Jack and Juliet's escape. ("The Man from Tallahassee")

Among the survivors

Hours later, Ben speaks to Juliet about the plan to con Kate, Jack, and the rest of the survivors into believing she is one of them. She will remain for "one week," and will be considered a crisis solver to Claire's situation. ("One of Us") Her motivations are still in question -- does she plan to double-cross Ben and the rest of the Others, or were her acts of defiance against Ben all part of a "long con" to gain Jack's trust?

After the submarine explosion, Juliet was sent by Ben to infiltrate the beach community. She pretended to have fallen out of favor with the Others, and to have been left behind and gassed along with Kate, Jack, and Sayid. Juliet, under orders from Ben, used the opportunity to handcuff herself to Kate, "in the hope that she wouldn't be left behind" by her as well as everyone else. This, of course, was all part of Juliet's ruse. ("One of Us")

The two women decided to head back towards the Barracks, while Juliet wondered why the people she had been with for three years would simply desert her. She then argued with Kate about Jack, revealing that she knew Jack's heart had been broken after he'd seen Kate and Sawyer together. A fight ensued, and Kate dislocated Juliet's arm (for the fourth time in her life).That night they have an encounter with the Monster. Juliet claims she doesn't know what is the Monster. The next day, the pair continued their trek back, and Juliet saved Kate from the Monster by using the sonic barrier as a defense against the smoke. Juliet still claims she doesn't know what the Monster is. Finally back at the Barracks, Jack informed Sayid and Kate that Juliet had been left behind too, and that she would be joining them on their journey back to the beach camp.("Left Behind")

Juliet, upon arriving at the beach ("One of Us")

Upon reaching the beach, Juliet was treated with suspicion by most of the camp, especially Sawyer and Sayid. Feeling ostracized, Juliet sat alone on the beach and didn't really speak to anyone except for Hurley who was sent to watch her. On her first day in the camp, Claire became very ill and Juliet claimed to recognize the symptoms of the illness explaining that it was due to withdrawl from medication she herself developed in an attempt to solve the problem of pregnancy among the Others. She told Jack that Ethan had stashed medical supplies not far from the caves and said that Claire would die soon if she wasn't treated appropriately. Claire's sickness had however been induced by an implant placed inside her presumably when she had been kidnapped by Ethan. Ben said that he had recently activated the implant so that whenever Juliet arrived at the beach, she would be able to solve a crisis situation (i.e. helping Claire) so she could quickly gain the trust of the other survivors.("One of Us")

Juliet then went to recover the medical kit (which had actually recently been left by Pryce) but before she could return to Claire she was confronted by Sayid and Sawyer who wanted answers about who she really was and what the Others were doing on the Island. Juliet, using her background knowledge of them, told them that they oughtn't to take the moral highground as their own pasts were quite shady themselves. She asked them how long it took after the crash before they told their fellow survivors about how Sayid was a torturer and Sawyer was a killer. She told them that if she wasn't allowed to return to Claire she would die and her blood would too, by added to their hands. She then took the medical kit and returned to the beach where she successfully treated Claire. ("One of Us")

Jack later gave Juliet a tarp and a few airplane blankets and pillows to set up her own tent and start her off. He told her that many of the people on the camp were ready to give her the benefit of the doubt. No one had seen through her ruse. ("One of Us")

Later, Juliet is shown to be settling in at the beach and seemingly spending a lot of her time with Jack. ("Catch-22")

Sun confronts Juliet about pregnant women on the island

Juliet examining Sun

Juliet had only been living on the beach for a few days when she was confronted by an angry Sun who wanted to know what happened to pregnant women on the island. Juliet told Sun that "they all died." However later that night Juliet crept into Sun's tent and told her that there may be hope for her and her baby yet. Juliet took Sun through the jungle to the the Staff. Sun thought it was abandoned but Juliet assured her otherwise. Sun, in a moment of doubt, asked Juliet why she was helping her. Juliet replied that the last nine pregnant patients she examined had all died and she wanted to tell someone they were pregnant and have them smile because it was the best news they ever heard. Juliet then proceeded to take Sun to a secret room in the Staff which contained medical equipment including an ultrasound scanner. ("D.O.C.")

Sun divulged some information regarding her pregnancy to Juliet, about how she had had an affair with another man and how the baby couldn't have been Jin's because he was sterile. However Juliet told Sun that the sperm count for men is 5 to 10 times normal on the island. Juliet then examined Sun and it was revealed that Sun had conceived on-island and was therefore at risk of becoming sick. After they exited the Staff, Sun thanked Juliet and it seemed that all her misgivings about Juliet had been dispelled. Before they returned to the beach, however, Juliet said she needed to go back into the Staff to make sure they had covered their tracks. She went to a specific locker and picked up a dictaphone, on which she left a message for Ben, telling him that Sun was pregnant and that she would have Kate's sample soon. She then turned the dictaphone off and uttered; "I hate you." ("D.O.C.")

Juliet is eating with Jack when Kate approaches. She wants to tell Jack about the parachutist, but she doesn't want to do it in front of Juliet, so Juliet says she'll go, but Jack insists that she stay. Kate tells them about the parachutist, and Jack and Juliet exchange a look. Juliet says to Jack that they should tell Kate about something, but a stoic Jack refuses. ("The Brig")

Trivia

• Carlton Cuse comments about Juliet: "I mean, what is her agenda? I mean, she obviously doesn't—she's not necessarily a fully-indoctrinated Other, is she?" (Official Lost Podcast/November 06, 2006)
• Juliet is the name of William Shakespeare's tragic heroine, who has a passionate love affair with Romeo, the son of a rival family. The hatred between the two families triggers a chain of events and misunderstandings. The story concludes when both Juliet and Romeo take their own lives due to complicated and secretive plans gone awry.
• She is often featured bringing prisoners meals; she puts obvious effort into making them "nice".
• Both her centric episodes come after Kate-centric episodes and before Desmond-centric episodes.
• Juliet is also known as 'Juliette' on some websites.

Unanswered questions

Unanswered questions
Do not answer the questions here. Keep the questions open-ended and neutral: do not suggest an answer. More details...

For fan theories about these unanswered questions, see: Juliet Burke/Theories

• Why did her marriage with Edmund Burke break down?
• What does Juliet's mark mean?
• How does she feel towards Jack?
• Does she know more about the Monster than she says?
• How long has she been lying to Jack? (Did she really make a deal with Ben to leave the Island?)
• With whom does her true allegiance lie?
• How did she learn to fight?
• What is her relationship with Ben?