Originally Posted by
JasonEvans
Who is Harper tlaking about here? Probably Annie, the girl Ben befriended in his early Dharma days as a child. But, we have not seen Annie since Ben was about 12-years-old. It is extremely doubtful that she is still around today as Ben would not be desperate for Juliet or someone who looks like Annie if the real Annie was available. So, we can be fairly confident that Annie is not alive on the Island right now.
However, it is quite important to note that Doc Harper knows what Annie looks like -- knows well enough to be able to compare Juliet to her. If that is the case, then Annie has been on the island fairly recently -- recently enough so that Doc Harper knows her. It is safe to assume that this means Annie has been around post-purge, when Ben helped kill all the other Dharma folks.
We are going to hear more, a lot more, about Annie in the future, I am sure of this. Her relationship with Ben will likely provide us with an understanding of a lot of his motivations and actions. Perhaps she is at the root of his obsession with pregnancy (maybe she died having his baby and that is why he stole Alex from Danielle?). We do not have enough to go on, but that one line -- comparing Juliet to Annie -- is a big deal in my mind. When we look back on the tapestry of Lost in a couple years, I suspect that the most significant thing to come out of this episode will be the line that told us that The Others know what Annie looks like.
--Jason "we all know who Ben's 'man on the boat' is now too, right?" Evans