The Other Woman - Production

Production

When asked about what she learned about her character through "The Other Woman", Elizabeth Mitchell surmised that Juliet's "mistakes are morally questionable, if not morally wrong. But you do see that behind this is a human being who is struggling to live and have a life that makes sense to her." Mitchell did not think that Juliet was too surprised that Ben has romantic feelings for her, but "it was horrifying under the circumstances" because she had just found out that Goodwin had died. Michael Emerson thought that his character Ben was childish when he shouted "you're mine!" to Juliet; Mitchell compared him to "a twelve-year-old boy throwing a temper tantrum over ... his first love". Mitchell said that "it was emotionally draining shooting this episode" because she was intimidated by Emerson and Matthew Fox's acting skills.

Co-executive producer and staff writer Adam Horowitz stated that "It's always interesting to pull back another layer on one of our characters, and to see another chapter in Juliet's story on the island and bring us to where she is now was great", while fellow co-executive producer and staff writer Edward Kitsis thought that "the interesting thing about the episode is the way Ben looks at Juliet ... everything is informed by that look." Horowitz also enjoyed the juxtaposition of Juliet's character development with the revelations on the "freighter folk". Kitsis picked the episode's final scene where Hugo "Hurley" Reyes (Jorge Garcia) and James "Sawyer" Ford (Josh Holloway) discover that Ben has negotiated his release and will be dining with them that evening as his favorite of the episode. Actress Rebecca Mader, who plays Charlotte, said that she was "so excited" for the episode to air because she thought that it was "even better" than the previous episode, which is widely regarded as one of the best episodes of the series. Charlotte knocks Kate unconscious with the barrel of her gun and asks "what?" to a speechless Daniel in "The Other Woman". Mader found this hilarious and described it as "the pinnacle of career".

Andrea Roth makes her first appearance as Harper in "The Other Woman". During casting in early October, Harper was described as "a tough, no-nonsense and beautiful overly controlling and obsessive." The character was also noted as a recurring role; however, Harper did not make another appearance in the season. The writers have since stated that she will eventually reappear. A jungle scene with Mitchell, Fox and Roth was filmed until 4:00 a.m. on October 27, 2007 with industrial sprinklers and Mitchell referred to this as her "most intense experience on the show". Harper's appearance and disappearance in this scene are sudden so fans speculated that this was actually an apparition or manifestation of the island's black smoke monster. This was refuted by Lost's writers.

Named after William Shakespeare's 1610 play of the same name, the Tempest first appears in "The Other Woman" and is apparently alluded to on an unseen layer of the Dharma "Swan" station's blast door map of the second season. The writers wanted to explain some of the island's history in the fourth season and decided that "The Other Woman" would reveal where the gas that Ben used came from and that Dharma had stations set up for protection against hostile forces. They also enjoyed having Goodwin on the show and wanted to bring him back. "The Other Woman" had commenced filming by October 11, 2007 and was completed on October 30.

"The Other Woman" contains Jack and Juliet's second kiss. Juliet was conceived by the writers as the next possible love interest for Jack after the death of the second season character Ana Lucia Cortez (Michelle Rodriguez). Fans hated Ana Lucia so the writers did not pursue the romantic story arc. Mitchell guesses that her character was created because "they needed a bridge between Ben and everyone else, and they needed someone to come in and be a little salt in the oyster of Jack and Kate." She believes that Juliet did genuinely fall in love with Jack, but not knowing whether "her attraction to Jack or her willingness to do anything to get off the island" is more important to her. Juliet forms something of a "love rectangle" with Jack, Kate and Sawyer. Mitchell "feel like a very grown-up relationship. They seem to really respect and like each other", whereas Sawyer and Kate are like "rambunctious teenagers". The couple has gained an Internet fandom and been given the portmanteau nickname "Jacket".