Dr. Juliet Burke
The champion of fertility who made the impossible possible
The Many Lives of Dr. Juliet Burke: A Timeline of Timelines:
- 1971: Born in the US into a frequently moving family; has one older sister, Rachel.
- 1981: At age ten, Juliet is deeply affected by her parents' divorce, shaping her views on relationships.
- Adult Life: Becomes a fertility doctor in Miami, Florida, living with her sister Rachel.
- Marriage: Marries Edmund Burke in a brief marriage that ends in divorce. Despite their separation, he continues to exert control over her career at Miami Central University Medical Research Laboratory.
- Late 1990s - 2001: Conducts unauthorized fertility experiments to help Rachel conceive after chemotherapy renders her sterile, choosing not to publish the findings for privacy reasons.
- Early 2001: Offered a job by Richard Alpert at Mittelos Bioscience; she is intrigued by a medical puzzle but faces opposition from Edmund.
- 2001: After Edmund's death, Juliet is again approached by Richard Alpert, who recruits her to the Island under mysterious circumstances, offering her a six-month contract.
- On the Island (2001-2004): Juliet becomes fluent in Latin, gains combat training, and struggles with the deaths of pregnant women, noting that all but one (Claire) died. After her six-month contract expires, she informs Ben, the leader, that the fertility issues occur during conception. Despite her repeated requests to leave, Ben, who becomes obsessed with her, refuses to let her go. In 2004, she witnesses the crash of Oceanic Flight 815 and helps survivors Sawyer and Kate, leading to her imprisonment by the Others.
- Time Flashes (1954-2007): After Ben moves the Island, Juliet and other survivors experience unpredictable time flashes, transporting them to various points in the Island's history and causing severe symptoms like nosebleeds and headaches. The flashes cease when John Locke, a survivor of Oceanic Flight 815, resets the wheel, leaving them permanently stuck in 1974.
- With Dharma (1974-1977): Juliet successfully delivers a baby, marking a significant achievement in her medical career, and develops a close relationship with Sawyer while living together in the Barracks. Their lives are upturned when Jack and Kate arrive in 1977, as they devise a plan to return to their time in the present. In a critical moment, Juliet is dragged into an electromagnetic pocket and sacrifices herself to prevent the survivors from arriving on the Island. Surviving the fall, she detonates the Jughead bomb, causing the 2004 plane crash and the fertility issues she was brought in to solve.
- Death (2007): The detonation propels Juliet and the survivors forward in time to 2007, but she remains trapped in the shaft beneath the wreckage of the 2004 Swan implosion. Unbeknownst to the others, Juliet is still alive. Kate hears her cries, prompting the group to dig through the debris. Sawyer climbs down to find an injured and weak Juliet, who dies shortly after their brief moment together at the age of 36.
- Flash-Sideways (Post-Death)
- Family/Work Life: In the "flash sideways timeline," Dr. Juliet Carlson works as a maternity doctor at St. Sebastian Hospital in Los Angeles, California, alongside her ex-husband, Jack. They have a son named David.
- Reuniting with Sawyer: At the hospital, Juliet helps Sawyer retrieve a candy bar from a vending machine. When she passes it to him, they experience flashes of their past. She suggests they get coffee, mirroring their last conversation before her death.
- Awakening: Juliet and Sawyer touch again, fully regaining their memories. They realize the "flash sideways" is a purgatory created for the survivors to find each other after death. Physical contact with one's "constant" awakens them.
- Moving On: Juliet and Sawyer make their way to a church where they gather with other former residents of the Island. As the church doors open, a glowing light flows in, and they move on to the afterlife together as soulmates.
It worked.
--Dr. Juliet Burke