It seems most of the Others have some basic fighting skills. There’s also the possibility that they’ve got some sort of time advantage based on speeding up or slowing down time relative to the Losties.
The writers probably have some idea about where it comes from, but it might not be fully fleshed out.
:dubious: If this was the Matrix, Juliet would not have gotten her ass kicked by Kate
That’s the rub. Others have been beaten and killed by Losties, so there’s got to be something more to the picture. I’ll wager part of it is the surveillance. It’s easy to seem to have lightning fast reflexes if you know the pool cue is coming. OTOH, knowing it’s coming only really helps if you know what to do about it.
It’s simple. The Others can always win…
…if they’re prepared. 
Sorry to bump this after two weeks, but I’m running that far behind on Lost. Also, the DVR ate 3.16 and 3.17. :smack: Gonna be a while before I’m caught up.
Anyway, my thoughts on this particular episode that I don’t think anyone else has posted on:
One other Easter egg that wasn’t mentioned is that Kate was playing with a backgammon board at the beginning of the episode. I don’t think we’ve seen one of those since Locke showed Walt how to play (and in the process delivering a cryptic foreshadowy line about light and dark).
Kate’s flashback parallels the current events. The flashbacks usually do, but this really shows how much of a fuckup Kate is. She decided what was best for her mom despite a lack of request for help, and alienated her mom in the process (not to mention getting the law on her ass). She decided what was best for Jack despite an explicit request not to help him, and she landed everyone in trouble and screwed up a lot of plans in the first place. She’s idealistic to a fault and has more difficulty in learning from her mistakes than a child would.
I did see two gas canisters on the floor of Jack’s hut, so it seems he got a double dose of it in addition to prolonged inhalation. It makes sense he was out for so long.
I cannot stand Juliet. At this point I consider her to be worse than Ben. Ben at least has shown some periods of earnestness, when it’s very clear that he’s dropped the pretense and is honestly engaged in a conversation, as with Locke. Juliet just…lies. Lying seems to be her default state, and as yet we haven’t been given Reason One what her motivation is for doing so. (Of course, I haven’t seen the next two episodes, so I could be proven wrong in those.) The worst part is that she doesn’t always lie; she lies when another character is inclined to trust her, and she tells the truth when someone’s hostile toward her, although the truth usually consists of “I was just bringing you lunch, meanie :(” Horrible, manipulative woman. I cheered for Kate when she got the upper hand on Juliet during their fight.