It’s hard to write about this week’s episode of Lost, “The Brig” because it was so good, I’m afraid my writing can’t convey how good it actually was. It seems like the rumors are true and on the way to the season finale we’re getting some of the best episodes this show has ever had.
Locke is back. He claims to have joined The Others as an undercover mission to infiltrate them and learn about the island, the secrets and The Others. Do you believe him? Yeah, me neither, but time will tell. When he confronts his father, he gets the same “screw you” attitude as he always have. He thinks his dad knows where they are, because he tells him that, but it turns out his dad thinks he’s in hell. Well, thanks a lot dad, we know that’s not true.
Ben has a test for Locke, which he must pass before he can truly be an Other he has to kill his dad. No matter how much Ben pushes him and how much his dad taunts him, Locke fails he’s not a killer. However, there may be a way out if it. Juliet isn’t the only one unhappy with Ben’s leadership turns out even Richard, whom we thought was one of Ben’s closest allies, isn’t 100% on board with Ben. He tells Locke Ben knew he wasn’t a killer and only put him in that test to humiliate him in front of The others, who thought he’s a special person (Since he’s walking around with a broken spine). He suggests to Locke that there’s someone who can do the job for him and slips him a file about the proposed killer Sawyer (Why? We’ll find out later). The next day The Others all up and leave. Ben tells him he can follow their trail, but only if he carries his dad dead corpse with him. As Locke tells him he can’t just leave him there, Ben gives him this week’s most memorable line: “Don’t tell me what I can’t do”. SO Locke has no other choice but to recruit Sawyer. He goes back to the Lostways beach and convinces Sawyer to join him, telling him he’s captured Ben for Sawyer to kill. Reluctantly Sawyer joins Locke as they head out. They finally arrive at the Black Rock (The dynamite slave ship) and Locke sends Sawyer into the brig and then locks him there (no pun intended) with a hooded man. Sawyer is of course outraged when he finds out that he’s locked and that person isn’t Ben, but rather someone he’s never seen before.
Remember when I told you we’d find out later why Sawyer was chosen? Meet Tom Sawyer Sr. The man who slept with James’s mom and caused his dad to kill her and commit suicide. The man little James write a letter to that he kept all those years. But Sawyer Sr. doesn’t care about Sawyer Jr. and his feelings, just like with Locke. So he taunts Jr. and mocks him until Jr. finally snaps and strangles him with the shackles he was chained to (Somewhat reminiscent of Princess Leah strangling Jabba the Hut). Once the original conman is dead, Locke opens the brig and lets James out. He sends him back to the beach, with a warning that Julie is mole (like duh) and proof the tape she left Ben. Locke and his dead dad, in will join The Others, as Locke still wants answers.
So that was one story. In the mean time, back on the beach, Naomi is hidden by Des, Jin, Charlie and Hurly. They only tell Sayid about her and bring him in. She tells them that the plane carrying flight 815 was found at the bottom of the ocean, 4 miles deep, near Bali. Robots were sent down there and sent video of all the passengers dead. So are they dead or alive? Who knows? Naomi was sent by Penny to find Des and that’s how she arrived on the Island. She has a satellite phone with her, which looks like roided up iPhone which Sayid tries to fix in order to communicate with the outside world. As he’s working on the phone Kate catches him. He tells her about Naomi and she runs straight to tell Jack about her, and she does that in front of Juliet. Jack is shocked, of course, and Juliet wants to use that moment to tell Kate something, but Jack tells her it’s not the time yet, as he rushes over to the tenet where Naomi is hidden.
This storyline, which seemed secondary to the Swayer one, is actuall the more interesting of the two. It shows us that the balance on the island was broken. The Lostways don’t feel they can trust Jack anymore because of his relationship with Juliet. Jack used to be their leader and now they’re hiding crucial information from him. It’s not clear whether they consider Sawyer their leader, like Hurly suggested before Jack returned, but Jack was definitely dethroned, so to speak. But for some reason, despite being told not to, Kate thought she could trust him. I find it very interesting, especially since she’s part of the world’s most dysfunctional love triangle ever, Jack-Kate – Sawyer (And in case you were wondering, she’s still doing Sawyer). And even more intriguing what are Jack and Juliet hiding from the rest of the Lostways? My theory is that Juliet confided in Jack that she’s there on a mission to track the pregnant women so The Others will be able to kidnap them (Ben told Locke that). Perhaps Jack felt that with the Naomi mess it’s not the right moment to bring that into the open. I think they’re swerving us into believing that next week Sawyer will bring proof that Juliet is a mole and all hell will break loose, just for Jack to reveal that he knew that all along.
And another question. While at the Black Rock, Locke was visited by Rousseau who dropped by to grab some dynamite. Why the hell does she need those explosives? Where has she been ever since the raid on the Others’ village? Add that to the list of questions.
And if you thought this week was good, next week shapes up to be even better. It seems to be a Ben episode; perhaps we’ll get some answers to burning questions about the island, The Others or Ben. If in the past one of the major complaints about Lost was that nothing is going on, everything is pretty much static on the island, this season is finally changing things and there’s a lot more action and progress. I love this and I believe the road to the season finale maybe the best one yet. It may not be the best show on TV as many claim (As awesome as this episode was, I believe that this week’s Heroes was even better) but Lost is once again a show you can’t miss. And I won’t miss a second.
