The Brig

Hunker down, kids, this could take some time...

Holy freakin' crap, that was a lot to digest! Last night's Locke-centric "The Brig" had so much going on, so many layers (Layers! Onions have layers! Ogres have layers! Onions have layers.You get it? We both have layers.), that it's hard to know where to begin. But, Maria from The Sound of Music told me once that "the very beginning [is] a very good place to start, so I'll take her advice on that one, and we'll go from there...

Sorry, Skaters, this whole thing is just building up to break down. There's absolutely no way Kate and Sawyer can be truly together on this one. Mostly because Kate wears the pants and can't even be bothered to spend the night, but also because of that nagging little problem this island has with killing off people who have resolved their issues and come to a self-realization. So you know what that means... buh bye Sawyer.

Now, don't get me wrong, I love me some Sawyer, but the way LOST has been snowballing of late, something's about to go down, and it's going down swinging. I'll call it here and now: Kate is pregnant with Sawyer's baby. I also wouldn't be completely surprised if Juliet is pregnant, too. Jack's? Wouldn't that just piss Kate right the hell off, huh? Prepare for more than a mud wrestling contest in the jungle should that happy little scenario come to pass.

Before I get to my expounding theory on what the heck is going on, I'll hit some of the other highlight's from last night's show. It appears that Charlie, Hurley, Jin, and Desmond managed to sneak Naomi back to the beach, and are currently in the process of... chatting her up? So what? Are they just planning to chit chat until that gaping wound in her gut closes? Weird, but anyhoo, Sayid is brought into the loop when Hurley lets him in on their little secret whilst Sayid was digging a hole in the jungle... with a shovel. (Where did that come from and why is he digging a hole? Could it have something to do with Rousseau hitting up the Black Rock for more dynamite? Are they in cahoots, and possibly working on some explosive project together? Things that make you go hmmmmm...). So Sayid goes into interrogator mode, asking Naomi (is it just me, or can you just not spell that name without having to seriously think about it?! mad face.) the who, what, when where, why, and hows of her arrival on the island, and questioning her story of the discovery of 815 off the coast of Bali in an underwater trench 4 miles deep (number alert!). And, well, he doesn't get much out of that other than a look at Naomi's super-advanced-probably-modern-and-not-so-much-2004 radio...phone...thing.

Um, just a few things on that enlightening little exchange. Uh....LIAR! I'm still of the mindset that Naomi is an Other. I mean, she just has to be! She just happens to have a flare gun in her pack, and, after it's set off, The Guy You Thought Was Dead just happens to show up? Nuh-uh, I don't think so. Also, the point of origin on that radio thing appeared to be on the West Coast of North America. So, what I gather from that, if I'm to believe any of what Naomi says in the first place, is that "her company," the one Penny Widmore hired to aid in her search of Desmond is a Los Angeles-based operation? And just what does that have to do with anything?! I don't know!

Then Kate gets involved. Seriously, just stay in your tent, Kate. You think you're helping, but you're really not. She comes upon Sayid and Hurley diddling with the Future Phone, and determines that she should Take It Up With Jack. Stellar idea, Kate, just stellar. Jack then refuses to leave Juliet out of any conversation (... now, that's just rude), pissing The Fugitive off even more than she already was, so she blurts out the whole thing, right there in front of Other Blonde Plant, not forgetting to omit the whole "No one trusts you" piece. Now, seriously, what did that accomplish, Kate? That's right, hang your head in shame, and depart, tail between legs. Because all you got out of that was the affirmation that Jack and Juliet are co-conspirators. You didn't need that. Wipe that incredulous look off your face. You had it coming.

Now, on to the meat of the episode: Sawyer and Locke. Now, I won't rub it in your faces that I TOLD YOU SO, but I will accept your multitudes of praise and worship of being the All-Knowing, Greatest LOST Blogger, Queen of all things LOST Champion of the World. That should suffice. Ahem, so yeah, Locke's dad is the real Sawyer. Who knew?! (I did! I did!)

Now, I used to not like Sawyer much at all, but, in all fairness, the island seems to have taken his um, manhood? But you know, not like that. I mean, he is the island's resident man-whore, but the whole hardened-criminal, the selfish, egotistical, "every-man-for-himself" Sawyer has gone soft. (Wow, this metaphor is getting worse by the second!!!!) That Sawyer has been replaced with a cute, easily-duped, thinking-about-other-people-for-a-change GIANT FREAKING TEDDY BEAR. And I don't like it one bit! And... where was I going with this train of thought? .... Oh, yeah. So all I'm saying is The Old Sawyer would have at least put on some freaking shoes before agreeing to follow Locke through the jungle to kill Ben, whom Locke has apparently kidnapped, and who is currently being held in "The Brig" of our favorite old, dilapidated slave ship, The Black Rock. (I blame Kate... if she wasn't such a man, Sawyer would have happily cuddled all night.)

But it wasn't Ben. It was good old Anthony Cooper, Locke's Daddy dearest, who is 100% convinced that he's in hell. In fact, dear old Dad even gets the auspicious "Line of the Night" award with "It's a little hot for Heaven!"

OK, I apologize for jumping all over the place, but before we get to That Scene, we have to talk about the "flashbacks" in order to get the proper perspective. (And it's my blog, so I'll do what I want, anyway. Neener neener neener.) So, immediately following the big revelation that "the magic box" held not the Smoke Monster (sorry, Ian) but rather, kidney-stealing Pops, Ben shrugs off Locke's utter confusion and invites him to go off to "an old place" with the other Others. So Locke bids adieu to Kate, packs his tent, and off they go to... a valley. (Yeah...) Stewardess Cindy helps Locke with the pitching of his tent, mentions that everyone's really happy he's there, since they've all been waiting for him, then Tom shows up and tells Locke that Ben needs to see him. OK, later Cindy! Off to Ben's tent, where The Evil One is listening to Juliet's report on Sun's ultrasound, and Locke is told that he's going to have to kill his dad. Oh, OK. Wait. WHAT? Yeah. So after Locke is put to the test which he ultimately fails because, let's face it, the guy's already got some serious Daddy issues, and killing the guy probably won't just fix things, the Others seem all disappointed-like, and leave Locke and Daddy (who's been strapped to a post looking all King Kong-esque and vaguely reminiscent of the whole four-toed statue thing this whole time) behind with instructions not to catch up until the deed is did, and when Locke tells Ben "You can't leave me," Ben fires back with "Don't tell me what I can't do, John." (OH, NO HE DIN'T...)

OK, seriously, these Others are pretty twisted. But to me, something that's even more interesting is the fact that they, themselves, are not murderers. Think about it. Not one of them, with the exception of Juliet, has killed anyone. Granted, Ethan almost killed Charlie, but the annoying hobbit's still alive. Not dead. Juliet was branded for killing one of her own, but no one else has contributed to the death of another on this island. Weird. Even stranger that they would make Locke do this twisted rite-of-initiation thing, when it seems to be so in contradiction to their "values," or whatever. So anyway, Locke can't do it, and is clued in by Suddenly Susan (what's his name again?!) that Sawyer might be the one whose help could be enlisted.

So Locke runs and gets Sawyer, and now we're back to the boat.

Whew. And to think I'm only halfway done....

Now, Johnny Locke read up on Sawyer (thanks to a file written in French provided by Juliet's recruiter guy) and knows ahead of time that his father was the one who killed Sawyer's parents, and that Sawyer has spent the better part of his life vowing vengeance and killing people that he just thought were the real Sawyer. Like that guy in Sydney. Ooh, yeah, thanks for bringing that one up, Johnny, Sawyer's reallllll proud of that. So anyway, Locke gets Sawyer to the Black Rock, and locks Sawyer and Daddy in the brig together (hahaha, get it Locke locks...ahem). They get to talking, and amid the whole "the island is hell" talk, it comes out that the Artist Formerly Known as Anthony Cooper has had a previously alias of Tom Sawyer (who, it could be mentioned, is perpetually barefoot, not unlike our version of Sawyer) and has, indeed been to Jasper, Alabama, the site of James Ford's parent's murder-suicide. (It should be noted that Jasper, Alabama is just a wee bit northwest of Birmingham, Alabama, but, more importantly, is the name of the town in GEORGIA where Josh Holloway grew up. Just for the record.) Lo and behold, this guy the one and the same who conned James' mother for her money and slept with her before James' daddy found out, killed her, and then turned the gun on himself.

Now, it must be said, shame shame SHAME on you, AnthonyTomCooperSawyer. James just wanted you to read that freakin' letter, and you go and get all uppity and tear it up in front of his face. I would have killed you too. But it seems to me that he was really rearin' for a killin'. Practically begging for it. Which makes sense, considering he's under the impression he's in hell, and well, just get on with the torture, I guess, yeah? But seriously, poor Sawyer. Makes me kind of sad that following his purging (quite literally...ew) of his issues, he's bound to kick it. Sniff.

OK. Recap done. Moving on to THEORY.

It's Purgatory. It's not Purgatory. OK, then it's Hell. What?! Come on, people, think outside the box here. It's not Hell, either. I'm believing more and more in the whole black hole, neither here nor there theory, personally. Because if what Naomi said was true, that they did find the plane, fully intact, everyone inside, then there's clearly some sort of alternate universe thing going on. And, as noted by Sayid, her phone thing is super advanced. As in not from 2004. We're talking 2008. Time travel? Black hole? I'm thinking yes.

But where does that leave people when they die? Are they then transported from the Island-in-the-Sky (per se, people, I'm not talking Heaven here) to... where? Do they just wake up (dead) on the plane that's underwater? Or is Desmond truly onto something with the whole course-correcting universe, where a flashback isn't a flashback but rather what would have happened under different circumstances?

Furthermore, it can't go unnoticed that recent episodes have been chock full of religious undertones. I've already mentioned the Ruth/Naomi connection, and then there was the obvious one, with Sawyer the Fake mentioning that his mother's name was Mary, but it dawned on me last night about the whole Ben/Jacob connection. We've all accepted as fact that Jacob is the Him to whom Ben referred last season while in captivity in the hatch. We also saw Jacob referred to in two instances this season, the first when Danny dropped the name, saying, "Shepard wasn't even on Jacob's list" and in Carl's brainwashing rave room, where it said "God loves you as He loved Jacob." Jacob, in the Bible, is the father of Benjamin, who is the youngest of 12. That, coupled with the knowledge that next week's episode, "The Man Behind the Curtain" (another Oz allusion!!!) is Ben-centric, might give rise to the idea that Jacob ("Him") is actually Ben's father. But chew on this: the skeleton in Hurley's VW van was Roger, a work man for the Dharma Initiative. I've already speculated that this character would prove to be of later significance to Ben, The Evil One, but I'm now updating this theory. I think Jacob is the man who raised Ben on the island, with Ben assuming that Jacob was his father,but some sort of scandal will prove that Roger, not Jacob, is actually Ban's father. (What's with all the freaking Daddy issues?!!) Finally, I'm still struck by Stewardess Cindy's comment to John that they've "been waiting" for him to arrive. Is John, who heretofore has been the Man of Faith, a second coming of sorts, someone to take over in Ben's death or departure? Maybe. It clearly could be interpreted like that.

Dude. That was intense. This week's episode, I think, got the ball rolling for what is going to be a completely dumbfounding season finale. Granted, there are still 3 more episodes left (including a two hour season finale) for a complete mindf**k to occur, and I don't for a second think that it will be anything less than brain soup. Next week's episode, as I've already said, is called "The Man Behind the Curtain" and is Ben-centric. I'm assuming we'll see Ben's birth on the island, the beginnings of the Dharma Initiative, and the "purge" that we've all head about. Look for Marvin Candle to make an appearance. Also, if you DVR'd (the things that are becoming verbs...) last night's episode, I'd suggest you go back and watch the teaser for next week frame by frame. Many interesting things there that you probably missed if you just watched it in real time.

I'd love some thoughts and feedback on what you think is going on here! Show me some love, people! Until next week, Namaste! :)