LOST: "The Brig" Recap [SPOILERS]

(If you're looking for the analysis section of these posts, I'm breaking those out separately, here's the link to that.)

Obviously, We're Not Dead

In the shortest of the three plots, Hurley, Jin, Desmond, and Charlie are trying to keep the existence of our yet-unnamed parachutist secret from Jack, and hence from the rest of the beach-bound folk.

It would seem that none of them particularly trust Jack, due to his support of Juliet, and his helping-out of the Others.  So instead they go to the one other person they do trust, Sayid.

They bring Sayid to the woman, who finally reveals her name (yeah we knew it, but they didn't) to be Naomi Doret, and she tells her story....

There is a freighter about 80 nautical miles west of where they are, and is part of the recovery mission.  They found the wreckage of the plane off the coast of Bali, in a four-mile deep trench...along with all of the bodies.  But since they were all considered dead, she wasn't looking for them at all.

Rather she was hired by Penny to find Desmond.  She was given a set of coordinates, that to them were in the middle of empty ocean.  When she got there, she saw the island through a break in the clouds, her instruments started spinning, and she bailed.

Sayid in his usual cynical way, asks if anyone actually saw the helicopter, and reminds them that she must have a way to contact the ship.  To which she pops out the sat phone, and says something most curious.  "Remind me not to rescue you , Sayid."  What that is supposed to mean, I don't know.

Sayid is later out on the beach attempting to fix the phone, with Hurley standing by.  He manages to get it operational once more, but cannot find a signal (can you hear me now?) when Kate rounds the corner and catches them.  They initially try to lie their way out of it, but eventually (and reluctantly) tell her the whole story, and make her promise not to tell Jack.

Which of course she does.  Why she does I don't understand.  I think maybe she was trying to put a wedge between him and Juliet or something.  In any case, Jack insists that Juliet can hear anything Kate wants to tell him, and so she does.  And lets him know that nobody trusts him now.

But Juliet and Jack know something nobody else does, "Should we tell her?" "No. Not yet."

Altar of Sacrifice

In order to get to the next phase of the story, we have to go back eight days prior, to Locke and his time with the Others.

We start immediately where "The Man From Tallahassee" left off, with Locke having just opened the door of a room where he finds his father, one Anthony Cooper, bound, gagged, and terrified.

"How did he get here?" " You brought him here, John.  Why don't you ask *him*," and John removes Cooper's gag only to be bitten, and bitten quite hard.  "Don't you know where we are?" Daddy says in a half laughing, half terrified voice.

Ben finally asks Locke to go with them, and he agrees.

Three days ago, Locke and the Others have arrived at their campsite.  It appears to be somewhat higher up on the island, and there are some ancient-looking ruins.  Whether they are or not, we shall see.  Locke and the otherly-converted stewardess from flight 815, are putting up a tent.  They draw looks and smiles from some of the rest.  "*We're* excited you're here.  We've been waiting for you," she says.  It would seem she's drank the kool aid as it were, and has joined the flock.

Tom approaches, and informs John that Ben has been asking for him.  (And I could've swore I heard some horses right at this point... but we never see any.)  He goes to Ben's tent, which is a lot larger than the rest, and is fully furnished with filled bookshelves, bureaus, and the lot.  Ben is listening to the tape that Juliet left in the medical hatch from the last episode, stops it, and puts it in one of the drawers.  John notices.

Ben grabs a cane and gets up out of the wheelchair, smiling, much to the surprise of John.  "I guess I have you to thank," Ben says, "the minute you showed up (assuming he meant at the barracks) I started feeling pins and needles.  I can't wait to show you everything, but you're not ready.  You're still crippled by your memories, and you'll never be free until you release your father's hold on you.  Why do you think you brought him here?"

Locke starts laughing at this and going on about the "magic box."  Ben replies rather irritatedly, "The box is a metaphor, John."  And we see Cooper tied up, rather sacrificial-like to one of the standing pillars of the ruins.  It almost looks like it was built for this purpose, raised up "altar style."

That evening, Ben comes to Locke, who is sleeping outside, and wakes him up.  "It's time."  He takes John to the "altar" and gives him a knife.  "Quicker is better," he tells him.  Cooper of course starts up, "You expect him to kill me?"

"Don't you want to be free of him?" Ben asks.  Then we see that the Others are starting to gather around in anticipation.  "Don't think, John."

Cooper keeps running his mouth, "All he wants is his daddy, you haven't figured it out yet?"  Ben turns to Locke, "Let go of him, you're doing this to yourself."

After some moments of anguish, Locke puts the knife to Coopers throat, but can't go through with it.  Cooper is still going, "I'll be here the rest of the week..." and then Ben knock him out cold with his walking stick.  He turns to the crowd and apologizes, "He's not who we thought he was."

The next morning, John is sitting up on a hill overlooking the camp.  He removes the bandage from his bitten hand, to find it completely healed, and looks at it partly amazed, partly knowingly.

The mysterious Richard Alpert appears, and introduces himself to John.  "He wanted to embarrass you in front of the rest.  He knew you weren't going to do it." "Why?" "Because when we heard there was someone who was healed so completely as you, that could only happen to someone very special.  Ben didn't want you to be special, but I want someone to remind us we are here for more important reasons.  I'm here to help you find your purpose," and he gives Locke a red-bound file.  John opens it, and discovers it's Sawyer's.  "If you can't kill your father, I know someone who might." "Why would he kill him, he doesn't even know him." "Just read it," and he walks off.

Up to one day before now.  Locke wakes up to find the Others tearing down and packing up.  "Where are we going now?"  "*We* are not going anywhere.  You both are staying behind," referring to the still strung up Cooper.  "It's your mess, why would we clean it up."

"If you're trying to embarrass me..." Ben cuts him off, somewhat interested, "Where would you get an idea like that?"  "You can't..."  "Don't tell me what to do!" Ben cuts him off again, now angry.  John replies, "You thought I was special..." "Well, everyone makes mistakes.  We will leave a trail for you to find, but unless you're carrying a body on your back, don't bother."

And the Others take off on a trail to someplace else.

The Whitewashed Fence

Kate gets up out of Sawyer's tent, apparently something about not being able to sleep in somebody else's tent or something.  Yawn.  She leaves, and Sawyer gets up to take a whiz.  He runs into Hurley and Jin being rather secretive outside the tent where they're keeping Naomi.  "Uh, hey.  Yeah, we're doing that too."

While he's, uh, taking care of business, he hears some rustling in the brush.  It's Locke.  "What are you doing?" "I'm looking for you."  He tells Sawyer that he didn't join up with the Others, that he's merely infiltrated them.  He also tells Sawyer that he's snuck into Ben's tent and kidnapped him, and his holding him prisoner, and needs Sawyer to kill him.  "I'm not a murderer," he replies.  "Neither am I. Well, don't tell anyone I was here," Locke then turns around and leaves.  A still shoe-less Sawyer decides to follow him.

During their trip to where Locke is holding "Ben", he tells Sawyer about his file, and everything that was in it.  "Why'd you pick the nickname 'Sawyer?'" Locke asks, and gets pistol whipped by "James" who puts a knife to John's neck.  "Why don't you do it yourself?" "I can't!" he says.  "I ain't killing anyone." "You will when you hear what he has to say."

They get to the river, and they're talking some more.  "You could've given me a heads up about this." "It's not my place to tell you." Talk turns to the man Sawyer killed in Sydney, "I thought he was someone else." "Well who did you mean to kill, then?"  Sawyer changes the subject, "Are we almost there?"

They arrive at the Black Rock, where Locke has Cooper in "the brig."  "You really do have him (still thinking its Ben).  We ain't killing anyone though." "Whatever you say, James."  Sawyer goes into the room to find who he thinks is Ben, with a bag over his head.  Locke closes and bars the door behind him.  Sawyer pulls the bag off, to find not Ben, but Mr. Cooper.  "Who the hell are you?"

Locke sits outside, whittling away at a stick, while Sawyer bangs on the door.  Much to Locke's surprise (and hers) Rousseau enters the ship.  "What are you doing?"  "Looking for some dynamite, and you?"  He doesn't answer, except to point out where it is, and to be careful since its unstable.  They exchange some more awkward "don't ask don't tell" looks and she leaves again.

Inside the brig, Sawyer continues to bang on the door, and pulls his gun.  He points it at the door, and threatens to shoot Locke.  John is unphased, "If there were any bullets in that gun you wouldn't have pulled a knife on me."  Cooper starts to laugh, "I guess I didn't raise no dummies."  And tells Sawyer who he is in relation to Locke.

"How did you get on the island?" Sawyer asks.  "Island? Ha!" Cooper tells him the story of how he was on the freeway one minute, in the divider the next, then in an ambulance as someone smiled at him right before he blacked out, only to wake up in the room where Locke found him.  He tells Sawyer about how John was paralyzed, and how his "dead" son is here.

"Are you sure its an island?" he asks.  Then tells about how everyone on the plane was supposed to be dead.  "If this isn't hell, friend, then where are we?"  Then mentions something about conning John, which perks Sawyer right up.

"Conned?" he asks, and thinks a bit.  "What's your name?"  "I've gone by many names, like most con men," and rattles off some, including "Tom Sawyer."

"How about that.  Sawyer's my name, too. Have you ever been to Jasper, Alabama?"

Cooper is still sarcastic, "Sure, don't tell me I'm your daddy, too." "No, you killed my daddy."  Sawyer pulls out the letter he's been carrying throughout most of his life and gives it to him, and tells him to read it.  He starts to read it. "Sure, I remember her.  If your daddy did kill her and then himself, then I'm sure he's down here somewhere," referring to the place he thinks he is.  Instead of finishing the note, as Sawyer commands, he tears it up.

Sawyer wraps one of the chains around his neck. "You want to go to hell?" and puts an end to both Locke's situation and his own.  Locke comes in and nods his head, "Thank you."

Outside, Sawyer gets sick after having just killed Cooper.  "You can go back now," Locke tells him.  "Why did you do this?" "He ruined my life and yours, he had it coming.  Juliet is a mole [oh yeah, by the way!], warn the camp.  I can't go back with you.  I'm on my own journey now."

"They won't believe me," Sawyer says.  John hands him the recorder with Juliet's tape in it.  "They'll believe you now."

"Hey is true what he said, that he threw you out a window and you were paralyzed?"  "Not any more" John says, and picks up Cooper's body, heading off to find the Others' new camp.

Conclusions

Well, being as these recaps get rather long, I think I'm going to start splitting this part off into its own post.  So we'll have a "recap" and then an "analysis."  That way you guys can read one or the other, if you don't want to read the whole thing in one shot...  Here's the link to "The Brig" Analysis....

Next Time

Whoa.  Ben standing at the door, "Are you sure this is what you want? So be it...."  I am so stoked for "The Man Behind The Curtain."  I expect to be told a lot about DHARMA and I'm not taking more mystery and questions as an answer!!!

(I would have gotten this up sooner, but I was having some serious connectivity issues this morning!)

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