Lost: The Brig

Lost: The Brigh, oh boy, what an episode! Tons of new details and tons of questions, which is my theme tonight.

Here we go:

  • Why is Locke’s dad so certain he’s in Hell?
  • From his perspective it’s obvious, but why would there be a vengeance or redemption aspect in Hell? Also, if Purgatory is officially debunked, doesn’t that rule out Heaven and Hell, or not?

    I think they’re in some kind of metaphorical brig. I think the island is some kind of rehabilitation center for lost souls who have the potential to save humanity, either from overpopulation or impending doom.

    Just spit-balling here, but I haven’t heard anyone propose that the island has inmates and jailers. Maybe that’s why Juliet can’t leave? Just a thought.

  • Does Kate know she’s pregnant/Is she trying to prevent that/Why didn’t Locke force that issue with Sawyer?
  • A three-fer, but a very valid one. Kate has prior knowledge of Juliet’s research and she knows she’s had (as far as I know) unprotected sex with Sawyer, so why isn’t she worried about those potential repercussions?

    Also, if Locke has the tape, why didn’t he just name names? Why does he trust Sawyer to carry out that deed (unless he figures Sawyer’s relationship with Kate will propel him)?

    Which leads to:

  • Why would Ben let the tape go?
  • It’s obvious that Ben is the master schemer, so what is his purpose in letting the tape go with John and into Sawyer’s hands?

    Does he want the Losties to out Juliet as a mole so he can remove the possibility of her double-crossing him?

    Are the Others really trying to take the pregnant women or is that just a ruse to distract the Losties from the real threat?

    Is John truly on his own quest or does it synch up (via the promos) too much with The Others?

  • What did the other Others do to prove their worth?
  • What free will and commitment was required of Richard or Ben or Juliet or especially Cindy the flight attendant?

    Is Gary Troup really dead?

    What about the children?

  • How is Ben wasting the Others’ time?
  • Richard mentioned this to Locke, but what are the other priorities of the Others? How do they synch with Hanso/Dharma/Paik?

    Who is the leader of the other Other faction? Richard? Tom? Mikhail? (Speaking of which, where is he and how does he fit into all the “moving” and scheming coming around the corner?)

  • How much do we trust Naomi?
  • She spouted off the same line as Poppa Locke/Proto Sawyer about Flight 815 being at the bottom of the sea, but what do we make of that? Grand conspiracy setup by Hanso/Dharma/Paik?

    And how was that phone hidden in the roll of a pair of sweats? And didn’t it look a little too much like the Apple iPhone?

    What was that bunk about clouds clearing, then spotting the island then going down? It was the middle of the night when she crashed!

    Has she really never spoken with Penelope Widmore in person? Who is/are the others she mentioned previously (“I am not alone”)? Just the folks on the supposed ship? Penny on the helicopter?

    Did Mikhail know her personally? Was he expecting arrival? Would her appearance be a typical response to the purple event or the disruption/destruction of the satellite station?

  • How little do we trust Jack?
  • What is his pact with Juliet (other than “let’s got off the island while screwing over everyone who might have been our friend”)?

    What was he so reticent to tell Kate?

If that’s not enough I have some broader, general questions to round things out.

What is Locke’s purpose?

Are there other binary relationships like Sawyer and Locke, that is, are there other singular connections between two people on Flight 815 who might show up on the island?

That’s all for tonight. 3 more episodes!

9 thoughts on “Lost: The Brig

  1. I think Kate hasn’t even _thought_ about being pregnant. Her mind is consumed with getting Jack back. You know how I feel about Kate though.

    Interesting point about the Naomi’s statement about the clouds breaking but it being night. I haven’t doubted her story until just now. She’s obviously working for Penny though ’cause she knows about Desmond. Unless something really unlikely like _MR_ Widmore is looking for Des to really get him out of the picture or something but more likely not. Lots to think about on that one.

    I didn’t read Bad Twin but I love the idea that Gary isn’t dead and will end up appearing on the show. Fun.

  2. Hunter Maxin says:

    We have personally witnessed Gary Troup’s death TWICE now on the show. He is the guy sucked into the turbine on Day 1.

  3. Clouds can part and islands can be visible at night. Just saying.

    Also, I think the satellite phone intentionally looks like an iPhone, which is to say it intentionally looks like a next-gen phone. Sayid says he’s never seen something so sophisticated. Right now, that phone’s interface is a year or so off. In 2004, when Flight 815 crashes, that phone is even further off… in the future.

    Flight 815 as we know it crashed on an island that can be moved between possible Earths. (Perhaps just back and forth between two of them.) The EM/Purple Sky event was it moving from our world into the other, where 815 had no survivors. This move from one “life” into another jives with some of the ideas inherent in dharma and DHARMA.

    If they can’t save us from the Valenzetti equation on this Earth, maybe they’re trying to move people to a different one?

  4. Good points, Will.

    I hadn’t thought of Lost in terms of Crisis on Infinite Earths, only because it makes my head hurt. My timetravel theories, if I had any, were much simpler.

    Well, as simple as timetravel can be.

  5. Well, for simplicity’s sake, I think it’s moving between two different possible worlds, riffing on the philosophical notion of “the best of all possible worlds” and “there’s a hell of a good universe next door,” with more of the metaphysical ramifications of possibility, responsibility and faceted aspects of reality.

    Yeah, this is all pretty sci-fi-style, too, but part of the point of revealing this stuff so late in the series, IMO, is to make it feel more real, more human and, thus, more shocking.

    There’s no valve on how much of this stuff a show can deal with before crossing into the realm of “sci-fi” or “not sci-fi.”

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