“The Brig” was the 19th episode of Season 3, and was originally broadcast on May 2, 2007. A rogue Locke recruits Sawyer to help him when he discovers they have a common enemy. Meanwhile, Desmond questions whether or not the Flight 815 survivors trust Jack enough to tell him about the woman he saved.
Synopsis
Flashback
Anthony Cooper bites Locke as he removes Cooper’s gag. Tom electrocutes Cooper in the process.
8 days ago (Day 83). Locke stands face to face with Cooper, gagged and tied to a chair. He asks Ben what’s going on and Ben replies that Locke should ask himself as he brought Cooper here. Locke goes to take the gag off but is bitten by Cooper, who asks John, doesn’t he know where they are, as though Cooper has figured it out. Tom closes the door and Ben escorts John away, informing him that they are leaving for an “old place”. He invites John along and he agrees. Ben suggests he say goodbye to Kate.
3 days ago (Day 88). (Day) The Others have set up tents in a large valley field. During the day, Locke helps Cindy set up her tent. She explains that some of the Others peering over at him are excited about him being there because they have been waiting for him. Tom asks Locke to come with him to Ben’s tent.
Ben sits in his tent listening to Juliet’s report recorded in The Staff.
Ben is listening to the tape Juliet left for him at the Staff. He reveals to Locke that Juliet has infiltrated the camp, is determining if any of the women are pregnant, and then the Others will go in and take them. He tells John not to worry, that they have done it before and no one will get hurt. He asks John to get his cane, and stands up. He tells John that his healing has progressed much faster since he has been spending time with John, and he can’t wait to show him what the Island can do, but that John isn’t ready yet. He tells John that he won’t be free until he releases the hold his father has on him. John asks if he is talking about the magic box. Ben says that is just a metaphor, and that when people join them on the Island they have to make gesture of commitment, and that’s why John will have to kill his father.
Locke being urged to murder his own father by Ben.
3 days ago (Day 88). (Night) Locke is resting at night and is woken by Ben, who tells him it’s time. He brings John to a large pillar standing in some ruins, to which Cooper is tied and gagged. Ben hands Locke a knife and suggests that although it won’t be easy, “the quicker, the better”. Cooper’s gag is removed and he mocks John. Ben baits Locke, suggesting he is hesitating due to part of him feeling there might be some reasonable explanation for Cooper stealing his kidney and throwing him out of an eight story window. Cooper suggests it’s because John is spineless. The Others watch as Ben continues to goad John and John struggles with the decision. John holds the knife up to Cooper’s neck, but then finally backs away. Cooper starts to gloat but Ben knocks him out with his cane and announces to the Others that he’s sorry, but John is not the man they all thought he was.
Richard and Locke discuss Ben and what happened the night before.
2 days ago (Day 89). The next day, Locke is taking in the view of the encampment from the hillside. He takes the bandage off of his hand, discovering that his wounds have already healed. Richard Alpert approaches, remarking on the beautiful scenery and introduces himself. He tells John that Ben knew Locke wouldn’t kill his father, and had put him in front of the camp so everyone would watch him fail. Ben was worried because the Others were starting to think Locke might be very special and be distracted from the novelties Ben has kept them occupied with like fertility issues. Richard thinks Ben has been wasting their time, and Locke could remind them of the more important reasons they are there. Richard wants Locke to find his purpose. For that to happen, his father must die. Richard knows that Locke won’t kill him, but suggests that he could enlist someone else to do it. He hands him a file on Sawyer. Locke is confused as to why Sawyer would want to kill Cooper, but Richard tells him to keep reading.
Locke is left behind by Ben and The Others.
Yesterday (Day 90). John wakes up to the sounds of the Others packing up. He asks Ben about it and he explains that they are moving on and leaving John and Cooper behind. John says they can’t leave him behind, but Ben says not to tell him what he can’t do. John says he thought he was special, but Ben says that everyone makes mistakes. They are going, and leaving a trail for John to track. But he shouldn’t bother unless he arrives carrying the dead body of his father.
Realtime Events
At night, Locke reads the contents of a red folder by fire light. A muffled voice struggles to make itself heard but Locke tells the man to save his breath because no one will hear him. He throws the folder and it’s contents into the fire.
Locke confronts Sawyer as he is relieving himself.
Shortly before sunrise, at the beach in Sawyer’s tent, Sawyer is sleeping and Kate is lying awake next to him. Kate gets restless and insists on going back to her tent alone. Sawyer leaves the tent to pee and sees Hurley and Jin acting suspicious outside a tent. He calls them on it but they act coy and Sawyer continues to the jungle to pee. He is interrupted by Locke, who tells him to zip his pants and that he came there looking for Sawyer. Sawyer aims his gun at Locke and confronts him about his “blow up everything that could get us off the island tour” and joining the enemy. Locke explains that he has infiltrated the Others. He claims to have kidnapped Ben, and asks Sawyer to kill him. Sawyer claims he isn’t a killer but Locke says he has read the Other’s files on him, which reveal his murder of the man in Sydney. Sawyer denies it and Locke starts to leave. Sawyer tells him to stop but Locke keeps going so he follows him into the jungle.
Jack asks Charlie about the camping trip.
During the day, Charlie is getting some food from the kitchen area and Jack asks him about his camping trip. Charlie nervously tells him they were exploring, male bonding, and just got back early this morning. Jack tells him to sign him up for the next time. Charlie goes back to the tent and suggests to Desmond that they should tell Jack. Desmond says that Jack was with the Others too long and now is too cozy with Juliet and asks if they can really trust Jack.
In the jungle, Locke and a barefoot Sawyer walk together. Sawyer asks about his file and John says it reveals that his parents died when he was young but doesn’t explain why his father shot his mother and then turned the gun on himself. Also, high school transcripts, criminal records with con jobs he was arrested for. He guesses that’s why he has aliases and asks him why he chose the name “Sawyer”. Sawyer knocks him to the ground and demands to know at knifepoint what con Locke is trying to pull on him. Locke claims to be telling the truth, and that he brought Sawyer because he can’t do the killing himself. Sawyer agrees to coome with him, but says he won’t kill him, he’ll only bring Ben back to the camp. Locke says he understands, but believes Sawyer will change his mind when he hears what the captive has to say.
Hurley finds Sayid digging in the jungle, asks him if he can keep a secret, and brings him back to the tent. Sayid is relieved to hear from Charlie that no one has told Jack yet. Sayid goes inside and talks to the parachutist. She speaks with an English accent, and tells Sayid that her name is Naomi Dorrit. She flew the helicopter from a freighter 80 nautical miles west, as part of a search and recovery team.
Naomi tells Sayid a bit about her mission to find Desmond.
When he asks her about her statements regarding Flight 815, she says the entire plane was found off the coast of Bali in an ocean trench four miles deep. Submersible robots explored the wreckage with cameras, which showed that all of the bodies were there. Sayid asks who she was looking for and she says it was Desmond. Her company was hired by Penelope Widmore, who she never met, and who only gave them a set of coordinates in the middle of the ocean. They had been conducting a differential GPS grid search, but considered it a fool’s errand because they didn’t know about any islands in the area. Three days ago she was heading back to the ship when the clouds parted and she spotted land. The instruments started spinning and she knew the helicopter was going to crash in the ocean so she grabbed her parachute and bailed out. Sayid asks Desmond if he saw the helicopter, but he did not. Naomi asks if Sayid thinks she’s lying. He asks her if she had any communication device. She shows him the satellite phone.
In the jungle, Locke and Sawyer rest at a river. Sawyer asks John what Ben would say to make him want to kill him, but Locke says it isn’t his place to tell. Sawyer tells Locke he didn’t mean to kill the man in Sydney, that he thought he was someone else. Locke asks who he meant to kill. Saywer asks if they are almost at their destination and Locke says they are.
Sawyer and Locke arrive at the Black Rock.
Later, John and Sawyer arrive at “the Black Rock.” Locke tells Sawyer that Ben is locked up in the brig. He says it’s a slaving ship from the mid nineteenth century. He speculates the captain brought the slaves to try and mine the island, and that the boxes are filled with dynamite. A muffled voice cries out and Sawyer is surprised there is actually a prisoner. He reiterates his refusal to kill the captive. He enters the brig and Locke locks him inside. Sawyer turns around and takes off the bag covering the prisoner’s head, revealing not Ben, but Cooper, who Sawyer doesn’t recognize.
Sayid toys around with Naomi’s phone after he manages to get it working.
Back at the beach, Sayid is attempting to use the satellite phone. He manages to turn it on, but there are no audible channels because of some kind of interference. Kate discovers them and Hurley tries to make up a story about finding it in the luggage. Kate is incredulous and Sayid asks her to keep her discovery quiet.
In the brig, Sawyer bangs on the door and demands to be let out. Rousseau enters the ship and finds Locke. He asks her why she is there and she reveals she has come for dynamite. He point her towards the box, warning her that it’s unstable.
Sawyer continues to bang on the door, and threatens to shoot through the door. John tells him if there had been bullets in the gun then Sawyer wouldn’t have held a knife to his throat earlier. Cooper makes a comment about not raising a dummy and Sawyer makes him explain. Cooper reveals Locke is his son. He asks Cooper how he got to the island. He says he was driving down I-10 through Tallahassee when someone slammed into the back of his car, causing him to go through the divider at 70 miles per hour. He remembers being put in an ambulance, where one of the paramedics smiles at him, and the next thing he knows he wakes up in a room gagged and tied to a chair. The door opened and he was staring at his dead son Locke. Sawyer asks if he meant from Cooper pushing him out the window but he says that only made him permanently paralyzed. What killed him was his plane crashing in the Pacific. Sawyer tells him he was on the plane, Locke wasn’t crippled, and they crashed on the island, not the Ocean. Cooper suggests it isn’t an island, but hell.
Sawyer asks why he threw Locke out the window. He says Locke became a nuisance after he conned him out of a kidney. Sawyer is surprised that Cooper is a fellow con man and asks him his name. Cooper says he has had many names including Alan Seward, Anthony Cooper, Ted MacLaren, Tom Sawyer, Louis Jackson, and Paul. James says “Sawyer is my name too”.
Sawyer chokes Cooper with chains in the brig of the Black Rock.
Sawyer asks Cooper if he’s been to Jasper, Alabama, and he admits it. Sawyer tells him he killed Sawyer’s father. He gets out his letter and tells Cooper to read it. He starts to read it out loud, realizing it was written to Cooper by Sawyer when he was a young boy, explaining that after Cooper’s con, Sawyer’s father killed his mother and then committed suicide. Cooper claims he’s pulled the same con dozens of times on many women. Sawyer tells him his mother’s name was Mary and Cooper remembers her. He says she practically begged him to take her $38,000 and rescue her from her “sorry little life”. Cooper says he only took her money and isn’t responsible for what Sawyer’s father did. Sawyer demands that Cooper finish reading the letter but Cooper rips the letter into little pieces. Sawyer asks him if he wants to go to hell, wraps a chain around Cooper’s neck, and strangles him to death. Locke opens the door and thanks him.
Back at the beach, Jack and Juliet are eating together. Kate rushes up and asks to talk to Jack in private, but Jack insists that Juliet stay. Kate reveals what she learned about Naomi. She says no one told Jack because they don’t trust him. Jack ignores her comments about the trust issues and insists on knowing how Naomi was supposed to contact the boat. Kate tells him about the phone. Juliet tells Jack that they should reveal something to Kate, but Jack says “not yet” and rushes off to find Naomi.
Locke carries the body of Anthony Cooper.
Outside “the Black Rock,” Sawyer vomits. Locke tells him he can go back now. Sawyer asks why Locke did it. He says Cooper ruined both of their lives and had it coming. Then he reveals that Juliet is a mole and that the Others will raid the beach in three days. He tells Sawyer to go back to warn them, but that he won’t be returning. He explains that he was never under cover, but rather that he’s on his own journey now. Sawyer is worried he won’t be believed, but Locke gives him the tape player as proof. Sawyer asks if Cooper really threw Locke out a window and made John a cripple. Locke responds, “not anymore,” and disappears into the jungle, carrying Cooper’s dead body in a bag on his back.
Trivia
- Claire and Sun do not appear.
- This is the fourth episode to have all events occur on the island, after “The Other 48 Days,” “Maternity Leave” and “Three Minutes.” A fifth, “Expose,” had mostly on-island flashbacks.
- Several other episodes, notably “Walkabout,” “Live Together, Die Alone” and the introductory portion of “A Tale of Two Cities,” have featured on-island flashbacks to the crash.
- Naomi’s name is revealed, although ABC had placed it on press releases for the previous two episodes.
- A brig is a compartment that serves as a jail aboard a ship, especially on a warship.
- Cooper claims the Island is hell. A popular (debunked by producers) theory is that the Island is not hell, but purgatory.
- In “Outlaws,” Sawyer’s mother’s name was Brooke in the credits, but in this episodes, he claims her name is Mary.
- Locke’s hand was injured and wrapped from “The Man from Tallahassee” because his father bit him in this episode’s flashbacks.
- The “column” where Cooper is tied to was referred to by Ben as an “old place”, suggesting it has been on the Island for a very long time. It seems very plausible that the structure has some connection to the four-toed statue.
- The files that Richard gives to Locke include a police report in French, labeled “Ford, James (aka. Sawyer)”.
- Zack and Emma, the kidnapped tail section children, are shown in the Others camp along with Cindy.
- When the satellite phone searches for a channel, it shows its point of origin as being on the West Coast of North America.
Recurring themes
- Ben and Juliet’s plan is to find out which women are pregnant at the survivors’ camp, and kidnap them. (Abduction and kidnapping), (Pregnancies)
- Locke’s father is the same man who conned Sawyer’s parents, causing his father to kill his mother and then himself. (Character connections)
- Locke tells Sawyer about Juliet’s mission, whilst Jack and Juliet publicly demonstrate to Kate that they are hiding something. (Character secrets)
- Locke lied to Sawyer with the ultimate intent to make him kill Cooper. (Deceptions and cons), (Life and death)
- Ben tells John he has to make a gesture of free will. (Fate versus free will)
- Sawyer calls Locke “Tarzan,” “bald bastard”, and “Johnboy”. Cooper calls Ben “bug-eye”, Sawyer “friend” and Locke “Bald headed bastard”. (nicknames)
- Ben says “don’t tell me what I can’t do, John.” (Regularly spoken phrases)
Cultural references
| Cultural references in LOST (direct references only) |
|---|
| Art • Books • Cars • Games • Movies and TV • Music • Philosophy • Religion and ideologies |
- The books in Ben’s tent include “Word Power”, John Lescroart’s “The Oath”, and a book published by Farrar, Straus, and Giroux.
Unanswered Questions
- For fan theories about these unanswered questions, see: The Brig/Theories
- What is Danielle planning to do with the dynamite?
- What are Richard Alpert’s motives?
- Was he sent by Ben?
- What did Jack refuse to tell Kate when pressured by Juliet?
- Is she a double agent working with Jack, not Ben?
- How did Anthony Cooper reach the Island?
- Who built the column that Anthony Cooper was tied to?
- Where did Locke’s black eye first revealed in “The Man from Tallahassee” come from?
- Why didn’t Juliet seem very surprised by what Kate had to say about Naomi?
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