Lessons Learned in “The Brig”
1. One Must Consider Purgatory Very Closely
It’s one of those things that producers have been denying for months, and yet this entire episode clearly placed purgatory as a real option, especially considering the speech from Locke’s father regarding his last moment before arriving on the island. In the end, I think that there’s a case to be made…but it’s a case being made as a red herring from the producers. [For more background on this, The Elder McNutt sends us in the direction of the Lostpedia Wiki: “The Purgatory Theory”]
The case brought forward by Naomi, and by Locke’s father, is that the plane crashed off the coast of Bali, Indonesia, and was in a four-mile deep trench in the ocean. Through the use of robot video cameras, the wreckage was verified including all of its passengers. Now, this certainly seems like purgatory would make sense, especially because Locke’s father’s last memory is a near-fatal car crash. However, let’s look at why this can’t actually be the case.
– Juliet, Richard, Ethan, etc.
Juliet is a problem because she traveled to the island without, you know, dying, although you could argue that concoction killed her. Richard and Ethan is the same problem: they clearly travel between the two worlds. The only way this could be unwritten is if the purple explosion killed everyone and began the purgatory…but some people had no ill effects, so that can’t be the case either.
– The Possibility for a Fake Crash
It’s very clear that this crash site has been seen as proof to the general public, but let’s consider it more closely. The site is in a four mile trench…that’s deep. It was investigated by tiny cameras, and has never been seen by human eyes. This means that people are able to manipulate things in whatever way they please. Would it be impossible for Dharma to control this coverage and create a fake crash site using elaborate dummies? We know that before the purple flash they were able to communicate and move between the island and the real world. This would give them plenty of time to fabricate things, so this “They have to be dead they found the plane!” crap doesn’t prove anything related to purgatory.
So, in the end, I think we need to take this all with a grain of salt. A big one.
2. Locke, first and foremost, is concerned about Locke
Locke isn’t out to help others, but rather to reconcile his own existence. Ben is playing off this, in my view, and I think it’s all a ploy. This is the second time someone has received a message of dissent within the Others (Juliet to Jack, and now Richard to Locke) and I have to wonder whether either of them was truly genuine. Do people really want a change from Ben’s leadership this time around? If I can, I figure Ben’s kind of like Gorbachev; Ben is trying to fix the Others’ problems, but in doing so he’s losing sight of the big picture. Of course, in the USSR, this brought on the failed August Coup. However, what if that Coup had a leader like Locke? I think it would be an entirely different story.
But, Soviet history aside, the situation here is proof that Locke is most concerned with his own well-being and destiny on the island. With his father dead, and with the Boone thing behind him, and with Eko’s death having purpose thanks to its coordinates, Locke is pretty well guilt free right now. Will he be able to make a difference with the Others? Only time will tell.
3. Jack and Juliet Went Up the Hill to Hatch a Plan
It’s the question I think we’re most curious about after the episode’s end: what exactly are Jack and Juliet up to. Has Juliet informed Jack about Ben’s upcoming visit to their camp, and all of their plans? Or are they cooking up something entirely different. Juliet’s motivations have always remained on the fence, and Jack’s reaction to Kate’s news was awfully strange.
Personally, I can’t know for sure what they’re up to, but I’d say that Jack is in the know regarding Ben’s plan. The question now, though, is why Ben would ever trust Juliet with any truly important information knowing her position with Jack. Is he that naïve? Or does he have something up his sleeve. Something to consider, I guess.
4. Sawyer Got His Man
Finally, Sawyer manages to come to grips with his childhood trauma and kill the man who did it to him. It wasn’t a really integral part of things, but it’s good to see some movement in Sawyer’s character. It was well-acted, his meltdown, and certainly allowed us to delve a little deeper into Sawyer’s past. He remains, however, intricately connected to pretty well every castaway imaginable (He was in Boone’s back story, his baby mama was in Kate’s, he met with Jack’s father at the bar in Sydney, etc.), so it should be interesting to see what role he plays in the show’s overall mythology as we get closer to it.
5. Rousseau + Box of Dynamite = ???
It could have just been a throwaway, but let’s keep this in mind for future episodes. Rousseau is now carrying around a box of unstable dynamite (From everyone’s favourite 1st season slave boat The Black Rock!), and knows that the Others are holding her daughter hostage. I daresay that she might be considering some form of rash action.
Want to know what else went down in “The Brig”? Continuing reading for a full recap of the episode.
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Entertainment Weekly steps to the table with what is the 
Heroes deserves to be on the list for being the most unabashedly science fiction-esque of the three series, and certainly moreso than anything else on television today. The world of superheroes, of comic book universes, is something that has remained mostly out of network television realm in recent years; you’d have to go back decades to find shows like Superman, Batman, the Green Lantern, etc. in order to find a time when these types of shows were on the airwaves. And, much as superheroes have changed over those years, so has their television shows. Heroes comes to the table with intriguing powers, apocalyptic futures, and a collection of characters which bend the normal rules of human logic to a wonderful degree. In essence, it’s science fiction television for a new generation.
However, the problem is that Heroes hasn’t yet had time to really establish itself, so it is incapable of placing higher on this list. While it certainly has proven a sensation in this its first season, I’ve talked at length in the past as to whether it can continue on this path to success. Also, although I don’t think this is necessarily a bad thing, I don’t think the show has proven itself capable of balancing normal television drama with its science fiction elements. Any good piece of science fiction needs to be able to both present abnormal themes and events and, when the time calls for it, create human drama that remains relevant and real to the viewer. For me personally, outside of Company Man (Dealing with the backstory of the pictured Mr. Bennet), Heroes had yet to do it. This is why, for now, Heroes must remain on the lower end of the Science Fiction hierarchy. The future, however, could prove more kind to the series.
Cultural Learnings 