Tuned In

Lostwatch: Oedipus Locke

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SPOILER ALERT: If you haven’t watched last night’s Lost yet, go to Hell. Or watch the episode, after which you’ll realize why I just told you that.

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ABC/MARIO PEREZ

How much did I love this episode? I loved it so much I wanted to take it behind the Black Rock and get it pregnant. I loved it so much I wanted somebody to slip me an IV of whatever they gave Locke’s dad and knock me unconscious for 6 days and 23 hours, so that I could come to and immediately watch the next one.

Like this week’s Heroes, “The Brig” excelled in part because it was a departure from form–the flashback was to earlier events on the island, not to pre-island days. But besides the story advancement, of which there was plenty, this was a horrifying, moving episode that worked on a pure character level. James-Ford Sawyer’s final scene with O.G. Sawyer in the ship’s hold let Josh Holloway find things in his character he couldn’t access while eating fish biscuits, dropping nicknames and mooning around with Kate. How perfect, and eerie, that Locke’s dad would see his “dead” son and presume he was in Hell. (And how perfect that the writers would use this to address the widely-floated they’re-all-dead theory, as the “Dave” episode did the it’s-all-in-somebody’s-imagination theory.)

A lot of plot to deal with, though, so here’s the hail of bullets:

* So Locke had to make a “commitment” by killing his father to gain entry to the Others’ club. His spectators didn’t seem surprised by this, so can we assume they all had to make a similar sacrifice? If so, what was it?

* And given that the Others seem to expect Locke to do the reverse Abraham-and-Isaac on his Pops, there must be some twist we’re unaware of on the supposed stricture the Others have against murder, no?

* I like Sayid better every time I see him. Whether or not his suspicions of Jack are founded, he’s wise to have them at this point–and to be more skeptical than the “camping” party was of Naomi the parachutist. He remembers, after all, what happened the last time someone showed up claiming to have dropped from the sky.

* So we have more info on the plane crash, and it turns out there were bodies. We’ve been told repeatedly–and this episode underscored–that the Afterlife theory is off the table, so I have to wonder: (1) were dental records checked or the bodies otherwise unidentified? (2) If it’s an elaborate hoax, where did the Others get their hands on so many corpses? Actually, maybe I don’t want to know.

* Loved the deadpan scene with Locke and Rousseau, who has been skulking around the margins of this season, but, it seems, to a purpose. I bet that dynamite goes off before the end of the season.

* Further evidence, courtesy of Richard, that there’s some kind of deepening schism within the Others. Does that dynamite go off before the end of the season?

* “We should tell them.” “Not yet.” Tell them what? Oh, God, tell them what? One guess: Juliet is actually working as a double agent, she and Jack know about the surprise Others attack and plan to tell the rest of the camp eventually. Why not yet? (Is it because word could get back to the Others through a certain spy, Chaddogg?) This would be in keeping with Jack’s tendency to dispense information on a need-to-know basis (unlike Chatty-Cathy Kate). I’m sort of hoping against this, because I like the idea of bad-girl Juliet. But in any case, I bet this is the story Jack and Juliet tell when Sawyer plays the spy tape for the rest of the camp.

The most thrilling part of the night, though, had to be the previews for next week’s episode, the long-awaited Ben flashback. (Speaking of which: I’m sorry, but I just do not get the people who complain every time the show focuses on the Others. First, aren’t they inextricably tied with pretty much every question we want answered about the island? Second, I’d watch According to Jim if Michael Emerson were on it.) Seeing that flash of the “Namaste!” Dharma sign gave me chills. Ah, well, only six days and change left. I’m ready for my IV now.