THE BRIG

Or, Bad Day At Black Rock

[Originally Aired May 2, 2007]

Locke sits by a fire, reading from a file. There is whimpering somewhere nearby. Locke tells whoever it is that no once can hear them. Flashback and Ben shows Locke into the "magic box" where his father, Cooper, sits tied. Locke asks how he got here and Ben continues with his "you brought him here" bullshit. Locke ungags his father but his dad bites him. Still an asshole. Tom tazers Cooper. He yells at his son "Don't you know where we are?" They leave him locked up and Ben tells Locke they're leaving and asks if he'd like to come along with them. "Yes," says Locke. At the beach Kate wakes next to Sawyer. She starts to dress and he asks where she's going. She can't sleep if she's not in her tent. "Fine, let's go to your tent," he says. Ummm.... She's not so keen on the "us" part of that. He laughs and offers to walk her home. Nah, she says. After she goes he heads to the bushes for a piss. He sees Jin and Hurley huddled secretively outside Hurley's tent. He asks what they're doing but they don't answer, instead just ask what he is doing. Alrighty then. While Sawyer is peeing Locke appears. Sawyer asks why he joined the enemy. Locke says he's infiltrated them. Yeah, right, not sure I'd believe him, James. Locke asks him to come with him, that he's kidnapped Ben. He wants Sawyer to kill Ben. Sawyer says he's no murderer, but Locke knows otherwise. Locke heads off into the jungle and Sawyer follows. Flashback and the Others have set up tents in a lush valley somewhere. Everyone stares at Locke but Cindy tells him not to worry about it. They're just excited he's finally there. Locke visits Ben in his tent. (As an aside, it's a nice tent. I mean really nice. It's got shelves, which are crammed with books and there is a table and chairs. Seriously, who the fuck lugs bookcases on an expedition like this? Is he some sort of Victorian-era colonel on safari?) Ben is listening to Juliet's tape. Locke asks what's up and Ben says "Juliet is gathering information for us at your former camp. She's determining if any of the women are pregnant. Then we're going to go in and take them." Why the hell would Ben tell him that? Unless he wants Locke to fuck up his plans somehow. Obviously, Locke can't be trusted, and Ben is no idiot. Ben stands and thanks Locke, saying "A week ago I couldn't move my toes. But the minute you showed up, I started to feel pins and needles. And this is only the beginning, John. I can't wait to show you what this Island can do. But unfortunately, you're not ready, John. You're still crippled by the memories of the man you used to be before you came to this Island. And you'll never be free, until you release the hold that your father has over you." He continues "I can't show you anything until you can show me that you're ready and willing to be one of us. When people join us here on this Island, they need to make a gesture of free will, of commitment. That's why you're going to have to kill your father." Ummm... okay. Outside, Cooper is tied to a giant stone pillar. Back at the beach Charlie gathers up food from the pantry and takes it back to Hurley's tent. Hurley and Jin are still huddling in front of it. Inside, Desmond looks over the pilot. Charlie wants to tell Jack she is here, have him check her wounds, but Dez doesn't trust Jack. They're not going to tell him about Naomi. (Oh, she's got a name! Cool.) In the jungle Sawyer limps after Locke. "You should have put some shoes on." Sawyer asks about the file and Locke tells him and then suddenly Sawyer hits him over the head, takes his knife and puts it against his throat. "How stupid do you think I am? I've already been conned by Ben once. Maybe you heard about it: bunny with a number painted on it. Think I'm just gonna follow you through the jungle? Where are you taking me? Tell me the truth! What do you want from me?!" Locke tells him again he wants Sawyer to kill Ben, that he can't do it himself. Sawyer says he'll take Ben back to camp but won't kill him. Meanwhile, Hurley brings Sayid back to the tent and introduces him to Naomi. She tells him her copter lifted off from a freighter about 80 miles offshore. He asks about Oceanic 815. "They found the entire plane off the coast of Bali. In an ocean trench four miles deep. They sent down cameras in these little robots to survey the wreck. The bodies were all there." Sayid tells her they're not dead. "Obviously," she replies. She confirms she wasn't looking for them, but for Dez. "My company was hired by a woman named Penelope Widmore. I don't know why, I never met her. She gave us a set of coordinates. We'd be conducting a differential GPS grid search ever since. We were given coordinates in the middle of the bloody ocean. We thought it was a fool's errand. Until three days ago. I was flying back for the ship when all of a sudden the clouds cleared and I saw land. The instruments started spinning, I realized I was going down so, I grabbed my chute and I bailed." Sayid thinks she may be lying, until she shows him her satellite phone. Flashback and Ben wakes Locke and tells him it is time. He takes Locke to where Cooper is tied up and hands him a knife. Ben tells him to make it quick. Locke is hesitant. Cooper calls him spineless. Ben says "As long as he's still breathing, you'll still be that same sad, pathetic little man that was kicked off his walkabout tour because you couldn't walk." Locke doesn't kill Cooper, instead just walks out of camp. Meanwhile Locke and Sawyer reach their destination: The Black Rock. Locke leads him inside and tells Sawyer that Ben is in the brig. Sawyer says he's still not killing him. He walks into the brig and someone is there, bound, gagged, hood over their head. Sawyer approaches and Locke shuts the door behind him, locking him inside. Uh oh. Sawyer yells for Locke to let him out, but Locke ignores him. The captive grunts and whimpers. Sawyer yanks off the hood. It's Cooper, not Ben. "Who the hell are you?" Back at the beach Sayid and Hurley look at Naomi's radio. Sayid gets it working but there is no signal. Kate approaches and asks where they got it. Hurley is a bad liar and tells her they found it in the luggage. Sayid asks her if she can keep a secret. At the Black Rock, Sawyer bangs on the door and tells Locke to let him out. Rousseau shows up and takes a case of dynamite. "Be careful, its unstable," Locke tells her. Flashback and Locke sits alone near camp. Alpert approaches, and sits next to him. He tells Locke Ben set him up to fail. "When word got back here that there was a man with a broken spine on the plane who could suddenly walk again, people here began to get very excited because that could only happen to someone who was extremely special. But Ben doesn't want anyone to think you're special, John." He hands Locke Sawyer's file and says he'll kill his father. Once he's out of the way Locke will find his purpose. At the Black Rock, Sawyer threatens to shoot Locke through the door. Locke knows he's full of shit, the gun has no bullets, otherwise he wouldn't have bothered to steal his knife earlier. Inside Cooper proudly claims his son is no dummy. Sawyer asks how he got here and Cooper tells him about a car wreck and how he passed out in the ambulance and woke up here. In Hell. Sawyer tells him they're not dead and Cooper tells him he is full of shit. "One minute I'm in a car wreck and the next minute I'm in a pirate ship in the middle of the jungle. If this isn't Hell, friend, then where are we?" He tells Sawyer how he conned Locke out of his kidney then paralyzed him by throwing him out of a window. Conned, Sawyer asks. Then he asks the man his name. Cooper rattles off a bunch of names, including Sawyer. Oh. My. Fucking. God! How did I not see that coming?!? WTF? Flashback and Ben tells Locke they're leaving except he and his father can't come. He can track them, but he better not show up unless he's got dad's dead body under his arm when he does. At the Black Rock Sawyer asks Cooper if he ever visited Alabama. Why yes, he did. Sawyer pulls the letter from his back pocket (and how has he managed to not lose that on the island?) and tells Cooper to read it. Cooper reads aloud and after a couple sentences is kind of incredulous about Sawyer's whole revenge scheme. Sawyer tells him to finish the letter but Cooper just tears it up. Sawyer jumps on him and wraps a chain around Cooper's neck and strangles him to death. Locke opens the door and thanks Sawyer. Jebus. At the beach Juliet and Jack have lunch until Kate interrupts. She tells Jack she needs to talk to him in private. "Anything you want to say to me you can say in front of her." Fine. Kate tells them no one trusts Juliet that's why they're hiding Naomi in Hurley's tent. Jack and Juliet are surprised. Juliet says "I think we should tell her." Not yet, Jack says. Huh? At the Black Rock Sawyer pukes then asks Locke why he did it. " He ruined my life. And he ruined yours. And he had it coming. Juliet is a mole." He hands Sawyer the tape recorder and heads back into the ship. As he is leaving Sawyer asks if he really was disabled. "Not anymore."