s3e19: The Brig

Everyone who could not tell from last week's teaser that Locke had his father tied up and not Ben, raise your hands. No one? That's what I thought. Even when this show is being clever, it's sometimes too good (bad?) about telegraphing its next twist. If you can call that a twist.

The twist I did like - Locke's dad is also Sawyer's con-man namesake. I called it before they laid it all out in painstaking detail - "Why yes, I have been to your childhood hometown and used a literary character's name as my pseudonym, why do you ask?" - right when they went to commercial with Sawyer's "Who the hell are you?" Locke's dad is a con-man, he would have something to say that would make Sawyer want to kill him - it worked. I actually liked this twist; it's a nice departure from the characters having inane, tiny background connections that only serve to make people go "Heeeeeyyy..." Not as moving as the Sawyer/Jack's dad bit from the end of Season One, but fitting.

Locke's dad seems to think they're in hell, although as Drew suggested to me, it seems pretty obvious that this is just typical Others-style "go get 'em" activity. Hit by a car from behind and the paramedic smiles at him? Probably Ethan. The B-plot teases otherwise, what with the whole "They found the plane near Bali" thing, but then that doesn't even make sense, since Bali is in the opposite direction from Sydney that LA is. We really don't learn anything new, except that there's some interference preventing the phone from working, apparently. Also, people on this island are not good at keeping secrets, and Jack continues to be kind of an oblivious dick.

Locke's dad is typical Locke's dad asshole guy and Sawyer ends up killing him. Interesting moment for Sawyer there, since the show had spent the better part of a month trying to make him a really great guy. I suppose having him kill a total asshole (and still being sick about it) doesn't necessarily change that, and he already had killed one guy he merely thought was the con man responsible for his parents' murder-suicide anyway, but it's still interesting. I wonder how this might relate to him being a bigger leadership voice in the camp in the last three episodes (see: teaser).

Locke gives Sawyer some anti-Juliet ammo and then takes off, claiming he's not back to join Ben, but then he slings the body of his father on his back, so yeah, he is. (Side note: Rousseau getting dynamite, throwaway moment or daughter-rescuing payoff later on?)

Next time: Jack's still pretty annoying, as he apparently can't believe why no one would trust him for waltzing around with an Other. Everyone remembers how trustworthy Michael was after he came back, Jack! Of course, Sayid and Kate were held captive by the Others too, but they don't want to fuck one like Jack does. Sawyer plays the tape and Jack gets all huffy and Sawyer calls him on his shit. Locke goes back to Ben and sees some stuff, maybe. And there are only three episodes left and I think they're going to be three real motherfuckers. In other news, swearing is fun!