Re: eating of the fruit of the knowledge of good and evil Brian is taking a bite of orginal sin, our baser instincts and using those to fuel himself. He uses knowledge to provide for himself, and others around him. He has taken sin, knowledge of good and evil, applied reason, logic, self interest, and imagination and redefined right and wrong for himself.
Yes!
The apple represents Brian saying fuck you and I own my own sin, sell you sin, and I will thrive off it as well.
Ohhh, that's so good! You didn't say whether you thought the writers did this intentionally or if it is simply something we can read into it after the fact. I tend to believe that very little of this show was left to chance and that the details were pretty well thought out (though S5 got the short end the proverbial stick IMO). Given your answer, I assume you're saying you think it was purposeful as well?
Really good answer firehead! Thanks for playing :)