CONFIDENCE MAN
Original Airdate: 11/10/2004
Written By: Damon Lindelof
Directed By: Tucker Gates
Character: Sawyer
Days Nine - Ten
Before I begin this review, I must take a couple sentences to apologize for my absence. It has been too long since my last review. I sat down to watch this episode not two days after I finished my review of The Moth, took notes and everything, but I put off writing the review, because then something happened. I was distracted by the release of that book. You know the one I mean. I will not take the time to gush here, although I feel in my soul the need with every passing second, because I know from reading my friends list that some of you do not appreciate the love and the joy that is to be found there. While I may disagree with you and pity you immensely, nevertheless the fact remains that I was sufficiently distracted by depression, by endings, and by the fact that all other stories seemed to pale in comparison to the herculean monster I had just spent the weekend reading not once, but twice. I found myself lethargic and uninterested in creating anything of my own words, for how could anything so paltry that I write ever compare to the glory and splendor? Alas, I fear I am making some of you want to vomit, so I shall cease my crazy talk and get to my review of this episode, one of my favorites, and I hope that this apology has been at the very least, somewhat amusing.
And now, to Sawyer. Oh, Sawyer, how I love thee. How I used to hate thee! I remember the first time I saw Lost that I hated Sawyer with the fiery passion of a thousand burning suns. I hated his accent, I hated his stupid hair, and I most of all, I hated his attitude. And then I saw this episode...and I was lost (pun!). I'm going to confess my love for Sawyer right here up front so that you may be forewarned. I have confessed that I don't understand Sayid as much, and maybe that's why I don't have very much, er, affection for him. But I understand Sawyer completely...or at least, to put it less arrogantly, I can relate to him. Which is probably another reason for putting off this review: I wanted to do it justice.
For another change of pace, I'm going to take this episode chronologically. Normally I begin with the centerpiece of the episode, or some sort of thematic tie-in, but as the centerpiece of this episode is finding out what's really motivating Sawyer, he's the mystery, it's best to take it in order. We come into this episode with certain expectations. We assume the worst about Sawyer because all we've seen of him so far is what he's let us see. But we learn a few things about our Mr. Sawyer. We learn that he's a confidence man, we learn that he has a tragic past, and we learn that he is a very complex character, indeed.
It begins on the beach with Kate walking alone, carrying bananas. She soon comes upon Sawyer who, without shame, walks out of the water in nothing but a smile (and a lascivious one, at that). The first thing that strikes me upon re-watching is how willing he is to bare himself physically before her when he is so unwilling to let her, or anyone else, see his real motives. It's like he's got some sort of mental disconnect between his mind and his body. Like everything he does is a show put on for everyone's benefit, but mostly for his, but at this point in the episode, the why has yet to be determined.
Kate says to him, "You sure know how to make a girl feel special, Sawyer." We then immediately cut to Sawyer in bed with a woman, who looks like she does indeed feel VERY special. That, my friends, is what we call irony. Because Sawyer does know how to make girls feel special, so special, in fact, that he can earn a living off of it. But we still don't know this yet. As Sawyer sweet talks Jessica and spills the briefcase money, we sense that something's up, but we can't put our fingers on it. Why is Sawyer being so nice? Even in the past, it seems, what's important to Sawyer is material possessions. Money. And then we cut to him on the beach, confronting Boone about going through his stash, after which Jack confronts him. Sawyer hoards things...why does he do this? His stash is tangible. He can touch it, hold on to it, make it his own. Even those books that he's always reading mean more if you stop to think about it. All Sawyer really has in his life are possessions. Possessions (and fictional characters) do not judge you, you don't have to share intimate secrets and emotions with them. They are there for you when you need them and you never have to justify yourself to them. Sawyer, who can't seem to make a genuine human connection to save his life, finds solace in these physical items. What's more, they provide a connection to the other Losties. They need him, they need his stash, and who doesn't want to feel needed in some way?
And then we learn that Boone is FREAKING OUT because Shannon has asthma and needs her inhalers. Well, it turns out that Sawyer's "bunny" book belonged to Boone and thus he must have the inhalers, too. Jack and the others automatically assume that this is the case; we as the audience assume it, too. Sawyer certainly doesn't deny it, but he's not giving, which pisses Jack off mightily (I'll come back to Jack later on). So Kate is sent to deal with the troublemaker. She confronts Sawyer, telling him she knows he's a human being somewhere inside that jackass exterior, that she knows he's really a good person inside. And we believe her...we can see it, too. So what does he do? He asks for a kiss, and when she refuses, telling him even he's not that despicable, he lets her know just what kind of a person he really is: a murderer, a liar, responsible for killing a family and orphaning a little boy. A confidence man. And she is surprised, really surprised, can't even look him in the face. And he is brimming full of anger and triumph, knowing he's showed her a disgusting image of himself. "Now, how bout that kiss?" he asks her, knowing full well that he's just shocked the hell out of her, a monumental task considering who Kate is.
But here's the thing, we know what happens...he didn't do it. He's the victim...he's the little boy who's parents were killed because of what a man named Sawyer did twenty years before. A man whose name and mantle our young "Sawyer" took up. So what are his real motivations? Why would someone possibly feel the need to take on that much blame? To make everyone hate him? The answer is simple: because he feels guilty. Here's a boy whose parents were killed by deception and anger. How could anyone growing up under those circumstances turn out normally? He had no role models for normality, for functional behavior. Instead, it was easier for him to take up the guise of the man who had ruined his life, to construct a pretend life over and over again, to relive that damning moment in his history over and over again, but this time as the victor. In this episode, we are only shown one of his cons and it is not specified when in time this con occurs, but we can assume that this con was different than the others. Because he drops it as soon as he sees the little boy, obviously seeing himself. When he sees that little boy, the illusion is broken. He can no longer see what he's doing as a show, but for what it really is.
I'm going to stop here for a moment to talk about the idea of a confidence man. Most people never use the whole phrase "confidence man," instead opting to go with con-man. The use of the whole phrase as the title of this episode is important. First and foremost a confidence man needs to gain the trust of his prey, their confidence, hence the name. To do this, he must be a great actor, willing himself into being someone else for hours, days, and even months at a time. The deception never ends; there are no cameras that shut off and his audience never gets up to leave. Sawyer the con-man is the greatest actor in the world. This is the perfect occupation for a man with an identity to escape. It's much easier living in someone else's skin than trying to inhabit your own. And this is something that's become a part of him. As I said earlier, everything's a show with Sawyer; he always keeps things hidden up his sleeve, and never shows all his cards to anyone except himself, which is why he's so unnerved by Kate's finding out about his true past. She's seen past his disguise, gotten a glimpse of the real him, a him he strives to hide even from himself. "Don't you pity me," he tells her, because then he'd have to pity himself. What's more, his behavior indicates that he doesn't feel he deserves her pity. You have to ask yourself, why would a person spend all of their time putting on such a horrible show? If he's such a good actor then why can't he make the Losties like him? Why can't he woo Kate without insulting her?
The answer is that he chooses to make the Losties hate him because it would be too hard to form relationships with them; he doesn't know how. True connection to real human beings is a skill he's lost with the pretending. He doesn't feel he deserves to be liked so he strives to be hated. As for Kate, he tries, he really does. But every time he tries to reach out to her he displays his lack of skill at real human connection and she dismisses his attempts as nothing more than a pissing contest with Jack. That is, until she learns about Sawyer's history, about why he's the way he is. And then something curious happens: she begins to understand him, where he's coming from, because they're two peas in a pod, really. She sees that underneath his asshole behavior, he's still that angry little boy whose parents were killed in front of him and because of her dark past, this darkness attracts her a little to him. This is definitely one thing Sawyer has going for him over Jack: he can understand the darkness in Kate, where it comes from, and Jack cannot.
The most interesting thing to me about Sawyer being a confidence man is that he's anything but confident. A confident man does not need to pretend or make money by conning it out of others. A confident man would have no need to be a confidence man, would gain no pleasure from it. Sawer has to trick people; he can't ever let them see the real him, his real emotions, because he's not confident, he's emotionally stunted. Even those nicknames that he uses, like his possessions, are indications of this. Saying somebody's name is like touching them. It's intimate and full of respect. Calling somebody "Doc" or "Freckles" is a way of distancing himself emotionally from them, most likely because he has so much emotion he doesn't know what to do with it. (Trust me on that one.) Moreover, why else do you think he calls himself Sawyer? At this point we don't know his real name, and letting the Losties know it would be unthinkable. It would be like knowing the real him.
This lack of confidence is shown in heartbreaking detail through the elaborate way in which Sawyer obtains a kiss from Kate, conning it out of her. He knows he could never get a kiss from her the normal way so he takes advantage of the fact that everyone believes him to have the medicine. He knows that no one will believe that he doesn't have it; he's the bad guy, after all. So, if all these people are going to believe the worst of him, something he already believes anyway, why not make use of it? Why not gain a little something in the process? Even then, you can see in his face when she finally tells him, "Okay," that he never really expected her to. You can see relief and expectation and anticipation all cross his face as he slumps back against the tree. It's a fantastic moment, really. And so she kisses him to get the medicine, and because she wants to deep down. She kisses him for that little boy who lost his innocence, and for the man that he's become. She doesn't do it for Shannon. It's interesting to me that Sawyer never specified what kind of kiss he wanted, she could have given him a quick one...but she gives him a soft, gentle, and passionate one...even though she can't look at him as she does so. And he latches on like a dying man, like a man who hasn't been hugged or truly loved in a very long time. And indeed, for all we know at this time, he hasn't been treated with true affection since his mother died.
Even Sawyer, however, can't see Sayid and Jack's actions coming. When Jack first badgers Sawyer about having the medicine, he is really frustrated, telling Kate that he wants to kill Sawyer just so he can feel better. This brings up an interesting point. "We're not savages," he tells her. And this is important to Jack: to be a good person, to be a human being and not an animal. They may be living in the jungle, but he and Sayid both recognize that in order to survive and to maintain their humanity and goodness, they have to maintain standards. Both men feel incredible animosity towards Sawyer for different and equally important reasons, but that does not by any means justify their actions towards him in this episode. You can see in Jack's face as Sayid begins to torture Sawyer to get the medicine that he knows their actions are wrong. He can barely look at the pair...but he doesn't stop Sayid. Part of him, the part that he told Kate about that morning, gives in to his primal urges. It's interesting to me that he allows the torture to happen after he told Kate he didn't want to be savage not an hour before. The end doesn't justify the means as he learns later, but right then, he wanted that to be the case. Both he and Sayid immediately recognize their mistake, Sayid feeling so guilty that he has to leave the Losties to regain his sense of himself. He was ready to take out Sawyer's eye, for Pete's sake. You can't just walk away from that. It's fascinating to watch Sawyer in all of this. He's the victim, but he looks righteous throughout, triumphant, as if he expected this all along, but he doesn't say a word of either his guilt or innocence. Pride, anger, and spite keep his mouth locked tight (except for the screaming). Sawyer is their scapegoat, and both of them realize it in the end.
Some quick, final thoughts. I love that Shannon was embarrassed about her asthma...and I love that Boone understands that about her. I love that Kate understands that Sawyer's just one big act even before she knows why. It's interesting to me that Locke is wrong for once; when Sayid asks him about Sawyer, Locke tells him what he wants to hear, and Sayid is all too willing to believe that Sawyer would attack him. The whole peanut butter thing with Charlie and Claire is too cute for words, Claire's reaction is a perfect balance for the extreme darkness of Sawyer's storyline. Also, when she says "Chalee", it makes me happy. When Hurley tells Jack that his calming Shannon down was like a Jedi moment, that's the biggest praise he can give him. Even though Kate can't look at Sawyer as she's kissing him, he can't look at anything but her. Sawyer looks really stupid with his hair slicked back. And one last thing about Jack: even though he's preoccupied with saving Shannon and torturing Sawyer, he still has time to be jealous. Kate says to him, "He (Sawyer) says we have a connection." And Jack responds, "Do you?" And when Sawyer tells him that Kate kissed him, his eyes almost pop out of his head.
Questions Raised
1. What is Sawyer's real name?
Questions Answered
1. The piece of paper that Sawyer has been seen reading since the pilot was a letter that he wrote as a boy to the confidence man who killed his parents.
Mythology
n/a
Motifs/Themes
1. Savages
2. Civilization
3. Deception, Cons
4. What makes a "bad guy"?
Death Count
n/a
Sawyerisms
1. To Jack: "Well, it's about time, cowboy."
2. To Kate: "Freckles, I got so many answers to that question..." (recurring nickname use #4)
3. To Hurley: "Stop what, chico?"
4. To Sayid: "You know what I think, Ali?"
5. To Boone: "Son."
6. To Boone: "Take your hand off me, boy."
7. About Sayid and Jack: "I just got tortured by a damned spinal surgeon and a genuine Iraqi."
8. To Kate: "You're just not seeing the big picture here, Freckles." (recurring nickname use #5)
9. To Kate: "Tell him to let go, Freckles." (recurring nickname use #6)
Character Connections
n/a
Songs
1. "I Shall Not Walk Alone", The Blind Boys of Alabama:
Lines of the Week
"Hell of a book. It's about bunnies!" Sawyer, ever the one for simplification.
"Yours? What makes it yours?" Jack to Sawyer, making a very good point about the ethics of possession.
"I'm gonna kill him."
"That's not going to help us get the medicine."
"Maybe not, but it'll feel good." Jack and Kate, on the nature of catharsis.
"We're not savages, Kate. Not yet." Jack, on why he won't give in to his basic urges.
"Baby, I am tied to a tree in a jungle of mystery. I just got tortured by a damn spinal surgeon and a genuine Iraqi. Of course I'm serious. You're just not seeing the big picture, here, Freckles. You really gonna let that girl suffocate because you can't bring yourself to give me one little kiss? Hell, it's only first base. Lucky for you I ain't greedy." Sawyer, with possibly my favorite lines in the entire series.
"You've been waiting for this, haven't you? Now you get to be a hero again, 'cause that's what you do. You fix everything up all nice. Time to let go, Freckles. We already made out. What else I got to live for? Hey, Jack, there's something you should know. If the tables were turned...I'd watch you die." Sawyer, still putting on a show.
"I became the man I was hunting. I became Sawyer. Don't you feel sorry for me." Sawyer, realizing he's let too much slip to Kate.
"I've worse things to fear than what's in the jungle. What I did today - what I almost did - I swore to do never again. If I can't keep that promise, I have no right to be here." Sayid, feeling remorse, and understanding that what he did makes him no better than a savage.
Written By: Damon Lindelof
Directed By: Tucker Gates
Character: Sawyer
Days Nine - Ten
Before I begin this review, I must take a couple sentences to apologize for my absence. It has been too long since my last review. I sat down to watch this episode not two days after I finished my review of The Moth, took notes and everything, but I put off writing the review, because then something happened. I was distracted by the release of that book. You know the one I mean. I will not take the time to gush here, although I feel in my soul the need with every passing second, because I know from reading my friends list that some of you do not appreciate the love and the joy that is to be found there. While I may disagree with you and pity you immensely, nevertheless the fact remains that I was sufficiently distracted by depression, by endings, and by the fact that all other stories seemed to pale in comparison to the herculean monster I had just spent the weekend reading not once, but twice. I found myself lethargic and uninterested in creating anything of my own words, for how could anything so paltry that I write ever compare to the glory and splendor? Alas, I fear I am making some of you want to vomit, so I shall cease my crazy talk and get to my review of this episode, one of my favorites, and I hope that this apology has been at the very least, somewhat amusing.
And now, to Sawyer. Oh, Sawyer, how I love thee. How I used to hate thee! I remember the first time I saw Lost that I hated Sawyer with the fiery passion of a thousand burning suns. I hated his accent, I hated his stupid hair, and I most of all, I hated his attitude. And then I saw this episode...and I was lost (pun!). I'm going to confess my love for Sawyer right here up front so that you may be forewarned. I have confessed that I don't understand Sayid as much, and maybe that's why I don't have very much, er, affection for him. But I understand Sawyer completely...or at least, to put it less arrogantly, I can relate to him. Which is probably another reason for putting off this review: I wanted to do it justice.
For another change of pace, I'm going to take this episode chronologically. Normally I begin with the centerpiece of the episode, or some sort of thematic tie-in, but as the centerpiece of this episode is finding out what's really motivating Sawyer, he's the mystery, it's best to take it in order. We come into this episode with certain expectations. We assume the worst about Sawyer because all we've seen of him so far is what he's let us see. But we learn a few things about our Mr. Sawyer. We learn that he's a confidence man, we learn that he has a tragic past, and we learn that he is a very complex character, indeed.
It begins on the beach with Kate walking alone, carrying bananas. She soon comes upon Sawyer who, without shame, walks out of the water in nothing but a smile (and a lascivious one, at that). The first thing that strikes me upon re-watching is how willing he is to bare himself physically before her when he is so unwilling to let her, or anyone else, see his real motives. It's like he's got some sort of mental disconnect between his mind and his body. Like everything he does is a show put on for everyone's benefit, but mostly for his, but at this point in the episode, the why has yet to be determined.
Kate says to him, "You sure know how to make a girl feel special, Sawyer." We then immediately cut to Sawyer in bed with a woman, who looks like she does indeed feel VERY special. That, my friends, is what we call irony. Because Sawyer does know how to make girls feel special, so special, in fact, that he can earn a living off of it. But we still don't know this yet. As Sawyer sweet talks Jessica and spills the briefcase money, we sense that something's up, but we can't put our fingers on it. Why is Sawyer being so nice? Even in the past, it seems, what's important to Sawyer is material possessions. Money. And then we cut to him on the beach, confronting Boone about going through his stash, after which Jack confronts him. Sawyer hoards things...why does he do this? His stash is tangible. He can touch it, hold on to it, make it his own. Even those books that he's always reading mean more if you stop to think about it. All Sawyer really has in his life are possessions. Possessions (and fictional characters) do not judge you, you don't have to share intimate secrets and emotions with them. They are there for you when you need them and you never have to justify yourself to them. Sawyer, who can't seem to make a genuine human connection to save his life, finds solace in these physical items. What's more, they provide a connection to the other Losties. They need him, they need his stash, and who doesn't want to feel needed in some way?
And then we learn that Boone is FREAKING OUT because Shannon has asthma and needs her inhalers. Well, it turns out that Sawyer's "bunny" book belonged to Boone and thus he must have the inhalers, too. Jack and the others automatically assume that this is the case; we as the audience assume it, too. Sawyer certainly doesn't deny it, but he's not giving, which pisses Jack off mightily (I'll come back to Jack later on). So Kate is sent to deal with the troublemaker. She confronts Sawyer, telling him she knows he's a human being somewhere inside that jackass exterior, that she knows he's really a good person inside. And we believe her...we can see it, too. So what does he do? He asks for a kiss, and when she refuses, telling him even he's not that despicable, he lets her know just what kind of a person he really is: a murderer, a liar, responsible for killing a family and orphaning a little boy. A confidence man. And she is surprised, really surprised, can't even look him in the face. And he is brimming full of anger and triumph, knowing he's showed her a disgusting image of himself. "Now, how bout that kiss?" he asks her, knowing full well that he's just shocked the hell out of her, a monumental task considering who Kate is.
But here's the thing, we know what happens...he didn't do it. He's the victim...he's the little boy who's parents were killed because of what a man named Sawyer did twenty years before. A man whose name and mantle our young "Sawyer" took up. So what are his real motivations? Why would someone possibly feel the need to take on that much blame? To make everyone hate him? The answer is simple: because he feels guilty. Here's a boy whose parents were killed by deception and anger. How could anyone growing up under those circumstances turn out normally? He had no role models for normality, for functional behavior. Instead, it was easier for him to take up the guise of the man who had ruined his life, to construct a pretend life over and over again, to relive that damning moment in his history over and over again, but this time as the victor. In this episode, we are only shown one of his cons and it is not specified when in time this con occurs, but we can assume that this con was different than the others. Because he drops it as soon as he sees the little boy, obviously seeing himself. When he sees that little boy, the illusion is broken. He can no longer see what he's doing as a show, but for what it really is.
I'm going to stop here for a moment to talk about the idea of a confidence man. Most people never use the whole phrase "confidence man," instead opting to go with con-man. The use of the whole phrase as the title of this episode is important. First and foremost a confidence man needs to gain the trust of his prey, their confidence, hence the name. To do this, he must be a great actor, willing himself into being someone else for hours, days, and even months at a time. The deception never ends; there are no cameras that shut off and his audience never gets up to leave. Sawyer the con-man is the greatest actor in the world. This is the perfect occupation for a man with an identity to escape. It's much easier living in someone else's skin than trying to inhabit your own. And this is something that's become a part of him. As I said earlier, everything's a show with Sawyer; he always keeps things hidden up his sleeve, and never shows all his cards to anyone except himself, which is why he's so unnerved by Kate's finding out about his true past. She's seen past his disguise, gotten a glimpse of the real him, a him he strives to hide even from himself. "Don't you pity me," he tells her, because then he'd have to pity himself. What's more, his behavior indicates that he doesn't feel he deserves her pity. You have to ask yourself, why would a person spend all of their time putting on such a horrible show? If he's such a good actor then why can't he make the Losties like him? Why can't he woo Kate without insulting her?
The answer is that he chooses to make the Losties hate him because it would be too hard to form relationships with them; he doesn't know how. True connection to real human beings is a skill he's lost with the pretending. He doesn't feel he deserves to be liked so he strives to be hated. As for Kate, he tries, he really does. But every time he tries to reach out to her he displays his lack of skill at real human connection and she dismisses his attempts as nothing more than a pissing contest with Jack. That is, until she learns about Sawyer's history, about why he's the way he is. And then something curious happens: she begins to understand him, where he's coming from, because they're two peas in a pod, really. She sees that underneath his asshole behavior, he's still that angry little boy whose parents were killed in front of him and because of her dark past, this darkness attracts her a little to him. This is definitely one thing Sawyer has going for him over Jack: he can understand the darkness in Kate, where it comes from, and Jack cannot.
The most interesting thing to me about Sawyer being a confidence man is that he's anything but confident. A confident man does not need to pretend or make money by conning it out of others. A confident man would have no need to be a confidence man, would gain no pleasure from it. Sawer has to trick people; he can't ever let them see the real him, his real emotions, because he's not confident, he's emotionally stunted. Even those nicknames that he uses, like his possessions, are indications of this. Saying somebody's name is like touching them. It's intimate and full of respect. Calling somebody "Doc" or "Freckles" is a way of distancing himself emotionally from them, most likely because he has so much emotion he doesn't know what to do with it. (Trust me on that one.) Moreover, why else do you think he calls himself Sawyer? At this point we don't know his real name, and letting the Losties know it would be unthinkable. It would be like knowing the real him.
This lack of confidence is shown in heartbreaking detail through the elaborate way in which Sawyer obtains a kiss from Kate, conning it out of her. He knows he could never get a kiss from her the normal way so he takes advantage of the fact that everyone believes him to have the medicine. He knows that no one will believe that he doesn't have it; he's the bad guy, after all. So, if all these people are going to believe the worst of him, something he already believes anyway, why not make use of it? Why not gain a little something in the process? Even then, you can see in his face when she finally tells him, "Okay," that he never really expected her to. You can see relief and expectation and anticipation all cross his face as he slumps back against the tree. It's a fantastic moment, really. And so she kisses him to get the medicine, and because she wants to deep down. She kisses him for that little boy who lost his innocence, and for the man that he's become. She doesn't do it for Shannon. It's interesting to me that Sawyer never specified what kind of kiss he wanted, she could have given him a quick one...but she gives him a soft, gentle, and passionate one...even though she can't look at him as she does so. And he latches on like a dying man, like a man who hasn't been hugged or truly loved in a very long time. And indeed, for all we know at this time, he hasn't been treated with true affection since his mother died.
Even Sawyer, however, can't see Sayid and Jack's actions coming. When Jack first badgers Sawyer about having the medicine, he is really frustrated, telling Kate that he wants to kill Sawyer just so he can feel better. This brings up an interesting point. "We're not savages," he tells her. And this is important to Jack: to be a good person, to be a human being and not an animal. They may be living in the jungle, but he and Sayid both recognize that in order to survive and to maintain their humanity and goodness, they have to maintain standards. Both men feel incredible animosity towards Sawyer for different and equally important reasons, but that does not by any means justify their actions towards him in this episode. You can see in Jack's face as Sayid begins to torture Sawyer to get the medicine that he knows their actions are wrong. He can barely look at the pair...but he doesn't stop Sayid. Part of him, the part that he told Kate about that morning, gives in to his primal urges. It's interesting to me that he allows the torture to happen after he told Kate he didn't want to be savage not an hour before. The end doesn't justify the means as he learns later, but right then, he wanted that to be the case. Both he and Sayid immediately recognize their mistake, Sayid feeling so guilty that he has to leave the Losties to regain his sense of himself. He was ready to take out Sawyer's eye, for Pete's sake. You can't just walk away from that. It's fascinating to watch Sawyer in all of this. He's the victim, but he looks righteous throughout, triumphant, as if he expected this all along, but he doesn't say a word of either his guilt or innocence. Pride, anger, and spite keep his mouth locked tight (except for the screaming). Sawyer is their scapegoat, and both of them realize it in the end.
Some quick, final thoughts. I love that Shannon was embarrassed about her asthma...and I love that Boone understands that about her. I love that Kate understands that Sawyer's just one big act even before she knows why. It's interesting to me that Locke is wrong for once; when Sayid asks him about Sawyer, Locke tells him what he wants to hear, and Sayid is all too willing to believe that Sawyer would attack him. The whole peanut butter thing with Charlie and Claire is too cute for words, Claire's reaction is a perfect balance for the extreme darkness of Sawyer's storyline. Also, when she says "Chalee", it makes me happy. When Hurley tells Jack that his calming Shannon down was like a Jedi moment, that's the biggest praise he can give him. Even though Kate can't look at Sawyer as she's kissing him, he can't look at anything but her. Sawyer looks really stupid with his hair slicked back. And one last thing about Jack: even though he's preoccupied with saving Shannon and torturing Sawyer, he still has time to be jealous. Kate says to him, "He (Sawyer) says we have a connection." And Jack responds, "Do you?" And when Sawyer tells him that Kate kissed him, his eyes almost pop out of his head.
Questions Raised
1. What is Sawyer's real name?
Questions Answered
1. The piece of paper that Sawyer has been seen reading since the pilot was a letter that he wrote as a boy to the confidence man who killed his parents.
Mythology
n/a
Motifs/Themes
1. Savages
2. Civilization
3. Deception, Cons
4. What makes a "bad guy"?
Death Count
n/a
Sawyerisms
1. To Jack: "Well, it's about time, cowboy."
2. To Kate: "Freckles, I got so many answers to that question..." (recurring nickname use #4)
3. To Hurley: "Stop what, chico?"
4. To Sayid: "You know what I think, Ali?"
5. To Boone: "Son."
6. To Boone: "Take your hand off me, boy."
7. About Sayid and Jack: "I just got tortured by a damned spinal surgeon and a genuine Iraqi."
8. To Kate: "You're just not seeing the big picture here, Freckles." (recurring nickname use #5)
9. To Kate: "Tell him to let go, Freckles." (recurring nickname use #6)
Character Connections
n/a
Songs
1. "I Shall Not Walk Alone", The Blind Boys of Alabama:
Battered and torn
Still I can see the light
Tattered and worn
But I must kneel to fight
Friend of mine
What can't you spare
I know some times
It gets cold in there
When my legs no longer carry
And the warm wind chills my bones
I reach for Mother Mary
And I shall not walk alone
Hope is alive
While we're apart
Only tears
Speak from my heart
Break the chains
That hold us down
And we shall be
Forever bound
When I'm tired and weary
And a long way from home
I reach for Mother Mary
And I shall not walk alone
Beauty that
We left behind
How shall we
Tomorrow find
Set aside
Our weight in sin
So that we
Can live again
When my legs no longer carry
And the warm wind chills my bones
I reach for Mother Mary
And I shall not walk alone
Kate walks alone...unaware of the peep show she's about to experience.
"Now, how about that kiss?" This shot is really beautiful. Kate looks down in shame, unable to meet Sawyer's gaze. Sawyer looks at her in fear, and in a sick sort of triumph. He's won, he's proven to her that he's the bad guy...for now.
The single hottest kiss ever committed to film...not gonna lie, I get a little excited every time I watch it.
Look at that smile...and all for peanut butter. It's small moments like these that make all the torment worthwhile. She looks like a little kid.
Sayid, ever the gentlemen. These two just seem to understand each other.
This shot is just really freaking cool.
Sawyer, alone, just can't bear to let it go.
Lines of the Week
"Hell of a book. It's about bunnies!" Sawyer, ever the one for simplification.
"Yours? What makes it yours?" Jack to Sawyer, making a very good point about the ethics of possession.
"I'm gonna kill him."
"That's not going to help us get the medicine."
"Maybe not, but it'll feel good." Jack and Kate, on the nature of catharsis.
"We're not savages, Kate. Not yet." Jack, on why he won't give in to his basic urges.
"Baby, I am tied to a tree in a jungle of mystery. I just got tortured by a damn spinal surgeon and a genuine Iraqi. Of course I'm serious. You're just not seeing the big picture, here, Freckles. You really gonna let that girl suffocate because you can't bring yourself to give me one little kiss? Hell, it's only first base. Lucky for you I ain't greedy." Sawyer, with possibly my favorite lines in the entire series.
"You've been waiting for this, haven't you? Now you get to be a hero again, 'cause that's what you do. You fix everything up all nice. Time to let go, Freckles. We already made out. What else I got to live for? Hey, Jack, there's something you should know. If the tables were turned...I'd watch you die." Sawyer, still putting on a show.
"I became the man I was hunting. I became Sawyer. Don't you feel sorry for me." Sawyer, realizing he's let too much slip to Kate.
"I've worse things to fear than what's in the jungle. What I did today - what I almost did - I swore to do never again. If I can't keep that promise, I have no right to be here." Sayid, feeling remorse, and understanding that what he did makes him no better than a savage.