Lost - Confidence Man

I like that at the opening of “Confidence Man”, the answer as to who clunked Sayid over the back of the head with a piece of tree wasn’t immediately provided. It was certainly some good bait at the end of the previous episode, and to not pay it off right at the onset continues to chum the water. Sawyer has obviously, too, been set up as the questionable and suspicious character among the cast that when or if something suspect happens he comes to mind. He has that face, the smile, the presence of a shifty, shady rascal. The quintessential dirty, rotten scoundrel. A letter to a man named Sawyer from a child seeking revenge for the tragic death of his parents involving a deal that was too good to be true [because it was] is read by Kate who realizes that the Sawyer considered to be a scoundrel on her island is not quite what he appears. Again, Lost has been that show which reiterates through its episodic flashback approach (back and forth between those on the island and away) that each character has more to them than what we initially are led to believe. The Sawyer on the island, during “Confidence Man”, is wanting a kiss from Kate but she seems reluctant [natch]. 

The episode hints at Sawyer being in possession of asthma medicine because of a book he is currently reading…supposedly Shannon’s. Shannon needs that medication, but Sawyer isn’t talking. Sayid was with the Republican Army in Iraq and knows methods to make people talk, and Jack, desperate to get the medication, agrees this might be the only way. Splinters appropriately used in just the right spot under the finger nails get Sawyer to screaming. And eventually a scuffle with a knife hits an artery with Jack having to step in to save Sawyer. Sawyer, quite ballsey while gushing out of his arm, tells Jack if the roles were reversed he would watch him die! Lost appears to be setting up a love triangle. Sawyer loves to flirt with Kate, call her Freckles, and tease her. Requesting a kiss in exchange for supposedly revealing where the asthma medicine is, Kate agrees to kiss Sawyer and the two share what is a rather surprisingly lengthy smooch, full of tongue and taste. So Kate might not be as attached to Jack as first thought. If anything, this does produce a unique wrinkle in Kate’s relationship with the two men going forward. 

We see in flashback that Sawyer took money from the wrong guy and might have reason to want to stay on the island…could he be the one who popped Sayid upside the head? Sayid even questions John Locke, but John informs him that he has been busy cutting  up boar meat. The show continues to develop its subplots as well such as Sun-Hwa looks for eucalyptus with Michael as Jin-Soo thinks something is fishy and Charlie looks for peanut butter so that Claire will leave the beach for the caverns. And with Sayid torturing Sawyer and nearly killing him with the knife he feels he must separate in order to survey the island and behave himself.

Not every episode will be Walkabout. Some episodes will be about advancing the characters (it is oftentimes a marathon, not a sprint) instead of revealing any grand revelations. Sawyer gets his “official” episode as others have had, but I think his character will be of particular interest on the island instead of what misdeeds he was involved with off. I think he is perhaps a red herring as it is obvious he’s considered a candidate for wanting Sayid to fail in getting them off the island. Sawyer involved with married women, seed money, and the oil industry sets him up as quite a nefarious fellow, but as Kate points out on the island, he might just be a lot of noise and talk, not nearly as rotten as he proposes he is. Lost can be that show to present a character as one way only to gradually pull back the veil and show him or her as quite different. Sometimes the spine of a book doesn’t define what lies in its pages.