Lost follows up the very strong “The Moth” with “Confidence Man”, which took a deep look at everyone’s favorite rebel, Sawyer. Overall, it all turned out very nicely, as, much like with everyone else, Sawyer was given a great deal of character development that gave a little more insight into him as a person, beyond his knack for sarcasm and nicknames, of course. Plus, there were a bunch of cool moments along the way, which is always a good thing.
Unlike “The Moth”, however, there was really only one main plot thread in this particular episode. It all revolved around Sawyer’s beat-down of Boone after the guy was caught raiding his tent. This caused a reaction from Jack, who just flat-out does not like Sawyer. Sayid eventually chimed in later when Locke kept indicating that Sawyer may have been behind Sayid’s attack in the previous installment. As a result, there was a lot of tension and drama to be found here, all culminating in Sayid’s epic torture of Sawyer.
Yet, beyond all of that, there was actually very little to “Confidence Man”. Yes, we got some more insight into Sawyer through his “letter”. The reveal of Shannon’s asthma also made her a little more interesting, though not much more. The flashbacks were pretty straight-forward. Nothing too revolutionary to be found there.
Overall, this was an episode entirely devoted to the conflict between Sawyer and the Jack-Sayid duo. It all led up to that great torture sequence, which made it all worth it. But, other than that, not much actually happened, which lessens the episode a little bit in my eyes. However, not by much.
Cast:
Naveen Andrews as Sayid Jarrah
Emilie de Ravin as Claire Littleton
Matthew Fox as Jack Shephard
Jorge Garcia as Hugo Reyes
Maggie Grace as Shannon Rutherford
Josh Holloway as James Ford
Daniel Dae Kim as Jin-Soo Kwon
Yunjin Kim as Sun-Hwa Kwon
Evangeline Lilly as Kate Austen
Dominic Monaghan as Charlie Pace
Terry O’Quinn as John Locke
Harold Perrineau as Michael Dawson
Ian Somerhalder as Boone Carlyle
Michael DeLuise as David
Billy Mayo as Kilo
Kristin Richardson as Jessica
Story:
Boone is brutally beaten after he breaks into Sawyer’s tent. As a result, Sawyer is targeted by both Jack and Sayid, of whom both have their own reasons for taking their anger out on him. Meanwhile, Shannon begins to suffer from severe breathing problems, which prompts the rest of the camp to find various ways to help her out.
Pros:
- Shannon has asthma? While not incredibly revolutionary, it at least gave the character something to do beyond being a constant annoyance to everyone else
- Sawyer’s torture at the hands of Sayid was a brutal sequence of events that was all the more compelling given the fact that it went further than anyone anticipated
- Sawyer revealing to Kate that he never had the inhalers only after having undergone Sayid’s torture totally played into his whole rebellious side in an interesting way
- Sayid leaving camp due to his actions is a pretty intriguing plot development. Hopefully something comes from it
- “The Letter” was just what Sawyer needed to give our favorite rebel something that would make him sympathetic to the audience
- Sawyer: “You know what I think, Ali? I think you’ve never actually tortured anybody in your life.”
Sayid: “Unfortunately for us both, you’re wrong.”
Cons:
- Shannon suddenly having asthma reeks of the writers forcing a story onto her for the sake of the episode, not for the sake of character development, unfortunately
- Other than some key scenes, it just felt like not all that much actually happened throughout the hour
Grade: 8.3 B
Corner Ten Punch 