As we begin the episode, conflict abounds on the island. Jack is mending the wounds Sayid suffered when he was knocked unconscious by some unseen foe at the conclusion of the previous episode (remember that we later learn it was Locke who did they dirty deed). Then Shannon comes stumbling into the caves and supporting her step-brother Boone, whom Sawyer bloodied after finding him rummaging through his cache of supplies. Boone had been searching for Shannon's inhalers because she has bad asthma and ran out of her original dose of medication. As luck would have it, Shannon soon battles through some severe asthma attacks, and Jack has to coach her through them while Sayid tries to get the inhalers from Sawyer. As Shannon violently gasps for breath, I think to myself, I don't know what's worse: Shannon's asthma attacks or Maggie Grace's acting. Hah! I'm so clever. If that offends any Maggie Grace fans, then I apologize. That's my first--but definitely not my last--jab at Ms. Grace's acting, which I have always found atrociously bad.
Anyway, while all the hubbub over Shannon's asthma is going on, the flashbacks show Sawyer's life as a con man. Boy, oh, boy...was he a sleazy guy. Well, until a kid entered the picture. He was about to make off with a load of cash given to him by his mistress and her husband, but when he found out there was a young boy--not unlike himself--that would be hurt by the scam, he called it off. That's a pretty thin synopsis, but I feel that it's pretty straightforward at this point: Sawyer's parents were duped by a con man and it resulted in his father killing his mother and then turning the gun on himself. So even though Sawyer became a con man himself, he couldn't let his actions affect any children. Does that make him sort of a nice guy? I dunno...it's pretty murky. I'll say no, though.
Back on the island, Sawyer finds himself a little tied up. Literally. He's apprehended and gets some facetime with one of the Republican Guard's finest torturers. To be sure, Sayid was eager to once again become a torturer because Locke duped him much like Sawyer duped lovely ladies and their husbands. Early on in the episode we see that Sayid has been interrogating different people in hopes of finding out who cleaned his clock. When he questions Mr. Destiny, Locke turns the tables on him and suggests that it was actually Sawyer who sabotaged his triangulation plan. Sayid believes him. So Locke plays the role of manipulator here, even though that's not where he usually finds himself. I mean, in a related third season episode he did sucker Sawyer into killing Anthony Cooper, who turned out to be the confidence man we learn about in this episode. But getting duped into giving up a kidney and believing that he'll magically find his way back to the island? That's more like the Locke we know and love (or hate).
Anyway, Sayid shoves bamboo under Sawyer's fingernails and later winds up slicing one of his arteries. To top this madness all off, Sawyer tells Kate that he doesn't know where the inhalers are. Pretty brutal business, and by the end of the episode we learn that Sayid is going into some sort of self-imposed exile because he's upset with what he has done.
In the end, Sun comes to Shannon's rescue by creating some sort of concoction containing eucalyptus. It works, and Shannon can breathe again. Sawyer's tragic past is revealed to us by an angry Kate. She's angry because he tricked her into kissing him. Oh, and Charlie delivers a jar of imaginary peanut butter to Claire. If he had tried something like that on me, I'd have sent the Smoke Monster after him. "Confidence Man" also ends with another brief musical montage. I don't have any issues with it; I simply didn't remember that that's how they closed a lot of the first season shows. It's drastically different from the later episodes in which some dramatic twist is revealed in the last 120 seconds or so.
So, for a second consecutive episode there was little Lost lore, but a whole lotta character development. I'm not complaining, but it'll be good to move along and see some of the scenes that are a little more relevant after watching the fifth season. I think that's the main purpose of the whole re-watch.
See you in a few days, and thanks for reading!
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