Tom Reviews Lost: Season 1 Episode 8 "Confidence Man"
It's Day 9 on the Island, and I know 17 out of the 46 survivors. And this was a Sawyer Episode.
And that is how you pull off a twist. I suspected early on in this episode that Sawyer didn't have the asthma inhalers. That's not the twist I'm talking about. The twist is why Sawyer goes through all the torture instead of admitting he doesn't have the inhalers. The twist to this episode, which completely shocked and delighted me, was that Sawyer wasn't really Sawyer. Sawyer was a con man that destroyed the lives of the parents of the man we now know as Sawyer. And the reason Sawyer allowed himself to be tortured was because prior to the crash he had come to the realization that after all those years of searching for "The Confidence Man" so that he could give him that letter, he realized that he had become that man. He had become "The Confidence Man" he hated so much. I love this twist, because it provides the character of Sawyer with so much depth, explaining why he has made such a point of becoming the most hated person on the island.
Seeing Sawyer's flashback to him being the greasy suit wearing con man was fun. I personally think it's part of him working out his resentment towards the way his own parents were conned, and I like how much confidence Sawyer has in his scamming abilities. It's always better for the asshole to be competent at his assholery.
I'm still rooting for Jack/Kate, but I have to say that Sawyer made a pretty good showing in this episode to convince me otherwise. His kiss with Kate was hot, and he was willing to go through so much physical pain to get to that point, that I'm reminded of the Buffy/Spike ship that I enjoyed so much from Buffy the Vampire Slayer. My reserve is floundering here.
I don't know if there's a valid reason for my Boone hatred, but I really dislike that guy.
Shannon having asthma and having a panic attack seems like an attempt by the writers to humanize her character. I don't like it. I hope she does something selfish in the next episode.
Charlie and Claire are cute. That bit at the end where he pretended to have peanut butter in the empty jar reminds me of the imaginary feast in Hook. I love that movie, so I approve this scene. Is it really true that most Australians don't like peanut butter though? That's weird.
I don't know why Locke tried to blame Sawyer for hitting Sayid on the back of his head. I don't think it was really Sawyer, so I guess the writers are trying to make it seem like it might have been Locke? He's definitely a viable suspect since he enjoys being on the island so much, but I feel like this is another mislead. My new random guess is that it was Steve and Scott. Their only appearance was a random cameo, but I'm going to guess that their introduction was actually more important than any of us realize.
So I approve of Jack's role in this episode. On the one hand, he wants to set an example and encourage everyone to remain civilized on the island. On the other hand, Sawyer is an asshole. He finds a good middle ground by hitting him a few times, but still not letting him die.
The Sun/Michael/Jin dynamic continues to play a role. I enjoyed that Sun ended up finding a natural cure to help Shannon. The survivors are going to run out of medical supplies eventually, and they're going to need to rely on herbology soon. (Five points for me for getting to say herbology in a non Harry Potter context.)
I want a Sayid episode! I don't have much to say about his whole torture plot in this episode. I'm sure that this whole topic is supposed to be edgy and though provoking, but that's not really why I watch TV. I like good stories about interesting characters, and as long as it doesn't provide a ham fisted moral message, I don't have much to say about these types of issues. I will just note that this episode seems like a role reversal on the Patriot Act and Guantanamo Bay dynamic, since Sayid is an Arab. I assume that people have thought and talked a lot about this since the show's been on. Instead I'm going to focus on how this whole plot resolves, with Sayid feeling guilty and wandering off alone to map the island. I like this idea, and hope it generates a cool Sayid episode some time soon.
Rating: 9 out of 10 lost asthma inhalers.
I really liked the Sawyer twist in this episode. It was well done and it caught me off guard. Most of this episode was solid, and with that twist to mix things up towards the end, I ended up really liking this episode. I'm not sure what it would need to be a perfect 10, but I don't feel like giving it out here. I really liked this episode, but I feel like a perfect 10 for this series will take a whole lot. I don't know what it'll entail, but I feel like I'll know it when I see it.
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