"Outlaws"

OCTOBER 6, 2010

FOCUS: SAWYER
EPISODE: 1.16
AIRED: FEBRUARY 16, 2005

I think “Outlaws” might be one of my favorite episodes of the first season. It has everything I could want from a Lost episode – some juicy backstory for one of the main characters, some odd humor (the line from Kate – “I’d say you’ve been following Boone for the past hour” kills me), a big “connection” revealed, and Kate tossing back shots. And it all surrounds Sawyer, who is one of my favorite characters and has inspired my current haircut.

And it’s certainly my favorite “this was a good idea” occurrence, because HOLY SHIT, I never realized that Sawyer was basically the one who killed Christian by buying him drinks when he was already obviously drunk. I’m not sure if I have watched this one again since the episode where he pals around with Ana Lucia, so I don’t feel TOO guilty about it (since you’d have to know the whole timeline to make that connection), but damn, what a kick in the ass. Now the question is, does Sawyer ever realize it? They’re all in Lost Heaven together, you think Christian ever looked at Sawyer and gave a sarcastic “thanks for the booze”?

This also makes Sawyer the sort of Kevin Bacon of the show so far, since he know has a a pre-flight connection to both Jack (through Christian) and Boone (at the police station). Later we learn that he crossed paths with Ana Lucia, and he also had one-step-removed connections to Locke (the “real” Sawyer) and Kate (Cassidy). Maybe more, but I can’t remember right now.

The episode also alludes to a “Tampa job” that is never expanded on, which is a shame, as I was hoping to see more of Robert Patrick on the show. I think he’s an underrated actor, and a good meaty supporting role on a show like Lost could have done good for him, not unlike Jeff Fahey in the later seasons. Oh well.

It’s also a bit of a frustrating episode, because there are two instances where you want Sawyer to open up to someone, only to withdraw. The first is with Sayid, which isn’t too important, as it regards the noises in the jungle and it’s not like either one had the answers to the other's question anyway. But man, how bad do you want him to tell Jack he met his dad? Especially after a cute little moment where Sawyer is actually nice to Jack instead of antagonizing him (the “stick em up” bit). I don’t know about you, but I always wanted these guys to become good friends. I loved the bit in Season 3 where they play ping pong together, and other assorted moments, but their bond never really lasted. And most of S6 they hated each other, so that’s a bummer.

As for the assorted other stuff, nothing too special. I like Hurley’s theory that Ethan would become a zombie, and it’s nice to see the raft come together, but there isn’t much in the way of plot advancing. Nor are there any unanswered questions (though I still don’t know what the hell Charlie is building when Claire tries to talk to him – it doesn’t look anything like the tool he uses to shovel Ethan’s grave to me), so that’s good.

One thing about watching them back to back like this – the eye thing at the beginning of most episodes gets kind of annoying. I’m glad they cut back on it as the show went on.

Where are we?