"Recon"

JANUARY 26, 2011

FOCUS: SAWYER
EPISODE: 6.8
AIRED: MARCH 16, 2010

It’s not particularly terrible, but “Recon” is the weakest episode of the season thus far (audiences seemingly agreed – it was the 2nd lowest rated episode of all time), due to a rather dull flash sideways tale, yet another annoying new character (Zoe, who I had completely forgotten about), and way too much dilly-dally. We’re 10 hours away from the end of the entire show – why are we spending an entire episode on Sawyer wandering back and forth, playing folks against each other?

Worse, why is his flash sideways all about him hiding a secret that we already know about? Apart from the fact that he got the name “Anthony Cooper” this time around (which they DON’T keep secret), his back-story is exactly the same – mom killed, dad suicide, con man named Cooper, wants to kill him, blah blah blah. Perhaps if in this timeline Anthony Cooper was someone who had tried to save his mother’s life or something, it could be valid, but the structure of this tale is bizarrely front-loaded with the changes – we know right away that Sawyer’s a cop in this timeline, and that Miles is his partner, etc – making it less and less interesting as it went.

And what the hell is the point of having him hook up with Charlotte? And don't make any "heaven" jokes. Wouldn’t Ana Lucia have made a lot more sense? “Hey, there’s this cop in the 18th precinct...” The two have lousy chemistry and no history in the real timeline, rendering this one of the more baffling “connections” in the sideways world. It’s more like they realized Charlotte wasn’t an interesting character but already booked Rebecca Mader to come back for a guest spot and couldn’t think of anything else. Zzzzz...

The episode also seems geared toward trying to make you sympathize with Locke/MIB and perhaps make their struggle not so (sigh) black and white, which is ridiculous because, well, they dress in black and white, making it fairly easy for the audience to peg which one’s the hero and which one’s the villain. He compliments Sawyer, protects Kate, etc – plus he seems to want to stop Widmore, who has been seen only as a villain up until this point. Again, there’s only 10 hours left in this tale (and you have to cut that number in half due to the flash sideways) – we don’t have time for perspective shifts anymore. Explain things and move directly toward the final confrontation.

Somewhere in this episode, the other passengers on the Ajira flight are killed. It’s actually kind of hilarious how casually this bit of information is revealed – Sawyer just finds a big pile of their bodies. He asks who killed them, and doesn’t get an answer... and that’s pretty much the last we ever hear about them. Between these saps, the various freighter personnel, the Others, the Dharma folk, and the original Oceanic anonymous survivors, Lost must have racked up a higher body count than any “Disney” show in history. And it’s almost sort of macabre and upsetting how no one else on the show seems to care. These are LIVES, people!

Tomorrow – the history of Richard!

Where are we?

PLEASE, GO ON...

"LaFleur"

JANUARY 10, 2011

FOCUS: SAWYER
EPISODE: 5.8
AIRED: MARCH 4, 2009

A Sawyer episode! Haven’t had one of those in a while. “LaFleur” is interesting in that it’s REALLY a Sawyer episode – Jack, Kate, etc barely appear, but James is front and center for two equally interesting stories, one telling the story of how he joined the Dharma Initiative, and another showing him in a leadership role, dealing with a minor crisis before the shit hits the fan (i.e. Jack and the others arrive). And it aired on my birthday! Nice gift, eh?

What I like about the episode is that it’s actually the inverse of a traditional Lost tale. Usually the present day stuff is action-based, and the flashback tells a personal story that relates to it in some way. But here, the 1974 tale has the action (shootouts! A hostile breach!), and in 1977, Sawyer’s finally coming around to enjoying a life without Kate. And while I certainly don’t buy that a man could forget what my lady looked like after just three years (I’d say at least 10), the sentiment is quite heartbreaking.

But at the same time, I really enjoyed the scenes depicting his growing relationship with Juliet. Her claim that she’ll continue to have his back (and the look on her face when he asks it again at the end of the 1974 tale) is quite touching, and it’s actually one of the few romances born out of the show that I totally buy. Sayid and Shannon never made any goddamn sense, and Kate’s back and forths with Jack and Sawyer usually sprung from her being pissed at the other - as much as I liked seeing her and Jack together in the present day, the two never really had that sort of bonding (not counting their very first meeting) that we see with Juliet and Sawyer here. Good stuff.

It was also fun to see him in a leadership role, and being respected to boot. Folks looked up to him, and he seemed happy. He barely even got to be funny in the 1977 scenes (though I liked his reference to the “coconut telegraph” – good thing he switched it from “internet”), but he did get to help settle a couple’s minor squabble and give his girlfriend a flower. And he makes it believable – good on Josh Holloway for his performance here. He’s barely ever gotten to play anything but an anti-hero, but here? Shit, he’s bordering on Matthew McConaughey rom-com mode at times. He even has his hair combed! I’m guessing this episode is a favorite amongst his female fans.

Speaking of the couple, the female is none other than Reiko Aylesworth, who was one of the few characters I liked on 24 (so of course, she was killed). And one of the Dharma guys who first sees “the hostiles” at the beginning of the episode is Kevin Rankin, better known as Herc from Friday Night Lights (the best show on TV!). Lost employed a lot of folks from my other favorite shows over the years, and S5 would be a goldmine – in addition to these two, Jacob was played by the guy who played Lucifer on Supernatural (and the Man in Black, aka Titus Welliver, also appeared on that show), and the great William Sanderson from Deadwood (and about a million other things) will be popping up in “He’s Our You”. All they needed was someone from MST3k and I’d probably be able to forget most of the stuff I didn’t like about the season!

Anyway, damn good ep, possibly the best in the season. Can’t remember specifically liking any one episode for the rest of the season (I’ll know for sure in about 10 days I guess).

Where are we?

PLEASE, GO ON...

"Every Man For Himself"

NOVEMBER 20, 2010

FOCUS: SAWYER
EPISODE: 3.4
AIRED: OCTOBER 25, 2006

As usual for Sawyer episodes, "Every Man For Himself" focuses on a con, but it's unique in that he cons someone who deserves it, in this case a fellow criminal. Also, he's not doing it for financial gain, but to get out of prison, which is kind of noble, I guess (though we must wonder what he was going to do with his finder's fee had he not learned of Clementine's existence). Add that to a better-than-usual Island story for the guy, and you have one of his best episodes.

Because not only are his storylines above average, but it's also the first episode to show that he really does care about Kate beyond his understandable desire to get caught in a net with her. Protecting her from knowing about his heart rate monitor is possibly the nicest thing we've ever seen him do, and there are other moments of humanity sprinkled throughout - he even tries to defend a little bunny! Speaking of which, the first time I saw this episode (when I thought he really killed it) that part really upset me. After all the stuff they've done, it was the first time I felt truly terrified of the Others.

And his newfound humanity allows for humor - dumping the bucket of cold water on his head to "calm down" after seeing her undress is hilarious every time. I also like that he lies about his age (and makes me feel fat - he's only an inch shorter than me yet weighs like 50 lbs less? F U!). Additionally, we learn that he's been a fan of reading long before the Island - I always assumed it was something that he picked up after the crash since he had nothing better to do, but we see him in prison reading "Of Mice And Men".

Also, while he's always been a "main" character (opposed to glorified supporting ones like Claire), it's the first time he's been at the forefront of an important piece of the puzzle; namely that they are not on the main island, but an "Alcatraz" a good boat ride away (no swimming to safety). I'm pretty sure it's the first (and possible last, can't remember) time Sawyer has been privy to important information concerning the Others that no one else has. We still don't know why they wanted him here (though we get a pretty strong hint of why they wanted Jack), but at least if they send him home a la Hurley he'll have something interesting to share.

As for the other stuff, we have Jack trying to save the girl Sun shot two episodes ago (again, the swapping of "Glass Ballerina" and "Further Instructions" really made no sense at all - I think if I ever watch the season again I will reverse their order), who is the wife of Pickett. Pickett may be one of the more vile Others, but you gotta feel for the guy here (it doesn't hurt that Michael Bowen is a great, underrated actor), sobbing as he beats the piss out of Sawyer. And I love Jack's little moment with Juliet, when he tells her he doesn't care about how she feels (which you can almost sense is a lie, though she's clearly hurt by it anyway). I don't know if it was a lack of time or what, but they never really followed through on Jack and Juliet's obvious feelings for each other; I think they kiss once and that's about it. Eh, she was better with Sawyer anyway.

We also get our first non-Hatch related Desmond subplot! As was hinted in the last episode, he has seemingly gained ESP as a result of the Hatch implosion (it was a trade for his clothes, I guess), and uses it to save Claire, or so we think. It's a perfect example of how often Lost characters would be seemingly incapable of just TALKING to people - why not just tell her he has a vision? With all the weird shit on this island, like anyone would raise an eyebrow? But it's worth it for Hurley's hilarious reaction to the odd structure he builds ("Is that... art?") - possibly one of his top 5 all time best reactions (#1, of course, being "You got some... Arzt on you.").

On the downside, Kate sheds her sundress and puts some pants on. Given the amount of climbing she does to get in and out of her cage (Ms. Lilly is pretty capable with this sort of stuff - have they picked a new Tomb Raider yet?), I find this to be a very unfair decision on the part of the writers/costume folks.

Tomorrow: the shocking death of a character whose actor didn't want to stick around.

Where are we?

PLEASE, GO ON...

"The Long Con"

NOVEMBER 6, 2010

FOCUS: SAWYER
EPISODE: 2.13
AIRED: FEBRUARY 8, 2006

If memory serves, "The Long Con" was the beginning of the end for my mom, who was a big Lost fan at first. But she really hated this episode, and then when S3 started getting all weird, she gave up entirely. Thanks a lot, "Long Con". Now she watches shit like Criminal Minds. I'm not a big fan of the episode either; it's a marginal improvement over "Fire + Water", as there are some good moments sprinkled throughout (and Kim Dickens! Had a crush on her since Zero Effect), but overall the episode goes out of its way to make you hate two of the main characters.

Granted, Sawyer has always been the sort of guy you love to hate, but his dickishness goes above and beyond the norm here. It actually made more sense when he was doing it just to piss off Jack, but the whole "You stole my stash, waaa!" excuse in his big speech near the end just comes out of nowhere. If it was so upsetting to him, why is this the first we've heard of it? It should have been threaded over the past few episodes, but if anything he's been unusually charming and civil since he got back - helping Hurley with Libby, getting along with Jack, etc. And the thing that sets him off doesn't seem right either - Jack takes back the painkillers that "belong to the group". But since when did Sawyer have them in the first place? Jack's always had all the medicine, hasn't he? Wouldn't the painkillers have come up back when he was having headaches?

And then we have Charlie being his assistant, which also is both out of character and poorly written to boot. How did Sawyer have enough time to even think of this plan, let alone rope Charlie into helping him? Sun gets attacked two scenes after Jack takes the pills, and the lighting is about the same. It just doesn't work. It's also idiotic for Sawyer to take a Mary statue as a "reward" for Charlie - wouldn't Locke notice one was missing and automatically have a pretty strong suspect?

(Speaking of the statue, at least I have an answer to my question from yesterday's episode - Locke didn't break them because he was superstitious about breaking them. Fine. Compared to everything else in this episode, it's genius.)

Some other sloppy stuff too - Hurley says he found a manuscript in one of the suitcases. OK, they've been there almost two months now - they're STILL going through suitcases? What, do they limit themselves to one a day? Supplies, food, etc - all of these things are crucial to their survival (pre-Hatch), so why would they still be finding stuff? All of the suitcases would have been gone through and sorted within the first week, tops. Also, Ana Lucia makes a Scott/Steve confusion. Sure, it's funny, but how would she know about that? She came along long after Scott (or Steve) died.

I wasn't surprised to learn that this episode's writers, Leonard Dick and Steven Maeda, were responsible for very few (to be fair, otherwise good) episodes, writing only one more after this ("S.O.S.") before moving on to other shows. All of the writers have been responsible for clunkers, and there have been worse episodes, but this is definitely one of the sloppiest over the show's run. I was actually surprised to learn that they HAD written episodes before - at times it almost feels like fanfic. Interestingly, one of their episodes was "Adrift", which was supposed to be a Sawyer flashback and reportedly featured Kevin Dunn, who appears here. So perhaps it was partially recycled from there.

Luckily, that stuff is fine. I liked the "twist" in Sawyer trying to pull the briefcase trick in front of Cassidy, and the little ties to episodes past (Kate's mother is their waitress) and future (Cassidy and Kate eventually become friends) are well implemented. Still, the final scene only serves to make us further dislike Sawyer, but until that point it's a decent enough flashback. And again, I am a fan of Ms. Dickens, so I had no problem spending some time with her.

I also enjoyed the little "B" story of Hurley and Sayid trying to pick up a radio signal. They were paired very rarely, but Hurley's open and lovable nature made for a fun contrast with Sayid's stoic and silent demeanor. Also, it features one of several hundred Lost scenes where a character comes over to another and tries to make idle chit-chat with someone before the other character gets annoyed and asks what they want (there are two in this episode alone, plus a sort of third between Jack and Ana Lucia). Make a drinking game out of it! Well, if you're watching every episode back to back I guess. Otherwise it wouldn't really be much of a game.

Luckily, Ben shows up tomorrow. The season gets back on track after that.

Where are we?

PLEASE, GO ON...

"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?

PLEASE, GO ON...

"Confidence Man"

SEPTEMBER 28, 2010

FOCUS: SAWYER
EPISODE: 1.8
AIRDATE: NOVEMBER 10, 2004

Since Sawyer was one of the more mysterious characters on the show, I remember being pretty excited for “Confidence Man”, as it would shed some light on his past. It’s not a particularly great episode (either on or off the island), but it got the ball rolling one of the series’ biggest “everything happens for a reason” revelations – the identity of the “real” Sawyer and how he related to one of the other castaways. Some folks figured it out prior to the actual episode where it was revealed, but I was not one of them. Score one for the writers.

Sawyer’s “late for a meeting/drops the money in front of his mark” trick would be used 2-3 more times on the show, so it’s kind of fun to see it actually working again, since the other times resulted in a plot turn of sorts. It’s also the “sexiest” episode of the show thus far; not only is Sawyer’s female mark (marcy?) smoking hot, but fans of Josh Holloway probably wore out their Tivo buttons during a few key scenes in the episode (“It’s about bunnies!”). There’s also that kiss that Sawyer demands from Kate, which goes on long enough for us to understand she’s not exactly repulsed by the idea. Over time, there would be a lot of relationships forged, though most of them were sweet or purely PG rated (Hurley and Libby). But whenever it came to Sawyer, for whatever reason, it’d be more about the sex (until Juliet anyway). Remember when he boinked Ana Lucia out of nowhere? Dude got more play on this show than the rest of the guys combined.

Claire also finally returns after taking the last couple episodes off. Charlie’s trying to convince her to move to the cave, and uses peanut butter borrowed from Pee Wee’s Playhouse to do it. It’s a sweet little subplot, with a random jab at Australians (why wouldn’t they like peanut butter?) thrown in for good measure. Their relationship was one of the more tragic in the series, so this stuff sort of breaks my heart when I start thinking about the show as a whole instead of trying to be ignorant of future events. However, Walt doesn’t appear in the episode, presumably because he was somewhere being “special”, whatever the hell that meant (biggest annoyance I had as a fan – the fact that these goons didn’t think a kid would grow up faster than the time depicted on the show, forcing them to write his character out and leave a giant plot thread dangling forever).

Speaking of watching with all the knowledge of future episodes at my disposal, the scene where Sayid discusses his attack with Locke is fun to watch. And it’s interesting, because Locke deftly throws Sayid off track by suggesting it was Sawyer who did it, which leads to the first of several dozen scenes of Sayid, our protagonist, torturing someone. He atones by taking off at the end of the episode, ashamed at what he did, but it was still a pretty ballsy thing to do with one of the show’s more endearing characters. And it was nice, in retrospect, to have a major plot development that occurred as a result of character action that was in no way connected to Dharma stations or time travel or whatever. The mythology was opening up (and in the next episode even more so), but the events of the show were still very much rooted in these characters.

Where are we?

PLEASE, GO ON...