Call off the Amber Alert. We can take his face off the milk cartons. Sawyer has been spotted again, and strangely enough it happened tonight during LOST. I thought for sure he would pop up on FLASHFORWARD or V, two shows that seem keen on hosting Lost stars after the island is done with them.
Anyway, the most recent episode of LOST, titled Recon, revolved around resident hunk James “Sawyer” Ford. This episode was in keeping with the inconsistent theme that has marked this season, where the episodes mirror episodes from season one. This trend has included using similar words and letter groupings in titles, with CONfidence man from season one and last night’s reCON being no different.
The two episodes also share the presence of the novel WATERSHIP DOWN, which appears on the island in Sawyer’s things during season one and on his dresser in his flashsideways. The book is referenced many times throughout the series, but the most relevant passage of the book now involves the confusion created by the “monster of smoke and fire.” (LOSTPEDIA did some stuff on this too.) Now the island’s very own monster of smoke is causing confusion in his form of Man in Locke (MiL). But enough of my terrible Doc Jensen impersonation: let me begin my dumbed down understanding of LOST.
I was a little perplexed by RECON. I was perplexed because I feel like I must have missed something, since to me the episode came up a little short in both storylines. I bought right into the Sawyer’s sideways story, but felt it was lacking in substance. The same can’t be said of actions on the island, which were filled with meat, but I never got a chance to ingest and taste anything before new flavors were being shoved down my throat.
I’m more concerned about the flaws of the flashsideways, because they speak to the condensed nature of this season. It seems like too much is happening in the flashsideways. I have no idea what they mean in terms of the LOST mythology, but as far as viewing pleasure they’re just sort of glossed over. Especially in Sawyer’s story, when I really wanted to connect to his world as a cop I didn’t get a chance to. Didn’t get to see him banter with Charlotte, who at first glance appeared to be a transvestite hooker. Would have loved for more interplay between Miles and Sawyer too.
And it’s not like I didn’t enjoy the premise. I bought into it immediately. It was a little predictable but predictable is fine when it’s executed as well as it was during the initial raid.
I didn’t really glean anything specific from the flashsideways, except for the fact that Sawyer’s life also appears to have benefited from a jumpstart. In this world he still underwent the tragedy of his childhood, except that he emerged from it on the good side. When he says he could have been a criminal or a cop I totally saw that coming. He was probably faced with the same sort of choices that altered the outcomes of the other castaways and he made the right choice, at least on the surface.
All of this has something to do with the redemption characters are finding in the sideways world. I don’t know what, and I’m willing to wait. (I don’t think this is reincarnation and I’ll be disappointed by that resolution.)
The final thing of note in the flashsideways is not the presence of fugitive Kate, but whether or not Sawyer killed the wrong guy in Australia. Ok, I guess the bigger thing of note is that Driveshaft might be having a reunion in the L.A. lockup! WE ARE (ALL?) EVERYBODY! Oh yeah, and way to reuse your romance moves with the sunflower, Sawyer. I don’t care if your sideways consciousness didn’t know Juliet, that crap is not cool. Your punishment? You have to drink the non-dharma six pack you brought over by yourself, as punishment.
But back to the island, which again served as a transition for something bigger. I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again: THE SHOW IS MAKING A MISTAKE IF IT ALL COMES TO ONE CLIMAX. They can’t have everything come together at once, because it won’t fit. This is tv, where things can be dealt with during the journey and not just at the apex. I understand that this is a marathon and not a sprint, but people need to die now and we need more SUNDOWN type episodes where the dynamic evolves. All of this posturing is just pointless.
Anyway, I wish the first two deaths had been Kate and Claire, with them both killing each other during Claire’s failed knifing. Kate is such a glutton for punishment, to the point where she teases the bear that is Claire the same way that dead trainer probably taunted the killer whale (too soon?).
Enough already. The only positive thing was that it led to heart to heart on Kate’s couch (err wooden log), where MiL revealed that he’d had a crazy mom like Claire. (Speaking of family trees, is Jacob his brother???). He blames his mom for all his issues in something akin to Norman Bates rationalizing his killing spree. I can actually imagine him taking his mom’s form, but only if her dead body crashed on the island. Not sure what we were supposed to infer from his mommy issues. I’m just interested in what he was referring to when he referenced his growing pains. Did he have awesome hair like Kirk Cameron and now he hates being bald??? Who knows…
I was devastated to realize that Sawyer doesn’t appear to have qualms with MiL’s methods. Kill some people in the temple? Why not, as long as you get me off the island. I’m still hoping that Sawyer is playing a long con on MiL, but as demonstrated by the rest of the episode he appears to be in legitimate cahoots with MiL to a certain degree.
When given the chance to explore Hydra I really thought Sawyer would come up with some plan to take down MiL, and he was even shown a way to make it happen. Ultimately he reneged on his deal with Widmore and told MiL the real status of things on Hydra island.
During Sawyer’s time on Hydra island we saw a huge mass of corpses that I didn’t recognize. I thought like 6 people were on the Ajeera flight and they all went somewhere. Who were these people?
The interesting discoveries came on the submarine. The first, in typical Lost fashion, was a closed door with locks on it. Not going to guess what’s in it. The second revelation wasn’t really one at all, as Widmore played the whole exchange close to the vest. He did tell Sawyer that he knew Locke wasn’t Locke, a very interesting bit of information to have if I do say so myself.
Last week I was convinced that Widmore was here to aid and abet MiL’s efforts, but now it doesn’t look that way. This raises the question of whether he’s the man Jacob was anticipating?!??! If so, does that mean no more Desmond or is he locked behind the door???? How did MiL know a submarine was there? Do Locke’s man boobs come with sonar???
I guess the thing to take away is that with Sawyer you never know what's going on, because there's always the possibility of a con. We do know that Josh Holloway was amazing in this episode and has been enjoying a renaissance since the start of season five. Again he carried this episode on his shoulders with his balance of charm and seriousness.
Hopefully my recap was more satisfying that this episode. Your thoughts?
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