LOST Discoveries

LOST:

The Long Con

Created by: Jeffery Lieber, J.J. Abrams and Damon Lindelof

Air date: Wednesday, February 8^th, 2006

The Long Con – The Best Of Grifts, Thyself Bestow

by Rob Sorenson

A Soulful Spike Society Review

www.soulfulspike.com

The Long Con – The Best Of Grifts, Thyself Bestow

by

Rob Sorenson

I think there’s been a mistake. 

Seriously, someone who’s spoiled should have checked the schedule and sounded the alarm.

“Lost” has what…10-12 main characters now?  Based on my math, that means each member of the ensemble will get about 2 – or, at best, 3 – “showcase” episodes in a given year.

The website for which I’m penning this review has a ratio of…what, 3 girls for every boy?  Hell, Surf City’s got nothing on us (hint for the kiddies among us – type Jan & Dean in your chosen search engine).

And yet…I somehow draw the episode that features (cue the majestic strings) Shirtless Sawyer at least 25% of the time?  I’m supposed to expound on something I’m not genetically predisposed to truly appreciate?

I mean…ok.  I’m comfortable enough in my own undies to admit Josh Holloway’s Sawyer is a good-looking man in a scruffy smart-ass kind of way…sort of a Country and Western Gambit, if you will. 

Or, for those who need an alternate reference, try this recipe on for size: 

Take one Paul Newman from The Long Hot Summer. 

Fast forward 50 years.

Lengthen the hair.

Remain unshaven for a week.

Add 40 pounds and a few inches…of height (minds out of the gutter, ladies).

Putting aside a few minor facial differences, remove an article of clothing or two…and voila!  You have (hit me again, band):  Shirtless Sawyer.

Of course, the recipe still isn’t quite finished, is it?  We need to add the garnish of a violent and tragic childhood, leaving a bitter and jaded young man in its wake.  The world taught Sawyer to victimize others before they could do the same to him.  Good people did not – and DO not – exist. 

Performing random acts of kindness for no reason, aside from the feeling of satisfaction that comes from helping others?  Making breakfast for someone in the morning, just to see the _expression of surprised pleasure on his or her face? 

Generosity?  Decency?  Even…wait for it…love? 

Sucker bets.  Useful tools to prey on the weak, nothing more. 

After all, what did love ever do for him? 

In the flashback sequence of this episode, “The Long Con,” it did little more than cloud his mind.  Almost got him killed before he came to his senses and remembered to use it to his benefit.  Love never did anyone any good…right?

“Right,” Fate has repeatedly – and emphatically - agreed.

Remember, less than two months before this episode of “Lost” takes place, that love was used against him.

He had never let go of the loss of his parents.  So much so that he was willing to travel to the other side of the planet to mete out vengeance (Sawyer’s too far gone to seriously believe in the concept of justice) for their deaths.  Twisted?  Sure…but love’s an insidious little bugger, no matter how much Sawyer tried to deny its existence. 

And hey!  Look what it made him:  Sawyer became the murderer of an innocent man.  Even worse (to his way of thinking), it made him a mark.

James Ford was the victim of the longest of long cons, literally decades in the making.  The cardinal rule:  love plus weakness spells opportunity for the kind of people with whom he associated…and as a result, the character we meet following the crash of Flight 815 is a reinforced Sawyer, now and forever.  It would be no easy trick breaking through that shell.

Bearing this in mind, we then fast forward to Jack rummaging through his things.  Jack, Jack, Jack…you don’t tug on Superman’s cape.  You don’t spit into the wind.  You don’t pull the mask from the ole Lone Ranger and you don’t mess around with Sawyer’s stuff (youngsters?  This time you can Ask Jeeves about Jim Croce). 

Subsequent events become remarkably easy to understand, though, don’t they?  Goddamn it, he’d fallen for it again!  Sawyer had actually been stupid enough to form cautious bonds with some of these people, and it was biting him in the ass.  Jack and Locke were busy hogging all the real power for themselves, while he’d grown complacent.  Reluctantly buying into the illusion that he’d become part of a real family for the first time. 

Weak.  Stupid.  He’d become a mark again…to a self-satisfied little snot like Jack, no less.  To think he’d actually taken pity on the arrogant bastard, showing kindness by sharing his experience with the Doc’s dad.

His reward?  Getting his stuff ransacked.

Ain’t no way that was going unanswered.  It was time to let everyone know just who they were dealing with.  

How neat for him that it also puts him back into the position in which he’s most comfortable – an object of fear, loathing and distrust.  Now THIS is civilization, partners! 

When Sawyer describes himself as a bad person, there’s little regret to be detected in his voice.  This is who he is supposed to be.  He doesn’t want any person’s respect or trust…or, worst of all, love, that invisible killer.  You trust what’s in front of you; a guy can’t count love in a wallet or load love into a gun. 

Maybe – just maybe – over time, Sawyer will come to understand the positive power of love…but it’s clearly going to be a long and painful road to that discovery on this island, populated with people as screwed up as he is (though at different levels).

End of sermon.  Please turn to the bullet points in your program:

· One area where I instinctively find myself in agreement with Sawyer:  why, exactly, are Jack and Locke automatically the most qualified people to control the ammunition?  I could see Jack in charge of drugs.  But the guns?  Count me among those who would prefer Eko or Sayid in control of the weaponry.

· Of course Hurley would be the one to bring Sayid out of his grief-stricken shell.  So sad that none of them will ever recognize his true worth.  Hurley’s destined to be the stealth hero…but that’s ok.  We all know, which is what matters. 

· Charlie…I actually felt bad for you in the previous episode.  Now, with what you’ve done this week…there’s a dangerously violent streak in you, huh?  First, you shot Ethan in cold blood (which I could accept, what with the hanging and all)…but now you hurt Sun, of all people.  Sawyer has plenty of psychological reasons that explain his actions; his pain and self-loathing run deep…but I can’t even imagine him physically injuring a total innocent for the sake of childish vengeance, you petulant little twit. 

· No Libby this week.  As usual, “Lost” hints at something, then doesn’t immediately follow up with an explanation.  I can’t ever remember a mega-hit show requiring this level of long-term patience from its audience.  At this point, I’m beyond complaining, however; they manage to keep me enormously entertained, in spite of the utterly confuzzling big picture.

And…I’m spent.  Hope you enjoyed.   

______________________________________________

Please join in the discussion of this review at the Soulful Spike Society Message Board. Go there NOW!

If you enjoyed this review and are reading it from outside the Soulful Spike Society website (www.soulfulspike.com), then click the logo below to access the S3 in a new window. There you will find more great reviews, analyses, fanfiction and a link to our marvelous message board.