Episode 8: Confidence Man

From the beginning Sawyer has been one of the most compelling characters in my opinion. While he has undoubtedly grown to be one of my favorites, I will regretfully admit that I was not too fond of him at first. I say regretfully because I have always been a fan of the villain. Whether it be ‘the bad guy’ in wrestling or that really calculated and devious character that always seems to be a step ahead. Case in point is my love of Ben, but for some reason Sawyer just rubbed me the wrong way in the beginning.

Having said that, I know that he was supposed to make me feel uncomfortable but it wasn’t the rude nicknames or snappy comebacks that made me dislike him. It was more the fact that he was blatantly making surviving a more difficult task than it already was. As we have learned, Sawyer is clearly of the mentality that it’s ‘every man for himself’ even after listening to Jack’s inspiring speech about living together or dying alone.

Sawyer’s approach really shines through in this episode when he refuses to cooperate with Boone and Shannon when it is believed that he is hoarding Shannon’s asthma medicine despite the fact that she is experiencing an asthma attack.

As strange as it sounds, I think I began to become more intrigued and less annoyed with Sawyer’s character in this episode because this was the episode where you realize that he was either ‘off the deep end’ or just refuses to play by anyone else’s rules. Not only was he making everyone else’s life more difficult, but in this episode it was made clear that he didn’t care if he was making his own life difficult either.

The flashbacks were well done because you see the life that Sawyer led before the crash, which was not all that different from the life he led on the island after the crash despite the fact that everyone was given a second chance at life. The connections between the flashbacks and life on the island are always interesting. In this case the similarities are clear at first, but it is not always what it seems on the surface.

We will eventually learn that the letter that Sawyer carries around was not written to him, but by him. This makes his character much more complex than what was originally thought. Though he still cons and steals on the island, we learned that this life was almost given to him rather than chosen. This is evident in a flashback when he calls off a deal with a couple that he was conning once he realized that they had a young son. The fact that he called off the deal, put himself in danger from a man whom he owed money but his heart led him in another direction because of his past experiences. 

Not that this is a direct similarity to what happens on the island, but he most certainly put himself in danger and increased the size of the target on his back by not cooperating with the asthma meds. Even more curious is why he would put himself in this ‘line of fire’ when he never even had the meds in the first place. He negotiates a kiss with Kate as payment in exchange for the meds before he reveals that he never had them, but he also earned himself a professional torturing from Sayid and a few solid punches to the jaw from Jack.

It was at this point that you had to start feeling like Sawyer had a death wish or somehow thrived on creating animosity and hostility with the other survivors. Especially Jack and Sayid, whom along with Locke seem to be the leaders of the group of survivors.

Could this have been Sawyer positioning himself in this game that keeps unfolding on the island? In his flashback he speaks about making someone feel like its their idea even when its actually not, but this is a long way to go to prove a point isn’t it?

The way he acted up to this point is what led everyone to assume that he was the one with the meds. He then perpetuated this idea by never denying that he had them until after he was beaten and tortured. This could’ve been to prove to Jack and Sayid that you can’t be a good and effective leader by assuming things. Maybe it was because he just really desperately wanted that kiss and saw his opportunity to get it, even if it meant putting himself through excruciating pain and almost cost him his life.

Either way, we see a glimpse of how complex Sawyer’s character really is, and both Jack and Sayid must deal with the decisions that they have made. Jack bandages Sawyer up and essentially saves his life after Sayid accidentally hits an artery after becoming enraged at Sawyer’s lie. Sayid then decides to go on his own to map the island by himself because he cannot stand to stay at the camp after feeling the shame of what he had done to Sawyer.

In other island news, we see a theme from ‘The Moth’ repeated in this episode as Jack helps Shannon conquer her asthma without the use of her medicine since she has no access to it. This is very similar to Charlie giving up his dependence on heroin as it correlates to the moth needing to struggle out of their cocoon in order to gain the strength they need to proceed in life.