Lost: "Recon" Recap

Recon. Re-Con.

This episode was also known as "Saywer finally pulls a hat-trick." Of course I am referring to the fact that Mr. Ford finally completes the spectrum of lays and has relations with one lady of every hair color; the big (random) flavor of the week was the late Charlotte Lewis (also of the C.S. Lewis tree of references), who in turn, offered nothing of value except passionate lovemaking and a tiny bit of info that she still fell into the archaeology gig. Sawyers' alternate digs, however, place him in different professional circumstances: he is a con-man for the law rather than a fugitive. Why is this important? Because Sawyer, to Miles (his partner, and loyal flunky in both worlds), explains that he at one point had an important choice in life: become a criminal or cop. In the alternate realm, James Ford chose the nobler of the two professions, yet all that "good" he has done in the name of justice has not rid him of his lust to find the con-man that destroyed his family.

One can infer from the fact that James Ford still endured the traumatic death of his father and mother, that Sawyer's fork in the road happens after Jacob touches him - or doesn't - at his parents' funeral as a child; more simply, Sawyer's alternate reality resets to when he had a choice as a confused child, whether to con for good, or evil.

Thus, did the island, and Jacob, still have an affect on Sawyer's life? Or, did the absence of Jacob allow for Jim Ford to edge toward good, rather than evil?

There was nothing really revolutionary about this story, compared to others in Lost cannon. What it established was its place in line with the rest of season 6's alternate lore of divergent and semi-redemptive stories. I say "semi" because it was probably not an accident that this story ends with Sawyer running into to alternate-fugitive Kate, because so far both of their off-island stories have been the most open-ended and unresolved: Kate was still on the run, and Sawyer was still in search of his family's con-man murderer (conmurderer?). Sawyer re-con's in his alternate life, and he maybe be re-conning everyone on the island.

Big question: because of Locke's implied relationship with his "too-be-invited to the wedding" father, is there a new Sawyer in James' past, or will it still turn out to be Locke's father?

"Recon" Off-island

* Sawyer lays on the old "whoopsy-suitcase" con the same way in both realities, but to different effects and desired outcomes; the point is that he is both in control of the the con in one reality and the arrest in the other, but more specifically it is to set up and underscore Darth Locke's faith in Sawyer and his ability to lie and detect lies.

* Charlotte = hot. It's amazing what happens for the complection when blood isn't spewing out of every orifice because of a time-warp. She finds a file (was she aleady looking for it?) in Mr. Ford's baggage labeled, "Saywer." The two ways to read this scene is either Charlotte was looking for this information, or whether this was part of a typical Sawyer con. Going back to the instigator of the date, multiple interpretations can be inferred from Miles offering up a "date tonight," including the veiled reference to whether or not James wanted to "die alone," (instead of live together). Are we to believe that Miles' friend Charlotte, who "works with his father at the museum", is not a police target and a potential Sawyer-con, or was the whole eventual odd sexing and morning-after meltdown a sincere (and awkward) one-night stand?

* After Sawyer's failed attempt at reconciliation (or follow-up BJ) with Charlotte, thanks to his tipsy revelation watching "Little House on the Prairie," he reveals the "truth" to Miles about his spelunking down in Australia; we didn't learn if he had murdered this time around, but Sawyer's soul-bearing lead to a run in with an awful stereotype: chick-driving. Yes, Kate did nothing but perpetuate the stigma that females have one weakness. I wonder if Sawyer's holding cells are called the "polar bear cages."

"Recon" On-island

* Hey - that's where Sawyer was last week when mass slaughter was going on at the temple - he was tending to Jin! Poor Jin, he is always either half blown up, or a prisoner. Smokey reveals to Sawyer, probably not to his great shock, that he is the smoke monster. For some reason, I didn't quite believe the MIB this time around; I mean I know everything points to him at least having control of the pillar of black death, but its starting to seem, especially out of Darth Locke's mouth, too obvious that new-Locke and the smoke are one and the same.

* A week ago, I was convinced, but the full-on disclosure by the MIB to Sawyer has me questioning whether or not the circumstantial nature of Smokey's recent assaults are due to the fact that the MIB is controlling the monster, rather than actually being the monster. This could also explain how Ben was able to call upon it at one point, but the jury is out rather than unanimous in my mind. OK, I know we had the first-person POV in Locke's episode "The Substitute," but there still could be a cool swerve waiting in the wings.

* Why does Darth Locke send Sawyer away? He claims its because Sawyer is the "best liar he knows," but obviously he anticipates an encounter with Widmore. The question that the audience needs to be asking is for what, or whom, is Widmore working for? Widmore, I believe, was too accepting of Sawyer's offer (and maybe-con) of bringing fake-Locke to be judgement at the hands of Widmore. Widmore easy-acceptance begs the question why he and he small horde didn't join Jack's posse, which leads me to believe that his presence on the island is either for Locke (and anti-Jacob) or for his own unknown purposes. Widmore had left the island several times at will to have and establish a family before his exile at the hands of Ben, so why would he come back? Either he had indeed fallen from Jacob's grace, or had been a victim of Smokey's influence over Ben and and Ben's consolidation of power over the Others; thus, if the latter is true, Widmore should be seeking revenge and a re-establishment of his power on the island.

* "Sayid, are you alright?" Kate was then interrupted by a crazed knife-wielding Claire going for the jugular. Sayid watched quite passively (and maybe hopelessly, or pilled out), as Claire's knife edged nearer to Kate's throat. Ultimately, Smokey comes to the "rescue," hurling Claire off with ease and then, quite literally, slapping some sense into her as only Chuck Norris could appreciate. Once again, this episode will play well for those of you Smoke-fans who enjoy his brand of full-discloser; Darth Locke tells Claire that she had disappeared, so Kate HAD to take Aaron. Ultimately, this scene leads to both an apology by Smokey to Kate for lying to Claire. His awkward and ironic reasoning: Claire had to be fed hate to survive in the absence of her baby. Star Wars link: hate and suffering = the dark side. Come on people, how cut and dry could the force be?

* This also leads to Creeper-Claire apologizing to Kate, but in an episode devoted to a con-man, this played more like an elaborate mind-game with Kate to win her over after Smokey was noticeably surprised by her presence in his camp. Call this a "Plan B" for the monster if you will, but this was the first time that Smokey has admitted to lying outright, which should set off alarm bells for all you Darth Locke lovers out there. In the end, these were brief, but great scenes that highlighted where our Smokey recruits are. Someone get Sayid a 5 hour energy shot - maybe he won't be so stabby.

* Sawyer reveals his gambit to Kate: he is trying to play Smokey and Widmore against each other to give them enough time to commandeer the submarine. Who the hell would pilot that submarine anyway? It made me wonder whether or not the all powerful one - the one most in need of a physical and cosmic man-chest support (he has chick-tits), Darth Locke, was also yanking Sawyer's chain about wanting to fly the plane off the island. If Smokey loved pilots so much, why kill the only one left alive in the first episode? Why let the new pilot, Lupidus, meander over to Jedi-Jack's camp? Hell, why couldn't he just Smoke his way off? It could have been the Sawyer episode, but I don't trust a damn thing or motivation the came from either Darth Locke or Widmore; ironically, the only one I did trust in the end was Sawyer - which I guess was the point. We all hoped and guessed that Sawyer was just on "recon," but maybe this long-con still isn't as cut and dry as we think it is. Perhaps we are still at the mercy of Sawyer and his devilish southern drawl.

Lost: "Sundown": Recap

Can he be redeemed?

Of all characters, Sayid is probably the most likeable quasi-villains any T.V. show has ever had; and yes, after tonight's viewing, I have to conclude that in his current "state(s)," Sayid's scale has tipped a little to far toward dark side. Ok lets get real, if his scale was a little off-balance at the beginning of the episode, by it's end there must have a big fat black rock weighing down on one side. From Republican Guard torturer-extraordinaire, to suave island-technology guru and lover to hot blond trust-fund asthmatics, to down and dirty assassin and kid-shooter - Sayid's whole journey has been tipping those scales all over the place. One moment his getting down and dirty with Shannon, the next his busting caps for hire on the back nine.

I still have my doubts though; Sayid's sudden shift seemed a little too arch-villainy for my liking. Then again, perhaps that is the point. As Dogen tells our doomed Lostie, once you hear "him" speak, it's already too late. Whatever Dogen and the other temple-dwellers feared was that thing that was lying dormant within Sayid - that thing that remained hidden next to his heart - has been activated by hearing the smooth-talking Smokey. It's sort of like having an Alien face-hugger implanting a chest-burster, but instead of flying chest particles you just turn evil  from the mere words of the entity that brought you back - the entity that implanted it there in the first place. Of course, that is also a common thread we have here with our suddenly evil cast of castaways: they were seemingly "dead."

1.  Sayid was drowned and clammy for 2 hours before shooting awake. 
2. Claire was a-sploded in New Otherton, only to turn up next to her spectral Daddy.
3.  Locke was killed by Ben, but Smokey has been taking his form out for a test drive. 

It begs the question: is Sayid really alive? Zombies!

The Sundown: Off Island

• Following the mold of the other alternate reality Losties' stories so far, this Sayid is a little smoother around the edges. He doesn't seem to have tortured past with Nadia (get it), he brings his niece and nephew sweet (dangerous) toys, and most importantly: he has his violence switch in check. 
• His brother wants him to rough up his loan-shark? No thanks, says this Sayid (even though it probably would work out better for him if his douche brother were out of his way). At several critical points in this new-reality story, Sayid is given the opportunity to do violence as a means to an end, and he refuses. It is not until he himself, as well as Nadia and the kids, are threatened that he takes action in there defense rather than cold blood. 
• Why did he push his bro to marry Nadia? Sayid self-righteously asserts that because of his sins, he does not deserve a life with her. Unlike in his former life where he tortured Nadia and tried to seek her for himself without fully taking a penance, this Sayid instead has spent his his years after the Republican Guard atoning for what he had done. Or has he? There was still a bit of ambiguity with his job, but perhaps for now we should take him at his word until proven otherwise that he is "translator."
• What if, by choosing to not be with Nadia, Sayid has ultimately saved her life in this new reality? He had a bad string of luck with the ladies he has loved (Shannon/Nadia), and it's almost as if karma has been blue-balling Sayid; maybe the horrors he committed were just too awful. Hell, those tortures and his lovers' deaths were even BEFORE he became an assassin and shot a kid. In this new reality, Sayid seems to have hit that fork in the road and chosen "pacifism unless really F'd with," over wanton violence and kid shooting. Hey, maybe the only way for him to be with Nadia was to not be with her. The sill love each other though, which might be all the counts. 
• The Keamy/Sayid death part deaux echoed an idea that I threw out there in the Locke episode a few weeks back when I wondered whether or not Rose and other peripheral characters would still have the same fate. Rose has terminal cancer in both realities, and Keamy dies by Sayid's hand in both realities; I wonder if Dr. Linus is going to push a cripple down the school steps?
• Hey, actual cross-castaway story progression! Jin ended up in Keamy's freezer. Guess he fell for "Keamy's Kash 4 Gold" scam. 

The Sundown: On Island

• Samurai vs. Assassin? Yes please! By far the best choreographed fight scene since Ben getting punched in the face (the twentieth time, of course), Sayid and Dogen busted out some sweet Matrix leg sweeps and gurney dives. Of course, just when I yell, "FINISH HIM," Dogen doesn't have the ball(s) to do it. Did remembering his son's death really make him beg off? Or was it the memory of Jacob's offer and the fact that Sayid still was a candidate?
•  Sayid is once again led to do dirty work again. First, he is seemingly tricked by Dogen to maybe getting slain on purpose by Darth Locke. I for one do not think this was the case (more Smokey misdirection), as Dogen should have known if Sayid had "darkness" about to take over, Smokey was probably not going to keep him as a prized recruit rather than kill. To me, it's more probably that it was a last ditch effort to try something that was ultimately futile, as Jacob's magical swords have no effect once he is dead and the water has turned a nice poo-shade.
• In terms of info on our favorite deities, the big news is that one side views smokey as the "evil incarnate" that will slay everyone on the island, while Smokey goes about offering seemingly impossible things for the sake of fealty, just like his nemesis Jacob did with Dogen. I was still sort of playing with the idea that like Republicans and Democracts, both sides were portraying the other as more extreme than they actually were: Jacob uses misdirection and is willing to kill a lot of people for a sake of a few to get what he wants, while Smokey just wants to kill EVERYTHING; after the wanton slaughter though, I am going to have to side with team Jacob. Does it make me a bad person that I loved the smokey storming the citadel scene so much though? I hope that one day the audience is treated with an actual transformation between the MIB's Smoke and Locke forms.
• RIP Dogen and Lennon. In what seemed almost as nefariously comical as Anakin's nonsensical turn to Darth Vader in Episode III, Sayid went suddenly off the deep end with his own force-choke and neck-filet. I wonder if there was more to the conversation after Smokey promised him that he could have anything (clearly there was, as Sayid returns to the temple with a message for the masses and a raging vendetta). For such a well-liked character, it seems a pretty sad and sudden turn. Sayid, like Sawyer, was awesome for his ability to see through people's B.S.; unlike Saywer (who hasn't died and suddenly risen) one wonders whether Sayid really had a chance when coming face to face with Smokey. With Jacob dead, there was only one other entity that we know of that could have the power to raise the dead; perhaps with his promise and his magically forked tongue (think about that, ladies), Smokey has awoken that which he had implanted within Sayid, and thus consolidated his power over him until the moment of Smokey (or his) demise (re-demise?). Quick, someone get Shanon's inhaler and spray him in the face!
• Claire = creepier? She was singing that song that Kate would sing to get Aaron to sleep. Other than that, girl needs some Selsun Blue. 
• Out of seemingly nowhere, Team Sun appeared and escaped (via secret passageway - thanks Jacob!) with our remaining temple crew in tow sans-Kate. Were they with Locke outside? Won't he know they are nearby and fleeing? Speaking of which, apparently Kate lucked out: Smokey can only go is straight lines and not down when he is raging (sort of like that game snake on old cell-phones).

I know Lost loves Star Wars, so this episode wreaked of "Empire Strikes Back." You would think that after Sayid made one deal with the devil (Ben), that he would know better. Right now, my money is on that ultimately, Sayid would have no real say in the matter: his soul had already been claimed. Hopefully, it can still be saved by Jack.

Until next week...

 

Have you seen my sleeves?