Lost 2.13: "The Long Con"

Written by Leonard Dick and Steven Maeda
Directed by Roxann Dawson

In which Sun is nearly kidnapped by an unknown assailant, leading to a struggle for control between Jack and Locke, while the real culprit is waiting in the wings to take advantage…


Status Report

It’s been quite some time since an episode focused on Sawyer, and perhaps that was a good thing. It gave the writers enough time to think of a way to emphasize Sawyer’s importance in the scheme of things. While this was not an episode on the order of “Outlaws”, which was a series of gut punches to say the least, this was a competent episode with a very detailed look at how Sawyer can manipulate others into giving him what he wants.

Of course, that is the main question. What exactly does Sawyer want? It’s almost certain that his motivations go far beyond a simple desire to be a bad person. There were a million other ways to assert his predilections in that respect. Instead, the goal is reflected in the nature of the con. If the con is all about getting some possession that someone else has in hand, then this is a fairly simple question to answer.

The flashbacks are a simple enough con: understand the mark, use the mark’s own psychology against her, and then get the money (the purpose of the con). The con on the island followed the same logic, with a little more complexity. On the face of it, Sawyer gained two things from his gambit: material wealth (guns, medicine, etc.) and political power.

One seems more important to Sawyer than the other, of course. Why would he really need to have possession of everything that Locke was trying to hoard? It wasn’t as if Sawyer wanted to raise an army and fight the Others like Jack and Ana. And while Locke’s goals are still hard to pin down, it’s unlikely that Sawyer is operating out of the same psychological desire. So the material possessions are more likely in service to the political gains.

Sawyer’s little speech indicates that he felt like his presence on the island was being taken for granted. Perhaps “presence” is not the best word, but in many ways, once he left on the raft, a lot of people wrote him off and didn’t think he was a power to be reckoned with anymore. Jack and Locke were essentially vying for control of the tribe’s assets, and Sawyer was expected to fall in line like the rest. This little gambit is perfectly designed to ensure that Sawyer will not be ignored in the future. If Jack remains the military chieftain and Locke remains the spiritual shaman (positions that both are being challenged upon by Ana and Eko respectively), then Sawyer has re-affirmed his position as a leader (so to speak) of the people.

By “leader”, the implication is that he’s representing, one way or another, the overall tribe and their lack of confidence in Jack and Locke as a whole. Jack’s way could easily get them all killed, should the Others be just as powerful as they appear to be. Locke’s way is driven by a personal sense of destiny, and he has demonstrated on many occasions a habit of dismissing the needs and concerns of others when they are mutually exclusive to his own. Sawyer is leveling the playing field, effectively making it possible for everyone in the tribe to have access to the same resources.

Of course, the fact is, leveling the playing field also puts Sawyer in the position to abuse that power, and the other members of the tribe now have every reason to hate him. At least Locke was willing to give Jack the combination to the locker, if only in the event that something should happen to him. Sawyer has an ally that is questionable at best, and he could easily move everything to a new location at any time.

The other issue is that the tribe’s defensive and medicinal resources, while currently under Sawyer’s protection, could be accidentally found at any time. And that, unfortunately, includes the Others. Sawyer is no tracker, and neither is Charlie, so there’s every reason to believe that someone could follow them to the stash at some point.

The point is that Sawyer’s gambit has introduced an unstable element to the dynamics of the tribe. Jack and Locke were having enough control and trust issues before Sawyer decided to make a play. Now the two of them could progress in completely unexpected directions. Jack and Locke could find themselves even more at odds as they try to get Sawyer on their side, thus taking the faith/reason dichotomy to new heights; alternatively, they could find a middle ground in the process of trying to bring Sawyer under control.

What’s also interesting is the manner in which characters now reject chances at redemption. Charlie took a turn for the worse in the previous episode, and now he continues to fall into a very negative path. In many ways, his addiction might have been the less damaging downfall; it’s going to be a lot harder for him to crawl out of the bitterness and anger.

Sawyer is now embracing his darkest impulses in his desire to regain relevance. Rather than accept the idea of others having control over his fate, he has placed himself in a far more questionable position. That plays, of course, into his flashback: he is capable of loving someone, but he’s equally capable of betraying his own desires to achieve his goals. Love doesn’t factor into it. Just as he conned Cassidy, he leaves Kate feeling used and abused. He may have been winning in the battle against Jack for Kate’s affections, but he lost a lot of ground in this episode.

The question is whether or not people are willing to change. The deeper subtext of that question, present in the first half of the first season, may not be as noticeable, but it’s still there. Sawyer points to Kate and himself as examples of “tigers who can’t change stripes”. In other words, they are deeply resisting redemption and change. Charlie, Jack, and Locke are also falling into that darker territory, because they are sliding back from the progress they once made.

At the same time, Sayid is once again showing the possibility of a turnaround. He withdrew from involvement in the affairs of the tribe in many respects, but this episode sees some progress. Hurley is actually quite good at that sort of thing, and it was nice to see Sayid making a step in the right direction. He can’t find peace too quickly, since Shannon only died a week or so ago in the island timeline, but this was still good to see.

While the main focus of the episode is on Sawyer, his gambit touches on a number of other characters. Sawyer uses them as pawns, but at the same time, he exposes how Jack and Locke have been using them as well. Sawyer does a very nice job of uncovering what Jack and Locke have been doing in the name of the “greater good”, and it will likely have serious consequences for the future. It could even lead to a break within the tribe between those who want to follow Jack’s reason and those who want to follow Locke’s faith.

For all that the episode accomplished, it wasn’t perfect. For once, this wasn’t necessarily a problem with the writing. While there were a few rough edges here and there in the dialogue, the episode was directed in a rather mundane manner. None of the scenes were particularly thrilling, and even the revelations at the very end were staged in a rather subdued and uninteresting way. This is one of those episodes that has vast consequences on the direction of the season, and it will probably factor into the next major turn around episodes 15-17, yet it just doesn’t have much energy to it.

As it happens, Roxann Dawson has directed a number of television episodes, stemming from her tenure on “Star Trek: Voyager”, and this is has become a trend in her directorial style. It’s not as though her style of direction leads to a discernable flaw, but when an episode seems to be lacking energy, it’s never a surprise to find out that Dawson was the director.

That leaves the episode with a slightly less favorable rating than it otherwise might have gotten. It’s not always enough for the writers and cast to pull out a strong story and performance. It also has to be directed and edited so that the drama is tightly woven. This was a tale with a lot of layers to it, and it simply felt like the full potential of the episode was squandered by a very subdued and uninteresting directorial choice.


Final Analysis

Overall, this episode had a very strong storyline, with events that seriously complicate the situation on the island. Sawyer, as usual, makes for a very compelling lead character, and his role in this episode is particularly unexpected. Unfortunately, a certain energy was lacking from the direction, which took away some of the episode’s power. Still, another step in the right direction.

Writing: 2/2
Acting: 2/2
Direction: 1/2
Style: 3/4

Final Rating: 8/10

(Season 2 Average: 7.1)