Confidence Man (10 Nov. 2004)

Shannon is having an asthma attack, and Boone is sure that Sawyer has her medications. As Kate's way of dealing with this situation doesn't work, Sayid takes things into his own hands..

Director:

Tucker Gates

Writers:

Jeffrey Lieber (creator), J.J. Abrams (creator),

Stars:

Naveen Andrews, Emilie de Ravin, Matthew Fox

Cast

Episode cast overview, first billed only:
Naveen Andrews	...	Sayid Jarrah
Emilie de Ravin	...	Claire Littleton
Matthew Fox	...	Jack Shephard
Jorge Garcia	...	Hugo 'Hurley' Reyes
Maggie Grace	...	Shannon Rutherford
Josh Holloway	...	James 'Sawyer' Ford
Malcolm David Kelley	...	Walt Lloyd (credit only)
Daniel Dae Kim	...	Jin Kwon
Yunjin Kim	...	Sun Kwon
Evangeline Lilly	...	Kate Austen
Dominic Monaghan	...	Charlie Pace
Terry O'Quinn	...	John Locke
Harold Perrineau	...	Michael Dawson
Ian Somerhalder	...	Boone Carlyle
Michael DeLuise	...	David

Storyline

When the asthma medicine of Shannon Rutherford finishes, she has a chronic respiratory attack. Her brother Boone Carlyle convinces the survivors that James "Sawyer" Ford has stolen her spare medication, and Sayid Jarrah tortures Sawyer trying to find the drugs. Sawyer discloses an innermost secret to Kate Austen.

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Plot Keywords:

mysterious island | labrador retriever

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Genres:

Adventure | Drama | Fantasy | Mystery | Sci-Fi | Thriller

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Certificate:

TV-14

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English Korean

Release Date:

10 November 2004 (USA)

Filming Locations:

O'ahu, Hawaii, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

Bad Robot, Touchstone Television

Technical Specs

Runtime:

43 min

Sound Mix:

Stereo

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.78 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The book Sawyer reads is "Watership Down" by Richard Adams. It tells the tale of a group of lost rabbits searching for a new home.

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Goofs

When Sawyer is in the bed with the woman, she has bare shoulders. Then when Sawyer realizes it is 3:30 and he slides out of the bed, she is only off-screen for a split second, but she now has a black bra on with straps.

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Quotes

[first lines]
Sawyer: [on "Watership Down"] Hell of a book... It's about bunnies.

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Connections

References Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope (1977)

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Soundtracks

"Main Title"
Written by J.J. Abrams

User Reviews

"Dear Mr. Sawyer..."

Confidence Man is another strong character piece in the Lost puzzle, following the likes of Walkabout and The Moth. This time, the focus is on one of the show's most ambiguous characters: the charismatic troublemaker known only as Sawyer (Josh Holloway).

The main on-Island incident is kick-started by an argument between Sawyer and Boone, after the latter was caught looking through the former's stash. Additionally, when Shannon's asthma becomes problematic and Sawyer, who presumably has some inhalers among his materials, refuses to help, the survivors decide to take things into their own hands. In particular, Sayid, following Locke's suggestion, doesn't shy away from resorting to torture, while Jack and Kate would prefer to try other methods.

Part of Sawyer's behavior is explained in the flashbacks: after spending the night with a beautiful woman named Jessica (Kristin Richardson), he accidentally reveals a suitcase full of money while trying to leave. Having told her it's for an investment, he's told he could close a good deal with Jessica's husband. Except it turns out Sawyer's a con artist, and the deal was part of his plan all along...

Confidence Man is the first episode since Tabula Rasa to be written by series co-creator Damon Lindelof (Jeffrey Lieber never actively participated in the production, having only come up with part of the original concept, while J.J. Abrams politely stepped back after the pilot due to other commitments, though he retains an executive producer credit), and his signature shows in the script's unwillingness to reveal all. While part of Sawyer's past is shown, and sort of justifies his present behavior (his scenes with Kate are wildly entertaining), there are hints of something deeper and darker that, much like the cause of Locke's paralysis, will have to wait for later. Not that it's a problem: Holloway's performance is a perfect excuse for multiple visits to the character's back-story. Besides, what we get here is also bound to have ramifications on other people, meaning someone else will be in the spotlight pretty soon...