The Long Con (8 Feb. 2006)

Survivors fear that "The Others" may have returned when Sun is injured during a failed kidnapping attempt. Meanwhile, Sawyer is an amused, but highly interested, bystander when tension escalates between Jack, Locke, Kate and Ana Lucia over control of the hatch computer, and the storage of the weapons.

Director:

Roxann Dawson

Writers:

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

Stars:

Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje, Naveen Andrews, Emilie de Ravin

Cast

Episode cast overview, first billed only:
Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje	...	Mr. Eko
Naveen Andrews	...	Sayid Jarrah
Emilie de Ravin	...	Claire Littleton
Matthew Fox	...	Jack Shephard
Jorge Garcia	...	Hugo 'Hurley' Reyes
Josh Holloway	...	James 'Sawyer' Ford
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 (credit only)
Michelle Rodriguez	...	Ana Lucia Cortez
Cynthia Watros	...	Elizabeth 'Libby' Smith
Kim Dickens	...	Cassidy Phillips

Storyline

Locke shares with Jack the combination of the locker of the weapons. While Jack and Ana Lucia are trying to gather people to form a defense army, the survivors believe that they are safe and have no interest to join them. When Sun is attacked apparently by The Others, Jack decides to get the guns for protection of the group. However, Locke is informed by Sawyer of Jack's intention, and moves the armament to a hidden place with serious and surprising consequences when Sawyer finds out and plots something of his own. Meanwhile, Sawyer recalls his former "long con" against a former girlfriend Cassidy.

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Genres:

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

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Certificate:

TV-14

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

8 February 2006 (USA)

Filming Locations:

O'ahu, Hawaii, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

Bad Robot, Touchstone Television

Technical Specs

Runtime:

44 min

Sound Mix:

Stereo

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.78 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Sawyer and Gordy's waitress in the diner scene is Kate's mother Diane.

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Quotes

[about the heroin Locke took from Charlie]
Jack: Just gonna leave it all in the statues?
Locke: You want to break seven Virgin Marys, be my guest. I'm superstitious.

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Connections

References Xena: Warrior Princess (1995)

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Soundtracks

"Main Title"
Written by J.J. Abrams

User Reviews

The Long Con

There's something about the flashbacks in "The Long Con" which is really aggravating. The general atmosphere and plot provides little insight into Sawyer's character (although, bizarrely, the on-island events are well-written and revelatory in this regard), the story with Cassidy and all the conning is at best reminiscent of an 80's primetime soap, and the acting from whoever plays Cassidy is abysmal. Had this been "Alias" I might have gone with it, but I expect more from an intelligent show like "Lost". Still, the flashback scenes are watchable, just disappointing.

All that said, "The Long Con" sees a lot of action on the island, and it doesn't come at the expense of characters either. There's some classic interaction between Jack and Locke over the gun issue, and the dialogue is generally very well-written by Steven Maeda and Leonard Dick. It's a solid on-island episode with a lot going on and some memorable scenes- Charlie and Sawyer's conversation at the end, Sawyer's 'new sheriff in town' speech, the tension over the guns etc.

The episode is well-directed by a non-regular director on the series, Roxann Dawson, and is a very good, entertaining episode. It's far from being a classic, and there's not all that much worth discussing here. The first Sawyer flashback of season two is decidedly less interesting than the two from season one.

8/10