Lostpedia has arranged an interview with TLE blogger Speaker for this Friday. Submit your questions here!
Do you have an idea for a new wiki? Please share it with us here

From Lostpedia

"Confidence Man"

Season

Episode

1

8

Airdate

November 10, 2004

Flashforward

{{{flashforward}}}

Flashback

Sawyer

Day(s)

9-10

Written by

Damon Lindelof

Directed by

Tucker Gates

Special guest star(s)

{{{specialguests}}}

Guest starring

Michael DeLuise - David
Kristin Richardson - Jessica

Co-starring

Billy Mayo - Kilo
Jim Woitas - Boy

Uncredited

{{{uncredited}}}

Episode transcript
[[{{{transcript2}}}|Part Two]]

Episode Images

"Confidence Man" is the eighth episode of Season 1 of Lost. Shannon begins to suffer badly from her asthma and requires her inhaler. When the survivors ask Sawyer for it, he refuses, leading Jack and Sayid to contemplate using any means necessary to get it. Flashbacks in this episode focus on a smooth-talking Sawyer conning his lover Jessica and her family.

Synopsis

Flashbacks

Jessica and Sawyer in bed

Sawyer is in bed with a young woman, Jessica. After he declares his love for her, she realizes he is late for a meeting. As he rushes to leave, his briefcase falls open, revealing thousands of dollars in cash that she apparently was not supposed to have seen.

Sawyer tells her about a too-good-to-be-true oil deal, in which the government will triple his money if he puts $300,000 towards a share in a rig. The only problem is that he has a mere $140,000 and needs someone to put in the remaining $160,000. Jessica suggests she might be able to supply the remaining money.

Sawyer sits with his mark

Sawyer has lunch with Jessica and her husband David, and the three discuss the oil deal. To earn David's trust, Sawyer lends him the money for a day.

Later, a loan shark named Kilo asks Sawyer why the money, which belongs to Kilo, was left with David. Sawyer explains that husbands are not easily conned unless they think they are in control. He says the scam is almost completed, and Kilo demands his money, plus fifty percent, by the next day.

Sawyer goes to Jessica's house to finalize the deal, but reconsiders upon seeing a small boy emerge from another room. He unexpectedly calls off the deal, which was a con, drops his briefcase of money, and rushes out of their house.

Real-time events

Sawyer emerges from the water

Back at the beach, as Jack attends to a wound on the back of Sayid's head, the injured man explains that after he fired his flare in response to seeing Sawyer's signal, he was hit from behind by an unknown assailant intent on stopping him from triangulating the distress signal.

A wounded Boone tells Jack what happened to him

After Jack unsuccessfully demands the inhalers from Sawyer, Kate asks the apparent thief what he wants in return for the inhalers, to which he replies, "A kiss ought to do it." She mentions Sawyer's delicate treatment of his letter as proof of his humanity, and he tells her to read the letter out loud. The letter is addressed to "Mr. Sawyer" and explains that Sawyer had sex with the letter writer's mother and stole all his father's money, resulting in the father killing his wife and himself.

As Sayid tries to figure out who struck him, Locke says he was skinning a boar at the time of the attack. He then suggests that Sawyer is the culprit, since he is doing well for himself on the island, hoarding other people's possessions, and also seems to dislike Sayid.

Kate kissing Sawyer

Meanwhile, Shannon is beginning to have trouble breathing, due to her lack of medication and panic resulting from this problem. With Jack's approval, Sayid ties Sawyer to a tree and tortures him for answers, revealing that he has tortured people many times before. Sawyer finally agrees to give up the inhalers, but only to Kate. He again says he will hand over the medication if she kisses him, which she reluctantly does, only to find that he does not have it after all which triggers a slap from Kate to Sawyer. Sayid becomes enraged and attacks Sawyer, stabbing him in the arm and hitting an artery. Luckily, Jack is there to stop the bleeding and save Sawyer's life.

Sawyer tells Kate about his past (promotional still)

Sawyer wakes up on the beach with his arm bandaged up, while Kate looks on. She explains that she figured out from the bicentennial label on the envelope that the letter was not written to Sawyer, but by him to another man. He tells Kate that after a con man ruined his family, he ended up becoming a con man himself, so he took the name Sawyer as an alias.

Sayid tells Kate that he is leaving to map the Island

Sun has created a plant remedy of crushed eucalyptus leaves retrieved by Michael, which improves Shannon's breathing. Meanwhile, Charlie convinces Claire to move to the caves by bringing her pretend peanut butter; they seem to be striking up a close relationship. After all this, despite a plea from Kate, Sayid sets off alone to explore the Island's shoreline, disgusted with himself for breaking a vow never torture anyone again. Before leaving, he kisses Kate's hand and says, "I hope we meet again."

Trivia

General

• Just after Jack punches Sawyer in the caves, he holds his right shoulder in pain. This is as a result of it being dislocated the previous day in the episode, "The Moth".
• This is the first episode in which a flashback did not directly involve how a person got onto the Island.

Production notes

• Walt does not appear in this episode.
  • This is the first episode in which Walt does not appear.

Bloopers and continuity errors

• Sawyer tells Jessica that he has $140,000 in the briefcase and he needs someone to go in with him and provide the other $160,000 for his "investment". Later on after Sawyer had left the money with Jessica and her husband David to count, he is talking with Kilo who asks him why he left $160,000 of his money in the care of a civilian.

Recurring themes

• We discover that Sawyer was a con man before his time on the Island. (Deceptions and Cons)
• Sawyer wasn't the conman to whom the letter was written; rather, he was the boy who wrote it. (Character Secrets)
• Sayid decides to leave the group out of shame for what he did to Sawyer, hoping that he can atone for his sins. (Redemption) (Isolation)

Cultural references

• Watership Down: Kate finds this Richard Adams book in Sawyer's belongings by the beach. He tells her, "Hell of a book. It's about bunnies." (Literary works)
• "I Shall Not Walk Alone": this song, performed by "The Blind Boys of Alabama, is playing in the closing scenes. (Music)
• Star Wars: Hurley refers to Jack’s healing of Shannon's asthma attack as a Jedi moment. (Movies and TV)

Literary techniques

• It is revealed that Sawyer's name is just an alias. (Plot twist)
• Sawyer has destroyed many lives in his past through his conning; on the Island, his actions cause him to be hated by everyone. In some respects, we could look at this and deduce that he has a guilty conscience and thinks he deserves to be hated. (Juxtaposition)
• Sawyer was almost beating Boone, when the scene changes to Jack saying to Sayid: "This is going to hurt". (Juxtaposition)
• Sawyer almost conned Jess and her husband out of their money, just as he conned Kate out of a kiss. (Juxtaposition)
• In his flashback, Sawyer was forced to call off his con because the kid reminded him of himself, which showed us his humanity and sadness. On the island, Sawyer's con worked, but Kate realized that the letter was written by Sawyer, again showing us his true sadness and anger. (Juxtaposition)
• The song at the end of the episode includes lyrics about Mother Mary. In "The Brig" it is revealed that Sawyer's mother is named Mary. (Foreshadowing)
• The identity of the original Sawyer would become a major plotline in the series.(Foreshadowing)

Storyline analysis

• Jack goes after Sawyer for being selfish and hoarding supplies; Sawyer accuses him of running a "commie share-fest". (Economics)
• Jack hits Sawyer twice; Sayid tortures Sawyer while Jack looks on. Sawyer seems to need the animosity with these two other men. (Rivalries)