The title of this week’ Lost episode — ‘Recon’ –contained a neat double-meaning that I wish I was clever enough to have noticed without being told about it beforehand. Sawyer’s reconnaissance mission to Hydra Island for Smokey was a very literal take on the title, but the other meaning of “recon” – as defined by Damon Lindelof’s twitter account, “Verb. To con again” – is a very fitting title for a totally enjoyable Sawyer episode that kicked off with an intro that featured some memorable sleight-of-hand twists for the Lost faithful.
There didn’t seem to be too much Big Picture stuff going on in ‘Recon’. The LA X-verse tale saw Detective Jim Ford get over his trust issues a little bit, while on The Island, UnLocke sent Sawyer on a solo mission to look for survivors from the Ajira Flight, concluding with the reveal that Sawyer is (kind of predictably) playing Widmore and Smokey against each other. But instead of the game-changing twists, it was the smaller moments that added up to create a fulfilling episode.
Like the victim of a good con, I was hooked after the opening sequence of the LA X tale, with James Ford working his patented bedside “pigeon drop” — which isn’t as dirty as it sounds – only to be called out by his mark at gunpoint. Then, James who is apparently bluffing, tells her that the cops are waiting outside, waiting to bust in once he says the secret word – a definite callback to the last scene in ‘The Long Con’ where Sawyer bluffs his lover and fake-partner Cassidy, telling that his real partner is waiting outside, ready to kill them both.
I noted earlier that it seems like part of the format of Sideways stories is to act as sort of a Greatest Hits for each character, reminding us of significant character beats and nuances from seasons past. The Watership Down and Little House on the Prairie appearances were gold, but probably the most important, defining question James has been asked in the series, gets thrown at him by Miles:
“What’s your deal, Jim? Do you want to die alone?”
It’s a question that Sawyer’s fought since arriving on The Island and has played out in some memorable ways since Day One; being rejected and accepted by the castaways, his on-and-off relationship with Kate, and how he’s dealt with losing Juliet. Not only does the question directly call into question the conman/ cop’s reoccurring battle with solitude, but it’s also a very direct link to Season One’s ‘living together versus dying alone’ theme.
The second best quote of the episode was when James drops the “wanted to be a cop because of Bullit”-cover story, and tells Charlotte that he had a choice, either becoming a cop or a criminal. It led way to a crazy theory, and I started to think that maybe the Sideways universe is the result of each castaway literally getting to choose one thing about their old Island-selves that they wish was different — with UnLocke granting them this choice as a means to escape their Island lives. Ben wishes away killing his father and the Dharma Initiative. Sawyer chooses to be a cop instead of a criminal. Hurley trades his bad luck in for good luck..
It’s All Connected
It was cool to see Sawyer on the other side of the law. It was even cooler see him teamed up with Miles — and not solely because they’re awesome together — but because I hope that it’s setting us up for the next mutliverse-shattering LA X-verse appearance: Matthew Abbadon…
…as Sawyer and Miles’ Lieutenant, linking the two greatest shows of the last 10 years, Lost and The Wire. It could also be the next step in constructing The Coolest Crossover of Television History since John Munch showed up on The X-Files. With Locke, Ben and Arzt working in an under-funded school, facing budget cuts, and Charlie involved in the drug trade, I think the Lost creators can push this even further: Walt hanging around with Michael and Dookie! Lapidus working as a down-on-his-luck longshoreman! Bernard as an elusive Russian mobster/drug trafficker! This should totally happen!! Or not.
But there is a quote from The Wire — “It’s all connected” – that aptly describes how the characters seem to gravitate towards each other in both the LA X-verse and the Island-verse. In this episode,we got the matter-of-fact reveal that Miles’ dad, Pierre Chang, works at “the museum” with Charlotte. It’s getting increasingly more fun to watch all the Lost characters link up in clusters, like a game of connect-the-dots. Sawyer catching Kate at the end of the episode continues to lead me to believe that all the LA X-stories will hopefully be converging into something epic. Although, since we’re almost at the halfway point, I wouldn’t mind if they hurried this up a bit, getting to the bigger story of the LA X-verse, even if it doesn’t end in a mind-blowing crossover.
Smoke And Mirrors
Speaking of cons, I like the way they’re building up Smokey as a straight-shooter, willing to offer explanations to anyone who needs them, compared to Jacob, who seems to direct his followers with riddles and vague directions, as well as a total lack of explanation (see: Richard Alpert’s breakdown last episode). Smokey is very much a rational ‘The Man of Science’ – even though he’s a smoke monster – and Jacob is the much more mysterious ‘Man of Faith.’
Although Smokey is big on explaining himself and being understood, he’s still clearly manipulative, as demonstrated by the story he constructed for Claire – giving her an enemy, “someone she needed to hate,” in order to survive. It also seemed that the Kate-Claire conflict might have been part of a grift on Smokey’s part to sway Kate to his side. But the most interesting question hovering around UnLocke is how much we believe his origin story about having a crazy mother, and if it’s true, how important is the parallel between Aaron and Smokey might be. My guess? It’s super-important, and it’s tied to my big theory of the show that I will reveal in time. [Cue dramatic Michael Giacchino score.]
More Lost Luggage:
-Has anyone noticed that Sawyer’s rocking the Spider-Man origin a bit in the LA X-verse, catching the criminal he knowingly let escape in an elevator after Flight 815? I have no theories yet, but that would make Kate = Uncle Ben’s murdererer in this comparison.
-I was surprised at how much I liked James and Charlotte together, but I figured out why they work: they’re both Harrison Ford. As referenced in the episode, Charlotte is very much Indiana Jones, while Sawyer has always been the rogue-ish Han Solo of The Island. And that’s exactly the reason why even though they seemed potentially awesome together, they were destined to fail: no relationship can handle that much cool.