Summary: In flashbacks, Sawyer is approached by Hibbs who says he has found the real Sawyer in Australia under the name Frank. Sawyer goes to kill Frank but finds that he can't do it. He goes to a bar where he meets Christian who encourages him to go through with it. Sawyer kills Frank only to realize that he had been duped by Hibbs into killing the wrong person. On the island, a boar attacks Sawyer over and over again so Sawyer angrily goes after it. Kate joins in with him, trying to get Sawyer to give his gun back to Jack. They bond while they camp out together. Sawyer eventually finds the boar but decides against killing it. Sawyer gives his gun back to Jack and realizes that Christian was his father. Meanwhile, Sayid helps Charlie deal with the fact that he killed Ethan.
The Good: This episode is much better than it has any right to be. On paper this is a stupid plot and it seems like this is going to be another dull episode. But the show stepped up and we got a tremendous character episode with high quality dialogue, powerful themes and some stellar acting. The island story is pretty simple. A boar pisses Sawyer off so he decides to enact some petty revenge. The story is consistently funny and there are plenty of moments where I genuinely laughed, like Sayid harassing Sawyer, Kate amusingly watching Sawyer track everything but the boar, and of course the boar's apparent vendetta for Sawyer. But where this episode stands out is in its character development. The island story is chock-full of brilliant character interactions. The Kate and Sawyer relationship is still a highlight of the show, and they were terrific in this episode. The I Never scene was a piece of art that brilliantly revealed details about these characters while also allowing them to bond in an interesting and well-written way. Sawyer got the best arc of the episode though. On the island we can see his thirst for revenge as he goes after the boar, but he's obviously haunted by something. The vague line of "it'll come back around" is repeated frequently, and Sawyer's connection to Locke's story add a lot of intrigue to what is nagging Sawyer about the boar. By the end of the episode, it's clear that the boar symbolizes Sawyer's guilt over killing Frank in cold blood. Sawyer wants to get back at the boar, but he has this sinking feeling that the boar embodies Frank who is coming after him in death for revenge. At the end of the episode Sawyer gets a chance to cut out his guilt and also get vengeance on the boar, but he doesn't take the opportunity. Sawyer is still unable to get over what he has done, so he realizes that he isn't ready to kill again. The story is told very well, and Sawyer deciding not to kill the boar is a surprisingly good moment. Everything that happens on the island brilliantly ties into the flashbacks too. The flashbacks are used to bring clarity into Sawyer's inner struggles on the island, making them a wonderful way to provide exposition for the main story. "Lost" has used this technique before in other great episodes ("Walkabout" for example), but I think this is the best use of it. Without the flashbacks, we would have no way of understanding what was in Sawyer's mind as he chased the boar. The flashbacks aren't only used to propel the island story though; they stand on their own as an individual story of a man who struggles to take his first kill. There are so many fantastic scenes in the flashback storyline including a tense sequence when Sawyer first confronts Frank, and a beautifully written conversation between Sawyer and Christian. Not only does Christian push Sawyer towards his eventual killing of Frank, but he also gives us a new viewpoint of his relationship with Jack, suggesting that Jack's massive backlog of guilt may actually be a little redundant since Christian died feeling proud of his son. Finally, we got the outstanding twist as Sawyer, the con man, gets conned into killing the wrong person, giving him none of the inner peace he had desired and instead leaving him with a healthy dose of guilt to deal with. Sawyer went for the kill with intentions to rid himself of his baggage, but he walked away having added on to the immense weight on his shoulders. Charlie's storyline fit the theme of this episode nicely. While Sawyer deals with the grief of killing somebody for the first time in the A-story, Charlie does the same thing in the B-story. It's nice to get some follow-up on the events of the last episode (it would have been nice if the same was done with Charlie's withdrawal!). Charlie killing Ethan is a very significant moment, and I'm glad that the character has had a reaction to it, allowing him to grow and change. Furthermore, the episode nicely utilizes Sayid as he is the perfect guy to sympathize with Charlie over killing people. There were a few other moments I liked. I enjoyed Hurley's remark on Ethan rising from the grave to kill them all. It's nice to see that the survivors have implanted a supernatural vibe on the mysterious other people, and I really wish we could get more scenes of characters conversing about Ethan and whoever else could be on the island. Also I think this is the first time we learn what Sawyer's real name is: James. The Bad: This episode is a fine character piece, but it is severely lacking in drama. There is literally no suspense or drama in the island storyline and that does hurt the episode a little bit. It's certainly not a major problem (I've given slow, character-based episodes of shows like "Better Call Saul" really glowing reviews), but it does prevent this episode from reaching the high heights of some of this season's best episodes. I didn't like Kate freaking out when Sawyer picked up the baby boar. Her childish whining does not mesh at all with her character of being a hardened criminal. Kate remains the most inconsistent and worst written character on the show. The Unknown: Why did Sawyer hear "it'll come back around" from the whispering in the jungle? Was it just his imagination or was it actually there? Who is Hibbs to Sawyer? What did he do that made Sawyer despise him? What is the Tampa job? Kate was married? When? To who? Presumably this was before she became a criminal. Kate said it was a very short marriage. What happened that ended it so quickly? Was Frank's spirit actually inside that boar? I doubt it, but you never know when this show may take off into supernatural territory. Best Moment: There are plenty of fantastic scenes, but I'll go with Kate and Sawyer's game of I Never. Character of the Episode: Sawyer. Conclusion: This was a surprisingly excellent episode. The character work is top-notch and it more than overcomes a lame island plot. Score: 74
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Aaron DhillonJust a university student who loves to watch TV. And analyze it way too much. Archives
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