Episode 4 - Every Man for Himself
17 September 2009
Review
Present: Desmond builds a lightning rod outside Claire’s tent and catches a bolt which might have hit her roof. The Others ask Jack to help with the dying Colleen. He can’t save her but does see some spinal x-rays. The Others put a pacemaker in Sawyer and tell him his heart will explode if he doesn’t behave. Eventually Ben takes Sawyer up a cliff to show him that they aren’t on the same island anymore, so there is no where to run.
Flashback: Sawyer is in prison. He cons an inmate out of money he stole from the government in exchange for his freedom and some money. Cassidy visits him and tells him he has a daughter, Clementine. He gives his reward money to her.
The Good: This episode feels different to what we are used to from Lost. One of the reasons the show has stayed so fresh for so long is the way it rotates the narrative focus between its ensemble cast. No character has yet become too annoying or unbearable because we haven’t had to watch them be the focus for episode after episode. Now with Jack, Kate and Sawyer incarcerated the focus has shifted markedly toward them.
The tone of their story on the island is pretty different too. Obviously there have been plenty of love stories told in the show so far but none have yet been as intense or overt as we see here. Sawyer and Kate’s feelings are shown to us in a very raw and explicit way which we haven’t seen before. Most of the love stories we have seen have been about people being kept apart (Jack-Kate, Hurley-Libby, Sayid-Shannon, Boone-Shannon, Claire-Charlie, Sun-Jin, Penny-Desmond). It has been a constant theme that somehow our characters are searching for a place where they can be together and happy. Seeing Pickett’s love ripped from him and then for him to violently assault Sawyer until Kate admits she loves him is quite the change of pace. It takes a lot of skill, in this cynical modern age when every story has been mocked and ridiculed, to make a love story seem genuine and not risible. I think Sawyer and Kate act well and the story is fine but it is easy to understand why some fans won’t enjoy this episode and this change of direction in general.
We do get a good look at the Others in this episode. The writers can’t be accused of not providing answers. We begin to see them as all too human and flawed, not so different from the survivors. We see they can die and love and cry. We see they have no surgeon or crash cart and have to come to Jack for help. We see that they can’t build effective prisons and so have to show Sawyer why he can’t escape. We see dissension amongst them about how to make decisions and questions about who really is in charge.
Sawyer’s story is pretty straightforward. He maybe a conman but deep down he will prioritise love before his own well being. He is portrayed as a somewhat good man who won’t abandon his daughter the way his parents “abandoned” him.
Sawyer’s electrocution plot was a clever use of the cage structure and the fact that Ben beats him down for his insubordination was a nice moment. It reminded you that the Others are smarter and in control of the situation.
The Bad: Sawyer’s flashbacks aren’t particularly interesting though. The story is a straightforward con and we aren’t shocked to see him do something selfless. But the prison scenes were generally filmed in a generic, dull way. We barely get to know the man Sawyer is conning and scenes in empty rooms seem like a waste of the prison setting.
The humanising of the Others is a problem for the show if there isn’t more of an explanation behind it. I don’t remember the Others trying to win Ana Lucia’s respect when they terrorised her (207). There needs to be some reason why they once seemed so deadly and now seem clumsy and weakened (see The Unknown).
The pacemaker plot fails in my view. It seems like it would have been much more dramatic for Sawyer to go on believing he was in danger and then discover that they are on a different island by himself. By conning him half way through the episode and revealing the truth a few minutes later, the tension created is lost.
The Unknown: Is Cassidy conning Sawyer? It seems like a great idea to invent a daughter and get him to give her money. Although if she handed him over to the cops wouldn’t she be in trouble (for conning people in 213) too?
There seems to be a comment by Tom that they have lost communications since the sky turned purple (224). This could be part of an explanation for their weakened state. Ben also appears to say that the sub is back. Do the Others have a submarine and is that how they snuck up on Sun (302)?
Best Moment: After Colleen dies Pickett heads out to the cages and beats Sawyer’s face in. He screams at Kate “Do you love him?” He repeats the question as beats away until the crying Kate says that she does.
The Bottom Line: Lost seems to have moved away from mystery and suspense into a much more intimate look at the Others and their three prisoners. It makes Lost seem a bit more like other television shows where love and violence are used to hook viewers. It may not be a permanent change for the show but at the moment the new direction seems to have altered the show’s vibe. This is an enjoyable episode in some ways but it makes the show seem slightly less interesting.
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