Lost 6x08: "Recon"

[doubleohfive]

The "con" Sawyer pulls is pretty clear; Widmore thinks Sawyer has warned him about notLocke. notLocke thinks Sawyer has fooled Widmore; both Widmore and notLocke are now operating on faulty intel with regard to the other's movements leading up to their (expected) confrontation.

Sawyer's con is essentially this distraction so he and Kate can escape.

 

[Trippy]

I just watched this episode again. A few things I noticed the second time around:

Sawyer smashed a mirror
Widmore...does he recognize Sawyer from the time flashes?
Liam looking for Charlie I totally missed that!
Miles saying to Sawyer to convince him to date Charlotte: "Do you want to die alone?" At least Rose won't have to slap Jack for that reference!

 

[Capn Flukie]

The easiest explanation for me why he let Kate go in the elevator is that he really didnt want anybody to know he was in Australia. If he had helped arrest Kate, Miles would have found out about it.

This makes sense, he didn't want to draw attention to himself.

 

[coolghoul]

The "con" Sawyer pulls is pretty clear; Widmore thinks Sawyer has warned him about notLocke. notLocke thinks Sawyer has fooled Widmore; both Widmore and notLocke are now operating on faulty intel with regard to the other's movements leading up to their (expected) confrontation.

Sawyer's con is essentially this distraction so he and Kate can escape.

I know what you're saying.

It's still not a masterful con or anything. I would expect almost any smart guy in a bind to pull that. Even Jack (tho' one poster put it rather well as to what would have happened if Jack had been the one sent to Hydra - he would have been grumpy the whole way , would have smashed the ajira plane to pieces and then would have cried like a baby ) would have pulled that one.

To me - a con is different from a lie or even deliberate obfuscation/omission. The lie needs to have an elaborate structure resulting in gain with the conned participating actively in his own downfall. There is no reason to think that Flocke or Widmore are buying what Sawyer is selling.

My point is how can Sawyer assume that Widmore is anti-Flocke (and wants to capture him)? For all he knows, both are in cahoots (Widmore being Flocke's way off the island) and he's the one who's been caught out (once Flocke and Widmore compare notes) as an untrustworthy candidate in Flocke's cause.

 

[Mallet]

There is no reason to think that Flocke or Widmore are buying what Sawyer is selling.

My point is how can Sawyer assume that Widmore is anti-Flocke (and wants to capture him)? For all he knows, both are in cahoots (Widmore being Flocke's way off the island) and he's the one who's been caught out (once Flocke and Widmore compare notes) as an untrustworthy candidate in Flocke's cause.

I think we just have to believe that Sawyer is a really good conman/liar and knows how it's done and when it's working and when it's not. Sure, the carpet could be pulled out from under him, but for the most part we have to trust that he knows what he's doing and that he's playing them off against each other. The writers have built him up that way, no reason why now, so close to the end of the series, that he would suddenly find himself messing up so bad, at what he does best... unless it serves the writers to have it happen.

It would be the same if jack suddenly had to preform surgery on the Island. We know he's a great surgeon. it's been show to us time and time again. If the surgery were to go badly, it wouldn't be because jack wasn't good at it, but because the writers needed the surgery to fail to move the story along in a certain direction.

 

[doubleohfive]

^
Precisely. The whole point of the flash-sideways was to remind us that Sawyer could be a good liar, but had finally chosen to open up to someone -- Miles. Meanwhile, contrastingly we are reminded firstly through Sawyer's seeing right through Zoe's lie, and then his own performed lie, that he is still good at lying. notLocke even tells him, "You're the best liar I've ever known." Considering who notLocke really is, that's saying something! However, it also allows for the possibility that notLocke is also aware that Sawyer might be lying as well. Who knows? Tune in next week.

 

[Agent Richard07]

I just watched this episode again. A few things I noticed the second time around:

Sawyer smashed a mirror
Widmore...does he recognize Sawyer from the time flashes?
Liam looking for Charlie I totally missed that!
Miles saying to Sawyer to convince him to date Charlotte: "Do you want to die alone?" At least Rose won't have to slap Jack for that reference!

I saw a few seconds of the episode again and caught something myself... Charlotte works for Miles' dad at the museum.

 

[Hober Mallow]

- Why does Cindy even ask what happened to the Others at the temple? I thought it was pretty clear that the message was either leave or die, hence why they left at all. And how are they so oblivious to what Locke represents?

Moreover, when are we going to get a Cindy flashback?

No kidding!

I don't think the writers realize she is a mystery.

I didn't realize she was a mystery. She was a flight attendent on Oceanic 815, she was with Anna Lucia and the tailies at the beginning of the second season, she got kidnapped by the Others, and she's been with them watching over the tailie kids since then. Now she's with Locke. I'm missing what the big mystery is.

Was it a dirt runway tho'? I remember seeing the plane standing way down a long runway. I thought it was a road (and was kinda surprised). So the Others built a runway after the Oceanic 6 left? Who could've built a runway (unless like the lighthouse it was always there)

The Others forced Sawyer and Kate to help them build the runway at the beginning of season three. Remember them digging when they were prisoners on Hydra Island? It was revealed later on in the season that they were building a runway. It isn't until season five when the Ajira flight lands on it that we discover what the runway was for.

The funny thing was that the writers kept putting in the line "You're building a runway," and it kept getting cut for various reasons from different episodes. As it was an important setup that had to be revealed, they kept writing it into the episodes over and over again, confusing the cast who had thought the line had already been said ten times.

 

[Alidar Jarok]

Yeah, my original assumption was they were just having them work in order to get Sawyer and Kate together (which manipulated Jack into giving Ben surgery). At the end when Juliette said it was a runway, I wondered if they were making it up. When the plane landed, I definitely had a "holy shit" moment.

 

[D Man]

Yeah, my original assumption was they were just having them work in order to get Sawyer and Kate together (which manipulated Jack into giving Ben surgery). At the end when Juliette said it was a runway, I wondered if they were making it up. When the plane landed, I definitely had a "holy shit" moment.

Me too. The question now is how did they (the Others) know to build a runway, and who told them to do it? My guess would be Jacob, assuming it turns out he transcends time. Or there's more time travel to come and it was someone else. Or it'll remain a "hey, cool!" moment that goes unexplained.

 

[Alidar Jarok]

I don't know if Jacob quite transcends time, but I definitely get the impression he has the ability to see the future. No one could quite manipulate fates the way he does without it (second best option would be that he is just that good and manipulated so many different events to cause things to happen).

 

[Checkmate]

Uhm. Magic lighthouse.

Neither Jacob nor Smokey are the sources of the island's power. The island is clearly the source of theirs. Jacob is also very unlikely the first protector (and he is the protector despite some crazy theories from equally crazy people) the island has had, and we're seeing the story of his passing of the torch. He's just an ordinary dude in an extraordinary situation. He's not God, he's not Jesus, he's not an angel.

Smokey doesn't really give two wits about the island, either. He's just obsessed with leaving it, which indicates that he's been imprisoned there, which is unique to him. We can easily assume this because Jacob has clearly not had a problem leaving it.

What we don't know is why there's rules, who's dictating the rules, and why the rules exist in the first place. The mystery is the island and those rules, and to a lesser extend Smokey. Jacob's role is pretty obvious and has been plainly revealed, though his motivations, methods, and reasons are still in question.

Just... for the love of all that's good, quit bringing up the God/Satan crap or trying to overcomplicate how Jacob's been watching and predicting the future. We already know how he's been doing that.

 

[Ryan8bit]

I didn't realize she was a mystery. She was a flight attendent on Oceanic 815, she was with Anna Lucia and the tailies at the beginning of the second season, she got kidnapped by the Others, and she's been with them watching over the tailie kids since then. Now she's with Locke. I'm missing what the big mystery is.

I don't think her past is really necessary to learn about either, but I think we should get some answers on why the others kidnapped people, and why they decided to kidnap her much later, specifically. I'm assuming there will be some sort of blanket answer to all this.

 

[Aragorn]

Anyone wish they hadn't gone the Jacob route with the show?

 

[DonIago]

Not yet. Possibly, in the end, though it will be hard to say without knowing what the alternative would have been.

 

[Alidar Jarok]

Anyone wish they hadn't gone the Jacob route with the show?

It might depend on how they handle Jacob. Though, to be honest, "Jacob did it" isn't much different than "the island did it."

 

[Jenee]

Anyone wish they hadn't gone the Jacob route with the show?

It might depend on how they handle Jacob. Though, to be honest, "Jacob did it" isn't much different than "the island did it."

Just makes it less science fiction and more ... spiritual(?).

 

[LitmusDragon]

Anyone wish they hadn't gone the Jacob route with the show?

I think it would be interesting to do a show like Lost except have everything turn out to have a mundane or scientifically rational explanation.

The way they are doing it now is interesting too but not quite what I thought we were going to get from season one / season two interviews.

 

[Checkmate]

Anyone wish they hadn't gone the Jacob route with the show?

Yep.

I wish a lot of things, actually. I wish the Others continued to be a force to be reckoned with, not the jokes they are now (even fucking Kate can out-track, out-hide and out-smart them). I wish Dharma had continued to be a mysterious organization devoted to understanding mysticism and magic, not a bunch of bumbling hippie scientists floundering mindlessly about. And I wish the secrets of the island were being uncovered by them up until their demise, not just a random accident by an idiot who wanted to drill a hole in the ground.

The show went from cool and intriguing to lame and boring real quick for me. I'm pretty much just along for the ride as a completist now. I hate Jacob and Smokey (why in God's name does he make mechanical clanking sounds?!) with a passion.

 

[RoJoHen]

I didn't realize she was a mystery. She was a flight attendent on Oceanic 815, she was with Anna Lucia and the tailies at the beginning of the second season, she got kidnapped by the Others, and she's been with them watching over the tailie kids since then. Now she's with Locke. I'm missing what the big mystery is.

I don't think her past is really necessary to learn about either, but I think we should get some answers on why the others kidnapped people, and why they decided to kidnap her much later, specifically. I'm assuming there will be some sort of blanket answer to all this.

Yeah, the mystery to me is what happened to her after she was kidnapped to turn her and the kids into Others. I don't need a huge explanation of her backstory or anything, but I'd like to know how she was converted.