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Sawyer: Good Cop, Bad Cop

Posted Mar 17, 2010 by Courtney Cairns Pastor

Updated Mar 17, 2010 at 02:55 PM

We saw a different side of Sawyer last night in “Recon,” and I’m not talking about the shirtless appearances. Not that I noticed. Sigh. No, we saw what would have happened if Sawyer had opted for the law and not lawlessness.

The flash-sideways seem to show us the path the Losties’ lives would have taken if Jacob hadn’t touched them. Most people (except for Kate and Charlie) seem to be better off so far, which makes you wonder if unLocke is on to something – did Jacob’s interference protect the island at the expense of their lives? Or do the Losties really serve a higher purpose?

For Sawyer, at first, it seems like life is better. It starts with him in bed with a hot woman (see, guys? There was a little something for you, too) and it looks like he’s about to con her. Except she calls him on it. “Jimmy” starts in with an explanation that sounds like something Original Sawyer would have said to keep the con going, claiming he’s really a cop, and the woman is not having any of it.

Then he says the code word – LaFleur – and cops do bust in. Jimmy was telling the truth, Ava is arrested and we learn that Sawyer’s partner is Miles.

We hear another familiar name back that station. Sawyer is calling around for “Anthony Cooper,” con artist extraordinaire, who in the original timeline caused Sawyer’s dad to kill himself, fathered Locke, shoved Locke out of a window and later met an untimely demise on the island. This time, Sawyer claims he’s an old friend.

Miles has set up his partner with a friend, and Sawyer meets her at the bar. It’s Charlotte, looking lovely and non-nosebleedy. They banter a little – she asks why he’s a cop and Sawyer tells her he could have chosen criminal or cop. They wind up in bed. There’s a nice cameo by “Watership Down” but everything goes to hell when Charlotte looks for a T-shirt to borrow and finds a mysterious “Sawyer” dossier in his dresser drawer. Sawyer flips out and kicks her to the curb.

The next day at the jail, Liam Pace is at the counter, looking for help for his brother, who was arrested at the airport on drug charges. Sawyer says it’s not his department and walks on by, only to have Miles accost him. Miles is livid – he ran Sawyer’s credit card and discovered he had lied about his vacation. He wants to know what Sawyer was doing in Sydney. Sawyer tells him to MYOB, Miles is all you’re dead to me, and Sawyer pulls a Jack and punches a mirror.

Sawyer nurses his wounds over frozen food and “Little House on the Prairie.” Pa is telling Laura that “people aren’t really gone when they die.” Sawyer softens and goes to Charlotte’s to attempt to make up with her. She tells him to take his sad little sunflower and stuff it. She says he blew his chance with her.

Sawyer goes to make up with Miles by handing him his Sawyer file. He tells him how Anthony Cooper conned his dad (same), his dad killed his mom and himself (same), how he went to Australia to find Cooper (same) and how he’s going to kill Cooper when he finds him (same). As they’re talking, there’s a screech and a car slams into Sawyer’s car. It’s a police pursuit and a hooded person (which is pretty obviously Kate) flees on foot. Sawyer springs into action and tackles her. He seems pleased when he recognizes her from the plane.

The island timeline starts with Sawyer making tea at Camp Smokey and telling Jin he doesn’t care that Locke isn’t Locke, he just wants off the damn island. He promises Jin they won’t leave without Sun, though.

The rest of the troops arrive, including crazy Sayid, crazy Claire and dazed Kate. We get another look at the fuhreaky animal skeleton in the cradle, as Claire tells Kate it was all she had. UnLocke huddles with his peeps and invites questions but says they need to keep moving. Stewardess Cindy asks what happened to the rest of the people at the Temple. UnLocke says Smokey killed them, which upsets the kiddos. UnLocke promises to take care of them. UnLocke leads them to another clearing and pulls Sawyer aside for a chat.

Sawyer asks how unLocke knew to rescue everyone from Smokey and unLocke confesses that he is Smokey and that everyone else was trying to protect the island from him. But all he wants to do is get off the island. UnLocke sends Sawyer on a mission to check out the Hydra Island and see what the other Ajira survivors are plotting. UnLocke is sure that Sawyer can handle the work because he’s the best liar he’s ever met.

Kate, meanwhile, starts to talk to Sayid, who says he believes unLocke can get them off the island. Mid-conversation, she’s ambushed by Claire. Kate screams at Sayid for help, but he doesn’t look like he cares. UnLocke finally pulls Claire off her, slaps her and says he’ll deal with her later. He asks if Kate is OK and Kate looks at him like he’s insane.

Kate later is crying by herself, and unLocke apologizes to her. He says he told Claire the Others had her baby because she needed an enemy to “keep her going.” Kate says that’s very insightful, coming from a dead man. UnLocke says “nobody’s perfect.”

They go for a walk to gaze out over the Hydra Island and unLocke says he’s not a dead man. He knows what Kate is feeling and what she’s going through. A long time ago, he had a crazy mama, which gave him “growing pains” and “problems that I’m still trying to work my way through.” And now, he says, Aaron has a crazy mama.

On the Hydra Island, Sawyer stumbles on the plane wreckage and a big, stinking pile of corpses. Before he can process this, a distraught woman appears, claiming she’s the only one left from the crash. Her name is Zoe, and she says she was collecting firewood when she heard screaming – something killed the other survivors. She starts to grill Sawyer as they head to his canoe, but Sawyer knows a fellow liar and calls her out on it. She whistles for help, and Sawyer is ambushed. “Take me to your leader,” he says with a smirk.

Led at gunpoint, Sawyer arrives at the sub and gets to go down below for a visit with Mr. Widmore. Sawyer remembers him from the freighter debacle and tells Widmore “John Locke” sent him to check out the Hydra. He makes a deal with Widmore that he will tell unLocke it’s clear, bring him to the Hydra and let Widmore kill him. He asks Widmore for safe passage off the island in exchange. They shake.

But remember, Sawyer is an excellent liar, so as soon as he’s back with unLocke, he spills about Widmore. He says how Widmore’s people are setting up pillars that look like the old Dharma security system designed to keep out Smokey. Locke thanks him for his loyalty.

Sawyer’s only loyal to Sawyer, though, because later, over a campfire, he tells Kate what happened at the Hydra Island. “I’m going to let them fight it out,” he says of Widmore and unLocke. And as soon as they’re distracted, he and Kate are taking the sub and getting off the island.

No major revelations, but we’re seeing how the different sides are lining up. And next week promises some good stuff – we’ll finally get Richard Alpert’s backstory.