miss a (![[info]](http://p-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small} lostrecaps_) wrote,@ 2007-01-14 19:06:00 |
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304 - Every Man for Himself (A Sawyer Episode)
Major Plotpoints
-- Desmond continues to act strange and builds a structure out of some wires and a golf club, which then gets struck by lightning. Best guess: He had a vision of Charlie, Claire, and Aaron’s tent getting struck by lightning and, when they wouldn’t leave it for the night, decided to make some taller that would attract the lightning, in order to keep them safe.
-- The Others bring Colleen back from the boat and Juliet enlists Jack to help save her. He tries, but fails. Pickett, who was married to Colleen, gets very, very mad and goes to Sawyer’s cage to beat him to a bloody pulp, at least until Kate tells him to stop because she loves him.
-- Sawyer tries to come up with a plan to get he and Kate out of the cages, but it fails and Ben ends up knocking him out and taking him... somewhere. He comes to just long enough for the Others to begin some time of surgery on him. When he wakes up again, Ben tells him they put a pacemaker inside of him and that if his heart rate ever gets to be 140 (his active heart rate) his heart will explode. He also tells him that if he tells Kate anything about it, they’ll put one in her, too.
-- Back in... sometime, Sawyer was in prison in Florida. It turns out Cassidy pressed charges for his con of her (see episode 113). During his stay at the prison, Cassidy made a visit to tell him he had a baby daughter, who she named Clementine. Sawyer says it’s not his and refuses to have anything to do with her.
-- An inmate named Munson comes to the prison while Sawyer is there. Supposedly, he stole $10 million from the government, which they never found. Sawyer “befriends” Munson, telling him the warden is going to try to con the money out of him. When Sawyer’s predictions turn out true, Munson tells him where the money is and asks him for help with moving it. However, it turns out Sawyer was working with the warden the entire time. He tells him where the money is and he gets the last six years of his sentence taken off, plus a sizeable amount of money. He tells him to put the money in an account in Albuquerque in Clementine’s name, and the make sure she can’t find out who it’s from.
-- Kate discovers she can fit through the bars at the top of her cage. She gets out and tries to break the lock on Sawyer’s cage, but he tells her to just go without him. She refuses, quoting Jack again: Live together, die alone.
-- When Jack is going to the operating room to operate on Colleen, he sees x-rays of someone—someone who has a tumor growing on their spine and who, he deduces, he’s going to have to save.
-- Ben takes Sawyer out of his cage and leads him up a steep cliff, which causes Sawyer’s heart rate to get dangerously close to 140. Ben then explains that they lied—they never put a pacemaker in him; nothing’s going to happen to him. He then shows him that they’re actually on a different island than the island—he has nowhere to run to.
---
Desmond sits on the beach, watching Claire and Aaron. He approaches them and tells Claire she’s got a problem with her roof. What? Maybe they should move down the beach, just for the night. That way, he can fix it—make some improvements. That’s really nice, she says, but Aaron just fell asleep, so she should just—no, it’ll be worth it, he promises. Charlie comes up and asks Desmond what he’s doing. He was just offering to fix the roof, he says. Roof? It’s fine, Charlie says. If there’s a problem, he’ll fix it. He’s quite handy. He was building a church before Eko imploded. Right. Well, just trying to help. Claire thanks him and he leaves. She turns to Charlie. What was that all about? He doesn’t know, he answers. But they’re going to have to get that guy another button to push.
An old cartoon plays on a tv in Jack’s cell. There’s a knock on the door and Jack goes to the wall and sits down. Juliet enters with a tray of food. She asks how he’s doing. Great, he replies sarcastically. He seems frustrated, she says. Is he going to keep watching cartoons or is she going to tell him why he’s there? She hopes he likes blueberry. If not, she can—should he talk to Ben? What? Should he talk to Ben? He’s starting to think that she’s just the person that brings him his food. He can talk to Ben all he wants, she says, but he won’t tell him anything. She work for him? No, she doesn’t work for him. He’s in charge. Well, it doesn’t work that way. They make decisions together. Really? Because when he was holding that broken plate to her neck, he seemed happy to just let her die. It felt like he made that decision on his own. He doesn’t know what he’s talking about, she says. She doesn’t answer to him. A door opens and Ben enters, telling Juliet he needs her. Can it wait? The sub is back, he says. They have a situation, so come with him now. Elsewhere, in the jungle, people are carrying Colleen in on a stretcher.
Pickett, complete with a bandaged nose, opens Sawyer’s cage, telling him it’s time for work. Sound a little stuffy, Sawyer says. He need to blow his nose? Just give him an excuse, Pickett says. He thought he just did, Sawyer replies. What’s he gotta do—talk about his mother? Pickett grabs Sawyer’s collar, but gets interrupted by a voice on his walkie-talkie, asking if he’s there. He answers and shoves Sawyer back. The voice says something and Pickett’s eyes get wide. What? Where are they? Ben, Juliet, and several Others come running through the area, carrying Colleen. Pickett joins them. Tom tells Juliet she’s hurt bad and Juliet tells them to keep her steady. Pickett asks if she’s going to be okay. As the Others run off, Kate asks Sawyer what happened. They happened, he answers. What? He’s been there long enough to realize they ain’t in the business of shooting each other. They did it. Their team. Slightly horrified, Kate asks if he’s smiling. Damn right he’s smiling. Because they just got their ticket out of there.
Sawyer pushes the levers and buttons in his cage to make the food drop. Kate asks what’s he doing; he doesn’t answer. He finishes and the food drops. That chick they brought in on the stretcher, he says—that’s broken nose man’s girl. They call him Pickett, Kate tells him. Water from Sawyer’s cage flows into a small pool just outside the door. Well, Pickett’s distracted at the moment, he says. So? Watch and learn. He pushes the big button twice. There’s juice pumping into this box from somewhere. Next time someone comes to pull him out, he’s going to wait until they step inside his little swimming hole, and he’ll grab ‘em. Zap! They fall back from the shock—he snags the keys. Bet the bears never thought of that. They’re both going to be electrocuted, Kate points out. Yeah, but he’s felt the jolt. He can take it. The other guy—he ain’t gonna be ready for it. What, she think he’s crazy? No, she’s actually impressed. Well, wipe the stars out of her eyes, because they’re gonna do it. So what about Jack? What about him? They don’t even know if he’s there. Hell, they don’t even know if he’s alive. They got to take care of them. It’s every man for himself, Freckles.
FLASHBACK. Sawyer is in a boxing ring. He knocks his opponent down and a man tells him (using the name Ford) that’s enough. Sawyer helps the other man up and it’s revealed they’re in prison. Later, the two of them walk down a hall in the prison. The man defends why he lost to Sawyer in the boxing ring. They stop walking a short while later and watch a fight that’s broken out below them. Who’s the punching bag? The man tells Sawyer he just got there—his name’s Munson. Rumor has it, he ripped off the government for $10 million, which they never found. Damn, Sawyer says. If his buddy the warden, the man says, didn’t keep breaking up the fights, Munson would be a dead man. The warden watches as the fight gets broken up. Sawyer eyes him angrily. That son of a bitch.
Later, Munson is sewing and Sawyer approaches with a trash can and a mop. Sawyer asks him if he gets little mints on his pillow at night, too. What? He’s there, what, a week? And he’s on tote bag duty? He’s been there nine months and he’s still pushing trash. What does that mean? Does he think the warden’s breaking up those fights because he’s cute? He’s making a play for that ten million, Sawyer explains. First step—butter him up, give him a plumb job. Step two—reach out to his wife, use her against him. Textbook con. And he’s telling him this out of the kidness of his—advice is free, Murgatroid. Last nine months, that warden’s made his life a living hell. He gets that ten mil he ain’t got? Sawyer just might have to kill himself. The warden enters the room, eating an apple. He greets Sawyer, who cheekily responds with a greeting. The warden asks Munson if Sawyer’s bothering him. Munson shakes his head. Sawyer asks the warden what brings him to the sewing shop. Don’t think he can’t extend his stay, the warden says. All it takes is one call. One call. He drops the apple on the floor. How about he gets that trash?
Ben approaches Sawyer’s cage. Sawyer whispers to Kate, excited about how he got the ring leader to fall into his trap. Ben comes up to the cage and stands just outside of the water puddle. Lunch already? Ben ignores him and asks him what he weighs. What? What does he weigh? 180, give or take. Ben takes a step closer to the water. How old is he? 32. Don’t lie. Sawyer sighs. 35. Ben steps in the water and unlocks the cage. Good. Sawyer grabs Ben’s arm and presses the button with his foot. He pushes the button several times, but nothing happens. What did he do? They turned it off, Ben tells him. He hits Sawyer in the face with a stick. Kate yells out for him as Ben enters the cage and beats Sawyer down.
Sometime later, Sawyer wakes up strapped to a table. In the background, Tom tells Ben that it’s been two days since the sky turned purple. They’ve been blind. Their comms are all down—he can’t get them back up again. And in case he forgot, Colleen’s in critical—Juliet’s taking care of her. Sawyer suddenly asks where he is. What the hell are they doing to him? Let him up! Ben ignores this and calls for an Other named Jason. Jason approaches Sawyer with a long stick and tells him to bite down. Sawyer tells him to bite down on it and Ben tells him it’s for the pain. Another Other—Matthew—approaches Sawyer with a long syringe. Sawyer begins to yell, plead, and scream. Ben tells him how much he hates needles. Sawyer continues scream. From his cell, Jack can hear Sawyer through the speaker. Jason tells Matthew he has to go through the sternum—the sternum, like in the movie. He knows, he says. Sawyer yells out again as Matthew counts down.
Paulo practices golf on the beach. Desmond approaches and tells him he’s going to take one of his clubs. Hurley said it would be alright. Hurley, huh? Does that mean he’s off to save the day? Desmond ignores this and asks if he can take one. Take the five iron, Paulo says. He never uses it. That way, when he dies in the jungle, doing whatever he’s doing, he doesn’t have to go looking for it. Thanks, Desmond says. He watches Paulo take a shot, then tells him he might want to square his shoulders a bit more. He plays golf? He’s Scottish, Desmond answers. Cheers.
Sawyer’s still strapped to the table. He has a bandage on his chest. He wakes up and a door opens. Tom and Ben enter the room carrying a rabbit in a cage. The rabbit has a black number eight on its back. They put the cage on Sawyer’s stomach. What the hell? Ben shushes him and starts to shake the cage quickly and forcefully. He tells the rabbit to move, come on, hurry up, move. Sawyer asks him what he’s doing, but he ignores him and continues. After a little while, the rabbit falls over. Sawyer asks Ben if he just killed the bunny. Does he know what a pacemaker is? What? They stick them in the tickers of people who’ve had by-pass work, Ben explains, whose hearts just need a little kickstart. The rabbit had a small pacemaker set to deliver its kickstart should it get too excited, anxious, or frightened—or should it try to escape. Ben puts a watch on Sawyer’s wrist. Assuming he was telling the truth about his age and weight, he says, his resting heart rate should be about 70 beats per minute. His active heart rate, however, should be about 140—which is the point at which his pacemaker will cause his heart to explode. Which is how he knows he’s going to start behaving now. The watch monitors his pulse. If he gets within 15 beats of his danger zone, it’ll start to beep. It and when it beeps, he’s going to want to relax himself—do some deep breathing, some yoga. If he wanted him dead, why didn’t he just shoot him and get it over with? Because they’re not killers, James. Oh, and one other thing. Kate—Sawyer starts to threaten him, but is interrupted by Ben. He tells her what they did, what they put in him—that they’re watching him—he tells her any of those things—they’ll put one in her, too.
The Others bring Sawyer back to his cage. Kate asks him if he’s okay, but he doesn’t say anything. Tom puts a bucket of water and a sponge in each cage, then tells them it’s so they can clean themselves. He gives Kate a bag of clothes and tells her to tell him if it doesn’t fit. He leaves and Kate asks Sawyer what happened. Nothing, he says. They just asked him questions. It ain’t important. Talk to her, she says. What happened? Look, he told her. Nothing happened. So quit asking. Kate empties the bag of clothes and tells Sawyer to turn around. He does and, while they’re not facing each other, he checks the bandage on his chest. He’s sees an incision and looks to Kate, who’s still facing away, but who’s taking off her shirt. His heart monitor starts beeping and Kate asks what it is. It’s just his watch, he says. It’s busted. When did he get a watch? Look, he doesn’t tell her everything! Just leave him alone, damn it. He dumped the water over his head. And put some clothes on.
FLASHBACK. Sawyer watches as Munson talks to a woman visitor. Suddenly, a woman says hello to Sawyer. He turns and looks at Cassidy. It’s James Ford, he tells her. And he knows she knows that because she got it right when she pressed charges. He’s mad at her? Well, look where he is. What did he want her to do? He conned her. Something she wants? Yeah, she says. Yeah, there is. She places a picture of a little girl on the table. What’s this? This is his daughter. What does she want? Well, first, she wanted him to know. Then what? She think he’s gonna take one look at that picture and turn into Father Knows Best? They’re living in this little place in Albuquerque, she says. It’s near the University—why is she telling him this? She just thought he could write her a letter. Her name’s Clementine. What the hell is he gonna write, “Dear Goo-goo ga-ga?” She’s a baby. She ain’t his. Sawyer, she is—he ain’t got no daughter.
On the island, Sawyer rubs his chest. Kate eyes the top of her cage, then tells him she’s been looking and she thinks if she climbs to the top, she can squeeze through the bars—they’re space farther up there. Don’t bother, he says. What is he talking about? He’s talking about being smart. He thinks they should chill out there a while—get the lay of the land. Kate just stares.
Jack hears something on the speaker in his cell. He gets up and goes to listen. One voice says something’s under control, and that it was a mistake bringing “those two” there. Juliet enters the room and Jack asks her what she did to Sawyer. Nothing, she tells him. He heard him yelling. She’s got blood on her clothes. What did she do to him? It’s not his blood, she explains. Then whose blood is it? It’s the blood of a woman who’s dying. Jack... she needs his help.
Back by the cages, a loud alarm sounds and the Others come out of the trees, leading Jack through the area with a bag over his head. Kate and Sawyer see him and begin calling out for him, but he can’t hear. They lead him inside and he hears Ben and Juliet speaking to each other. Ben asks Juliet if she lost her mind. He’s a doctor, she says. He can help. Well, that’s not why—does he want her to die? She leaves Ben and leads Jack to the sinks. Jack asks what happened. Juliet tells him—gunshot wound to the abdomen. Jack scrubs up, then notices some spinal x-rays hanging on a light screen. Those aren’t hers, she tells him. Come on. They enter the operating room and Pickett immediately asks what Jack’s doing there. Danny, Juliet says, he’s there to help. Tell him who did this, Pickett says angrily. He ought to know that. Danny. Jack tells Juliet he needs Pickett out of there and she tells him to leave. Tom tries to get him to go, but he’s adamant, saying Colleen’s his wife and he won’t leave her. Finally, Tom and Pickett leave and Juliet tells Jack she got the bullet out, she she’s still bleeding. Jack makes some observations and tells Juliet what to do. She struggles, telling him she’s not a surgeon. He knows, he says. But he needs her to do it. Above them, in the observation deck, Pickett, Tom, and Ben are watching. Juliet finally gets her hands dirty and they work to save Colleen. She starts to flatline on the heart monitor and Jack tells Juliet they need the crash cart—now. It’s broken, she says. They... they’ve never had anything happen before. They didn’t... they have... she doesn’t... Jack tries to do CPR on Colleen, but she’s dead. He tries to call the time of death, but there’s no clock in the room. Above them, Pickett starts to yell. They did this! They did this! He runs out despite Tom’s pleas not to.
Pickett heads to Sawyer’s cage. Sawyer tells him to take it easy, but he doesn’t listen. He drags him out of the cage and throws him down. He throws him against Kate’s cage, telling him to shut up. He looks at Kate. Does she love Sawyer? What? He starts to punch Sawyer. Does she love him?! Stop! Does she love him?!! Does she love him?!! Leave him alone!! Does she love him?! What is he doing? Stop!! Stop!! DOES SHE LOVE HIM?! YES! SHE LOVES HIM! She loves him! Please! She begins to cry and Pickett chokes back tears. He stops hitting Sawyer and Kate grabs him and pulls him as close to her as possible. Pickett leaves, telling the Others to lock Sawyer back up.
FLASHBACK. Sawyer reads Of Mice and Men while in prison. Munson approaches, saying he needs to talk to him. Sorry, he says. He’s busy. It’s important. Please. They walk down a corridor and Munson tells Sawyer he was right. He loved her. He thought she—he really thought she... 10 mil’s a lot, Killer—tends to change things. That’s why you never get attaches—because once you care, that’s when they come at you. What did his want? He saw him the other day with a woman. What did she want? Something he ain’t got. That all? He had himself a good cry? He mind if he goes back to see if George gets his farm? He needs Sawyer to move it. The money. The money he didn’t steal? They both know he did. Lila’s hired a PI, he says. She’s going to find it. Do it for him. He has to. No, Sawyer says. It’s too dangerous. He’ll be a walking target. If he doesn’t help him, Munson says, the warden will get it all. He’ll win. Please, he begs. Please.
Sawyer cleans himself up with the water and the sponge. Kate asks if he’s okay. Dandy, he says. Guy hits like a girl. No offense. Why did he do that? Hell if he knows. They ever make any sense to him? Kate climbs to the top of her cage. What is she doing? What does it look like? Sawyer tries to get her to stop, but she climbs out. He was the one who said they had to go, she reminds him. Well, that was before... Before what? She doesn’t know what they did to him. But she knows he’s scared enough to lie about it. And that scares her more than anything that they have done to them before. Wait, Sawyer says. Kate climbs down the outside of the cage and goes to Sawyer’s. She starts to hit the lock with a rock. She’s getting him out of there, she says. Don’t. She’s not leaving him. She can get it open. No. She’s already out, he says. She’s got to go. She’s got to leave him. What? Run! What did they do to him?! Go! Sawyer’s monitor starts beeping. What is that thing? Run, he says. Just go. It’s every man for himself. Why didn’t he fight back?! Tell the truth for once in his life! If she really loves him, go. She only said that so he’s stop hitting him. She walks back to her cage and climbs back up. What the hell is she doing? Kate?! Damn it, Freckles, go! Every man for himself. Kate gets back inside her cage and stares at him. Live together, die alone.
Ben and Tom have been watching the entire scene play out on their monitors. Tom tells Ben that Pickett want to kill him. He can wait, he says. Should he bring Shephard back? No, he wants him to sit with her for a while longer. In the operating room, Jack’s handcuffed to the gurney holding Colleen’s dead body. Juliet enters and apologizes for the cuffs. She’s a fertility doctor, she says. She’s not used to death. What was her name? Cole, short for Colleen. She shouldn’t have—she should have come to get him sooner. It wouldn’t have mattered. There wasn’t any more she could have done. She was—she was dead before they put her on the table. Is he just saying that to make her feel better? He doesn’t care about making her feel better. She’s going to take him back now, she says. She’s sorry for bringing him there. Whose x-rays are those? Outside? She doesn’t answer. Those are spinal x-rays, he continues. They belong to a man about 40 years old. And whoever he is, he has a very large tumor on his L-4 vertebrae. And he just happens to be a spinal surgeon. So, tell him—who is he there to save?
Back at the beach, Desmond’s built a tower in the sand, with the golf club on top, sticking straight up. It’s near Claire’s shelter. Hurley chops some fruit, watching Desmond. Is that—art? Nope. Just an experiment, he says. Okay. He want some fruit salad? He’s not hungry. Hurley starts to leave. He might want to wait a minute, Desmond says. Why’s that? Suddenly, it begins to pour down rain. Claire gets Aaron out of his crib and Charlie puts his arms around them. Suddenly, there’s a lightning strike, which hits the tallest thing in the area—Desmond’s tower.
Ben wakes Sawyer up inside his cage and asks him to go for a walk. FLASHBACK. Sawyer is being escorted by guards to a meeting with the warden. The warden tells him that, when they first brought him there, he thought he was nothing more than a dumb hick. Now he knows better. He’s a dumb hick who knows how to steal. Can they just get it over with? Yeah. He remember Agent Freedman from the Treasury Department? Freedman asks him what he’s got. 10 million’s in a red bronco parked in a Stor-Quik facility in Sawgrass, right off 441, unit 23C. That’s where his money is. As agreed, the last six years of his sentence have been commuted, the warden tells him. As soon as the truck is recovered and the funds confirmed, Freedman says, Sawyer’s commission will be processed. Now, how would he like that? Set up a new account, he says. It don’t matter what back, just make it in Albuquerque. Okay. Put it in the name of Clementine Phillips. Okay, Freedman says. And he wants it so there’s no way she can ever find out who the money’s from. The warden asks who Clementine Phillips is. Sawyer ignores him. They done? The warden nods. Congratulations, he says. He just lied and cheated his way out of prison. He’s a free man.
Back on the island, Ben is leading Sawyer up a steep incline. Not much further, he says—just to the top of the next rise. What’s up there? Something he wants him to see. That little place he always wanted, George? Sorry? What, doesn’t he read? It’s from Of Mice and Men. Ben would like it—puppies get killed. They continue hiking and Sawyer’s monitor starts beeping. Did he bring him up there to kill him? Make that thing he put inside of him blow up his damn heart? His heart’s not going to blow up, Ben says. The only thing they put inside of him was doubt. Oh, the watch is a heart rate monitor, but nothing more. He pulls a bunny out of a bag—it has a number eight painted on its back. They gave him a sedative, he says, not a pacemaker. How does he know that’s the same bunny? That he didn’t just paint an eight on another one? He doesn’t. Sawyer punches Ben in the face. The rabbit wasn’t the thing he wanted to show him, Ben says. They continue up the hill and Sawyer stares. Across a fairly large amount of water is an island. Ben asks if he’s ever been to Alcatraz—take the tour? Right now, he’s standing on a small island roughly twice the size of Alcatraz. And that over there—that’s his island—the one he’s come to know and love. He just wanted him to know that there’s nowhere to run. He did all of that just to keep him in a damn cage? They did all that because the only way to gain a con man’s respect is to con him. And Sawyer’s pretty good. They’re just a lot better. Funny thing is, telling him about the pacemaker wasn’t what kept him in line. It was when he threatened Kate. He works so hard to make her think he doesn’t care—that he doesn’t need her—but... A guy goes nuts if he ain’t got nobody. It don’t make no difference who the guy is, long as he’s with you. I tell you... I tell you a guy gets too lonely and he gets sick. What the hell is he talking about? It’s from Of Mice and Men, Ben says. Doesn’t he read? Come one—let’s get him back to his cage.
Every Man for Himself was written by Edward Kitsis and Adam Horowitz.
Major Plotpoints
-- Desmond continues to act strange and builds a structure out of some wires and a golf club, which then gets struck by lightning. Best guess: He had a vision of Charlie, Claire, and Aaron’s tent getting struck by lightning and, when they wouldn’t leave it for the night, decided to make some taller that would attract the lightning, in order to keep them safe.
-- The Others bring Colleen back from the boat and Juliet enlists Jack to help save her. He tries, but fails. Pickett, who was married to Colleen, gets very, very mad and goes to Sawyer’s cage to beat him to a bloody pulp, at least until Kate tells him to stop because she loves him.
-- Sawyer tries to come up with a plan to get he and Kate out of the cages, but it fails and Ben ends up knocking him out and taking him... somewhere. He comes to just long enough for the Others to begin some time of surgery on him. When he wakes up again, Ben tells him they put a pacemaker inside of him and that if his heart rate ever gets to be 140 (his active heart rate) his heart will explode. He also tells him that if he tells Kate anything about it, they’ll put one in her, too.
-- Back in... sometime, Sawyer was in prison in Florida. It turns out Cassidy pressed charges for his con of her (see episode 113). During his stay at the prison, Cassidy made a visit to tell him he had a baby daughter, who she named Clementine. Sawyer says it’s not his and refuses to have anything to do with her.
-- An inmate named Munson comes to the prison while Sawyer is there. Supposedly, he stole $10 million from the government, which they never found. Sawyer “befriends” Munson, telling him the warden is going to try to con the money out of him. When Sawyer’s predictions turn out true, Munson tells him where the money is and asks him for help with moving it. However, it turns out Sawyer was working with the warden the entire time. He tells him where the money is and he gets the last six years of his sentence taken off, plus a sizeable amount of money. He tells him to put the money in an account in Albuquerque in Clementine’s name, and the make sure she can’t find out who it’s from.
-- Kate discovers she can fit through the bars at the top of her cage. She gets out and tries to break the lock on Sawyer’s cage, but he tells her to just go without him. She refuses, quoting Jack again: Live together, die alone.
-- When Jack is going to the operating room to operate on Colleen, he sees x-rays of someone—someone who has a tumor growing on their spine and who, he deduces, he’s going to have to save.
-- Ben takes Sawyer out of his cage and leads him up a steep cliff, which causes Sawyer’s heart rate to get dangerously close to 140. Ben then explains that they lied—they never put a pacemaker in him; nothing’s going to happen to him. He then shows him that they’re actually on a different island than the island—he has nowhere to run to.
---
Desmond sits on the beach, watching Claire and Aaron. He approaches them and tells Claire she’s got a problem with her roof. What? Maybe they should move down the beach, just for the night. That way, he can fix it—make some improvements. That’s really nice, she says, but Aaron just fell asleep, so she should just—no, it’ll be worth it, he promises. Charlie comes up and asks Desmond what he’s doing. He was just offering to fix the roof, he says. Roof? It’s fine, Charlie says. If there’s a problem, he’ll fix it. He’s quite handy. He was building a church before Eko imploded. Right. Well, just trying to help. Claire thanks him and he leaves. She turns to Charlie. What was that all about? He doesn’t know, he answers. But they’re going to have to get that guy another button to push.
An old cartoon plays on a tv in Jack’s cell. There’s a knock on the door and Jack goes to the wall and sits down. Juliet enters with a tray of food. She asks how he’s doing. Great, he replies sarcastically. He seems frustrated, she says. Is he going to keep watching cartoons or is she going to tell him why he’s there? She hopes he likes blueberry. If not, she can—should he talk to Ben? What? Should he talk to Ben? He’s starting to think that she’s just the person that brings him his food. He can talk to Ben all he wants, she says, but he won’t tell him anything. She work for him? No, she doesn’t work for him. He’s in charge. Well, it doesn’t work that way. They make decisions together. Really? Because when he was holding that broken plate to her neck, he seemed happy to just let her die. It felt like he made that decision on his own. He doesn’t know what he’s talking about, she says. She doesn’t answer to him. A door opens and Ben enters, telling Juliet he needs her. Can it wait? The sub is back, he says. They have a situation, so come with him now. Elsewhere, in the jungle, people are carrying Colleen in on a stretcher.
Pickett, complete with a bandaged nose, opens Sawyer’s cage, telling him it’s time for work. Sound a little stuffy, Sawyer says. He need to blow his nose? Just give him an excuse, Pickett says. He thought he just did, Sawyer replies. What’s he gotta do—talk about his mother? Pickett grabs Sawyer’s collar, but gets interrupted by a voice on his walkie-talkie, asking if he’s there. He answers and shoves Sawyer back. The voice says something and Pickett’s eyes get wide. What? Where are they? Ben, Juliet, and several Others come running through the area, carrying Colleen. Pickett joins them. Tom tells Juliet she’s hurt bad and Juliet tells them to keep her steady. Pickett asks if she’s going to be okay. As the Others run off, Kate asks Sawyer what happened. They happened, he answers. What? He’s been there long enough to realize they ain’t in the business of shooting each other. They did it. Their team. Slightly horrified, Kate asks if he’s smiling. Damn right he’s smiling. Because they just got their ticket out of there.
Sawyer pushes the levers and buttons in his cage to make the food drop. Kate asks what’s he doing; he doesn’t answer. He finishes and the food drops. That chick they brought in on the stretcher, he says—that’s broken nose man’s girl. They call him Pickett, Kate tells him. Water from Sawyer’s cage flows into a small pool just outside the door. Well, Pickett’s distracted at the moment, he says. So? Watch and learn. He pushes the big button twice. There’s juice pumping into this box from somewhere. Next time someone comes to pull him out, he’s going to wait until they step inside his little swimming hole, and he’ll grab ‘em. Zap! They fall back from the shock—he snags the keys. Bet the bears never thought of that. They’re both going to be electrocuted, Kate points out. Yeah, but he’s felt the jolt. He can take it. The other guy—he ain’t gonna be ready for it. What, she think he’s crazy? No, she’s actually impressed. Well, wipe the stars out of her eyes, because they’re gonna do it. So what about Jack? What about him? They don’t even know if he’s there. Hell, they don’t even know if he’s alive. They got to take care of them. It’s every man for himself, Freckles.
FLASHBACK. Sawyer is in a boxing ring. He knocks his opponent down and a man tells him (using the name Ford) that’s enough. Sawyer helps the other man up and it’s revealed they’re in prison. Later, the two of them walk down a hall in the prison. The man defends why he lost to Sawyer in the boxing ring. They stop walking a short while later and watch a fight that’s broken out below them. Who’s the punching bag? The man tells Sawyer he just got there—his name’s Munson. Rumor has it, he ripped off the government for $10 million, which they never found. Damn, Sawyer says. If his buddy the warden, the man says, didn’t keep breaking up the fights, Munson would be a dead man. The warden watches as the fight gets broken up. Sawyer eyes him angrily. That son of a bitch.
Later, Munson is sewing and Sawyer approaches with a trash can and a mop. Sawyer asks him if he gets little mints on his pillow at night, too. What? He’s there, what, a week? And he’s on tote bag duty? He’s been there nine months and he’s still pushing trash. What does that mean? Does he think the warden’s breaking up those fights because he’s cute? He’s making a play for that ten million, Sawyer explains. First step—butter him up, give him a plumb job. Step two—reach out to his wife, use her against him. Textbook con. And he’s telling him this out of the kidness of his—advice is free, Murgatroid. Last nine months, that warden’s made his life a living hell. He gets that ten mil he ain’t got? Sawyer just might have to kill himself. The warden enters the room, eating an apple. He greets Sawyer, who cheekily responds with a greeting. The warden asks Munson if Sawyer’s bothering him. Munson shakes his head. Sawyer asks the warden what brings him to the sewing shop. Don’t think he can’t extend his stay, the warden says. All it takes is one call. One call. He drops the apple on the floor. How about he gets that trash?
Ben approaches Sawyer’s cage. Sawyer whispers to Kate, excited about how he got the ring leader to fall into his trap. Ben comes up to the cage and stands just outside of the water puddle. Lunch already? Ben ignores him and asks him what he weighs. What? What does he weigh? 180, give or take. Ben takes a step closer to the water. How old is he? 32. Don’t lie. Sawyer sighs. 35. Ben steps in the water and unlocks the cage. Good. Sawyer grabs Ben’s arm and presses the button with his foot. He pushes the button several times, but nothing happens. What did he do? They turned it off, Ben tells him. He hits Sawyer in the face with a stick. Kate yells out for him as Ben enters the cage and beats Sawyer down.
Sometime later, Sawyer wakes up strapped to a table. In the background, Tom tells Ben that it’s been two days since the sky turned purple. They’ve been blind. Their comms are all down—he can’t get them back up again. And in case he forgot, Colleen’s in critical—Juliet’s taking care of her. Sawyer suddenly asks where he is. What the hell are they doing to him? Let him up! Ben ignores this and calls for an Other named Jason. Jason approaches Sawyer with a long stick and tells him to bite down. Sawyer tells him to bite down on it and Ben tells him it’s for the pain. Another Other—Matthew—approaches Sawyer with a long syringe. Sawyer begins to yell, plead, and scream. Ben tells him how much he hates needles. Sawyer continues scream. From his cell, Jack can hear Sawyer through the speaker. Jason tells Matthew he has to go through the sternum—the sternum, like in the movie. He knows, he says. Sawyer yells out again as Matthew counts down.
Paulo practices golf on the beach. Desmond approaches and tells him he’s going to take one of his clubs. Hurley said it would be alright. Hurley, huh? Does that mean he’s off to save the day? Desmond ignores this and asks if he can take one. Take the five iron, Paulo says. He never uses it. That way, when he dies in the jungle, doing whatever he’s doing, he doesn’t have to go looking for it. Thanks, Desmond says. He watches Paulo take a shot, then tells him he might want to square his shoulders a bit more. He plays golf? He’s Scottish, Desmond answers. Cheers.
Sawyer’s still strapped to the table. He has a bandage on his chest. He wakes up and a door opens. Tom and Ben enter the room carrying a rabbit in a cage. The rabbit has a black number eight on its back. They put the cage on Sawyer’s stomach. What the hell? Ben shushes him and starts to shake the cage quickly and forcefully. He tells the rabbit to move, come on, hurry up, move. Sawyer asks him what he’s doing, but he ignores him and continues. After a little while, the rabbit falls over. Sawyer asks Ben if he just killed the bunny. Does he know what a pacemaker is? What? They stick them in the tickers of people who’ve had by-pass work, Ben explains, whose hearts just need a little kickstart. The rabbit had a small pacemaker set to deliver its kickstart should it get too excited, anxious, or frightened—or should it try to escape. Ben puts a watch on Sawyer’s wrist. Assuming he was telling the truth about his age and weight, he says, his resting heart rate should be about 70 beats per minute. His active heart rate, however, should be about 140—which is the point at which his pacemaker will cause his heart to explode. Which is how he knows he’s going to start behaving now. The watch monitors his pulse. If he gets within 15 beats of his danger zone, it’ll start to beep. It and when it beeps, he’s going to want to relax himself—do some deep breathing, some yoga. If he wanted him dead, why didn’t he just shoot him and get it over with? Because they’re not killers, James. Oh, and one other thing. Kate—Sawyer starts to threaten him, but is interrupted by Ben. He tells her what they did, what they put in him—that they’re watching him—he tells her any of those things—they’ll put one in her, too.
The Others bring Sawyer back to his cage. Kate asks him if he’s okay, but he doesn’t say anything. Tom puts a bucket of water and a sponge in each cage, then tells them it’s so they can clean themselves. He gives Kate a bag of clothes and tells her to tell him if it doesn’t fit. He leaves and Kate asks Sawyer what happened. Nothing, he says. They just asked him questions. It ain’t important. Talk to her, she says. What happened? Look, he told her. Nothing happened. So quit asking. Kate empties the bag of clothes and tells Sawyer to turn around. He does and, while they’re not facing each other, he checks the bandage on his chest. He’s sees an incision and looks to Kate, who’s still facing away, but who’s taking off her shirt. His heart monitor starts beeping and Kate asks what it is. It’s just his watch, he says. It’s busted. When did he get a watch? Look, he doesn’t tell her everything! Just leave him alone, damn it. He dumped the water over his head. And put some clothes on.
FLASHBACK. Sawyer watches as Munson talks to a woman visitor. Suddenly, a woman says hello to Sawyer. He turns and looks at Cassidy. It’s James Ford, he tells her. And he knows she knows that because she got it right when she pressed charges. He’s mad at her? Well, look where he is. What did he want her to do? He conned her. Something she wants? Yeah, she says. Yeah, there is. She places a picture of a little girl on the table. What’s this? This is his daughter. What does she want? Well, first, she wanted him to know. Then what? She think he’s gonna take one look at that picture and turn into Father Knows Best? They’re living in this little place in Albuquerque, she says. It’s near the University—why is she telling him this? She just thought he could write her a letter. Her name’s Clementine. What the hell is he gonna write, “Dear Goo-goo ga-ga?” She’s a baby. She ain’t his. Sawyer, she is—he ain’t got no daughter.
On the island, Sawyer rubs his chest. Kate eyes the top of her cage, then tells him she’s been looking and she thinks if she climbs to the top, she can squeeze through the bars—they’re space farther up there. Don’t bother, he says. What is he talking about? He’s talking about being smart. He thinks they should chill out there a while—get the lay of the land. Kate just stares.
Jack hears something on the speaker in his cell. He gets up and goes to listen. One voice says something’s under control, and that it was a mistake bringing “those two” there. Juliet enters the room and Jack asks her what she did to Sawyer. Nothing, she tells him. He heard him yelling. She’s got blood on her clothes. What did she do to him? It’s not his blood, she explains. Then whose blood is it? It’s the blood of a woman who’s dying. Jack... she needs his help.
Back by the cages, a loud alarm sounds and the Others come out of the trees, leading Jack through the area with a bag over his head. Kate and Sawyer see him and begin calling out for him, but he can’t hear. They lead him inside and he hears Ben and Juliet speaking to each other. Ben asks Juliet if she lost her mind. He’s a doctor, she says. He can help. Well, that’s not why—does he want her to die? She leaves Ben and leads Jack to the sinks. Jack asks what happened. Juliet tells him—gunshot wound to the abdomen. Jack scrubs up, then notices some spinal x-rays hanging on a light screen. Those aren’t hers, she tells him. Come on. They enter the operating room and Pickett immediately asks what Jack’s doing there. Danny, Juliet says, he’s there to help. Tell him who did this, Pickett says angrily. He ought to know that. Danny. Jack tells Juliet he needs Pickett out of there and she tells him to leave. Tom tries to get him to go, but he’s adamant, saying Colleen’s his wife and he won’t leave her. Finally, Tom and Pickett leave and Juliet tells Jack she got the bullet out, she she’s still bleeding. Jack makes some observations and tells Juliet what to do. She struggles, telling him she’s not a surgeon. He knows, he says. But he needs her to do it. Above them, in the observation deck, Pickett, Tom, and Ben are watching. Juliet finally gets her hands dirty and they work to save Colleen. She starts to flatline on the heart monitor and Jack tells Juliet they need the crash cart—now. It’s broken, she says. They... they’ve never had anything happen before. They didn’t... they have... she doesn’t... Jack tries to do CPR on Colleen, but she’s dead. He tries to call the time of death, but there’s no clock in the room. Above them, Pickett starts to yell. They did this! They did this! He runs out despite Tom’s pleas not to.
Pickett heads to Sawyer’s cage. Sawyer tells him to take it easy, but he doesn’t listen. He drags him out of the cage and throws him down. He throws him against Kate’s cage, telling him to shut up. He looks at Kate. Does she love Sawyer? What? He starts to punch Sawyer. Does she love him?! Stop! Does she love him?!! Does she love him?!! Leave him alone!! Does she love him?! What is he doing? Stop!! Stop!! DOES SHE LOVE HIM?! YES! SHE LOVES HIM! She loves him! Please! She begins to cry and Pickett chokes back tears. He stops hitting Sawyer and Kate grabs him and pulls him as close to her as possible. Pickett leaves, telling the Others to lock Sawyer back up.
FLASHBACK. Sawyer reads Of Mice and Men while in prison. Munson approaches, saying he needs to talk to him. Sorry, he says. He’s busy. It’s important. Please. They walk down a corridor and Munson tells Sawyer he was right. He loved her. He thought she—he really thought she... 10 mil’s a lot, Killer—tends to change things. That’s why you never get attaches—because once you care, that’s when they come at you. What did his want? He saw him the other day with a woman. What did she want? Something he ain’t got. That all? He had himself a good cry? He mind if he goes back to see if George gets his farm? He needs Sawyer to move it. The money. The money he didn’t steal? They both know he did. Lila’s hired a PI, he says. She’s going to find it. Do it for him. He has to. No, Sawyer says. It’s too dangerous. He’ll be a walking target. If he doesn’t help him, Munson says, the warden will get it all. He’ll win. Please, he begs. Please.
Sawyer cleans himself up with the water and the sponge. Kate asks if he’s okay. Dandy, he says. Guy hits like a girl. No offense. Why did he do that? Hell if he knows. They ever make any sense to him? Kate climbs to the top of her cage. What is she doing? What does it look like? Sawyer tries to get her to stop, but she climbs out. He was the one who said they had to go, she reminds him. Well, that was before... Before what? She doesn’t know what they did to him. But she knows he’s scared enough to lie about it. And that scares her more than anything that they have done to them before. Wait, Sawyer says. Kate climbs down the outside of the cage and goes to Sawyer’s. She starts to hit the lock with a rock. She’s getting him out of there, she says. Don’t. She’s not leaving him. She can get it open. No. She’s already out, he says. She’s got to go. She’s got to leave him. What? Run! What did they do to him?! Go! Sawyer’s monitor starts beeping. What is that thing? Run, he says. Just go. It’s every man for himself. Why didn’t he fight back?! Tell the truth for once in his life! If she really loves him, go. She only said that so he’s stop hitting him. She walks back to her cage and climbs back up. What the hell is she doing? Kate?! Damn it, Freckles, go! Every man for himself. Kate gets back inside her cage and stares at him. Live together, die alone.
Ben and Tom have been watching the entire scene play out on their monitors. Tom tells Ben that Pickett want to kill him. He can wait, he says. Should he bring Shephard back? No, he wants him to sit with her for a while longer. In the operating room, Jack’s handcuffed to the gurney holding Colleen’s dead body. Juliet enters and apologizes for the cuffs. She’s a fertility doctor, she says. She’s not used to death. What was her name? Cole, short for Colleen. She shouldn’t have—she should have come to get him sooner. It wouldn’t have mattered. There wasn’t any more she could have done. She was—she was dead before they put her on the table. Is he just saying that to make her feel better? He doesn’t care about making her feel better. She’s going to take him back now, she says. She’s sorry for bringing him there. Whose x-rays are those? Outside? She doesn’t answer. Those are spinal x-rays, he continues. They belong to a man about 40 years old. And whoever he is, he has a very large tumor on his L-4 vertebrae. And he just happens to be a spinal surgeon. So, tell him—who is he there to save?
Back at the beach, Desmond’s built a tower in the sand, with the golf club on top, sticking straight up. It’s near Claire’s shelter. Hurley chops some fruit, watching Desmond. Is that—art? Nope. Just an experiment, he says. Okay. He want some fruit salad? He’s not hungry. Hurley starts to leave. He might want to wait a minute, Desmond says. Why’s that? Suddenly, it begins to pour down rain. Claire gets Aaron out of his crib and Charlie puts his arms around them. Suddenly, there’s a lightning strike, which hits the tallest thing in the area—Desmond’s tower.
Ben wakes Sawyer up inside his cage and asks him to go for a walk. FLASHBACK. Sawyer is being escorted by guards to a meeting with the warden. The warden tells him that, when they first brought him there, he thought he was nothing more than a dumb hick. Now he knows better. He’s a dumb hick who knows how to steal. Can they just get it over with? Yeah. He remember Agent Freedman from the Treasury Department? Freedman asks him what he’s got. 10 million’s in a red bronco parked in a Stor-Quik facility in Sawgrass, right off 441, unit 23C. That’s where his money is. As agreed, the last six years of his sentence have been commuted, the warden tells him. As soon as the truck is recovered and the funds confirmed, Freedman says, Sawyer’s commission will be processed. Now, how would he like that? Set up a new account, he says. It don’t matter what back, just make it in Albuquerque. Okay. Put it in the name of Clementine Phillips. Okay, Freedman says. And he wants it so there’s no way she can ever find out who the money’s from. The warden asks who Clementine Phillips is. Sawyer ignores him. They done? The warden nods. Congratulations, he says. He just lied and cheated his way out of prison. He’s a free man.
Back on the island, Ben is leading Sawyer up a steep incline. Not much further, he says—just to the top of the next rise. What’s up there? Something he wants him to see. That little place he always wanted, George? Sorry? What, doesn’t he read? It’s from Of Mice and Men. Ben would like it—puppies get killed. They continue hiking and Sawyer’s monitor starts beeping. Did he bring him up there to kill him? Make that thing he put inside of him blow up his damn heart? His heart’s not going to blow up, Ben says. The only thing they put inside of him was doubt. Oh, the watch is a heart rate monitor, but nothing more. He pulls a bunny out of a bag—it has a number eight painted on its back. They gave him a sedative, he says, not a pacemaker. How does he know that’s the same bunny? That he didn’t just paint an eight on another one? He doesn’t. Sawyer punches Ben in the face. The rabbit wasn’t the thing he wanted to show him, Ben says. They continue up the hill and Sawyer stares. Across a fairly large amount of water is an island. Ben asks if he’s ever been to Alcatraz—take the tour? Right now, he’s standing on a small island roughly twice the size of Alcatraz. And that over there—that’s his island—the one he’s come to know and love. He just wanted him to know that there’s nowhere to run. He did all of that just to keep him in a damn cage? They did all that because the only way to gain a con man’s respect is to con him. And Sawyer’s pretty good. They’re just a lot better. Funny thing is, telling him about the pacemaker wasn’t what kept him in line. It was when he threatened Kate. He works so hard to make her think he doesn’t care—that he doesn’t need her—but... A guy goes nuts if he ain’t got nobody. It don’t make no difference who the guy is, long as he’s with you. I tell you... I tell you a guy gets too lonely and he gets sick. What the hell is he talking about? It’s from Of Mice and Men, Ben says. Doesn’t he read? Come one—let’s get him back to his cage.
Every Man for Himself was written by Edward Kitsis and Adam Horowitz.
