213 - The Long Con (A Sawyer Episode)


Mini Recap: Sawyer gets pissed when Jack “steals” the medicine out of Sawyer’s tent, saying that Sawyer stole it from the hatch in the first place. Later, the castaways are shocked and scared when Sun becomes victim to an attempted kidnap--apparently by the Others. While Jack decides to go fight the Others using the guns, Sawyer and Kate head to the scene of the crime and Sawyer points out that the details are wrong, meaning that the Others didn’t do it. Then who? Kate comes to the conclusion that Ana did--she just wants her hands on the guns. She has Sawyer go warn Locke that Jack and Ana are coming. He does and Locke heads off into the jungle to hide the guns while Sawyer stays in the hatch to push the button. On the beach later, Locke and Jack have a fight about the guns--that is, until shots ring out through the camp. Sawyer holds the weapon. He gives a speech while the others look on, some shocked, some scared, and some just disgusted. Later, Kate comes into his tent and asks him how he got the guns. He refuses to tell her. Did he have anything to do with Sun? Sawyer gives a non-answer. Kate leaves, disappointed. Sawyer heads into the jungle late that night and finds Charlie--who tells him that Sun can never know what he did to her.

Flashbacks this week show us another con of Sawyer’s--Cassidy. He attempts to go the same thing he did with Jessica (the briefcase and the husband) but she calls him out on it--then says she wants him to teach her how to con people. They do this for several months. One day, Sawyer meets up with Gordy, another con man, who tells him to quit playing house with Cassidy and get her money. Sawyer has fallen in love, however, and won’t do it. Gordy threatens him and Sawyer goes to his and Cassidy’s house to tell her that she was the long con, but he doesn’t want to take her money anymore. He forces her to head to a motel and wait for him, telling her that Gordy is out front, waiting for the cash. He heads outside to reveal that Gordy is nowhere to be found before heading off again, Cassidy out of his life.


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Locke opens the gun vault using the combination. Jack carries the marshal's gun case inside and opens it. Locke asks him if that's all of them. Yep, all six of them. There's one box of ammo. At least they don't have to worry about running out any time soon. He tells Jack he's grateful that he decided to keep them all in the same place. Jack spots the Mary statues on the shelf and Locke tells him he took them from Charlie—his heroin stash. He figures it might have therapeutic value, if it ever comes to that. He's just going to leave the drugs in the statues? If he wants to break seven Virgin Marys, be his guest. He's superstitious. Jack asks for the combination and Locke is hesitant. He tells him he's going to assume that he's asking because he's worried he might fall off a cliff or something—that it would be irresponsible for just one of them to have access to the room—rather than it being an issue of trust. Well, there are a lot of cliffs on the island, John. Alright, but they should agree that if either of them needs to open the door, they consult each other first. Absolutely. Locke gives him the combination—7, 33, 18. He need to write it down? Nope, he's got it. Alright. And Jack? Might want to consider locking the medicine in there, too. Why would he need to do that?

On the beach, Sawyer comes back to his tent from a swim and spots Charlie building a shelter nearby. He smiles. Look who had to relocate to the suburbs. Charlie says nothing. Ain't that just like a woman? She keeps the house and he gets the cheap-ass apartment. Man, he thought everybody hated him, but he's to hand it to Charlie—stealing a baby, trying to drown it—now, that's a new low. He even made Locke take a swing at him. Hell, that's like getting Gandhi to beat his kids. Charlie looks at Sawyer. Shouldn't he be more worried about Jack ransacking his tent right now? Sawyer's face falls. What? Indeed, Jack is digging through Sawyer's tent. Sawyer asks him what the hell he thinks he's doing. Jack shows him the prescription bottles in his hands. He stole them from the hatch. Jack stole them from him. What? They were in his stash when he left. He just took back what was his. They belong to all of them, Sawyer. He doesn't have a stash anymore. Seriously, Doc. He don't want to do this. Just give him the pills. They'll forget it ever happened. Is he threatening him? Last chance, Doc. Jack walks off.

FLASHBACK. Sawyer is in bed with another woman, this one named Cassidy. He asks her what she wants—right now. Just him, she says. Sawyer suddenly spots the clock and curses before getting up quickly. What is it? He's going to be late to that meeting he told her about. Meeting, huh? If he's got another date, he could just say so. He can only wrap his mind around one woman at a time—but he appreciates the permission. Back in a flash, gorgeous. He grabs his suitcase and it falls open, revealing the money. He looks at her the same way he looked at Jess. She wasn't exactly supposed to see that. Cassidy looks at him. Is he serious? What? He's not serious. He just happens to have a suitcase full of cash? And he goes to pick it up and the lock just happens to break? She grabs one of the stacks of money and flips through it. Sawyer reaches for it, but she won't give it to him. It's not even real, she states. She pulls out some of the bills—newspaper. Is he trying to con her? What, she asks what all the money's for and he does some song and dance about an investment or something? And then she says, "Oh, hey, I got some money." Look, she got him. Good for her. No harm, no foul. He should have done his homework. She didn't take anything from him in the divorce. She's not even worth his trouble. Well, shame on him. She wants him to show her what he does. Show her what he does—what he really does. And what does he do? Show her how to con people, Sawyer.

Sawyer puts things in his tent back in order once Jack is gone. Kate finds him and tells him she likes what he's done with place. Maid's day off, he says. He tries to pick up a shirt, but Kate's standing on it. She want to move? She heard Jack took her pain killers. Well, guess him and the Doc are on the outs. One less Christmas card he'll have to send this year. Kate tosses a magazine at him. Maybe that'll cheer him up, she says. It's from the hatch. She knows he's hard up for new reading material. He picks up the magazine—a woman's called Elegant—and looks at the cover. Well, as much as he'd like to learn to feather his hair, he lose his damn glasses on the raft. She want to read it to him? She stares at him like he's crazy. What, she got an appointment or something? Kate sits down and looks for an article. Ah, '10 Way to Tell if He's a Sensitive Man.' Locke passes by and tells them good morning and Kate does the same to him. Now, says Sawyer, there's a sensitive man. Claire asked him to sleep down there, Kate insists. Come on. Locke's got himself needs just everyone else. Not everyone is like Sawyer. Guess that's why Jacko and Ana-Lulu didn't ask him to join their revolution. Kate looks surprised. What, she didn't hear about their little army? Guess he's not the only one on the outs with the Doc.

Sayid is shucking coconuts on a stake. Hurley finds him and asks if he's going to put the lime in the coconut, drink 'em both up? Sayid says nothing. Lime in the coconut? The song? What does he want? So, he's over at Rose and Bernard's tent—know that he's a dentist? Well, that's not all he's been holding out on them. The guy picked up Boone's signal from the Norwegian plane. Nigerian, Sayid corrects. Right. Anyhow, he picked it up with this—Hurley holds up the radio. It's a short wave radio, Sayid explains. A glorified walkie-talkie. Yeah, but can't he switch a blue wire with a red wire—make it stronger? They tried to send out a signal with the plane's transceiver and all they got was the French woman's transmission on a loop. Why would he bother? Come on, man, it's worth—it's worth nothing. It's a waste of time. Just trying to cheer him up. He doesn't need cheering up. Okay, man. Sorry. No problem. He leaves, but Sayid notices that he left the radio in the sand.

Jack walks through the jungle and Ana runs up beside him. She greets him and gets no reply. She asks if he got the combination and he nods. Nice. She didn't think it would be easy convincing his pal to give it up. That's the nice thing about them—they're not scared enough. Not scared enough? Same reason they can't talk anyone into joining the army. Everyone actually thinks they're safe. Trust him, Ana. No one thinks they're safe. So, Jack, what's the combo? He eyes her suspiciously. She was just kidding.

The sky thunders overhead as Sun works in her garden. She hears the sound of rustling in the bushes and immediately gets scared, but it's only Vincent. He comes running up to her and she, relieved, pets him and talks to him. He runs off again as it starts pouring rain. Suddenly, a bag comes down over Sun's head and she struggles as her hands are bound and she's dragged away. On the beach, Sawyer scrambles under his tent because of the rain. He tells Kate to come under as well, but she tells him she likes the rain. Yeah, him too, if he's under the tent. He pulls her under. They hear screaming and Kate identifies it as Sun. They run through the jungle and find her unconscious. Sawyer asks if she's okay and Kate tells him she's breathing. He tells her to go get Jack and she runs off. Sawyer carries Sun back to camp.

Sawyer carries Sun to her tent as Jack arrives. He asks if she was conscious at all. Did she say anything? Nothing. Not a word. Jin runs into the tent and says something in Korean. Jack assures him Sun's okay. He asks Sawyer where he found her. He heard her scream. Found her out in the jungle about a half a click from camp. She was out cold and her hands were tied, Kate adds. What does she mean, her hands were tied? Ana looks at them. They're back.

A small group stands on the beach. Locke tells everyone that They said They'd leave them alone. Well, says Jack, it looks like They broke Their promise. They don't even know what happened. Do they need to know? Ana asks Kate where she and Sawyer found Sun. Just outside her garden. They need to take a look around—with guns. No, Locke says. No? If they arm up they're just as likely to shoot each other as they are one of Them. Okay, says Jack. They'll wait for Sun to wake up. She'll tell them what happened. Then they're going to do something about it. Locke nods. Sounds like a plan.

Kate and Sawyer walk through the jungle. They usually don't leave a trail, Kate points out. It's worth a look, Sawyer says. Let him ask her something—this whole scenario make sense to her? What does he mean? Think about it. First off, how's Sun get away? The woman doesn’t weigh 100 pounds soaking wet. She was fighting for her life, Kate says. People are capable of almost anything—she couldn't get away. Her versus Sun—hot oil death match—his money's on Kate. Thanks for the vote of confidence. Sawyer sees something on a branch and they run to it to have a look. It's a hood, Kate realizes. Just like the one they put over her head. No, it's not, Sawyer states. This one's black, different weave. It's all in the details—and they're wrong. Well, if it wasn't Them, then who? Sawyer says nothing. What is he saying, one of them did it? Who they hell would want to go after Sun? Not much upside to scaring the crap out of 46 people—unless you're trying to con them into joining an army.

FLASHBACK. Sawyer is writing $1299.00 and $1399.00 on price tags attach to some necklaces. Cassidy states that the necklaces are junk. A five-year-old can tell that. They ain't going to be looking at the necklaces; they're going to be looking at the price tags. It's all in the details, Dimples. What if they get caught? They ain't going to get caught. He puts a band aid across his nose. Anybody goes to the cops, the only thing they're going to remember is a guy that looks like he's been in a bar fight. She's scared, huh? A little bit. Well, here's the good news, baby—everyone's scared. The thing they're scared of most is missing an opportunity.

A couple of guys are at a gas station; one is getting gas and another is coming out of the store. Sawyer approaches shadily, unrolling a velvet carrying case for the necklaces. He asks if they want to buy some necklaces and one of the men asks where he got them. Sawyer rolls his eyes. Where does he think? He want to buy them or not? The men look unsure, so Sawyer tells them to forget it and he starts to leave. Cassidy suddenly comes up and asks how much the necklaces are. 100 a piece, Sawyer tells her. For any of them? Yeah, taster's choice. She'll take the 1200 dollar one and the 1300 dollar one. He hands her the necklaces and she gives him $200. She leaves and Sawyer starts to again, but the men tell him to wait. They'll buy one—it's Gina's birthday next week, after all. They love their jewelry. Cassidy and Sawyer share a wry smile as the men decide which necklaces to buy.

Jack takes Sun's pulse. He tells Jin it's good and strong. They just need to watch her. She's going to be okay. Jin holds his wife's hand, concerned, as Jack goes to get some water. Kate is waiting there to talk to him. That bump on her head—does he think she fell or that someone hit her? He doesn't know. Jack... how well does he know Ana-Lucia? He says nothing. It's just—the Others, she—she was out there with him. She heard that man say that if they stayed away They'd leave them alone. And they've left Them alone. So why would They attack them a few days later? Well, if it wasn't Them, then who? Like she said, how well does he know Ana-Lucia? Jack walks away without an answer.

Jack and Ana are walking on the beach. She tells him she got a couple more people interested in joining up. Yeah, who? Uh, the big guy who lives behind Sayid and Scott. Steve—Scott's dead. Scott, Steve—point is, after what happened people are finally willing to do something. Where was she this morning? Lots of places. During the rain storm. He think she had something to do with Sun getting grabbed? Now where would he get an idea like that? Claire suddenly runs up to them, telling Jack that Sun's awake. They go to her tent as she's sitting up. He asks how her head is. Any pain, dizziness? Just a little bit. Does she remember anything? She was working in her garden when Vincent ran up. Then it started raining and there was a bag over her head and she was being dragged. How many were there? She didn't see anything. Jin asks her something in Korean and she responds, then tells Jack that she kicked and fought and ran as fast as she could and she fell. Jin continues speaking to her in Korean and they talk while everyone else stands by, confused. Jin suddenly looks to Jack. Gun. Gun! Gun! Sawyer watches from a distance and Kate approaches, asking him what's going on. It looks like the good folks of Island Town are about to form a posse—get themselves armed up. Hell, he wouldn't be surprised is Jack didn't find himself that horse of hers and start leading the charge in a big white hat. Ana and Kate stare at each other intently before Kate has a revelation of sorts. The guns, she says. This is all Ana's play to get her hands on the guns. Locke—Sawyer needs to go and tell him that they're coming. He needs to tell them? Sawyer, please.

FLASHBACK. Cassidy is taking a shower and Sawyer is brushing his teeth. Cassidy asks Sawyer what's next. Next? Next play. He'll show her the pigeon drop. They already did that—twice. And the Tulsa Bag Scam and the Lookie-Loo. She wants to do a big one. She wants to do a big what? A big con. It's called a long con. Okay, a long con. How does it work? It works by getting someone to ask you to do something like it's their idea, but it's not their idea, it's your idea. But none of that matters because the one thing they need for the long con they ain't got—money. She has money. Sorry, Cassidy. 40 grand in a mutual fund ain't money. Remember when she told him that she didn't get anything from the divorce? Mmm-hmm. She kind of lied. Kind of lied how much? 600 grand. Well, hell baby, with that kind of money they can go find an island somewhere and sit on a beach drinking Mojitos 'til we go toes up. Sawyer, for the first time in her life she's actually happy. And it's not really about the action and the money; it's about doing it with him. Come one, one long con? And then the Mojitos. He'll think about it. She drags him into the bedroom. Why doesn't he think about it in there?

Locke's in the hatch looking through the pages of a book called Escape from Owl Creek Bridge. Sawyer enters and tells him hates to interrupt whatever the hell it is he's doing, but—what is he doing? There's a huge stack of books on the ping-pong table. He's alphabetizing, Locke tells him. Oh, sure. Sun gets attacked in the jungle and he figures it's a good time to start the damn Dewey decimal system. Good thinking. How can he help you, James? Well, actually, John, he's there to help him—give him the heads-up. Heads-up? Seems Jack's on his way over here to open Locke's little gun closet and take whatever he needs. He should know he's not alone. The whole camp's pretty shook up about what happened to Tokyo Rose. He's guessing everybody's going to want to play Cowboys and Indians. And once those guns are out and about—something tells him they ain't never going back in? Why is telling him this? Because it'll piss off Jack. If he were Locke, he'd change that combination pronto. But that won't work. The door will just slow him down. If Jack wants to get in, he'll get in. Will Sawyer help him? Help him what? Move the guns. Move them where? Locke says nothing. Fine, he doesn't want to trust him—lots of luck. But he can't leave the hatch unmanned. Sure, move the guns and he'll stay there and push his damn button for him. How long 'til they get there? Well, that ain't his problem, Hoss. It's Locke's.

FLASHBACK. Sawyer's in a diner alone. The waitress comes up carrying his food—a steak sandwich, two beers. Thanks. Another man, Gordy, enters and looks at Sawyer. Aw, shucks, he got a beer for him? Want one? Ask the lady. Well, hell, he does want one. And could he get a plate of chicken salad—white meat only—and please, God, no celery, okay sweetheart? Diane Jansen, aka Kate's mother, takes the order and leaves. Gordy looks back to Sawyer. So, tell him he got her. Yeah, he got her. All 600 grand? Sawyer looks at the table uncomfortably. All 6. Gordy groans. He fell for her. Oh, come on, he's got to be kidding him. Look, it's got nothing to—hey, he found that bitch. Her name is Cassidy. Well, he waited 6 months while Sawyer and Cassidy played house. Now, if he thinks—he ain't doing it. He know what's making him stupid right now? It's his damn hormones. He thinks he's in love, but he's not. A tiger doesn't change his stripes, James. He's a con man just like him. And it's not what he does, it's what he is. Does he make himself clear? He's sorry, man. He just can't do it. No, he's going to do it—because that girl, she doesn't know him one bit. But when she finds out who he is—who he really is—she's going to hate his guts. Yeah, well, enjoy his chicken salad. Sawyer puts some money and the table and stands up. Wait a minute, Gordy calls out. Don't walk away now. He owes him. He doesn't want to pay him? He'll put one in his ear. Him or his little friend, Cassidy.

The alarm starts going off and Sawyer wakes up. He starts putting the numbers into the computer as Jack and Jin enter. Seeing him, Jack asks what he's doing there. One second, he says. He's like this close to the high score on Donkey Kong. The timer rests and he looks at Jack. Now, what can he do him for? Where's Locke? He doesn't know. He thinks he said something about going to the store for a pack of smokes. Jack opens the gun vault and sees that it's empty. Uh-oh, says Sawyer. It looks like they've got themselves a theft. Who's going to call the cops? Where are they? Don't look at him; he was just pushing a button. He throws an Rx bottle to Jack. Oh yeah, he believes those are his. Jack goes for Sawyer, but Jin holds him back.

That night on the beach, Locke sits by a fire. Ana sharpens a stick. Jack walks quickly towards Locke. Where are they? He moved the guns? Where are they? They had an agreement. An agreement that he was about to violate. Yes, he moved the guns. Where? Where? Where, John? Is he going to start handing them? How many? Who gets them? How much time before there's an accident. He glances at Ana. Another accident. He made a mistake teaching Michael how to shoot and now he's—he could be dead for all Locke knows and that, that was his fault. He takes responsibility for that and so, yes, he's taking responsibility for the guns, too. He wants two guns, John. He's sorry, Jack. That's the way it's going to be. Two guns. Now tell him where they are, right now! Suddenly, three shots are fired and everyone looks around, frightened. Sawyer walks into the camp. Jack turns to Locke again. He gave him the guns? No, he tells him, shocked. He hid them. That's Jack, Sawyer says. Locke's as stupid as he is. They were so busy worrying about each other they never even saw him coming, did they? He looks at the whole group. How about they listen up because he's only going to say it once. They took his stuff. While he was off trying to get them help—get them rescued—they found his stash and they took it, divvied it up—his shaving cream, his batteries, even his beer. And then something else happened. They decided these two boys—Jack and Locke—were going to tell them what to do and when to do it. Well, he's done taking orders. And he doesn't want his stuff back. Shaving cream don't matter; batteries don't matter. The only thing that matters now are guns. And if anybody wants one, they're going to have to come to him to get it. He looks at Sayid. Oh, he wants to torture him doesn't he? Show everybody how civilized he is. Go ahead, but he'll die before he gives them back. And then he'll really be screwed, won't he? New sheriff in town, boys! All best get used to it.

FLASHBACK. Cassidy's at home with a briefcase full of money on the kitchen table. Sawyer enters from outside, quite agitated. Cassidy asks him what's going on. Where was he? Sawyer says nothing. What happened? Sawyer looks out the window. See that black car? Who is it? His name's Gordy, his partener. What partner? If he doesn't walk out the front door with that briefcase in the next two minutes, they're both dead. What happened? That's the guy from the Mercado deal. What—there is no Mercado deal. He knew about the 600 grand she had tucked away from the get go. She was the long con. She hits him in the chest. Son of a bitch. Go to hell. Go to hell. She's got to understand, everything that's happened between them in the last six months, all of it—that was real. Get out. Get out! She can hate him all she wants later, but right now she's got to listen to her. He's going to kill them—because he told him he wasn't going to take her money. Oh God. Sawyer looks out the window again and starts putting the money from the briefcase into a duffle bag. Here's what they're going to do: He wants her to go out back through Evan's yard. There's a rental car parked out front. Go to Sioux City. He wants her to check in at the Sage Flower Motel, off highway 29. He hands her the bag. Watch TV, have a drink, and wait for him. He'll be there in the a.m. It'll all be over. Let her just pack a few things—there's not time. Remember when she said he was all she ever wanted? Well, now she knows better. He loves her. She loves him too. Go. Go.

In his tent, Sawyer polishes his rifle. Kate comes up to him and asks how he did it. How'd he do what? Locke said he left him in the hatch when he went to hide the guns and they both know he can't track worth a damn. So, how'd he get them? A magician never tells his secrets. He played them. He played her. All that stuff he said about Ana-Lucia—he knew she'd go to Jack and he knew she'd ask him to go to Locke. Now, how in the world would he know all that? Did he have anything to do with Sun? What kind of person does she think he is? What kind of person does she think he is? She doesn't think this has anything to do with guns, or with getting his stash back. She thinks he wants people to hate him. Good thing she doesn't hate him, then. Why does he have to do this? She runs. He cons. Tigers don't change their stripes.

Hurley sits by a fire, reading a typed manuscript entitled "Bad Twin" by Gary Troup. Sayid enters carrying a pole and the radio. Hurley tells him he found a manuscript in one of the suitcases. It's like a mystery book. Sayid tells him he wants to show him something. Cool, he fixed the radio. They'll see. He hands it to Hurley and tells him not to expect anything. The chances of getting a signal are slim at best. He plants the pole in the sand and turns the radio on. There's static. Static's good, right? No, reception is good. Sayid changes the dial and a transmission comes through—Danielle's message. Oh, crap. He changes it again, saying the radio has a wider bandwidth. Hurley tells him to stop—he heard something! A radio station comes in with some spotty reception. A song called Moonlight Serenade starts to play with good reception. It's gotta be close, right? Radio waves bounce off the ionosphere. They can travel thousands of miles. It could be coming from anywhere. Or anytime. Just kidding, dude.

Sawyer walks in the jungle and stops. Charlie approaches. He never saw him, huh? No, he was more worried about his sodding guns than being followed. Sawyer offers him a Mary statue. Figured he'd want his friends back. If he wanted them he would have taken them before he told him where they were. That's not why he did it. It's not, huh? He wanted him to look like a fool—to feel like a fool. Well, well, it looks like Johnny Locke's got himself a nemesis. Sun can never find out what he did to her. Never. Don't sweat it. He's got bigger things to worry about now. Sawyer, this idea—all of this—what they did—what made him—how does someone think of something like that?

FLASHBACK. Sawyer and Cassidy are at the back door. He tells her to leave and she obeys. He gets into the passenger seat of the black car parked in front, then looks in the driver's seat—there's no one there. He counts to 5-Mississippi before going back into the house. He grabs the 'real' duffle from underneath the kitchen table. On the way out the door, he notices a picture of him and Cassidy. He turns it face down. Back on the island, Sawyer stares at Charlie. He's not a good person. Never did a good thing in his life.

The Long Con was written by Leonard Dick and Steven Maeda.