Lost: Recon

You know the drill: *SPOILER ALERT!*

I can’t decide if I like this week’s episode better than last week’s or not.

Although, a shirtless Sawyer does have it over a sweet Dr. Linus.

When we first saw Sawyer getting off flight 815 and eying up Hurley, how many of us thought he was going to find a way to scam him? Show of hands, please.

Yeah, me too.

Instead it turns out he’s a cop in LA; his partner is Miles (who was AWESOME in this episode); and instead of conning people, he’s arresting cons. Love, love, love this episode, everything about it, including Josh Holloway’s abs.

But that’s beside the point.

Sawyer’s present has changed, but not his past: His father and mother still are dead because of a con man who called himself Sawyer. James Ford is hunting for the guy (Anthony Cooper — Locke’s dad?) — has been for years — but has never told Miles, his partner, about it.

What was fascinating to me was the emphasis on truth in the Sideways Story, and on lying on the Island.

“Tell me truth” Ford/Sawyer is exhorted over and over in the Sideways Story.

“You’re the best liar I ever met,” Not Locke tells him on the Island.

We saw a similar theme in last week’s episode:

Tell the truth, and it will set you free.

So, what do we think? Do we think James is setting up Widmore’s people or Smokey? Or is he simply playing both sides against the other so that he can get himself and Kate off the Island? Or all of the above?

The Kate/Claire storyline just creeps me out. When Claire put her hand in Kate’s as Not Locke was talking to his people, I got chills. (I love that Sawyer has no compulsion about actually respecting Not Locke. I don’t know if Sawyer’s infected or not — ala Claire and Sayid — although I think not, for the record.) And then Claire tries to kill her; and then Claire apologizes and cries on her shoulder. I think Kate’s feeling a little whiplash over the mood swings. Which, it’s kind of nice to see Kate off balance and being manipulated instead of the other way around for a change.

Even though Kate and Sawyer are with Not Locke’s people (and, as we heard Sawyer say over and over, “I’m not on anyone’s side”) I doubt that they are actually with Not Locke. If/when it comes time to take sides, I bet they find themselves on the side of Jack and Ben.

Unless they manage to get that submarine out of there first.