John's Late-in-the-Week Post: "He's Our You"

So my wife has begun watching LOST again from the beginning, as she missed a few episodes that were vital in leading us to where we are now.

(No need to panic; I've seen every single episode).

Currently, she's nearing the middle of Season One, and Claire's (bring her back, Christian!) about to have her baby (Kate you dimwit! Only Claire is supposed to raise Aaron!). I'm looking forward to the episode when she actually does have it, as I'm excited to see whether James "I used to call myself Sawyer to fool people; now I call myself LaFleur to fool people" Ford is visible at all as an Easter egg.

I'll keep you posted.

But watching the episode "Confidence Man" leads me to rescind some of the character changing that I've seen James go through.

The example I'm considering:
In "Confidence Man," Sawyer is taken by Jack and Sayid as they "inquire"about the inhalers James supposedly has stashed away (no one ever asks for them, and he never says that he has them). Their inquiry includes hitting him over the head, tying him to a tree, and shoving bamboo slivers under his finger nails to get him to talk. In a word: torture.

Of course, James is innocent, though allows Jack and Sayid to do this partly to lead others away from who he really is.

(In a darker "revelation" I had, I feel James in this episode is a lot like The Joker from The Dark Knight in that he also seems to be allowing his own torture to ruin the hero complexis of Jack (Batman) and Sayid (Harvey Dent). Remember that The Joker was mostly interested in seeing how far he could push Batman and Harvey Dent. Dent was the only that broke (think Sayid). I know--I'm a nerd.)

This brings me "He's Our You." James leads Sayid to the Dharma "psychopath," where the roles are reversed, to allow his to give Sayid a magic sugar cube in order for him to talk. In a word, I call this sort of interrogotory: torture.

And yet, James allows it to happen. Why? To keep people believing that he is someone other than himself.

And though he seems to have changed, and I believe he has, some unwanted characteristics will be much harder to overcome.

But to do that, he did the right thing; he stayed on the island.

"Namaste" revisited

OK, so I'm going a bit ga-ga over the last couple of episodes, merely because it is producing more and more story, and less time travel craziness. Don't get me wrong, I dig the time travel mythology of the show, but it had been a bit overwhelming the first five episodes or so.

And does anyone just love Sawyer---er, LeFleur---right now? From season one to now, I can't think of anyone that has had such a change in arc than James Ford. And he's probably pulling the biggest and coolest con of his life.

One thing that I'm not sure of (among many) after Wednesday's episode:

Is Faraday gone from Dharma, or is he just out of his mind (hence James' indication that he isn't here anymore)? Either way, I'm curious to see what has become of Daniel. His "aptitude test" would probably be off the charts, and remember that he was seen in a mine that Chang was inspecting in "Because You Left." So I'm not sure what Faraday has up his sleeve.

Cue Twilight Zone music.

That was my biggest question. Lots more to come as I stir theories in my mind.