WRITERS: Edward Kitsis & Adam Horovitz DIRECTOR: Stephen Williams
CAST: Josh Holloway (Sawyer), Matthew Fox (Jack), Angeline Lilly (Kate), Michael Emerson (Ben), Henry Ian Cusick (Desmond), Jorge Garcia (Hurley), Elizabeth Mitchell (Juliette), Dominic Monaghan (Charlie), Emilie DeRavin (Claire), Michael Bowen (Pickett), M.C Gainey (Tom), Edward Gomez (Munson), BIll Duke (Warden Harris) & Rodrigo Santoro (Paulo)
Sawyer's escape attempts prompt the Others into taking drastic action to ensure his obedience. Meanwhile, Jack's medical skills are called into action...The second half of this 6-episode "mini-season" of Lost begins with Every Man For Himself, a Sawyer-based story that reveals the con man was once imprisoned for his crimes...
Sawyer's flashbacks have always been fun to watch, usually because they involve confidence tricks that require a denser level of plotting than usual. Sadly, the flashbacks in Every Man For Himself are not up to this high standard, although the pay-off is enjoyable and we find out an intriguing new aspect to Sawyer's life through an old girlfriend/con victim.
As with most of season 3 so far, the present day situation is now more interesting than the flashbacks. The writers seem to be finding it increasingly difficult to link the flashbacks to the current situation emotionally or thematically. Still, this flashback is certainly more plausible and enlightening than Locke's from Further Instructions.
Back at The Hydra, Kate and Sawyer are still locked in those polar bear cages (does anyone else think they're too small for bears, though?) and Jack is in solitary confinement indoors. This episode provides some much needed development of both stories, as Sawyer's escape attempts force the Others to administer a medical procedure on him that is quite startling and sinister...
Josh Holloway is perhaps the best actor on the show, blessed with a compelling character that gets to play hero and villain at the same time. Sawyer is always great fun to watch swaggering around, pricking ego's and giving people nicknames. Every moment he's on-screen is always a joy to watch.
As Kate, Evangeline Lilly isn't getting much to do so far, despite the promise of major drama from Henry Gale/Ben in the premiere's beach dinner scene. That said, she's always easy on the eye, and this episode sees the Sawyer-Kate relationship hot up during a brutal scene.
Matthew Fox is always at his best when he's playing the put-upon hero thrust into dramatic situations, of which there were plenty throughout season 1, but less (for him personally) in season 2. Here we see Jack back trying to save a person's life, and we even get a nod at what his greater purpose might be to the Others...
With the emphasis of this mini-season set mainly on The Hydra, the archetypal beach scenes are now less frequent. In season 2 the Hatch dominated the show, so I'm hoping season 3 will get back to the romantic/tragic aspect of plane crash survivors on a tropical island. In Every Man For Himself, we revisit the beach to focus on Desmond -- and get further proof that season 2's magnetic storm in the Hatch have somehow given him clairvoyancy. But why (or how) can Desmond see the future?
Lost likes to introduce these mystery side dishes for audiences to chew on between the bigger questions (Locke's mobility, the Black Rock, Danielle's history, the "sickness", etc) and so far it hasn't answered any of those. I hope season 3 does put a few of these smaller mysteries to bed, particularly as they have now introduced a new one with Desmond's second sight -- otherwise it's just over-egging the pudding!
Oh, and don't get me started on the two new castaways introduced to the show for no apparent reason. They actually made their debut last week in a short beach scene, but here Paulo (Rodrigo Santoro) gets a golfing scene with Desmond. Are either of them required? Do we need new characters with new flashbacks at this stage? They can't be central to the overall Lost mystery, so why bother? It was interesting to see Mr Eko and Ana-Lucia surface last year, but this seems to be stretching things...
Overall, Every Man For Himself is easily the best episode of the season in basic dramatic terms, thanks to the work of writers Edward Kitsis and Adam Horovitz. The climax even reveals a new revelation about the island's geography that should cause hot debate amongst fans.
On the evidence of episode 4, I'm now more hopeful that the remaining episodes will prove worthwhile -- and no doubt end in a major cliffhanger, to be resolved when Lost returns in February. Keep watching...
