Charlie clips and caps of this episode up at Beyond Grey

• Written By: Damon Lindelof
• Directed By: Tucker Gates
• Backstory: Sawyer
• Featured Storylines: Sayid, Charlie/Claire, Boone/Shannon, Sun/Jin/Michael

Confidence Man

After a brief recap of the last couple of episodes, we open on Kate walking up the beach, a bunch of bananas over her shoulder. She sees a pile of belongings, obviously Sawyer's. She picks up the book he’s been reading—Watership Down. He calls out to her, saying it’s a hell of a book. He’s in the water, and comes toward her, up on to the beach. She realizes he’s naked, but doesn’t flinch, instead cracking that it must be cold in the water. He counters with a lame crack about her warming him up. She gives him the cold shoulder and he watches her walk off…

--flashback—

Sawyer and a blonde are in post-shag bliss in a hotel room. She notices the time and reminds him he’s late for a meeting. He panicks and gets up, starting to get dressed. He pulls a briefcase down, but it falls open, revealing a ton of cash, which she apparently wasn’t supposed to see.

In the Jungle: Sawyer hears some noises, and goes toward them, finding Boone going through his stash. He confronts him.

Caves: Doc Jack is attending to the lump on Sayid’s head. Sayid explains how he got beaned, and that the equipment was trashed.

Shannon comes in, bringing a banged-up Boone, who tells them Sawyer attacked him.

--commerical break—

The Beach: Claire is writing something, Charlie brings her some water, and sits down, expressing worry about her, and trying to convince her to come to the caves. She assures him she’s fine where she is, and wants to stay there to wait for rescue.

Caves: Jack is cleaning up Boone, and asking him why Sawyer jumped him. Boone explains that Shannon has asthma, but is out of her meds. He explains that he noticed Sawyer was reading a book he’d had in his luggage, which also had her inhalers, and believes Sawyer has them.

Beach: Jack paws through Sawyer’s stuff, confronting him about attacking Boone and keeping the inhalers. Sawyer gives him some lip about finders keepers. Jack starts getting all macho with him, and Kate comes up, out-machoing them both and splitting them up.

---flashback—

In the hotel room, Sawyer explains to his blonde friend that he’s carrying the cash to do a deal for an off-shore oil drilling thing in the Gulf of Mexico. He says he’s short half of the cash, but has an interested partner. She’s skeptical, and offers to give him the money instead, getting it from her husband.

Beach: Jack and Kate are arguing about Jack’s desire to beat the shit out of Sawyer. Kate offers to talk to Sawyer, saying he thinks they have a connection. Jack asks if they do, and Kate shuts him down.

Sawyer is whacking at some wood with the axe. Kate approaches him, asking what he wants in return for the inhalers. He says a kiss will do. She lays in on his act, saying he can’t really be as disgusting as that. She mentions that she’s seen him reading the letter in his pocket, and the expression on his face says there must be a human in there. He hands her the letter, telling her to read it out loud to see what kind of human he is.

The Letter:

Dear Mr. Sawyer,
You don’t know who I am, but I know who you are, and I know what you done. You had sex with my mother, and then you stole my dad’s money all away. So he got angry, and he killed my mother, and then he killed himself…

Kate stops, but Sawyer tells her to continue…

All I know is your name. One of these days I’m going to find you and I’m going to give you this letter, so you’ll remember what you done to me. You killed my parents, Mr. Sawyer.

Sawyer takes back the letter, and then asks Kate for the kiss again. She hesitates, and he says he didn’t think she would.

--commercial break—

Locke is whittling a stick. Sayid approaches him and asks him where he was at sunset. Locke says he was skinning a boar at the time, and suggests that the person who clocked him was someone who might’ve wanted to stay on the island, to profit from their circumstances. Sayid explains that Sawyer had an alibi as he was helping with the rockets. Locke suggests Sawyer might have time-delayed the fuse on the rocket, maybe with a cigarette. He hands Sayid one of his knives, “In case there’s a next time.”

Caves: Shannon is having an attack. Boone is trying to get her to breathe. Sawyer comes in to get some water. Jack demands the inhalers from him, and then punches him a couple of times, his dislocated shoulder notwithstanding. Sawyer glares at him defiantly.

--flashback—

Sawyer and his blonde friend and her husband are at lunch, discussing the business proposition. Sawyer slickly talks them into it, offering to leave his half of the money with them overnight while they decide.

Beach: Claire and Charlie are hanging her laundry, and discussing what they miss in civilzation. Charlie’s all about food, and asks if she has any cravings, being pregnant. She tells him she’s the only Australian crazy about peanut butter. He says he can get some for her, and if he does, she has to promise to move to the caves. She’s skeptical, but agrees.

Caves: Shannon is wheezing miserably. Jack realizes she’s panicking and making it worse. He gets her to calm down by breathing slowly through her nose. He pulls Boone aside, telling him to keep her relaxed. He heads out, Hurley praising him for his Jedi moment. Sayid follows him, asking about Shannon’s future. Jack says they have to get Sawyer to give up the inhalers. Sayid says he should be the one to do it, as he has experience with such things. Jack is confused, as he thought Sayid was a communications officer. Sayid tells him part of his training was “getting the enemy to communicate.” Jack agrees, reluctantly to let Sayid handle it.

--commerical break—

Charlie is following Hurley through the jungle. Charlie, trying to find some peanuts, asks him if he has any food stashed anywhere, implying none too tactfully that the fat guy must be hoarding the food. Hurley takes offense, saying it’s only been a week, it’s not like he’s going to disappear overnight and he’s down a notch in his belt already anyway. Charlie is appropriately ashamed.

Caves: Michael is trying inexpertly to gut a fish. Sun approaches him, making sure she’s not being watched. She tells him she might be able to help Shannon.

Beach: Sayid and Jack wake Sawyer up by clocking him, and start dragging him off, to Kate’s protests.

Jungle: Sawyer’s tied up to a tree. Jack tries to reason with him, begging him to tell them where the inhalers are. Sayid is whittling some bamboo, explaining how he’s going to use the shoots on Sawyer. Sawyer is skeptical, saying he doesn’t believe Sayid has ever tortured anyone. Sayid says unfortunately for both of them, that’s wrong. Sayid moves behind Sawyer and begins his work. Sawyer gives him attitude between screams. Jack finally stops him, and Sawyer gives them more attitude. Sayid threatens to pop out an eye. Sawyer finally capitulates, telling them he’ll only tell Kate where the stuff is stashed.

--flashback—

Sawyer and his partner in crime are shooting pool. His partner is upset at Sawyer’s plan to leave the money with their marks. Sawyer explains his reasoning. His partner warns him that he must get the money back or else.

Jungle: Kate approaches Sawyer, who is still bound. She asks where the stash is. He asks again for a kiss. She agrees. They kiss. And kiss. And kiss some more. Then he tells her that he doesn’t have the inhalers and never did. He says the book washed up on the shore. She clocks him, and walks out, telling Jack and Sayid about this revelation.

Sayid gets agitated, sure Sawyer is lying, he storms back into the clearing, where Sawyer is getting free. Sayid comes after him with the knife. They tussle, and Sayid jams the knife into Sawyer’s arm, severing an artery. Jack tries to get the bleeding to stop, and sends Sayid to get his medical supplies.

Caves: Sayid dashes back in to get Jack’s bag. Boone notices Sayid is covered in blood, and asks whose it is. Sayid tells him, and Boone is ready to go back with him, but Shannon asks him to stay with her.

Michael brings some plants in to Sun, asking if they’re the right ones. She smells a leaf and confirms they are. Jin comes up behind them, getting on Sun’s case for talking to Michael. She walks away from them. Michael gives Jin the look of death, warning him to not pull anything.

Jungle: Jack is working on Sawyer, who tells him to stop working and just let him die, saying he’d watch Jack die in his place.

--flashback—

The home of the couple Sawyer is scamming. He’s getting ready to finalize the deal. The couple’s young son walks into the room and stares at Sawyer. Stunned, he says the deal’s off. They all argue for a moment, and Sawyer leaves the briefcase full of cash, walking out the door.

Beach: Sawyer wakes up, under Kate’s watch. She tells him she read the letter again and again, trying to figure out why Sawyer was being such a total ass, thinking he must want to be hated. She tells him she noticed the envelope his letter was in had a seal on it from the Bicentennial, when Sawyer must have been just a child. She surmises that the letter was written by him, not to him, and that his name must not be Sawyer. He explains to her that’s the name of the man who conned his parents, and he’d been holding on to the letter, hoping to find him someday. But when he was 19, he did his first con, and became the man he’d been hunting his whole life. He warns Kate not to feel sorry for him, and grabs the letter back from her, yelling at her to get out.

--commercial break—

Caves: Sun is rubbing a leafy greenish paste on Shannon’s chest. Boone and Jack come in, Boone explaining what Sun had done. Jack smells the leaves, realizing they’re eucalyptus. He thanks Sun, and she smiles. Boone and Shannon smile at each other.

Claire’s asleep on the beach, and wakes to see Charlie taking her clothes down from the line. She asks him what up, he tells her she’s moving to the caves. Surprised, she asks if he really got the PB. He says he did, and sits down, and brings out… an empty jar. He then proceeds to do something fabulously obscene with a fingerful of imaginary peanut butter. She at first thinks he’s out of his mind, but then goes along with the gag, probably just as in awe of his ability to simulate oral sex as the rest of the audience.

Kate’s standing on the shore, being all broody. Sayid walks past her. She stops him. He explains that he can’t stay. Kate tries to get him to stay, worried about him getting eaten by the GargantuBeast. Sayid explains that he’s more afraid of himself than the beast, worried that he will break his promise to himself about leaving his past behind. He says that someone needs to walk the perimerter of the island anyway. He kisses her hand and walks off.

Obligatory music montage: Claire and Charlie walking up the hill toward the caves, Boone and Shannon sharing a calm moment. Sawyer about to torch his letter with his lighter, but he stops. Sayid walking alone up the beach.

--end episode 8--