LOST- Episode 16- Outlaws

 Previously on LOST: Jack got his dad fired and Kate read Sawyer's letter to Sawyer.

  This week's opening eyeball belongs to no one we know- a small child is being awakened by his mother as an angry man can be heard in the background trying to break down a door.  Mom tells the boy to get under the bed because he will think you're still at grandma's house.  Mom gives him a hug and tells him not to come out no matter what.  We stay with the boy as Mom goes out to confront the man at the door.  After some more sounds of violence and yelling, the noise abruptly stops after the distinctive sound of a gunshot.  The deep single piano notes are all that's left now as the boy watches a pair of cowboy boots enter the room.  Cowboy sits down on the very bed the boy is hiding under and kills himself.

  If you have been watching the show and have any kind of working memory, you will have figured out that this was a Sawyer flashback- and indeed, this horrific vision has woken him up in the middle of the night.  He is quickly distracted from his inner turmoil by some outer turmoil in his tent.  It's a boar and before you can say 'lunchmeat', the thing runs off with Sawyer's tent on its back.  Sawyer gives chase into the jungle but is stopped in his tracks by some haunting whispers- the last one rather clearly saying, "It will come back around."  Cue creepy LOST title screen.

  The next morning, Sayid has stopped by to enjoy Sawyer's misery as he cleans up the mess the boar made.  Sayid walks away but Sawyer calls after him, using his real name no less.  He asks what Sayid heard in the jungle after he met the French woman.  Sayid tries to dismiss it as his tired mind playing tricks but does admit to hearing whispers.  Sawyer would like to know what they said, but when Sayid answers the question with a question, Sawyer backs off.

  Sawyer flashes back to a hotel room where his intentions with a beautiful young lady are put on hold by the Terminator.  No, not Arnold, the second one- Robert Patrick.  He's not playing himself though. Sawyer calls him Hibbs and sends the lady down to the bar.  Hibbs tries to make small talk, but Sawyer slams him into the wall and reminds him that he intended to kill him if they ever saw each other again.  Hibbs is actually there to make things right- to make them even for the Tampa job, whatever that means.  Hibbs has brought an envelope containing the vital statistics and known whereabouts of Frank Duckett, who once went by the name of Sawyer and once ruined our Sawyer's life.

Back on the island, Kate is returning her gun to Jack, who is putting them all back in the metal case for safe keeping.  The only one missing is the one Sawyer won't give back.  Kate offers to get it since she is the only one who has a real connection with him, but Jack says he doesn't want her to owe Sawyer anything. 

Elsewhere, Claire tells Charlie that she dreamed about him and invites him on a walk, but he blows her off in typical male fashion.  You know, he pines and pines when she's not there but as soon as he gets her, he doesn't want her anymore.  Men!

  Sawyer is walking through the jungle now and finds his tarp.  He takes it back and storms away until he hears the same whisper again.  "It will come back around."  This time the voice must have meant the boar, because it has come back around to chase Sawyer down and knock him into the mud. 

Sawyer's hot now and back at the remains of his tent, he prepares for a fight as Kate laughs off his notion that the boar is out to get him.  As he walks off with revenge on his mind, he flashes back to the last time he had revenge on his mind- Sydney, Australia- the location of Frank Duckett/Sawyer.  At a dock, he meets up with a man who sells him a gun.  The man warns him 1) that in Australia you can't carry a gun around and 2) the gun he's handing over is meant for killing, so Sawyer had better be prepared to go through with his plan because there's no return policy for chickens.

  In a clearing that looks a lot like the golf course, Hurley and Charlie are tending to the unenviable task of burying Ethan.  Hurley, once again the voice of the fans, speculates that Ethan could rise from the grave and come after them.  Charlie just wordlessly goes about their business, making Hurley ask if he is all right.  At the beach later, Hurley asks Sayid to talk to Charlie about post-traumatic stress in regards to his killing someone.

  Sawyer is on the hunt now but gets stopped by Kate because he is really just no good at it.  She offers her expert tracking services in exchange for a free pass to any of the stuff he's been hording away.  He reluctantly agrees. That night, they make a campfire and play a drinking game called I Never.  The stakes slowly and tensely escalate- here's a rundown of what we learn:

Sawyer has never kissed a man.  Kate has. 

Kate has never been to college and neither has Sawyer.

Sawyer has never been to Disneyland and neither has Kate.

Kate has never worn pink and Sawyer has (in the 80's).

Sawyer has never voted Democrat and Kate has never voted at all.  (I'm sure that would involve using your real name :-) )

Sawyer has never been in love and Kate has.

Kate has never had a one night stand and Sawyer has.

Sawyer has never been married and Kate has.

Kate has never blamed a boar for her problems and Sawyer has.

Kate used the guise of wanting Sawyer's stuff just to spend time with him.

Kate has never carried a letter for twenty years because she couldn't let go of her baggage.

Kate and Sawyer have both killed someone.

In a nod to how many reruns there are of LOST, Sawyer's flashback goes into rerun mode as he relives his Dad entering his room to kill himself.  This time he turns into a boar and Sawyer wakes up in a sweat.  The whisper he heard was a rerun too.  Sawyer discovers that the boar wrecked all of his stuff and not Kate's.  Then Locke stops by to tell them the story of how his little sister died when they were young and his foster mother blamed herself.  A golden retriever mysteriously appeared soon after and Foster Mom thought it was Sis come back to tell her it wasn't her fault.  A silly notion, Locke admits, but the point seems to get through to Sawyer.

  As Sawyer contemplates this, he thinks back to the time when he met up with Frank Duckett at Duckett's shrimp truck.  I guess that's the Australian equivalent to a hot dog stand.  Anyway, Frank is all nice and stuff and even offers an American discount, causing Sawyer to chicken out and drive off.  It was the most tense and riveting shrimp preparation scene I have ever seen!

  Later at a bar, Sawyer gains a drinking buddy in a man we know to be Jack's father.  They get to talking and Jack's dad admits that he holds no grudge with his son, but he is too weak to pick up the phone and tell him so.  Ironically, he mentions how the Red Sox will never win the series when speculating that some people were just meant to suffer.  He then tells Sawyer to take care of his business instead of drinking, of course not knowing that he is telling him to kill someone.  Sawyer then heads out in the rain and returns to the shrimp truck.

  Sayid finds Charlie on the beach to talk to him about what happened.  Sayid tells the story of how he felt remorse about being on an almost justifiable firing squad.  He tells Charlie that he is not alone and shouldn't act like it.

  Elsewhere, Kate and Sawyer find the boar's home.  Kate gets disgusted when Sawyer starts tormenting a little piglet and leaves him to find his own way home.  Sawyer then flashes back to when he went through with the killing of Frank Duckett, only to learn that he had been set up.  Duckett was just a man who owed Hibbs money- he wasn't Mr. Sawyer.  That's what you get for shooting first and asking questions later.  You might find this interesting- Frank's last words are, "It will come back around."

  Sawyer stumbles through the jungle calling for Kate when he finds Big Daddy Boar instead.  Sawyer raises his gun and they stare each other down, until Sawyer sees Kate standing nearby and admits that "it's just a boar." 

  At the beach, Claire watches as Michael and friends have nearly completed the boat.  Charlie approaches feeling much better and they finally go on that romantic walk in the sunset.  Elsewhere, Sawyer returns his gun to Jack and admits that he made some kind of deal with Kate.  When Jack inexplicably mentions how the Sox will never win the World Series, Sawyer puts two and two together and figures out that he has met Jack's dad.  Sawyer seems stunned to learn that the man died, but fails to mention how they had met in Australia.

  Next week on LOST:  Michael must decide who goes on his completed boat with him, Sun cries, Jin dies and Locke finally shouts the obvious to the heavens- "We are not the only ones on this island and we all know it!"