Outlaws

"Outlaws" continues to grow in my estimation every single time I see it. Although "Confidence Man" will perhaps always be the more respected and admired season one Sawyer-centric episode, I find "Outlaws" an even more compelling and fascinating character study and what's more- it is one of the best scripts written to date for the series in my opinion.

The story that the main island events are based around is utterly ludicrous on paper, but turns into much more thanks to the evocative and intelligent script by Drew Goddard, an extremely talented scriptwriter known outside "Lost" for his much-praised episodes for "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" and his box office success "Cloverfield". Aside from a couple of rough moments (very) early in the episode I simply cannot find any serious flaws in this astonishing script. The depth and insight into Sawyer's character and the development of the mythology of the character is outstanding here. Essentially, "Outlaws" is a silly episode on paper: Sawyer hunts a boar and in flashbacks he gets tricked into killing a guy. The end result is filled with memorable dialogue and insightful character development- note especially the brilliantly-photographed, well-directed, and brilliantly-written scene where Sawyer encounters Christian Shepard in an Australian bar. When I first saw it I could not wait for it to end but I was utterly entranced this time around as I saw more of where Goddard was going with the scene.

"Outlaws" is purely a character-based episode, highly refreshing after the outrageously indulgent and silly if watchable "Homecoming". Goddard's script is great, but the episode is a landmark to me on "Lost" because John Bartley's cinematography works brilliantly with Jack Bender's work as director here, creating what is perhaps the first episode of "Lost" to feature genuinely arresting visuals.

An episode I originally regarded as shallow filler, came to see as a poor, shallow attempt at characterization, and finally came to absolutely adore on this viewing, a further viewing of "Outlaws" may cause me to regret writing this review, but as I write this I firmly believe that this is a truly great television script brought to life stunningly well by the crew and actors.

10/10

James "Sawyer" Ford wakes up from a nightmare with a boar inside his tent. He finds his canvas in the woods, but is attacked by the animal. He decides to chase the boar with Kate Austen following its track in the forest. Along their hunting, Sawyer recalls his dark past since he was a child until his final revenge the against conman that destroyed his family.

In "Outlaws", the life of Sawyer is disclosed and showed how he was deceived by Hibbs (Robert Patrick) and why he is such a crook. The trailing and hunting of the boar is just reasonable, but the past of Sawyer is interesting. My vote is eight.

Title (Brazil): "Outlaws"

Note: On 22 March 2013, I saw this episode again.

Sawyer hitting the boar at the start and the boar getting revenge later on by knocking Sawyer to the ground from behind added some amusement to this episode.

Sawyer's past is revealed as he runs into an old friend who he threatened to kill after a job gone wrong (guest star Patrick) but he has some vital information on the man Sawyer has been hunting, another con man like himself.

Charlie also goes wild with his own attack on Ethan.

A nice fill in ep focusing on Sawyer's past through more flashbacks and his personal grudge against a boar who he believes is stalking him.

This episode is my favorite, having become so rather surprisingly.

Its simple set up - that of Sawyer setting out to slay a boar with a vendetta - seems grounded in ridiculousness. After all, how can a pig hold a grudge? This little task turns into a deeper journey, a pleasing respite from the Lost story arc. It certainly outperforms your expectations.

Sawyer's journey with Kate turns out comedy - as the script allows the two characters to alternatively bounce off and spark at each other - and development, as Sawyer's tragic past is further explored and his persona softened. It is hard not to build a lot of sympathy for what happens to him.

I highly recommend this episode for viewers and hope that they will anticipate it. However don't skip to it, or else you'll miss a little back story shading that is essential to the Sawyer character.

Several storylines to follow, mainly Sawyer but also charlies, Jacks and Locke and hes little campfire story. Outstanding episode, amazingly writted