Lost/The Long Con

The Long Con
Season 2, Episode 13
Airdate	February 8, 2006
Production Number	213
Written by	Leonard Dick & Steven Maeda
Directed by	Roxann Dawson
← 2x12 Fire and Water	2x14 → One of Them
Lost — Season Two

The Long Con is the thirteenth episode of the second season, and the thirty-eight episode overall.

Survivors fear that "The Others" may have returned when Sun is injured during a failed kidnapping attempt. Meanwhile, Sawyer is an amused but highly interested bystander when tension escalates between Jack, Locke, Kate and Ana-Lucia.

Starring: Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje (Mr. Eko), Naveen Andrews (Sayid), Emilie de Ravin (Claire), Matthew Fox (Jack), Jorge Garcia (Hurley), Josh Holloway (Sawyer), Daniel Dae Kim (Jin), Yunjin Kim (Sun), Evangeline Lilly (Kate), Dominic Monaghan (Charlie), Terry O'Quinn (John), Harold Perrineau, Jr. (Michael), Michelle Rodriguez (Ana-Lucia), Cynthia Watros (Libby).

Guest Starring: Kim Dickens (Cassidy), Beth Broderick (Diane), Kevin Dunn (Gordy).

Co-Starring: Finn Armstrong (Arthur), Richard Cavanna (Peter).

Plot Overview

The Island

• At the Swan, Jack deposits all the guns and ammunition inside the armory that the Marshal brought on the flight. Asking Locke for the combination to the armory, Locke gives the combo to Jack on the condition that, if either of them ever need anything inside the armory, they consult one another first. He also suggests that Jack should store all the medicine inside as Sawyer has been stealing medicine from inside the station. At the beach, Jack rummages through Sawyer's things and takes back the medicine, but Sawyer levels a vague threat at Jack for taking the pills.
• At her garden, Sun is attacked by an unknown individual. Hearing her screams, Kate and Sawyer find a tied up and unconscious Sun out in the jungle. Ana-Lucia believes the Others are responsible and that they should arm themselves, but Locke disagrees. Alone with Kate, Sawyer suggests to her that Ana-Lucia is responsible for kidnapping Sun in order to scare the castaways into joining Jack's army. When Sun regains consciousness she tells Jack that she didn't see anything, and Jin is adamant that they get guns. Believing that it's all a ploy for Ana-Lucia to get her hands on the guns, Kate sends Sawyer to the Swan to warn Locke that they're coming for the weapons.
• Sent by Kate, Sawyer warns Locke that everybody's coming to open up the armory and take the guns for themselves. As changing the combination would only slow Jack down, Locke asks Sawyer for his help - watch the button while he moves the weapons out of the Swan. Jack and Jin show up at the Swan to find Locke and all the weapons missing. Sawyer feigns ignorance and tosses a medicine bottle at Jack. That night on the beach, Jack finds Locke and demands that he give him two guns. As they argue, gunfire is heard and Sawyer appears out of the jungle holding one of the rifles. Addressing all the castaways, Sawyer tells them that he doesn't care about how they went through his stash while he was gone, since the thing that matters now is guns. If anyone wants a gun they'll have to go to him to get one. After his speech, Kate talks to Sawyer and realizes he planned to steal the weapons from the beginning — he used her and everyone else in a long con. Sawyer replies that she runs and he cons, since a tiger doesn't change its stripes.

The Flashback

• Flashback: Sawyer

In bed with a woman, Cassidy, Sawyer notices that he's late for a meeting. Grabbing his suitcase in a hurry, it opens and cash spills out. Cassidy is very skeptical about Sawyer just happening to have a suitcase full of money that just happens to break open. Grabbing a stack of money, Cassidy thumbs through it and discovers it’s not even real. Realizing he’s trying to con her, she tells Sawyer that she didn’t get anything from her ex-husband in the divorce. But she asks Sawyer to show her how to con.

Near a gas station, Sawyer writes inflated prices on junk jewelry. He tells her that no one is going to be looking at the necklaces; rather they’re going to be looking at the prices. As two guys are getting gas, Sawyer walks up to them, shows them the necklaces and asks if they want to buy any. As he’s about to leave without them buying any, Cassidy appears and asks how much. Sawyer tells her that they’re only $100 each, whereas the fake tags list them from anywhere between $1,200 and $1,400. Cassidy "buys" two of the necklaces and, as Sawyer is about to leave, the two guys stop him and offer to buy the remaining necklaces.

Later, Sawyer and Cassidy are in a bathroom talking. Cassidy tells him that she wants to do a big con. Sawyer corrects her, telling Cassidy that it’s called a "long con". He tells her a long con works by getting someone to ask you to do something like it’s their idea when, in reality, it’s not their idea. The catch is that they need money for a long con but haven’t any. Cassidy then tells Sawyer that she actually did get money from the divorce - $600,000. Sawyer tells her that should just take the money and go to an island somewhere and drink Mojitos, but Cassidy tells him that for the first time in her life she’s actually happy, and it’s because she’s doing everything with him. She asks Sawyer to do one long con with her.

Six months after meeting Cassidy, Sawyer shows up at a diner to meet with Gordy - Sawyer’s accomplice. Gordy asks Sawyer if he got Cassidy for all 600 grand, and Sawyer tells him he does. He then realizes that Sawyer has fallen in love with her. Gordy reminds him that he found her and waited six months for Sawyer to get the money. He tells Sawyer that a tiger doesn’t change his stripes, that Sawyer is a con man just like him and it’s what he is. Sawyer refuses to go through with the con, but Gordy stops him from leaving and threatens to kill him and Cassidy.

At Cassidy’s home, Sawyer shows up and points out a black car parked across the street. He tells Cassidy that it’s Gordy, his partner, and explains to her that he knew from the beginning that she had 600 grand and that she was the long con. He tells her that Gordy is going to kill them both because he refused to take her money. Sawyer puts the 600 grand in a duffle bag and hands it to Cassidy, telling her to take a rental car he parked out back and drive to Sioux City. He tells her he’ll meet her at the Sage Flower Hotel there in the morning. Telling her he loves her, Sawyer sends Cassidy out the back door before heading out the front and getting into the passenger seat of Gordy’s car, but there’s no one else there. Counting to five, Sawyer heads back inside Cassidy’s house and takes a duffle bag out from underneath the dining room table. Inside that duffle bag is the 600 grand.

Arc Advancement

Happenings

• Sawyer cons everyone, notably Jack and Locke, into getting the weapons from the Swan's armory. In addition, he took all the medicine that Jack had in the armory.

Characters

• Charlie: Helps steal the weapons from Locke and is the individual responsible for "kidnapping" Sun.
• Sawyer: Steals the Swan's weapons for himself along with the medicine. Claims that he'll keep secret what Charlie did to Sun.

Referbacks

• 2x09 - What Kate Did: Kate's mother, Diane, is the waitress that is serving Sawyer and Gordy when the meet at the diner.

Trivia

The Show

• 1, 2, 3...: At the end of the episode, Sawyer counts to five Mississippi before heading back inside Cassidy's house and taking the real duffle bag. In Pilot, Part One, Jack tells Kate that he controls his fear by letting it in, but for only five seconds while counting out each second. Kate used this advice while escaping from the monster in the same episode and while descending into the hatch in Adrift.
• I Never: In Outlaws, Sawyer claimed he has never been in love while playing I Never with Kate. But this episode's flashback shows that Sawyer has been in love. You can't quite trust what Sawyer says.

Behind the Scenes

• Location, Location, Location: The diner Sawyer meets Hibbs at is a Big Boy Restaurant in Honolulu.

Allusions and References

• Kate, Queen of the Jungle: While talking with Kate about her squaring off with Sun in a hot-oil deathmatch, Sawyer refers to Kate as "Sheena." Sheena is a comic book character, clad in a skimpy leopard skin outfit, who debuted back in 1937. The character eventually starred in "Sheena, Queen of the Jungle" and was the first comic book to star a female character as the title character.
• Hurley's Coconuts: As Sayid is busy opening coconuts, Hurley asks him if he's going to "put the lime in the coconut, drink 'em both up?" This is in reference to Harry Nilsson's 1971 song "Coconut."
• Donkey Kong: While entering the numbers into the computer, Sawyer tells Jack that he's close to getting the high score on Donkey Kong. Donkey Kong is an arcade game released by Nintendo in 1981. The storyline revolved around Mario rescuing Pauline from the clutches of a giant ape named Donkey Kong.
• Moonlight Serenade: The song Sayid and Hurley hear on the two-way radio is "Moonlight Serenade" by the Glenn Miller Orchestra. A captain in the United States Army Air Forces, Glenn Miller was scheduled to fly from England to Paris to play for soldiers there on December 15, 1944. His plane disappeared over the English Channel and was never found.

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