A handsome, roguish con man who goes by a variety of assumed names
(including the one he's currently using), Sawyer finds himself stranded
on the island with nothing more than a suicide note in his pocket. What
was once a death wish has now translated into reckless abandon. He is
a man who doesn't care anymore, and thus, the perfect ANTIHERO.
He is an anti-social animal forced to be social, a combination that is as dangerous to be in as it is fun to watch. Here on the island, Sawyer is able to put his charm and quick wits to work, forming a one-man BLACK MARKET with goods he filches from the plane. He will do his best to resist forming attachments, but the right woman might just reveal a softer side. Then again...probably not.
There was an open-ended approach to the Sawyer character. Bad can be good. We have him set up as a con man whose criminal tendencies will continue on the island, to create conflict with the castaway leadership and governing structure that was to develop over the course of the first season.
We are introduced to Sawyer in the second half of the pilot episode. Our first extended look at Sawyer is when Sayid and Sawyer are brawling on the beach. Jack, arriving back from the jungle, rushes to separate the two, as does Michael. Sawyer, who had been informed by Michael about the handcuffs, immediately suspected that Sayid, a Middle Easterner, was responsible for crashing the plane. Sayid is livid at Sawyer's prejudice. Sawyer mentions that the guy sitting next to Sayid did not survive the crash, and also that Sayid was pulled out of line shortly before the plane was boarded. The fight is finally stopped by Kate, who changes the subject and asks if anyone can help repair the broken transceiver.
Sayid volunteers to help, much to Sawyer's chagrin. Hurley tells Sawyer to calm down, and Sawyer responds by calling him "Lardo." Jack tells Sawyer to take a break and Sawyer says "Whatever you say, Doc, you're the hero." A little after the confrontation, Hurley visits Sayid as he works to fix the transceiver. The two discuss Sawyer's intolerance, and Sayid simply states that "some people have problems." They trade names with a handshake. When asked by Hurley how he became so skilled at repairing things, Sayid replied that he was a military communications officer in the Gulf War. Hurley wrongly assumes that Sayid fought for the Americans, and Sayid quietly corrects him and tells him that he was part of the Republican Guard.
Sawyer reads a letter that's been tucked away in his pocket that seems to trouble him for a moment. He notices Kate and the team heading out in the distance and joins them on their difficult trek up the mountain.
Kate's team argues about the right time to check the radio and risk completely wasting the battery. A roaring in the distance interrupts them. Kate realizes that it might be the same thing that killed the pilot. As the creature approaches, everyone runs, but Sawyer stands firm. In the last few moments, he pulls out a gun and fires almost a full clip of bullets. The group returns to discover that Sawyer has killed a polar bear.. Kate questions where Sawyer got the gun, and he reveals that a U.S. Marshal was on the plane, and he took the marshal's badge as well as his gun. Sayid then suggests that Sawyer was the prisoner all along. Kate manages to take the gun while Sawyer's back is turned. She asks how to use it, causing Sawyer to grin. Sayid instructs her on how to disassemble it. She then gives one part to each man, though Sawyer whispers to her that he "knows her type" as she passes him the ammunition.
In the pilot, we do get the view of a troubled Sawyer reading a letter (note), but it is not the "suicide note" that the writers state in the guide. If Sawyer was suicidal when he boarded the plane, that would have significantly changed the way he would have acted on the island; his motivations would have been more reckless since he was going to end his life anyway. He would have been an isolated loner, probably breaking away from the camp all together. One could imagine that that type of person would be a perfect recruit for the Others. If Sawyer was going to end it, the island would have been a good place to do it. But throughout the series, Sawyer was a selfish self-preservationist, only wanting a ticket off the island by any means. We don't know why the writers made a quick u-turn on the Sawyer character motivation. Even though that happened, it appears that the parameters of the Sawyer character sere followed throughout the series.
Sawyer was supposed to be the bad element to contrast Jack's good element in story plot structure. Kate apparently would be the conflict point between both men; a classic romantic triangle. Many of those story elements did come to pass during the series. Sawyer was also the anti-hero, a con man who tried to charm his way out of situations (and work) but more than not used his sharp tongue to keep people at a distance.
It is hard for some people to mesh the island Sawyer with the police officer sideways Sawyer. Yes, in the bad time travel to 1970s Dharma, Sawyer was the new sheriff in town, but once a con man always a con man, so he said himself. And a few people question why Sawyer would have wound up with Juliet of all people, an exact opposite more suitable to Jack (as shown in the sideways world as his ex-wife) instead of Kate, for whom he had a passionate island affair. It would seem that the writer's guide had Sawyer winding up alone when the series would end.
He is an anti-social animal forced to be social, a combination that is as dangerous to be in as it is fun to watch. Here on the island, Sawyer is able to put his charm and quick wits to work, forming a one-man BLACK MARKET with goods he filches from the plane. He will do his best to resist forming attachments, but the right woman might just reveal a softer side. Then again...probably not.
There was an open-ended approach to the Sawyer character. Bad can be good. We have him set up as a con man whose criminal tendencies will continue on the island, to create conflict with the castaway leadership and governing structure that was to develop over the course of the first season.
We are introduced to Sawyer in the second half of the pilot episode. Our first extended look at Sawyer is when Sayid and Sawyer are brawling on the beach. Jack, arriving back from the jungle, rushes to separate the two, as does Michael. Sawyer, who had been informed by Michael about the handcuffs, immediately suspected that Sayid, a Middle Easterner, was responsible for crashing the plane. Sayid is livid at Sawyer's prejudice. Sawyer mentions that the guy sitting next to Sayid did not survive the crash, and also that Sayid was pulled out of line shortly before the plane was boarded. The fight is finally stopped by Kate, who changes the subject and asks if anyone can help repair the broken transceiver.
Sayid volunteers to help, much to Sawyer's chagrin. Hurley tells Sawyer to calm down, and Sawyer responds by calling him "Lardo." Jack tells Sawyer to take a break and Sawyer says "Whatever you say, Doc, you're the hero." A little after the confrontation, Hurley visits Sayid as he works to fix the transceiver. The two discuss Sawyer's intolerance, and Sayid simply states that "some people have problems." They trade names with a handshake. When asked by Hurley how he became so skilled at repairing things, Sayid replied that he was a military communications officer in the Gulf War. Hurley wrongly assumes that Sayid fought for the Americans, and Sayid quietly corrects him and tells him that he was part of the Republican Guard.
Sawyer reads a letter that's been tucked away in his pocket that seems to trouble him for a moment. He notices Kate and the team heading out in the distance and joins them on their difficult trek up the mountain.
Kate's team argues about the right time to check the radio and risk completely wasting the battery. A roaring in the distance interrupts them. Kate realizes that it might be the same thing that killed the pilot. As the creature approaches, everyone runs, but Sawyer stands firm. In the last few moments, he pulls out a gun and fires almost a full clip of bullets. The group returns to discover that Sawyer has killed a polar bear.. Kate questions where Sawyer got the gun, and he reveals that a U.S. Marshal was on the plane, and he took the marshal's badge as well as his gun. Sayid then suggests that Sawyer was the prisoner all along. Kate manages to take the gun while Sawyer's back is turned. She asks how to use it, causing Sawyer to grin. Sayid instructs her on how to disassemble it. She then gives one part to each man, though Sawyer whispers to her that he "knows her type" as she passes him the ammunition.
In the pilot, we do get the view of a troubled Sawyer reading a letter (note), but it is not the "suicide note" that the writers state in the guide. If Sawyer was suicidal when he boarded the plane, that would have significantly changed the way he would have acted on the island; his motivations would have been more reckless since he was going to end his life anyway. He would have been an isolated loner, probably breaking away from the camp all together. One could imagine that that type of person would be a perfect recruit for the Others. If Sawyer was going to end it, the island would have been a good place to do it. But throughout the series, Sawyer was a selfish self-preservationist, only wanting a ticket off the island by any means. We don't know why the writers made a quick u-turn on the Sawyer character motivation. Even though that happened, it appears that the parameters of the Sawyer character sere followed throughout the series.
Sawyer was supposed to be the bad element to contrast Jack's good element in story plot structure. Kate apparently would be the conflict point between both men; a classic romantic triangle. Many of those story elements did come to pass during the series. Sawyer was also the anti-hero, a con man who tried to charm his way out of situations (and work) but more than not used his sharp tongue to keep people at a distance.
It is hard for some people to mesh the island Sawyer with the police officer sideways Sawyer. Yes, in the bad time travel to 1970s Dharma, Sawyer was the new sheriff in town, but once a con man always a con man, so he said himself. And a few people question why Sawyer would have wound up with Juliet of all people, an exact opposite more suitable to Jack (as shown in the sideways world as his ex-wife) instead of Kate, for whom he had a passionate island affair. It would seem that the writer's guide had Sawyer winding up alone when the series would end.
