# Lost 11/10 "Confidence Man" - Contains Spoilers! **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [November 10, 2004, 10:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lost-11-10-confidence-man-contains-spoilers/274090 "2004-11-10T22:21:55Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Hampshire](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hampshire/32/4887_2.png) [@Hampshire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hampshire)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2004, 2:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lost-11-10-confidence-man-contains-spoilers/274090/61 "2004-11-11T14:51:53Z")
I haven’t seen every single episode. Did they ever do a back story on Hurley?? ---
**Author:** ![Paisley\_Park](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/eb8c5e/32.png) [@Paisley\_Park](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Paisley_Park)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2004, 2:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lost-11-10-confidence-man-contains-spoilers/274090/62 "2004-11-11T14:53:51Z")
> [@h.sapiens](#): > > I think we saw island Sawyer’s back story, because of the way it ended. He left the money behind. In the letter, it says, “You stole all my dad’s money away.” We don’t know what happened to the family after Sawyer left, but they still had their money, plus $140K of his (or his partner’s, really). Wow, good point! Bingo! ---
**Author:** ![Draelin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ce73a5/32.png) [@Draelin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Draelin)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2004, 2:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lost-11-10-confidence-man-contains-spoilers/274090/63 "2004-11-11T14:56:05Z")
> [@Paisley Park](#): > > The main problem I have with this is that all the other **flashbacks** have been presented as being “real”. Why would Sawyer’s be any different? That’s the very conversation I just had with my boss. She’s of the belief that if they start screwing with our minds on the backstories, the whole show’s going to lose a lot of what makes it so good. I have to agree. Sawyer himself said that he “became” the man who killed his parents. I really like **Rik’s** idea about the important unanswered questions, too. Although, I was under the impression that Sawyer was running from the large gentleman he owed 24K to, and that’s a good enough reason to be on a plane anywhere. 🙂 So, whose stories are we still waiting for? Sayid is next week, and I believe that it was posted in an earlier thread that Claire will be the week after that. Of the “main” characters, that leaves only Hurley (who I can’t wait for), Shannon and Boone, and Michael and Walt, right? Oh, and SteveScott, of course. ---
**Author:** ![Wile\_E](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c37758/32.png) [@Wile\_E](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wile_E)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2004, 2:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lost-11-10-confidence-man-contains-spoilers/274090/64 "2004-11-11T14:58:31Z")
> [@Hampshire](#): > > I haven’t seen every single episode. > Did they ever do a back story on Hurley?? No, we haven’t seen Hurley’s back story yet. BTW, best Hurley moment of the night was when he was in total awe of Jack and he said “Dude, that was like a … jedi moment.” Then Sayid gave him a strange look as he followed Jack. Rikwriter: I disagree that Locke’s story was “wrapped up”. There’s still a lot of important questions we don’t know. It was implied that he’d only been in the chair for 4 years, so what happened to put him in the chair and what had he done before that? Why is he so knowledgeable about hunting and other things? Did he just read and watch TV a lot or is there more going on there? ---
**Author:** ![Fiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e274bd/32.png) [@Fiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fiver)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2004, 3:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lost-11-10-confidence-man-contains-spoilers/274090/65 "2004-11-11T15:06:15Z")
My guess is the person who whacked Sayid is someone we’ve not yet met. ---
**Author:** ![Paisley\_Park](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/eb8c5e/32.png) [@Paisley\_Park](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Paisley_Park)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2004, 3:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lost-11-10-confidence-man-contains-spoilers/274090/66 "2004-11-11T15:14:55Z")
> [@Rubystreak](#): > > Of course, due to DVR wonkiness, I also missed the very end of the ep and the previews for next week. It stopped right as Charlie and the pregnant girl were leaving the beach and the song started… [“Solitary” preview trailer](http://lost-media.com/modules.php?name=Downloads&d_op=viewdownload&cid=2) You can almost see “It’s” face, but they cut away at the very last second. **What’s going to happen to Sayid!!?** ---
**Author:** ![AncientHumanoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ancienthumanoid/32/278_2.png) [@AncientHumanoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AncientHumanoid)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2004, 3:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lost-11-10-confidence-man-contains-spoilers/274090/67 "2004-11-11T15:35:52Z")
The Sawyer back story is indeed the island Sawyer backstory. After losing his parents, he became a troubled child. When he first conned someone himself (the $6000), he realised how easy that lifestyle could be. So, he actually became the same type of guy as the man who ruined his family. Get it? Same TYPE of guy, NOT the same guy. As for the seemingly low amount in the other scam ($160,000 plus $140,000), we see that he is gradually getting better at bigger and bigger scams. To jump right up into the millions some of us seem to be expecting would cast him in a different league. He needs to still be the angry little boy that is getting back at the karma that made him who he is. He needs to still be petty, small time, pathetic in a way. This also helps explain his continued antisocial behavior on the island. The letter he wrote as a kid is more like a talisman to him now. He will never find his Sawyer. But, he doesn’t exactly like what he’s become himself. So, he kept that letter all this time to justify to himself why he is who he is. Now on the island, he is out of the fast lane and is reflecting. Maybe he realises what a horrible thing he’s been doing. Maybe, the island is getting to him, causing a change. Like the deal with Kate. Instead of actually competing against Jack, he started by causing Kate to question her own feelings. Still a con-man. But, for some reason, he let her read the letter. But then, she saw through the scam. And it got to him. He doesn’t her to feel sorry for him, he wanted to win her. He wanted, no needs, to win her by means of some sort of game. The island changed all that. The island is alive. Somehow. ---
**Author:** ![Honey](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/honey/32/5074_2.png) [@Honey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Honey)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2004, 3:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lost-11-10-confidence-man-contains-spoilers/274090/68 "2004-11-11T15:37:48Z")
I’ve just started watching this show. Can someone tell me how they have an axe, a bowie knife etc? What airline allows those on a plane? Also, you’d think the one thing they would have plenty of would be bags of peanuts. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2004, 3:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lost-11-10-confidence-man-contains-spoilers/274090/69 "2004-11-11T15:41:15Z")
> [@RikWriter](#): > > Anyone notice that, of all the backstories told so far, only that of Sawyer, Kate and Jack have left important unanswered questions? > I mean, Charlie’s story wrapped up his character from point A to present. Locke’s as well, as did Jin and Sun’s. But Jack’s story left out what he did to disappoint his father, Kate’s left out what her crime was and Sawyer’s left out the reason he was on the plane. > I think this will turn out to be significant. There are other mysteries, possibly less significant ones. We were never told what the business was between Jin and Sun’s father, although we’re led to believe that it’s some sort of criminal enterprise. And someone already pointed out that we don’t know the story behind Locke’s disability. Was it something like a severed spinal column, in which case his recovery is really miraculous? Or was it something almost psychosomatic, in which case the recovery is believable? ---
**Author:** ![AncientHumanoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ancienthumanoid/32/278_2.png) [@AncientHumanoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AncientHumanoid)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2004, 3:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lost-11-10-confidence-man-contains-spoilers/274090/70 "2004-11-11T15:41:34Z")
Left out one major point. :smack: When he saw the small boy, his own childhood came rushing back at him. He can justify conning the parents. After all, it’s own their own greed that bites them in the ass. But the boy is innocent. As he was. So, he still has a heart somewhere deep inside him. The island is going to pull that out of him and bring it to the surface. WAG: I predict he will die during sweeps, selflessly giving of himslef to save someone else (or the group). The needs of the few… ---
**Author:** ![Draelin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ce73a5/32.png) [@Draelin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Draelin)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2004, 3:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lost-11-10-confidence-man-contains-spoilers/274090/71 "2004-11-11T15:43:39Z")
> [@Honey](#): > > I’ve just started watching this show. Can someone tell me how they have an axe, a bowie knife etc? What airline allows those on a plane? > > Also, you’d think the one thing they would have plenty of would be bags of peanuts. The axe, I believe, is part of the plane’s safety gear or something–someone explained it once, and I’ve since forgotten. They’ll explain it again. 🙂 The knives are Locke’s, and they were checked with his baggage, which is still allowed. As for the peanuts, they’ve been there, what, almost 10 days now? The peanuts are all _long_ gone. ---
**Author:** ![Wile\_E](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c37758/32.png) [@Wile\_E](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wile_E)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2004, 3:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lost-11-10-confidence-man-contains-spoilers/274090/72 "2004-11-11T15:46:59Z")
> [@Honey](#): > > I’ve just started watching this show. Can someone tell me how they have an axe, a bowie knife etc? What airline allows those on a plane? > > Also, you’d think the one thing they would have plenty of would be bags of peanuts. Yes! Those tiny bags containing about 10 peanuts each could sustain them all for months! Sorry for the sarcasm but they did explain away the peanuts in an earlier episode, when Hurley was fighting with Sawyer for bogarting the last of the peanuts. “Dude, there is no more food.” That’s when Locke steps up to save the day with fresh boar meat. ---
**Author:** ![AncientHumanoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ancienthumanoid/32/278_2.png) [@AncientHumanoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AncientHumanoid)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2004, 3:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lost-11-10-confidence-man-contains-spoilers/274090/73 "2004-11-11T15:47:10Z")
When Charlie did the peanut butter thing, he did it so well… I thought that some peanut butter was going to miraculously appear for preg-chick. Anyone else fall for that? ---
**Author:** ![Wile\_E](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c37758/32.png) [@Wile\_E](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wile_E)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2004, 3:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lost-11-10-confidence-man-contains-spoilers/274090/74 "2004-11-11T15:51:18Z")
> [@NoClueBoy](#): > > When Charlie did the peanut butter thing, he did it so well… > > I thought that some peanut butter was going to miraculously appear for preg-chick. > > Anyone else fall for that? Some people, not naming any names or anything, practically orgasmed over that scene. 😉 Yeah, I could almost taste the … peanut butter. ---
**Author:** ![vd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b19c9b/32.png) [@vd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vd)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2004, 4:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lost-11-10-confidence-man-contains-spoilers/274090/75 "2004-11-11T16:15:45Z")
Well, all rock stars _are_ well trained in the art of mime.🙂 The only thing I’m not buying in Sawyer’s backstory is that if the kid thing is so important to him, why wouldn’t he be in the habit of only choosing marks that don’t have kids? Is this only the second time he’s pulling this con? Considering that his childhood experience set the course of his life, I would think he’d thought of this before. It doesn’t seem like it could be the epiphany it’s shown as. ---
**Author:** ![Juniper200](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/df788c/32.png) [@Juniper200](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Juniper200)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2004, 4:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lost-11-10-confidence-man-contains-spoilers/274090/76 "2004-11-11T16:28:08Z")
> [@Wile E](#): > > Some people, not naming any names or anything, practically orgasmed over that scene. 😉 > > Yeah, I could almost taste the … peanut butter. Extra smooth indeed! ---
**Author:** ![AncientHumanoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ancienthumanoid/32/278_2.png) [@AncientHumanoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AncientHumanoid)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2004, 4:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lost-11-10-confidence-man-contains-spoilers/274090/77 "2004-11-11T16:45:17Z")
> [@vd](#): > > The only thing I’m not buying in Sawyer’s backstory is that if the kid thing is so important to him, why wouldn’t he be in the habit of only choosing marks that don’t have kids? Is this only the second time he’s pulling this con? > > Considering that his childhood experience set the course of his life, I would think he’d thought of this before. It doesn’t seem like it could be the epiphany it’s shown as. I would just guess it had never come up before. Or, he was paying to close attention to the mark to notice. After all, she was in his motel room, he wasn’t at her home until the final part of the con. ---
**Author:** ![Cuckoorex](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ad7895/32.png) [@Cuckoorex](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cuckoorex)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2004, 4:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lost-11-10-confidence-man-contains-spoilers/274090/78 "2004-11-11T16:45:30Z")
Regarding Locke’s actions over the past few episodes: remember that “The Colonel” is a strategist. He was playing wargames, he was telling Walt about bakgammon and about pitting dark against light…and now he is in a way extending the game and manipulating others. Not saying that he is good or evil, just that he may not be entirely selfless in his actions… ---
**Author:** ![Cowgirl\_Jules](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/4af34b/32.png) [@Cowgirl\_Jules](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cowgirl_Jules)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2004, 5:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lost-11-10-confidence-man-contains-spoilers/274090/79 "2004-11-11T17:54:32Z")
I’m not convinced that the preview showed Sayid on the island. How do we know that it’s not part of his backstory? He did tell Sawyer that he had tortured people before, but he could have been lying, and been the torturee. And I don’t blame Kate for drawing out that kiss with Sawyer. He may be an ass, but he’s HOT, and more interesting than bland doctor boy. ---
**Author:** ![Paisley\_Park](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/eb8c5e/32.png) [@Paisley\_Park](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Paisley_Park)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2004, 5:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lost-11-10-confidence-man-contains-spoilers/274090/80 "2004-11-11T17:59:32Z")
> [@Cowgirl Jules](#): > > He may be an ass, but he’s HOT, and more interesting than bland doctor boy. Bland doctor boy? The guy is the leader. The hero. He saves lives. And, he is a hunk to boot! You call that bland? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lost-11-10-confidence-man-contains-spoilers/274090.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lost-11-10-confidence-man-contains-spoilers/274090.md?page=5)