LOST: Down the Hatch | Season 1, Episode 8: “Confidence Man”

Josh Wigler (@roundhoward) and Mike Bloom (@AMikeBloomType) go Down The Hatch to read a book about bunnies. Just kidding, Josh has barely started “Watership Down.” Instead, he and Mike are here to talk about “Confidence Man,” an episode Bloom describes as his own personal “Walkabout.” Intriguing! Find out why he loves it so much in this week’s edition of the Lost rewatch.

In “Confidence Man,” we finally pull the curtain back on James “Sawyer” Ford (Josh Holloway), the grifter with a heart of gold — though you wouldn’t know it from his latest island antics, in which he allows his fellow castaways to believe he’s hoarding crucial asthma medication. As Jack (Matthew Fox), Sayid (Naveen Andrews) and Kate (Evangeline Lilly) all conspire different ways to gain Sawyer’s cooperation, the con man’s defenses slowly fray, as a flashback storyline reveals the truth about his dark past.

Elsewhere on the island, Sun (Yunjin Kim) devises a way to ease Shannon (Maggie Grace) through her asthma attacks, thanks to some help from Michael (Harold Perrineau) and some skepticism from Jin (Daniel Dae Kim). Charlie (Dominic Monaghan) convinces Claire (Emilie de Ravin) to move from the beach to the caves, with the aid of some non-existent peanut butter.

“Confidence Man” was directed by Tucker Gates and written by Damon Lindelof. It first aired on November 10, 2004.

LOST: Down the Hatch is a full-tilt spoiler-filled rewatch of LOST. Every week, Josh and Mike break down an episode of LOST with the benefit of knowing the series’ full trajectory, using the following structure as a guide:

• We Go “Fourth” – Josh and Mike begin each podcast with a deep-dive into the story both in front of and behind the camera, and they do so with the assistance of…
• 8 Sounds – The events of LOST pop right off the camera and straight into your ears with eight memorable moments replayed on the podcast, helping us guide through the story;
• 15/16 Others – Josh and Mike answer questions and comments sent their way through the official e-mail address: [email protected]
• 23 Points – Each week, Josh and Mike hand out points for the best and worst characters of the episode in question, in a foolhardy attempt to determine the most and least valuable players in the LOST pantheon.
• 4.2 Stars – Josh and Mike will attempt to create an official Down the Hatch ranking of every episode of LOST, by rating them all on a scale from 0 – 4.2. Josh and Mike will offer their individual scores, listeners’ scores will be averaged as a third data point, then the three points will be combined for the podcast’s official score on each episode.

Each episode of Down the Hatch clocks in at no less than 108 minutes. If the podcast falls short of that runtime, Josh and Mike have triggered a crisis! Consequences may (and almost certainly will) ensue thanks to the Frozen Donkey Wheel.

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