Poor Elizabeth Sarnoff. Her name is unfortunately associated with some of the least popular episodes in the series (even though I liked Stranger In A Strange Land), and Recon is the next episode in that list. It's not all on her shoulders, however, as co-writer Jim Galasso makes his LOST writing debut.
Up until Recon the flash-sideways (FS) gave us deep insight into the psyche of characters we'd grown to love over the years. Some of the FS elements were about resolving conflict and overcoming regrets, like Ben repairing his relationship with Alex. Sometimes they were about the exploration of fears and desires, like Jack struggling to know his son.
Then you have Recon, where we find out Sawyer... wanted to be a cop. Ugh. That's anticlimactic enough but then we see his old obsession is back in full force — the pursuit of Anthony Cooper. Instead of having any sort of consistency with previous flash-sideways, where characters take strides in recognizing their flaws and making things right, Sawyer's stuck in his tired routine of bloodlust and romps in the sack.
This time around his conquest involved Charlotte, who was nice to see despite the fact there was absolutely no on-island basis for their fling. Had they even had a single moment in previous seasons that hinted at a desire to "get together", I'd buy it. As it is, it came off as a convenient excuse to bring her back for a cameo.
I'm willing to buy the notion that Sawyer's FS storyline was loosely based on conflict resolution, perhaps even the hint that Miles was the most meaningful friendship Sawyer developed on the island. But it's not enough. It's very damaging to see Sawyer indulging in the same nasty habits that soured my view of him in the first place.
Unfortunately the FS is the better part of Recon. Fake Locke (FLocke) convinces Sawyer to scout Hydra Island to see what threats have arrived. In other words, this is one full episode of stalling the island storyline. If FLocke so urgently wanted to get to his destination (which was unclear at this point), it's a little baffling that he'd sit everyone down until Sawyer completed his mission.
The worst part is yet to come. Shortly after finding the Ajira plane Sawyer encounters Zoe, one of the least popular characters on the series. Personally I wasn't bothered too much by Zoe, but I was extremely agitated by the next batch of people that sprung out of the woods with rifles drawn — Widmore's Goon Squad.
In Season 4 we got a dynamic, flavorful science team with Faraday and Friends. After that we got a truly horrifying mercenary squad led by Keamy. Now we have a couple of nerds led by a pudgy goon in cordoruys.
Even when Sawyer cons Widmore and returns to home base, the cliffhanger is a complete dud. Kate mistakingly assumes their escape route involves the Ajira plane, but nope! They're takin' the sub, Freckles. Boom! LOST. Alrighty then.
Even as I say I'm not a Sawyer fan, I very much appreciate Holloway's performances and I understand how necessary the Sawyer character is. But if Recon proved one thing to me it was this: Sawyer's character never would've worked in a real-world setting. He shined mostly due to his circumstances, the classic Lord of the Flies scenario.
Holloway just didn't seem to have the same edge, the same energy, that we've seen in the past. If you think I'm being overly critical, by all means compare the "pigeon drop" scenes from Seasons 1 and 2 to the opening FS scene in Recon. The first two are acted and directed very well, while the Recon scene feels like everyone's going through the motions.
Rebecca Mader actually did quite well in her brief return, particularly the moment Sawyer flips out on her. I honestly felt bad for her at that point, then vindicated when she told him where to put his "sad sunflower" in a later scene.
Sheila Kelley (Zoe) flirted with deductions for some seriously annoying mannerisms and voice inflection, but given her role was a science geek I don't think it'd be fair to dock points.
I mentioned in the Lighthouse review that the island seemed too bland, too dry. Well, Recon is where that problem hits rock bottom. Every single island scene is washed out and pale in appearance, and the jungle looks so dry it seems one tiny spark would set the entire island ablaze.
At some point it looks so bad I wondered if ABC changed something with their color correction approach, because there's no way an episode from Seasons 1 through 4 would look so bad. The good news is it becomes less of a problem in future episodes.
As disturbing as it was to see Locke throwing Crazy Claire around and slapping the taste out of her mouth, it was a well-choreographed and directed scene. I particularly liked the way Sayid was framed during that moment, sitting with an uninterested look on his face while Kate was inches away from getting her throat slit.
The opening "pigeon drop" scene was poorly directed and that hurts to say as a Jack Bender fan. Even one of the smaller details — the springing open of Sawyer's briefcase — was lazily shot. In previous con scenes the briefcase gimmick was at least somewhat convincing; this time around nobody even tried to sell it. Part of that falls on Bender's shoulders.
This episode is not fun for me to rewatch at all and I question its significance in either the FS or island storylines (beyond the introduction of Widmore's Goons which isn't a good thing anyway). It's not just the washed-out look of the episode that's painful to watch, it's the stalling of the island storyline and inconsistent theme of the flash-sideways that grates on my nerves the most.
I'm willing to deal with visual shortcomings if the story has its strengths (i.e. Lighthouse), and conversely I'm willing to enjoy an episode's atmosphere even if the story's a bit weak. In this case I had very little to get excited about.
No atmosphere to speak of, and the only emotional impact was agitation starting with Widmore's Goons. Even if I set aside the superficial reasons for disliking that team, you can only use the "spring out of the woods with rifles drawn" gimmick so many times before it gets really old.
When Seamus popped out of the bushes barking instructions and aiming his rifle, all I could do was roll my eyes.
