Greetings, Loyal Reader. As you know by now, loyalty was a big theme in this week's episode, and I intend to test yours just like Flocke and Widmore tested Sawyer's. I write to you from vacation this week, from not having had a chance to watch Pop-Up LOST of last week's episode, and from only one viewing of "Recon" before posting this blog (usually I watch an episode twice before writing these recaps). So I'll probably sound a little dumber than usual and be a little more scattered this week. Please forgive. If Smokey's willing to let stabs in the chest go, can you do less?

 

When first we met new-2004 Side-Verse Sawyer in the season premier, he was one grinning dude. Recommending to Hurley not to flash his cash around… helping Kate escape airport security (so, knowing now that he's a cop, how does this sit with you?). We even wondered if he might not have lived the same tortured past. Alas, he did, and it's what pushed him to police work, where he would be ideally placed to research the whereabouts of the original Sawyer. It doesn't appear as if he ever assumed this man's pseudonym. What I want to know is if he ever wrote his letter. I think I'm leaning towards no, as I'm starting to doubt whether Jacob ever touched any of our Losties (or presented them with a pen and the encouragement to keep writing) in this timeline.

 

There are, of course, two meanings of the episode's title, "Recon" for us to consider. The first obviously refers to the fake job Flocke gives Sawyer in going to Hydra Island. The second would be more along the lines of "con again," as we look at Sawyer in a rebooted way. Every week now we notice how mirrors and reflections are prevalent, and this time was no different. Sawyer, confronted with his reflection in a police station mirror at a moment of conflict, punches it. Sadly, my biggest thoughts at this time were centered around more random things like, "Can cops just decide not to be each others' partners anymore, like Miles just threatened? Was Liam showing up at the precinct looking for Charlie anything more than an Easter Egg and a way to remind us we'll probably be seeing Charlie at some point in this Side-Verse again?" Let's leave those unimportant questions aside, though, and focus on the Side-Verse Similarities/Differences…

 

Same: James Ford knows cons; works in a close partnership with Miles; their jobs involve "security;" he makes good use of the word "LaFleur" (gotta admit, though, this whole scene seemed contrived and all-too-Hollywood (making it all the more appropriate that this word shows up on Sawyer's coffee mug later); he is searching for the man who killed his parents; he has the same tortured past; he brings a sunflower to a woman

Different: James Ford is a cop instead of a con man; he knows the name of the man he's looking for is Anthony Cooper; he hooks up with a very-hot Charlotte (who else thought / was hoping it would be Juliet?) in another scene that was all-too-easy and all-too-Hollywood; I didn't notice any direct references to Miles having any dead-communing powers, except that Miles makes a point to remind Sawyer how he can always tell him the truth (because he knows when people are lying, like he did the first time he met Michael on the freighter?).

 

There wasn't too much else I got out of this timeline other than noting greater (more black-and-white, if you will) extremes of timeline sames-and-differents. Nice to see Charlotte, cool to see Liam, etc. And that's how it felt - all Easter-Eggy. But as far as gleaning answers or understanding the mythology, there wasn't too much else, except perhaps this, which could just be a HUGE clue…