Lost: Season 3, Episode 4 "Every Man for Himself" Review

 "Don't you read?"

-Ben Linus 

"Every Man for Himself" picks up with Desmond (Henry Ian Cusick) offering to fix Claire's (Emilie de Ravin) shelter.  When she declines his offer, Desmond builds a large tower with a golf club at the top.  It is later struck by lightning and we'll find out in a later episode this saved Charlie's (Dominic Monaghan) life.

Sawyer (Josh Holloway) tries to build a trap using the fish biscuit machinery to electrocute Ben (Michael Emerson), but Ben had turned off the power.  Ben beats the crap out of him and has a pacemaker put inside of him that will blow up his heart if his heart rate gets too high.  Ben threatens to put one inside of Kate (Evangeline Lilly) as well if Sawyer tells her anything.  When Sawyer stops trying to escape, Kate gets suspicious and climbs out of her cage to break Sawyer free, but he refuses to go and tells her to save herself.  Kate refuses and returns to her cage.

Later, Ben takes Sawyer on a walk and reveals he lied about the pacemaker and show Sawyer that they are on another island entirely.  He just needed to con Sawyer to gain his respect.

After being shot, Colleen (Paula Malcolmson) is brought back to Hydra Island and Juliet (Elizabeth Mitchell) tries to operate on her, but is not skilled enough.  She brings in Jack (Matthew Fox) to help, but it's too late to save her.  Jack notices some x-rays of a man with a tumor on his spine and Jack deduces that he is here to save someone and confronts Juliet about it.

Danny Pickett (Michael Bowen), furious about Colleen's death, attacks Sawyer and beats him until Kate says she loves Sawyer.  Later she tells Sawyer she only said that to make Pickett stop.

In flashbacks, we see Sawyer in prison after conning Cassidy (Kim Dickens).  Another prisoner, Munson (Ian Gomez), is given cushy treatment by the warden (Bill Duke) because Munson stole 10 million dollars from the government and has it hidden someone.  The warden is trying to get his hands on it.  Sawyer casually befriends Munson and eventually he tells Sawyer where the money is so Sawyer can move it.  Instead, Sawyer tells the feds where the money is.  In exchange, he gets let out of prison 6 years early and gets some of the money.  He anonymously gives it all to his daughter he had with Cassidy, but he refuses to see her.

What Works:

Michael Emerson is the best part of the episode and this is the first time we truly see him as a big bad.  He beats the crap out of Sawyer, outsmarts him, medically tortures him, and cons him.  Emerson gives a great performance and elevates Ben's threat level to the highest any character has been on this show so far.

It's also fun to see that Jack still hasn't given up.  He spends the episode trying to push Juliet's buttons and make some forward progress rather than standing still.  He spots the x-rays and confronts Juliet about them, which is the first step in Jack's plan. 

The flashbacks are solid because it's always fun to see Sawyer con someone.  We also get some great emotional material for Josh Holloway and his breakdown at learning he has a daughter is some excellent acting.

Finally, I love the scenes where Sawyer is medically tortured.  This is some disturbing stuff and I love seeing the Others get this evil.  This is one of the last moments of greatness of the Others being villains before they start to lose their luster, but it's a high note to end on.

What Sucks:

There are a few elements of this story that don't make sense.  I don't really understand why Ben had to go through all of the hoops with Sawyer when he could have just taken him to the cliffs to show him the main island.  I think that would have been enough to show Sawyer he was stuck.  It seems like Ben overthought this plan.

Also, why did Munson tell Sawyer where the money is?  How was Sawyer supposed to move it?  He's in jail for 6 more years!  This has never made sense to me.

Finally, Paulo (Rodrigo Santoro) is back after his anti-introduction in the last episode.  We still don't get anything interesting with him.  He's just there.

Platinum Polar Bear:

The Platinum Polar Bear goes to the most competent character in a given episode.  For "Every Man for Himself," I'm giving the award to Desmond for saving Charlie's life from the lightning.  This is his second time winning the award.

Verdict:

"Every Man for Himself" is a solid episode of Lost.  It has some great moments for Ben, Sawyer, and Jack, a decent flashback, a fun twist, and some disturbing medical torture.  Some elements don't make any sense and Paulo still sucks, but this episode has still got it going on.

 8/10: Really Good