Outlaws (S01E16)
Airdate: February 16th 2005
Written by: Drew Goddard
Directed by: Jack Bender
Running Time: 42 minutes
By the midpoint of its first season, Lost had already cemented a frustratingly predictable rhythm: each pivotal, plot-advancing episode would inevitably be followed by one or more instalments dedicated almost entirely to character exposition. Following the tense, game-changing events of Homecoming—which saw the survivors decisively remove the immediate threat of Ethan Rom—the series retreats into safer, more familiar territory with Outlaws. This episode represents a deliberate deceleration, a narrative palate-cleanser that once again isolates a single character’s past and juxtaposes it with their present-day island struggles. While this structure had yielded powerful results earlier in the season, Outlaws exposes the growing limitations of the formula, offering a solid but ultimately mechanical and contrived character study that strains under the weight of its own coincidences and thematic ambitions.
The character under the microscope this time is the roguish conman James “Sawyer” Ford, and the episode establishes its dual-timeline approach with characteristic efficiency. A harrowing flashback introduces a young Sawyer (Gordon Hardie) hiding under a bed as his mother (Suse Budde) is murdered by his father, who then takes his own life. This traumatic memory is revealed to be a nightmare, from which the adult Sawyer is abruptly awakened in his makeshift tent by a boar rummaging destructively through his possessions. The intrusion is framed not merely as an annoyance but as a profound personal affront—an insult that, in Sawyer’s skewed moral calculus, can only be settled by the animal’s death. This vendetta provides the primary rationale for his continued, stubborn refusal to surrender his firearm to Jack, who is attempting to collect and safely stash the group’s weapons following Ethan’s death. Sawyer’s attachment to the gun is thus layered: it is a tool for his quest for vengeance against the boar, and, as the episode later reveals, a deeply symbolic link to his defining trauma.
What ensues is a semi-comical, almost mythological struggle. The wily boar becomes Sawyer’s Moby Dick, and he its increasingly humiliated and obsessive Ahab. Each failed encounter deepens his humiliation and resolve. Intrigued by the spectacle, and motivated by a blend of amusement, attraction, and a pragmatic desire to resolve the gun issue, Kate joins his hunt. Their nocturnal vigil culminates in a revealing game of “I Have Never,” where they discover their shared, dark secret: each has killed a man. In a moment of unexpected grace, however, when Sawyer finally has the boar cornered, he cannot pull the trigger and lets the animal go. This act of mercy, a subtle but significant character beat, leads him directly to Jack to relinquish his weapon, suggesting a nascent, unspoken understanding of the weight of taking a life—a theme the episode labours to explore.
The island’s mysteries intrude briefly via the same strange jungle whispers heard previously by Sayid, but the episode’s true narrative drive lies in a second, more devastating flashback. Set months before the crash, it shows Sawyer meeting Hibbs (Robert Patrick), an old criminal partner who owes him money. Hibbs pays part of his debt in cash and the rest in information: the whereabouts of the original “Sawyer,” the conman whose actions destroyed Sawyer’s family. This man, now using the alias Frank Duckett (Jeff Perry), is reportedly running a shrimp shop in Australia. Armed with this intelligence and a newly purchased gun, Sawyer tracks Duckett down. After hesitating to do so during their first encounter, he shoots him. As the man dies, Sawyer reads aloud the vengeful letter he has carried for years, only for Duckett to respond with confused, desperate pleas to “tell Hibbs I’ll pay.” The horrifying truth dawns: Sawyer has been manipulated into a contract killing, conned into murdering an innocent man by the very mentor who taught him the grift. It is a brutal, effective twist that re-contextualises his entire persona, transforming his swaggering bitterness into the armour of a man condemned by his own tragic error.
As a piece of television craft, Outlaws is competent but deeply formulaic. It marked the writing debut of Drew Goddard, who would later achieve acclaim for works like The Cabin in the Woods and Daredevil, and was directed by the reliable Jack Bender. The episode attempts to transcend its straightforward revenge plot by weaving a broader theme of killing and its psychological aftermath. This is explored not only through Sawyer’s haunted realisation but through the parallel stories of Charlie, who feels no remorse for killing Ethan, and Sayid. The group’s concern for Charlie’s potential PTSD prompts Sayid to offer a form of counselling, wherein he sombrely recounts his own experiences as part of a firing squad executing anti-government militants in Iraq. This thematic stitching is admirably ambitious, seeking to connect the dots between justified violence, cold-blooded murder, and state-sanctioned execution. However, it feels somewhat schematic, like boxes being ticked on a narrative checklist rather than an organic exploration emerging from the characters.
More problematic is the episode’s reliance on the series’ oft-criticised narrative crutch: the wildly convenient coincidence. The script contrives a moment where Sawyer, trying to gather courage in a Sydney bar, meets an alcoholic Dr. Christian Shepherd. In a moment of drunken honesty, Shepherd confesses that his son, Jack, was right to testify against him, ruining his career. It is a superbly acted scene, charged with pathos and a rare glimpse of Jack’s pre-island life. Yet, the script fails entirely to dramatise or convincingly suggest why this encounter would make Sawyer more likely to pull the trigger on Duckett. The implied connection—that witnessing a father’s regret for failing his son hardens Sawyer’s resolve to complete his own paternal mission of vengeance—is intellectually inferred but emotionally unearned, a weak causal link in an otherwise powerful sequence.
Finally, Outlaws is unavoidably a product of its time, containing a now-iconic piece of unintentional dramatic irony. Christian Shepherd slurs, “That’s why the Red Sox will never win the World Series,” a line later repeated by Jack. At the time of writing and production, this was a standard cultural joke about the team’s famed curse. However, the Boston Red Sox famously broke their 86-year drought by winning the 2004 World Series, an event which occurred slightly before the in-universe timeline of the series’ early seasons. This renders the line a curiously dated artifact, a small but telling reminder of the challenges of writing contemporary realism into an ostensibly timeless narrative.
Outlaws is an episode that works diligently within an established template. It delivers crucial backstory for Sawyer, a character who benefits enormously from the complexity added by his tragic error. The performances are strong, particularly Josh Holloway’s portrayal of wounded rage, and the central twist remains powerfully bleak. Yet, the episode also highlights the growing strains of Lost’s structural formula. The thematic ambitions feel imposed, the character connections overly coincidental, and the whole exercise, while engaging, lacks the propulsive, myth-building urgency of the episodes that bookend it. It is, in essence, a well-executed but ultimately mechanical piece of character plumbing—necessary for the series’ long-game, but emblematic of the pacing issues that would both define and occasionally hobble Lost’s groundbreaking journey.
RATING: 6/10 (++)
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