Ahead of three consecutive episodes that reveal significant information about the mysteries of the island "Confidence Man", a solo script by the Lost's main creative force Damon Lindelof, provides an enthralling 43 minutes that remain among the best character-focused moments of the entire series, four seasons in.
"Confidence Man" revolves entirely around Sawyer, with the events on the island involving him being the target of immediate interrogation by the rest of the castaways who suspect him of hiding inhaler refills that Shannon, an asthmatic, needs in order to survive. Any Lost fan cannot possibly remove the intensely dramatic scenes of Sayid torturing Sawyer from memory (a brilliant setup, incidentally, for the following episode), as well as the devastating moment we all realized that Sawyer had written the letter, a moment not quite on par with the finale of "Walkabout" for character impact but still among the most significant character moments of season one.
The screenplay by Damon Lindelof is a complete work of art, thematically linking all the flashbacks to the on-island events far more seamlessly than many season one episodes which attempted to do the same. The only complete breaks from Sawyer's character (and indeed from pure, intense drama) are the scenes with Charlie and Claire, which really work perfectly within the episode.
"Confidence Man" is also the first showing of truly graphic and horrific violence on "Lost". Is it necessary? In one word: yes. It lends authenticity to the proceedings and is far from gratuitous, but is just intense enough to make a statement that "Lost" is an adult drama and not a family-friendly island-escape story, something that was necessary even after eight episodes of the show- if you were talking to others about "Lost" at the time you know this.
All in all, "Confidence Man" is a great episode from the first season of "Lost", improving tremendously on the previous two episodes setting the stage in terms of tone for the three episodes to follow. Great episode from Lindelof.
10/10