Chris Carabott of IGN gave the episode an 8.4/10 and called it "a well-written, fascinating character piece that does an excellent job of bringing Sawyer into the spotlight", later praising Josh Holloway's performance, writing that "The success of this episode begins and ends with Josh Holloway. So far, we know that he's good at playing Sawyer: The Tough Guy, but now he has to sell a multilayered fragment of a human being who hates himself for becoming the man who destroyed his family. Holloway succeeds in creating a character that quickly unravels throughout the episode as his terrible secret is revealed."[11] The website later ranked "Confidence Man" the 47th best episode of Lost, praising how it "change[d] your entire perspective of a character" in revealing how Sawyer came to be, which made a starting point for "one of the greatest character arcs not only in Lost, but in all of modern television."[12]