Lost Character Analysis Part 4

My mega Lost character analysis series continues today with Desmond Hume, but before I begin I’d like to make a few observations about Season 4’s Confirmed Dead episode. Expect spoilers so run over to ABC.com to watch the most recent episodes if you don’t want me to ruin your fun.

The second episode of the fourth season, Confirmed Dead, focused heavily on the introduction of four new characters and we’ve already been given brief glimpses of their recent pasts. If these characters were simply more castaways then I would question their addition but these four provide an entirely new slant on the same mysteries (Dharma Initiative, Ben Linus, polar bears) that we’ve already been pondering. And who’s that black dude working for Oceanic? I wouldn’t want to run into him in a dark alley but I’d sure like to ask him some questions. Obviously Oceanic knows more about the situation then they’re letting on.

According to Wikipedia the next several episodes will return focusing on our original Losties so Confirmed Dead brought us up to speed on the new guys and now we can take off running. My main complaint with the episode was that not a lot happened, but that’s an understandable obstacle when four new bodies have to be introduced and fleshed out.

"Do you have a wee bit o' toilet paper, brother? I got a 'fighter.'"

Desmond Hume – Speaking of Season Four, what the hell happened to Desmond? As far as I can tell he isn’t with Sayid and Jack’s bunch (though Wikipedia says that he is) and I don’t remember seeing him with Locke’s posse either. He’s something of a wildcard and that’s really been the case since the beginning.

Desmond was introduced in the topsy-turvy first episodes of season two as the man who continuously saved the world by entering the same sequence of numbers every 108 minutes. When his world-saving device was shot up he bolted and didn’t reappear until his sailboat returned as if he were sailing in a “snowglobe.”

If all that weren’t enough, Desmond appears to be clairvoyant since initiating the hatch’s fail safe mechanism. He helped Charlie avoid his death a number of times before helping him sacrifice himself to bring what they believed was a rescue attempt.

Desmond has received much less air-time than the other main Losties (Jack, Kate, Sawyer, etc.) but he’s proven to be no less important to their continued chances for survival. His history with his long-suffering girlfriend Penelope, who apparently will stop at nothing at finding him, as well as his connection with a number of other island folk (Libby) makes him feel like something of a plot device. A potential ace in the hole to bail writers out of jams and keep plots moving.

I do believe the writers have a far-reaching goal for Lost, but it doesn’t hurt having a guy who can “know” things he shouldn’t when you’re trying to handle as many loose threads as Lost tosses around.

I have absolutely no evidence to back me up on this, but Desmond is the type of character I would predict is inside that coffin in Jack’s flash forward. Desmond is somewhat removed from everyone and because of his clairvoyance he is always in a position to take incredible momentous actions and divide everyone’s feelings towards him. Of course, a ton of other people fit this role as well but Desmond isn’t the first person you’d think of which makes him the first person I do think of.

Biggest Questions: Where is he? What else does he know that he isn’t telling anybody? Will he ever reunite with Penelope? Will he be in the coffin and make me sound like a genius? Please?

Lost Character Analysis Part 3

My Lost character breakdown continues with Sawyer. The fourth season has already begun so let’s get this baby crackin’. (Also check out Parts 1, and Parts 2)

With the exception of these lenses, Sawyer gets my vote for
"best dressed on a deserted island"

James “Sawyer” Ford – Sawyer emerged early in the first season as the most naturally multi-faceted character on the island (with the possible exception of Locke), and a surprisingly likeable guy. For while Kate and Jack struggled with the consequences of crimes of passion and a lifetime of overbearing parenting, Sawyer’s hurts were at once more painful and more complex and how can you not root for the kid whose parents murdered/suicide-d each other?

Sawyer’s first major episode, Confidence Man, ranks among my favorites in the entire series. From the very first episodes the writers spent a considerable amount of time building up the mysterious back-stories of characters like Kate, Jack, and Locke. Sawyer seemed like a central character but he also seemed far more one-dimensional compared to his fellow Losties; he was obviously a con-man through and through. So when Confidence Man revealed exactly how Sawyer found himself on that road the effect was both unexpected and powerful. Josh Holloway also deserves major props for making Sawyer a bonafide a-hole and cocky bastard and still effectively communicate a(n) (occasionally) tender heart hidden underneath the slick exterior. I suppose he’s also kind of hunky if you’re into grizzled sneers and a well-defined rectus abdominis.

Season 2 and 3 kept Sawyer playing mostly to his character strengths as the bad boy dealing in quips and behind-the-scenes manipulation. His fighting exhibition while captive by the Others was a nice reminder that he had some bite behind his bark. I don’t think he belongs with Kate (they’re both too self-absorbed), but they’re chemistry as prisoners in captivity was undeniable.

Since returning to the camp Sawyer has acted a bit too much like a cat that’s been de-clawed. He gets manipulated by Hurley into acting nice and he spends his days playing ping-pong. I like seeing his softer side, but with the exception of his murder of Locke’s father – the man who conned his parents into death – Sawyer has effectively receded into the background.

In the first episode of Season 4 we saw Sawyer join up with Locke. We also heard Hurley say that following Locke was a mistake. It’s pretty difficult to figure out the specifics of that statement at this point, but since Hurley made it off the island with Jack and Kate then conceivably Sawyer could also be part of the “Oceanic Six.”

Biggest Questions: Did Sawyer make it off the island? Will he keep “surviving?” Did he knock up Kate? Will he end up with her? Will we ever get to see a flashback to a time when Sawyer paid for sex?
[To be continued]

Lost Character Analysis Part 2

I'm working my way through all the major Lost characters from A-Z (by last name). Check out Part 1 here. Now enjoy Part 2:

I wonder if I'd look that good after 48 days without a shower

Ana Lucia Cortez - In retrospect it's a little ironic that Michelle Rodriguez got to play a disgraced ex-cop, but she's made a career out of tough chick roles and the character of Ana Lucia was no big departure from her previous work.

Ana Lucia was at her best as the militant, tortured (slash torturer -- zing!) leader of the "tailies" in "The Other 48 Days." I'd even go so far as to say that that was one of my all-time favorite episodes because it captured much of the same horror and fear of the unknown that we saw in the original series pilot. In fact, "The Other 48 Days" may have been better than the pilot in some ways since it was like watching all of Season 1 condensed into a single episode and then mashed together with the violence of a survival horror flick. Ana Lucia was a great leader for the "tailies" because she seemed to have a bead on what was going on, but in reality she was as vulnerable as her less aggressive survivors and their dark fate was a nice contrast to the relatively easy-going existence of the "middlies."

I'm going to pause a moment here because I think the Season 1 version of the Others deserves special mention. Remember how they were barefooted boogeymen with super strength and a disturbing, but nameless, purpose? Back then the Others were almost like a physical manifestation of the island's strangeness -- made even more threatening than the smoke monster because the Others pretended to be like you.

It's pointless to imagine Lost going in another direction than the arrogant, talkative bunch they later morphed into but I still get shivers remembering the way Ethan looked at Claire with his dead, cold eyes before absconding with her and Charlie and then leaving him to test a tree branch's tensile strength with his neck.

Pause over.

Once Ana Lucia made it to the "middlie's" camp her character was pretty much dead in the water. Other than killing off dead wood like Shannon, she floated by on the periphery without making much of a splash except for that time she raped Sawyer. Good times.

Ana Lucia's backstory was never completed before her death at Michael's hands, but I don't see her contributing in any significant way in the rest of the series. R.I.P. muchacha.

Biggest Questions: Did she get caught for shooting that dude in cold blood? Does it even matter if she did? Do you miss the old version of the Others as much as I do?

Yeah, Michael Dawson rocks the man-bag.
And if you laugh at him he'll straight up sell you to the Others

Michael Dawson - I'll admit that I grew tired of Michael's oft repeated line: I want [gasp] [gasp] my son [sad eyes] back! [spittle leaks from mouth] so I was perfectly fine with his departure in Season 2.

Back in Season 1 I was never entirely satisfied with the Michael-Walt domineering parent dynamic, but at least their relationship progressed some (I'm looking at you Kate and Jack). And when we saw more of Michael's back story in which his wife forced him to give up custody of Walt, I actually developed a soft spot for Michael. Let's just say that my family's ties are pretty darn strong so watching Michael's wife ask him to give up his son and then suggest his reluctance was borne out of selfishness made my ears practically smoke. The nerve of that woman!

I also liked the emotional impact Michael suffered through in Season 1's cliffhanger when Walt was taken by the Others. Like I said before, this was back when the Others were mysterious and threatening and "Mr. Friendly's" laugh was pretty damn spooky.

Unfortunately, by Season 2 Michael was like a robot that could only scream and moan about his son and all the respect and empathy I had built up for him over the first season got blown out like the "smoke monster" erupting from my hienie. Then he finally went psycho and killed off Ana Lucia, who didn't serve much of a purpose at that point, and Libby, who was just becoming interesting, and then he ran off again with Walt. Good riddance, I thought at the time.

But by now you've probably heard how Michael will return as a full cast member in Season 4. One big question now is whether Michael will play his part in the "present" or the "flash future" or both. Of course, there's also the possibility that Michael was the body in the coffin which would also account for Kate's dismissal of him, though like I said before there are simply too many variables to settle on just one dead body definitively.

My guess is that Michael will return to the island in the "present" because the flash forwards, and even the flash backs (I've read they'll both be in Season 4), won't offer enough air-time to warrant full time cast membership. In storyline terms, Michael will probably be messed up emotionally and I'm going to go out on a limb and guess that Walt died or that they're somehow separated again because if Michael and Walt are together, then Michael would have nothing to do with the other "losties." Something is going to have to drive him back into the lives of Jack and Kate and that something has to be big to reunite a guy with the people he sold out and left for dead.

Biggest Questions: What has Michael been doing since he left the island? What will he do when he comes back, wherever, and whenever, that might be? Will he ever shut up about Walt?

Don't worry ladies, I'll post a pic of Paulo in a thong or something

Nikki Fernandez - Nikki is my personal, hands-down winner for hottest Lost castaway. Sure she was a greedy, manipulative she-dog of a woman, but what a great looking she-dog she was.

I watched Season 3 in maybe three or four days, so I didn't have an issue with her and Paulo's sudden appearance on the island though I can understand the regular audience's anger. Everyone must have felt they were wasting time on these newcomers while more important mysteries remained unsolved and more important relationships remained unconsummated (that's you again, Kate and Jack).

I did enjoy Nikki and Paolo's death episode if for no other reason than we got a short breather from the heaviness of the other island mysteries. Seeing Nikki in a sequined bikini didn't hurt either. I thought her death was very Edgar Allen Poe-ish and it felt almost satisfying to see the "Losties" killing somebody else for a change, even if it was one of their own.

Biggest Questions: Will anybody else on Lost wear a bikini as well as Nikki did?

[More to come]