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]