In what could easily be billed as the biggest television event of the decade, ABC’s “Lost” will shut the hatch door on six years of mind-bending mystery when it caps off its incredible run with a two-and-a-half hour series finale on May 23. When it debuted back in 2004, no one could have anticipated that J.J. Abrams’ island drama would depend so much on its cool plot devices and mysteries, but the show remains first and foremost about the characters. With so many great personalities populating the “Lost” universe, it’s difficult to settle on a list of the absolute best, but that doesn’t mean we didn’t try. The Bullz-Eye staff recently sat down to compile a list of our personal favorites, as well as a few we didn’t like so much. Check out some samples below:
James “Sawyer” Ford
He’s a con-man, a killer, and can’t remember anyone’s name to save his life, but for some reason, we just can’t help having a fondness for the man we’ve come to know as Sawyer. Admittedly, part of it has to do with all the great nicknames he’s come up with for his fellow survivors – just the monikers he’s saddled Hurley with (Pillsbury, Rerun, Grape Ape, Mongo, Jabba, Deep Dish to cite a few) are enough to make him our hero – but it’s mostly because of the fact that, for all of the flashbacks we’ve seen on “Lost,” few have found us changing our tune about a character quite as much as his. We learned that, at the ripe old age of eight, his parents were conned so profoundly by a man using the alias of Tom Sawyer that his father killed his mother, then himself, damaging the boy’s psyche so much that he took on the con man’s last name and profession. Sawyer was a far cry from a good man before taking Oceanic Flight 815, and he wasn’t all that nice a guy immediately thereafter, either (remember the way he hoarded the whiskey and porn that he’d found in the wreckage?), but thanks to his relationships with Kate and Juliet, along with various sacrifices he’s made over the course of six seasons, we’ve seen that there really is a good heart beating beneath that snippy, cynical exterior.
Michael Dawson
Unlike many of his fellow castaways, Michael Dawson’s departure from the show didn’t result in a gasp, but a sigh of relief. By far one of the most annoying characters to ever wash up on the island, Michael also had one of the least interesting back stories of the original group. Though many parents might applaud his protective instincts (particularly considering he didn’t have much of a relationship with Walt prior to the crash), that doesn’t change the fact that he killed two innocents (Ana Lucia and Libby) and then backstabbed four others simply so that he could get himself and his son off the island. But just when it looked like we were free for good of his incessant whining, Michael returned by way of the freighter (now under the orders of Ben Linus, who else?) with the hope of redeeming himself by saving his fellow Losties from impending danger. His sacrificial suicide didn’t quite have the intended effect, however, as no one really cared what happened to him by that point. In the end, he was relegated to a ghostly whisper in the island’s jungle, and considering just how forgettable his character was, it was exactly what he deserved.
Be sure to read the complete feature over at Bullz-Eye, and then browse additional content by visiting our new Lost Fan Hub for interviews, DVD reviews, and much more.
