Tag: Desmond

10 Losties We Love: A look back at our favorite “Lost” characters

May 18, 2010 /

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.

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Lost 5.6 – 316

February 18, 2009 /

If there was ever any question whether “Lost” was the best show on television right now, tonight’s episode surely quieted its detractors. Arguably a weaker episode compared to the others this season, it was still a solid hour that not only answered more of our questions about the island, but also introduced a few new ones that, thankfully, we should know the answer to in a matter of weeks, and not years. While the Islanders have been enjoying their month in the limelight, however, it was only a matter of time before the A-Team became the stars of the show once again. And as we all knew was bound to happen, they’ve finally made it back to the island. Well, Jack, Kate and Hurley, at least, though much like the episode, I’m getting a bit ahead of myself.

46 hours earlier, Jack seemed like the only safe bet to return. His meeting with Mama Faraday probably wasn’t the most encouraging to anyone still on the fence (especially after Desmond’s fervent warning), but I feel like that whole scene was more for the audience’s benefit than the characters. After all, it’s the viewer who cares the most about how this whole world operates (Jack was going to return to the island no matter what), and Eloise quickly proved that she is her son’s mother with a mouthful of scientific gibberish sure to confuse anyone that wasn’t listening carefully.

Lost 5.6

From what I gathered, the strange underground station they were standing in was called The Lamp Post. (Apparently, Dharma had a thing for silly nicknames even before they arrived on the island.) The station is how the scientists originally found the island, what with it being built over a pocket of magnetic energy, much like the island itself. It wasn’t until they stopped trying to find where the island should be and looked where it would be that they actually located it. You see, the island is constantly moving (though I don’t believe she meant through time, like it’s doing now), and in order to get back, the Oceanic Six have to enter through a dimensional window that can only be accessed at a certain place during a certain time. In this case, it’s via a flight from Los Angeles to Guam.

Before Jack heads to the airport, though, he picks up Locke’s body from the butcher’s. Ben was originally supposed to take care of that, but he calls Jack last minute asking him to do it instead. Curiously, when Ben finally did board the plane, all bloodied and bruised, not a single person asked him what the hell happened. Was it Sayid who did the beating, and if not, why was he being escorted by a federal marshal? It all seemed a little suspect to me, but the scenes at the airport were still the highlight of the show. It was really cool to see everyone reunited under some very awkward circumstances, from Kate randomly ditching Aaron to Hurley doing a little damage control by buying up as many seats as he could. (On a side note, I loved that he was reading a Spanish edition of “Y: The Last Man.”)

Hurley was clearly thinking about saving lives when that was the last thing on Ben’s mind. Of course, they probably all thought that the plane was going crash, so when Jack asks him “And the other people on this plane, what’s going to happen to them?,” Ben casually replies, “Who cares?” Some people probably took this as yet another sign of Ben just being Ben, but after Jack, Kate and Hurley suddenly awoke to find themselves on the island without actually crashing, it seemed to me like maybe they were just transported the moment they passed through the “window.” Again, this is something that probably won’t be fully explained until we find out what happened to everyone else. And that includes (a clean shaven) Frank Lapidus, who just happened to be the pilot of Flight 316. You’ve gotta love the “Oh shit” face he gave Jack when he suddenly realized what was about to happen: “Wait a second, we’re not going to Guam, are we?”

What I’m curious to find out is why they must take a plane to get there again. Is that the only way to reach the island, or is that just part of the rules? Eloise explains that they must do everything in their power to make the flight as close to the original one as possible, but if it truly is all about science and not fate, then why do Jack and the others have to trick the island into letting them come back? Additionally, does anyone who’s ever been to the island automatically return (like Ben and Lapidus), or does it only work for those from the Oceanic crash? I’m sure we’ll find out soon enough, but judging from the two new faces sitting with them in first class (one of which happened to be the underrated Saïd Taghmaoui), I’d bet on the former.

External TV, Lost, TV, TV Dramas

Lost 5.5 – This Island Is Death

February 12, 2009 /

In the mid-’90s, my then-girlfriend watched “Melrose Place” religiously. I wasn’t opposed to the show itself – any show with Heather Locklear is worth at least a look with the sound off, right? – but every time Marcia Cross came onscreen, I would repeat my mantra: “Would someone please KILL HER?” They would even tease us with promos saying, “One of these characters will die,” then show shots of all the leads and one blatant Red Shirt character. It made me crazy that these people would knock on Death’s door and ask him to punch them in the face, but they survived everything, like a bunch of bed-hopping cockroaches. For years, I would think that TV shows didn’t have the balls to kill their characters. It would be too risky, too polarizing.

Man, karma’s a bitch. This week alone, Daphne bites it on “Heroes,” and now Charlotte succumbs to Time Jumping Syndrome. TV finally gave me everything I ever wanted. It wasn’t what I wanted. Come on, they couldn’t have killed the cheerleader and Juliet instead?

Ben Linus might be the most conniving bag of douche on God’s green earth, but you have to admire how unflappable he is. He never loses his cool or panics even when someone has a gun to his head, and that happens a lot. This time it was Sun that was looking for a little payback, though one thing about her arc bugs me: she gets the gun through covert means, and is flipping through a file with shots of Jack and Ben before meeting them at the pier. At first, it looked as though she was on assignment, and Ben was the target. Is she a contract killer, or did she merely pull a few of Daddy’s strings to acquire some heat and settle a score?

“You go ahead, Sawyer. I’m going to watch the love of my life regress to her childhood self and die, but not before scaring the living shit out of me.”

The bits between Rousseau and Jin were interesting, though much like everything else about “Lost,” they ask more questions than they answer. Her entire group goes to save their leader after the smoke monster drags him below (though not before he loses an arm, yikes). Then Jin jumps forward a little bit, and the rest of her group is now “infected,” though with what we’re not sure. She even thinks Jin is infected too, and since the father of Rousseau’s baby just tried to shoot her, I can’t say I blame her for being a little paranoid. Still, I hope they shed more light on what happened to them in the “temple.” I’d also love to know how Ben came to be Alexandra’s “father.”

And while we’re talking about graphic violence, did anyone else wince at the sight of Locke’s leg after he fell down the well? Compound fractures are right up there with severed Achilles tendons on the list of things that make me go “Aieeeeeeeee!” I thought it was amusing that Jack’s father is now Jacob’s official spokesperson. I’m sure there’s some cosmic significance to that – though my first thought when I saw him was “Help Locke, dude, you’re a doctor!” – but we’re probably a year away from any explanation.

And let us not forget the episode’s Big Reveal, when Charlotte told Daniel that she used to live on the island as a little girl, and that a scary old man once told her that she would die here…and that the old man was Daniel, dunt dunt duuuuuuunh. Daniel didn’t know this, which means it hasn’t happened to him yet. Does it happen soon, or years from now? How much time do Sawyer, Juliet and Miles have before they die, too? And how heartbreaking was it to watch Charlotte’s mind come undone? Also, is it just me, or does Jeremy Davies have the most expressive eyebrows of any actor working today?

Jason will be back to blog next week, so thanks for allowing me to sub in for him this week, and I hope I didn’t completely screw the pooch.

Lost, TV, TV Dramas

Lost 5.3 – Jughead

January 28, 2009 /

Last week’s season premiere was one of the most complicated episodes that “Lost” has ever produced, so it was sort of nice to just sit back and take it easy for once without having to think too much. Of course, though a lot didn’t really happen plot-wise tonight (the Islanders were nearly killed only to be whisked away to safety by the white light), we did learn quite a few interesting things along the way.

For starters, Faraday’s Oxford experiments were being completely funded by Charles Widmore. That probably isn’t as much of a surprise as it was meant it to be, since it was Faraday who volunteered to join Widmore’s future expedition, but Desmond was plenty intrigued. Then again, Charles Widmore is right up there with Satan on his list of the World’s Evilest Beings, so I’m not exactly sure what to think of his reaction. My first thought was that Desmond was mad at himself for not making the connection earlier (I mean, of course Widmore would be responsible for funding something like that), but it also looked like he might have gained a little compassion for the guy when he discovered that he was helping to keep one of Faraday’s comatose lab rats alive. Then again, maybe not, because he burst into Widmore’s office and demanded information about Faraday’s mother without as much as an “Oh yeah, and Penny just gave birth to our son, and we named him after Charlie, brother!”

Lost 5.3

And while I’m on the subject of Faraday, does anyone else find it curious that he’s gone from timid physicist to team leader in a matter of days? I don’t want to complain too much, because he’s my favorite character on the show, but it just seems odd that someone so twitchy could become so confident all of a sudden. Nevertheless, after evading a mine field (did anyone else yell “holy shit” when those two red shirts went flying?) and being captured by the Others, Faraday took control of the situation by admitting (read: lying) to Richard Alpert that they’re part of a military invasion. Clearly, Alpert isn’t as smart as he seems, because as one of the Others so bluntly pointed out, there’s no way that Faraday, a British girl and a Chinese guy are members of the U.S. Army; at least, not in 1954.

I’ll be curious to see what more is made of this development in the coming weeks, because with the exception of the dead U.S. soldiers that Miles “heard” and the giant Hydrogen bomb that’s sitting in the middle of the island, there doesn’t seem to be much of a connection to the rest of the mysteries. There is, however, a possible connection to Faraday himself, and it’s the Other named Ellie. Not only does he mention that she looks familiar, but the rat in Faraday’s time travel experiment was named Eloise. Coincidence? I think not. Furthermore, Fionnula Flanagan’s character, the one working with Ben to help the Oceanic 6 get back to the island, is credited as Eloise Hawking. Could Ellie be Faraday’s mother, and if so, how will she factor into the story?

It’s anyone’s guess at this time (heck, Flanagan’s character hasn’t even been formally introduced), and I’m not going to worry about it when there’s far juicier stuff to discuss like, oh I dunno, that Charles Widmore used to be an Other! Go ahead and mark that up as most surprising reveal of the night, because while I knew that that smartass kid had to be someone important, I never imagined it would be Widmore. It makes total sense, though, because how else would he know about the island? Why he left and wanted to come back, however, is a completely different matter, but he clearly still has a few things to learn in the meantime. “What, you think he can track me? You think he knows this island better than I do?” Um, yeah, it’s John Locke, dude. That’s a guy you definitely don’t want to mess with, even if he’s kinda, sorta already dead.

External TV, Lost, TV, TV Dramas

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