Breaking down characters on Lost, Part 3

What might be the final installment of Lost talk, at least until the season actually starts in February. As usual, HUGE SPOILERS MAY FOLLOW!!! And, sorry about the last posting; I thought I had this queued up for earlier, but it didn't take, it seems.

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- I find Rose and Bernard to be mostly filler. Every once in a while, they'll pop up, usually toward the end of a season. It was a pretty dramatic moment when you found out Bernard was still alive in the tail section of the plane, but I pretty much guessed that he had to be alive if Rose kept mentioning him and if they made such a big deal out of it in an episode. You don't tease that moment if you're never going to fulfill it.

But since that time, I've been mostly meh on them. Like Locke, Rose and Bernard will probably live on the island the rest of the time to avoid the spread of cancer; I'm not sure if they end up back on the plane or not because of the time-shift thing. They seem logical in refusing to help out Jack and the others in season five, but really, aren't they a bit fatalistic?

- Locke, I don't like, and thankfully, he appears to be dead, with some sort of "thing" possessing his body. Maybe that whole storyline gets abandoned because of the time shift, but all of the events with "Evil Locke" and Richard and Ben are in some major need of explanation. If I had to guess, I imagine that the guy on the beach with Jacob somehow possessed Locke's body, and then used it in order to get close enough to Jacob to kill him. The odd part is that he seemingly retains some of Locke's memory.

I wasn't a big fan of Locke anyway, just because he's the embodiment of Faith on the show. I've always been more of a science guy, so I can't really identify with what Locke is going through. In addition, his lust to protect the Island leads him to be just as venomous as Ben, such as when he shot one of Widmore's men in cold blood.

- Ben Linus is a sociopath. He has an obsessive craving for power, and the Island fulfills it. For a time, he dominates every aspect of it, and if he doesn't get what he wants, there is hell to pay. For example, look at him essentially ordering the guy Juliet was cheating with to death, because he wanted Juliet for himself.

If you can trust almost everything Farraday says because he hasn't been wrong yet, then you can count on Ben to almost always be misleading and out for himself, as Sayid points out. While Ben doesn't always lie, he always withholds the complete truth, and distorts information here and there.

- Eko was a cool mofo when he was around, but I imagine he left the show for some other gig because of how abrupt his death seemed to me. I think they really could have done more with him on the show, but, c'est la vie. With how many characters the show has, it's hard to be juggling them all constantly. While I would have preferred to see him live instead of, say, Charlie or Kate, I realize they have to appeal to a broad range of people.

- Alex and her little boyfriend, whatever his name was, were really cute. I was sad when the Disposable Mercenary Character killed her. She was spunky and energetic, even if she was seemingly a bit simple. However, she came across as more genuine than a lot of the cast; all she seemed to care about was bonding with her mother, when she found out it was Rousseau, and hanging out with her boyfriend. The way they disposed of her boyfriend and Rousseau was also a bitch move.

One random note about her: Her eyes are ridiculously expressive. They did a great job casting her as the daughter of Rousseau, who also has expressive eyes. Alex's facial features - especially her eyes and lips - combined to make a physically-interesting character, even if she wasn't drop-dead gorgeous. For example, I think Kate would have been a much more compelling character if they simple swapped Evangeline Lilly with Tania Raymonde (Alex).

- Regarding the roots of Dharma, I have a feeling it was sent to the Island by Charles Widmore. He is one of the few people who isn't on the Island that has an interest in its going-ons, and he and Ben have a cryptic conversation about how once you leave the Island, you're not supposed to go back. Well, if Widmore didn't want to chance going back, then the next best thing would be to establish a company on the Island after he was forced off of it. Once Ben double-crossed Dharma and killed everyone there with the gas, there is a good chance that Widmore lost track of the Island, and had to go through the whole deal of finding it with Farraday's mom.



Speaking of Widmore, it wouldn't surprise me if he actually turns out to be a good guy in the long run. Ben hates him, which is normally a decent sign. Widmore also has a chance to capture or kill Desmond, and he just lets him go to be with his daughter. I have a feeling that like Jack, he feels conflicted between his personal cravings (just being a grandfather and focusing on Penny) with a larger world duty (not letting Ben fuck up the Island).

Anyway, I think this is all for now. Because I'm sure Danielle is sick of all these Lost posts, I'm going to try focusing on other stuff next week. So, if you have anything else you'd want me to address, leave it in a comment, which I'll either reply to or expand upon in a later entry.

All images were kind of generic stuff found on several different web sites, with the exception of Charles Widmore, from this nice Lost blog, and the picture of Linus, which is from this blog.