Summing Up Lost Characters

"Each one of us was brought here for a reason." - John Locke

I said awhile ago in my Dollhouse post that my next few posts would be about the godliness that is the ABC show Lost in tribute to the show's final season when really I did anything but make references. But now I am almost out of February with only five posts in the box and frankly I'd like to have over five in each month. Here's my chance to half ass my way to my goal and to gush over my favorite live action TV show.

I also haven't done any new editions of Top Lists or Sum Ups in awhile so with all this happening at once I will Sum Up as best I can many of the characters of Lost.

BEGIN!!!... and SPOILERS

Jack Shepherd:
A troubled spinal surgeon who faces all sorts of problems. Anger issues, daddy issues, relationship issues, alcoholism, an obessessive personality. So yeah he's pretty much the standard "Dr. Jack..." character of any television drama. He also tries to find rational explanations when really there are none in his way of thinking. It gets a bit unbelieveable when he spends this short period of his life landing on a tropical island where he goes up against polar bears, a secret society, long lost scientific experiments, the forces of nature and possibly the universe, and a monster. Talk about your skeptics.

Kate Austin:
The sweetest badass fugitive I've ever seen. Though Kate really doesn't know how to plan out a murder or live a normal life, she can certainly settle in when she lands on mystery island. Though you'd think a woman with a past as dark and violent as hers would try to remain inconspicuous, but Kate signs up for every mission that might get herself killed. Nah, but really she's a real hero.

Sawyer:
The source of the show's confidence scheme aspect and number one most prominant source for pop culture references. Sawyer starts off as a sarcastic douchebag begging for his own destruction, but you spend a few weeks on the island and you'll just have to lighten up a little bit and become a sarcastic nice guy trying to start from scratch.

John Locke:
Favorite character alert! John Locke, to put it simply, is Jesus from The Last Temptation of Christ. Sure he goes from the quiet loner, to the castaways' hunter, to the spiritual wiseman, to the button presser, to the depressed non believer, to the spiritual wiseman again, to the relentless seeker of knowledge, to the calculating castaway leader, to the five second Island leader, to dead within a matter of months (or years depending on how you look at it), but Locke is still awesome. He has one of the greatest stories on the show and is always a thrilling character. They better just weave him into God in the last episode somehow though.

Charlie Pace:
A screw up, drugged out rock star whose every breath seems to be spent trying to prove he isn't a coward. He never struck me as a total coward...A loser, yes but not really a coward. Like everyone on the Island, he does some growing up. But what did Charlie contribute to the show in all. Oh yeah, that annoying ass line from his stupid ass band: "You all everybody!" Three seasons I had to listen to him say that.

Hurley:
Every show needs a lovable fat guy. It's like a rule. Though few lovable fat guys can be as interesting or lovable as Hurley. In the middle of the various ways he uses the word "dude", Hurley has one of the wildest backstories. When was the last time your lottery winning numbers got you seemingly cursed. Did I mention that the big guy was in a mental asylum for awhile. I don't think even the villains on the show have a problem with Hurley.

Sayid Jarrah:
A good move on the show's part, presenting an Iraqi man who proves to be one of the survivors' most resourceful people. Sayid is also one of the most dynamic characters. People probably didn't think much of him when he was fixing transceivers on the island, but in the real world he was an American trained torture expert in the Gulf War. If anyone needs redemption on the island, it's Sayid. Whether it's guns, explosives, fists, tech, or women Sayid is the island's only certified badass.

Sun and Jin Kwon:
Sure they at first appear to be your typical angry asian man and his fearful wife, but there's a lot more to them than that. They were once happy people whose marriage was pretty much destroyed when Jin started working for Sun's gangster father and they couldn't make babies due to sterility. But who needs marriage counseling when you can be stranded on a tropical island with a bunch of people who can't understand your language. Here Sun can show her independance and reveal her knowledge of english while Jin can overcome his anger and stop firing blanks. Yeah, pretty much your typical marriage.

Claire Littleton:
A chipper, pregnant Australian girl who loves herself some peanut butter, real or imaginary. Like Hurley, you never really have a problem with Claire (until recently maybe). She might come off as a bit immature when it comes to her baby but hey she is pregnant. While her backstory was never super interesting, you wondered why her baby was so important. I think Claire could go in the guinness book of world records regarding the delivery of her baby: Goes into labor in the middle of the jungle where her baby is delivered by a kind fugitive and the only onlookers are an antisocial Korean guy and British rock star and love interest. Hmm.

Juliett Burke:
A bit inconsistant when it comes to her role. Before we know anything about her, it seems like she is a cold, calculating sort of villain who tries to get you on her side but the flashbacks reveal she is just your average ordinary fertility doctor who is home sick. But I guess if you give anyone a gun and a mission on the island they'll be badass somehow. No, but Juliett is a nice character, I always felt sorry for her. Does she outfox Kate? Not quite.

Benjamin Linus:
Hello Zepp! Yeah I guess even on a tropical island this former Jigsaw minion finds ways to play games with people's lives and form an alliance with a once handicapped man named John. Ben used to be the main villain but I guess he's sort of like Sylar now when he kind of transitioned back and forth from being a guy you can trust to being a monster. There's another thing: you can't really believe Ben when he says things like "We're the good guys" and "You have to trust me" when he lies, manipulates, betrays, and even commits near genocide. Not that good of a guy and about as trustworthy.

Richard Alpert:
Here's a guy that caught you off guard. When he seemed to just be one of Ben's lackeys, he turns out to be one of the most prominant figures on the island. The big hint, besides that eye liner of course, was when we saw Richard in a flashback to when Ben was a kid, he looked exactly the same when Ben is in his forties in the present. Whereas Ben is a power mad jerk who doesn't mind toying with people's lives, Richard is more helpful and sympathetic. Still why doesn't he age and what the hell is up with that eye liner?

Desmond Hume:
He's pretty much Odysseus from The Odyssey. I should know, I just read it. Desmond gets stranded on the Island in race around the world and his only wish is to get back to his beloved Penelope. He's freakin' Odysseus. The main trial he faced was having to push a button in The Hatch to "save the world". He did this for three years. But once that was gone, Desmond suddenly turned into a Billy Pilgrim type character from Slaughterhouse Five (my favorite book) who can apparently see the future. He does have another Odysseus moment later when he fights Mikhail, a one eyed villain = Cyclops. Essentially Desmond provided an always interesting and crucial story arc and the greatest romance on the show. Des and Penny FTW!!! Oh how girly I can be!

Walt Lloyd:
Walt. The prime reason Lost frustrates me. What the hell was up with Walt? Appearances can be deceiving again as Walt first appeared to be your average annoying ten year old who didn't listen to his distant dad. Well that is pretty much what he was, but then again Walt definetely had powers. Anyone who is anyone who has spent time with says he's "different" and Locke and Ben claim he is special. Because Walt was only a main character for the first season (unfortunately the kid who played him couldn't just stop aging like Richard), so it is very vague as to what he could do. It seemed like Walt could will things to happen, you might notice birds die when he is angry. It was also once mentioned that Walt "appeared in a place he wasn't supposed to be." He might even be able to see the future. Even when we last saw him as a teenager, he has dreams of things to come. If Lost ends without explaining Walt, I will be angry.

So that's my Summing Up of the most crucial Lost characters. And in the next few months their destinies will finally come full circle. I am dying to see it happen. So this has been another issue of Sum Ups from Your Lost Fan...I mean Your Modest Guru. Thanks for reading.