Have we seen the last of Michael on LOST?

In response to the JJ Abrams Examiner article, Hoping Michael Dawson doesn't make a return in 'LOST' season 6, I must respectfully disagree.

I was captivated by Harold Perrineau’s performance as Michael, struggling dad to the gifted Walt. Their distant, strained relationship grew into something none of us could have expected when Walt was taken from the raft at the end of Season 1. Michael’s sole purpose in life became finding his son and getting him off of that island – no matter what. Michael struggled through all of season 2, eventually finding a way to get Walt back, but losing his own soul in the process.

Suspicious of the Others and the fact that Ben was actually letting anyone leave the island, I watched Michael and a timid Walt get on the boat and leave Pala Ferry. Jack, Sawyer and Kate gritted their teeth as Michael put his own well-being ahead of everyone else’s. But this was not to be the end of his story. [As things come full circle, I believe Season 6 will show how important it was for Walt to leave the island when he did.]

Michael returned briefly in Season 4, and we sadly learned that his relationship with Walt remained strained. The boy could not forgive Michael for his actions (taking the lives of Ana-Lucia and Libby), and Michael could not forgive himself. In the end, he helps buy time to save other LOSTies on the freighter, and then the creepy Christian Shepherd tells him, “You can go now” just as the freighter explodes.

Unhappy with being let go from LOST a second time, Perrineau played the race card:

Listen, if I'm being really candid, there are all these questions about how they respond to black people on the show. Sayid gets to meet Nadia again, and Desmond and Penny hook up again, but a little black boy and his father hooking up, that wasn't interesting? Instead, Walt just winds up being another fatherless child. It plays into a really big, weird stereotype and, being a black person myself, that wasn't so interesting.  -TVSquad

Carlton Cuse responded: “We pride ourselves on having a very racially diverse cast. It’s painful when any actor’s storyline ends on the show. Harold is a fantastic actor whose presence added enormously to Lost.” But can Perrineau professionally bounce back from a comment like that? Time will tell.

Although Michael’s purpose on LOST seems to have been realized, Walt’s is still perpetually spinning – and it would be nice to give closure to the father/son dynamic. All Michael ever wanted was “WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAALT,” and I, for one, would like to see him get it.

Walt, himself, will likely have a crucial part to play in the final season [fingers crossed]. Though his bond with Locke is likely to be featured, it would be rewarding for LOST fans who have watched from the beginning to see closure – and possibly redemption – between father and son.

Your opinion counts:  Would you like to see more of Michael in Season 6? And a possible redemption of him in Walt’s eyes?

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