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The Friday Five- Top "Lost" Characters
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Do Jack and Kate even make it on this list? (ABC)
Welcome to a new feature that'll be showing up around here every Friday, especially now that we're in the summer months and most of the bigger shows are on hiatus. The idea of "Top Five Friday" is to highlight a certain facet of television and then stimulate a discussion with a comment or two--agree? Disagree? Feel free to start a debate.
The topic of today is ABC's "Lost," which just finished its penultimate season. The picks here for "top characters" are more or less based on a certain criteria:
1. How memorable is the character?
2. What impact do they have on the main storyline?
3. Do we celebrate when there is an episode focusing especially on them?
With this in mind, let's move on to the countdown.
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Honorable mentions: Libby (not on enough episodes), Jin Kwon (language barrier admittedly makes it tough sometimes), Sawyer (occasionally overacts, but is fun to watch)
5. Mr. Eko- One of the coolest characters we've seen on TV in a while, this priest / gang leader just needed to stay on board a little bit longer than season two. In typical "Lost" fashion, he was the kind of character we would want to cheer for but couldn't due to his bizarre stance on morality. Eko may have killed more people than any other survivor of Oceanic, but in between his carved up "Jesus stick" and soft-spoken demeanor he ended up being a remarkably likable guy. Want a good time? Try saying the name of Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje, who played Eko for 28 episodes, three times fast.
4. Desmond Hume- Some people love Desmond, others hate him. Needless to say, he's been a colorful addition to the cast since first showing up in the second season. His biggest strength, his heart, is what leads fans to be so divisive about him (either that or the fact that he says the word "brother" 20 times an episode). Desmond's storyline is really very much about love--across distance and occasionally even across time warps. My only gripe is that his ability to be clairvoyant appears to come and go whenever the writers need it.
3. Hugo "Hurley" Reyes- Hurley is the pure definition of a "secondary character," one who would on any other show be resort to a few random one-liners and a paper-thin characterization (just ask actor Jorge Garcia, who effectively played a sheet of cardboard on the final season of "Becker"). This time around, Garcia gets a much meatier role with Hurley. Is he still a frequent source of comic relief? Definitely, but throughout the show we also get a glimpse at a deeply troubled man who really wants to help, but also feels weighted down by emotional trauma and self-esteem.
2. John Locke- Where would "Lost" be without Locke? It was the introduction to his backstory that made me addicted as a viewer, and it is his getting ever closer to insanity that makes me want to continue on watching. Locke is wonderful because on the surface he comes across as one of the toughest characters on all television, when in reality he is deeply naive, easily manipulated, and driven most by a desire to prove others wrong. Locke has been placed in what may be a broader spectrum of situations than any character on the show, so praise really must be given to Terry O'Quinn for managing to pull it off.
1. Benjamin Linus- Every good show needs a villain. Lucky for the viewers of "Lost," we got a great one with Ben. Some think he's the devil, some think he's a minion to the real devil (Jacob), and others think he's pure genius. Ben is someone who really shouldn't even be alive after 3+ seasons of torture and imprisonment, but due to his guile and resilience he has found a way to survive. Michael Emerson also perfect for the role--just like the characters on the show we want to believe every word Ben says, but we almost never know the true intentions of this mastermind.
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