'Lost' character comebacks

Thanks to DerAndre for the heads up.

Let’s face it: while Season 5 of "Lost" might have been the most ambitious season of television ever aired, it sacrificed character for story. That’s not to say that character development was absent (see: James Ford). But in exerting more energy explaining a time-bending plot rather than those caught up in it, the show ended up wasting its most valuable asset. We’ve now spent five years with many of these characters, and several were shortchanged in Season 5.

Luckily, the show has one more season to right these wrongs. Unlike LL Cool J, I’m calling this a comeback for these following six characters next season after being underserved over the past year. In no particular order…

Jack Shephard

No one’s been a bigger whipping boy for the machinations of unseen forces over the past five years than the good doctor. We as audience members have largely been frustrated by his character, not due to his inherent sense of morality but his incredible ability to always choose Door A when he should be choosing Door B. And yet, all those years of good intentions/bad results means he’s in the unique position of being the biggest hero in the show’s final season. Standing in his way? Cabin Christian. That showdown has EPIC written all over it.

Kate Austen

“Whatever Happened, Happened” almost completely redeemed her character in and of itself. Returning to the Island for the selfless reason of reuniting mother with child? Emotionally resonant and utterly heroic. And yet, the show seemed to forget this reason for the rest of the season, instead using her as a mechanism to ruin the happiness of seemingly every character in the “Lost” universe. If the show takes her stated purpose and uses it as a baseline for everything she does next year, she’ll easily vault into one of the show’s all-time iconic characters.

Ben Linus

Season 5 did the impossible: make Ben almost...boring. I say “almost,” because Michael Emerson could read the phone book and I’d find the performance riveting. But between his inexplicable actions off-Island (What did he know? When did he know it?), his utter cluelessness on-Island, and general absence from chunks of the season, the sheen was removed from this titan of a character. I understand that a large bulk of Season 5 was spent conning this master manipulator, but that doesn’t change the fact that the Ben from Seasons 2-4 was infinitely more interesting to watch. Look for Ben to be the key to the balance of power as the show approaches its end game.

Sun-Hwa Kwon

Remember early Season 5 Sun? Remember how bad-ass she was? Remember how she was somehow more terrifying than Ben and Widmore combined? You’d be forgiven if you did, since once seeing Jin’s ring, she turned into a robot unable to say anything other than variations on, “And if we do this, I’ll find Jin?” Devotion towards finding your husband is one thing. Being a one-note character is another. Maybe I read too much into these scenes, but I found the Ben/Sun dynamic to be subtly fascinating this season, almost as if Ben recognized a kindred psychosis in her eyes. If the show explores that dynamic going forth, maybe Sun will have more to do than simply pine for Jin.

Walt Lloyd

When it comes to “Lost,” there’s plenty about which I can be rational. Sure, I write four times a week about the show even in the off-season, but I’d like to think I can analyze the show from an emotional distance at which vantage point I can be both critic and fan. But so help me God, if “The Life and Death of Jeremy Bentham” is truly the last time we see Walt on the show, I will throw my Vincent figurine against the wall in anger. A boy so terrifying Ben had him shipped off-Island, a boy with powers unique in the show’s universe, and a boy at the heart of so many of the show’s mysteries not around for the show’s final season? Please. How would be return to the Island, you ask? Good question. Might have something to do with…

Desmond Hume

Did any character get the Season 5 shaft more than poor Des? Methinks not. An iconic character in the show’s universe, he was largely an afterthought this year. It was almost as if the show had no idea how to use him once reunited with Penny at the end of Season 4. If Eloise is right and the Island’s not done with Desmond just yet, look for him to return next year with a few key players: Widmore, Walt, Penny, and maybe the second-generation of Lostaways such as Ji Yeon, Aaron, and little Charlie. With so much of the show about intergenerational conflict, why not bring in the next generation to solve things once and for all?

So that’s my list of character comebacks I’d like to see next year. What does yours look like?

Source: Zap2IT