The Five Worst Characters From LOST

I really liked the first 3 seasons of Lost.  After that, (and the writer's strike) it kind of became a mess filled with plot holes and unanswered questions.  The show kept presenting new characters, even as it was killing off existing ones who still had unfulfilled stories.

Like many, even 18 months later, I still think about the show quite a bit.  I can't help but wonder what could have been, especially as I'm watching Breaking Bad launch itself into the discussion of "greatest show ever?"  Lost was the show that at one point made me feel that way.  Its mystery and character development were its strengths, but every now and then they totally whiffed on a character.

This happened a little more in the last two seasons, as the writers and producers scrambled to introduce new plot lines and characters.  But in some cases, characters just sucked from the get-go.  For this post, I'm focusing on characters who had a role of some significance (20 episodes or more on the show). Sorry, Nikki and Paulo.

Here are the five worst characters from Lost.




5. Mr. Eko


Played By: Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje

Photo courtesy of cinemablend.com

This character could have been really, really badass.  Physically imposing, silent for weeks, and constantly struggling to put a life of crime behind him and focus on a quest for redemption, Mr. Eko was a character unlike any other.  Instead, his entire existence on the show turned out to mean nothing.  Like, to the point that if you went back and edited out every scene he was ever in, it wouldn't change your ability to understand what happens.  For someone who was a major presence for a season and a half, he sure wasn't very important.

Mr. Eko could have added a lot to the final seasons, given his propensity toward spirituality and his history of brutality.  I thought his back story was good, if a little unoriginal.  I think he could have done a little more ass-kicking on the show, and that they could have written in some moments where he would truly struggle with his faith.  Maybe if Akinnuoye-Agbaje would have wanted to remain on the show (he asked to be written out during Season 3) they could have explored those things.

Ultimately, Mr. Eko's inclusion on this list isn't due to any fault of Akinnuoye-Agbaje.  He just wasn't given enough significance by (show creators) Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse.  Had he stuck around for another couple of years and thrashed ass with his scripture stick, he might have ended up as the best Lost character ever.  Even if his beard was worse than Keanu Reeves'.



4. Michael Dawson


Played By: Harold Perrineau


Michael does plenty of annoying shit during his 48 episodes on the show.  In his pre-island life he became a shiftless starving artist after his baby-mama left him for a job overseas and a new man.  He ended up further depressed after getting hit by a car and surviving.

Michael's most memorable example of being insufferable occurs during the aftermath of his son Walt's (who almost made this list himself) kidnapping at the end of Season 1.  I'll let this video explain:

Pretty damned bad, huh?  Then he goes on to kill Hurley's lady-friend, Libby, which was not cool because Hurley was the most likable character on the show.  He didn't deserve that.

Then, once you thought Michael's stupid ass was gone from the show, boom!  He's back in Season 4, causing more shit on the freighter off the coast of the island.  Your death didn't come soon enough, Mike.

3. Kate Austen


Played By: Evangeline Lilly

Photo courtesy of Jezebel.com

Look, I know a lot of people were big Kate fans.  I understand the role of the heroine/strong female lead.  And I know a lot of people think she's super-sexy, and while I disagree, I understand that, too.  But no main character fucked up as much stuff as Kate during the course of this show.

My biggest bitch about Kate is that she created incessant turmoil with Jack and Sawyer with her hot-and-cold routines with both of them.  Lost dragged this shit out for most of 6 years.  What's worse is all the Youtube video tributes to Kate and Jack, and all the blogs that spouted lovey-dovey horseshit about her involvement with the doc and the bad boy.  People spent more time giving a shit about a relationship between a fictional arsonist/murderer and a drug-addled surgeon than they did about their own lives.

The other thing that bothered me was how macho Kate always acted.  I think that's the reason I don't find her attractive.  She had to stick her nose in everything everyone was doing, and any time there was a dangerous mission to be embarked upon, she was all "I'm going with you."  Inexplicably, she became a master at tracking people after about a month on the island, which is absolute nonsense.

J.J. Abrams originally envisioned Jack being killed off during the initial crash and Kate becoming the lead character and savior of those on the island.  Fuck, I'm glad that didn't happen.  The show would have been like Lilith Fair meets Sex and the City meets a tropical polar bear eating the fuck out of a bunch of plane crash survivors.

Wait, what am I saying?  That would be an awesome show.  J.J., WE HAVE TO GO BACK!

2. Juliet Burke


Played By: Elizabeth Mitchell


Juliet was the fertility doctor brought in by the Others who turned out to be romantically interested in Jack, only to end up with Sawyer (sound familiar?).  When my mind was completely blown in the Season 3 opener after the reveal of the Others' neighborhood on the island, I thought Juliet, Ben and the rest of the gang would provide for some really TV.  I was right about Ben.

Honestly, I could tolerate Juliet much more if she would stop doing that closed-mouth, raised-eyebrow smirk that she does.  Even when she's trying to be sincere it comes off as smarmy and patronizing.  If she would elicit emotion like every other human on the show she might not have made it into this list, and she at least would have fallen behind Kate.

Juliet was also a home-wrecker, hooking up with Goodwin in secret in the time prior to the crash of Oceanic 815.  Ben Linus, who is probably one of the best five characters from Lost, sends Goodwin to his death and basically tells Juliet he did it because he has a crush on her.  Completely awesome.

But Juliet's most unforgivable offense was the neutering of Sawyer.  OK, she didn't physically remove his testicles, but she certainly sapped all the machismo and scoundrel out of him once they started a relationship.  Their relationship was portrayed about as smoothly as Lemmy singing a Queen song.  Sawyer was never the same quick-tongued outlaw that made him so watchable (and hated, by some) int he early seasons.


1. Ana Lucia Cortez


Played By: Michelle Rodriguez

Photo: realitytvlounge.com

Can you believe Michelle Rodriguez played a tough-girl character?  My selection of her for the worst character in Lost is admittedly unfair, because I can't stand Rodriguez in anything, not just Lost.  I avoid movies that otherwise look perfectly watchable just because of her name being attached.

As for her on-island (and pre-crash) offense, Ana Lucia manages to - with the help of Mr. Eko and his aforementioned scripture stick - capture Jin, Michael and Sawyer.  From there, she plays the role of a bully, dripping with masculinity.  Her voice and delivery is awful, as it's almost like she is purposely trying to make the audience despise her.  Whether that is Rodriguez's fault, or the direction, I don't know, but it's truly maddening.

In her life before the crash, Ana Lucia was a LAPD officer who killed a suspect who had shot her and killed her unborn child months prior.  During the entire flashback she is acting as badass as she can muster, and it is just a really tired routine.

Her most villainous moment came when she shot and killed Shannon, who was a complete bitch, yet her death at the hands of Ana Lucia somehow made the audience hate Ana Lucia even more.  When the most entitled, stuck-up character on a show gets murdered and the fans hate the shooter even worse because of it, you know you're dealing with a shitty character.

Once Michael killed her in the hatch (which almost made the simultaneous slaying of Libby worthwhile collateral damage) audiences rejoiced.  Although one by-product of that was the show making Kate assume some of the tough-girl schtick Ana Lucia had previously bolstered.  I don't want to think about Ana Lucia anymore because I'm starting to get angry.