Board 8 > Don't tell me what I can't do: a 10-year LOST retrospective/character ranking

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Aecioo
02/17/21 11:28:52 PM
#101:


New page ltg

Michael suffers from what a lot of characters do. They just didn't continue his character and he stayed static for too long. WALTTT is appropriate when describing him

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ffmasterjose
02/18/21 12:26:00 AM
#102:


Yeah I never liked how they put Sayid with Shannon in the finale for the reasons mentioned, it was obviously just their excuse to bring back Maggie Grace for the finale.
In the flashsideways we see how Sayid deals with his feelings for Nadia but I just always thought it was weak.

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PrivateBiscuit1
02/18/21 2:09:11 AM
#103:


It really is amazing thinking back on certain character like "What were you guys actually thinking though?"

Like Charlotte. You could have done something really interesting with her, but you just didn't. And just certain deaths feel so wasted and pointless, hers included. I've actually never understood why Lost kills off most of their characters when they do. It completely baffles me sometimes. Big ones, they make sense. It's just all of the other deaths between finales and stuff that confound me.

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FFDragon
02/18/21 2:57:05 AM
#104:


Nearly every character in LOST degrades and deteriorates over time. There are shockingly few that stay static and even fewer that actually get better over time. It's just part of them flying by the seat of their pants and having to just fill so much time.

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SeabassDebeste
02/18/21 6:55:27 AM
#105:


it's to be expected. the early seasons are meandering and ensemble-driven and backstory-driven, while the later seasons are plot-driven. once the backstories are told and primary conflicts are resolved, the writers don't have obvious arcs planned anymore.

as a result, character-driven stories like sun/jin or michael become trash in later seasons, while plot-driven characters like desmond or ben are much more fun.
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GameStonk
02/18/21 8:41:25 AM
#106:


#30. Walt Lloyd
<img src="https://g3.img-dpreview.com/7359AC6421C84E8FA1180BDA058B8867.jpg">

Walt realistically could have landed anywhere from the top one-third or so to dead last. No one else in the cast of LOST represents the ineptitude of the showrunners more than him. Walt just embodies the worst aspects of the writers--lack of foresight, propensity for bullshit red herrings, their ability to drop interesting ideas and never speak of them again. And this is summed up most obviously in the fact that they did not plan for their adolescent actor's aging. It's mindblowing.

And yet, I can't rank Walt at the absolute bottom because his actual scenes really are great. The mystery around his character is fascinating and remains my #1 missed opportunity on the show to explore--what are his powers exactly? Is he supposed to be Jacob 2.0? Was he supposed to have more of a role in the show?

A character that I like but is woefully mishandled; I guess we'll never really know what Walt could have been, and that is a real shame.
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colliding
02/18/21 9:45:29 AM
#107:


yeah it's absolutely crazy that they didn't try and make walt matter. even if that actor sucked/turned into an uggo when he got older, they could've recasted him/time-skipped him/ so many things. but nope, he's just a weird kid with random powers.

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Underleveled
02/18/21 10:01:07 AM
#108:


GameStonk posted...
And this is summed up most obviously in the fact that they did not plan for their adolescent actor's aging. It's mindblowing.
Yep, this pretty much sums up my thoughts on how poorly they planned out Walt's arc. Word for word.

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Corrik7
02/18/21 10:52:52 AM
#109:


Lots of great characters being drug as terrible here.


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DeepsPraw
02/18/21 11:51:58 AM
#110:


surprised Libby hasn't shown up yet.

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PrivateBiscuit1
02/18/21 12:02:24 PM
#111:


I mean, I think that it's not shocking when looking back at Lindelof and Cuse were talking about how the answers to mysteries don't matter coming into the last season. They just threw bullshit at the wall most times.

They also proclaimed it's about the characters, but I think it's agreed upon they did a shitty job with the characters in the last season of the show too, so at least if they bothered to follow through on mysterious bullshit then more people would've been happy.

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Naye745
02/18/21 12:10:00 PM
#112:


tbqh i think they wrote themselves into a corner with both the time travelling stuff but also the constant refrain post-season 1 of "there's a plan for all of this" and "no supernatural explanations".
like if s6 had properly resolved as a full-on time travel story and they had to retcon and revise some stuff along the way, we'd all have been much better off for it

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PrivateBiscuit1
02/18/21 12:42:48 PM
#113:


The last season doing a bizarre afterlife thing that had no real point aside from fanservice was just bad too. Like, I know they wanted to make a profound statement by the end of it but man I hated everything having to do with it and it felt so up its own ass at the last episode because of how sloppy it was.

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VengefulKaelee
02/18/21 5:43:52 PM
#114:


Tag to catch up on later; despite its many flaws, I still love LOST (including the ending and most of the characters) so there will definitely be some things to chat about.
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X_Dante_X
02/18/21 7:16:31 PM
#115:


FFDragon posted...
Juliet single-handed saved the series by exploding the world and ending the series with season 5, so she is A++


this will always be my LOST canon
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Underleveled
02/18/21 7:28:20 PM
#116:


19. Ana-Lucia Cortez
20. ???
21. Kate Austen
22. ???
23. ???
24. ???
25. ???
26. Michael Dawson
27. Eloise Hawking
28. ???
29. ???
30. Walt Lloyd
31. ???
32. ???
33. ???
34. Charlotte Lewis
35. Ilana Verdanksy
36. Shannon Rutherford
37. ???
38. ???
39. Paulo
40. Nikki Fernandez

We have a match in placement on Walt! (except by my system he would be your 31)

Between my 37 and 38, one is kinda a personal hatred that I understand not showing up for a while, but the other is long overdue IMO.

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SeabassDebeste
02/18/21 7:40:22 PM
#117:


PrivateBiscuit1 posted...
They also proclaimed it's about the characters, but I think it's agreed upon they did a shitty job with the characters in the last season of the show too, so at least if they bothered to follow through on mysterious bullshit then more people would've been happy.

yup, this is what upset me

that said i liked most of s6, like the first 2/3 or so
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TomNook
02/18/21 7:47:46 PM
#118:


X_Dante_X posted...
this will always be my LOST canon
This, but when the hatch blew up instead.

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GameStonk
02/19/21 11:56:08 AM
#119:


#29. Libby Smith
<img src="https://c8.alamy.com/comp/C1HHHR/cynthia-watros-mugshot-C1HHHR.jpg">

I think you'll start to notice a pattern here. With a few exceptions of characters who simply ruin every episode and scene they're in (Ana Lucia, Kate), the other bottom-tier characters represent the very worst of LOST's uncanny ability to waste good potential.

Libby on paper is a serviceable love interest for Hurley, offering some glimmers of where they could have taken her story in his flash scenes. Her death was fairly shocking and admittedly moving, albeit serving only to really push Hurley to help Michael at the end of the day. However, this does all surround what might be the single most annoying moment in the show (which says a lot): the "revelation" that she was actually in a mental institution.

Why did the writers throw in this twist, only to do nothing with it, you ask? It is because they rely on cheap red herrings to keep people interested, even if there is no payoff. Libby will always be a reminder of that for me, despite being pretty likable on screen otherwise. Oh what could have been...
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GameStonk
02/19/21 12:08:12 PM
#120:


#28. Boone Carlyle
<img src="https://losttheseries.files.wordpress.com/2015/02/boone_carlyle_.jpg">

I probably hate Boone a little less than most, unless I am completely misreading the fan reaction to him (and Shannon). I remember he was one of the characters that people shit on most when I first started watching the show, and it's pretty easy to see why. He's a spoiled richboi who fucks up everything in times of crisis--from the very first scene through nearly drowning deep in the ocean (despite being a lifeguard). And he also wants to bang his sister, so yeah.

But Boone did have some interesting scenes with Locke, and I kind of enjoyed the mentor/student relationship they had going for awhile. His death was also probably the first "holy shit, they're really doing this?" moment on the show too, but the effect has definitely been blunted by the dozen or so other main character deaths that followed. These are not good enough to outweigh the bad, though, as the flashbacks and entire dynamic with Shannon really make him hard to care about too much, let alone like.
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Aecioo
02/19/21 2:14:55 PM
#121:


GameStonk posted...
Why did the writers throw in this twist, only to do nothing with it, you ask? It is because they rely on cheap red herrings to keep people interested, even if there is no payoff. Libby will always be a reminder of that for me, despite being pretty likable on screen otherwise. Oh what could have been...

I hate to defend some of the decisions made in this show, but I feel like you should watch this

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eR2akjUeAsg&feature=youtu.be

who knows how much of this is accurate vs them not knowing what to do with a story and throwing it away, but eh

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Aecioo
02/19/21 2:18:30 PM
#122:


and just to add on to my last post, heres a quote I just found from an old interview

Damon Lindelof: And all of this was obviously, first and foremost, the idea that Libby's got this mysterious backstory, of which we've only given you the tip of the iceberg. We know she's spent some time in the mental institution with Hurley, and the idea of killing her before she had an opportunity to explain how she got there... we have a master plan for how we're going to tell that story, but it's all posthumous. You'll start to learn Libby's moves through flashbacks over the course of the next season. So we're not done with Cynthia, but Libby is dead.

basically, everything is dumb

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GameStonk
02/19/21 2:19:41 PM
#123:


Aecioo posted...
and just to add on to my last post, heres a quote I just found from an old interview

Damon Lindelof: And all of this was obviously, first and foremost, the idea that Libby's got this mysterious backstory, of which we've only given you the tip of the iceberg. We know she's spent some time in the mental institution with Hurley, and the idea of killing her before she had an opportunity to explain how she got there... we have a master plan for how we're going to tell that story, but it's all posthumous. You'll start to learn Libby's moves through flashbacks over the course of the next season. So we're not done with Cynthia, but Libby is dead.

basically, everything is dumb
lmao

so basically it's all bullshit
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Corrik7
02/19/21 2:20:39 PM
#124:


Aecioo posted...
I hate to defend some of the decisions made in this show, but I feel like you should watch this

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eR2akjUeAsg&feature=youtu.be

who knows how much of this is accurate vs them not knowing what to do with a story and throwing it away, but eh
From what I understand is that they did have this planned out but axed her when they did lucia because of the dui stuff.

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Aecioo
02/19/21 2:21:54 PM
#125:


Yeah I have no idea if the video came before the interview or vice versa, but either way it's another reminder that they were just going season by season with no real plan in place

oh well!

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SeabassDebeste
02/19/21 3:13:58 PM
#126:


libby is probably the most "blah" character of the lot. oh well.
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MoogleKupo141
02/19/21 3:37:14 PM
#127:


they killed Libby because they knew no one would be upset if Michael only killed Ana Lucia
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GameStonk
02/19/21 3:48:19 PM
#128:


MoogleKupo141 posted...
they killed Libby because they knew no one would be upset if Michael only killed Ana Lucia
Damn, I knew I forgot to mention this in Ana Lucia write-up. She was so bad that Michael would have been seen as a hero after that scene.
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PrivateBiscuit1
02/19/21 4:09:55 PM
#129:


I thought Libby's actress also got a DUI around then too, and that's why she also got killed.

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Corrik7
02/19/21 4:13:59 PM
#130:


PrivateBiscuit1 posted...
I thought Libby's actress also got a DUI around then too, and that's why she also got killed.
http://www.thesmokinggun.com/documents/crime/lost-girls-arrested-dui

They got them at the same time basically and both got axed right after.

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GameStonk
02/19/21 4:14:33 PM
#131:


Corrik the DUI king!
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Corrik7
02/19/21 4:15:42 PM
#132:


Holla at yo boi.

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TomNook
02/19/21 4:52:58 PM
#133:


Awww, Boone deserved better. One of the few characters who improved before dying/series ending.

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Underleveled
02/19/21 6:58:29 PM
#134:


19. Ana-Lucia Cortez
20. ???
21. Kate Austen
22. ???
23. ???
24. ???
25. ???
26. Michael Dawson
27. Eloise Hawking
28. ???
29. ???
30. Walt Lloyd
31. ???
32. ???
33. Libby Smith
34. Charlotte Lewis
35. Ilana Verdanksy
36. Shannon Rutherford
37. Boone Carlyle
38. ???
39. Paulo
40. Nikki Fernandez

Finally Boone's out. Not only was he awful for the reasons TC mentioned, but he was completely boring until the last few episodes before his death. I'm not always great with names when it comes to ensemble casts in a drama, but it took me exceptionally long to get Boone's name down (he was by far the last of the S1 main cast whose name I had down), and honestly it's not like he really had any potential. I never thought he had the potential to add anything to the show other than being Young, Good-Looking White Guy #4, and killing him off before the first season even ended was probably the most merciful thing they could have done to both his character and the audience.

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GameStonk
02/19/21 7:51:10 PM
#135:


I am very excited to see your #38!
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wallmasterz
02/19/21 8:59:16 PM
#136:


GameStonk posted...
I am very excited to see your #38!

Mother

just kidding

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Cavedweller2000
02/20/21 2:27:27 AM
#137:


Boone was originally going to be named Five

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Aecioo
02/20/21 2:35:10 PM
#138:


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GameStonk
02/20/21 4:44:48 PM
#139:


#27. Claire Littleton
<img src="https://img.sharetv.com/shows/characters/large/lost.claire_littleton.jpg">

Claire is another one of those characters who went nowhere once her original plotline was resolved. Before giving birth, there was genuinely a lot of intrigue and mystery to Claire--the flashbacks to the psychic are actually some of the most effective and unnerving scenes in the show. Her relationship with Charlie, while inconsistent, featured some of the more iconic character-driven scenes in the series. But then it all kind of just...ends.

The apocalyptic warnings we are given about Aaron never actually manifest into anything, and therefore the writers never actually have use for her in the latter half of the series. Compounding this is Sun's pregnancy, so Claire is shuffled aside to the point that she's not even unique anymore. This all comes to a head in seasons 5 (where she is straight-up not on the show) and season 6 where she basically becomes a wildling and looks like a dirty and confused Jesse Plemons.

In all, another mismanaged female character who ranks near the top of the "what could have been" characters on the show.
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GameStonk
02/20/21 4:52:04 PM
#140:


#26. Alex Rousseau
<img src="https://i.redd.it/wgq58qd6b1411.jpg">
This one isn't going to be a very long write-up because Alex isn't a very developed character. Like Kate, she really exists solely to provide stakes and drama in the storyline. But unlike Kate, she is actually pretty effective at that; and unlike Kate even more, she isn't really supposed to be anything beyond that.

So that's Alex, whose existence is almost entirely to create her death scene with Ben/Keamy, which is... *ahem* ...executed...rather flawlessly.
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colliding
02/20/21 4:52:26 PM
#141:


I like how by the time the writers finally decided to reveal that she and Jack were related the fans had moved on to not caring.

Another reason they probably shouldn't have killed Charlie. I'm telling y'all the show really took a hit without him there. Charlie was annoying, but he was also one of the most sympathetic characters, and a whole bunch of characters suffered without him there to play off of (Claire and Hurley notably).

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GameStonk
02/20/21 4:54:06 PM
#142:


colliding posted...
Another reason they probably shouldn't have killed Charlie. I'm telling y'all the show really took a hit without him there. Charlie was annoying, but he was also one of the most sympathetic characters, and a whole bunch of characters suffered without him there to play off of (Claire and Hurley notably).
I 100% agree. Do we know if they wanted to kill him off or if the actor was done with the show full time?
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colliding
02/20/21 4:57:13 PM
#143:


Pretty sure Monaghan (sp) wanted to stay, but I'm not sure. He also might have been one who got into some kind of legal trouble (but seriously, this happened to so many cast members that it's hard to remember). The only one who I know actively WANTED TO LEAVE was Mr Eko (which is a damn shame).

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GameStonk
02/20/21 5:03:50 PM
#144:


#25. Mr. Eko
<img src="https://i.ytimg.com/vi/4wyuJfi6ihc/maxresdefault.jpg">

This one might be the first placement on my list that pisses off a lot of people. But I'm sorry to say that Mr. Eko kind of sucks.

I find his backstory to be a little preposterous (at least by season 2 standards) and possibly shoehorned in to explain the heroin plane from season 1. And as a present-day character, what does he really offer to the show? He's aloof, has no real chemistry with anyone else that they tried to pair him with, and doesn't really do much beyond offering uninspired Christian symbolism to the plot. And like many of the other characters near the bottom, he's kind of just discarded once the writers realized that the actor was not coming back--leaving you with the sense that if he was never on the show to begin with, nothing would really be any different.
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PrivateBiscuit1
02/20/21 5:07:34 PM
#145:


Didn't Mr. Eko's actor leave to take care of his sick mother or something?

Anyway, I do disagree. I felt like Eko had some really good moments on the show and I did quite like his backstory. It's been a while since I've watched it though. I definitely felt he had chemistry with more than a few characters though.

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colliding
02/20/21 5:12:07 PM
#146:


Eko was so good in Season 2 but his death is actually the worst one in the show (up until season 6).

Back in the day, someone on some other message board I posted on said that Season 5 and 6 Locke makes more sense if that character is Mr. Eko instead. I personally agree but that's also me as a Locke fan trying to undo the show's character assassination of him.

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GameStonk
02/20/21 5:18:08 PM
#147:


colliding posted...
Back in the day, someone on some other message board I posted on said that Season 5 and 6 Locke makes more sense if that character is Mr. Eko instead. I personally agree but that's also me as a Locke fan trying to undo the show's character assassination of him.
I assume you mean assassination literally >_>

And that is an interesting idea that I kind of like. The whole faith angle they try with Eko is really half-baked because it ends so suddenly/stupidly.
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Underleveled
02/20/21 6:56:10 PM
#148:


Oof, first hit to my top 10.

8. Alex Rousseau
9. ???
10. ???
11. ???
12. ???
13. ???
14. ???
15. ???
16. ???
17. ???
18. ???
19. Ana-Lucia Cortez
20. ???
21. Kate Austen
22. ???
23. ???
24. ???
25. Mr. Eko
26. Michael Dawson
27. Eloise Hawking
28. ???
29. ???
30. Walt Lloyd
31. Claire Littleton
32. ???
33. Libby Smith
34. Charlotte Lewis
35. Ilana Verdanksy
36. Shannon Rutherford
37. Boone Carlyle
38. ???
39. Paulo
40. Nikki Fernandez

I loved Alex and always thought she was a brave badass, one of the most selfless characters on the show. Her death was by far the hardest for me to take (even though, spoilers but not really, I have other dead characters above her on my list) because it was such a gut-punch, and the last thing she ever heard was Ben saying he didn't care about her (he was bluffing, but it was still an awful last thing to hear).

In hindsight, I probably underranked Eko. He had a lot of great moments in S2 that I forgot about when I threw my list together. Claire though, man she REALLY suffers without Charlie. I really, really just did not care about her at all after S3.

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PrivateBiscuit1
02/20/21 7:07:26 PM
#149:


Oh shoot, I just realized that I missed the other two write ups!

Yeah, the whole Alex death scene is just so bad for so many reasons, honestly. They should have done a lot more with her, but you know.

I'm still holding back my Keamy thoughts, but it should be obvious I think highly of him as a villain. But using her death to elevate him absolutely sucked, even if it did a perfect job doing just that with him. Should have been any other character in the Others.

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GameStonk
02/20/21 7:12:45 PM
#150:


Underleveled posted...
8. Alex Rousseau
Wow, really? Alex is such a minor character that I didn't even consider her for the top half of the list, but to each his own!
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