WARNING: CONTAINS MEMORIES OF BAD CHARACTERS
(and spoilers)
Last Thursday, I gave you my thoughts on the five best Lost characters. Of course, Lost has also had its share of stinkers over the past. The writers usually rectified this with a quick character death, of course, so all is forgiven. But hopefully this list serves as a reminder to the Lost creators of the mistakes they made in the past, and I plea they never make these mistakes again.
The list is in descending order, with number one being the worst character.
5. Libby
Does anyone remember this character? She was in Season Two...tail section...Hurley liked her. That about sums it up. You know, to be honest, I can't really tell you why Libby is on the list. I guess the best way to put it is that Libby annoyed me. She was too nice, too cutesy. She seemed to always just be in the background, and when she was brought to the foreground, we were supposed to simply accept the character. She's also one of the only characters to not have a last name. Most characters lacking surnames appear in one episode though. I don't think the creators put a lot of effort into this one. Season Two was a packed season and the creators have admitted some things had to be sacrificed, such as a flash-back for Libby. A flash-back is an essential part of character development on this show, and since Libby never had one, she remained woefully under-developed. We never knew enough to really like her, and I suppose we never knew enough to dislike her either. But something about her annoyed me. Maybe it was the expression she constantly wore that suggested there was a foul stench wafting in under her nose.
When she was murdered by Michael in Season Two, I didn't really feel any emotion, which is the mark of an uninteresting character. I was very sad for Hurley, because he was sad. But directly affected by her death? Not so much. That wasn't an emotionally charged scene for me.
Hold that thought.
4. Sarah Shepherd
Who's this, you may ask. This is Jack's ex-wife, featured only in flash-backs and briefly in Jack's flash-forward. And she ticked me off. For one, Julie Bowen's performance was bad. I said Libby was over sincere, but Sarah is just over the top on everything. She was the focus of a very good flashback, for Jack anyway. Jack made her walk again, when other doctors said she would be paralyzed for life. It was an emotional moment when she came out of surgery, but because Matthew Fox had the acting talent to real the scene in from Bowen's overacting.
The character always seemed a hindrance to Jack; Jack isn't a character I love, but I harbor enough respect for the man that when Sarah started becoming a complete and total jerk to him, I began to hate the character even more. She was just annoying in the first few flashbacks, and after that was an unredeemable jerk. What was worse, we were supposed to sympathize with her; when she left Jack, we were lead to believe that Jack was the bad guy in the situation. But from a combination of bad acting and worse writing, Sarah came off as the bad one. She definitely belongs on this list.
3. Shannon Rutherford
Boone Carlyle was a great character, and still has one of the greatest, most emotional death scenes in the show's history. His storylines with Locke were cool, and his reappearances in dream sequences have always been poignant. But his sister was just the opposite. Whiny, annoying, and with almost no redeeming qualities, I had trouble tolerating this character.
I think the creators wrote her in this way, but they went too far in the "annoying and whiny" direction. What's worse, there was a point where we supposed to sympathize with and feel sorry for Shannon., like Sayid did. Why did Sayid ever fall in love with her? I just wanted the character off the show. And as always, the creators did the bidding of the fans, and Shannon was killed in a totally random death scene.
2. Nikki Fernandez and Paulo (no last name)
How could I not make a worst character list with these two on it? Nikki and Paulo were introduced in Season 3...actually, introduced is a bit of a strong word. They were shoved down our throats. Locke wanted to go back to the question mark station, and asked if anyone wanted to join him. Nikki and Paulo suddenly appeared out of the blue and said they'd like to go. Every character accepted them, and the audience was supposed to accept them as well.
Yes, there are other survivors out of the 16 or so we regularly see. But if we don't view them on a regular basis, then they might as well not exist. Just having a couple we've never seen suddenly be made into members of the main cast was a huge misfire on the part of the creators. I don't actually dislike these characters as people. If introduced in Season 1, they could have been perfectly acceptable characters. Their 'centric' episode, "Expose," was a cool story of greed and intrigue. But it was the way they were forced down our throats that made me hate them. The Lost writers have very few misfires, but this was possibly their biggest one.
No...wait...this wasn't their biggest misfire. Not even close. Allow me to introduce to you the single most appalling, terrifying, and horrible aspect of Lost in the history of the show.
1. Ana Lucia Cortez
What more do I have to say? She's Ana Lucia. No one liked her.
All right, I'll elaborate.
Ana Lucia was introduced in the Season 1 finale, "Exodus Part 2." Jack had a flashback in this episode where he had a drink before boarding Oceanic 815. Ana Lucia sat next to him and the two had a short chat; turns out they were going to be on the same plane. She wasn't a bad character in this scene; she served her purpose well. An everyday person who served to foreshadow the kinds of people lost in the crash.
Little did we know that she lived through the crash, on the tail section. We suspected even less that it would have been mercy to the audience for her to die in flames when the plane broke apart.
She then appeared in the Season Two episode "Orientation." Jin, Sawyer and Michael, after the ordeal on the raft, washed up on the other side of the island. A then un-specified Mr. Eko knocked them out and put them in a pit, where Ana Lucia was waiting. Since we'd already seen her, we assumed she from the tail section and prisoner of the 'others.' Again, she didn't seem like a bad character. But then she knocked out Sawyer, took his gun, and left the pit with the assistance of Eko. This was the point of no return. From that moment on, she sunk comfortably into the role of 'worst character ever.'
Ana was a jerk, to put it lightly. Everything she did seemed to be mean-spirited. Her pouty face and annoying voice (akin to 100 nails on 100 chalkboards) made me hate her even more. But that wasn't the worst part. Oh no, not at all. The worst part came when we saw her flashback revealing the other 48 days for the plane's tail section. Apparently, Ana Lucia was supposed to be the other Jack. And apparently, everyone loved her. What the hey? How could anyone like her? She was a jerk to absolutely everyone. Then, in this episode, we saw her crying after a hard ordeal with the 'others.' And we were supposed to feel sorry for this poor excuse for a character. We were supposed to sympathize with her!
I thought when she got an off-island flashback, the character might get better. Every character on this show has been improved by a flashback. But guess what? Her flashback, which glorified unjustified vigilante justice, made me hate her even more. But we were supposed to like this character.
Ana Lucia is Lost's Jar-Jar Binks. George Lucas thought he had a character everyone would love in Jar-Jar, but we all know how that turned out. The Lost writers must have felt the same way about Ana Lucia, because she actually got TWO flash-back episodes. In three seasons, fan-favorite Charlie only got four episodes. But the most hated character ever got two whole episodes devoted to her. Apart from Ana Lucia, season two is darn near perfect. Because of her, it is the show's weakest season. When re-watching this season, I actually fast-forward scenes with her. It is that bad.
Perhaps this sounds sick, but it was with a large amount of relief that I witnessed Michael murdering Ana Lucia. She wouldn't be on the show anymore; that was reason to celebrate. Remember that thought I told you to hold when I discussed Libby above? 'Cause right after Ana Lucia was whacked, Michael turned right around and shot Libby. The two new Season Two characters that I disliked gone in under a minute. At least when the Lost writers screw up, they realize it, and kill those characters as soon as possible.
Those are my five least favorite characters. Does it make me sexist that all of them (unless you count Paulo) are girls? No, I think the writers must be sexist for writing so many bad feminine roles. We need more characters like Kate and Juliet. Anyway, does my list agree with yours? Use the comment function at the bottom of the screen to share your least favorite character picks.
Two weeks from tonight, Lost will return on ABC. Until then, you can visit my blog next Thursday for a complete
Summary of Season Four thus far, to refresh everyone's memories.