I Hope the Others Eat You

I didn't post about Lost last night -- I figured I'd already done two TV posts this week (thanks to the premiere of 24), and that I'd be likely doing another for Battlestar Galactica tomorrow. But then I realized I had something I really had to get off my chest.

I hate Michael.

I know there are people out there who hate Ana Lucia. Sure, she's a real hardass. But I found her backstory episode painted in enough of her character to make her understandable, if not completely sympathtic.

I know a lot of people hated Shannon. She was quite annoying, I'll agree. But there again, there was just enough shading in her backstory to redeem her as a character.

But then there's Michael. We've seen two episodes of his backstory now, one virtually a rerun of the other, but I don't like him at all. And it's not because he's pig-headed, I've decided. After all, Jack can be an unreasonably stubborn character too, but I have no quarrel there.

I've decided that what's at work here is the opposite of something I heard Joss Whedon speak of on one of his DVD commentaries. (For a Buffy the Vampire Slayer episode, I believe.) He talked about the challenges of introducing a new character into an established series, and noted that a great "writer's trick" is to make one of the most beloved characters in the cast love the new character. If our old favorite accepts New Guy, then we the audience will accept him too.

A great example of the opposite of this theory is when they brought on Dr. Pulaski for one season of Star Trek: The Next Generation. About all we knew of her character was that she looked down her nose at Data -- the favorite character of nearly every fan of the show. The ribbing didn't come across like the old good-natured Spock/McCoy banter, and consequently everyone hated Pulaski.

Well, I believe Michael on Lost displays this writing issue to the worst possible extreme. He fights and bickers with nearly all the likeable characters on the show.

For many fans, Locke is a favorite character. Michael spent half of season one ripping Locke a new one for trying to be friends with Walt.

For some other fans, Sawyer is a favorite character. Michael spent most of the "raft" storyline (from construction to sailing to journeying back to camp) yelling at Sawyer for one reason or another.

For still other fans, Jack is a favorite character. Last night, Michael's threatening him at gunpoint and locking him in the vault.

Assuming Michael makes it back from his latest foolish sojourn into the jungle, I predict we'll next see Michael getting pissy with Hurley for no good reason. After all, everybody loves Hurley.