The Tail Section

TVGuide.com has posted part 1 of an interview with Michael Emerson.  The island’s old BFF talks about the season finale, the passing of the torch to Locke, and what it’s like to be Emmy nominated.  Check back tomorrow for part 2 of the interview.

TVGuide.com: Give me three words to describe the season finale.

Michael Emerson: [Thinks] Dark. Violent. Casualties.

TVGuide.com: About a year ago, you and I spoke about how Ben was loath to ever leave the island. And yet we’ve now seen that it is something that does happen. What do you think changed there?

Ben’s attachment to the island was… provisional. He’s always been able to leave it. But now there’s some question of him maybe having to abandon it – and that’s as a result of developments in this last season.

TVGuide.com: So it’s always been there as an option, but it’s only recently that he has chosen to avail himself of it.

I think so, yes. Things have gone so… wrong. Events have forced his hand in a number of ways. And John Locke appears to have been "anointed" somehow.

TVGuide.com: Ben appears to be making some sort of peace with that shift.

Yes. His gut reaction is that of a teenage boy, which is to be vengeful and full of rage and bitterness. But eventually, he will always play the board as it is in front of him. He will accept the terms.

TVGuide.com: "Whatever makes Jacob happy."

Exactly.

TVGuide.com: When you first were pitched this role, did they give you any hint as to the scope of Ben’s involvement in the mythology?

No. I doubt if they even knew it at that time! As far as I knew, it was to be three episodes. I think it was an experiment, one that worked out happily.

TVGuide.com: They’ve told me that the same thing happened with Nestor Carbonell. They didn’t have any "grand plan" for Richard Alpert, but once he became available, they said, "We could do something here."
Yeah… And he’s a great character. It makes my mouth water to think what they could do with Richard Alpert.

TVGuide.com: The guy is just flitting around time no worse for the wear, no nose bleeds….

Right, and he’s just one of the eeriest characters.

TVGuide.com: You received an Emmy nod last year for Lost. Does an actor ever settle into a part and think, "You know what? This could be an award-winning role, if I do the right things with it"?

I tend to just show up and do the work. I don’t think too much about those more popular issues — partly because I’m a creature of the theater and am therefore more superstitious. Some things are not to be said or thought, if you can avoid it. It begs for the gods to punish you for your hubris. It is flattering when it comes, though. Last year, I thought, "Oh my god, I am having more impact that I thought."

TVGuide.com: And with a dark role that doesn’t always connect with Emmy panels.

And we work in such isolation, too. That’s a contributing factor. We’re out there in Hawaii, there are no paparazzi, there are no fancy parties…. We get up before the sun, drive to some remote location, and punish ourselves all day long. You don’t get a strong grasp as to how it’s received on the rest of the globe.

TVGuide.com: Are we to make anything of the fact that both Ben’s mother and Locke’s mother were named Emily?

Well, that very idea occurred to me last week — and I’m usually the slowest on the uptake with those kinds of clues. I thought, "Hmm, let’s hold onto that." They don’t make those kinds of accidents. The guys who write Lost are very careful about names. [Laughs]