Your Voice: Michael’s Not-So-Big Return
Submitted by Mike
At the very end of season 2, we see Michael Dawson and his son, Walt, catching a ride home by way of a boat given to them by Others’ leader, Ben Linus. They are the first to leave this island we’ve come to know and love/fear. Their ticket out was a reward for the release of Ben, who our 815’ers had held captive in the Swan Station. This release resulted in Michael taking the lives of both Ana Lucia and Libby in cold blood. It was an act of selfishness and fear, for the safety of Walt, who was kidnapped by the Others at the end of season 1. With the release of Ben (and the execution of two fine ladies), half of the deal was done. The other half, to bring several of his Oceanic buddies and lead them into a trap for the Others, who were waiting for them. With innocent blood on his hands, Michael makes good on his deal with Ben who, in turn, offers him one of their boats and the promise of rescue.
Betrayal. Michael and Walt are reunited (at what cost?). Jack, Sawyer and Kate are prisoners of the Others. Hurley is told to make his way back to his people and tell them never to return this way. Walt and his father prepare their journey home with a world of guilt resting on Michael’s shoulders. But they’re off the island! Something we had never seen up to this point.
Months inch by slowly. The premiere of season 3 finally makes it to our television sets. There they are, all our favorite characters, picking up where they left off. All except for two: Michael Dawson the murderer, and Walt, the boy with special powers that we’re still not completely clear about. Where’d they go? Did they find rescue? Or was this a trap set up by mastermind Ben? Who knows? Something about contract issues arises and the fans are told that the Michael/Walt story may not be revisited until the end of season 3 or during season 4. Well, shit, okay, fine. I’m a patient man. With the promise of the writers continuing their story at some point, I found some acceptance for their absence.
Season 3 comes to a close. No Michael. No Walt. Oh wait, he did show up. As a ghost? Hmm. Son of a bitch. What really happened to those two?? I began to feel like a nervous parent whose kid was out all night and didn’t call to say so. I grumble profanity for a few weeks here and there.
Ah! Then, the day we’ve been waiting for! Harold Perrineau and the producers tell the world of Michael’s return! Well slap my fanny and call me Uncle Frank! This is good news, I say to myself. Finally, a resolution to the Michael and Walt storyline. Life is good, indeed.
Six episodes (all amazing) go by. Great, great, but where is Michael? Wasn’t he supposed to be coming back?? Where is Walt?
Episode 7. We are reunited with our favorite raft building broham who is learning how to be a better father. Cool. His name is Kevin Johnson now. Neat, I wonder what that’s all about.
Episode 8: Meet Kevin Johnson. The episode that promises to tell the Michael story once and for all. Holy shit! Put some extra butter on the popcorn and fetch me my gold smoker’s jacket. I’m feeling good about this.
An hour goes by. What did we learn? Michael can’t kill himself. The island won’t let him. Hey, that’s an interesting notion. Tom is off the island? Okay, that’s fine. He enjoys the company of men, that’s cute too. Michael told his son the truth about how they got off the island. Now Walt hates him. Okay, okay. Seems better than lying about it, but I’ll bite. We discover that he has to return to the island! Awesome! The journey to redemption begins. We see a bunch of faces on the freighter that we’ve already seen before. That’s fun.
Hey, that’s Mr. Widmore’s freighter, right? He’s the guy that set up the fake Oceanic crash. He’s basically got some amazing resources at his command. Everyone about to embark on this freighter seemed to be hand-picked and heavily researched (Lapidus, Faraday, Lewis, Straum, Keamy, Naomi, etc.). But what the hell, let’s not do our homework when a deckhand joins the crew. Let’s just assume he’s harmless and not in league with Widmore’s biggest rival, Benjamin Linus. This operation just seemed like the kind of thing you don’t take chances with, but maybe I’m just a wanker.
Anyway, Kevin Johnson is on board and headed for the place of his betrayal. The Island looms on the horizon. Ben actually calls the freighter to talk to Mike!! The balls on this guy, I tell ya. Now, if you were a hugely powerful man like Mr. Widmore, with the Island at stake, do you not keep track of any and all calls/transmissions coming through? A deckhand is allowed to take a phone call and nobody is wise to it? The sloppy writing for Michael Dawson begins!
Several episodes pass. Michael is chained up and beat up, and seemingly going nowhere (literally and figuratively, my friend.).
Here comes the finale! Somewhere in the back of my mind, I just know Michael is going to do something pretty terrific. His redemption for his past deeds must be on its way. There he is! He’s on the freighter and Jin and Sun come face to face with him! Wow. Nice. Hey, there’s a little weirdness between him and Sun. Just like old times, boy howdy.
Uh-oh. There’s a bomb! And Keamy’s got a dead man’s trigger hooked up to it! If he dies…. But Michael will do something about it. He’ll save the day. Why else would the writers bring him back?
Ok. Hey, that’s that stuff from Terminator 2 that froze the T-1000. Michael’s gonna freeze the bomb? Uh….fine. That’s fine (why is he doing that again? Oh. Ok, no I still don’t get it. Isn’t the dead man’s trigger what we’re worried about? They don’t know about it? I see. So, they’re just wasting their time with that stuff but they don’t know it? That’s a bitch.).
Here comes the helicopter! Jin and Michael are working on freezing the bomb still. Red light goes off (psst. Keamy is dead.). No time. Michael says “you’re a father now” to Jin and tells him to leave. Jin leaves, but the dickheads in the helicopter can’t bear to lower the thing a few feet so he can jump into it. Hey, remember back in the day when helicopters came with rope ladders for situations like this? Yeah, I liked those too.
Back to Mr. Mike. Shit, this bomb’s gonna go off. Enter Christian Shepherd. “You can go now.” Uh, go where-
BOOOM!
Did you hear that kids? That’s right, that’s the sound of poor writing and another smack in the face for Harold Perrineau.
What was the point, I ask you? To bring back a character we’ve been anticipating for years, just to give him a second-rate death in a very un-heroic fashion? What did we gain by his return this season? A few minor things about the Island and its bitch attitude towards ex-islanders? Sure. But why bring back Michael for that? After all the scheduling conflicts, things finally fell into place for us to have Michael back and continue/finish his story. And this is what we get? It’s like when a friend hands you a lottery ticket and you win. But then they start laughing. And when you turn over the lottery ticket you see the reason for their chuckles. Oh it’s a fake lottery ticket. I get it. Funny. I feel betrayed by the direction they took with his character (if you couldn’t already tell) when there were so many possibilities for him to become great and rise above his past actions. I mean, how can anyone review this season (which excelled higher than any previous ones, in my opinion) and not feel let down by the time wasted on him? A three-year old on drugs could spin out a better conclusion to the Michael storyline.
When the writers told us that they always had the intention of bringing Michael back, was this their great plan for him? Do they just hate the guy? Is Harold Perrineau a real prick to work with, and they just said “Eff it?” Blow him up.
I don’t want to be too much of a bitch about this, because overall the show is fricking outstanding and the story is the child of the writers, which I respect. But all I ask is this: What did we really gain from Michael’s demise?
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What did we really gain from Michael’s demise? What did we really gain from Michael’s demise?????!!!???? Only the worst “Your Voice” that has ever been posted on this site! O.K. so you liked Michael. We get it. I, however, found his character a whiny loser and am glad he was deep sixed. I only wish the island would have let him do it earlier.
You are very inconsistant - “A three-year old on drugs could spin out a better conclusion to the Michael storyline” to “because overall the show is fricking outstanding and the story is the child of the writers, which I respect” Well which is it? A story of a tripping toddler or one you respect? Or do you have a great appreciation for baby dopies?
Although you did make me laugh when you wrote “I don’t want to be too much of a bitch about this” this comes after waisting all our time being too much of a bitch about it.
I think we all are longing for Christian to show up at your computer and as you look up say “You may go now Michael.” Go else where with these worthless takes!
Comment by AndyintheNati — June 10, 2008 @ 2:08 pm
AMEN.. i agree 100%
Comment by Nathaniel — June 10, 2008 @ 2:14 pm
I have rarely, if ever, been DISAPPOINTED with this show. There’s some hokey stuff going on sometimes, but the story overall has been exciting, unpredictable, and just plain fun. Having said that, I was a bit sorry to see Michael’s story end(?) the way it did. I hope this is due to the abbreviated season that the writer’s strike brought us. It definitely should have been done a little better.
Hey, how come no one liked Ana Lucia? She was one of my favorite characters in my FAVORITE season. Her and Libby’s deaths were a total surprise.
Comment by Uncle Beaver — June 10, 2008 @ 2:35 pm
We learned that even Carlton Cuse and Damon Lindehof can fuck up an interesting character and a potential story arc. That’s what we learned.
Michael is a loser? Gee, I wonder who else is one? Oh yeah. Jack Shephard, James “Sawyer” Ford, Juliet Burke, Hugo Reyes (despite winning millions of dollars), Charlie Pace, John Locke . . . and the biggest loser of them all - Kate Austen.
Why in the fuck should they remain on this show, while Michael gets blown up in one of the most badly written story arcs in the show’s history?
Comment by Rosie Powell — June 10, 2008 @ 3:22 pm
CORRECTION: I forgot that Charlie is dead. At least he went out in style.
Comment by Rosie — June 10, 2008 @ 3:23 pm
I agree with the submitter…. I too waited on the story line to continue and felt cheated. My only hope is that it is revisted later in the next two seasons. Walt did ask Hurley if his dad was on the island with everyone else and he told him yes. So we will see.
Comment by Dave C — June 10, 2008 @ 3:50 pm
Everybody with me now:
WAAAAALT!!
Comment by Dave LeClair — June 10, 2008 @ 4:07 pm
Yeah, bringing Michael back didn’t seem to serve much purpose except resurect a few great “WAAAAAAAAAALLLLLLLT” gags.
Easy come, easy go. I could never stand the character anyway. But, if they were going to bring him back, he should have done more….
Comment by Ginsoakedboy — June 10, 2008 @ 4:45 pm
I agree with Mike. It seemed to me that it was a cheep way out. I do however think that it did show us something. Christian re-appeared in the place of Jacob again. I still think Christian is Jacob and it’s little things like this that support it. I also think that the Oceanic 6 (The MAIN characters, minus Sawyer who would find out if Jin isn’t dead) knowing what he did to save them is a pretty good way to be remembered. And Locke would obviously find out via Christian so you never know, perhaps we will see him again.
Comment by banner — June 10, 2008 @ 7:36 pm
Gotta break from the pack and say that, while I did think his introduction, use, and exit were all rushed, I do fell pretty strong that that’s part of the show’s new pacing mandated by a set (and rapidly approaching) end date.
In a way, I knew, like anticipating a movie you know is coming out in a few years (like with the Star Wars prequels or the new Indy) that it’s not going to live up to what you feel it should be. Regarding WHAT Michael did after leaving the island and WHY, I’m totally cool with it. And if that’s how he died (if he died), it made sense given the “rules” of the show. C- for execution, but B+ for tying up loose ends. (Plus, it gave us a great Mr. Friendly cameo. Gotta love that.)
Comment by Cory — June 10, 2008 @ 9:26 pm
Oh my lord, I’m so happy our buddy mike is dead. He sucked as a character, and he didn’t die fast enough. “WALT! WALT!” “I NEED TO FIND MY SON” Don’t you remember, that was a whole season of that crap!
Comment by Tivnuts — June 10, 2008 @ 10:12 pm
I don’t understand why everybody was so surprised that Michael died in the finale, his whole return story from the moment he came back was leading to that. There were clues in “Meet Kevin Johnson” like the “Not Yet” note on the bomb and Michael actually saying to Desmond and Sayid that he was “Here to die”. Like Charlie’s death last year, the writers made it pretty clear that the end of Michael’s story arc this season was that he was going to die.
As for it being a lame way to go out, I’ll admit I wouldn’t have minded seeing more of Michael but I think his death was meaningful in the sense that we’ve now seen how cruelly the island can ‘let go’ of somebody that it’s using. I think it added another layer to jacob/christian/island ‘character’.
Comment by Jon — June 10, 2008 @ 11:18 pm
Andy, I sure do appreciate your thoughts.
Listen, guy. I said that “overall” the storyline has been fantastic. The Michael part of it, I felt, could’ve have been handled better by a drugged up, crazy, toddler with broken fingers. See it’s not all or nothing. I appreciate most of the story. And when I say most of the story, I mean about 95% of it. The other 5% consists of my bitchings above, as well as the Nikki/Paulo thing, and that awful flashback of Jack in Phuket (boo). It’s not being inconsistent.
I realize I crossed the bitch line, dude. but I don’t think I was being “too much” of one. Anyway, isn’t it my right to bitch? And isn’t it your right to stop reading if you believe someone wasted one minute of your precious (i’m sure) time?
And I’ll tell you something else, toughguy……
oh wait a sec. someone’s here.
“Hello? Can I help you?”
………..
“Go? Go where?”
boom.
Comment by Mike — June 11, 2008 @ 5:45 am
Comment by AndyintheNati — June 11, 2008 @ 6:01 am
Jon’s post is right on. I really don’t know what kind of redemption story people were expecting, but that doesn’t seem to be what the writers had in mind for Michael’s return. Expectations are a prison. Sit back & enjoy the story, and don’t force your own opinions on it.
Comment by chris — June 11, 2008 @ 6:18 am
I am kinda still hoping that this is all a big set up. That the producers and Harold ranting in the news is all fake and planned. That secretly he is gonna be there next season. Why? you say? Not because of the actor, nor the character, but simply because I agree that the way they bring him back and then kill him after 5 episodes or so is.. well is kinda lame. and not really lost style. And making him a surprise regular next season would be so lost!
and btw I don’t think Jin is dead either..
Comment by Tobie — June 11, 2008 @ 6:43 am
Michael cannot be dead. I’m sorry, but he has unfinished business with Walt he has to conclude. Though an on island reunion with ghost dad might be a tearjerking pleasant surprise, I have a feeling we will see enough of those with people like Jack/Christian, Charlie/Hurley, etc. Locke telling Walt that his father was a hero is going to be anticlimactic. We need a Michael/Walt closure between the two of them and I don’t think Walt is a strong enough character to stand on yet so that cannot reintroduce him to the island. If the show wants to give Walt a few dedicated episodes to explore more of his life before, after and with Michael, great, he might be viable. Currently we know very little about him.
If Michael is dead, the island really fucked him over. He was used and left for dead. This supposedly great island will have taken a major hit. Michael was a good man and the island turned him bad? He wanted to protect his son more than anything, the island wants to protect itself more than anything. Battle of man vs nature theory garbage again. Does this mean Ben is not really evil and should be a sympathetic character because he is a victim of the islands ruthlessness, being raised by a vindictive island or leader(jacob)? If Michael is dead than the island is evil, it is the bad guy in all this killing innocent people. That would ruin the show for me as the island was supposed to be magical and worth saving at all costs. Or has Jacob corrupted the island? Using its powers to his own purposes? That would at least set up an interesting real people versus the spirits to reclaim the island chaos.
Comment by Blutoschmooto — June 11, 2008 @ 8:48 am
“Jon’s post is right on. I really don’t know what kind of redemption story people were expecting, but that doesn’t seem to be what the writers had in mind for Michael’s return. Expectations are a prison. Sit back & enjoy the story, and don’t force your own opinions on it.”
I was expecting a redemption story that lasted longer than five fucking episodes. And by the way, I can express whatever the hell I feel about this show. If I think that it fucked up, then I’m going to say so. I think that Cuse and Lindehof fucked up on Michael’s story arc, this season. In fact, I think that they had also fucked up Kate’s story arc with a ton of contrived writing.
If Michael’s redemption arc ended with his death, then the rest of them - Jack, Sawyer, Kate, Sayid, Sun, Juliet, Ben and God knows who else deserves to die by the end of the series. If they can keep Kate’s character on the show with some of the most contrived writing in the show’s history - the trial and her guardianship of Aaron - then I don’t see why Michael had to be killed off after five episodes.
Comment by Rosie — June 11, 2008 @ 12:26 pm
I think no-one can deny Michael was dealt a shorthand this season. His storyline was essentially a quest to kill himself, which he got to do in the finale. I think he should have been brought back as a guest star rather then pretend he had rejoined the overall cast. They had no long term plans for him and shouldn’t have pretended as such. But primarily Michael’s return must have been a victim of the shortened season and something they were going to do with him got shafted for lack of time. It’s regrettable but we move on.
Comment by yozza — June 11, 2008 @ 12:48 pm
I agree. Michael was my favorite character, and after season two I was dissapointed in the choices he made. However, I was willing to suck it up and wait for his redemption. A whole season goes by and not one mention of Mike. Than i read in TV Guide that he is coming back!!!! When he does he gets the crappiest storyline ever written in the history of television.
In my opinion the writers have two very different spectrums. They either crank out: Outstanding, mindblowing stories, or crapfests. Harold Perrineu is crying racism; i wouldn’t go that far. But the writers really screwed this up. They say that Mike got redemption, i don’t see how. He was the coolests character, one I thought had the most depth. I would choose to watch him over Jack whining over Kate or Hurley eating. My dreams of a fantastic Walt/Mike reunion are dashed!
Comment by nea — June 11, 2008 @ 1:17 pm
Ok, as a human being, what else would you expect a man to do if his son was taken from him? just sit there and be like, “oh well.” of course he’s gonna scream and shout if he knew his son was on the island. I mean, he had finally gotten his son back and found a good relationship, especially after all the brainwashing I suspect Walt’s mom did off-screen.
his story arc was the most compelling to me on the show, way better then the frontrunners like Kate, who jumps form man to man and makes a big deal out of little things and can’t help but lie. Or Jack, who argued with Locke for five minutes in the season 2 opener about pressing the button (who the hell, just press it and walk out).
Michael of all characters had a reason to do what he was doing on the island, protecting his son. His son was taken, so he did what he had to do. Overall I don’t blame him at all, sure, he killed two people, one of them was kind’ve asking for it after her own actions.
Comment by Cody — June 11, 2008 @ 2:23 pm
It is a dream of mine to watch the remaining seasons of Lost, and never to see Michael again. Nothing against Harold Perrineau, its Michael I can’t stand.
Comment by hms — June 11, 2008 @ 6:04 pm
Oh I applaud your fiery spirit Rosie.
We all have a right to our opinions. The writers of Lost are not perfect. Amazing, but not perfect. And this, for me, is part of that imperfection. I’m not losing sleep over the the direction they took with Michael, but I am completely dissatisfied with it. And it’s our right to point out when we think the writer’s made a bad move.
Comment by Mike — June 11, 2008 @ 7:00 pm
Michael had to come back to reinvolve Walt, though the actor is not YEARS older. Walt still have some things to do for the island.
Comment by Tom Rod — June 11, 2008 @ 9:23 pm
omg MIKE you just said every frickin word I was to lazy to write down… I mean I get some people don’t like the character, but why is it always that when some people don’t like a character they immediately get killed off…
Michael could be irratating at times, but each of his character arcs described in your post are what made him the most realistic and believable person on the island, and for once it was nice to see one of the characters who’ve been in it from beginning, I was looking forward to seeing how he played off all of the old characters. The writers could have made one of the most gripping stories about a man constantly fighting for survival, redemption, and most importantly his son.
I was pissed off cuz I just read 4 chapters of a book and the last 2 were detonated… WTF
Comment by morty — June 12, 2008 @ 2:05 am
Michael’s death was part of the over all “Locke-centric” theme of the show. In several episode Locke mentions that is you give the islan what it wants it will give you what you want…Michael wanted to die. He helped the island-the island helped him…to die a noble death.
Comment by movin_the_island — June 12, 2008 @ 10:34 am
my biggest problem with the return of Michael is that there was no resolution with Walt - so Walt just ends up hating his dad forever? no reunion? totally bogus!
Comment by carlo — June 12, 2008 @ 1:18 pm
Who says Michael is dead (or Jin for that matter)? Don’t assume too much too
soon. Word up.
Comment by LostBrutha — June 13, 2008 @ 1:12 pm
Rosie, watch your language. So unladylike. So much anger. It’s just a show for crying out loud. No one died in real life and that would be a reason to be upset. I thought Mike’s post was funny and I don’t know much about why Michael was killed off so quickly and eventlessly (word?) after his return, but I see why the writers brought him back. The whole point is about the island’s power over life or death. Jack nor Michael were able to kill themselves. If it was just Jack, the point would not have been made. Now we have to wait and see if Locke is really dead.
Comment by Susan — June 17, 2008 @ 9:31 am
christian shepard is NOT JACOB!
holy crap.
stop with that shit.
it’s annoying.
Comment by thedtrain — June 17, 2008 @ 10:24 am
unless mike isn’t dead, and shock of all shocks its a massive PR stunt
Remember Mike couldn’t be killed when he crashed his car.
Oh and i’m Jacob!
Comment by John Hooper — June 17, 2008 @ 2:33 pm