Dec 15 2008
More bad fathers — looking for a pattern — part 1
I’ve been thinking about this, and I remembered some more bad fathers:
Ben’s father accused Ben of killing his mother merely by being born. While Ben presumably was not “brought” to the Island for the same reason that the Flight 815 passengers were, it’s still striking that his father was so awful in a way that seems to fit the show’s larger pattern. Of course, Ben is no prize himself, and his revenge against his father was literally overkill.
Walt’s father Michael was not an evil father, but he was an uninvolved one (although that was not entirely his own fault). Much of Michael’s story on the Island has been about his trying to make amends to his son to relieve his own burden of guilt.
At the end of Season 4, Michael does seem to reach an Island-enabled resolution — aided by the appearance of another of the quasi-bad fathers, Christian Shephard! — when he sacrifices his life for Jin.
I wonder if Walt’s side of the story might have been developed more, especially considering the early hints about how Walt was “special,” if the actor playing Walt hadn’t grown so tall after the first season. Maybe now that we’re seeing scenes set in the future, time will have caught up with Walt’s size, and we’ll be able to see more Walt-centered scenes or episodes.
Although Michael’s death at the end of Season 4 would seem to put a damper on further development of his side of the story, as we all know, on LOST the dead don’t necessarily stay dead for long.
I’ll have more bad fathers soon.
