All Lost Characters Have Daddy Issues

This week I found myself wondering: how many major Lost characters do not have issues with their fathers? I mean, Kate and Ben killed theirs, Locke's tried to kill him, and Jack's dad pretty much defines Jack's character. So how many did I come up with? Seven: Charlie, Michael, Boone, Ana-Lucia, Eko, Juliet, and Charlotte. And, whoa, Juliet's the only one on that list who's still alive. Also, with the exception of Charlotte, everyone else had other family issues, whether it was a brother, a mother, a husband, or a son.

This may seem a bit off-topic in discussing this week's Lost, but I'm just getting at how often we've seen how "All the Best Cowboys Had Daddy Issues," ever since that season 1 Jack episode. And while it was cool to find out Dr. Chang/Candle is Miles' dad, the whole dad thing's been done. Even as we learned more about Miles' ghost abilities, he's still very much a peripheral character, and this episode didn't make him central the way Faraday has been this season.

That said, there was still plenty of good stuff, mostly thanks to the pairing of Miles and Hurley. They proved their comic chemistry a few weeks back when discussing Back to the Future, and cemented it this week with another classic movie: The Empire Strikes Back. Don't you wonder what Hurley's "improvements" to the script were? And how can he hate ewoks! Still, comparing Miles and Chang to Luke and Darth Vader as part of his father/son matchmaking was some quality TV.

And while the Miles/Hurley show got most of the episode, there was some other good stuff going on as well. Namely, Sawyer followed in the footsteps of Don Draper and punched Jimmy Barrett in the face. I guess that's what that actor is good for. After all the desperation and ass-covering, Sawyer seemed oddly nonplussed after clocking his subordinate, even knowing that tape may be the end to his comfortable life. Or maybe we're just seeing the return of Old Sawyer.

The most intriguing development may be the flashback scene with Shadow of the Statue Guy, last seen taking Lapidus hostage on-island in the future/present. Clearly he doesn't work for Widmore. So there's only two options: either he's one of Ben's men, and just pretended not to know him, or there's a third party involved in this war. But who? My guess: Jacob himself. But why would someone as mythical and powerful as Jacob hire someone as lame as Ilana?

Finally, another MIA character returned this week, as it turned out Faraday was neither a. with the Hostiles or b. living in a cave with a giant beard building a robot Charlotte, but c. in Ann Arbor doing sciency stuff. Guess that also answers the question of what year it will be if they left the island in the 70s. What's he been doing the last 6-8 episodes? Guess that calls for a Faraday episode. And since it's also the 100th episode, I'm expecting big things. Just got to get through another lame recap special first.