TVGuide.com interviews Harold Perrineau

TV Guide's website interviewed Harold Perrineau, who plays Michael on Lost, and I have a few things to say about his comments. Naturally, the interview gives away what happens in the finale, so only click below if you've already seen the episode.

TV Guide: Were you disappointed Michael and Walt didn't reconnect before your character died?
Perrineau: Listen, if I'm being really candid, there are all these questions about how they respond to black people on the show. Sayid gets to meet Nadia again, and Desmond and Penny hook up again, but a little black boy and his father hooking up, that wasn't interesting? Instead, Walt just winds up being another fatherless child. It plays into a really big, weird stereotype and, being a black person myself, that wasn't so interesting. [Responds Cuse: "We pride ourselves on having a very racially diverse cast. It's painful when any actor's storyline ends on the show. Harold is a fantastic actor whose presence added enormously to Lost."]

I enjoyed the interview -- although I disagreed with some notions -- but I cringed when I read this comment. I think it's a little unfair of Perrineau to refer to Walt as a "black fatherless child" considering that one of the show's central themes is fucked up fathers. Locke's father completely abandoned him, only to come back into his life to con him out of his kidney and push him out of a window. Jack's father is a verbally abusive alcoholic who, incidentally, abandoned Claire as well. Kate's father was so abusive that she had to murder him. Ben's father, much like Jack's, is a verbally abusive alcoholic as well. Sawyer's father murdered his mother before committing suicide. Sun's father is pretty much a Korean mobster. Hurley's father abandoned him only to come back into his life after he won the lottery. Truth be told, he is one of the only fathers on the show that seems to want to play an active role in his child's life. While I do agree that a reunion and reconciliation with Walt would have been nice (and definitely would have made his redemption even more powerful), I think it's inaccurate and unfair to turn this into a race thing.

I also disagree with Perrineau's opinion that Michael was brought back to pay for his past sins. On the contrary -- and I'll discuss this in my Lost finale column -- I thought that his return did a wonderful job of redeeming the character. Had Michael never returned (and it sounds like this is what Perrineau would have preferred), he undoubtedly would have been remembered as a murderous traitor. Now, I believe viewers can look back and recall that the character died sacrificing his life for the sake of others. He made peace with his best friend and played a crucial role in helping the survivors get back home.

I'm a bit surprised that the actor looks back at his return so unfavorably. Some people have argued that his character was brought back and barely used. I disagree. The truth is that there really wasn't much to be told. He was a man who was haunted by what he had done and wanted nothing more than to redeem himself. Actually, Michael's character is a HUGE reason why I felt like they needed to abandon the flashback formula. In a lot of ways, there isn't all that much to his character, and it seemed like all of his flashbacks were telling the same story (Walt was taken from him, he fought for him, he failed, and he eventually became distant and disconnected). Sure, there wasn't some touching Walt/Michael reunion, but the fact is, not every character is entitled to a happy ending.