Harold Perrineau Interview Numero Dos!

Unsurprisingly, Lost's Harold Perrineau has done a follow-up interview to clarify the statements he made during his previous interview with TV Guide.

Click the link below to read the full interview, and hit the "Read More" link for my thoughts. Finale spoilers are included, so don't click unless you've seen the episode. But honestly, if you haven't watched it yet, what in the blue hell are you waiting for?

http://hollywoodinsider.ew.com/2008/06/lost-harold-per.html

Unsurprisingly, Perrineau came off as much, MUCH more likable in this interview. I'd hate to be one of those cynical people that always assumes the worst, but my initial impressive was that this interview was arranged by his agent/manager/whoever to counter all of the negativity he garnered through the original interview.

That being said, I absolutely, positively believe that in real life, Harold Perrineau is probably a perfectly friendly, level headed, intelligent person, and if that's the case, it really came through during this interview.

I especially appreciated the way he handled his clarification: He didn't get overly defensive and attack those that criticized him, but he also didn't necessarily recant his statement either. He simply said, "This is how I feel, but it's not my decision to make and I probably should have kept my mouth shut." He also acknowledged that he doesn't know where the story is going yet, and his comments could be proven wrong after everything plays out. For what it's worth, I do believe that Jin survived and that he will, inevitably, let it be known that Michael sacrificed his life for them.

The fact that he was able to laugh about everything also helped show that he's not bitter towards anybody. This was important, I think. Between the racial comment and his unhappiness over how his character's return was handled, he did come across as pretty bitter when he spoke to TV Guide. However, I think he came across much better this time. Indeed, my impression of him as an actor improved significantly after this interview. He most certainly came across as more professional and gracious, recognizing that as an actor it's not his place to write the story. I also thought that his explanation for how he would have handled the return -- by sitting down and discussing what would happen to his character first -- was very reasonable and fair.

But continuing on about how ridiculous his initial statement was, let us look no further than the poster child of fatherless children, Aaron Littlemore. First, he's abandoned by his biological father before he's even born. So, when his mother gives birth to him, he's fatherless. Thankfully, a nice, recovering drug-addict Australian musician is smitten with his mother, so he gets a nice surrogate father in Charlie. But then Charlie dies, leaving him fatherless again. In his Oceanic Six future, he gets another surrogate father, this time his secret half-uncle Jack. But then he gets into an explosive fight with his fake-mom and becomes a pill popper, once again leaving him fatherless. For the third time. So unless there's some weird stereotype about Australian babies that I'm unaware of, I'd say the whole race card thing was a definite reach.

I also want to comment on how he noted that the supposed bloodlust towards his character, on behalf of the viewers, was "weird." I disagree. Well, I disagree that there was any bloodlust to begin with, but if there is/was, I don't think that it would be weird or unwarranted. The fact remains that he murdered two innocent women, and then betrayed four of his best friends. Yes, he did it for a good reason, but it still isn't unreasonable for the viewers to want him to pay for what he did.