Character Spotlight: Matthew Abaddon

Let's face it, Lance Reddick is everywhere. Some of us were first introduced to his intimidating mug on Oz and The Wire, most of us are unsure about his mysterious/nefarious role on Lost, and now he's one of the lead characters on Fringe.

So what better time to feature a character spotlight on Matthew Abaddon...


THE WALKABOUT

Locke encountered Abaddon while in rehab recovering from the injuries sustained when daddy pushed him out of the window. Abaddon appeared to be working at the facility, but we all know that his true profession calls for tailored suits. It was at this hospital where Abaddon introduced the idea of a walkabout for Locke, who was paralyzed and in a wheelchair at the time. He alluded to have taken one himself, and that it was a life altering experience.

It is important to note that Abaddon made reference to 'owing him one' should they meet again in the future after Locke took the walkabout.

1. Will Locke encounter or seek out Abaddon after leaving the island?
2. Did Abaddon have anything to do with Locke's fate, with the crash of Flight 815?
3. Was he working with Richard Alpert to recruit Locke?
   
4. Does Locke's off-island Bentham identity have anything to do with Abaddon?
5. Did Abaddon's own walkabout happen to take place on a certain island?
   

THE FREIGHTER

Abaddon was responsible for overseeing the team that Naomi would accompany on the freighter to the island: Daniel Faraday, Frank Lapidus, Charlotte Lewis and Miles Straume. Their mission appeared to be the capture of Ben Linus and disabling of lethal gasses, but Keamy and the mercenaries had other plans.

1. Why was Abaddon so insistent that there were no survivors from Flight 815?
   
2. How does he know about the survivors on the island? Was he informed by Ben or one of his off-island cronies?
3. Was Abaddon employed by or working with Charles Widmore, Dharma or Oceanic?
4. Did Abaddon also deploy Keamy & co. to kill everyone on the island?

SANTA ROSA MENTAL HEALTH INSTITUTE

After being rescued and dubbed one of the Oceanic 6, Hurley was arrested and placed in the mental institution where he'd previously spent time. Abaddon paid Hurley a visit under the guise of an Oceanic attorney, although once again it was clear that he was lying. Abaddon offered Hurley an 'upgrade' on his current situation, but Hurley had no intention of leaving.

It was when Abaddon inquired of Hurley if "they were still alive" that things became far more interesting and uncomfortable.

1. Was Abaddon referring to those who were left behind on the island (including Flight 815ers, Juliet, etc.), or the Freighter Four?
2. Where was Abaddon hoping to relocate Hurley?
3. Did Abaddon visit any of the other Oceanic 6, just as Locke/Bentham did?
4. Is it mere coincidence that Abaddon a) took an interest in Locke before he crashed on the island and then b) appeared after the Oceanic 6 rescue at the very institution where Locke's mother was treated for schizophrenia?
   

What's In a Name?

There are plenty of Biblical interpretations of and theories about the name Abaddon, but at this point I will leave that research to those who are interested in delving further...

Character Spotlight: Richard Alpert

I just posted an extensive look at the ageless Richard Alpert over on DocArzt's site. Thanks for visiting and reading. Feel free to leave comments there. Thanks!

Character Spotlight: Charlotte Lewis

Given that Charlotte was on the island when in moved in the season finale, plus that fact that there is rampant speculation about her past (thanks to Miles), I thought it would be appropriate timing to look at the little we do know about her.

Her full name is Charlotte Staples Lewis, an obvious nod to writer CS Lewis (The Chronicles of Narnia). Charlotte was born in England, at least according to Ben (when she first landed on the island, he told Locke & co. everything he knew about her...from his spy Michael's intel on the freighter).

Charlotte is an anthropologist who received her PhD at Oxford (where Daniel Faraday was a physics professor).

When the fake wreckage of Flight 815 was reported in the media, Charlotte was on a dig in Tunisia and expressed skepticism about the crash.

She then unearthed a Dharma collar (with the Hydra station logo) that was attached to the skeleton of a polar bear.

Ben later traveled forward in time to Tunisia, and it wasn't his first visit. Coincidence? I think not.

Matthew Abbadon, who claims to work for Oceanic Airlines, hand selected Charlotte to be one of the Freighter Four (along with Daniel Faraday, Frank Lapidus and Miles Straume) and travel to the island on a ship funded by Charles Widmore. Her actual assignment and role are unknown.

Charlotte arrived on the island via parachute, crash landing in a tree before being discovered by Locke and his group.

Ben shot her in the upper chest, but she she had a bullet-proof vest on so she survived. He then proceeded to share her life history with the group, and she looked surprised to hear it.

Charlotte accompanied the survivors to the abandoned barracks in New Otherton, but Sayid came and exchanged her for Miles, so she returned to the beach with Daniel and Jack's group.

Due to her vague answers and sassy attitude, Charlotte was not very popular there, especially with Juliet (which led to a nasty fight in the Tempest later, and should make for some interesting exchanges between them next season because they're among the only ones left on the island).

Let's back up a step. Charlotte clearly knew more than she was letting on, which became obvious when she and Daniel secretly took off to the Tempest station to turn off lethal gas. Oh, and our mysterious anthropologist knocked Kate out with a gun when she started asking too many questions. Add Charlotte to the list of women on Lost with prior gun experience that does not relate to what she supposedly does for a living.

She and Daniel went with Jin and Sun to get medical supplies when Jack required emergency surgery. We learned during that trek that Charlotte speaks Korean, when she interpreted and understood Jin and Sun's private conversations. Jin and Sun think that Daniel has a crush of Charlotte, but it appears that she views him more as a little brother. By the way, Jin confronted her about knowing Korean and threatened Daniel's life unless she helped Jin get Sun rescued.

When it came time to leave the island with the survivors and take them to the freighter for rescue, Charlotte chose to stay behind because she's still "looking for where she was born." Miles implied that she'd been to the island before, but she pretended not to know what he's referring to.

LINGERING QUESTIONS ABOUT CHARLOTTE

• Did she know Daniel Faraday during their days at Oxford? Have they worked together before?

• When she first encountered Locke and his group after dislodging herself from the parachute, she inquired about Claire and Aaron. Did she know the history of babies and infertility on the island?

• Could she have been a child of Dharma folks? Was she born on the island, and if so, would that make her the first child to be conceived and delivered there successfully?

• If her parents were working on the island for Dharma and they died during Ben's purge, are they the ones who provided Miles (the ghost whisperer) with the information about her previous stint on the island?

• Even though there is an age discrepancy, could she possibly be Annie, Ben's childhood Dharma friend? Or could Charlotte be related to/know Annie? When she first encountered Ben, Charlotte didn't give any indication of recognition when she saw him and heard his name...

• When Ben visited Tunisia before (time unknown), was Charlotte there? Was he there because that's where the island had moved before? If so, Charlotte may have known that (thus, the dig for the Dharma collar there).

• Is it possible that Ben really doesn't know everything about her, that his only information came from Michael?

• Does she work for Widmore directly and was she under his employ when she went on the Tunisia dig? Was he her source of information about the island and how to access it/avoid the dangers on it?

• Had she also studied the Flight 815 manifest (like Frank)? Did she learn Korean only recently, as part of her homework for the mission on the island? And if so, how did she know for sure that not only were there survivors from Flight 815 there, but that the two who spoke Korean survived the crashed?
  

• What will she make of the 4-toed statue? Perhaps she already knows about.

• Does she make it off the island in the future and interact/work with any of the Oceanic 6 or Ben?

CRAZY THEORY - CHARLOTTE IS:

...one of Widmore's daughters. She and Penny don't share the same mother, and Penny is not aware that she has a sister. Charlotte has been to the island before because Daddy discovered and/or owns it, but she was very young at the time and doesn't remember much about it...yet.

Character Spotlight: Benjamin Linus

He was only supposed to only appear in a handful of episodes, but Ben Linus has now become integral to the entire story and series. He is a fan favorite, and rightly so.

There is far more information about him than I had time to compile, but here is a chronological glimpse at the man, the myth, the menace.

BEFORE THE ISLAND

Ben was born just outside of Portland, OR, to Roger and Emily Linus. While hiking in the forest, Emily went into early labor. Horace and Olivia Goodspeed just happened to be driving by when Roger was looking for help, and they drove the Linus clan to the hospital. Shortly after Ben was born, Emily passed away and Roger blamed Ben for her death. Not a candidate for father of the year.

ON THE ISLAND

Cut to several years later. Roger was recruited by the Goodspeeds to work for Dharma, so he and Ben relocated to the island. Drunk and disgruntled by his job as a Dharma janitor, Roger was mean to little Ben and even forgot his son’s birthday.

Ben had visions of his mother on the island. First, she appeared outside of his window, and then in the jungle on his birthday. Emily spoke to Ben, and told him it wasn’t time to follow her yet.

Ben attended Dharma school on the island and his only friend was Annie. They were warned about island hostiles but never saw any. Annie carved two wooden dolls that they would each keep forever to remind them of one another. We don’t know if Annie survived the purge years later, or if she’s alive and well somewhere, but we do see Ben look at his doll as an adult.

Young Ben was running away when he first encountered Richard Alpert. Ben asked if he could join the hostiles, and Richard told him that he had to be very patient in order to do so.

Cut to several years later. Ben now works for Dharma, along with his father. On his birthday while out running a work errand together, Ben put on a gas mask and released gas, killing dear old dad.

He then returned to the barracks, where all of the other Dharma folks were also dead from a mass gas purge. Richard Alpert and the hostiles had a helping hand, and it seemed like they were the original members of the Others, under Ben’s new reign.

Although it is not clear when or how, Ben left the island on several occasions. He had a hidden closet full of disguises and drawers full of passports and money. It is also not clear when he ‘obtained’ Alex from Danielle Rousseau, and raised her as his own.

Three years before Flight 815 crashed on the island, Ben recruited Dr. Juliet Burke to come work as the island’s fertility specialist. Ben had a fatal attraction to Juliet, and made sure that the man she was having an affair with (Goodwin) was killed for it. Then Juliet discovered that Ben had a spinal tumor.

After witnessing Flight 815 break apart above them, Ben ordered Goodwin and Ethan to infiltrate the survivors from the flight, and get names. Both died trying. Ben had Mikhail gather intel about all of the passengers in the meantime.

Cut to a month or so later. Ben ordered Tom and some Others to kidnap Walt, a kid from the fuselage section of the crash who was traveling with his father, Michael. Walt was held at the Hydra station on the other little island, where he was subjected to brainwashing and other tests.

Ben knew about spinal surgeon Jack from the information gathered by Mikhail, and was monitoring him in the Swan hatch. Ben knew that he could toy with Jack’s emotions, and he could use Michael to lure Jack and other important survivors over to the Others. He sent Michael an instant message on the Swan computer, pretending to be Walt. Michael fell for it and started his plan to recover his son.

In order to infiltrate the survivors himself, Ben purposefully got himself trapped by Danielle Rousseau. As planned, she handed Ben over to Jack and co. in the Swan hatch, but not before shooting an arrow into his shoulder. While trying to find out who he was, Ben was beaten time and again. He used the alias Henry Gale, which belonged to a man who’d been killed on the island after his hot air balloon crashed.

While everyone was out looking for the balloon to verify Ben’s story, Locke got himself trapped under a hatch door. Ben helped him escape, and began a lengthy mental manipulation of Locke.

Michael had taken off to search for Walt, but was captured by Ben’s team of Others. They made a deal with him, that in exchange for Jack, Kate, Sawyer and Hurley, they’d return Walt. And Michael would also have to set Ben free. In order to let Ben go, Michael made the decision to shoot and kill Ana Lucia, who was guarding Ben’s cell in the Swan hatch. He also killed Libby, who showed up at the wrong time.

Ben was released, and Michael was reunited with Walt after leading the 4 survivors to him as planned. Ben let Michael and Walt leave the island and return home.

Cut to a few days later. Kate is handcuffed and forced to wear a dress. She is brought to breakfast on the beach with Ben, who told her that the next two weeks were going to be very unpleasant.

Ben keeps an eye on Kate and Sawyer in their cages, and Jack in the shark tank. Although Ben assigned Juliet to befriend Jack, Ben told him that he could go home if he’d operate on the spinal tumor.

Even though Ben had access to medical care off island, he was insistent that Jack perform the surgery to remove his tumor. Jack operated on Ben, and made a deal for the Others to let Kate and Sawyer go, not realizing that they were on another island entirely....

Juliet shot an Other to allow Sawyer and Kate to use a boat for their escape. Ben's stitches later became infected, and Jack agreed to take care of him if Ben spared Juliet's life (she was on 'trial' for killing one of her own).

Ben returned to the bigger island, to live in the barracks once again while he recovered. Locke blew up his submarine, so Jack and Juliet could not leave the island after all.

Ben had Locke's father, Anthony Cooper, brought to the island and told him that in order to learn the secrets of the island, he'd have to make a sacrifice. Locke couldn't kill his dad, so he had Sawyer do it for him.

Cut to an unknown time...Ben had his right hand man Tom find Michael in New York and recruit him to hop on a freighter and return to the island to help his friends.

Ben had Juliet return to the beach and live among the survivors, but everyone was suspicious of her except for Jack. Ben and the remaining Others vacated the barracks and set up camp elsewhere.

When Locke showed up with his dead dad, Ben told him about Jacob and took him to see him. Jacob seemed to ask Locke for help, which pissed off control freak Ben. So he shot Locke and left him in a pit of Dharma skeletons from the purge.

Ben ordered some Others to go to the survivors' beach and kidnap the pregnant (or potentially pregnant) women, but Juliet told Jack and they blew up several of the Others in a surprise attack. He also told Mikhail to go down to the Looking Glass station to kill Charlie, who had unjammed the communications signal to and from the island, and Mikhail blew himself up in the process.

Shortly thereafter, Ben went to find Jack and the remaining survivors, who were headed to the radio tower. He tried to warn Jack that the freighter near the island contained people who wanted to kill everyone on the island, but Jack beat him to a pulp and made contact with them anyway.

When the survivors separated into two groups, deciding to follow Jack to rescue or Locke to safety, Ben asked to go with Locke and Jack let him. The Freighter Four had arrived on the island, and their primary objective was to find Ben (for Charles Widmore). Ben then used his insider info about the freighter (courtesy of his spy Michael) to keep Locke and Sawyer from killing him.

Locke kept Ben locked up in his own basement while formulating a plan, which of course Ben manipulated with key intel when needed. Freighter dude/ghostbuster Miles attempted to blackmail him for the random sum of $3.2 million dollars, but that has yet to be resolved. Ben revealed to Locke that Charles Widmore wanted to exploit the healing powers of the island and that he'd sent the freighter. He also told Locke about Michael.

Ben sent Alex with her boyfriend Karl and Rousseau to a safe location, but some of the freighter mercenaries were already there. They killed Karl and Rousseau, but took Alex as bait for Ben. When Ben tried to play his usual mind games, he failed and they killed Alex right in front of him.

Ben then disappeared into his chamber of secrets and emerged covered in soot. He seemed to summon the Black Smoke Monster, which appeared with a vengeance and went after the mercenaries.

Ben and the survivors evacuated the barracks, and he took off to see Jacob with Locke and Hurley. Locke discovered the supposedly dead Christian Shephard inside Jacob's cabin, who told him that they have to move the island. So Ben took them toward the secret Orchid station, where he instructed Locke to enter and then surrendered to lead mercenary Keamy.

OFF THE ISLAND, IN THE FUTURE

We don't know exactly when or how Ben left the island, he told Sayid that he took Desmond's sailboat.

The year after the crash, we see Ben in Tunisia. It wasn't his first visit there, apparently. He then went to Iraq and, in what seemed like a premeditated event, met up with Sayid who was there to bury his wife.

Ben convinced Sayid that Widmore was responsible for her death, and recruited Sayid to work for him.

Cut to another unknown time, when Ben is in London to confront Widmore himself. Widmore told him that he owned the island, and that Ben stole it from him. Ben told him that he was going to kill his daughter Penny because Widmore had killed his daughter Alex.

BENNIE'S BUNNIES

Mr. Linus has an affinity for the fluffy little things, although he put them in harm's way on more than one occasion...

He had one as a pet when he was a kid in Dharma village. When he ran away, he used the bunny to see if the sonic fence was armed. Later in life, he pretended to kill one to make Sawyer think that his heart would explode.

It's more than likely that he obtained said bunnies from the Orchid station, which we should learn more about during the Season 4 finale.

LINGERING QUESTIONS ABOUT BEN

• When, how and where did he actually meet Danielle Rousseau, and under what circumstances did he obtain Alex?

• Did he kill the real Henry Gale?

• Aside from a very slow submarine, how did Ben travel to and from the island?

• Why did he get a spinal tumor when the island seemed to heal others that arrived there (Locke, Rose, Jin, etc.)?

• Miles had an off island photograph of him. When/where was it taken, and by whom?

• Can he return to the island after the Oceanic 6 are rescued?

• Did he arrange for the death of Sayid's wife Nadia?

• If he does time travel, is his point of entry always the Orchid station?

• Is there any actual power or significance to Ben's black baton?

• What the F did he say to Kate on the beach over breakfast last season?!

• Is he the mysterious man in the coffin that Jack visits in the future?

...and on and on and on.
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So what is YOUR lingering question or theory about Ben, or favorite scene/character interaction?