# Which character on Lost is the least believable to you? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [October 18, 2005, 2:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-character-on-lost-is-the-least-believable-to-you/326699 "2005-10-18T02:41:07Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Cubsfan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f4b2a3/32.png) [@Cubsfan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cubsfan)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2005, 2:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-character-on-lost-is-the-least-believable-to-you/326699/1 "2005-10-18T02:41:07Z")
For me its Sayeed. Unless they show one hell of a backstory on this guy I will never believe that him being a comm officer in the Iraqi Army is a decent explaination about how this guy is the technical jack-of-all-trades on the island. The whole thing with the triangulation of the signal. His rigging of the aircraft radar for the boat. Then he manages to know exactly what to do to fix a smoked PC? The guy is what? 30 years old max? It’s not like he would have been some seasoned vet in the Iraqi Army. And Iraq doesn’t exactly have the most state of the art equipment to train it’s troops. I’m an Electrical Engineer in the USAF and I can tell you that Comm officers in the USAF know shit about shit. Of course there are occasional bright bulbs out there, but for the most part they are glorified help desk technicians. Without a Technical Order to follow most have a tough time doing much of anything. I just think the explaination is really weak and I doubt they will ever try to give us more insight into his mech/elec aptitude. Who is the least believable to you? FWIW Sawyer is my runner up. Only because his acting is so over the top. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2005, 2:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-character-on-lost-is-the-least-believable-to-you/326699/2 "2005-10-18T02:45:54Z")
Probably the TCM. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Mudd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f14d63/32.png) [@Larry\_Mudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Mudd)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2005, 2:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-character-on-lost-is-the-least-believable-to-you/326699/3 "2005-10-18T02:53:49Z")
Sawyer, the bitter hunky misanthrope. Not the actor’s fault – they give him the worst dialogue. It’s hard for me to believe that anyone would talk that way (especially _all the goddamn time_,) and it’s even harder for me to believe that someone who did wouldn’t have a nose that shows signs of being broken a few times, a history of facial lacerations, and the painful gait of someone who’s had multiple limbs re-set. ---
**Author:** ![Omniscient](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/omniscient/32/3290_2.png) [@Omniscient](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omniscient)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2005, 3:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-character-on-lost-is-the-least-believable-to-you/326699/4 "2005-10-18T03:15:29Z")
For me it’s Michelle Rodriguez’s character. They haven’t explained that much about her, but she’s such a bossy bitch that there’s no way people would fold to her will without that gun. Hell, I’d have beaten the crap out of her by now if I were a one-armed Saywer. Hard-ass chick or not. ---
**Author:** ![BabaBooey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/dfb087/32.png) [@BabaBooey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BabaBooey)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2005, 3:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-character-on-lost-is-the-least-believable-to-you/326699/5 "2005-10-18T03:30:36Z")
Hurley, hasn’t lost an apparent pound over 40(?)+ days. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2005, 3:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-character-on-lost-is-the-least-believable-to-you/326699/6 "2005-10-18T03:40:16Z")
Well, Locke’s recovery from his paralysis is pretty far-fetched. ---
**Author:** ![levdrakon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/49beb7/32.png) [@levdrakon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/levdrakon)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2005, 3:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-character-on-lost-is-the-least-believable-to-you/326699/7 "2005-10-18T03:54:43Z")
Hmm. Good question. I have to defend Sayid though. It’s been my experience that outside of America, your typical well educated but living in a poor country type person is pretty knowledgeable about how things work, and fixing things. They have to, whereas Americans are accustomed to either bringing things to the shop or, more often, just buying a new whatever it is. I think Kate is pretty unbelievable. She’s the very cliche, “my daddy was special forces and taught me everything.” How often do you meet someone like that in real life? Kate’s never even been in the military, and I doubt daddy taught her how to hunt, fish, track, fight & kill. ---
**Author:** ![panamajack](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/47e85d/32.png) [@panamajack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panamajack)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2005, 4:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-character-on-lost-is-the-least-believable-to-you/326699/8 "2005-10-18T04:18:03Z")
> [@levdrakon](#): > > I think Kate is pretty unbelievable. She’s the very cliche, “my daddy was special forces and taught me everything.” How often do you meet someone like that in real life? Kate’s never even been in the military, and I doubt daddy taught her how to hunt, fish, track, fight & kill. Furthermore, she’s apparently a cold-blooded killer, but on the island seems confused and weak-willed half the time. Her character doesn’t seem to be so much conflicted as all over the map. Sawyer may be over the top, but it’s at least consistent. He’s believable enough for a television character at any rate. ---
**Author:** ![Bosstone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/22d042/32.png) [@Bosstone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosstone)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2005, 12:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-character-on-lost-is-the-least-believable-to-you/326699/9 "2005-10-18T12:00:08Z")
> [@panamajack](#): > > Furthermore, she’s apparently a cold-blooded killer, but on the island seems confused and weak-willed half the time. Her character doesn’t seem to be so much conflicted as all over the map. Sawyer may be over the top, but it’s at least consistent. He’s believable enough for a television character at any rate. That’s not the impression I got from the flashbacks. The only person she clearly got killed was her friend at the hospital, and that was more because she was desperate and panicking. Whatever she did to make her mother freak out on seeing her, it seems like whatever Kate had done, it wasn’t deliberate; else why seek out her mom, and act surprised when her mom freaks? While she did grab the wheel of the farmer’s truck and send them over the side of the road in her first flashback, she also risked pulling him from the burning truck rather than make good her escape. She also never actually killed anyone when she double-crossed the bank heist team. Kate could probably rightly be called a killer, simply on the basis of her friend, but cold-blooded? Nah. It’s looking more and more like she’s the victim of extremely unfortunate circumstances, and she impulsively makes the wrong decisions when trying to get out of trouble and simply finds herself in worse. ---
**Author:** ![Ms2001](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ms2001/32/18463_2.png) [@Ms2001](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ms2001)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2005, 1:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-character-on-lost-is-the-least-believable-to-you/326699/10 "2005-10-18T13:35:16Z")
> [@Stinkpalm](#): > > For me its Sayeed. Unless they show one hell of a backstory on this guy I will never believe that him being a comm officer in the Iraqi Army is a decent explaination about how this guy is the technical jack-of-all-trades on the island. > > The whole thing with the triangulation of the signal. This one’s easy to explain: the “triangulation” we saw was nonsense. There was only one radio, and it wasn’t connected to any of the antennas that for some reason had to be switched on at the same instant, so WTF was he hoping to measure? (And why was he wandering around the island looking for cellphone-style bars so he could _transmit_ a distress call?) Sayid doesn’t know a thing about radios. My GF pointed out that in one of the earlier episodes, Boone was performing CPR correctly when Jack pushed him aside to do it incorrectly. My theory: the island is gathering incompetent people from around the world, putting them in a scenario where their lives depend on the skills they only think they have, just to boost their self-esteem - because in this magical place, they can do everything wrong and it works anyway. Sort of like _Survivor_ meets the Special Olympics. ---
**Author:** ![crazyjoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f14d63/32.png) [@crazyjoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/crazyjoe)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2005, 1:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-character-on-lost-is-the-least-believable-to-you/326699/11 "2005-10-18T13:59:11Z")
I want to know how a dude in the Iraqi national guard has seen the inside of Chernobyl. I mean, was he some sort of secret spy sent out to see how NOT to build a nuclear reactor? ---
**Author:** ![bafaa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e480ec/32.png) [@bafaa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bafaa)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2005, 2:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-character-on-lost-is-the-least-believable-to-you/326699/12 "2005-10-18T14:17:26Z")
> [@crazyjoe](#): > > I want to know how a dude in the Iraqi national guard has seen the inside of Chernobyl. I mean, was he some sort of secret spy sent out to see how NOT to build a nuclear reactor? I didn’t take his comment to mean he had literally been at Chernobyl. I was also thinking of Chernobyl when Jack asked if he’d ever seen (heard?) of anything like that and I’ve certainly never been to Chernobyl. Of course this being Lost maybe he has been to Chernobyl. We’ll have to wait and see if they ever reveal the answer…just like all the other lingering questions on Lost. :mad: ---
**Author:** ![FlyingDragonFan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/c89c15/32.png) [@FlyingDragonFan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FlyingDragonFan)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2005, 2:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-character-on-lost-is-the-least-believable-to-you/326699/13 "2005-10-18T14:41:29Z")
> [@Mr2001](#): > > My theory: the island is gathering incompetent people from around the world, putting them in a scenario where their lives depend on the skills they only think they have, just to boost their self-esteem - because in this magical place, they can do everything wrong and it works anyway. Except that it’s been pretty well established that Jack is a competent, if not not exceptional, doctor. He did heal his future wife, after all. Charlie was the creative force behind what was shown to be a popular rock band, too. Sawyer seemed to be a decent con man. I think you’re just reading too much into flubs on the part of the writers and actors. The old least believable character for me was Shannon, but I think that’s more the fault of the actress than the part. The new one is Ana Lucia. She’s just too over the top. The big black dude seemed rational enough once they decided the front-enders were safe, and it’s hard for me to believe that Ana Lucia could have bullied him for 40 days like she bullies Sawyer without BBD clocking her one. What has she been doing, beating up all the back-enders every time one of them disagreed with her? ---
**Author:** ![SenorBeef](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senorbeef/32/2220_2.png) [@SenorBeef](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SenorBeef)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2005, 3:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-character-on-lost-is-the-least-believable-to-you/326699/14 "2005-10-18T15:06:21Z")
> [@crazyjoe](#): > > I want to know how a dude in the Iraqi national guard has seen the inside of Chernobyl. I mean, was he some sort of secret spy sent out to see how NOT to build a nuclear reactor? He said “the last time I heard of something being done like this…” or something to that extent, not that he’d seen it. ---
**Author:** ![Broken\_Wind](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Broken\_Wind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broken_Wind)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2005, 3:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-character-on-lost-is-the-least-believable-to-you/326699/15 "2005-10-18T15:14:03Z")
> [@Mr2001](#): > > because in this magical place, they can do everything wrong and it works anyway. Sort of like _Survivor_ meets the Special Olympics. 😃😃😃 ---
**Author:** ![Ethilrist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ethilrist/32/4604_2.png) [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2005, 3:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-character-on-lost-is-the-least-believable-to-you/326699/16 "2005-10-18T15:30:18Z")
> [@crazyjoe](#): > > I want to know how a dude in the Iraqi national guard has seen the inside of Chernobyl. I mean, was he some sort of secret spy sent out to see how NOT to build a nuclear reactor? In the real world, they have these devices called “televisions” on which one can watch “documentaries.” I, myself, have, in this way, seen Chernobyl. With the lots of concrete. My vote goes for Ethan. How the hell was he that strong? Why was he so fanatical about Claire? How did he come back on Threshold and play _exactly the same character?_ ---
**Author:** ![GargoyleWB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gargoylewb/32/199_2.png) [@GargoyleWB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GargoyleWB)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2005, 6:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-character-on-lost-is-the-least-believable-to-you/326699/17 "2005-10-18T18:10:38Z")
I vote for Kate… Somehow, an uncertain, shy, vulnerable girl has this long dark past of frontiering, martial arts, bank heists, sharpshooting and gunslinging, boozing, and mananizing… If the character looked like a grizzled tough Angie Dickinson of Adrienne Barbeau, maybe. But a “tee hee hair-flip” 22-year old? Not a chance. ---
**Author:** ![levdrakon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/49beb7/32.png) [@levdrakon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/levdrakon)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2005, 6:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-character-on-lost-is-the-least-believable-to-you/326699/18 "2005-10-18T18:27:35Z")
> [@Ethilrist](#): > > My vote goes for Ethan. How the hell was he that strong? Why was he so fanatical about Claire? How did he come back on Threshold and play _exactly the same character?_ They haven’t really explained Ethan yet though, have they? He could have been pumped up with steroids, or maybe the island was stimulating his adrenaline or something. ---
**Author:** ![Airblairxxx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Airblairxxx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Airblairxxx)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2005, 6:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-character-on-lost-is-the-least-believable-to-you/326699/19 "2005-10-18T18:52:01Z")
> [@levdrakon](#): > > They haven’t really explained Ethan yet though, have they? He could have been pumped up with steroids, or maybe the island was stimulating his adrenaline or something. Actually, I think we’ll find that “the Others”, to whom Ethan presumably belonged, are some kind of supermen in some way. The preview for tomorrow’s episode showed Ana Lucia’s group to be terrified of them, since they’ve whittled their number down from 23 to about 5 or six. I don’t have any inside spoiler dope, that’s just my guess. My vote for least believable character has to be Sun, the Korean babe. She learned English and her husband didn’t know? R-i-i-i-i-g-h-t. ---
**Author:** ![TLDRIDKJKLOLFTW](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/51bf81/32.png) [@TLDRIDKJKLOLFTW](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TLDRIDKJKLOLFTW)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2005, 7:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-character-on-lost-is-the-least-believable-to-you/326699/20 "2005-10-18T19:07:47Z")
Here it comes… All of the characters, from what I’ve seen (I’ve watched 2 episodes). I guess the idea is that these are archetypes rather than believable characters - at least, I’ll keep telling myself that it’s intentional - because not a single one of them has acted like anything more than a walking cliche. The main guy (the ex-doctor?) is _way_ too logical and pragmatic for a guy trapped on an island; I couldn’t get past his hyper-logical posing when they went down into the hatch (he seemed to have no sense of wonder and no interest in the food, a shower, etc.) - he was just interested in barking orders and being super-jaded. Ditto for anyone else - you’ve got the Aunt Jemima character (the nonthreatening, rotund black woman), the “fat guy” who apparently dreams about food all the time but hasn’t managed to lose any weight since being trapped on an island for months, the “tough chick,” the “asian guy,” and so on. It’s fine - I love the show - but the whole thing is a setup to see these archetypes interact rather than a chance for character development. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-character-on-lost-is-the-least-believable-to-you/326699.md?page=2)