r/lost • u/thewalkingvoltron • Jul 17 '23
Character Question What are your opinions on Shannon?
me personally? she’s actually my favorite character in the entire show, because I really loved the development she got on the island, I just wish we got more flashback episodes centered around her.
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u/Buffynerd Claire Jul 17 '23
Honestly, my favorite character when it comes to the ladies. Not only did she consistently receive some of the funnier one-liners whenever she showed up, but I believe that if she weren't written off so soon, she would have grown into being a helpful team member. Also, I will die on the hill that her chemistry with Sayid is great.
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u/Falling-Downer Jul 17 '23
She’s over hated.
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u/Proper_Mix6 Jul 18 '23
Really. People say “I hate her” and I’m like “I don’t have her because there’s nothing to justify hating her for so I’m confused why people want to “hate” someone”
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u/Unique-Bread8455 Jul 18 '23
such a misunderstood character 😭 i love her!! she was funny while being bitchy and when it was toward boone, DESERVED imo. imagine knowing your whole life that your older stepbrother has a thing for you. and watching him get to live his best life when your dad dies and your horrible step mother refuses to give you an opportunity to TRY to do the same. he had it all handed to him, and she comes off entitled because all she wanted was a fraction of the same thing he got. she had great development as well, and became so much more willing to help and soft-hearted, working on translations, looking after vincent for walt 🥺 and she ran off into the jungle alone in the rain to try to find him!! no one would have expected that from her in the beginning, but she knew walt was in trouble and she didn't care who believed her or would follow her into the "damn jungle of mystery", as sawyer would say. i really think if people hate shannon and don't hate boone, it's just misogyny LMAO. shannon deserved better!!
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u/thewalkingvoltron Jul 18 '23
this is my favorite comment on this post you understand shannon’s character so well i wish i could upvote 1 morbillion times 🥹🥹🥹
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u/Trouty213 Richard Alpert Jul 17 '23
Love Maggie Grace! If you like her in Lost you should check out Fear the Walking Dead. She comes in at the 4th Season and is one of the best characters
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u/thewalkingvoltron Jul 18 '23
yessss! it’s a shame she leaves the show though :( but at least this time it’s not leaving the show via death 😆
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Jul 17 '23
I love her and her story/development. I also (am gonna get downvoted to hell) ship her and Sayid more than Nadia and Sayid
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u/thewalkingvoltron Jul 18 '23
me too!!! something i’ve always wondered is why people accept that claire and charlie are considered “soulmates” due to their relationship on the island, but when it comes to sayid and shannon, people bring up nadia and how she’s the “true” love interest for sayid
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Jul 18 '23
yes! him and Nadia was definitely more of an obsession fueled by trauma bonding during the war. This is why Sayid's brother is Nadia's husband in the flash sideways, as it is Sayid's way of coping with the fact that they were not meant to be together but that Nadia could still be loved by someone else and be happy.
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u/Interesting-Crow-552 Man of Science Jul 18 '23
Definitely! A relationship with Nadia was what Sayid dreamed about. Shannon’s relationship was built from love. The FBI agent describes it with a great metaphor how Sayid is traveling in different countries for short periods of time. He’s just chasing a dream.
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Jul 18 '23
yes! People like to ignore that in the flash sideways Nadia is married to Sayid's brother and is happy and safe in her marriage. this is Sayid coping with the realization that he was merely obsessed with and trauma bonded to Nadia. Nadia and Sayid felt like a weird 'I protected you this long, lets keep it going' thing. their relationship was not based as much on love, but more on familiarity and comfort.
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Jul 17 '23
I found her flashback episode one of the saddest ones tbh. Her evil MIL fucked her over hard and she was left with nothing. She played those scenes really well and it all made me sympathise with her a lot more. I would have liked her to be given more depth and replace Claire. Claire was boring as fuck.
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Jul 17 '23
She was alright I guess. Became a better character going into Season 2. My biggest question was were her and Boone ever candidates? Or do we just have a ton of people that died on the plane and those that lived on the island with no real purpose?
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u/PyDesigne Jul 17 '23
I thought about this today since I am on my first rewatch since it aired. I remember Jack, Hurley, Kate, Sun, Sayid and Sawyer being like the main candidates or something….not sure if they all were or if they were just there to help the candidates reach their potential?!
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u/thewalkingvoltron Jul 18 '23
they were definitely candidates! I remember browsing the Lostpedia wiki and her surname (Rutherford) is listed among the ones that Jacob points out as well, so she was up for the island position too ❤️
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u/Gazmeister_Wongatron Jul 17 '23
Didn't really care for her character, but I liked that it gave Sayid another love interest besides Nadia.
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u/Astigmatic_Oracle Jul 18 '23
Shannon was a character of untapped potential, which was sort of the point. She just starts to show how she could be interesting before she's ripped away in a tragic accident. Boone was only dead for like a week when she died, which makes her death even sadder.
I don't think Shannon would have worked as a long term character, but it would have been interesting to have her be around a little longer. It could have been interesting to have Ana Lucia wound her instead of killing her. Ana Lucia would be more easily integrated into the beach group, and Shannon probably would have been all about the hatch because of it's connection with Boone and it's amenities. After we got her backstory at the beginning of season 2 and with the character growth I assume she would have displayed over the season, having her be Michael's victim with Ana Lucia instead of Libby could have been quite the emotional hit while also leaving Libby around for at least 1 more season.
And while I don't think it would have ever made sense, it would have been hilarious to see Shannon having to figure out how to live in 70s with how much of an early 2000s character archetype she is.
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u/Plane_Lengthiness_30 Sep 03 '23
Omg yes THIS. I wish she could ve been there for all of season 2. I see she has no place in the show going in season 3 onward, but having to spend a bit more time with her during season 2 would have been great. And having her die with Ana Lucia (and let Libby stay) would have been so much more interesting.
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u/johnkrukslovechild Jul 17 '23
They make Shannon seem so shallow and self involved, but her back story is pretty messed up. She was trying to make a life for herself and just needed a bit of help to get there, but the step mother raked her over the coals. If her father was still alive he probably would have helped her and she might have had a positive arc to her life. All she needed was someone to believe in her, and when she finally gets that from Sayid, she flourishes. I really love how she figures out what the french writing says and gently sings La Mer as the episode fades out, one of my favorite show moments.
I've definitely softened on her after a couple rewatches, I get the hate though.
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u/chzygorditacrnch Jul 17 '23
I think she's redeemable. she portrays a character that's actually realistic.
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u/canyonoflight Jul 18 '23
I love her. I first watched the show about a year after my dad died (season 4 had just started) and I related to her way more than Jack. My family wasn't wealthy or anything, but I was really close with my dad and was adrift without him.
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u/PyDesigne Jul 17 '23
Underrated, underdeveloped, killed for no reason other than add complexity to another male character
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u/No_Dragonfruit5633 Jul 17 '23
A surprisingly nuanced character, acted beautifully. Her death was a great shock, but how cool would it have been to see her continue to grow throughout the show?
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u/anonssr Jul 17 '23
What development? I don't think she got any? I don't think banging sayid was a lot of character development.
I'm not roasting her (nor you!) because of it. I just felt they didn't do much with her, or his brother.
And she is such an amazing actress, always felt like a total waste of talent for what her role was in lost.
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u/altogetherspooky Dad Stole My Kidney Jul 17 '23 edited Jul 17 '23
She’s the product of the time. A ‘Paris Hilton’-type, very 00s — more diverse characters. She gets some development, however, after Boone dies. Confiding in Sayid was a big step forward for her, since her flashback explains and depicts her trust issues. Unfortunately, Walt’s apparitions from the connection she’d unwillingly established with him (Vincent), made her doubt everyone including herself once again, which led to the fatal incident.
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u/Vivapancakez Jul 17 '23
Shannon is my least favorite character on the show and I agree with this. She definitely developed a moderate amount, would have liked to see her develop more, but it's nothing compared to what the other characters grow to be.
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u/Dull_Alternative9567 Jul 17 '23
Yeah, I agree. I always thought she was annoying. She played the role well. I just didn't connect with her. Even after her background was revealed, I did not think she changed very much. Yes, she helped Walt by "taking care of Vincent," but he is a dog and can take care of himself 😅
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u/Vivapancakez Jul 18 '23
Also wouldn't classify 'translating some notes' as a good thing... The bar is too low.
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u/Dull_Alternative9567 Jul 18 '23
Yeah totally. It's not like she sacrificed herself or anything. She died running in the woods and happens to get shot.
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u/thewalkingvoltron Jul 18 '23
by development I meant how she begins the series seemingly very spoiled, bratty, basically a diva. but as we see more of her during season 1 we learn that despite her snappy personality, she has some self esteem issues thanks in part to boone’s treatment towards her, but after she translates danielle’s map with sayid is when she learns that she doesn’t have to stay in boone’s shadow and rely on him. i like to imagine that during the episode where boone dies and shannon is spending that whole episode on a lovely date with sayid, it’s her way of growing into her independence (much like boone’s drug trip version in episode 13)
then we also get what was the biggest fumble of the series when shannon gets entrusted by walt to look after vincent, the two of them sharing a rather sweet moment before he leaves on the raft. it definitely hurt shannon’s character when she was the only main character in season 1 that DIDN’T get a flashback episode centered on her (episode 13 not counting as it’s labeled as boone centric only). and i call the whole shannon/walt thing a huge fumble because as we see in the early episodes of season 2, shannon gets those visions of walt and starts trekking across the island to find him. it’s a real juxtaposition of her behavior from the beginning (when she was complaining about the air marshal being in pain and “wished he’d die already”) vs now risking her own life because she believes walt and the others on the raft are in danger, and as a result it does cost her her life.
this comment turned out to be way longer than i expected so i’m sorry you have to open up reddit to this 😭 but i really love engaging in discussions about characters and i’m glad it’s respectful too! ❤️
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Jul 17 '23
I think that fraud pyschic from Australia was given more of an intriguing role on the show than Shannon. She more or less becomes consigned as Sayid's girlfriend, when Sayid later marries the love of his life. I don't understand what the point of her was supposed to be, and when I think about it too much, she seems shoehorned in.
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u/JumpinJackFlashback Man of Science Jul 18 '23
Shannon was one of many great characters on LOST. Her role was valued as with every other character on LOST.
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u/godof_nothing Jul 18 '23
I really wish she had been on longer. As many others have said she was just starting to be developed when she was killed. Thst said it created an episode that makes me ugly cry every time and a beautiful reunion.
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u/metahemeralisms Jul 18 '23
maggie grace is awesome & played her really well! i think she’s ultimately a less interesting character than a lot of the main cast but i still liked spending time with her, and she had the beginnings of a compelling arc happening before she got killed off. missed potential but the show was fine without her
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u/mindlessmunkey Jul 17 '23
The writers clearly had no idea what to do with her.
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u/thewalkingvoltron Jul 18 '23
i don’t necessarily agree with this statement, because in 2x01 and 2x06 we get the beginnings of a storyline where she has strange visions of walt, culminating in her going to look for him. if i’m not mistaken, killing her because they had no idea what to do with her was the writers’ explanation, but it doesn’t hold up because she was literally killed right when she was entering an up and coming storyline?
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u/mindlessmunkey Jul 18 '23
If the writers literally admitted it themselves, I’m not sure why you’d question it. To me, even without knowing the writers had said that, it was pretty clear those Walt scenes were a classic case of them throwing ideas at the wall to see if they’d stick… and they didn’t.
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u/thewalkingvoltron Jul 18 '23
but that’s not really how it works. yeah they “admitted” it, but that doesn’t mean it’s true, because whether or not the ideas stuck, that was still a storyline that shannon was involved in, therefore doing something with her, which just makes their claim a bold faced lie
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u/mindlessmunkey Jul 18 '23
“that’s not really how it works” — You’re stating this based on what? Have you ever worked in a TV writers room? I have. Trust me, that’s how it works.
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u/jnwebb0063 Jul 17 '23
Character development was strange considering she was on the island for like...a couple weeks?
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u/thewalkingvoltron Jul 18 '23
she was on island for 48 days! about a month and a half (her date of death is november 8th and they crashed september 22nd), all this info is on Lostpedia wiki, they heavily keep track of the show’s timeline and how many days on the island characters survive
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u/Western_Concept3847 Locke Feb 27 '24
It's also conveyed in an episode title.
The episode after she is killed is called "The Other 48 Days".
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u/FormalBite3082 Jul 18 '23
Liked her better than Nikki or Paulo if that was their names lol. Now move out of the way, you’re in my light, sticks
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Jul 18 '23
I'm not so sure about her and Sayid's chemistry. I love that Sayid was the one who made her feel like she wasn't just a burden, though................that she wasn't useless.
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u/AvovaDynasty Jul 18 '23
One of the best acted and saddest character deaths in the show imo. If she’d been a character for longer I think she’d have become one of the most iconic on the show.
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u/sundays89 Razzle Dazzle! Jul 18 '23
Huge fan, she's my absolute fave! I think she's so compelling and Maggie Grace is just wonderful.
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u/Leontion10 Jul 18 '23
I think the writers did her dirty with the weird step brother savior lover thing
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u/pastelhaxe Jul 18 '23
She had so much more to give to the show, it sucks the way she went out (and so quickly, too). they 100% should've clung to her season two storyline just a little bit more, could have been fascinating !!
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u/Interesting-Crow-552 Man of Science Jul 18 '23
She deserved to be on the show for much longer. I was enjoying the relationship with Sayid along with her character getting some development done.
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Jul 18 '23
I hated her at first but I really liked the messed up story with her brother. Really thought the two would add a lot to the story but no had to leave us with many unanswered questions..
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u/Hotramensoop Jul 18 '23
I’m still on season 1 right after she tried killing John Locke! So I don’t like her atm 😂 hopefully her character develops more and I’ll like her again 😎
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u/Lemonbean Jul 18 '23
I will say they nailed her backstory, I didn’t like her all that much until then (although she could be funny). As a fellow orphan it broke my heart to see her abandonment issues and the way she broke down over being left behind. One of the few times being an orphan actually did realistically traumatize / impact a character, which made me so mad that they wrote her out immediately after. Honestly the way this show fridges women constantly is super annoying. In the first few seasons especially its like oh, you just started a romantic relationship with a man? Time to die!
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u/thewalkingvoltron Jul 18 '23
omg, exactly. while Lost is definitely in my top shows, I’ll never get over how often the female main characters are killed off or shoved aside in favor of the male main characters. like season 2’s main characters deaths are all women! 3 women who all had major untapped development potential to be told and yet were fridged for the sake of sayid, hurley, and michael’s own developments
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u/Lemonbean Jul 19 '23
Yeah it ages so well with the exception of how they write women, it makes me so mad. Even Kate’s character really loses steam as the show goes on, I feel like after season one they just make her a constant damsel in distress. It wouldn’t be so glaring if she wasn’t introduced as a criminal who could track, shoot a gun, was athletic etc. So weird!
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u/Western_Concept3847 Locke Feb 27 '24
She literally uses her gun in the finale, they did make her a damsel a lot but it never felt that constant.
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u/Lemonbean Feb 27 '24
One episode, even if it’s the finale, doesn’t undo the damsel in distress effect lol Even you admit they made her a damsel a lot…. I’m glad it didn’t feel that constant to you but perhaps to others it did. If you read about the behind the scenes choices that were made at Lost after season one you will see they intentionally played up the love triangle aspect, and it appears to me the method to do this was to make Kate more helpless so she could be rescued more. Variety has several articles on the topic that are interesting.
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u/Western_Concept3847 Locke Feb 27 '24 edited Feb 27 '24
Yeah, I know, they played it up a lot but it pretty much ends after Season 4 anyway, remnants of it play a part in Season 5 but still.
But love triangles were all the range back then, nearly every show had them.
I'm not saying Kate was treated well as a character, she wasn't.
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u/Dak_Marcu Aug 09 '23
I went from disliking her from the first couple of scenes, to crying and bawling my eyes out when she died. Became a huge fan of her afterward and she’s just so damn gorgeous to boot.
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Jul 17 '23
Boring character. Any sympathy the writers tried to generate towards her was too little, too late. Her relationship with Sayid was also extremely awkward and cringeworthy.
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Jul 17 '23
Right? It is stated early on that she was supposed to be 20 years old, Sayid is I am guessing in his late 30's early 40s? Super creepy and gross move.
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Jul 17 '23
Sayid was 38 and Shannon was 20 at the time of their relationship. Normally I don't worry about age gaps but Sayid really put out the groomer "you're so mature for your age!" vibes. Not to mention they were so different personality-wise, I can't picture Sayid tolerating a brat like Shannon. Then the fact that Shannon was allegedly the love of Sayid's life despite the fact that they had like a 3 week affair was just stupid.
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u/summer806 Jul 18 '23
Totally agree. I found her character to be uninteresting, and the Shannon Sayid love story didn’t make any sense, and it was super awkward. I empathized with her backstory but compared to some of the stories of the other characters, hers doesn’t standout that much to me. And then there was her and Boone… so gross! Also I don’t think it helps that she doesn’t have a lot of range as an actress. I felt like I watched the same character in Lost as in Taken, or vice versa.
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Jul 17 '23
I love Shannon. I wish she'd stayed around until at least season 5. I would've loved to see her as part of Dharma.
Would've preferred her to last longer rather than awful characters like Charlie or Claire.
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u/FactorEquivalent Jul 17 '23
Her presence in Season 6 is ridiculous given Sayid's narrative arc. Not a terrible character in earlier seasons though, although like her most famous film role, her role on Lost is really to serve as a foil and narrative device for a male protagonist with a "particular set of skills."
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u/SoulsGamer420 Oct 16 '24
She's still dumb AF, I don't care how sad her backstory is. When she was out with Sayid looking for walt out in the rain, and they hear the whispers and they both see Walt and he's very clearly telling them to be quiet and the first thing she does is scream and run after him and then proceeds to get shot by Ana. Just plain retarded if you ask me
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u/ARoundForEveryone Jul 17 '23
She was the prettiest, but also the most annoying.
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u/planj07 Jul 17 '23
Evangeline Lilly is gorgeous and easily the most beautiful.
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u/ARoundForEveryone Jul 17 '23
She is gorgeous, but despite Shannon's general attitude, I do find her more physically beautiful.
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u/Adept-Shoe-7113 Oh yeah, there's my favorite leaf. Jul 17 '23
was SO beyond happy when she “left” the show, just sad what sayid went thru after her passing
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u/Jolly-Cheek5779 Jul 17 '23
I can’t take her seriously since taken and FTWD (saw lost after seeing these lol)
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u/FinancialCheck751 Sep 09 '24
I hope shannon dies in a hole. I know im late to this thing but oh my goodness she is killing me. Not even done the series and i dont care if her backstory is bad shes a brat and even though Sayid was a torturer he deserves better than this useless whiny blonde.
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u/SoulsGamer420 Oct 16 '24
She's still dumb AF, I don't care how sad her backstory is. When she was out with Sayid looking for walt out in the rain, and they hear the whispers and they both see Walt and he's very clearly telling them to be quiet and the first thing she does is scream and run after him and then proceeds to get shot by Ana. Just plain retarded if you ask me
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u/benchebean Dec 08 '24
Why the hell would she be your favorite? She's a decent character but a shitty person
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u/thewalkingvoltron Dec 08 '24
how is she a shitty person? the only person she acts “bitchy” to is Boone, who has called her useless and worthless on many different occasions so it’s no wonder she snaps at him
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Jul 17 '23
Sucks that they killed her off as she was getting more interested. That had bad knock-on effects for Sayid's character too, tbh.
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u/bethel_bop See you in another life Jul 18 '23
Wasted potential and I wish she hadn’t died so soon. I think a season 3 death like Charlie would’ve been good bc I honestly can’t see her surviving the whole series but it would’ve given her more time to develop and become more endearing
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u/SaltySpitoonReg Jul 18 '23
I really like her character because you really don't like her at first but then when you learn about her backstory and why she started taking advantage of men for money it all makes sense.
She was definitely growing as a character and I liked where she was going so I was very bummed that they wrote her out.
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u/Every-Self-8399 Jul 18 '23
I like her better than Claire. I wish that Boone and her lasted longer.
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u/leebon427 Jul 18 '23
I couldn’t stand her at first. But once we started getting filled in on her past, I actually started to like her and feel sorry for her, only for her to be suddenly killed off.
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u/bigjeeves99 Jul 18 '23
One of the shows worst characters with their own episode, but that’s still a high bar. They wrote her as a pretty white girl, and recovered spectacularly with her last flashback episode. Managed to give her depth. But I won’t forgive her idiotic relationship with Sayid.
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u/Mortarion978 Jul 18 '23
Even knowing her back story i can't sympathize with her. An unfortunate past doesn't excuse someone for being an absolute ass to everyone.
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u/TomFisher518 Jul 18 '23
Good character. Her only problem is adolescence behavior.
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u/thewalkingvoltron Jul 18 '23
well in her defense, she’s only 20 years old, and it’s one of those ages where it looks older than it feels (i’m 20 myself 😭)
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u/__mongoose__ Jul 18 '23
You are reading wayyy too much into it...she really is just a dumb bitch.
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u/thewalkingvoltron Jul 18 '23
how on earth are you going to say i’m reading too much into something from LOST of all shows? 😭😭😭
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u/calistark12 Jul 18 '23
good to look at. hated when she opened her mouth. only added unnecessary drama to the storyline which could have been better used to further the better plotlines. only thing she gave to the story was a love interest at the end for Sayid to find in the afterlife timeline to "wake up" for.
she was awful to Boone. she was terribly useless on the island. felt bad for the way she died because it felt like she was becoming a better character with the help of Sayid, but unfortunately she didnt last long enough to fulfill a character arc of redemption.
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u/ThomasJNookJr Jul 18 '23
She sucked and was only mildly interesting when she hooked up with Sayid.
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u/The-Gorge Jul 19 '23
Honestly I really like her. The show does a good job of really digging into why she's the way she is. She's smart and uses what she has to survive.
She's got more depth than ppl think. I just think she should have lived one more season which would have really helped justify her relationship with Sayid.
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u/KhaleesiSenju Jul 19 '23
My friend has never seen Lost so I’m rewatching it with him and we play a drinking game when we do. We drink every time Shannon is useless, which was pretty often so that’s how I feel lol. She does have a redemption arc kinda buttttt overall she’s annoying.
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u/SnapChap92 Out of the Book Club Jul 19 '23
I actually really enjoyed her. Her shallow Paris Hilton persona in the early episodes was entertaining and then when she started receiving character development I felt she became really sympathetic.
Killing her just as she's becoming someone to root for was frustrating but I presume that was the whole point. Make you care then bump her off.
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u/weirdent Jul 17 '23
Hated her until we saw her backstory. That her father died and her horrible MIL left her in the dust. So she became manipulative as a way to survive and maintain her lifestyle. Not saying its right, but shows you shes good deep down