Lets assume for the moment that Sayid, Claire, and Danielle were all infected by "the sickness" and ultimately claimed.

Michael showed quite similar symptoms to all of them. This could explain the seemingly drastic character change he underwent from season 1 to 2.

These symptoms include:

1) An initial symptom being extreme susceptibility to suggestion. We see in this episode that Sayid takes orders from both Dogen and UnLocke without questioning them. Remember Claire in Season 4 under Christian's control? This could explain how Michael was so willing to shoot and kill Ana Lucia in order to get his son back.

2) A seething, uncontrollable obsession with a missing loved one - Claire for Aaron, Sayid for Nadia, Danielle for Alex, and Michael of course for Walt.

3) In later stages of infection, a tendency towards violence. Sayid of course already was a violent man, but the other three have all been shown to start out as kind, gentle people and quickly become unrepentant killers.

4) Poor personal hygiene - say no more...

Discuss!

I always thought the scene when Michael shot Ana Lucia was one of the most oddly acted scenes on the show, and I've never been able to decide whether it was intentional or just Harold P. not "selling" it. One thought of mine had been that they filmed it sort of open-ended, so that they could later decide whether Michael was acting of his own volition, brainwashed, or literally being "controlled" by someone else. It could also be something as simple as Harold P. not being told enough about his motivation to really act it the right way. But there always seemed something very non-volitional about his movements.

Whether intended or not, showing that Michael was infected by Smokey would certainly be plausible at this point. Could have happened when the Others took Walt -- when Sawyer pulled Michael back onto the raft, he appeared dead and Sawyer had to beat on his chest to "revive" him.

Still, I think we probably got all the explanation for Michael's actions we're going to get, on the show: there was that scene in the Others' fake village where Bea Klugh explains what he had to do when he got to the Swan. Although killing Ana Lucia was the part he supposedly improvised....

That is true... Michael's actions were similar to Claire's.

But the problem is that Michael also showed a lot of guilt in Season 4... his flashbacks in "Meet Kevin Johnson". He showed that he had a heart and was completely himself in the Season 4 scenes before he died with Jin and Desmond.

I've never liked that they made Michael into a murderer, no matter how desperate he was to get Walt back. If he was never brought back in S4, then I can believe that he was claimed.

I'm sticking with the theory that you have to die to be claimed. I don't think Rousseau was claimed, I think her team was.

I'm sticking with the theory that you have to die to be claimed.
when Sawyer pulled Michael back onto the raft, he appeared dead and Sawyer had to beat on his chest to "revive" him.
Whoa! I forgot about that bit. Maybe Ezra B Sharkington was actually smokey out there in the water getting ready to recruit. :biggrin:

Interesting parallels.

Maybe Ezra B Sharkington was actually smokey out there in the water getting ready to recruit.

If he was, he's in the parallel now.

Maybe they, TPTB, were still working on the concept of bodies being claimed by smokey when Michael killed Ana Lucia. I, too, thought that scene was as awkward as it was supposed to be shocking. But then there was Christian in the engine room when the freighter exploded, so what does that tell us? It takes awhile to work these ideas out, I guess.

In the last episode Dogen told Sayid that in order to save his son he had to do a different job by coming back to the island, and this would keep his son alive.

I can't remember if it was already solved in the show, but this sounds alot like what Michael did for Walt. By working on the ship to make sure his son was ok. And if I remember right, it was Ben that had him go on the ship...

Ben at that time was still working for Jacob. Just some fragmented thoughts that I draw some parallels from.

In the last episode Dogen told Sayid that in order to save his son he had to do a different job by coming back to the island, and this would keep his son alive.

I can't remember if it was already solved in the show, but this sounds alot like what Michael did for Walt. By working on the ship to make sure his son was ok. And if I remember right, it was Ben that had him go on the ship...

Ben at that time was still working for Jacob. Just some fragmented thoughts that I draw some parallels from.
Michael went on the Kahana to redeem himself for killing Ana Lucia and Libby. It had nothing to do with Walt.

"Kevin Brown"
MICHAEL: Whatchyou want from me, man?
TOM: In a few days, a freighter is porting in Fiji. It's Widmore's boat. We have reason to believe he's finally found the coordinates of the Island, and he's heading right for it. So congratulations, Michael. Your shore leave is over. You just got a job on that boat. Meet Kevin Johnson.
[Tom sits down and tosses a U.S. passport to Michael and it drops on the table in front of him. Michael pages through it. In his new passport photo, he's smiling a big toothy grin.]
TOM: You're joining the crew in Fiji as a deckhand.
MICHAEL: You want me to go undercover? Why the hell would I go back to work for you people?
TOM: Because if Widmore finds the Island, it's good night for everybody on it. He'll kill them all without thinking twice. You wanna redeem yourself for what you did? This is your only chance. You can save all their lives.

Too bad there was no sign he felt redeemed when the ship blew. Just confused.

Good catch and topic...it could go either way.

Too bad there was no sign he felt redeemed when the ship blew. Just confused.

Redemption is just used as a motivator as far as I can see. Dogen tried it with Jack. Everyone says this is a show about redemption, but as far as I can tell, it simply doesn't happen. Charlie martyred himself, he didn't even need redemption from what I can see. Eko refused to ask for it. (Good for him!). I don't understand how Michael was supposed to redeem himself of being a murderer by murdering even more people.

Michael went on the Kahana to redeem himself for killing Ana Lucia and Libby. It had nothing to do with Walt.

"Kevin Brown"

It had to do with Walt in so far as he shot AL and Libby in order to get Walt back.

But getting back to the question, being claimed implies that he was on one side or the other. While he was hired by Ben to make things better between him and the other survivors, he was visited by Christian who some people connect to Smokey. Was he divided at the end or did one or the other have him as their own?