Mike has got more working against him than just himself. Michael is a lifelong screw up. A failed artist, and a failed father, he finally gets one chance to do something right. Raise his boy. Then BAM, the plane crashes. First he fears losing Walt to the much more fun and interesting John Locke (they fight, remember that?). Then Michael literally loses Walt to the much more evil Others. If you think about it, it is Mike's fault that Walt is on the boat. I mean come on, who takes their kid out on a homemade Gilligan raft? That raft was supposed to be a complete symbol of hope. Think of how the raft sailing away was filmed. It should have been a triumph. Then BAM there was Ben and the Others to steal it all away. (OK so Ben wasn't there, but you get what I mean.)

I know I might be a tad rough on Michael. If you think about it, you will realize that every other father in the Lost world is a failure. Maybe failure is too tame of a word. Every father in the Lost world is an abject failure. Including Michael. But how does Season One Mike know that all other dads are awful on the show? Hey, if you take your kid out on a made from scratch raft out into the middle of the ocean and he gets kidnapped who do you blame? Do you blame the one who stole the son? Sure maybe Ben said Jacob wanted Walt. We know Ben wants him, but again, how does Season One Mike know that? Home made rafts are dangerous. I mean had Michael not seen 'Castaway' when Tom Hanks lost Wilson?? Wilson!!!!

There are all sorts of Michael apologists out there, defending his actions in the lame belief that he is not to blame, and to be sure there are some irrefutable facts to support this. Is Ben Michael's enemy? Of course he is. Is Ben a child stealer? No doubt about it. We all know that Ben has taken his child and is using Michael's connection to Walt to manipulate him and Michael is serving Ben to get his son free. All that aside, it is time for Michael to stop making excuses and take some personal responsibility for his actions. There is always some force or other that acts upon Mike and makes him do things, but once Mike realizes he has his own free will and that he needs to stop blaming his problems on others (or the Others) then that is when he will be freed of his albatross. Ben said it himself; he didn't make Mike kill Ana Lucia and Libby. Michael chose to kill them for his own selfish purposes.

In the end, Michael has many reasons to wear the albatross, but his greatest burden is in not finishing anything he's started. He finished the raft, but the raft was a failure in the end. Then, Michael finally gets Walt off the island only to lose him after Walt learns how his freedom was gained. Mike is a life long failure and Walt is obviously his major issue, but Libby is the physical representation of all the bull crap in his life. Her dream appearance, covered with the blankets looking for all the world like intestines, continues to haunt him. Michael shot her because of his burden - failure to finish anything well. Now he's on the freighter, unable to die because the island wants him to finish this - helping defeat Ben and redeeming himself to the Losties and his son. When he does that the albatross will be off his neck.

Part Two: Hurley by Laklost
Samuel Taylor Coleridge's Rime of the Ancient Mariner tells the supernatural encounter one man has with his ship full of mates, a seemingly lucky albatross which he in pride shoots, and the vengeance taken on him and his crew for their impudence against nature. When the other sailors become angry with the Mariner for his crime against the albatross they force him to wear the dead albatross about his neck. His curse is not lifted until he comes to appreciate the beauty of the nature around him and finds the ability to pray: "The self-same moment I could pray ;/ And from my neck so free/ The Albatross fell off, and sank/ Like lead into the sea."

Hugo (Hurley) Reyes has more than a little in common with this ancient mariner. He has the supernatural experience of being on this mysterious island, he has the bird, and he is learning the same lesson as the protagonist of the Romantic era poem: Love and respect for nature might just be the key to freedom.

Let's start with the bird. Hurley is the only Lostie with the honor of having had a sixteen-foot-wing-span green bird call his name twice. The Hurley bird is certainly not on anybody's Top Ten list of mysteries to be solved, not when there are temples and statues and cave doors to deal with. I suspect that there is no other purpose for the giant bird (which made an appearance in each of Seasons One and Two) except for being one of Hurley's many connections to the island. "Huuuuurrrley" the giant thing has been heard to squawk. What is it doing? What does it want? I'll tell you. It wants the fat, lazy, unlucky millionaire to open his eyes.

If anyone looks uncomfortable and awkward just being outdoors, it certainly is Hurley. But, has been pointed out numerous times, hardly anyone has risen to his tasks like Hurley. He has covered as much of the island as Sayid, and he has done it with aplomb. His crossing of the rope bridge in "Numbers" was one of my favorite scenes of the first season. Was he afraid? Heck yeah. Did it stop him? Not for a second. His trek to the cliff, where Dave almost killed him and Libby surely saved him, was not a journey for the faint of heart. Plus he has had more enjoyment fishing and swimming and playing golf than anyone.

Was this his pattern before island time? Absolutely not. His mother chided him for watching too much tv and eating too much chicken, and his physique shows his neglect. Weight-issues aside, he has become more comfortable outdoors than he would have guessed. Hurley has literally answered the call to nature.

This Romantic notion that nature can heal someone is the stuff of the literature and art of the 19th century. I feel very strongly that Lost represents a neo-Romanticism that has been rising up in our modern art. Look at how much nature sells in the advertising culture - outdoor pictures and activities are plentiful. We're cooped up all the time in front of computers, in offices - we need fresh air. It's a simple message, but anyone who has taken a long hike or done some gardening this spring knows that nothing refreshes like being outside. A person like John Locke, who went to Australia wanting the spiritual renewal of a walkabout, landed on the island and embraced the outdoor life. We can imagine Locke never again living like a 21st century man. But someone like Hurley who is all interiors in his mainland life shows better the contrast of what the island has done. It has restored his manhood.

That is what is so significant to me about his Season Four flashforward - that he arrives back in LA, falls into his previous behavior and mental patterns, and longs to return to the island. The writers are telling us that there is work to be done on the island, yes, but also that the island itself is not done working on the man. The albatross is still hanging around his neck.

There is a burden that he shares with all our survivors to understand the power of the island. This is what happened to the Mariner in Coleridge's poem. He thought he could unsettle nature by shooting the bird (think of the empty shots Michael took against the Hurley bird in "Live Together, Die Alone"), but instead he became unsettled. All of the Oceanic Six are preparing to leave the island to escape back to what they called their lives. Lives with houses, apartments, cars (even as cool as Hurley's Mustang), telephones, bank accounts, tv sets. They are even awarded with further wealth and that all important commodity in our culture, fame. But look where it lands Hurley, eating junk food, running from the law, and in SRMHI. This is not a positive progression of events or of character. "Back to the island" will benefit not only the island, but the essence of the people. The island heals because it is powerful, and because it is pure nature. The island might even be powerful because it is pure nature.