Supporting Actor Showdown: Michael Emerson vs. Terry O'Quinn

It seems that most Lost viewers share a love-hate relationship with the Emmy awards. Everyone commends Emmy voters for their excellent taste in voting the first season of Lost as the Outstanding Drama Series of 2005. Everyone condemns Emmy voters for their poor taste in refusing to nominate Lost for the top prize in season two or three. Exactly how does a drama receive nominations for writing, directing, acting, film editing, and sound, but not earn an overall nomination? Whether openly or not, we all would love to see our favorite show achieve the industry’s highest symbol of critical success. Lost may have been snubbed by the Emmy awards once again, but Lost fans can still take solace in the fact that both Michael Emerson and Terry O’Quinn received recognition for their outstanding work in season three. Neither actor will win, of course, because the voters who watch Lost will split their votes between the two (which is exactly how Shatner wound up beating O’Quinn and Naveen Andrews two years ago).
Nevertheless, the dual nomination of both Emerson and O’Quinn offers another opportunity for Lost fans to reflect and debate over the longest hiatus in the series. It is no accident that Emerson and O’Quinn were voted as the duo with the best on-screen chemistry during season three. Dialogues between the two offer not only a chance for a battle of wills between the characters, but also chance for two highly talented but remarkably different actors to go head-to-head. The rivalry between Ben Linus and John Locke will certainly become even more heated in the coming seasons. Here is my take on which actor deserves recognition as Lost’s finest actor during season three.
Ability to Lead an Episode
Season Three’s The Man Behind The Curtain included the first episode that centered on the Benjamin Linus character. Even so, it does not provide an accurate showcase for Emerson’s ability to carry an episode, because he himself appeared in only a single flashback scene. Nevertheless, audiences loved the episode, and voted it among the top episodes of the third season. Emerson managed to steal the show three separate times at the end of the episode: during the Jacob sequence, the Purge flashback, and shooting Locke into the pit. All three scenes demonstrated the same common strength: Emerson’s ability to create a false sense of security for the audience, and then to disrupt that calm in an instant. The episode certainly left viewers wanting to see more from Michael Emerson, both to learn more about his character and to showcase his talents.
Terry O’Quinn was offered three episodes in which to demonstrate his ability as the leading man, but with more mixed results. Further Instructions sounded like the perfect vehicle for O’Quinn to reestablish himself as one of the show’s leads, but some scenes didn’t quite work and it somehow came up short. Viewers continued to doubt his importance until The Man From Tallahassee restored his reputation. The flashbacks themselves were not amazingly interesting, but O’Quinn still managed to shine in every single scene throughout the episode. O’Quinn also had the most screen time in The Brig, but he was absent for the most crucial scene in the episode, and Josh Holloway stole the show in the minds of many viewers. In my opinion, The Man From Tallahassee includes a stronger lead performance than The Man Behind The Curtain, but O’Quinn’s other episodes are lacking in leadership.
EDGE: Emerson
Ability to Support in an Episode
Perhaps the best compliment you can give about an actor is that they have the ability to bring out the best in their fellow performers. Both Emerson and O’Quinn can generate great chemistry with almost anyone else you throw on screen with them. Emerson appears at his best in scenes that allowed him to push other actors to their limits (Matthew Fox, Josh Holloway, and Elizabeth Mitchell in particular). Even though he excelled against the acting heavyweights, some of his scenes with actors in smaller roles leave much to be desired. In particular, his scenes with Tania Raymonde (Alex) tend to suffer. Maybe it was just me, but it seemed that Emerson never conveyed the sense that Alex was particularly important to Ben compared to any of the other characters. Their interactions make it hard to believe that they have known each other for a significant period of time.
Season three gave Terry O’Quinn several chances to enrich scenes that focused upon other characters. He managed to develop a unique dynamic in response to each of the other actors. Truly in character, Locke’s interactions with Charlie, Eko, Sayid, Kate, Jack, Ben, Sawyer, and Cooper all appear genuinely different. O’Quinn also has the uncanny ability to elevate some of the smaller, quieter scenes to greater heights. In his brief appearance in Left Behind, he plays off of Evangeline Lily perfectly, and allows the scene to emphasize her emotions rather than his. Even in the off-beat episode Expose, O’Quinn was able to transform a short exchange with Rodrigo Santoro into a throwback to season one Locke, and make Paolo’s conflict more believable in the process. O’Quinn seems to demonstrate a better understanding of how to adapt to the other performers, so that his performance helps develop the other characters even while building his own.
EDGE: O’Quinn
Visual Acting
Terry O’Quinn offers one of the most expressive faces you can find anywhere on the small screen. Not only does he have the freedom to manipulate his face in ways unimaginable for most actors, but he also possesses enough creativity to invent new expressions for each episode. The writers seemed to flaunt this luxury by including several scenes for him that involve very few spoken lines. In Further Instructions, O’Quinn opened the season as a mute throughout his sweat-lodge/vision-quest. His silent face still managed to transfix the audience’s attention while he played computer chess in Enter 77, and while he destroyed the submarine without a word. O’Quinn also needed nothing more than his facial expressions to convey the despair of paralysis in two separate episodes (and both reactions were truly distinct). If you needed to choose one actor to carry an emotionally complex scene without relying upon dialogue, then Terry O’Quinn would surely be your man.
It is no coincidence that the two Sawyers both referred to Ben as ‘that bug-eyed bastard.’ The Southern conmen pinned down a pretty accurate description of Emerson’s most common facial expression. No matter what the scene, Emerson usually chooses an intense, open-eyed stare without exercising many muscles in his face. You could examine a bunch of still close-ups from each of his appearances in season three, and it would be difficult to name the right episodes. Perhaps this stylistic difference comes as a result of their different backgrounds (O’Quinn is a longtime TV veteran, while Emerson worked for years as a stage actor). In an interesting twist, though, Emerson’s eyes actually change color in different scenes during the finale. If Emerson has somehow immersed himself so much into his character that he can now emote through his corneas like a mood ring, then this achievement deserves additional consideration. Until we learn otherwise, though, O’Quinn deserves the edge.
BIG EDGE: O’Quinn
Voice Acting
Whenever Emerson speaks, he grabs the audience’s attention with an iron fist. Ben frequently needs to assert control over situations with just the power of his voice. He delivers most of his lines at a steady pace, but he usually knows exactly which words to emphasize and when to increase the tempo. The subtle quiver in his vocal delivery perfectly matches the eerie tone of the island’s mysteries. Emerson can be just as effective speaking from off-screen, or, as we saw in the finale, speaking through a walkie-talkie. Some of the show’s editing choices confirm this strength; we often continue to hear Emerson’s voice even as the camera focuses upon another character’s reaction. Whereas O’Quinn might serve as the true face of Lost, Emerson might represent the true voice of Lost. The parallel argument works here: if you needed one actor to pull off an important scene without relying on many visual close-ups, Michael Emerson would be the best choice.
O’Quinn’s voice acting is excellent in its own right. He could easily serve as a narrator in the vein of Morgan Freeman or Anthony Hopkins. Terry’s voice projects intelligence, knowledge, and wisdom, and his voice can be equally persuasive to the audience. I doubt that O’Quinn would have much difficulty in delivering any of Ben’s lines. Emerson still wins this category, even though O’Quinn possesses one of the strongest auditory presences of the actors on Lost.
EDGE: Emerson
Consistency
Michael Emerson was solid as a rock throughout the third season. From his first scenes with Kate in A Tale of Two Cities to his final scenes in Through The Looking Glass, he truly inhabited the role with one consistent vision. Part of Emerson’s dependability came from the fact that he needed to assert himself during the first twenty episodes that focused on other characters. He needed to make the most of his limited screen time in early episodes, and he maintained the same high standard of quality in nearly all of his scenes. Perhaps the only scene where he seemed out of character was his brief cameo in Expose, although that criticism reflects more upon the writing of that scene than the acting. O’Quinn’s work throughout season three appears much less even by comparison. Although none of his work in Further Instructions was poor, it is hard to pick out any of his scenes from that episode that were truly special. O’Quinn didn’t truly hit his stride until The Man From Tallahassee, and then he carried that momentum through the rest of the season.
EDGE: Emerson
Believability
Both actors face the tremendous challenge of remaining believable to the audience even as some of their motivations remain unknown, and even when they enter more and more improbable situations. Either role could have easily devolved into a caricature and killed the suspension of disbelief. Terry O’Quinn always manages to ground every scene in the realm of understandable human emotions. He can make even the most fantastic occurrences seem realistic through his reactions. Perhaps the best example is O’Quinn’s first appearance in the finale while in the pit. At the end of the scene, O’Quinn cracks a little smile, but somehow remains in character. Smiling during a dramatic scene always involves a risk, but he is perhaps the only actor on the show who knows when to when his character would be laughing on the inside at the absurdity of it all. However, he manages to increase the show’s credibility instead of diminishing it, by providing these fantastic events with a human touch.
The Man Behind The Curtain gave Michael Emerson the opportunity to make his character more believable as a human being and less of a stereotype. I think he achieved mixed results in that category. There are not many major differences in how Emerson emotes from scene to scene. Did anyone believe that Emerson looked truly touched while reminiscing with his birthday present? Did Emerson look like a man who was in the process of killing the father who had hurt him time and again? Did anyone truly understand Ben’s jealousy while he shot Locke? Now, in all of these instances, you could say that he must hide his emotions well as a result of his character’s personality. Even so, I would have liked to see him bring a little more to the table in each of these scenes. He played it safe, and chose not to take any real risks by adding anything to his character that could not be found in the script.
EDGE: O’Quinn
Degree of Difficulty
It is no mystery why many actors often seek out those juicy villain roles. It is usually less difficult to fill the role of a villainous mastermind than a flawed but sympathetic hero. There are thousands of actors who could play Iago, but very few who can make Othello believable. A villain like Ben receives countless opportunities to steal scenes and to make a big impression on the audience. Examples abound of actors who received tremendous accolades in similar roles: Anthony Hopkins in Silence of the Lambs, Denzel Washington in Training Day, William B. Davis in The X-Files, Ian McDiarmid in Star Wars, Hugo Weaving in The Matrix, etc. You can impress people more easily if you’re almost always displaying strength. No matter what happens, the writing ensures that a psychologically-manipulative bad guy will usually be the actor that audiences remember first. (On another side note, many Lost theorists out there believe that Ben must have some sort of advanced knowledge of the future. In other words, people think that the character must know the future, because they think that Ben would not be intelligent enough to manipulate people otherwise. Personally, I think that these theories are a slight insult to Emerson’s acting.)
O’Quinn’s role presents a more difficult task, because Locke could have fallen into the background much more easily. Most of John Locke’s scenes are less inherently interesting (less razzle-dazzle) than the Ben Linus role, and O’Quinn has always been up to the task of elevating Locke beyond merely what is written on the script pages. A lesser actor playing the character in all of the three seasons could have been overshadowed easily by the other members of the cast. Essentially, the task of playing Locke in season three required that O’Quinn remain believable even when his actions made little sense, and remain sympathetic even as his character became more selfish.
EDGE: O’Quinn
Most Ridiculous Scene
One of the best measures of an actor is how well they can pull off an imperfectly written scene. O’Quinn and Emerson were asked separately to portray two nearly impossible scenes in Season Three. When the writers chose to introduce Nikki and Paolo, they charged Terry O’Quinn with the task of addressing the new characters by name to the audience for the first time. Using just his own sincerity, he needed to make us believe that he had known these new characters all along. He made a valiant effort, but the lines are still groan-inducing: “First things first, we've got to look out for Mr. Eko, so, Paolo and Nikki, bring towels and water.” Audiences were probably never going to accept Nikki and Paolo after this mishandled introduction. Depending upon whom you believe, Nikki and Paolo may have been written out of the series as a result of this failure.
In The Man Behind The Curtain, though, the writers posed an even greater challenge. They not only asked Emerson to have a conversation with a chair, but also added the stipulation that future seasons would depend upon the audience’s belief in that invisible man. Amazingly, though, Emerson very nearly made the scene work. He does speak and act as if he were actually having a conversation with another person. The viewer’s reaction to the scene follows the same path as Locke’s: “He’s a liar! No wait, he’s crazy! No wait, it’s all real!”. His contributions to the scene hold up on a second viewing, and he never departs from his absolute conviction that Jacob is real. For Emerson’s sake, let’s hope that he won’t need to have too many more conversations with his invisible friend. It really would be too much to ask for him to converse with Jacob on a regular basis, and to develop acting chemistry with a chair.
EDGE: Emerson
The Hypothetical Switch
If you cast the two actors in opposite roles, then who would be more believable as the other character? I believe that Terry O’Quinn would be fairly convincing as the mysterious leader of the Others. The key to playing the master manipulator Benjamin Linus effectively lies in maintaining the psychological upper hand in any conversation. When given the chance, O’Quinn has demonstrated the same impeccable timing and delivery that is necessary to maintain this illusion of control in every situation. O’Quinn can make any lie sound like the truth (such his heartfelt “We’re going to find our friends” speech). It is not difficult to imagine O’Quinn executing those same subtle manipulations of Jack, Locke, Sawyer, Juliet, and others in season three.
It is more difficult to imagine Emerson (or anyone else for that matter) playing the role of John Locke effectively. Although you could make many comparisons between Ben and other villains, John Locke continues to defy any traditional categorization. Locke is a walking mass of contradictions: a paraplegic who became an imposing hunter, a zealot who remains a frequent skeptic, a man of great potential with a track record of failure, and a strong-willed individualist who desperately seeks acceptance. I don’t think that Emerson could project the right combination of forcefulness and vulnerability necessary to portray all of John Locke’s scenes.
EDGE: O’Quinn
Head-to-Head Match-ups
Emerson and O’Quinn faced off directly against each other several times during season three, in The Man From Tallahassee, The Brig, and The Man Behind The Curtain. The dialogue was written so that the characters themselves got to battle back-and-forth, exchanging the upper hand every minute. As a result, it is truly hard to say which actor managed to steal those scenes from the other. Even though Ben might be more skilled at manipulating Locke, O’Quinn is more skilled at manipulating the audience. Locke remains the emotional focus of each of these scenes. At times, Emerson appears as if he is reading speeches from a script, but O’Quinn manages to deliver every word as if he were actually thinking it.
EDGE: O’Quinn
The Final Verdict: O’Quinn
By its nature, Lost is an ensemble drama that relies on the contributions of all of its actors. Michael Emerson and Terry O’Quinn both delivered performances this year that are Emmy-worthy. You can’t really go wrong in supporting either man. Overall, though, I think that Terry O’Quinn’s work is a slightly more remarkable achievement. As always, feel free to disagree with any part of my analysis. I hope that this piece offered an opportunity to evaluate these two actors in greater depth. Let’s hope that Emmy voters can recognize the complexity and beauty of their work rather than settling on a comedic scenery-chewer like Shatner.