TRAPPED IN A FLASHBACK

Several news reports allege that Matthew Fox was arrested last Friday in Oregon for driving under the influence.

This is the second alcohol related arrest in less than a year. Last September, Fox had an alleged drunken encounter with when a Cleveland bus driver who charged him with assault, battery and infliction of emotional distress. Fox was attempting to board a party bus reserved for a private bachelor party after a night on the town.   Fox was in Cleveland at the time filming a movie. Prosecutors declined to press charges, but a civil suit was filed by the bus driver.


It is somewhat ironic that Fox's real life post-LOST is starting to mirror his LOST character, Jack.


In a major plot shift, Jack gets off the island and returns to Los Angeles as a hero.  A hero with a dark secret. His personal and professional life begins a downward spiral of alcohol and drug abuse to the point where he is unable to function. He becomes obsessed with the Island and the people he left behind. He turns into a bearded mad man, inches away from committing suicide on a bridge when an intervening car accident stops him. He has to go "fix" people but he cannot fix himself. In the dramatic flashback cliffhanger, Jack is at the airport screaming at Kate "we have to go back!"


It is unclear whether the fame associated with 6 years of LOST has taken a bitter toil on Fox. Like most cast members, their post-LOST careers have been anything but moderate to a jungle whisper. The public likes to hop on a rising actor or rock star's bandwagon and ride along to the top only to jump off to watch the wreck in progress when the star eventually falls back to earth. It is the cruel cycle of celebrity.


The idea of ABC-Disney re-booting the series can only add pain to the situation. Fox was cast as the doctor in the pilot, but the original idea was that the viewers would identify with him (since he had been a television star on Party of Five). And then, in the pilot, Fox's character would die in order to emphasize the cruel danger of the Island and the true plight of the survivors. However, ABC and the creators needed a likable actor to hold the ensemble cast together, so the Jack story became the foundation of the series, for good or ill.


You cannot go back to the Island. You can't go back to the celebrity status and fame of Season 1.