Rob McElhenney’s Bitter Henchman Remains the Funniest Part of ‘Lost’
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Good news for people who don’t want to spend a single second of the summertime outdoors — all six seasons of the hit ABC series Lost are now streaming on Netflix. Judging from the reaction on social media, a lot of people are excited to rewatch the popular, and frequently misunderstood, sci-fi series.
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While we mostly remember Lost for its dramatic storylines, wacky twists and improbably hot plane crash survivors, there was some comedy to be found in the show too. Case in point, Hurley’s dad was played by the great Cheech Marin, who somehow wasn’t responsible for creating the “Smoke Monster.”
But in retrospect, the most notable cameo for comedy fans was when It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia’s Rob McElhenney showed up in Season Three as “Aldo,” an armed guard working for the mysterious “Others.” We first see him reading a copy of Stephen Hawking’s A Brief History of Time before the poor guy gets roughed up by Sawyer and knocked unconscious by Kate after spilling his guts in a truly un-Mac-like fashion.
Although that may have been a fun (albeit kind of distracting) cameo for Sunny fans, clearly McElhenney’s character wasn’t intended to be a major part of the show. Like, it would have been pretty weird if he randomly showed up in that church in the controversial series finale.
McElhenney was supposed to make an appearance in the third season finale, but ultimately couldn’t because he was too busy shooting It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia. Producers later implied that his character had been killed off during the Others’ climactic battle with the castaways.
McElhenney’s casting came about after he met two Lost writers at a dinner party, who professed their admiration for It’s Always Sunny. They also informed him that Lost co-creator Damon Lindelof was similarly a “big fan.” Since Lost was McElhenney’s “favorite show on the air,” he asked if he could visit their offices. Sunny “didn't even have a writers' room,” he revealed in an interview. “I just wanted to see how a real show functions.”
While he was checking out the Lost offices, Lindelof casually remarked, “Hey, if you ever want to be on the show, let me know.” To which McElhenney replied, “Yes, I will be on the show, please.”
Presumably it was this mutual appreciation that led to Aldo the Other later being resurrected in a Season Six episode.
Yeah, it turned out that he wasn’t dead after all. In one of the funniest moments in the whole show, we learn that Aldo is still pretty bitter that Kate banged him on the head with the butt of her rifle. He’s further offended that she doesn’t even recognize him or remember the incident that was clearly so traumatizing for him.
But right as he’s venting these emotions, Kate knocks him unconscious again.
Aldo finally gets killed off for good later in the episode — although his death scene is far less brutal than the fate that befalls McElhenney’s Game of Thrones character.
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