10 TV Shows That Redeemed Hated Characters In A Single Episode

4. Michael Dawson - Lost

The Episode: Season 4, Episode 14 ("There's No Place Like Home Part 3")

As brilliant an actor as Harold Perrineau is, there's no denying the divisiveness of Lost's Michael Dawson.

Though initially intriguing, his tireless - if understandable - desire to get his son Walt (Malcolm David Kelley) back quickly wore thin, and Michael soon enough became a one-note caricature of himself.

He finally got something memorable to do late in the second season by murdering Ana Lucia (Michelle Rodriguez) and Libby (Cynthia Watros), the former death being cheered on by fans but the latter not so much.

Michael then disappears until season four, where he's finally afforded his true character-making moment in the epic season finale, sticking behind to try and disarm the freighter bomb, and eventually sacrificing himself to allow his pal Jin (Daniel Dae Kim) to escape.

While it only scarcely forgives those earlier seasons where Michael was given little to do but search for his absent son, it was nevertheless a fitting sacrificial death.