Note that he was on a payphone calling her, and even before he heart Bryan in the background he reacted badly to her suggestion that she called him back. Fighting a custody battle when the child is an ocean away and you have no regular support and are now injured and probably unable to work for a while? Caving on ceding the parental rights is a dicier issue, though.

for Michael, I think the dealbreaker was his accident. No way could he have afforded those bills.

So the question is, could he have sued the taxi for bills associated with running him over? If he was run over during Giuliani's administration, probably no, considering he was jaywalking. Stupid Giuliani.

I think the real point is that he didn't have any idea how to react to each successive step. So when she arrived at the hospital to buy him off, he was more like, "Oh. This is the culmination of your evil plan," and realized he had no options. (I don't think she really had an evil plan, but in a plan-off, she beats him hands down.)

I disagree. I think she clearly had a plan to cut Michael out. She insisted that the child have her last name, she wasn't interested in marrying Michael and she clearly thought him a source of poor financial support.

To me, the worst thing is that she didn't seem to care a lot about Walt. He was yelling for her attention, she MADE her husband adopt Walt. Crazy.

I don't like her.

This conversation is reminding me of something I meant to post a while ago. So far, I don't see if/how this ties into the whole Island of Mystery thing, but it seems like most, if not all, of the castaways (okay, the main cast, at least, from which I exclude Scott, Steve, and Rose) have one thing in common -- they were all screwed over by someone, which led to them being on the Flight O' Doom.

Kate -- farmer guy turned her in
Locke -- wasn't allowed on the Outward Bound trip
Claire -- (1) jilted by her babydaddy, and (2) some sort of weird mojo with the psychic
Michael -- selfish fucked-up babymama
Boone -- Shannon's scam (and she, in turn, therefore, screwed herself over)
Sayid -- errr, I actually can't remember his backstory, oops
Sawyer -- he's kind of the inverse of this; he spent a chunk of his life screwing other people over, and at the end screwed himself over by not going through with the scam
Charlie -- NSM, though he probably *felt* screwed over by his brother when he refused to get the band back together
Sun and Jin -- NSM, really, though Sun was planning to screw Jin over by walking away, but then she couldn't
Hurley -- don't know his backstory at all

And Jack -- unless you consider that his dad, by killing himself, screwed Jack out of the chance to play the hero, Jack doesn't fit into my pattern very well.

What might it all mean? Probably fuck-all. But interesting.

Sayid -- errr, I actually can't remember his backstory, oops

He helped Nadia escape from the Iraqi prison & firing squad, and in the process shot his friend Omar. So I guess you could say Nadia screwed him over because she wouldn't talk about the bombing.

We still don't know why Sawyer and Sayid were on the plane. Despite his appearance in the police station, Sawyer clearly wasn't being extradited.

A lesser common thread I see, which isn't present in all the characters, AFAIK, is Parent-Child Issues.

Michael & Walt, Claire & baby, Jack & Dad, Sun & Korean mafia Dad, Sawyer & the long-ago scam on his family.

Again, does it mean anything? Doubtful. But still interesting.

Sayid -- errr, I actually can't remember his backstory, oops

His backstory ep didn't get to the part where he ends up in Sydney.

Again, does it mean anything? Doubtful. But still interesting.

It means that JJA is chock full of daddy/parent issues. (See also, Alias.)

Sayid -- errr, I actually can't remember his backstory, oops

His backstory ep didn't get to the part where he ends up in Sydney.

That's right. Okay, I feel better.

Sawyer I always assumed was on the plane to flee someone who was chasing him on a bicycle, yelling "I want my two dollars!"