Miles Straume
‎
First appearance	"Confirmed Dead"
Centric episode(s)	"Confirmed Dead"
Information
Name	Miles Straume
Former residence	Inglewood, California, USA
Profession	Medium
Portrayed by	Ken Leung

Miles Straume is a fictional character played by Ken Leung on the ABC television series Lost. Miles is introduced early in the fourth season as a hotheaded medium aboard the freighter 130 kilometers offshore of the island. Miles arrives on the island and is taken captive by John Locke (played by Terry O'Quinn), who suspects that those on the freighter are there to harm his fellow crash survivors of Oceanic Airlines Flight 815 and expose the island to the general public. Miles is on a mission to obtain Ben Linus (Michael Emerson) and kill all other islanders; instead, he cuts a deal with Ben to lie to his employer Charles Widmore (Alan Dale) that Ben is dead. Inglewood means Wood in the Corner. ... This article is about the U.S. state. ... Mediumship is a form of relationship to spirits practiced in many religions, including Spiritualism, Spiritism, Espiritismo, Candomblé, Voodoo, Kardecism, and Umbanda. ... Ken Leung (born January 21, 1970) is an American actor. ... A fictional character is any person, persona, identity, or entity that is created from ones imagination or from an adaption of an existing entity. ... Ken Leung (born January 21, 1970) is an American actor. ... The American Broadcasting Company (ABC) is an American television network. ... LOST redirects here. ... The fourth season of the U.S. serial drama television series Lost began airing on Thursday, January 31, 2008. ... Mediumship is a form of relationship to spirits practiced in many religions, including Spiritualism, Spiritism, Espiritismo, Candomblé, Voodoo, Kardecism, and Umbanda. ... John Locke, most often referred to by his surname Locke, is a fictional character on the ABC television series Lost played by Terry OQuinn. ... Terrance Terry OQuinn (born on July 15, 1952) is an Emmy Award nominated American actor. ... The logo of Oceanic Airlines from the ABC television series Lost. ... Benjamin Ben Linus is a fictional character on the ABC television series Lost played by Michael Emerson. ... Michael Emerson (b. ... This article contains character information for the American drama/adventure television series Lost. ... ‹ The template below (Expand) is being considered for deletion. ...

The writers wrote the role of Miles specifically for Leung after seeing him guest star on The Sopranos and Leung was the only actor to read for the part. They chose his name because it resembles "maelstrom", another word for a powerful whirlpool. Reaction to the character has been positive. This article is about the television series. ... Saltstraumen maelstrom A maelstrom (or malström) is a very powerful whirlpool; a large, swirling body of water. ...

Arc

In early December 2004,^[1] Miles goes to the house of a grieving woman named Mrs. Gardner (Azure McCall) to communicate with her dead grandson. Miles apparently speaks to the grandson's spirit by using a electro-magnetic field (EMF) generator and finds a large amount of drugs and money. Miles keeps the money, but gives Gardner a refund for half what she paid him. Matthew Abaddon (Lance Reddick) later selects Miles, along with Daniel Faraday (Jeremy Davies), Charlotte Lewis (Rebecca Mader) and Frank Lapidus (Jeff Fahey) to retrieve Ben from the island and kill all other islanders once the task is accomplished. Miles and the others journey on the freighter called the Kahana until Frank flies them in late December via helicopter to the island.^[2] Miles is taken prisoner by Locke and kept in a boathouse near the Barracks.^[3] The next day, Kate breaks him out so that he can speak to fellow prisoner Ben. Miles tells Ben that he will lie to his employer Widmore that Ben is dead in exchange for $3.2 million in the next week.^[4] Miles is caught by Locke and taken back to boathouse, where Locke temporarily shoves an armed grenade into his mouth.^[5] After some of his fellow freighter crew attack the Barracks, Miles leaves with James "Sawyer" Ford (Josh Holloway), Claire Littleton (Emilie de Ravin) and Aaron for the beach.^[6] This article contains character information for the American drama/adventure television series Lost. ... Lance Reddick is an American actor born in Baltimore, Maryland. ... Jeremy Davies (b. ... Rebecca Mader (born 1979 in Coldhams Lane, England) is an actress perhaps best known for turning down a permanent role on All My Children. ... This article contains character information for the American drama/adventure television series Lost. ... Jeffrey David Fahey[1] (born November 29, 1952) is an American film and television actor. ... James Ford, better known by the alias Sawyer, is a fictional character on the ABC television series Lost played by Josh Holloway. ... Josh Holloway (born July 20, 1969 in San Jose, California) is an American actor best known for his role as James Sawyer Ford on ABCs Golden Globe award and Emmy award-winning show Lost. ... Claire Littleton is a fictional character on the ABC television series Lost, played by Emilie de Ravin. ... Emilie de Ravin (pronounced )[1] (born 27 December 1981)[2] is an Australian actress. ... This article contains character information for the American drama/adventure television series Lost. ...

Characteristics

Miles is hotheaded and initially hostile toward the survivors,^[7] after one of them kills his colleague Naomi Dorrit (Marsha Thomason). But he, too, is disrespectful of Naomi after she dies, referring to her dead body as "just meat" and telling Kate "sure I'm affected [by Naomi's death]. She was hot and I dug her accent." Upon learning that Miles has been captured by Locke, Frank informs Sayid that "that guy's nothing but a pain in my ass."^[3] This article contains character information for the American drama/adventure television series Lost. ... Marsha Thomason (born November 22, 1976 in Moston, Greater Manchester, England) is an English actress, who is best known in the USA for playing Nessa Holt in the NBC series Las Vegas for the first two seasons. ...

Miles sarcastically nicknames his acquaintances,^[8] prompting critics, fans and characters to compare him to the character Sawyer^[9] and give him a nickname of his own: "mini-Sawyer".^[10]

Actor Leung has said that "Miles doesn't know how to be social, which is great, because I don't know how to be social."^[11] He has also stated that Miles "trust[s] the dead more than the living" and is intrigued as to whom Miles grieves for.^[12]

Development

The day after the April 22, 2007 episode of The Sopranos titled "Remember When" aired, Lost's co-creator Damon Lindelof met with fellow executive producer/writer/show runner Carlton Cuse and said that "there's an actor on th[e] show [last night]—I'm not going to tell you who he is—and I wonder if he has the same impression on you that he had on me".^[13] Cuse correctly guessed Ken Leung, who had guest starred as one-time character Carter Chong.^[14] In mid-May, they contacted Leung's agent and were informed in July that he was available and interested in working on Lost. To limit the leak of spoilers, Lindelof and Cuse auditioned Leung with a character and scene created specifically for the audition that would not be used in the show but was "analogous to the role [that they] really want[ed]."^[15] Leung believed that he was auditioning for the role of Russell, a brilliant mathematician in his late thirties with immense knowledge across various scientific fields, limited social skills and broken personal relationships.^[16] Leung was the only actor who tried out for this part, as writers had written the (originally recurring guest) role of Miles for him and had he not accepted the job, the character would have been completely rewritten.^[13] The name Miles Straume was simply chosen because the writer-producers thought that "it would be cool if his name sounded like 'maelstrom'".^[17] Costume designer Roland Sanchez based Miles's wardrobe choice after that of The Rolling Stones member Keith Richards; specifically a picture in which he wore a sleeveless vest. Sanchez believed that Miles fit the haggard look and bought an Armani Exchange jacket, cropped the sleeves and added a hood and this outfit assisted Leung's understanding of Miles.^[18] The writers planned for an episode in the late fourth season to focus on Miles's backstory;^[19] however, this will be moved to the fifth season as a result of the Writers Guild of America strike.^[20] is the 112th day of the year (113th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2007 (MMVII) was a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar in the 21st century. ... Remember When is the 80th episode of the HBO original series, The Sopranos. ... Damon Lindelof, 2006 Damon Laurence Lindelof (born April 24, 1973) is an American television writer, executive, hack, and most recently noted as the co-creator, executive producer, head writer and show runner for the hit television series Lost. ... Carlton Cuse at the 2006 San Diego Comic Convention Carlton Cuse Born Aurthur Cuse is a television writer and executive, most recently for the ABC television series Lost where he serves as writer and executive producer. ... The following is a listing of fictional characters from the HBO series, The Sopranos that are friends or family of the Sopranos. ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ... Rolling Stones redirects here. ... Keith Richards (born 18 December 1943) is an English guitarist, songwriter, singer, producer and founding member of The Rolling Stones. ... This article is about the fashion company. ...

Reception

After four appearances, Leung was nominated for the J. C. Penney Asian Excellence Award in the Supporting Television Actor category,^[21] but he lost to Rex Lee, who plays Lloyd on HBO's Entourage.^[22] According to Jon Lachonis of UGO, Miles and the other new characters have been well received by fans.^[23] After Miles's introduction in the second episode of the fourth season, Jeff Jensen of Entertainment Weekly wrote that Leung made "a strong impression" and was well cast.^[24] Chris Carabott of IGN stated that "Leung does an adequate job of getting Miles' arrogant brand of confidence across"^[25] and Paige Albiniak of the New York Post also praised the addition to the cast.^[26] Diane Werts of Newsday thought that "Ken Leung and Michael Emerson may be the two current most interesting actors in this mix".^[27] Alan Sepinwall of The Star-Ledger commented that "Miles the dustbusting ghostbuster is easily my favorite [of the characters introduced in 'Confirmed Dead'] … why not throw in a medium [among the show's science fiction phemonena] … I love the sarcastic energy he brings. Sawyer and Ben can't be the only ones getting the good one-liners".^[28] This article is about the department store chain. ... Rex Lee (born January 7, 1969) is a Chinese-American actor best known for his role on HBOs Entourage. ... This is the list of major and minor recurring characters in the ongoing HBO dramedy series Entourage. ... For other uses, see HBO (disambiguation). ... Entourage is an Emmy Award-winning HBO original series created by Doug Ellin that chronicles the rise of Vincent Chase — a young A-list movie star — and his childhood friends from Queens, New York City as they navigate the unfamiliar terrain of Hollywood, California. ... UGO Networks, Incorporated (pronounced as individual letters, IPA: [juʤiÊ”o]) is a website providing coverage of online media in entertainment targeting males age 18-34. ... Entertainment Weekly (sometimes abbreviated EW) is a magazine published by Time Inc. ... IGN - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia /**/ @import /skins-1. ... The New York Post is the 13th-oldest newspaper published in the United States and the oldest to have been published continually as a daily. ... Newsday is a daily tabloid-size newspaper that primarily serves Long Island and the New York City borough of Queens, although it is sold throughout the New York City metropolitan area. ... The Star-Ledger is the leading newspaper in New Jersey. ...

References