Tom Friendly

Tom is a recurring fictional character on the ABC television series Lost played by M.C. Gainey. A member of the antagonistic and mysterious group known as "The Others," Tom acted as a liaison to the survivors of Oceanic Flight 815 throughout the first two seasons. Before his name was revealed, he was called "Mr. Friendly" by the producers and writers but never on-screen. He has appeared in more episodes than any other guest star.

Appearances

Tom wearing a fake beard in "Three Minutes".

Tom is first seen in "Exodus: Part 2" when he leads a crew of Others on a motorboat to kidnap the ten-year old Walt Lloyd and destroy the raft which he was sailing away to safety with his father Michael Dawson, James "Sawyer" Ford and Jin Kwon. Tom wore a fake beard and old clothes to trick the survivors into thinking that the Others were primitive hillbillys. Tom continued to wear a fake beard and dirty clothes throughout the second season, whenever he met the survivors.

With the help of Alex Rousseau, Danny Pickett, Matthew and a few more Others, "The Fat Guy" captures Michael in "The Hunting Party" after he goes looking for his son in the forest. Michael was followed by Jack Shephard, John Locke and Sawyer, who in turn were being followed by Kate Austen. By putting a bag over her head, gagging and putting a gun to Kate, Tom was able to persuade Jack, Locke and Sawyer to hand over their guns and turn back. He also told them that the island belongs to the Others and that Jack should respect that. In "Three Minutes", Tom trekked to "Yurtville," with an angry Michael as his prisoner and handed him off to Bea Klugh, who interrogated him for the next ten days. A deal was made for Michael to bring Jack, Kate Austen, Sawyer and Hugo "Hurley" Reyes to the Others in exchange for his son Walt and the motorboat to return home with. In "Live Together, Die Alone", he takes Jack, Kate, Sawyer and Hurley to Pala Ferry with the help of Ms. Klugh and Michael. He was called by Kate on wearing a fake beard with theatrical glue at which time he took it off and would not wear again for the rest of the series. The captives were knocked unconscious and drugged while they were transported to a small island off the coast of the main island.

In "Maternity Leave" Tom is seen for the first time to be wearing clean regular clothes. In "The Glass Ballerina" he goes with Colleen Pickett to capture Desmond Hume's sailboat, the Elizabeth, from Sayid Jarrah, Sun Kwon and Jin, which he did, however Colleen was shot and killed by Sun in the process.

In "I Do", Tom supervised Ben's operation by Jack and was blackmailed into letting Kate and Sawyer escape. He assisted with the surgery in "Not in Portland" (despite the fact that he is afraid of the sight of blood). In "Stranger in a Strange Land" Tom told Jack that Juliet was in trouble and played a role in her trial. He later left the small island on a boat to return to the main island.

In "Par Avion", he and Jack are later seen in The Barracks, where many of the Others live including himself, happily playing football. They have formed something of a friendship, further demonstrated by Tom telling Jack to be careful on what he says because the place is bugged. In "The Man from Tallahassee" Tom is shocked when Locke blows up the Galaga submarine.

Since then, Tom has abandoned the Barracks with Ben and the rest of the Others to make camp in the jungle in "The Brig." Tom sends Locke to visit Ben, who tries to force Locke to kill his father. Tom watches as Locke is unable to bring himself to do it, and the next day he leaves with the Others to make camp as they abandon Locke for his failure. When Locke arrives at their new camp in "The Man Behind the Curtain", Tom is shocked when Locke reveals that he is going to be taken to see Jacob. Tom's faith in Ben's leadership is slightly shaken, and he and Richard look on in astonishment, ignoring Ben's calls for them to intervene as the newly empowered Locke beats Mikhail to the ground.

When Ben returns from Jacob and orders furiously that the attack on the 815 survivors camp will take place as soon as possible, Tom is part of the attack party sent to the beach to recover the women. Unbeknownst to the Others, the survivors already knew of the attack because of Juliet and Karl. The women's tents have been booby-trapped with dynamite from the Black Rock, in order to ambush the Others.

In "Through the Looking Glass", Sayid, Jin and Bernard manage to detonate two of the tents, killing seven Others, but ultimately are captured. Ben radios that the three are to be shot unless Jack stops his attempt to contact the outside world, but unknown to Jack, Ben has previously commanded that Tom pretend to kill the three hostages over the radio in order to fool Jack somehow. Jack believes Tom has gone through with the orders and swears he will come back and kill him, afterwards Tom expresses regret at not finishing the hostages that took out seven of their group simply due to Ben's whim.

The arrival of Hurley in a DHARMA Volkswagen van along with Sawyer and Juliet sees the rest of the Others' attack party killed. Tom admits defeat and surrenders, yet despite this, Sawyer shoots him dead, claiming revenge for Tom taking Walt off of the raft. This surprises both Hurley and Juliet, and Sawyer defends his actions by saying he didn't believe Tom's surrender.

Position in the Others' hierarchy

While not in charge of the Others, Tom does have some authority - shown in his conversation with Ethan about his dealings with Alex and Danny and also with the party that captures Jack, Kate, Sawyer, Hurley and Michael. He also had authority over Juliet after Jack said that she wanted Ben dead. He acts as an unofficial spokesperson/enforcer for the Others, however is subordinate to Ben Linus, Richard Alpert, and Isabel. According to Ben, Tom is of little importance compared to Jacob.

Casting and Filming Notes

• His name is revealed by Ms. Klugh. Prior to that, M.C. Gainey was credited as "bearded man" or "Mr. Friendly" and nicknamed "Bluebeard" and "Zeke" by Sawyer.
• He is the only Other to appear in all three seasons following the linear time line. Ethan has also appeared in all three, but only in flashbacks following his death in "Homecoming".
• M.C Gainey was only informed that Tom's beard was fake near the end of Season Two.