Lost (TV Show)

[RAcker]

"Lost" failed to do the one thing it was promising to do from the very beginning and that was to explain the island. While last night's finale went the "feel good" route, those fans that were awaiting the awe inspiring explanation of it all were left whiping with a banana leaf.

There was a perfect opportunity to explain how Jacob and his still unnamed brother were aware of all of the islands mystical properties.  Who built the temple?  Who built the lighthouse that allowed Jacob to become a seer?  Who taught him how to do what he did including leaving the island to "touch" the candidates?  What were the actual rules to their "game" and why?

Anyone that thinks it was okay to excuse the shows writers for not addressing certain issues just because "it doesn't matter now" due to their being dead and letting go are letting these guys off way too easy.

My point is, you wouldn't accept this type of thing from a feature-length film, why would you accept it from a 6 year show?  There was plenty of time to explain it all.

To those that excuse the shows writers for not addressing certain issues just because "they are leaving it open for a future spin-off" are equally letting them off the hook.  

I have no problem with the overall concept of what they tried to do via the final scene and the theme of finally accepting crossing over into the afterlife.  Where I have a problem is in the fact that they took entire seasons to build up Jacob and Dharma and Widmore only to make them of little or no consequence in the end.  

They could have done a lot better, plain and simple, and while the episode was emotionally well executed it is just not mindblowing and a show like "Lost" deserved mindblowing.

[jdpapa3]

It was a failure and a MASSIVE cop out.  I'm sorry, but if you got wrapped up in all the emotional "pulling at the heart strings" moments in the finale, you did exactly what the writers hope you'd do... forget the fact that the show stunk and cry a bunch.  

The emotional moments and character development was the point of the show and you seem to be missing it. The mystique of the island and the mysteries made it cool. All of the major mysteries have been answered for me personally. A lot of the other mysteries are akin to what "the force" is in Star Wars. I just don't understand how someone could watch 100+ hours of the show if you hated the characters.

To each his own, but it seems you watched the finale just to act all uppity about the writing. I know this is a strawman, but I'd be willing to bet the same people critical of the ending would be just as critical of the answers given.

[wdleehi]

I enjoyed the last episode.


As far as last episodes go, it was pretty good. 



How many have we seen that just flat out stunk?

[RAcker]

It was a failure and a MASSIVE cop out.  I'm sorry, but if you got wrapped up in all the emotional "pulling at the heart strings" moments in the finale, you did exactly what the writers hope you'd do... forget the fact that the show stunk and cry a bunch.  

The emotional moments and character development was the point of the show and you seem to be missing it. The mystique of the island and the mysteries made it cool. All of the major mysteries have been answered for me personally. A lot of the other mysteries are akin to what "the force" is in Star Wars. I just don't understand how someone could watch 100+ hours of the show if you hated the characters.

To each his own, but it seems you watched the finale just to act all uppity about the writing. I know this is a strawman, but I'd be willing to bet the same people critical of the ending would be just as critical of the answers given.

Who put the cork in the island and knew to do that?

You telling me that's not important?

I love the characters and their development, but that is not what the majority of people tuned in for last night.

[RAcker]

Let's face it.  This finale was like "Citizen Kane" not letting you in on what Rosebud was.  It's like "The Usual Suspects" leaving Kaiser Soze unexplained.

I respect anyone's view that doesn't agree with me, but I still think you are wrong.

[LarBrd33]

My point is, you wouldn't accept this type of thing from a feature-length film, why would you accept it from a 6 year show?  There was plenty of time to explain it all.

RAcker nailed it.  I was going to say that the problem is... I sat through all 5 seasons of "The Wire"... a show that actually was able to fill 5 seasons of content with an actual coherent, well thought-out narrative and was able to make every moment in those 5 seasons actually MATTER to an eventual conclusion.   After watching that... LOST just seemed like television crack for people with ADD...

But Alan Sepinwall basically summed up all my of my thoughts in this article:  http://www.hitfix.com/blogs/whats-alan-watching/posts/lost-the-end-see-you-in-the-other-life-brother  He even brought up "The Wire"... 

[Edgar]

I refuse to read this because i dont want to ruin it for me

big fan.

[fairweatherfan]

It was a failure and a MASSIVE cop out.  I'm sorry, but if you got wrapped up in all the emotional "pulling at the heart strings" moments in the finale, you did exactly what the writers hope you'd do... forget the fact that the show stunk and cry a bunch. 

The emotional moments and character development was the point of the show and you seem to be missing it. The mystique of the island and the mysteries made it cool. All of the major mysteries have been answered for me personally. A lot of the other mysteries are akin to what "the force" is in Star Wars. I just don't understand how someone could watch 100+ hours of the show if you hated the characters.

To each his own, but it seems you watched the finale just to act all uppity about the writing. I know this is a strawman, but I'd be willing to bet the same people critical of the ending would be just as critical of the answers given.

Who put the cork in the island and knew to do that?

You telling me that's not important?

I love the characters and their development, but that is not what the majority of people tuned in for last night.

I don't think it's important to the story that was told, just as the adventures of Hurley and Ben after Jack's death weren't important.  Sure, the show could've said "a group of Egyptian ex-slaves washed ashore and created it to prevent evil mystical energy from continuing to pollute the Earth", but then it becomes "what's this mystical energy?  Where did it come from?  How did the slaves know how to make the cork?  Why is the cork so special?" etc, etc.  Same deal with the statue, or the fertility problems, or where Jacob's "mom" came from, or what the smoke monster actually was, or why a bird said "Hurley!" for no apparent reason a few years back.  You'd need 2 or 3 extra seasons of pure exposition to wrap everything up, and you'd wind up with something very bloated and unsatisfying.

I saw the show as being about a group of characters plucked out of a crossroads in their lives, placed in an unfathomable situation, and how they reacted to it as they peeled the onion apart layer by layer.  Just because the onion was never fully dissected, and some of the character arcs ended in unsatisfying ways doesn't mean the story wasn't an enjoyable ride, which is the whole point of an entertainment show.

Was it the best-written show in TV history?  Nope, though its best moments were some of the best I've seen on television.  The most coherent?  Nowhere near it.  But it was fun to watch, was incredibly ambitious, and had some of the best characters and plot hooks I've ever seen on a TV show.  That's pretty darn good in my book.

[Casperian]

There was a perfect opportunity to explain how Jacob and his still unnamed brother were aware of all of the islands mystical properties.  Who built the temple?  Who built the lighthouse that allowed Jacob to become a seer?  Who taught him how to do what he did including leaving the island to "touch" the candidates?  What were the actual rules to their "game" and why?

Anyone that thinks it was okay to excuse the shows writers for not addressing certain issues just because "it doesn't matter now" due to their being dead and letting go are letting these guys off way too easy.

I agree, I am very disappointed by this ending.
There are far too many questions left open. From general stuff like the healing powers, Walt´s magical powers or the time travels to details : why there was a brainwash room in this dharma station with a film that said "God loves you as he loves Jacob", the dharma food packages, why the guy dressed in black became a smoke monster after falling into the light, and so on, and so on...

People say this was a great show, but it was a great show because it had so many "what the heck" moments. As it turns out, these moments were only in there to make us scratch our heads and feel silly, so I feel a bit deceived.
The finale was well-made from an emotional point of view, I can see why people liked it, but the story-telling to build this moment up was a total hack job.

[muddy02]

i have no idea what you are all talking about it.

[KCattheStripe]

No matter how you look at it , all the drama of the past two seasons could have been avoided if they had never gone back to the island.

[jasail]

It was a failure and a MASSIVE cop out.  I'm sorry, but if you got wrapped up in all the emotional "pulling at the heart strings" moments in the finale, you did exactly what the writers hope you'd do... forget the fact that the show stunk and cry a bunch.  

The emotional moments and character development was the point of the show and you seem to be missing it. The mystique of the island and the mysteries made it cool. All of the major mysteries have been answered for me personally. A lot of the other mysteries are akin to what "the force" is in Star Wars. I just don't understand how someone could watch 100+ hours of the show if you hated the characters.

To each his own, but it seems you watched the finale just to act all uppity about the writing. I know this is a strawman, but I'd be willing to bet the same people critical of the ending would be just as critical of the answers given.

Who put the cork in the island and knew to do that?

You telling me that's not important?

I love the characters and their development, but that is not what the majority of people tuned in for last night.

I don't think it's important to the story that was told, just as the adventures of Hurley and Ben after Jack's death weren't important.  Sure, the show could've said "a group of Egyptian ex-slaves washed ashore and created it to prevent evil mystical energy from continuing to pollute the Earth", but then it becomes "what's this mystical energy?  Where did it come from?  How did the slaves know how to make the cork?  Why is the cork so special?" etc, etc.  Same deal with the statue, or the fertility problems, or where Jacob's "mom" came from, or what the smoke monster actually was, or why a bird said "Hurley!" for no apparent reason a few years back.  You'd need 2 or 3 extra seasons of pure exposition to wrap everything up, and you'd wind up with something very bloated and unsatisfying.

I saw the show as being about a group of characters plucked out of a crossroads in their lives, placed in an unfathomable situation, and how they reacted to it as they peeled the onion apart layer by layer.  Just because the onion was never fully dissected, and some of the character arcs ended in unsatisfying ways doesn't mean the story wasn't an enjoyable ride, which is the whole point of an entertainment show.

Was it the best-written show in TV history?  Nope, though its best moments were some of the best I've seen on television.  The most coherent?  Nowhere near it.  But it was fun to watch, was incredibly ambitious, and had some of the best characters and plot hooks I've ever seen on a TV show.  That's pretty darn good in my book.

This is exactly how I feel. I made a choice about halfway into season 3 when I decided to commit to this show.  I knew at that point that they couldn't possibly answer all the questions I had about the island in any cohesive way.  I figured if I realized this the writers did too.  So I asked myself do I like the characters enough to stay on board to see why they are there?  The answer was/is yes.

I agree that it wasn't the most cohesive writing, but they created some very real characters and had them broach subjects that are hardly ever broached on basic cable.  In the end I still enjoyed the hell out of it.  

[Casperian]

But it was fun to watch, was incredibly ambitious, and had some of the best characters and plot hooks I've ever seen on a TV show.  That's pretty darn good in my book.

Of course, if the writers don´t have to worry about any consequences, they´re free to have incredible plot hooks. Steven Segal movies follow a similar concept.
It had great dialogue, a fantastic cast, characters you cared about, was well produced from the setting on hawaii to the score, it was a hell of a ride...but it didn´t make an iota of sense, in my humble opinion.

To me, that´s a bit like having bad sex with the girl of your dreams on prom night.
Massive build-up, no satisfaction.

[RAcker]

We too were incredibly ambitious.  

[fairweatherfan]

We too were encredibly ambitious.   

Hey, you leave Tremors out of this, both for not being particularly ambitious at all (small desert town, underground worm monsters, the end) and for being a fun little movie in my opinion. 

And being ambitious wasn't the only thing the show had going for it by a long shot. 

Anyway, I enjoyed it, I'm sorry you didn't, but I think it would be silly for either one of us to claim to be objectively right in our personal opinions.  I just think if the show had answered every conceivable question it would have severely bogged down the narrative and been far more of a convoluted mess than it wound up being.  And I'm positive people (not necessarily you personally) still would've complained.

It had great dialogue, a fantastic cast, characters you cared about, was well produced from the setting on hawaii to the score, it was a hell of a ride...but it didn´t make an iota of sense, in my humble opinion.

I think the entire show could be summed up nicely by Locke's conversation about backgammon in the very first episode:

Locke: Backgammon is the oldest game in the world. Archaeologists found sets when they excavated the ruins of ancient Mesopotamia. Five thousand years old. That's older than Jesus Christ.
Walt: Did they have dice and stuff?
Locke: [nods] But their dice weren't made of plastic. Their dice were made of bones.
Walt: Cool.
Locke: Two players. Two sides. One is light. One is dark.

It was a long, confusing journey to get there, and a lot of specifics were left out, but ultimately, that's the plot.  Oldest story in the world.