Lost Ends 955
Unless you live in a hatch somewhere, you are probably aware that Lost has ended. If you want a simple, clear explanation of exactly how the series resolved, Lost Untangled will do nothing to clarify things for you. For everyone else, I provide this discussion thread for you to complain/revel in the most spoiler-laden manner you desire.
Two word summary: (Score:5, Informative)
Re:No. (Score:2, Informative)
Can we all agree that most t.v. just sucks big sweaty donkey balls?
Most TV? Certainly. But there are the occasional gems that make it worthwhile. A few examples of current, excellent shows include Better Off Ted (sadly canceled), Dexter, and Gravity (weird show on Starz about a suicide group).
That's just a drop in the bucket. There are plenty of excellent shows if you know how to filter out the noise.
Re:Hmmm.... (Score:1, Informative)
Sure why not? I watched pieces of a few episodes and found them to be utter nonsense. I knew there was a reason I tried to warn my friends away from that show. Utter tripe.
Re:Idiotic (Score:3, Informative)
Re:Religious Viewers= $ (Score:3, Informative)
The term we're looking for here is Willing Suspension of Disbelief [tvtropes.org], which itself is quite dependant on the fact that while the author's work may not be realistic, it is at least internally consistent.
However, if you break this internal consistency, turning your work into a mashed goop of misdirected literary intent, convoluted cross reference, stretched idioms, and outright lameness, you end up with a Wall Banger [tvtropes.org]. It's my understanding that this is precisely what happened to Lost. It also happened to BSG. It will basically happen to any story arc centric show in which the writers make shit up as they go along. For some reason, TV producers seem to think this is a good idea. Personally, I would have fired the writers and cancelled Lost in pre-production the moment I found out the writers did not have even a basic narrative plan from day one.
An example of a show this didn't happen to was Babylon 5. Apparently the writer had a good outline of the entire series mapped out before any shooting began. That's how you tell a long story in television, or anywhere else for that matter. This is pretty basic stuff, usually figured out by most people at around age six when their favourite make believe fairy tale world of swords and sorcery is finally ruined by someones suggestion that the party destroy the orbiting space dreadnought by sabotaging its reactor core. The Lost writers need to take a basic course in how to a) write and b) how to be a GM.
Re:Was Not Impressed at All (Score:5, Informative)
Hey, no fair! You Lost writers are not allowed to comment. You had years to make sense, and you didn't. No do-overs.
But seriously...
"Yes like any good book, questions were left unanswered." BZZZZT!!!
No, actually, a good book tells a coherent story.
Re:Season 6 was a complete disapoimtment (Score:3, Informative)
How does Kate end up at the funeral dead if she managed to fly off the island alive?
Christian Shepard: "Everyone dies some time."
They spoon-fed that one to you and you missed it.
A disappointment... Only if you let it. (Score:3, Informative)
"It claimed to have an underlying logic behind it" != "There will be answers to everything mostly spoonfed to you." Being a sci-fi nut, I'm painfully aware of unintended plot holes and inconsistencies. Every show has them. Well, every show that networks let last longer than three episodes. But just because a few things aren't explained or even (gasp!) don't make sense over the course of six years doesn't make it a terrible show. It makes the writers human and (gasp!) sometimes a little overambitious.
If you want, you can sit there and dwell on every single nitpicky little inconsistency, and yes, if you choose to do so, the show will likely suck for you. Or you could accept that there will probably be some things that you're going to have to imagine some rational explanations for yourself and even some (gasp!) continuity goofs and enjoy the show for the things that do make sense.
For the record, this was one of the things that was explicitly explained. It's been explained here. If you still don't understand, that's not the writers' fault; you must have missed it somehow.
...Or they're just like almost every other writer that has ever existed. They knew how they wanted the story to start, they knew how they wanted the story to end, they had some major plot points in mind along the way, and they knew in detail some key elements of the story. The rest was just filling in the spaces, fleshing out the details. Sometimes in doing so, some minor details got escalated and merited their own development. Sometimes in doing so, some minor continuity errors were introduced.
Any writer who tells you that they know the "full story" six years in advance is exaggerating, and not necessarily in a bad way. I'm pretty sure what I'm going to be doing at work next week, but stuff comes up and plans change, sometimes a little and sometimes a lot based on interaction with others (e.g. the writers think of something new and interesting to pursue) or outside influences (e.g. a old writer leaves and a new writer is hired).