L O S T

[jazzman]

That sounds like 6 years of frustration being vented out over one finale
Honestly speaking though, I think that the finale did a reasonable job of closing a series where they'd never be able to answer all the questions, and where the only options are: 1) it's all a dream 2) aliens 3) magic. Yeah they brought everyone out for the end, but the way they ended it, that made sense. It's not as if they cooked up some lame plot twist just so they could bring everyone back - it was an integral part of the story for some time. One other common misconception (I assume it's a misconception rather than the truth) is that they're all dead the whole time, but as far as I know, they're only dead in the flash sideways timeline.

At the church, Jack's father explains that some people die before we do, some long after. Hurley reminisces about the teamwork between Ben and him, i.e., they worked together for some period after Hurley became Jacob's and Jack's replacement. Someone (can't remember who) explains that "now" doesn't mean much. All of this seems to mean that they were not all dead the whole time. But, considering everything, I could be wrong (or merely lost).

 

[Iakona]

At the church, Jack's father explains that some people die before we do, some long after. Hurley reminisces about the teamwork between Ben and him, i.e., they worked together for some period after Hurley became Jacob's and Jack's replacement. Someone (can't remember who) explains that "now" doesn't mean much. All of this seems to mean that they were not all dead the whole time. But, considering everything, I could be wrong (or merely lost).

Yeah I recall - I just don't like speaking in definitive terms where Lost is concerned, because... who knows for sure?

Also, I missed a season and a half (at least) when I refused to watch after they routinely had episodes that didn't advance the story at all. So who knows what kind of loopholes to my statement could have been introduced in that time

 

[dark_isz]

For me it was bitter-sweet. I did enjoy the finale, and found it satiated my desire for answers, while leaving me with enough unresolved questions to chew on for a while. I am not upset that they didn't spoon feed me all the answers. If they had done that, I would have felt ripped off. This show has encouraged it's viewers to think from the beginning. To question what they know and believe, to look for answers, to speculate, and to realize that what was assumed definite is actually the complete opposite. That being said, I did find the finale somewhat upsetting, mostly because, well, there won't be any more episodes.

 

[Golden Ears]

For me it was bitter-sweet. I did enjoy the finale, and found it satiated my desire for answers, while leaving me with enough unresolved questions to chew on for a while. I am not upset that they didn't spoon feed me all the answers. If they had done that, I would have felt ripped off. This show has encouraged it's viewers to think from the beginning. To question what they know and believe, to look for answers, to speculate, and to realize that what was assumed definite is actually the complete opposite. That being said, I did find the finale somewhat upsetting, mostly because, well, there won't be any more episodes.

Agreed 100%
There were so many connections throughout the show that it did indeed involve a level of concentration that few other shows required. I really liked how seemingly secondary characters reappeared later on to become important plot drivers, and I also enjoyed all the little "easter eggs" throughout.
I was very satisfied with how it ended and I think that everyone "found" what they needed.
I guess if the magician shows you how his magic tricks work he's just another guy, where as, if you enjoy his tricks for what they are then its magic.

Hmm, what to watch now

 

[mretzloff]

The more I think about it, the more I like the finale. I just am stumped by the Biblical and Egyptian references.

 

[The Knize]

After sleeping on the Lost finale, I have to say that I pretty much agree with RaisinDot and SlagleRock. "Total stinkeroo" pretty much covers it. A hug fest borrowed from MTM Show, for sure.

In retrospect, the show pretty much ran out of steam quite awhile back and should have been ended a few seasons ago. Once in awhile it would rally with some good stuff, but there was no way to pull all of this stuff together, and for me anyway, it became impossible to keep my disbelief suspended.

Pulling the stone phallus of of the hole where the light comes out then killing yourself in the process of putting it back in--not interesting. Christlike wound in the side for Jack? Give me a break. Church of the every religion we can think of? Everyone at the end resolved their psychological conflicts and became fulfilled/enlightened? The Island was the most important thing they ever did? Sort of "Hero of a Thousand Faces" I guess. But what did they really do on the Island other than fight to stay alive against un-understandable enemies up to no one ever knew what.

And touching brings back those memories, but we are in neverland anyway and each of us is dead so what does the touching matter? It is just sort of a surprise party for Jack, presided over by his father or all people? How the heck did his father achieve enlightenment?

I do not think there really was an ending that could make sense for the series. I guess an everyone is okay and together again ending is as good as any. Pretty darn good TV series there for awhile.

Yeah, I thought the Sopranos ending was lame, too. They ended it by not really providing a finale. Six Feet Under had the best finale, but as a result of its wrappng things up so cleanly I do not think anyone ever wants to watch the re-runs. Sienfeld had a great ending.

I expect 24 to do a better job. I really would rather 24 not end. It could go on like MI-5.

 

[Zenas]

The finale didn't matter with respect to the past 6 Seasons. It ended in the most unpredictably predictable fashions- everyone died, at some point.

Well duh.

As I understand it, the sideways shots occurred in a pseudo-purgatory wherein time does not exist, so that everyone was there and was experienced by everyone else in a linear fashion, regardless of when they died in the real world. As Jack's father said, some died before him, some long after, but that doesn't matter because time doesn't exist there and they are there.

What does any of that have to do with the past 6 seasons? Nothing, save for the fact that they spent that time developing those relationships. However, Kate presumably lived a long life, long after Jack died. The same with Sawyer with regard to Juliet. The past seasons simply don't matter with regard to the finale.

Disappointing to say the least.

 

[The Knize]

I agree, Zenas.

I thought of another way to frame my rant on the Lost finale. The whole sideays ending was basically very "chick flick." I probably like chick flicks more than most guys. But, really, how many hard core Lost fans were watching it beause of the depth of the characers relationships and their spiritual development? Zenas, put it much better than I could or was thinking about it. The finale had nothing to do with the rest of the show.

 

[SRock]

I had an inkling of what the ending was going to be within the first few episodes because I think logically the show had to end that way. My thoughts were confirmed with this seasons flash-sideways. Everything was perfect for the characters:

Locke could walk after surgery conducted by Jack. Jack had the son he thought he would never have, proving that he would've been a good father. Sawyer was in a job that he always wanted: doing good for people. Ben was a teacher/leader, something he wanted on the island. There are countless other examples, but the point is that everything was very convenient for the characters in the flash-sideways, kind of like the concept behind Vanilla Sky: creating a bearable reality for yourself because the truth may be too traumatic.

Also, when the Oceanic 6 return to LA, Jack says something along the lines of, "We don't belong here."

Moreover, I think the reality we see in the show is what Jack experienced. There is the possibility of different perspectives of the events, and we get a taste of that when certain episodes are character-centric.

The other thing that occurred to me is that each character is representative of how people feel and react in certain situations. I for one, and I'm sure this is true for many, really related to Jack in terms of his wanting to control the chaos and being a (reluctant) leader. At some point we all question ourselves, much like the characters in Lost did. We all have a smoke monster inside of us, the difference being whether we choose to harness it or not.

That sums it up pretty well and I can totally understand the inkling after the first show or two.

I have been watching America, The story of us. It's a great show.

I haven't heard of this show!? Who is airing it? I may have to see if I can get it online.

Well, if you don't understand anything from Lost, just know this:

If you get a weeper that just won't go away, blame John Locke.

Post of the week!

I think that the finale did a reasonable job of closing a series...

I do agree with this. It did a reasonable job.

The more I think about it, the more I like the finale. I just am stumped by the Biblical and Egyptian references.

I would have been ok with the end if they just would have come out with it instead of hiding in allegory. It wasn't terrible but it was predictable and a little weak.

 

[WastedResources]

I enjoyed watching all six seasons of Lost. They did a good job wrapping things up. I'm glad it's over. I wish more shows had a limited run. It's nice to get closure.

 

[SmoovD]

I liked the concept of the last show, or at least the moving on portion but I find it was just another example of the writer's flying by the seat of their collective pants. Over the past six seasons there have been so many instances of dropped plotlines, rabbit trails, etc that it was hard to look at the show with any sense of a story arc.

That said, I think many of the shows can stand on their own. The early episodes which were character driven instead of plot- fleshing out the characters were interesting. Unfortunely, the writer's tried to get too cute by starting storylines that they could not finsh or even bother to attempt to finish.

Perhaps, what was I most disliked about the finale was that the episode had a self-referential feel about it. All the characters realized that the end/new beginning was going to occur. It seemed more written as an excuse to bring back the characters written out of the show than attempt to reconcile some of the recent outstanding issues.

Oh well, I am glad that it is over anyway.

 

[Zenas]

I want to know about the numbers, their significance, and how the Dharma Initiative's work played in with the island, Jacob, etc.

 

[Captain Flint]

The more I think about it, the more I like the finale. I just am stumped by the Biblical and Egyptian references.

... and Latin!

 

[Captain Flint]

For me it was bitter-sweet. I did enjoy the finale, and found it satiated my desire for answers, while leaving me with enough unresolved questions to chew on for a while. I am not upset that they didn't spoon feed me all the answers. If they had done that, I would have felt ripped off. This show has encouraged it's viewers to think from the beginning. To question what they know and believe, to look for answers, to speculate, and to realize that what was assumed definite is actually the complete opposite. That being said, I did find the finale somewhat upsetting, mostly because, well, there won't be any more episodes.

I'm with you, man.
There are lots of stuff that really didn't get anywhere, but I guess that's part of the deal.
Each one of us can imagine a different ending, but this finale was all in all truthful to the rest of the series. Lots of emotion and cheap mysticism, I grant you: that was inevitable with all the twists and turns of the storyboard. They couldn't end it any other way.
I'm glad that they didn't destroy the whole thing up like they did with Heroes (I stopped watching that one after the first minutes of the 3rd season's first episode)

 

[TstebinsB]

I avoided watching the finale because that would've meant acknowledging the show's end. I buckled down and finally watched it tonight. I can't say that I was overly impressed with the finale but neither was I disappointed. Going in I felt that no ending could ever do the show justice. They did the best they could. The show took you so many places during the six seasons that any effort to tie it all together would've been difficult. There were too many things to address, too many questions to answer.

Ultimately, LOST was about the journey and not the destination. Tne ending really wasn't that important. It was about those moments in between that brought upon thought, reflection, empathy, joy, regret, pause, etc. There were moments in this show that rivaled some of the greatest cinematic performances of any show or film that I have ever seen. The endless amount of scenes that stick with you can't be described in the simple recount of a narrative. You really had to be there, so to speak. As far as television goes, these were six years well spent.

 

[blary54]

I thought the finale was a cheeseball hug fest. The writers really coped out of explaining anything.

I agree this show was more about character development and the journey than getting the answers to the mystery. But it would of been nice to have some more answers.

I'm glad the show is over. I watched the first 3 seasons and it was fantastic...Then once they introduced the time travel to the plot things really went down hill. I still watched the show because I liked the cast and the creativity, but it kept getting dumber and the plot kept going no where and not making any sense.

 

[The Knize]

I am not sure why I really care, and I apologize to all of you that are getting sick of seeing my name pop up on this thread. But another thought I had was that the Lost finale, along with the waste of time that Heroes turned out to be, will probably spell the end for this genre of shows.

Would any of use have been as caught up in it is we knew that at the end of the day the show's writers could not really explain much of it either. That all the numbers and the dharma initiative, etc., etc., really did not make sense because it did not in fact add up to anything remotely plausible. And when I say remotely plausible there is lots of science fiction that creates enduring believeable worlds that do not actually exist.

 

[Y2K]

I avoided watching the finale because that would've meant acknowledging the show's end. I buckled down and finally watched it tonight. I can't say that I was overly impressed with the finale but neither was I disappointed. Going in I felt that no ending could ever do the show justice. They did the best they could. The show took you so many places during the six seasons that any effort to tie it all together would've been difficult. There were too many things to address, too many questions to answer.

Ultimately, LOST was about the journey and not the destination. Tne ending really wasn't that important. It was about those moments in between that brought upon thought, reflection, empathy, joy, regret, pause, etc. There were moments in this show that rivaled some of the greatest cinematic performances of any show or film that I have ever seen. The endless amount of scenes that stick with you can't be described in the simple recount of a narrative. You really had to be there, so to speak. As far as television goes, these were six years well spent.

Well said. I don't watch much TV but loved this show, I thought the ending was all right. The only thing I hated about the last episode is the amount of commericals they jammed in it. I liked that some things were left unexplained - will make it interesting to watch LOST again sometimes to see if I've missed anything.

 

[AndrewWiggin]

This.

I would have been happy if any questions at all had been answered. As it stands, we really only found out one thing: the flash sideways was limbo.

I know, all the questions couldn't have been answered, and I understood that, but I also expected at least some cursory explanation for some of the biggest themes, such as what's the deal with Walt, what was the light, what the heck was the smoke, etc.

An answer to any of these questions would have made me think, well, they did the best they could, in the end, there was simply too much going on. For a final season that promised answers, the writers and directors were full of sh*t. If you are going to give me nothing, fine, don't tell me I'll get answers. For a show that spawned so many theories, they took away all the fun of finding out who, in the end, was right.

I watched the show from the beginning for the mystery and the mythology, and you copped out for the emotional. The directors claimed (even in the series recap) that the show was smarter, and they had resisted the urge to "dumb down" the show. That's a load of BS, the finale was entirely dumbed down and appealed solely to emotion. The best memories I will have of LOST are the times when my friends and I would sit and discuss what might happen, and by giving us nothing, those memories are ruined-so much potential, and so little result.

So, to sum all my feelings up, to the writers and directors of LOST: many of us watched the show expecting a storyline, and we gave a great deal of time over six years in excited anticipation to see that storyline come to a close, with so many of our theories being proven or refuted, and in return, you took the sixth season, and the finale, and kicked us in the collective crotch.

 

[liege]

I now know that smoke detectors are $10.99 at Target.