I guess I get that. A lot of people feel the same way, obviously. But I'm of the mind that the ending doesn't have to detract from the journey. And it was an amazing journey. At least, it was for me.

But I'd also argue that they answered everything they needed to answer. Whether or not one liked the answers is a different story all together. But I'd argue the answers are there.

The very ending (the reveal in the flash-sideways) was a little weird. But I didn't hate it. And the more I've thought about it/rewatched it, the more it's grown on me. It certainly wasn't what I was expecting or what I would have done, but I didn't hate it.

Everything else in the series, everything else about the ending, I thought, was just fantastic. Great entertainment. Thought provoking. Brilliant character studies. Topical. Philosophical without being too flimsy or talking down to the audience.

I will defend Lost in its ability to make character development compelling. I never expected to be so involved with the antisocial Korean couple the beginning of the series. Thats great writing.

However, they also made Kate absolutely awful by the end of the series.

Had they come out around season 2 or 3 and immediately said, they will leave some things on the island a mystery, people would not have been so pissed.

That quote at the end of the granland piece is telling. People were pissed at the hatch cliffhanger. How could they not see a problem with ending the series with no payoff?

Ever read The Stand?

I'd like to hear your thoughts on the novel if you have.

Again, I suppose it depends on how you're defining "payoff." Because the show does end. The mysteries do get answered. There is a payoff in that sense.

Whether or not it was satisfying is a matter for each individual viewer. But I wouldn't say they ended "the series with no payoff."

And, I think, it's irrational and a little absurd that anyone got angry at a television show for ending it's first season on a cliffhanger like that. I thought it was brilliant in every way. Like Lindelof said, I suppose I can understand a level of disappointment, but anger?

I think that says a lot more about the viewers than it does about the show.

I never read it, but the mini-series was a snoozefest.

****ing this! They didn't explain shit.

No, they do not.

Who was Jacob? Who was his brother? How old were they? How long had they been on the island? Why were there Egyptian symbols and statues everywhere? Why were the "Losties" brought to the island? How could the island move through time? How did Penelope's father know how to travel back and forth?

What happened to Sun & Jin's baby? Why was Walt "special"? What happened to Michael? JFC, I could go on and on and on.

I fully believe the Island was meant to be a metaphor for "Purgatory" but since Howard Stern and many other people immediately said it was purgatory, ABC quickly denied that fact. Then, they had to come up with other bullshit, which they failed to explain.

The producers THEN said that Season SIX was purgatory, which is horseshit.

They may have done a great job with the characters and their backstories but they did a ****ing horrific job of explaining WHY they were all on the island and WHAT the Island had to do with their lives and the lives of others.

Plus, why wasn't the island, or at least life on the island, completely devastated when the nuclear warhead was detonated? That was just plain silly.

Yeah, it was a pretty great show up until the point where we learned that we were being cheated by a story with no payoff for so many of the things that kept us tuned in.

To say there was no payoff is ridiculous.

What was the payoff?

No payoff "for so many of the things that kept us tuned in". That doesn't mean no payoff at all. Read Dane's post for a list of mysteries that went unanswered and that's just skimming the surface.

The show's biggest artistic achievement is to make every viewer realize whether they are a man of science or a man of faith.

Men of faith will accept the show on its own terms, are generally uninterested in having an answer for every little thing.

Men of science see the literally like hundreds of dropped plot threads and unresolved issues and hold those against the show (I am one of these people for the most part).

In the vast, vast majority of cases, one's reaction to LOST is a great predictor of their real-life religious/spiritual beliefs.

I've still never seen this show. I mean obviously I've seen little bits and pieces plus promos and commercials from TV, but that's all. How great is this show? I know a lot of people absolutely adore it, and there are some people who loathe it. Just makes me wonder if the people who hate it only hate it because it was popular.

I don't disagree with this post,but I will say that I'm an atheist.

Fair enough. Not every single, little, tiny, thing was answered. But they answered all the important questions. I'm not sure how the questions you're asking here have much barring. Jacob was old. He was there a long time. Since before Egyptians. Why does it matter exactly how old; exactly how long? That has nothing to do with the story being told - the story of the survivors of Flight 815.

If these are the kinds of questions you are angry about being left unanswered, I can see why you hate it so much. And I imagine there is no way to answer any other questions you have in a satisfactory way.

They explained how Widmore traveled back and forth from the island. And Michael died. We saw it happen.

The island wasn't destroyed by a nuclear blast because... well.... probably because that's just suspension of disbelief. It's a TV show. The writers would probably tell you the special properties of the island had an affect.

You know how excited it made you feel to watch it every week (even if it was only the first 4 or 5 seasons)?

I don't know about you, but every Wednesday (or Thursday for that one season) I was so happy because it was coming on.

Not only that but they did answer a shit load of stuff. Things changed along the way that didn't allow them to do what they wanted, and that accounts for some of the things.

Sure they didn't answer everything, but who cares? It was entertaining as all hell, you can't deny that.

I was sucked in like everyone else. I managed to watch every ****ing episode of that show only to miss the very last one. I was pissed off to the point of no return. Then, I realized that they probably didn't answer anything anyway, so I said **** it. Maybe I should go and try to watch the last one just for closure.

You should. The show didn't answer all the questions many of us wanted answered, but at least it was an ending.

On a related note, I watched every episode of the first season of 24 and then had a commitment I couldn't avoid for the final episode. That was a bummer. (I eventually saw it in reruns, but I'd already been exposed to spoilers so it wasn't really the same).

Yea, I've had people tell me what happened, but I don't really remember now. It's amazing how something can piss you off so much time and time again, yet you keep coming back for more.



Kinda like being a Chiefs fan






















or being married.

Entertaining? Sure. A ton of WTF moments.

It would have been SO much more entertaining had they explained everything.

It's like masturbating and getting close then stopping without ejaculating.

What was the point?

What wasn't explained that left you wanting? Just curious.

What happened? I missed the last episode too.

Only one I missed. Fml
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Here's a pretty extensive synopsis from IMDB. Needless to say, it's full of spoilers.

That show had no payoff at all. I felt like I had just wasted the last 6 years of my life after that finale.

Thank you
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EVERYTHING was explained as a fever dream of a dead man. But along the way there were TONS and TONS of intriguing mysteries that were floated and subsequently ignored. Were I of the notion, I could catalog PAGES and PAGES of plot points, visual anomalies, hinted conspiracies, shadowy characters referenced, backstories hinted at, etc. etc. that Carlton and Cuse were more than satisfied to introduce as tantalizing mysteries to by subsequently explained with no intention whatsoever to do so.

It's like if you took Watergate, the Kennedy assassinations, the Patraeus scandal, the Teapot DOme, the Bay of Pigs, and the popularity of 2 1/2 Men, promised to establish how they were all linked to one common conspiracy, only to awake the next morning attributing everything to a bit of heartburn from a too rich piece of carrot cake. eaten last night.

If you want to answer your own question, start on page one of this thread and catalog each question contained therein, then justify how each was answered.

I watched every episode. Talked about them and debated where the storyline was going etc. All of it was a dying mans dream? BS

I wanted to know the same answers that Dane mentioned. There was no payoff. The writers ****ed us and still don't come clean why they decided to do that to its viewers.

It's all on Netflix.

I'm perfectly happy with the answers the show provided. I don't need to go fishing for questions others felt went unanswered.

Of course there were some red herrings along the way. Some by design and some just an unfortunate casualty of the process (ABC dragging their feet on an end date, for example). And some viewers latched on to things that were less important and made them very important in their own minds. Can't fault the creators for that.

And fever dream? Really? I'd recommend going back and watching again if that's really what you took away from it.

I'm not trying to stir up old shit. People that hated it, hated it, and I get that. I'm not here to change minds. I'm just curious, if there's a common thread among people who felt there was no payoff. I'm wondering if lots of people are citing the same mysteries as "unsolved" or "unexplained." Just curious if there's a consensus.

Again, it wasn't a dying man's dream.

Whatever happened, happened. It's one of the major themes of the show.

I'd be livid too if that's really what the show boiled down to.

Just a small [minute?] example, but I recall pondering a picture of Michael Emerson's childhood sweetheart as a child, ostensibly from the 70s, with a book published in the 2000's featured prominently on the bookshelf behind her.

Could just be lazy set design, but, contrary to your assertion above that red herrings were'n't the showrunners' fault, this was in a period of the show where C&C REVELED in viewers cueiing into the 'subtle' visual cues that they so meticulously planted.

Actually, I said some were by design. A good example is Walt on the milk carton. But that's also an example of an easter egg just for the fans that had nothing to do with the content of the show.

There are also several examples of mistakes in the show that the audience latched onto and insisted were clues. One example is when one of the show's crew members was caught in frame ducking behind a crate. Everyone watching thought it was some big clue - who is this person? Why are they hiding? Was that Charlotte? She had red hair, I think that was Charlotte!

But the show runners admitted it was just a film flub. A crew member was in the frame and they didn't have another take.

So, yes, some of those things are intentional. Some are just jokes for the viewers that don't amount to more than just good natured fun. And some are just mistakes.

I don't recall the exact situation you're referring to. But I'd bet my bottom dollar it was just an overlooked prop.

This^
I enjoyed the show every week and couldnt wait for the questions to be answered.
Like many movies or even books I'd be ok with a couple slipping by..but there has to be 50 Big questions that were never answered in the least.

There was no pay out for the build up.

The last episode..their all DEAD?!?! .. no sh1t I knew that after I saw the first trailer on tv Before the series even aired.
I wanted to hear the story tellers thoughts on what had transpired, were they in purgatory..and all those infinite questions none of which were answered.

If LOST had one major problem it was that the show was so universal, so gripping, that people made it there own. The audience felt ownership of it. And, I think, that's where so much of the letdown came from.

The other problem is that the show came about during the internet age. People discussed the show like crazy. The show runners took advantage of that, and sometimes it backfired. You want to blame somebody? Blame that asshole who posted the screenshot of the fake polar bear from the first run of ads for the pilot episode.

If that person hadn't done that, Lindelof & Co might not have worried so much about the minute attention people were paying to their show.

So that synapsis ends halfway through it in my phone.


Fuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu

Who was supposedly dreaming?
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They're only dead in the flash-sides sequences in S6. The rest of the time they are very much alive.

So everyone was dead?
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So everyone died at some point?

Then they were alive at the end?
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People often misinterpret the ending as "the whole thing was Jack's dream."

This was not the case.

Jack died then?
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It's hard to explain without watching it. Every season had a "flash" gimmick. For seasons 1-3 it was a "flashback." We saw the castaways present on the island, and we saw flashbacks to their lives before the crash.

Season 6 initiated what was called the "flash-sideways." We saw their present lives on the island, and we saw flashes of their lives off the island. These flashes were different than before. Things had changed in each person's life. Jack had a kid, for example, in the flash-sideways. He never had a kid in the real flashbacks.

Everyone speculated on the reality of the flash-sideways. Many thought it was an alternate reality created by the bomb going off at the end of S5. The idea was that by blowing up the bomb, all the castaways would get a reset. They would erase their original pasts and have new lives, free of their original choices and the island.

It was revealed that the flash-sideways was actually an afterlife. It was metaphysical world created for the survivors as a meeting place.

Eventually, everyone on the show did die. As all human beings do, of course. But they all died at different times. The only one (IIRC) that actually dies in the finale is Jack. We see him close his eyes and die on screen.

This lead many to speculate that the whole show had been some sort of dream, or that the whole thing was a purgatory or afterlife. In fact, all the action on the island happened. It's all real. Not a dream. Not purgatory.

The flash-sideways was a sort of purgatory, but that's it. I get why that pissed people off, too. Because they sort of wasted a good chunk of season six making us thing what happened in the flashes mattered. It mattered in a spiritual sense, but not in a plot sense.

Yes, Jack died in the finale. But he wasn't dead the whole time. Nor was he dreaming.

I like things that are open to interpretation, too. Normally, I don't like to tell people they're wrong when it comes to their art or whatever. I like when people have different view points and different takes on things. But this is something that the creators have addressed time and time again. It's hard not to comment on the whole "dream" and/or "purgatory" thing.

But, whatever. Take from the show what you will. I'm not Damon or Carlton or JJ. I'm just an asshole who loved the show and has internet access.

Sorry if anything I've posted reads as preachy or like I'm talking down to anyone. That really isn't what I'm trying to do. I just like discussing the show and I'm passionate about it.

He doesn;t know anymore than anyone else. He is just interpreting what he thinks the writers were thinking. Since the writers decided to not be clear, this is what we are left with.

It's pretty clear. Jack dies.

http://collider.com/lost-ending-damo...plains/167981/

It's a long interview. But jump to the 6:25 mark.

From the horse's mouth.

I thought the show made itself pretty damn clear in the finale that the flash sideways was a sort of purgatory -- a holding pattern in which souls of the dead, connected by some strong life experience, could remember what it was that they did on Earth in order to be able to accept it and move on to the afterlife. There wasn't any of this Jack dreaming business.

Exactly.

It's all explicitly stated in the finale.

Exactly. As Red Brooklyn pointed out earlier, "whatever happened, happened". The only part of the entire series that was a figment of anyone's imagination was the flash sideways of the last season, and that was a figment of everyone's imagination. It was the purgatory that they created together so that as they died at different times, they could help each other find their way to what lies beyond.

Jack did not die in the plane crash. He died from the wounds he received while fighting the Man In Black. What happened, happened.

That made for an awesome cinematic experience.

:rolleyes:

**** Lindelof, **** Cuse, **** all of them.

This was a six year waste of ****ing time.

You won't see another serialized SciFi drama for at least a decade. Viewer trust has been broken and its unlikely to be repaired for a long, long, long time.

Revolution is doing well.

I wouldn't have had a problem with the open to interpretation part (I am one of the few people that liked the sopranos ending) however with this show they realized they backed themselves into a corner and I think they just ****ed up.

The problem with Lost was that early on they created this amazing world, but there was never any planned story to tell. Lindelof kept promising everyone that it was all under control and they were following some grand plan. Until the last season...which was basically an "oops, we have to end this and have no ****ing clue how to."

I saw an interview with Lindelof where he went on about ambiguity and its importance in story telling. And I do think ambiguity can work (see: inception). But it can't be used as a crutch to wipe away all the story telling you've done because you never had an answer in the first place.

No, it is not. It started out well but as of the last airing, it dropped to a 2.4 rating (about 7 million viewers). Alcatrazz, which was cancelled by Fox after its first season, had similar numbers (1.8 when cancelled).

It's also going on hiatus until March, which is never a good sign.

I've never found Inception to be ambiguous.

Hm, I'm not sure. TBH, it came to my head because of an interview he gave. That interview and Lindelof's have always stuck in my head as contrasts.

http://www.wired.com/magazine/2010/1...ion_nolan/all/

Agreed. I thought it was pretty cut and dried.

but, they learned the lesson from Lost. They are not dragging out mystery's.

It's a shame that that's the lesson from Lost. A better lesson would be that you can drag out mysteries as long as you tie them up in satisfying ways in the end. Of course, Lost may have damaged the ability of future shows to do that by failing to deliver and making it less likely that viewers will trust shows with complex, ongoing mysteries.

I won't trust another show for longer than a year thats for sure.

Yup, I'm glad you agree! :thumb:

I don't know the show. I'm certainly not an expert. But I keep seeing articles all over the internet talking about how well the show is doing. Such as this article http://www.huffingtonpost.com/mauree...b_2002248.html which calls the show a "ratings hit."

Again, I don't know. I'm not watching. But I was under the impression it was doing fine.

I'm not sure the hiatus is a sign of trouble. I thought it had always been a planned hiatus. My understanding is that it's to finish up post production and to create a little suspense, much like Lost used to do.

EDIT: I did just see that ratings for the most recent episode were way. So, you're right about the most recent numbers. It'll be interesting to see if it can rebound a bit once it comes back. I don't care either way. The show doesn't look that engaging to me. I figured I'd wait to see if it can make it out of S1 before I start trying to get into it.

I hope you understand that I was joking