Lost

[D_Davis]

Thank you! It's been baffling to hear the reactions from people saying it sucks because of the last 10 minutes, or that the last 10 ruined the whole series because it gave an unsatisfying conclusion. Even if you don't like the "answers," how can you ignore the phenomenal character work the show has built?

This was Stephen King's reason for interjecting before the final part of book VII of the DT. He basically says:

NO SPOILERS....

look, some of you have been reading this story for like 30 years, so no matter what I do you will not be satisfied. This is Roland's and my story, and this is how it has to end. If you care about endings - as in you're the kind of person who lets unsatisfactory-to-you endings ruin the entire journey - just stop reading now. Close the book, and don't look back. But if you're a person who recognizes that the ending is just another single point in the much longer, more important journey, then continue on.

[[ETM]]

LOST has always been a journey of discovery. The ending was never less than crucial to its appeal, even though the quality of the journey was what made it stand out and become such a mega-phenomenon. The problem with disliking the ending of the journey is with coming back - whenever I even try thinking about the good stuff from earlier, I get this incredibly uncomfortable gut feeling that makes me want to not think about the show ever again. While it was about the performances and characters and everything else they did brilliantly, much of what has made it go beyond good has been completely deflated or rendered meaningless by the finale. The setting, the mystery, the details, the unknown, the search - the chess board was what really upped the game and made it special, on top of the game and the pieces themselves. Remove, or overturn that - you're left with just a pretty good show. And, honestly, there are a lot of pretty good shows out there.

[DavidSeven]

The more I think about the ending, the more I love it. The idea of this entire series really boiling down to one guy's spiritual journey is sort of beautiful in its simplicity (and perhaps even its audacity). And when you look back at the arc of that character over six years, it's really a remarkable thing they accomplished. I guess there's a number of ways they could have ended this on a satisfactory note, and maybe some of the alternatives would have had a more dramatic or cathartic punch, but this one is really sticking with me.

[Dead & Messed Up]

The more I think about the ending, the more I love it. The idea of this entire series really boiling down to one guy's spiritual journey is sort of beautiful in its simplicity (and perhaps even its audacity). And when you look back at the arc of that character over six years, it's really a remarkable thing they accomplished. I guess there's a number of ways they could have ended this on a satisfactory note, and maybe some of the alternatives would have had a more dramatic or cathartic punch, but this one is really sticking with me.

Are you talking about Jack, on-Island, saving the day, or are you talking about the group-purgatorial-construct in the side-flash world? Because I mostly dug Jack's slow journey from leader to antihero to hero, but I kinda hate the side-flash world. It's so goddamn tangential to the Island story, and not in a way that informs (which the flashbacks and flash-forwards did). Its tweaks and internal logic don't work at all, and its rewards come mostly through the somewhat cheap trick of trafficking in the series's early iconography. I loved the finale revelation the first time I saw it, and I tried to justify my feelings with its thematic resonance (as the series was about these people breaking the cycle of who they were), but that feels more and more wishy-washy each time I think about it.

I dug the on-Island stuff, although I wish a couple things, like the Smoke Monster's ultimate goals, the method of infection, and Widmore's allegiance, received more attention, and I feel like they could've been handled with more grace and tact if it hadn't been for those damned side-flashes.

[DavidSeven]

Because I mostly dug Jack's slow journey from leader to antihero to hero

This is what I was referring to. The idea of everything else in the series mostly being in support of or an aside to expressing that very simple arc (as shown through the island/flashbacks/flash-forwards) was striking to me. The side-flashes I can take or leave. I thought they were fun and engaging while watching them, but they really don't add much to what is conveyed through the island/real world narrative and ultimately feel a bit deceptive upon the final reveal. I think I like the idea of this show exploring the idea of "limbo" or purgatory, but not as a narrative device used throughout an entire season. As shown in my post asking for clarification, the more they revealed about the group-purgatory-construct, the more it just didn't make sense.

[bac0n]

Hey, I got a Men's Large T-shirt, never worn, never washed, that looks like this:



Anyone interested? Send me a PM and I'll sell it to ya for five bucks.

EDIT - never mind, found a taker.

[Thirdmango]

There's just too much going on in that t-shirt for it to be any good.

[number8]

An excerpt from Alan Sepinwall's book, the chapter about LOST's creation. I knew a lot of this stuff already, but it's still an awesome read.

http://www.grantland.com/story/_/id/...l-origins-lost

It really was one of the strongest pilots I can remember for a TV show. You get to like the characters almost immediately, and the mystery foundations were so, so potent.

[Kurosawa Fan]

Awesome read. Makes me want to watch that first season all over again.

[number8]

That is definitely my holiday plan.

[Morris Schæffer]

Still my fave season by fucking far. I don't think Lost ever delivered on the promise of that first season. It's as if they wanted to hook us and worry about the rest later although I enjoyed all the seasons to varying degrees.

[ThePlashyBubbler]

I think I'm in the minority that found season one good but one of the most inconsistent (at least at the time). From the start I wanted it to embrace the weirder elements, and found myself frustrated with many of the weekly character stories (the anvil-like metaphor of Charlie as "the moth" in that episode being the low point).

Season 5 was my favorite.

[Thirdmango]

Yeah for me season 1 comes in 5th place over all the seasons. Season 4 was my favorite largely in part to The Constant which is my favorite episode of the series. Whenever I know someone who hasn't watched the show the only way I can recommend it to them is by saying they have to get all the way to the finale of season 3 if I'm going to recommend it to them. The pilot is amazing but overall I didn't really like the first season.

[DavidSeven]

This show's worst stretch, by far, was from the beginning of Season 2 through Season 3's first "mini-season." This should be indisputable. It's kind of amazing how they found their way back on the rails during that third season and basically elevated the show to the stratosphere by the end of the "Through the Looking Glass" two-parter.

Love Season 1 myself, but would have to rewatch the whole series to accurately rank it among everything that came after the aforementioned bad stretch.

[[ETM]]

Season one had immense slack because it was world-building. Taking their sweet time with the characters and the storylines was completely justified and produced some of the best television ever. When they took it into S2 by adding MORE characters which didn't work as well (save for a tiny few examples, like Desmond), it went completely astray. The frenetic pace which came seven episodes into S3 was a real jolt of energy and it took them all the way to that frustrating and disappointing 10 minutes of the final episode.

[Dead & Messed Up]

I think Seasons 1 and 4 will probably be my favorites forever. 1 was so full of potential and chock-full of mysterious characters, and I dug how, despite the enticing mysteries, much of the drama centered on survival matters. Finding water, a cave-in, building a raft. 4 just booked. That was the first season with an abbreviated run, and the reduced time forced every minute to matter. "The Constant" is great, but I actually think "The Shape of Things to Come" might be the best episode of the show. It's one of the most shocking, and certainly the most impeccably crafted.

2 and 3 were frustrating due to the obvious wheel-spinning, but their moments of imagination kept the whole damn thing moving along. And while 5 sat uneasily with me for a while, it's come around and become one of my favorites. I think I like it more than 2 and 3.

6 was 6. I think the sideflashes were a tactical error, too unbound to the Island storylines to hold my attention, too obvious to offer any useful insight to the characters. But a lot of the on-Island stuff worked for me, and there's an undercurrent of religious iconoclasm that might not be accidental...and is kinda neat.

[number8]

This show's worst stretch, by far, was from the beginning of Season 2 through Season 3's first "mini-season." This should be indisputable. It's kind of amazing how they found their way back on the rails during that third season and basically elevated the show to the stratosphere by the end of the "Through the Looking Glass" two-parter.

Love Season 1 myself, but would have to rewatch the whole series to accurately rank it among everything that came after the aforementioned bad stretch.

I think there's a good behind-the-scenes reason for that, and partially revealed by the article.

Season 1, they had absolutely no idea what they were doing and making things up as they went along per Lindelof's admittance, but they had the benefit of the show being new and the characters still needing to be introduced, so as long as they kept it compelling scene to scene, they had nothing to worry about yet. So it worked.

But after that was when they started mapping things out for the long haul, and instead of building anything they were just introducing stuff left and right that they felt they could sustain for several seasons. It just became one of those stagnant, drawn out TV shows.

After that "mini season" at the beginning of S3, that was when they used the writer's strike to give ABC the ultimatum and asked for a finite 6 seasons. With a set number of episodes remaining guaranteed, they were finally able to actually build towards something, and became all the better for it.

Season 4 was definitely the best.