Topic: Lost

[GoldenPhoenix]

They won't answer the questions, I'm convinced half the questions won't get answered. They're just not very good at tying things up.

Is it that, or do fans just whine and complain no matter what? Seriously I see it happen with show after show, when it is a big hit fans will never be pleased, because it is discussed so much that ideas from a couple million fanbois and gurls, are bound to top a writing staff. That is why I avoid discussions on TV shows that have mysteries.

Seriously Lost is probably the best I've seen when it comes to tying up loose ends so far. They are answering the questions that matter most, not everything has to be answered.

[ThePerm]

didn't they listen to that chick "if i answer your questions it will only lead to more questions"

[ShyGuy]

Personally, I'm giving Darlton the benefit of the doubt until the series is over.

It's not necessarily that all the questions are answered, it's how things are presented.

Other Genre shows with big mythological arcs have wrapped up without too many burning questions. Buffy the Vampire Slayer tied itself up nicely and even though people didn't like the X-files ending (I liked it) It didn't leave anything important out.

Prison Break tied things up but that show sucked by the final season.

The problem is how they've presented the rules of the fiction of the Lost universe and the expectations their storytelling format created. Carlton Cuse has admitted that they created so many mysteries to hook people into the show, but if they don't deliver, it's cheating the audience.

[GoldenPhoenix]

Personally, I'm giving Darlton the benefit of the doubt until the series is over.

It's not necessarily that all the questions are answered, it's how things are presented.

Other Genre shows with big mythological arcs have wrapped up without too many burning questions. Buffy the Vampire Slayer tied itself up nicely and even though people didn't like the X-files ending (I liked it) It didn't leave anything important out.

Prison Break tied things up but that show sucked by the final season.

The problem is how they've presented the rules of the fiction of the Lost universe and the expectations their storytelling format created. Carlton Cuse has admitted that they created so many mysteries to hook people into the show, but if they don't deliver, it's cheating the audience.

Xfiles did a horrible job of answering questions and was constantly contradicting itself, and Buffy, well not a ton to answer there.

[Adrock]

Seriously Lost is probably the best I've seen when it comes to tying up loose ends so far. They are answering the questions that matter most, not everything has to be answered.

I agree and I'm pretty content with that. I take issue with the writers being pointlessly cryptic. Don't bring up the Donkey Wheel again after 2 seasons if you're not going to explain it. I was okay with the understanding that it's just part of the island and Ben and Locke used it to get off the island and that moving it caused time jumps so on and so forth. I don't really have to know how, but if they insist on attempting to explain how, then just explain it. The same goes for the Man in Black leaving the island. I understand he's not supposed to so while I'd like to know specifics outside of some serious sh*t will go down, I don't need to know. The writers established that the conflict is that he can't, not why he can't leave. That's great and all but stop cockteasing an explanation. I think that's a major disservice to the viewer and poor storytelling.

[GoldenPhoenix]

Well with the man in black, I think they will address more why he can't leave as smokie. It seems a likely reason he couldn't leave as a human is because their adoptive mother didn't want him to leave, at least that is what I got from how she reacted when he wanted to leave. The donkey wheel, who knows, though I found it intriguing in itself that the MIB is the one who put it in which I found far more intriguing then the wheel itself.  Anyway I do know they planned the last 3 seasons to wrap everything up, ever since they've known about Lost's ending date

I think the writing staff is caught though, the fans demand answers of virtually everything. Seriously though wait until the series is over before complaining.

[Adrock]

I agree, but that's like asking water not to be wet. Lost is full of unanswered questions, many of which don't matter. However, I think fans have grown tired with the writers' whack-a-mole approach, where they answer one question by posing 3 more. That was fine in the middle of the show's run because a show like Lost revolves around the mysteries it presents, but with 2 episodes left, it seems pointless. I kind of got the impression that the writers were unsure of the show's direction in middle of Season 3. It seemed like they finally realized that they had to start organizing all the questions and mysteries they presented in preparation of the eventual conclusion of the show while also continuing the narrative. That's a tough order, but they did write themselves into a whole on a number of occasions. Not every question needs an answer, but it's also not the viewer's fault that the writers posed so many. That said, I felt like the writers spent a lot of time dicking around. Rose and Bernard did nothing for their entire time on the show except be annoying. While I liked Charlotte and Lapidus, they did nothing. Ilana did nothing except have big boobs and run around. Seriously, what was the point of introducing a character so late in the series' run who poses more questions than she answers? I, personally, don't really mind because I literally started watching Lost in February of this year and Hulu'd the entire series so I didn't invest as much of my life as others have but I can imagine how frustrating it must be for longtime fans who feel they're getting jerked around by the writers' lack of focus.

[GoldenPhoenix]

I've been watching Lost since it premiered, and never felt jerked around. To me the show has always been about the characters not the answers to every question raised.Seriously though the biggest questions have been answered for the most part.

1. What was the monster in the jungle? Been answered for the most part.
2. Who were the others? Been answered
3. What is the island? Still left to be answered.
4. Who is Jacob? Been answered
5. What was the Dharma Initiative? Been answered
6. Why was everything brought to the island? Been answered.
7. How do Walt and Aaron tie into things? Hasn't been answered.

Really I don't see any other questions being that important beyond those which were mostly raised in seasons 1 and 2 that were most intriguing. Everything else like the numbers (amazed they've managed to tie them into season 6 though), the statue (probably will still be answered in regards to who made it),the sickness, and various other superfluous ones, are not that important. When you have people whine about not explaining "Where the Dharma food came from" you can't win.

In regards to introducing other characters, they all had tasks to accomplish and when that was done they were expendable to the island. It has been a common theme since season 1 with even main characters dieing unnecessarily like Boone.

[Adrock]

Well, you can apply that logic to anything, but that doesn't stop people from wanting answers. You might not mind, but clearly, millions of other people do...

And most of those questions haven't been answered. Kind of, but not really.

Honestly, the only thing I really want from the last 2 episodes is for the series to end with a logical conclusion, even if it's not ideal for the characters. Not every story needs a happy ending, but every story needs an appropriate ending, else the audience feels cheated. That said, I'm sure most people will not be satisfied with the ending of Lost because the writers didn't explain every last detail or mystery (and they won't). I think that's the wrong approach and those people are setting themselves up for disappointment. Every great story leaves something unexplained, but still tells you what you need to know.

[GoldenPhoenix]

I will be disappointed if it ends with no sort of conclusion like other shows have pulled in the past.

[ThePerm]

im wondering about the Egypto/Carthaginian connection, but with 2 more episodes that can be anwered. Same with Walt and Aaron and that little kid the smoke monster was bothered by. also for Aaron... Aaron is a Shepard and Shepard's are Candidates

[ShyGuy]

I do agree the characters are much more important, but they shifted off the characters and more onto plot halfway through season 3.

The lack of answers isn't the problem, it's usually how it's been delivered.
Season 3: WHAT DOES TWO PLUS TWO EQUAL
three years of nail biting hype later...
Season 6: TWO PLUS TWO EQUALS FOUR. Except for that one time it equaled five, and we said it was two minus two in three episodes.

[ShyGuy]

im wondering about the Egypto/Carthaginian connection, but with 2 more episodes that can be anwered. Same with Walt and Aaron and that little kid the smoke monster was bothered by.

Thle little kid was the same actor who played Jacob in Across the Sea, so I'm pretty sure it was Jacob

[Plugabugz]

The only show in which i'm satisfied with the ending was DS9, purely because the final TEN episodes were essentially the final march to the end of the series.

[ThePerm]

i loved deep space 9, but its been so long since it was on. I wanna re-watch it. I'm pretty sure if I watched it now everything would be on a much deeper level.

[GoldenPhoenix]

The only show in which i'm satisfied with the ending was DS9, purely because the final TEN episodes were essentially the final march to the end of the series.

Well Lost has been feeling like a final march to the ending for quite awhile now. Pretty much this whole season has.

[Plugabugz]

The only show in which i'm satisfied with the ending was DS9, purely because the final TEN episodes were essentially the final march to the end of the series.

Well Lost has been feeling like a final march to the ending for quite awhile now. Pretty much this whole season has.

I normally would have said the same but the last episode was the first in which some significant unravelling was happening. Episode 15 of 18 in the final season of the series is too late to start doing that, which to me is why it felt like they hit the panic buttons. Everything prior (1-14, except for the Ab Aeterno episode with Richard) felt like they were shuffling everything around for the big reveal.... which now feels like its too late to resolve and smooth out.

DS9 had the 10 part serial at the end of Season 7 which tied up every remaing storyline left evenly before dealing with the main series arc in the finale. Lost hasn't done that and it feels like it's gearing up to one almighty splurge in the next week.

[broodwars]

In other words, this show is looking to follow the same path as Battlestar Galactica, a show I really loved until the final couple episodes (where the show just falls apart as the creators suddenly realized they actually had to resolve this thing).

[BlackNMild2k1]

I haven't read a single post in this thread since page 14, and now I read the one above this post, but didn't the writers say they had an endgame during an interview back in s3 or s4? that the story was plotted out already and they knew exactly what they were doing the entire time?

Should I not bother with this season? I came in here to ask if there is anywhere online that will catch me up on about the first ~7 or 8 episodes. They accidentally got bumped off my DVR box so I only have about the last ~11 or so episodes saved.

[vudu]

1. What was the monster in the jungle? Been answered for the most part.

No, it hasn't.

2. Who were the others? Been answered

There are a dozen questions related to the others that hasn't been answered.

3. What is the island? Still left to be answered.

Probably won't be answered.

4. Who is Jacob? Been answered

No it hasn't.  Part of who is why.

5. What was the Dharma Initiative? Been answered

No it hasn't.

6. Why was everything brought to the island? Been answered.

I must have missed that episode.

7. How do Walt and Aaron tie into things? Hasn't been answered.

I bet you $10 neither will be mentioned again.

[gbuell]

You must have missed a LOT of episodes if you don't know who the others are, what the Dharma Initiative was or why people have been brought to the island, vudu. That stuff is all completely answered in my mind.

[gbuell]

And I'll take that $10 bet, especially re: Aaron. He will be mentioned again.

[vudu]

You must have missed a LOT of episodes if you don't know who the others are, what the Dharma Initiative was or why people have been brought to the island, vudu. That stuff is all completely answered in my mind.

Actually, I haven't missed a single episode.

Re:  The Others

Why did they take Walt?  Why do women die during pregnancy?  Why the **** do they live on an island inhabited by a smoke monster?

Re:  The Dharma Initiative

How did they find the island?  Why did they setup all these behavior experiments?  Were they really big enough to warrant having their own generic brand?

Re:  Why everyone was brought to the island

There are too many questions to list.  If you've got this one understood you've prematurely settled on one possible explanation and are ignoring other others.

Oh, hey, another question I just thought of (not related to the ones above):  What was up with the cabin that Ben took Locke to see back in season 3 (I think)?  I seem to remember Locke not seeing anyone and then when he left he heard the words help me and then some spooky **** went down.

[gbuell]

They took Walt for the same reason they take children in general, which is the same reason Mother took the two babies in the last episode - to mold them into being a potential "protector" of the island. That's the whole reason the Others are there at all - Jacob brings them there because he is looking for someone to take over as the island's protector. I think that is exceedingly clear at this point.

The pregnancy question doesn't specifically have anything to do with the Others, so I'm not sure why you're lumping that in there.

They live on an island inhabited by a smoke monster because Jacob brings them there ... duh.

Dharma Initiative - they are a group founded by Hanso, whose distant relative was on the Black Rock and wrote about the island in a journal that was somehow found and passed down through the Hanso family. The exact mechanics of this sequence of events won't be explained, but I don't think it's important enough to warrant it. Needless to say, Hanso found out about the special qualities of the island and funded a research group to go exploit it. He probably created the Lamp Post station to find the island - how he figured out how to do that, I'm not sure, and I don't care. But as far as what the DI actually IS, that's explained. The island has enough seemingly magical, psychological things happening on it (seeing dead people etc.) that running behavioral experiments seems perfectly natural.

Why was everyone brought to the island? Jacob brought them there in his search for a replacement. IT'S BEEN ANSWERED.


EDIT: And the cabin - pretty sure that, although the cabin was originally Jacob's, by Season 3 the cabin was actually inhabited by smoke monster/man in black/Jacob's brother. Ilana mentioned in season 5 that Jacob hadn't been there in a while, and that it was being used by "someone else". That's when she torched it. The "someone else" is certainly Man in Black, given the fact that Christian Shepherd occupied it and convinced Claire to stay on the island, and as we all know, she turned out to be on MIB's side by the end. So the "help me" was probably Man in Black talking to Locke, which is very interesting given the fact that Locke DOES turn out to help Man in Black by dying and giving MIB the opportunity to assume Locke's form.

[Plugabugz]

I haven't read a single post in this thread since page 14, and now I read the one above this post, but didn't the writers say they had an endgame during an interview back in s3 or s4? that the story was plotted out already and they knew exactly what they were doing the entire time?

They did, but why would you wait 3 episodes to the end?