# LOST, did the characters get no good resolution? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [August 11, 2012, 7:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lost-did-the-characters-get-no-good-resolution/631180 "2012-08-11T07:49:12Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![grude](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e47774/32.png) [@grude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/grude)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2012, 7:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lost-did-the-characters-get-no-good-resolution/631180/1 "2012-08-11T07:49:12Z")
Locke- One of the most unique characters and character arcs to appear on TV in a long while, an easy fan favorite. I loved how they had an older character with a minimal romance story and a different quest than love, but what in the end was the point of his arc? Were the writers really laughing at the character from day one? That is what I never got about Locke was that the resolution was so seemingly random, he just turned out to be a manipulated fool whose only real accomplishment was turning Jack into a believer of the supernatural shit he saw going on with his own eyes. Sayid- His last flashback seemed to say he was ALWAYS an nonredeemable psycho, from childhood on. Nothing but a human weapon to be used, with a last minute redemption. Claire- Ok what was the whole point of the story of the MIB corrupting people like her and Sayid? They are pure evil, eh but now they aren’t. Why did they bring up “the sickness” again in the last episodes if it had no meaning? Sawyer- doesn’t really end up doing anything despite seemingly being on MIB side, just tags along and makes half hearted moral decisions. I think this bugs me more than the lack of answers, especially the way Locke went out. Goddamn this show burned me on getting into serial dramas! ---
**Author:** ![Kolak\_of\_Twilo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kolak_of_twilo/32/73_2.png) [@Kolak\_of\_Twilo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kolak_of_Twilo)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2012, 8:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lost-did-the-characters-get-no-good-resolution/631180/2 "2012-08-11T08:22:33Z")
The finale was so awful it ruined everything I enjoyed about this show. I’ve tried to watch it again in reruns but I quickly find it difficult to care what happens to anyone when the creators so clearly didn’t give a rats ass about any of the characters they created. ---
**Author:** ![allotrope](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/edb3f5/32.png) [@allotrope](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/allotrope)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2012, 9:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lost-did-the-characters-get-no-good-resolution/631180/3 "2012-08-11T09:34:22Z")
LOST was the archetypal example of the shaggy dog story, but taken to the next level. I knew that it was theoretically possible but didn’t think that I’d ever actually witness it. As the number of red herrings in a story approaches infinity, they form a sucking vortex from which no meaningful denouement can escape. ---
**Author:** ![fifty-six](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/5daacb/32.png) [@fifty-six](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fifty-six)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2012, 9:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lost-did-the-characters-get-no-good-resolution/631180/4 "2012-08-11T09:53:46Z")
The show could not have failed in a more significant manner. ---
**Author:** ![well\_he\_s\_back](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/3ab097/32.png) [@well\_he\_s\_back](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/well_he_s_back)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2012, 12:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lost-did-the-characters-get-no-good-resolution/631180/5 "2012-08-11T12:19:43Z")
Hated everything about that last season. Still had hope for the show til then. Writers betrayed viewers in addition to the wonderful work by all the great actors. All the character’s arcs were screwed. Aargh. Still makes me so angry. I enjoyed the early seasons so much but can’t bear to re watch. What a waste. ---
**Author:** ![Smid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/838e76/32.png) [@Smid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smid)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2012, 12:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lost-did-the-characters-get-no-good-resolution/631180/6 "2012-08-11T12:23:38Z")
No, the characters never got good resolutions, some just disappeared (WALLLLLTTT? Mr Eko). There was never any real reason for the Others to be there, nobody ever asked fundamental questions and got them answered, and it all kind of fizzled out in the end… I take the title to be the hours I ‘Lost’ watching that piece of crap. ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2012, 1:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lost-did-the-characters-get-no-good-resolution/631180/7 "2012-08-12T01:47:37Z")
> [@Smid](#): > > No, the characters never got good resolutions, some just disappeared (WALLLLLTTT? Mr Eko). There was never any real reason for the Others to be there, nobody ever asked fundamental questions and got them answered, and it all kind of fizzled out in the end… > > I take the title to be the hours I ‘Lost’ watching that piece of crap. Mr. Eko died, not disappeared. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2012, 2:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lost-did-the-characters-get-no-good-resolution/631180/8 "2012-08-12T02:05:27Z")
My Ex, Mrs. Plant v.2.0 watched this program. I hope that she was really pissed off. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2012, 2:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lost-did-the-characters-get-no-good-resolution/631180/9 "2012-08-12T02:13:43Z")
The show works best if you just regard it as a gigantic mean-spirited practical joke by Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse (spit!). ---
**Author:** ![cmkeller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cmkeller/32/118_2.png) [@cmkeller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmkeller)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2012, 6:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lost-did-the-characters-get-no-good-resolution/631180/10 "2012-08-14T18:36:26Z")
Locke wasn’t being laughed at by the writers. His role in the overall drama was the Martyr - the Cassandra, the Jeremiah - the one who had the right answers, but no one would listen to him until it was too late. His resolution was a tragic one, but that’s still a resolution. Sawyer’s resolution was just fine too. He and Kate end up being one anothers’ consolation prizes. Sayid and Claire didn’t have much of a good resolution. The writers messed up in not being clearer about the nature of the “island sickness/smoke monster infection” that they both supposedly had. By the end of the series, both characters had proven that they have sufficient free will to do the right thing - Sayid to save the others from the bomb, Claire to go home to her child and to not hate Kate for taking him - but we’re left wondering what was different earlier in the season, when they were helping Smokey. The guys in the Temple were no help to the viewers, though they claimed to know stuff. The last season was very confusing. In the end, I do feel they did right by the characters (in the whole afterlife thing) and the overall broad plot (how to save the island from the smoke monster), but way too many details remained unresolved, and way too much time was spent on non-essentials (the Temple guys did nothing one way or another for our main characters’ developments, and the afterlife world was way too elaborately described just to get characters together). They could have taken about half of the time allotted to the “afterlife world” without us missing much, and used it to better flesh out the hows and whys of what’s happening to the characters in the “real” world. ---
**Author:** ![Wheelz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wheelz/32/5718_2.png) [@Wheelz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wheelz)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2012, 7:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lost-did-the-characters-get-no-good-resolution/631180/11 "2012-08-14T19:18:38Z")
I think get more entertainment from everybody bitching and whining about how terrible the finale was, 2 1/2 years later, than I would have gotten from a more satisftying resolution of the show itself. So I’m good. ETA: More on point, I pretty much agree with **cmkeller**. Well put. ---
**Author:** ![Dr\_Doom](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/0ea827/32.png) [@Dr\_Doom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr_Doom)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2012, 8:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lost-did-the-characters-get-no-good-resolution/631180/12 "2012-08-14T20:32:02Z")
I don’t see that any of the characters got a “resolution” in the end, because “Hey, you were all dead the whole time anyway, so none of it even mattered!” ---
**Author:** ![Justin\_Bailey](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/justin_bailey/32/8792_2.png) [@Justin\_Bailey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Justin_Bailey)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2012, 8:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lost-did-the-characters-get-no-good-resolution/631180/13 "2012-08-14T20:39:02Z")
> [@Dr\_Doom](#): > > “Hey, you were all dead the whole time anyway, so none of it even mattered!” Except, that’s not what happened and it’s never even implied that that’s what happened. ---
**Author:** ![Bootis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e8c25b/32.png) [@Bootis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bootis)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2012, 8:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lost-did-the-characters-get-no-good-resolution/631180/14 "2012-08-14T20:43:46Z")
> [@Dr\_Doom](#): > > I don’t see that any of the characters got a “resolution” in the end, because > > “Hey, you were all dead the whole time anyway, so none of it even mattered!” Now now, the ending of Lost may deserve to be hated for a lot of reasons, but this is not accurate. ---
**Author:** ![Dr\_Doom](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/0ea827/32.png) [@Dr\_Doom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr_Doom)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2012, 9:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lost-did-the-characters-get-no-good-resolution/631180/15 "2012-08-14T21:07:52Z")
> [@Justin\_Bailey](#): > > Except, that’s not what happened and it’s never even implied that that’s what happened. In my heart, that is EXACTLY what happened. And as we were told “Whatever happened, happened.” ---
**Author:** ![Dr\_Doom](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/0ea827/32.png) [@Dr\_Doom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr_Doom)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2012, 9:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lost-did-the-characters-get-no-good-resolution/631180/16 "2012-08-14T21:10:08Z")
> [@Bootis](#): > > Now now, the ending of Lost may deserve to be hated for a lot of reasons, but this is not accurate. Feel as you may, but that is EXACTLY how I took it. Complete waste of time, and anticipatory energy for me, in the end. 5 seasons of DVD box sets I have no interest in ever rewatching. Phooey. ---
**Author:** ![Sister\_Vigilante](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9de0a6/32.png) [@Sister\_Vigilante](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sister_Vigilante)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2012, 8:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lost-did-the-characters-get-no-good-resolution/631180/17 "2012-08-15T20:06:38Z")
What happened to the dog? I heard he was the only one to live. ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2012, 8:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lost-did-the-characters-get-no-good-resolution/631180/18 "2012-08-15T20:21:07Z")
Oddly enough, we watched the final episode of _LOST_ just the other night and loved it just as much as the first time we saw it. When Vincent walks up to Jack and lays down next to him… we just _lose_ it. What a good dog! The series is a glorious, confused mess… kind of like the 2012 opening ceremonies. 😉 Different strokes/folks, I guess. ---
**Author:** ![cmkeller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cmkeller/32/118_2.png) [@cmkeller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmkeller)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2012, 8:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lost-did-the-characters-get-no-good-resolution/631180/19 "2012-08-15T20:31:59Z")
Sister Vigilante: He lives, but he’s hardly the only one. Other surviving characters include (not spoilering something that’s 2 years old): Hurley Kate Sawyer Claire Walt Rose Bernard Desmond Penny Ben Richard Frank Miles ---
**Author:** ![digs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/digs/32/14889_2.png) [@digs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/digs)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2012, 8:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lost-did-the-characters-get-no-good-resolution/631180/20 "2012-08-15T20:44:27Z")
> [@JohnT](#): > > Oddly enough, we watched the final episode of _LOST_ just the other night and loved it just as much as the first time we saw it. When Vincent walks up to Jack and lays down next to him… we just _lose_ it. What a good dog! > > The series is a glorious, confused mess… kind of like the 2012 opening ceremonies. 😉 > > Different strokes/folks, I guess. OK, can you explain why? I would _love_ to not hate the ending, and be able to rewatch the show without remembering all the time I invested caring about these characters, that I feel now was wasted. So, _please_, someone, give me a reason to care again… [/anguished plea] [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lost-did-the-characters-get-no-good-resolution/631180.md?page=2)