The characters are idiots and you will get really annoyed by their lack of communication. And the mysteries that they introduce and forget about will infuriate you. In fact ‘infuriating’ is a good word to sum up the show. But in saying all that I’m glad I watched it.
The SDMB loves to bitch about how their favorite shows let them down. That in itself isn’t a reocmmendation for the show; it means only that the answers the OP’s going to get from this type of question are not trustworthy.
I enjoyed the finale while I was watching it, but it holds up even better as I think back on it – a rare feat. It certainly wasn’t what I was expecting, which ironically means it is totally consistent with what’s gone before, as that is this show’s mantra. I also disagree that there are a lot of unaswered questions – the big questions were answered directly, in dialogue even. Sure, there’s no answer as to how things got that way, but it’s pretty easy to sketch that out in your imagination.
–Cliffy
Heh. This was a complaint of mine too. OTOH, seeing what we learned about key figures in the island’s past, this becomes less of a flaw in the show and more of a deliberate ‘moral of the story’.
You’ll actually pretty much never finding me criticize a show here the way I criticize LOST - probably because I give up on shows more easily, but LOST is an ingenius manipulator where you feel all along “well, I’ve invested this much time, might as well keep going” because of vague hopes that it somehow gets better. In retrospect, waste of time. That’s essentially all the show is - a long treadmill designed to hook you just enough to keep going so you don’t have to admit that you’ve been fooled up to this point and wasted your time.
I sort of feel a duty to warn people that it’s a trap. It’ll sucker you in with a very good to great first season that gives you the impression you’re going to watch something great. It’s easy to get hooked and then suffer through the rest of the show.
Well, the two most basic series-long questions would be: What is the island, and why has everyone on 815 been chosen/destined/are special? For the latter question, I mean, it’s obviously hinted very strongly all throughout season 1 that there’s a reason that all the people who crashed there were chosen to be there, that they all have pasts that somehow lead them to this point, that it’s destiny, etc. So what does it turn out to be?
Please use spoiler boxes if you answer the questions. I realize the latter question does sort of have an answer, but it’s the lamest copout non-answer to a major series premise of all time maybe. If you showed people watching season 1 the “answer” to that question from a few episodes ago, they would probably throw popcorn at the TV and laugh it off.
Do you really believe that the show was designed to be that way? That they made it to be just good enough to hook people but not really to be good?
Wow, that first season must have been really spectacularly amazing to keep you suffering through five more seasons hoping it got back to being amazing. Too bad all those years of suffering didn’t clue you in sooner.
Yes, the show was designed that way in the sense that they never intended for it to be a satisfying and complete story. They knew that if they just keep upping the stakes, introducing even more mysteries, it would keep people interested enough to keep going. It’s not that they “didn’t design it to be really good”, just that they couldn’t - they aren’t talented enough to pull off a satisfying story and they weren’t concerned with making new elements fit into a cohesive whole, but they’re talented enough to make it appear like they’re competant (the presentation itself is often very slick). The downside to this method is that at some point you can’t just keep upping the ante, and then everything falls apart and you’re revealed for what you are. That’s what happened here.
Yeah, well, it’s a TV show. My time isn’t that valuable. I forget the cognitive bias term for it but it’s essentially that you’re trying not to admit your previous effort or time is wasted by not giving up on something even when it looks bleak, so you end up putting yourself in the position of wasting even more time to chase after previous wasted time.
I’m not claiming to be traumatized or damaged. It not like I hated every minute of it. But overall the whole experience was stupid. The OP is asking if it’s worthwhile. I’m saying no. If I could have my memory of the show wiped so I could watch it over again, there’s no way I would.
Yes, actually. The kept introducing random mysterious stuff to keep the viewer interested without any real thought (or care) about how those mysterious things fit into the mythology of the show.
They cheated the viewer over and over again. Meaning that the suffering SenorBeef describes was retroactive.
I am coming to the conclusion that there are just two kinds of people when it comes to this. For some (such as SenorBeef and Ellis Dee, if I may say) their enjoyment of the show is predicated on there being some kind of consistency and coherence to the overall plot arc. For others, this is not a requirement to enjoying the show. Probably most viewers fit into each group to some degree.
I guess I am mostly in the second group. I thought the finale was quite good, as was the final season, even though it is true that there are major unanswered questions and other problems with the overall plot. Most importantly, I just don’t feel cheated by any of that. I was very entertained by most episodes of the series. Part of the entertainment of some older episodes was due to the mysteries introduced or other cliffhangers. I don’t somehow retroactively enjoy those episodes less because the eventual payoff was poor (or nonexistent :)).
Maybe it has to do with sports - I cheer for the Chargers, so I’m quite used to wonderful buildup and promise building up to an unsatisfying conclusion :).
I suppose people who are deciding whether or not to watch the show now can use this discussion to decide. Watch the first few episodes until the point where you have a number of questions, and then decide how important it is to you that the show answer them all for you.
“It’s about the characters, not the island.” Yeah, it was. And that’s why I feel let down. So many of the original survivors died, and so many later additions died, that the ending as shown doesn’t satisfy me. I’m just left thinking, “What was all that in aid of?” It’s rough on me when one character I like dies. What was the total body count, anyway?
All of them, eventually. 
Of the original survivors who were important to the meta-plot, were running gags or had more than one or two lines, as well as the major characters (including the tailies) here’s my count:
*Jack-Died
*Kate-Lived (BOO!)
*Sawyer-Lived
*Locke-Died (twice)
*Hurley-Lived
*Charlie-Died
*Sayid-Died (meaninglessly–why not just cut the C4 away from the triggering mechanism? Or pull the wire?) Unless he died when he was shot by the Dharma guys and that’s just his zombie that blew up.
*Claire-Lived
Aaron/Turniphead-Lived
*Sun-Died (stupid, pointlessly, so they’d have less wrap-up to worry about)
*Jin-Died (stupid, pointlessly, so they’d have less wrap-up to worry about)
*Michael-Died
*Walt-Lived
*Boone-Died
*Shannon-Died (stupidly)
*Rose-Died (probably–given that all the islands bennies were stopped when the island was rebooted by Jack, she probably died of cancer a few weeks later–remember, Alpert instantly started aging (grey hairs) 2 seconds after the plug was pulled. And fake Locke became de-magical immediatly, ditto)
*Bernard-Lived (Maybe–I don’t see him going on without Rose)
*Arzt-Died (funniest death ever)
*Anna-Lucia-Died (stupid, pointlessly)
*Libby-Died (stupid, pointlessly)
Frogurt-Died (stupid, pointlessly)
*Mr Eko-Died (stupid, pointlessly)
Nathan-Died (stupid, pointlessly)
Cindy-Died (stupid, pointlessly)
Vincent the Dog-Lived (maybe–I’ve heard t that he died alongside Jack at the end–I don’t buy it, but I’ll accept it’s possible)
Craig-Died
Nikki-Died
Paolo-Died
Scott (or Steve)-Died
Steve (or Scott)-Died-One of these was tortured and killed by Ethan.
Jerome-Died
Edward Mars (the cop returning Kate to the USA)-Died
Barbara-Died (Boone’s lack of swimming killed her)
Gary Troupe-Died (sucked into the turbine)
According to several sites, there were 73 survivors (including Aaron and the Pilot) of 813, regardless of whether they were minor or major characters.
In the end, 6 lived
Walt, Kate, Sawyer, Claire, Hurley, maybe Rose, certainly Bernhard lived.
Someone said in another thread that Lindelof and Cuse have been saying that it’s all about the characters and we shouldn’t worry about the mysteries since the beginning. I’m not buying it. I’ll admit I’m wrong if someone finds a cite of them saying that in 2004/2005, but to the best of my recollection “it’s all about the characters” was an excuse they started giving us later in the series, when viewers started complaining that they never answered any questions, just kept creating new ones, and they basically realized they had created too many questions (as well as many self-contradictions) that there was no way they could ever come up with a coherent explanation for everything.
I voted no, for the same reasons as you, SenorBeef. If someone from the future had told me, back in season 2, that we were never going to get any real answers, and that most of the plot points that seemed most important then would wind up just being abandoned, I would have had no interest in the show.
Run fast, run far. Lindelof and Cuse are on my list.
My opinion for the overall series:
Acting: Good to Great.
Characterization: Good.
Theme: Disjointed, at best.
Overall Plot: Poor to really bad.
I don’t believe that the creators and writers of the show intended to promise more than they could deliver. But I do believe that was the end result. I think they started with a half-baked idea, convinced that they or others would bring it to a grand conclusion, and then found that they had written themselves into something that they couldn’t finish.
As proof, I offer this: A central premise of the show, carried through many seasons, is that the island they’re stranded on has some deep import. If you review the many Lost threads here, after the completion of the show, do you see a convincing or even consistent interpretation of the meaning of the island? You’ll see lots of inconsistent theories and fanwanking, sure. But either I and many others are too dumb to understand, or the show pretty fundamentally failed to deliver.
So, in the end, I think everything SenorBeef says has merit. Nonetheless, I found Lost a fun ride as long as you don’t get too attached to the idea that it’s going somewhere meaningful.
I voted for “worthwhile” but after thinking about it some more and rewatching a few favorite eps, I change to “No, don’t bother”.
It’s like there were two unrelated sets of writers. One set was making a complex science-fiction story with layers of mythology and interconnecting threads, and they did seasons 1-4. The other set of writers said “Dat’s too hard. It makes my haid hurt. Dur–we will have da heroes fight da monster. Dat will be gud and eazy!”
In the first 4 seasons the monster is one of the least interesting, least important mysteries there was. And that’s what the entire last season focused on? THAT’S the only question answered? Bah.
They could have cut out quite a few episodes without harm. In fact, they could have condensed the whole show into four seasons, or perhaps even three.
I have no problem with that opinion - I may even partially agree. I’m not a Lost pollyanna and there are plenty of things I could complain about. (FTR, I voted “worthwhile” in the poll) I seem to find myself inevitably arguing against haters in Lost threads (not saying you are a hater), when I really don’t want to. It’s a work of art - everyone is entitled to their opinion, and that’s valid. So, if you hated it, OK, that’s your opinion. But I feel I need to jump in when I see what I consider to be outrageous hyperbole, like the writers are totally incompetent (from another thread) or that the series was “designed” to be just good enough to string people along. I mean, come on. :rolleyes:
I think you have a valid point about the island, and I have absolutely no doubt that they made a bunch of it up as they went along. I just don’t have a big problem with that, as others do. I think **SenorBeef’s **arguments would have a lot more merit if he took a deep breath and abandoned silly hyperbole (e.g. “suffering.”)
Yes, but only for mysteries. If they didn’t present the show as a mystery, characterization alone would have been plenty for me. As a general rule I don’t even need plot coherence to enjoy a work, but that doesn’t apply to mysteries. Mysteries must be internally consistent or I consider it cheating.
It would be like if in Sixth Sense they showed the kid’s mother having an actual conversation with Bruce Willis’ character. IMO that would totally ruin the movie. Same idea.
I watched the first couple of episodes the first season. Then I drifted away, mostly because of my schedule and didn’t want to get into a taping/catching up rut.
With all the finale hype, I watched the 2-hour special before the finale. It recapped the highlights perfectly fine for me to watch the finale. I think the ending is a cop-out but I’m not that upset about it because I didn’t invest 6 years in a multi-plot experience.
I’ve considered, now having seen the ending, of doing the entire show on Netflix figuring now that I know how it ends I could be on the lookout for the clues leading up to what finally happens.
…then I snapped out of it. 
Too many other good things to watch instead…
Ah, yes, “hater”. It changes the tone of a discussion when you throw out that word, it has so much baggage. It’s easy to label people who disagree with you as “haters” because it’s easier to dismiss their criticisms. After all, they’re just looking for reasons to hate it!
You are misinterpreting my words, possibly deliberately, since I cleared this up. You seem to be saying that I think they let the show get to a certain level of good and then said “ok, but not any better than this! Even though we could do better, let’s do the exact level of good that’ll hook people but be unsatisfying!”.
I said that they were too incompetant to weave a coherent story together from all the plot threads they created. This seems obviously true. And I said that the show was designed to keep upping the ante on the mystery - if they couldn’t resolve an earlier mystery, just double down and get even more mysterious as a way to constantly keep people in that mystery building anticipation mode. This works for a while, but eventually you end up writing yourself into a corner and there’s just no way you can resolve all the stuff you were just making up on the spot with no future plans towards consistency or resolution. And that’s exactly what this show was - no answers, upping the mysteries constantly for years, things start to shake apart from inconsistencies and silly plot contrivances like characters never asking reasonable questions to characters who know something, and eventually you just have to end the thing with an unsatisfying mystical ending.
Again, your need to misrepresent my attitude indicates the weakness of your position. I don’t “need to take a deep breath” - I’m calm and rational. I don’t feel particularly angry since I was pretty sure this was coming for years now. I was a little dissapointed that the writers didn’t even try to do a half-decent job of wrapping it up, but for the most part my expectations were so low that I’m not devastated or naything.
As for “suffering”, obviously I’m not implying I’m actually sitting here through enormous pain. But you can “suffer” through tedious stuff, right? If a book had a few chapters in the middle which were irrelevant to the plot and uninteresting, you might talk about suffering through those for no reason - I don’t see why that’s hyperbolic. I don’t mean to say that watching the show was torture for me - there were still elements that were worthwhile like some of the actingthe acting, and occasionally good episodic stories that actually got resolved, Sawyer’s nicknames, etc. But a ton of the stuff was tedious and boring and ultimately never had any meaning anyway, hence, I think the audience suffered through a lot of it.
I originally voted No. The number and magnitude of the unanswered questions leaves a bad taste in my mouth. Can I change my vote to Yeah - there are still a lot of unanswered questions, but it’s worthwhile?
SenorBeef has described better than me my initial reactions. I still agree with everything he(she?) has said. As I describe over here, I have finally come around to the “the good outweighs the bad” camp. I would love to time travel to my earlier self watching the first episode and whisper in my ear, “treat this as an episodic show, not a 120 hour movie.” By setting that expectation up front, I think I would have avoided the angst* the finale wrought.
- I share SenorBeef’s frustration at how jotting ones reaction in words appears as can appear as hyperbole. It’s just a show and this is just an internet forum. No animals were harmed in the writing of these posts. Words like anger, suffering, angst, disappointment are colourful placeholders for the trivial-all-things-considered effect the show actually has. I rage with the fury or a thousand burning suns at the accusation of hyperbole
