First off, let me say that I know there are many of you who are enjoying Lost this season and I want to acknowledge you and say that I am one of you. This post is for the people who are not enjoying Lost and also for the people who still enjoy it, but expect more.
Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse
ABC/Mario Perez
Co-executive producers Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse made TV history when they got the ABC execs to agree to an end date for the hugely popular show. For them and for us, the fans, this was a major accomplishment because it meant that they could tell the end of the story and not drag the story out with episodes like Stranger in a Strange Land and Expose.
So now, everyone is happy. While we are sad to see the show end, we get a conclusion to the story. Except, everyone is not happy, and I think I know why (whether you agree or disagree, please explain why in the comments).
I believe there are two reasons people are not enjoying the season: One, so many questions yet to be answered, and two, the flash-sideways storylines.
Let's start with number two, the less controversial issue. I've heard a lot of comments about the flash-sideways and how it doesn't seem to have much to do with the story we've been watching for the past 5 years. Okay, but how can you know that at this point?
About whether or not an episode is good, my friend, R.L., says, "I consider each episode a piece of the puzzle, so great or not great doesn't matter to me because I consider it a part of an over-arcing whole. Every part of Lost advances the story. It is a circle - something that happens in 1867 clears up something that occurs in 2007...Relax. Leave the driving to the writers. It'll all be good. And if it ain't - at least you had six good years of good times, right?"
Right!
It's hard to look at an episode and claim it as good or not good, because we don't know how if fits into the puzzle yet. Remember in episode 3x10, Tricia Tanaka is Dead we saw the skeleton and it was just a funny bit added to the episode? Then, come to find out, the skeleton is a big piece of the puzzle. That was Roger Linus, Ben's dad, who he gassed to death on his birthday! While the pieces may not make sense at the time, when we have all the pieces (at the end) and you put them all together, they make a lot of sense.
The flash-sideways are a piece of the puzzle. They are important and I believe the flash-sideways will collide with the other timeline and it will all make sense. I believe they are an interesting and necessary part of the story.
'Lost' Season 6 Cast
ABC/Bob D'Amico
Let's talk about all these questions that need to be answered. My perception is that people are so worried about the questions not getting answered, that they are no longer enjoying the show. After every episode I hear comments about little or no questions being answered.
Part of the problem is ABC's constant promos about questions being answered. Solution: forget about that. Don't listen to those promos.
Another problem is the fear that we've invested all this time in the show and our major questions are not ever going to get answered. True, the writers have said that all questions won't be answered, but they are focused on answering the questions that matter to the characters and to the characters' overall development.
Why don't we let that fear go and just enjoy the show? I really think that this season would be much more enjoyable if we didn't have the information that it was the last season. I think people would be much more relaxed and able to enjoy the story. So let's just pretend that the story is not coming to an end. If, when the series is over, there are questions that you are upset about not getting the answers too, well, we'll discuss it and worry about it then, but for now, let's just enjoy the story. I have complete faith in the writers and I think they are going to surprise us all in the end. Don't worry about what might not happen, just think about what is happening now.
So that's what I think. What do you think?
Comments
Bonnie,
I’m enjoying some of the flash sideways story line. I do feel like they will ultimate end up pulling into the full storyline. However, the Sayid flash sideways was simply a total snore. The entire episode was slow and boring.
I am not so much concerned with them not answering questions. I just wish that every episode had a MAJOR element of Mystery to it. I wouldn’t mind if they were to add ONE NEW MAJOR QUESTION every episode till the finale. I don’t need answers, I want to have fun PONDERING THE QUESTIONS!
It seems like FOREVER since we have received a seen in LOST that requires you to grab a screen capture and then spend an hour to decipher it’s meaning. The closest thing we’ve got this season is the names on the cave wall and at the lighthouse. However, even those items were shown in such full detail that you didn’t need to go and grab a screen capture. And EVEN WORSE, THEY ANSWERED WHY THE NAMES WERE THERE RIGHT AWAY.. Leaving little time for speculation.
I really enjoy the on island stuff. As I said, I’m sure that the sideways stuff is going to be important. I’m just missing the old days of hidden stuff behind a wall in Ben’s Bedroom, A mysterious Hatch, a pallet of food dropping from nowhere, etc, etc.
We are getting a little of that here and there. I don’t “hate” the relationship stuff. I just don’t want to have it overtake the ongoing MYSTERY element of the show. I think a few episodes this season have been EXTREMELY HEAVY on the character development site with such an intense focus on the flash sideways.
THE ISLAND is my favorite character on the show.. I want to see more of it!
I completely agree, Bonnie! People now consider things to be “boring” that they never would have a couple of years ago. Pieces of vintage ‘Lost’ storytelling via hints, phrasing, names, etc., are being missed because some people are looking to be “wowed” not just by every episode, but by every scene. Or, if something is revealed that many have been predicting, that also seems to disappoint people, and somehow not count as a reveal.
When you read a book, you enjoy some passages/chapters more than others. If you didn’t enjoy one part, you just move on to the next when you can. Ultimately, you just judge the book as a whole, yet still with favorite parts and maybe parts you didn’t like. “Lost” can be compared to a good book more than perhaps any other TV show. I, personally, have appreciated some aspect of nearly every episode this year.
Sometimes it’s all in the little details. Some are so busy looking for big things that they’re missing the small things that have always been what has made ‘Lost’ great.
“THE ISLAND is my favorite character on the show.. I want to see more of it!”
That sums it up for me very nicely as well. I have nothing against character development and when done well it can add a whole lot to the story. I still watch shows or movies for the story though, the characters are supposed to add to it but not take it over IMO. The flash sideways so far have been much, much more character than story so far and that’s why they just haven’t held my interest in many cases. Some of them were better than others- the four-episode stretch of Substitute, Lighthouse, Sundown, and Dr. Linus were all watchable, well-done sideways eps I think- but in the end I simply don’t watch Lost to see what happens in the flash sideways every week. The island and the mythology is a much bigger deal to me than playing count-the-connections with characters like it’s season one or two all over again in the flash sideways. I have no doubt the sideways will factor into the island at some point and maybe it’ll be really clever and interesting how it’s pulled off, that doesn’t really make the sideways more enjoyable for me right now though and I still think years from now when I’m watching them all over again I’m betting I’ll still get up for a drink during the sideways parts of these episodes.
damn…i still tryin to figure out what happened to tony soprano
I think people don’t like the flash sideways because viewers got accustomed to a more straightforward storytelling style in seasons 4 and 5, when Lost stopped using the flashback sequences. But I think that things will tie together.
For instance, the sideways in “The Package” clarified questions raised in previous sideways sequences: the purpose of the money in Jin’s luggage, how Jin came to be Keamy’s prisoner, and what happened after Sayid found Jin tied up. So even though the sideways flashes raise more questions, these questions are being answered relatively fast.
At times, I’ve felt that the sideways device slowed down the story, but now the sideways flashes are moving at a faster pace and becoming more intense, interesting stories in themselves. So I’m in the same camp as Bonnie and R.L. Patience is a virtue; give it a chance.
I don’t feel that Stranger in a Strange Land was a waste of an episode. In that episdoe, Achara said that she had a gift which allowed her to see who people really are. Jack forced her against her will to tattoo his arm. I believe Achara was able to see what Jack was going to become, in relation to being a candidate to replace Jacob. “He walks amongst us, but is not one of us.”
YES. Brian, awesome pull. And Expose was a test for the producers to try something out they have done many times since – reusing old footage/sets/costumes and making current characters look like they did when they first arrived (Jack, Sawyer and Jin’s shorter hair) not mention giving us more of characters who died all too quickly (Arnzt). Again, all part of the larger puzzle.
About the Island being the favorite character – I agree that it is a great character, but I’m even more happy that someone has made this point: IT IS A CHARACTER, not the show itself. The title of the show is not “The Island” or “Lost on an Island”. It is Lost – Just Lost. You get involved in a show with a title as ambiguous as this one, you have to expect a healthy bit of seemingly random events to underscore the theme: every character (as well as all of us in our day to day lives) are Lost. And the best way to extend the everyman accessibility of these characters is to show you their day to day very human existences: Hurley pre lottery, Locke in the dead end job, an interacial childless couple dealing with cancer, a single mother looking for a good home for her baby, a work widow longing for freedom outside her loveless marriage, a man trying to reconnect with the son he wasn’t allowed to raise, a recovering addict, Even a guy who is a rockstar in his occupation, but can’t get over his failed marriage and daddy issues. Stuff we can relate to. With a bit of the exotic and sensational (Kate, Sawyer, Sayid, Ana Lucia, Eko, Desmond) to keep us guessing.
I totally agree with you Bonnie! I’ve given up on finding answers, but I am just trying to enjoy these last few episodes for what they are; total fictional entertainment!
I actually don’t mind the flash sideways. Even if there is little importance to the flash sideways, the winning formula of Lost has always been to take these intermissions from the live action and when you can’t use a flash forward without giving the ending away and flashbacks would be useless at thsi stage, the flash sideways works quite well.
The problem with the rest of the show so far this year is that as much as they ar attempting to further complicate a complicated puzzle, the problem is that the show has to have entertainment value. That is the key to any show regardless if it is in its first or last season. Its the entertainment value that Lost is missing right now which is the reason for the backlash. As much as I want to learn what happened, I also want to be entertained. I’ve “lost” many hours of my life so far this year waiting for some real action to take place. They’re back to stalling like in Season 3, when they don’t need to be stalling.
Actually, I like the flash sideways. I think the script for them is usually better than the island script, and that’s what worries me.
What’s happening on the island is not so interesting to me, same old story of two sides fighting each other: yes, I really would like to see more questions answered, and I’m not so satisfied with the answers we’ve been given. I don’t know, Richard’s story wasn’t that great, he’s just a guy taking orders, doesn’t even know why.
If you go back, there are hundreds of questions to be answered, and too few episodes left to answer even a small fraction. I’ve started revisiting the whole story, and I think it is losing consistency. I mean, I hoped Lost would be the first series ever with no big inconsistencies, but I guess I had my hopes too high.
Don’t get me wrong, I am still enjoying the show, but it just isn’t that special anymore. It’s just another show I enjoy.
BTW – brian. Tony Saprano line was great too.
Cooperdale,
Welcome back. Wondered where you’d been.
I’m with you on both points. The show has lost a bit of its sparkle, but I think the sideways will prove meaningful to the overall story line.
The inconsistencies bother me, too. Since “Recon,” I’ve been annoyed at the talk of flying Ajira 316 off the island. To me, that’s a huge one.
Are we supposed to forget that the copilot was killed by a branch that crashed through the windshield? Any idiot knows a cockpit can’t stay pressurized, nor can a jet fly, with a busted windshield. Ajira 316 wasn’t airworthy after the crash, but now Richard is saying, “We have to destroy the plane.” Baloney.
At the end of last season, you and I were hoping for some answers about the statue and Egyptian symbology. So far, it doesn’t look like we’ll get them, and it would be a shame if we don’t.
Yeah. That constant talk about the Ajira plane is getting annoying. Unless Charles’ peeps fixed it enough to take off again. But they haven’t been there but a few days. Hell, it hasn’t happened yet, so until we see the new and improved jet we can’t really say yet.
Bonnie, I have to admit that I wasn’t a great fan of the flash-sideways at first, but now I’ve come to accept them and embrace them, especially after a couple of very interesting flash-sideways storylines (Sawyer/Ford and Miles, and Sun and Jin). I can’t wait to see how the writers will weave them together with the island storyline.
@ R.L. and Brian,
My favorite theory on what happened to the Sopranos is that the family was slaughtered in the diner. Instead of showing the carnage, the writer decided to go with the fade-out.
It’s not as good as it once was. I won’t rewatch the episodes any more just to see that special line or that special scene. But it’s almost as good once as it ever was. I’ll watch it once through and if it gets really dull (let’s roll around on the floor of the Black Rock a few more minutes while nothing happens) I just fast forward until it looks more interesting. It used to be that I couldn’t stand to miss a second so I think the individual episode quality has slipped a little.
For me, it has little to do with “answers” or the Flash Sideways (even though it has blown for 10 episodes except maybe the initial reveal with the underwater shot – which was bad in execution HA!). it has to do with the show having weak results over a six year period and then the final season coming off extremely dragged and weak. the first two or three seasons held a real mysterious element and opportunity to explore a deep mythos but we never got it. instead we got a DHARMA Initiative that was just bumbling, over-reactive idiots. who really believes these people were doing any sort of paranormal/pseudo-scientific research there from what we seen? not me. theres other examples where they failed in this but ill save it.
boiled down: i think the show set too high of expectations for most viewers with its hints at mythological depth, and then went about 30 mph in a 65 mph zone for the final season so far.
most people will be apologists for the show cause most people here are huge “television” fans. i never was. TV comes off way corny most of the time and really forced, so i have no allegiance to any of this. theres hardly ever creative autonomy to generate intense urgency or situations. even a lot of cinema comes off this way. that said, the HYPE ride of the show was fun but i dont think id ever invest this much time in a TV show ever again regardless of how this ends. the “drag long” has been way too long and this is a story that could have been told in about 4 seasons max.
its nice Fans love to apologize for the shows they love but as someone who has high standards for “art” at any level im going to call things how i see it. that said, i always seen the show as a graphic novel made for TV and it really is coming off that way as it finishes up. anyone who has ever read comics or graphic novels would see the similarities in formula/foundation immediately.
Well hell yeah, there are both DC and Marvel writers on the staff at different times over the years.
As much as there are apoligists on every long running cult show, there are also born haters who will tear down at every opportunity (not saying you are Dark Passenger – I like your points. Good stuff). But there are some who just hate for hate sake and will not let go. And as much as apoligists are swarmy and sycophantic, haters are just maladjusted and near-impossible to tolerate.
I probably will end up somewhere loving and hating on May 24 – but I’m waiting until then to condemn or bless.
Bonnie – great blog! i agree with every thing you said.
had a bit to add to the whole “will the questions be answered” – It’s no doubt Lost has become a huge part of sci-fi lore. so lets take a look at other huge sci-fi “universes” and how far they’ve come. Star Wars, Star Trek, Marvel and DC respective universes – all of these properties have extremely larges amounts of side stories told through different entertainment mediums. novels, comics, movies, cartoons all of these thing were utilized in order to expand upon a story already told.
i can see the future (ya know, cuz i turned the hatch key;)) of Lost as being just like those above. we will have Lost novels that could expand upon the DeGroots or maybe the Hanzos, we could have Lost Comics, maybe in 20 years a movie. maybe in 5-10 years we’ll have a Lost movie with all the same actors being re-united on the island once again. when you have a story that deals in time travel and loops and alternate realities anything is possible. just look at what JJ Abrams did with Star Trek. he used time travel, a major point in Lost, as a device to tell a new story to a new generation, all while respecting the original fans.
maybe at the end of this season we won’t really need any of that stuff, but there’s no way to know that right now. im doing just like Bonnie said – relaxing and enjoying. cuz i know as soon as this season is over it’s time to pop in season 1 and start all over again and see just how much pre-planning really went into this thing!
some people just can’t see the forest through the trees
Good plan, Alex. Won’t it be so fun watching them all again knowing the ending?!?
I’m not sure that there will be anything going on when the series ends. I know the creators don’t want anything else, but it’s not up to them, so we shall see.
I’m sorry,Lost has been my favorite show from day one. But I have to say I’m lost and confused.
Bonnie, you hit the nail right on the head. If it wasn’t known that this is the final season, I think people would be viewing these episodes in a completely different light. I think the flash sideways are brilliant, and if you just keep an open mind and let your thoughts flow freely, I think in some strange way you will actually see things coming together.
I, too, have complete confidence that the writers will not disappoint us, and that in the end I will have all the answers I need to be completely satisfied. I am already starting to feel fulfilled, and there’s still quite a bit to go. I’m not asking anymore questions. I’m just going along on this wonderful ride and making the most of it while I can.
The main reason I haven’t fully enjoyed the Sideways story line is,after years of caring about these characters, the lives they are living(in Sideways)are not what I had wanted for them.I feel unsettled after viewing each Sideways story line.Afterloving this show for years:THIS is what their lives will be like? Or where like?I realize I don’t fully. Understand Losts different time lines or time jumps. I don’t know time wise where they are.Pre Island? Post Island ?I hope with the re introduction of Desmond,the Sideways lives are altered for the better!
I would satisfying to see that Rose didn’t have cancer& Juliet,Boone& Charlie were still alive(was Charlie REALLY alive this past episode with Desmond?).I would like a fairey tale ending where Penney&Desmond Sawyer&Juliet,Kate&Jack,Charlie&Caire,Locke&Helen,Rose&Benard all had a happier lifes.
The main reason I haven’t fully enjoyed the Sideways story line is,after years of caring about these characters, the lives they are living(in Sideways)are not what I had wanted for them.I feel unsettled after viewing each Sideways story line.Afterloving this show for years:THIS is what their lives will be like? Or where like?I realize I don’t fully. Understand Losts different time lines or time jumps. I don’t know time wise where they are.Pre Island? Post Island ?I hope with the re introduction of Desmond,the Sideways lives are altered for the better!
I would satisfying to see that Rose didn’t have cancer& Juliet,Boone& Charlie were still alive(was Charlie REALLY alive this past episode with Desmond?).I would like a fairey tale ending where Penney&Desmond Sawyer&Juliet,Kate&Jack, Charlie&Caire,Locke&Helen,Rose&Benard all had happier lives.
The last line of my comment had typos.Oooops It should read: They all had happier lives.
Peggy, I keep thinking about Michael Fox saying that the ending is tragic and beautiful, or something to that effect. I don’t think there is going to be a happily ever after ending, but I’m hanging on to the hope that it will be beautiful. Sometimes when I’m watching the flash sideways I find myself crying, and I don’t even know why. I just think the ending is going to reveal a beautiful and meaningful sadness or inevitability in the lives of everyone involved. I’m starting to feel like the end is not going to be surprising, and that it’s all going to come together in a way that makes sense, whether we like it or not.
Oops.. I meant Matthew Fox.
Lost has never been a disappointment for me. I love every episode (yes, I’m cheerleader). There are a few questions I still wanted answers to (Egyptian symbology and why the statue is there in the first place, how Jacob and his adversary ended up on the island) at the end of season 5 but at this point the writers have my complete confidence. They’ve earned it by creating a great show for 5 and half seasons so this season I’m just along for the ride and loving it. At the end of the day it’s just great entertainment. Some folks need to lighten up. It really isn’t that serious.
Venice,Thanks for your input. Lost is the only TV show I’ve watched from the beginning of the series to the end.The “island” action& suspense has been intense&the mystery& romance story lines are the best.Lost always has SPECTACULIAR season Finales.The Sideways stories aren’t as satisfying (to me) though I’ve come to realize they have a”greater purpose”in Losts story.
Yes,Lost is great entertainment!!
P.S.The purpose of this forum ISN’T
to judge one anothers comments.
A waste of air time.
I thought Lost started out really well and it was different from anything on TV. I am a traditionalist and to me a good story has to have a beginning, good content and a decent ending. I’ll keep watching but I don’t think there’s time enough for them to tie it all up and give us the decent ending. But I hope I’m wrong!!
Unfortunately, given the setting and characters and all the rest, the writers seem to have given us a plot by committee or consensus, and we all know how that works.
Knowing the show had a finite timeline to it, the writers should have had the whole show mapped out, but it all feels like they were just writing it as they went along.
I read credits and I’ll be watching out for anything these clowns appear on from this point forward and if these producers are on it, I’m not watching it. My little protest.
BTW–
R.L., anything you don’t like or approve of is not “hate” just because you disagree. You sound like Congress.