*** Official Lost Season 6 *** (1 Viewer)

[GoFishTN]

I think the entire justification for the show was a lie. We were told that the writers knew where the story going. That was why I started watching the show, because that's such ambitious and groundbreaking TV I wanted to see how they pulled it off. I don't normally watch sci-fi shows, or fantasy shows, or whatever Lost was. Same with my wife and a lot of other folks that watched it. I think we alI watched it with the expectation that we were trying to figure something out and that the show was giving us clues the whole time that we would later say "so that's why that thing happened back in season 3!"

It turns out they had no idea where things were going. They were just making stuff up as they went along hoping they'd figure out a way to make it work. We weren't using information to try to figure out an answer, we were just speculating about what they would make up next. That doesn't seem nearly as interesting as trying to figure out a puzzle.

i think the writers initially intended the island to be purgatory. Once everyone figured this out during season 1, they said "no it's not purgatory" and scrambled to make it still relevant.

I don't think they had much of an idea as to what the island was, nor did they care. Like someone else posted, it was all just a bunch of MacGuffins.

Edit: reworded

 

[Leeroy Jenkins]

The island was supposed to be purgatory. Then they switched to the flash-sideways or whatever being purgatory instead. I'm not sure how dharma would have fit in though if that were true. The whole thing got stupid really.

 

[ghostguy123]

It really seemed like they only intended it to be one, maybe two seasons. It kept getting good rating, so they kept spewing out quickly thrown together trash.

 

[fatguyinalittlecoat]

I think its sad that people want a linear story with everything told to them instead of filling in the gaps a bit. Use your minds people.

I don't think this is an accurate description of those of us criticizing the show. Most of us don't need a linear show. Lots of us were explicitly drawn to the show based on the premise that we WOULD use our minds to figure stuff out. But there was nothing to figure out. Anybody who regurgitates stuff like "The numbers corresponded with each of those that were chosen as possible replacements for Jacob, and were also part of an equation that predicted mankind's extinction." is not using his mind. Because that was just more misdirection by the writers -- 1) it doesn't answer the questions that we had in the first place; 2) nothing on the show even suggested this stuff; and 3) it doesn't even make any ####### sense.

 

[Bigboy10182000]

The Lessons of Lost: Understanding the Most Important Network Show of the Past 10 Years

Lost premiered 10 years ago this week. It ended four and a half years ago. And I still miss it like crazy.

This doesnt seem to be a popular opinion these days, as backlash to the underwhelming series finale seems to have overtaken the memory of everything that came before. But backlash has overtaken just about everything in 2014, and the effect on television has been profound. Networks today are more hidebound, creators more skittish, and broadcast TV as a whole more distressingly safe. Yes, the expansion of viewing options and the subsequent diminishing of audiences have played the leading roles in this retrenchment, but its impossible to discount the added impact of our rapid-response culture. The big four networks were never particularly good at taking chances, but there was a dedicated, if occasionally naive, desire to give people something they might adore. Now networks twist themselves into knots coming up with milquetoast servings of what theyre pretty sure people wont hate. Its how you end up with 66 annual hours about Naval crime investigation and a half-dozen sitcoms about love that, taken together, are barely worthy of being liked. Want to know what white bread dipped in milk tastes like? Im pretty sure theres a new network show just for you.

Reconsidering Lost1 after a decade ought to feel like an exercise in gauzy nostalgia. But it doesnt. In fact, its the opposite. Rewatching the premiere the other night, I was floored by how exceptional it is, especially in comparison to the middling dreck I was sifting through just a week ago. The fearlessness of those first two hours, directed by J.J. Abrams at a reported cost of $14 million, is intoxicating. Its instantly more vibrant, more alive, more modern than anything else currently on broadcast air. From its opening moments, in which Jack opens his eyes to a strange new reality, Lost makes no effort to coddle, to entice. Rather, it intentionally disorients. When Jack runs through the jungle always toward the danger rather than away from it he dares the audience to sprint right alongside him. Though the show was years away from frustrating anyone with its mysteries, this headlong dash into the unknown was prophetic. Nothing would stop Lost from being reckless not with story, not with ideas, not with time, and certainly not with emotion. Taking the risk, and taking the journey, was what made the show worthwhile, regardless of where things ended up. To paraphrase a great man, sometimes you eat the polar bear, and sometimes the polar bear eats you.

What I remember most about the night Lost premiered was the sheer magnitude of the spectacle: a man sucked into a dying 747 turbine, an explosion of smoke and fire, the (unseen!) smoke monster smashing Greg Grunberg like a grape. But what lingers now is the attention and care given to the quieter scenes: Jack gazing into the impossibly blue Pacific just before the screaming of his fellow survivors reaches his ears; Charlie karaokeing his own hit song; a petrified Kate counting to five. The brilliance of the series lay in these moments, the ellipses between the exclamation marks. Even as entire palm trees gave way to what sounded like a Godzilla-size taxi meter, the most intriguing aspects of Lost were right in front of us. Where did all these survivors come from? What was the deal with the angry Korean couple, the gentle giant, the creep with the citrus smile? I didnt just want to know where they were. I wanted to know who they were. Its a seemingly simple distinction, but its one that TV producers have been getting wrong with staggering consistency ever since.

Dont misunderstand: This is not meant as an apologia for Losts ending. I still seethe over the shoddy disposal of core characters like Sun, Jin, and Sayid, Ive never stopped shaking my head over the Temple (I bet poor John Hawkes hasnt, either), and the memory of the final gathering in the church still leaves me stunned. How could we slip so far from the gonzo poetry of frozen donkey wheels to the high school notebook curlicues of soul mates ascending to heaven? It was the sight of a towering soufflé collapsing, at the final moment, into mushy, unbaked batter.2 But once I began rewatching the series from the beginning, the lump of disappointment I felt returning to my chest took a different form. As the French Ladys voice crackled on the radio, as all the Desmonds, Faradays, and Juliets still to come beckoned, I realized that I would absolutely submit to the full six seasons yet again, even with the knowledge that the final step would be sideways instead of satisfying. The frustration had changed. I wasnt upset with what Lost became. What really rankles is that nothing ever took its place.

Thanks to a quirk of timing and fate that would give even that old meddler Jacob pause, Lost managed to be both the first series to demonstrate the potential of a broadcast network in the digital age and the last. Though it was stuffed with sci-fi nerdery and smothered in a thick Bolognese of strangeness, the show was a phenomenon from the moment it debuted (to an audience of 18.65 million) all the way up through that last walk into the light (13.57 million). More than gaudy ratings, though, what Lost inspired was a very specific, highly contagious kind of mania. It arrived at a moment when Wikipedia-size wormholes were available to every viewer, when fan engagement migrated from the fringes to the very center of mainstream conversation. Excited by the sight of three-toed statues, inflamed by the mere mention of 19th-century slaving ships, otherwise sane individuals found themselves spelunking merrily into the deepest and darkest of Internet caves. Even today I can speak extemporaneously on the significance of Tawaret, the Egyptian goddess of fertility, or the philosophical musings of John Locke.3 I can prattle on endlessly about constants and variables. I know what an outrigger is. You could say that this intellectual and thematic sprawl didnt add up to much, but youd be wrong. What do you get by gobbling up everything under the sun? An entire, crazy world.

Thanks to this voraciousness, Lost bridged the Internet divide between the time Before Twitter (B.T.) and After Twitter (F.M.L.). It helped to normalize the idea that television can be watched intimately with millions of people not currently seated on your couch and that episodes dont end when the credits roll they stretch and bleed into the rest of the week through a dizzying scrim of chat windows, status updates, and ill-advised Googling. Over at Entertainment Weekly, critic Jeff Jensen gave in to the vapors so entirely that he single-handedly changed my understanding of what a TV review could be. Sure, Alan Sepinwall and others were already recapping. But Jensen used each episode as a trampoline for his wildest theories and infectious, boundless enthusiasm. In his virtuosic morning-after ramblings, Doc Jensen wasnt just commenting on what the show was. He was delighting in all the incredible things it could be. The truth is, Lost diehards and I count myself among them would never have been satisfied with the shows ending, no matter what form it took, because it pulled the plug on our endless, joyous speculating. If were being honest, none of us ever wanted to be found.

Lost was more than a TV show. It was a sort of shared madness, a delirium that ranged far beyond Wednesday nights at 10. And, as such, it should have heralded a new golden age for the graying networks. During Losts reign, cable channels were still focused on the highbrow character dramas that had earned them buckets full of press and prestige not to mention ratings that threatened to catapult them into the biggest of leagues. (The Walking Dead premiered five months after Lost went dark. Game of Thrones arrived the following April. Together, they would push cable into an entirely different sport.) Then, as now, networks needed to operate on a larger playing field both to differentiate themselves from their more nimble cable competitors and to sustain their far more demanding revenue model.4 A wholly original multimedia supernova like Lost isnt easily replicated. But whats most disheartening today is to see how little the big four seem inclined to try. After a few years packed with soulless cover versions like The Event and The Nine (more on those below), network executives threw up their hands and moved on: Lost was sui generis. Like the wreckage of Oceanic 815, its particular blend of wild art and savvy commerce could never be located again. To look at the broadcast grid in the fall of 2014 is to see abject surrender; outside of a few hardy survivors,5 every networks drama slate is a vast and exhausting sea of tired procedurals, preexisting properties, and unambiguous crap. Unless theyre plotting musicals, no one thinks big anymore. Honestly, theres little evidence anyone is thinking at all. How could it be that such a hugely important show cast no shadow?6 Lost was meant to be an antidote to network TVs slow descent into redundancy. Instead, it helped hasten the patients demise.

But if Lost taught me anything, its that time travel isnt just possible, its downright necessary. Only by truly examining where weve been can we make the adjustments to get us where we need to be. Ten years removed from the pilot, its clear that the television industry learned all the wrong lessons from Losts success. (Among them: Josh Holloway can be a leading man.) With that in mind, heres my list of six essential things that Lost could still teach the broadcast networks. Dont fight it. Its time to go back.

1. Characters First, Concept Second

This would seem like a no-brainer, but then you remember FlashForward. That high-concept, low-IQ failure from 2009 was only one of a whole flock of series green-lit in Losts wake, nearly all of which fundamentally misunderstood the shows appeal. It was never about the island; it was always about the people. Yet again and again the networks tried to reverse-engineer a hit by coming up with some ludicrously unsustainable conceit in FlashForward it involved a mass hallucination of a day six months in the future; IRL the show was canceled before even getting there and then attempting to fill it with compelling characters. As if an audience could ever care about the fate of a world populated solely by cardboard cutouts.

Better to take a page from Losts actual playbook and remember that the development process for the show was so ridiculously sped up that Abrams and Lindelof started casting before they even had fixed ideas about the characters the actors would be playing. This could have been disastrous but proved to be liberating. When Yunjin Kim came in to read for Kate, the producers were so thrilled that they created a new role just for her. This, in turn, led to the creation of Daniel Dae Kims Jin. Dominic Monaghan was so impressive in his audition for Sawyer (then described as an Armani-clad big-city con man) that they rewrote the role of Charlie (intended to be an aging, over-the-hill rocker) to better suit him. Sayid wasnt in the original outline at all. After meeting Naveen Andrews, Abrams and Lindelof crashed him into the cast.

In the best writing, action emerges from character, and not the other way around. If you can create compelling protagonists, you can do almost anything with them without breaking faith with the audience. They can jump through time, they can jump into bed with each other, they can even be locked in circus cages and fed fish biscuits. A strong character forgives all manner of foolish plot decisions made along the way. Dont start with the mystery box. Start with the woman trapped inside it and build out from there.

2. Embrace the Division of Labor

Look, Im all for the auteur theory in practice. Nearly all of the great dramas of the past decade-plus have been the passion projects of lone, particularly impassioned creators: your Matthew Weiners, your Vince Gilligans, your David Simons. But network TV doesnt operate like this and never has. Highly paid executives are deeply suspicious of overly empowered writers one ill-advised flight of fancy can crash an entire networks bottom line and the demands of the long network season require more than one set of hands on the controls. Rather than buck against this humbling reality, creators ought to embrace it and look to Lost as a reason why.

The premise of the show was conceived in 2003 by ABCs then president, Lloyd Braun, while he was vacationing in Hawaii. After Jeffrey Lieber, the first writer brought onboard to take Brauns Mad Lib of an idea Cast Away meets Survivor? failed to excite the network, the scraps of his idea were brought to J.J. Abrams, who tore it up and started again. (Dont cry for Lieber: Though none of his central ideas was used, the Writers Guild decided that he still deserved credit for his work on the project. That created by credit had to have been worth millions and millions of dollars.) I dont know if such strong, distinctive work usually comes out of creativity by committee. But what is clear is that the lack of total ownership over the idea allowed Abrams and Lindelof to work fast and loose in a way they might not otherwise have managed. (For proof of this, try watching Lindelofs The Leftovers and feel as the words fast and loose turn to ashes in your cigarette-stained mouth.) Since Lost didnt begin as their baby, there was no need to coddle it. Spurred by their audacity, Lost grew up hard, fast, and very, very odd. (Maybe cry a little for Braun: He was fired a month before Lost premiered, partly because he had sunk so much money into such a nutty pilot.)

Im not saying that the Jason Katimses and Shonda Rhimeses and Kyle Killens of the world, all the noble scribblers dedicated to working under the (extremely lucrative!) broadcast yoke, ought to give up their personal projects and start taking their marching orders from the men upstairs. But I am saying it might not be so bad for them to try bouncing their creativity off something other than their own reflections now and again. Does NBCs Bob Greenblatt have a certain type of show hes hankering to do? Is the ghost of Kevin Reilly still whispering buzzwords from Foxs air-conditioning vents? Im not entirely sure what Paul Lee thinks about, but I can promise you that, like Lloyd Braun, he has vacationed in Hawaii. Sometimes the best way to reach that untapped potential is to give someone else a chance to do the tapping.

3. Dont Self-Segregate

Heres the beauty of Lost: There are polar bears, flashbacks, bursts of electromagnetism, and a giant, tree-crashing, human-smashing monster in the pilot. Within a year, there would be a hippie cult, a torture room, and a set of magical numbers that appears to control the universe. By the end of Season 5, a time-traveling fertility doctor used a giant stone to bash a hydrogen bomb until it exploded. The end of the show hinged on a pair of godlike brothers squabbling over an immortal deckhand and which one of them Allison Janney loved more.

And yet during all of this, Lost carried itself like a fully mainstream entertainment. Even midway through the third season, after the show secured its end date and committed more fully to the genre looniness that had been lurking beneath the surface, Lindelof and his fellow showrunner, Cuse, never stopped projecting to the furthest reaches of the peanut gallery. Lost was a big, bold show that always sought the largest possible audience. Its most extreme Arthur C. Clarke indulgences were always leavened by a generous dash of Danielle Steel. Im tired of geek-minded shows self-exiling themselves to the margins as does this years Constantine, which will air Friday nights, where its audience of exactly who youd expect will be waiting to embrace it with open arms. Lost proved that there were viewers out there willing to accept all kinds of extreme stories as long as they were well told. Unlike the highly specialized series on cable, broadcast shows should always aim for the biggest possible tent. And creators should remember that tents that large require equally enormous stakes.

4. Dont Rush

Heres the beauty of the first hour of Lost: We catch a glimpse of every single major cast member. But we really meet only three of them: Jack, Kate, and Charlie. Thats it. Everyone else is forced to wait their turn.

What a luxury it is to bask in the not-knowing! And, also, what an anachronism. Every pilot I saw this fall felt the need to present every single character in the first few minutes, often in the most honking, unsubtle way possible. Forevers chatty protagonist introduces himself through clunky voice-over. State of Affairss heroine does the same by womansplaining herself to a shrink (Total slob in my personal life, total sniper in my professional one). On Madam Secretary, the president of the United States drives to a horse farm to tell Téa Leoni that she doesnt just think outside the box, she doesnt even know there is a box. (Tell that to John Locke!) Networks are so fearful that a viewer might become confused that theyve encouraged writers to spend their time connecting dots, not developing story. The truth is, its always far better to reveal personality through behavior in the pilot, Jack doesnt tell us who he is, he shows us by rushing silently from casualty to casualty while fiery debris rains down all around him and to unveil people gradually. Episodes can be binged but great characters ought to be savored.

5. Never, Ever Stop

Congratulations! If youve made it this far, Im assuming you, along with the now-fired president of your network, have created a stunning, wide-screen drama that has captivated the nations imagination. This is no small achievement and you ought to take a moment to bask in it. Im sure your children will appreciate their private school educations even though you wont be seeing them outside of holidays for the next seven years.

Moments over. Now its time to heed another central lesson of Lost: Never, ever stop. That second when you think youve settled into exactly what your show is and how it works? Thats the precise moment when you need to detonate a hydrogen bomb metaphorically or otherwise. Think back to how we first met our castaways: confused, bleeding people huddled on a beach, clinging to one another for dear life. Now think about all that was yet to come: the hatch, the Others, the Dharma Initiative, the Freighter folk, Ajira Airways, and whoever this dude was supposed to be (honestly, still wondering). Its both astonishing and unique that the very best episode of the series, Season 4s The Constant, was a time-twisting love story that hinged on the strong emotional connection viewers had formed with three characters, Desmond, Penny, and Faraday, who hadnt even been dreamed up when the show began. All successful TV shows expand as they age, adding to the cast, setting, and themes. And Lost was certainly no exception. But what made the show special was the way it dug deeper, finding new layers of possibility and demented mythmaking just below the surface of what was already there. The moment you become complacent is the moment youve and I really apologize for saying this lost. (Helpful hint: If youre stuck for inspiration, just try rewatching the first season of your show but this time imagine a hirsute, Mama Cassloving Scotsman going about his daily business underneath all the action. It really makes a difference!)

6. Have Fun

Dramatic TV in 2014 is, nearly without exception, punishingly grim. The goal of most series, from the ones I admire to the ones I dislike, appears to be the observation of humans at their absolute worst; broken people pushed to their breaking point and beyond. Lost, of course, began with a catastrophe, a hideously violent plane crash that killed dozens, wounded more, and wrenched more than 40 people away from their normal lives. But from that fire emerged the unmistakable, and unkillable, spark of life. As Ive written many times over, suffering is only one part of the human experience. To deny the desire to laugh, even in the face of death, is to misrepresent a fundamental aspect of who we are. And so for every Jack, angrily crying at fate and his father, Lost gave us a Hurley, sweetly building a golf course to lift peoples spirits.7 In Benjamin Linus, it gave us a villain who couldnt stop smirking as if the universe were a cruel joke that only he could appreciate. And in Sawyer, it gave us a deeply damaged man who fended off his demons with sarcasm far more often than his fists. Sawyer didnt just laugh in deaths face. He literally shared a beer with him. Lost was a show devoted to many things, some of which worked, some of which exploded more messily than Leslie Arzt. But above all else it was devoted to a certain kind of pleasure, the kind only found in community. Lost, at its best, celebrated the joys of living together. Its always more satisfying than dying, or even just watching, alone.

 

[VA703]

is that worth reading

 

[packersfan]

is that worth reading

It's long but I thought it was a really strong summary of the show.

 

[dschuler]

is that worth reading

My thoughts too when I was scrolling through this thread

 

[VA703]

eh im at work got nothing better to do!

 

[Leeroy Jenkins]

What are the odds that the writers shifted the island as purgatory to "flash sideways" being purgatory once everybody figured it all out vs original intent.

Also, when you think back on it, what was even the point of dharma, time travel, Jacob, etc? Nothing really mattered.

 

[Good Posting Judge]

Basura.

 

[cstu]

What are the odds that the writers shifted the island as purgatory to "flash sideways" being purgatory once everybody figured it all out vs original intent.

Also, when you think back on it, what was even the point of dharma, time travel, Jacob, etc? Nothing really mattered.

100%.

It was a soap opera disguised as a mystery show. The ending was completely tacked on since they couldn't figure out a way for the show to have made sense.

 

[cstu]

Lost proved that there were viewers out there willing to accept all kinds of extreme stories as long as they were well told.

Unlike the highly specialized series on cable, broadcast shows should always aim for the biggest possible tent.

 

[pollardsvision]

Cuse says he doesn't think we've seen the end of "LOST"

http://geektyrant.com/news/the-return-of-lost-is-inevitable-according-to-carlton-cuse

"Disney owns the franchise, it made them a lot of money, it’s hard to imagine it will just sit there idly forever.

"Damon (Lindelof) and I told our story in that world and I assume someone will come along, hopefully having been inspired by our story, or our version of the story, and want to tell their own story.

"It’s like the Narnia chronicles. There are seven books, they were all written by CS Lewis, but they all visit Narnia at different times and different configurations and different ways.

"Someone is going to come up with a way to tell another Lost story. I think it’s inevitable. I don’t know what it is or how it would work, but I can’t imagine something else won’t be done with the franchise."

 

[GoFishTN]

Cuse says he doesn't think we've seen the end of "LOST"

http://geektyrant.com/news/the-return-of-lost-is-inevitable-according-to-carlton-cuse

"Disney owns the franchise, it made them a lot of money, it’s hard to imagine it will just sit there idly forever.

"Damon (Lindelof) and I told our story in that world and I assume someone will come along, hopefully having been inspired by our story, or our version of the story, and want to tell their own story.

"It’s like the Narnia chronicles. There are seven books, they were all written by CS Lewis, but they all visit Narnia at different times and different configurations and different ways.

"Someone is going to come up with a way to tell another Lost story. I think it’s inevitable. I don’t know what it is or how it would work, but I can’t imagine something else won’t be done with the franchise."

Yeah, I'm not falling for that again.

 

[Finless]

I watched the whole series in 3 weeks while I was coming off of drugs. Overall I loved it. Could watch 10 episodes in a row. I'm not generally a TV show kind of guy. Show grabbed me. Season 3 on got a bit weird but I kept going back for more. Interestingly enough I sopped with two episodes left and didn't watch those until 9 months later.

 

[cstu]

Look Jin!

Spoiler

The new Blu Ray with the ending of LOST that doesn't suck!

 

[Capella]

I'm actually a little shocked they never did a prequel or sequel to this. Total cash cow.

 

[GoFishTN]

I'm actually a little shocked they never did a prequel or sequel to this. Total cash cow.

It would have been interesting to see the response. They pissed a lot of people off with the last season.

 

[Osaurus]

Trisha Tanaka is really hot

 

[Dentist]

I'm actually a little shocked they never did a prequel or sequel to this. Total cash cow.

It would have been interesting to see the response. They pissed a lot of people off with the last season.

There's a lot of fan fiction.

Tough to create more product for something that had sharply declining viewers as it progressed

 

[cstu]

I'm finally satisfied with the ending after coming to terms with what actually happened - the island was an alternative universe where the characters lived until they died (where they all met before going to heaven).

It wasn't purgatory (they were alive so this is why the producers weren't lying when they denied it being purgatory). However, it also wasn't the 'real' world - in this imaginary world anything could happen and was created solely to save the souls of the characters.

One way to think of it is purgatory for the living.

 

[GoFishTN]

I'm finally satisfied with the ending after coming to terms with what actually happened - the island was an alternative universe where the character lived until they died (where they all met before going to heaven).

It wasn't purgatory (they were dead so this is why the producers weren't lying when they denied it being purgatory). However, it also wasn't the 'real' world - in this imaginary world anything could happen and was created solely to save the souls of the characters.

One way to think of it is purgatory for the living.

So when they got off the island they were imagining it, or what?

 

[Mario Kart]

Every time I see this thread bumped, I get goose bumps thinking NetFlix picked it up as a new spinoff or something. One can only hope.

5 years ago.

 

[cstu]

I'm finally satisfied with the ending after coming to terms with what actually happened - the island was an alternative universe where the character lived until they died (where they all met before going to heaven).

It wasn't purgatory (they were alive so this is why the producers weren't lying when they denied it being purgatory). However, it also wasn't the 'real' world - in this imaginary world anything could happen and was created solely to save the souls of the characters.

One way to think of it is purgatory for the living.

So when they got off the island they were imagining it, or what?

Nope, another alternative universe. If the show is about God then he can do anything he wants.

This is why everything on the show doesn't need to make sense (there was no time travel, etc.) - God devised it as a set to test/help people who were in crisis (lost).

"Whatever happens, happens" was something that was said throughout the show and it's true - this was the characters' actual lives...they just didn't know that they were a part of a big game and that things that 'happened' weren't happening the way they thought they were.

 

[cstu]

"No, no, no. They were not dead the whole time," Cuse said, "But the characters definitely survived the plane crash and really were on a very real island. At the very end of the series, though? Yep, they were all dead when they met up in heaven for the final 'church' scene."Read more: http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/tv/s10/lost/news/a557960/lost-showrunners-explain-ending-they-were-not-dead-the-whole-time.html#ixzz3X31AwjqP

Follow us: @digitalspy on Twitter | digitalspyuk on Facebook

Deceptive, but absolutely true.

 

[El Floppo]

I'm finally satisfied with the ending after coming to terms with what actually happened - the island was an alternative universe where the character lived until they died (where they all met before going to heaven).

It wasn't purgatory (they were alive so this is why the producers weren't lying when they denied it being purgatory). However, it also wasn't the 'real' world - in this imaginary world anything could happen and was created solely to save the souls of the characters.

One way to think of it is purgatory for the living.

So when they got off the island they were imagining it, or what?

Nope, another alternative universe. If the show is about God then he can do anything he wants.

This is why everything on the show doesn't need to make sense (there was no time travel, etc.) - God devised it as a set to test/help people who were in crisis (lost).

"Whatever happens, happens" was something that was said throughout the show and it's true - this was the characters' actual lives...they just didn't know that they were a part of a big game and that things that 'happened' weren't happening the way they thought they were.

so really, it's Fantasy Island.

 

[NewlyRetired]

I'm finally satisfied with the ending after coming to terms with what actually happened - the island was an alternative universe where the character lived until they died (where they all met before going to heaven).

It wasn't purgatory (they were alive so this is why the producers weren't lying when they denied it being purgatory). However, it also wasn't the 'real' world - in this imaginary world anything could happen and was created solely to save the souls of the characters.

One way to think of it is purgatory for the living.

So when they got off the island they were imagining it, or what?

Nope, another alternative universe. If the show is about God then he can do anything he wants.

This is why everything on the show doesn't need to make sense (there was no time travel, etc.) - God devised it as a set to test/help people who were in crisis (lost).

"Whatever happens, happens" was something that was said throughout the show and it's true - this was the characters' actual lives...they just didn't know that they were a part of a big game and that things that 'happened' weren't happening the way they thought they were.

so really, it's Fantasy Island.

Just reshoot the the crash with Tattoo screaming 'Da Plane, Da Plane", and you are all set.

 

[Leeroy Jenkins]

It was supposed to be purgatory and then the world figured it out and they changed the show and ####ed it up.

 

[cstu]

It was supposed to be purgatory and then the world figured it out and they changed the show and ####ed it up.

I'm finally satisfied with the ending after coming to terms with what actually happened - the island was an alternative universe where the character lived until they died (where they all met before going to heaven).

It wasn't purgatory (they were alive so this is why the producers weren't lying when they denied it being purgatory). However, it also wasn't the 'real' world - in this imaginary world anything could happen and was created solely to save the souls of the characters.

One way to think of it is purgatory for the living.

So when they got off the island they were imagining it, or what?

Nope, another alternative universe. If the show is about God then he can do anything he wants.

This is why everything on the show doesn't need to make sense (there was no time travel, etc.) - God devised it as a set to test/help people who were in crisis (lost).

"Whatever happens, happens" was something that was said throughout the show and it's true - this was the characters' actual lives...they just didn't know that they were a part of a big game and that things that 'happened' weren't happening the way they thought they were.

so really, it's Fantasy Island.

Never thought of it that way.

 

[sports_fan]

I need to binge watch this again.

 

[Dentist]

I need to binge watch this again.

I'll send you $5 not to waste 50+ hours of your life on this abortion of a program just because i care about your health and mental well being.

 

[Plaid Boxer]

I need to binge watch this again.

I'll send you $5 not to waste 50+ hours of your life on this abortion of a program just because i care about your health and mental well being.

I'll take the $5. And then I'll pay you the $5 back to not monitor this thread-I too care about your well being.

 

[shader]

I need to binge watch this again.

I'll send you $5 not to waste 50+ hours of your life on this abortion of a program just because i care about your health and mental well being.

Whatever man. one bad finale doesn't mean the whole thing sucks.

It's an incredible journey. I re-watched it a few years ago and enjoyed it every step of the way.

 

[Dentist]

I need to binge watch this again.

I'll send you $5 not to waste 50+ hours of your life on this abortion of a program just because i care about your health and mental well being.

Whatever man. one bad finale doesn't mean the whole thing sucks.

It's an incredible journey. I re-watched it a few years ago and enjoyed it every step of the way.

I got over the finale, I didn't get over the island warping and more of less then entire final 2 seasons of basic stupidity.

There are few things I regret in life more than watching this program. If i could have those 50 hours back (and the few other hours I spent thinking about the show, talking about the show with friends, etc) I could probably have learned a language or something far more +EV.

I HATE YOU LOST... I HATE YOU!

 

[Spin]

This sums it up perfectly for me.

Heres the beauty of Lost: There are polar bears, flashbacks, bursts of electromagnetism, and a giant, tree-crashing, human-smashing monster in the pilot. Within a year, there would be a hippie cult, a torture room, and a set of magical numbers that appears to control the universe. By the end of Season 5, a time-traveling fertility doctor used a giant stone to bash a hydrogen bomb until it exploded. The end of the show hinged on a pair of godlike brothers squabbling over an immortal deckhand and which one of them Allison Janney loved more.

 

[fatguyinalittlecoat]

one bad finale doesn't mean the whole thing sucks.

I hate when people act like the only problem with the show was the finale. The show sucked all along, we just didn't know it conclusively until the finale was over.

 

[GoFishTN]

one bad finale doesn't mean the whole thing sucks.

I hate when people act like the only problem with the show was the finale. The show sucked all along, we just didn't know it conclusively until the finale was over.

The first season is most likely the single best season of a TV show ever. After that, you're probably right.

 

[Bigboy10182000]

one bad finale doesn't mean the whole thing sucks.

I hate when people act like the only problem with the show was the finale. The show sucked all along, we just didn't know it conclusively until the finale was over.

But you watched anyway?

 

[sports_fan]

I need to binge watch this again.

I'll send you $5 not to waste 50+ hours of your life on this abortion of a program just because i care about your health and mental well being.

ok

 

[Mario Kart]

Six years ago tonight, the finale aired. What a show.

Evangeline Lilly is still top notch.

 

[rabidfireweasel]

so really, it's Fantasy Island.

Smiles, everyone, smiles!

 

[Paulymaggs]

Just rewatched all 6 seasons and easily one of the best American Dramas I've ever seen.  

 

[Dentist]

Just rewatched all 6 seasons and easily one of the best American Dramas I've ever seen.  

I've never regretted watching and investing time in a show more than that

 

[shader]

I've never regretted watching and investing time in a show more than that

Did you enjoy it along the way? Stop regretting it. Yeah, they crashed and burned at the end. It was still a great show. Seinfeld had a dumb and unfunny ending.  Doesn't mean it wasn't great comedy.

 

[shader]

Just rewatched all 6 seasons and easily one of the best American Dramas I've ever seen.  

It was an awesome show with amazing characters.  Also it's better on the 2nd viewing.

 

[Blick]

I've never regretted watching and investing time in a show more than that

I've come to terms by separating the ride from the ending. 

 

[Boston]

I've come to terms by separating the ride from the ending. 

Excellent point...you really do need to do this...when it was rolling I just remember analyzing every moment and what it meant...it was the first time since I was a kid in the three network days where a certain night meant a certain show...I still am bitterly disappointed by the ending but like anything else time does heal all wounds...

 

[Andy Dufresne]

I think said it somewhere earlier in the thread but...

If you were interested in the mechanism of the island - why it exists, how it works, etc. then I think you came away disappointed. And understandably so.

If you looked at the island as a giant, six season MacGuffin that only provided motivation for the characters to do things, then you probably appreciated the ending more.

I fell into the second camp so I came away satisfied.

 

[Mario Kart]

The ending was great.