I guess the writers of Lost locked themselves away for a few days to map out the remaining seasons of the mystery show, and one of the things they came up with was:
The Ending
On the one hand, I’m happy to hear that.. but on the other, didn’t they have an ending in mind when they created the show? See, now that scares me and reflects a lot of the online chatter early last season that these guys were just making things up as they went along.
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BAD IDEA on a show like this, IMHO. You’d sure as heck better know the answer to the mystery or conclusion when you tell a story like this. It would be like having a Twilight Zone episode written where they decide at the last minute how to end it.
Yeesh.
Well at least I suppose we should be happy that they’ve come up with an ending to the show, and that mysteries will be revealed as it unfolds instead of waiting until the 48th episode.
Source: BuddyTV
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11 Comments
Somehow, I don’t think a meeting to discuss the ending implies they didn’t have one. If you know you’re going on a three year round-world trip, wouldn’t you make a few visits to the travel agent until everything’s confirmed, rather than just one? By the same token, the announcement that ‘Lost’ will end in 2010 probably gave the team reason to get together and simply flesh out a much more precise itinerary. I mean, seriously, haven’t you heard of rewrites, new ideas, screenplay evolution…?
Vic
Meh… I just figured the show had been ‘drifting’ while they wait for ABC to give them the freedom to end it when they want. Had they moved at the pace they wanted in the first place (ie. a 4- or 5-year arc), ABC may have forced their hand and the intended ‘ending’ would have come before the show actually ended. I don’t think Lindelof and Cuse are to blame for this - they just know how TV often works and had to stall for a bit to prevent a case similar to ‘The X-Files’. If anyone wanted an 8-year run, it was the network.
It is good news that they have sat and mapped out (presumably) roughly where they are planning on going with the remainder of the amazing show.
And I just want to say something here - I am getting tired of people complaining about the fact the writers are making it up as they go along. Isn’t that what EVERY show writers do? Do you think the people behind 24 or The Sopranos had everything set in stone when they first started the show? Somehow I doubt it.
Of course the creators are making some of it up as they go along, that’s what television IS.
The latter can be open ended, as each story stands on it’s own, while the former needs an overall multi-episode arc that comes to a satisfying conclusion, much like a movie or novel.
Vic
I see what you’re saying with the series that stand on their own episode to episode (but does 24?).
But I don’t think they need to answer every little thing. It’s fun to make up your own mind, I much prefer that. I can see how it would annoy some people when lots of questions get raised with not that many answers. I’m sure the writers will explain everything - how were they supposed to know how things are going to pan out? Maybe they had an idea when they first made it but other, better ideas about the characters and story arcs restricted the original ideas from being able to happen. Personally I don’t mind that they are making some stuff up as they go along, did you really EXPECT them to know exactly 100% where the show was going to end up?
Each season of “24″ is one gigantic story with a definite beginning, middle and end.
I don’t expect the writers of “Lost” to have every detail figured out - that’s silly. But I *do* expect them to have the big picture stuff worked out. For example, in “The Matrix” the Wachowski brothers knew that everything that Neo experienced up until the time he “woke up” was a computer generated virtual reality and that he existed in a test tube.
This is the level of knowledge about the story arc I’m talking about. Is the mystery of the island supernatural? Science Fiction/technological? Are they dead? In Purgatory? Trapped as in “The Matrix”? These are the ideas that they should know in advance of crafting the details of the individual episodes.
You can’t just throw a bunch of stuff into the story and then scramble to figure out how to put it all together - that makes for a crappy result. Think about it like baking a cake: You know in advance what the final result will be and you put in the appropriate ingredients which lead to the outcome. If you just throw in whatever you want because it seems good with no end result in mind, you’ll end up with an inedible dessert.
Vic
Touche with the desert analogy, Vic:)
But I am still very much in the JJ Abrams, Damon Lindelof and the entire Lost show in general’s corner. I guess it comes down to personal taste - do you prefer every question answered or do you ike being in the dark about some things? I’m sure they have an idea of what the ending is going to be (this reinforced by the way they have decided to go with the whole “flashforward” thing with Jack, they MUST know where they are planning to go from there). And I think they are just trying to work out how to come to that conclusion.
The show is TOO important for the fans and them personally for them not to take care with how things will end up.
I don’t need to know every little thing, but I also want to feel secure in the fact that the story is actually going somewhere definite. Don’t get me wrong… I think the guys behind “Lost” are awesome (and I’m really looking forward to Abrams’ “Star Trek”).
Character development is very important (if you read my site regularly you know how I feel about that) but you must have strong characters AND a story. Spending an entire episode on how Jack got just ONE of his tattoos strikes me as more than a bit self-indulgent on the part of the writers.
BTW, the whole “flash-forward” thing and setting a target number of episodes was due to many more people than just me being of the opinion that the show didn’t seem to have a final destination and they were getting into “jerk the fans around” territory.
Vic
Yes when I first responded on here I wasn’t saying by my annoyance of YOU specifically at people keep going on about it I just meant in general.
Like I said I am sure they have an idea of how the thing’s going to end. But in the end I understand where you’re coming from. I guess I let it slide more than most because of my love of the show.
Vic
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