[Update: We've added even more Lost explanations!]
If you’ve visited our Lost series finale review and discussion, you know that opinion is sharply divided over how one of the biggest TV shows of the last decade came to a close.
Some people thought the ending couldn’t have been any sweeter, while others are either frustrated or disappointed with how Lost ultimately wrapped.
However, there are those out there who are currently feeling confused about how Lost came to a close and ‘what it all meant.’ So to help these (snicker) lost souls out, we thought we’d at least try and offer some quick explanations of some of the lingering questions. Hopefully it helps and doesn’t just further confuse.
It must be noted that unlike sites like Lostpedia, I haven’t done years and years of research on this. I’m just a moderate Lost fan who happens to have a good mind for literary analysis. So here goes nothing. And in case you haven’t guessed already:
[MAJOR SPOILER ALERT!!!]
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THEY WERE NOT “DEAD THE WHOLE TIME”
I don’t know why people are having trouble understanding this, as it is CLEARLY explained in the final minutes of the finale episode by Christian Shephard (Jack’s dad). The original Oceanic 815 plane crash happened. Everything on the Island through seasons 1-6 happened. The “flash sideways” universe introduced in season 6 was a sort of stop-over point between life and afterlife (referred to here as the “purgatory universe”).
Each person in this “purgatory universe” created a reality for themselves based on their lingering issues in life – that which they could not “let go” of. For Jack it was Daddy issues; Kate, the guilt of murder; Sawyer, the quest to find “Sawyer” and be a better man; Sayid, the unrequited love of Nadia; Charlie, looking for something “real” in his hollow life of fame, etc…
Everyone was still attached to their Earthly concerns (we’re getting very Buddhist here, bear with me) – but when they made contact with those people they’d met on the Island, they remembered the journey and growth they had experienced because of the Island, and could finally understand the connections and “purpose” brought into their damaged lives by being there. With that greater understanding of themselves, they were each ready to “leave” or “move on” to the next phase of existence – i.e., the true afterlife.
WHAT WAS THAT FINAL IMAGE OF THE CRASHED PLANE?
Some people are convinced the final image during the end credits of the Lost finale was the “clue” to the characters being dead the whole time. OK, let’s think about this: The image appears during the closing credits, after the final appearance of the “LOST” logo. That means that the story had officially ended. Saying that the biggest reveal came while the end credits were rolling is like saying a movie’s climax happens during the end credits. Not bloody likely.
The image of the plane crash (if you look closely) has memorabilia from the Lostie’s time on the beach where they first made camp. Shacks, towels, etc… it was one part nostalgia (remember where it all began?) and also one part commentary on the circular nature of the Island.
Like the Black Rock ship that brought Richard to the Island (“Ab Aeterno“), or the downed plane with the heroin that had Mr. Ecko’s brother’s corpse inside of it (“The 23rd Psalm“), the remains of Oceanic 815 and the evidence of a small community built on the beach are just more monuments of the Island. The next time somebody crashes there, they’ll see that stuff and wonder what the “mystery” behind it is…
Then they’ll whine and complain about how unsatisfying the answer is. (“What? That’s how that mystical guy “Hurley” came to the Island? LAME.”)
WHAT WAS DESMOND’S POWER?
One of the biggest things people seem to be questioning is how Desmond was able to “wake up” from the purgatory universe and how he had the know-how to “wake up” the other Losties. For that answer, you really just have to look back over the history of Desmond.
Desmond (specifically through his connection to Penny Widmore) is a sort of “constant” in the show. No matter what happens, when, or where, Desmond seems somehow immune to the Island’s energy (which has electromagnetic properties) and has a sort of awareness that can transcend space and time (his consciousness shifts seen in episodes like “The Constant“). These “shifts” and Widmore’s explanation that Desmond is special because of his resistance to the Island’s energies, imply that Desmond would even be able to “shift” his consciousness back and forth between this universe and the purgatory one, catalyzed by Widmore’s team placing him in that huge electromagnetic machine in the season six episode, “Happily Ever After“.
So, it does stand to reason (at least Lost reasoning) that Desmond – after having his consciousness “shifted” to the purgatory reality – would “wake up” after encountering HIS constant, Penny. It’s another fast and loose metaphysical explanation, but one that (for me) still works within the framework of the show.
WHAT’S THE DEAL WITH THE ISLAND’S “RULES?”
Over the course of the show people have wondered about the mythology of the Island – where it came from, what it is and what are the “rules” that govern it and its mystical protectors? Admittedly, this is an area where the showrunners played things fast and loose, hoping that the momentum of the characters’ story arcs and the whole “good vs. evil” showdown would be enough to appease most fans. Alas, not so.
Season six of Lost did a great deal to semi-explain what the island was – a sort of container for a very important energy that seemingly links this world with worlds beyond… or something. That energy is represented by light and water, and if that light goes out and the water stops flowing, the world is basically screwed. Everything magical or fantastic about the Island stems from this energy, and many of the technological oddities found on the Island (the Swan Station from season 2) are a result of the Dharma Initiative trying to harness and control that energy (i.e., man trying to bend magic and mysticism to the will of modern science).
However, there are some things that were definitely left unexplained: Why did the Man In Black become a smoke monster when he was exposed to the light (was it a manifestation of his corrupted soul)?; What is the nature of the “rules” that governed certain aspects of the Island – who could come and go, who could kill who, who was healed from injury (Locke, Rose), who lived forever (Richard). How were these rules established and maintained?
The Jacob/MIB origin episode, “Across The Sea”, attempted to fill in that aspect of the Island mythology, but what we came away with were a lot of vague pseudo-explanations. The protector of the Island basically makes up the rules and once those rules are established they are set until somebody (a new protector?) changes them. This is the reason why the MIB was obsessed with “finding a loophole” in order to kill Jacob; it’s also why Jack was ultimately able to kill the MIB. Smokey was connected to the energy source, and when Jack had Desmond “turn off” that energy, Smokey lost his powers and was merely flesh and blood again.
Makes sense…doesn’t it?
WHATEVER HAPPENED TO THE BABY MAMA DRAMA?
One of the earliest sub-plots of the Lost mythos was the notion that pregnant women died on the Island before they could successfully give birth. This was especially important during season one, back when Claire was pregnant with Aaron and got kidnapped and experimented on by Ethan, a memeber of The Others (“Raised by Another” & “Homecoming“). Of course we now know that Ethan was likely working with baby-doctor Juliet to help Claire – that is before Charlie killed Ethan (oops!) – and that Aaron was likely born on the Island without incident because Claire was already far enough along in her pregnancy before coming to the Island (just like Jacob and the Man In Black’s mother).
However, the pregnancy issue popped up again in season 3 when Sun learned that she was pregnant (“The Glass Ballerina” & “D.O.C.” ) and was a the prominent focus of Juliet’s flashback arch (“One of Us“). So whatever happened to the mystery of the baby mama drama?
Simple answer? Story developments made the issue a moot point in later seasons. Aaron was born fine, Sun eventually gave birth OFF the Island and Juliet died, even after she had no more pregnant patients to tend to. So really, when you think about it, there was no more of this story left to tell.
But does that excuse the fact that we never found out why pregnant women were dying on the Island? It might be bugging you, but I’m chalking this one up to being another random “rule of the Island.” Or maybe electromagnetic mystical lights just aren’t good for fetuses. Either way.
WHAT WAS WITH THE STATUE?
This is one Lost mystery I don’t really need answered. Who built the statue, why they built it and what did represent are all things you can probably find out with some historical research on ancient cultures. People who have done the research claim the statue represents a goddess or fertility or something along those lines, linking the broken statue with the Island’s baby mama drama. Personally, I can neither confirm or deny the historical relevance of the statue - if you’re curious, you should do the research.
As for the relevance of the statue to the Lost mythos: to me was evidence that the Island had been around for a long, long, time, and that people had been coming to it throughout history. So basically, it was a way to let viewers know, “This place plays a pivotal role in mankind’s existence.”
I’m not trying to look much deeper than that.
Continue to Lost contradictions and missing characters…
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Granted, Lost had some areas that were a little hard to understand but overall it was a very enjoyable series to watch. Honestly……It was a made up story, so if you’re looking for some ‘deeper truth’, you really should be looking in other places. This was Hollywood, TV and entertainment, pure and simple……..
I finally decided to watch the entire series from start to finish with no pauses other than sleep and meals. I find many of your explanations sound and issues that I had already realized, but I also feel that there are some other sound explanations.
Baby Mama Drama. This could be explained medically. The island has a definite effect on the health of its residents. Any doctor will tell you that a gestating infant’s interactions with a mother are most correlated to a parasite. That alone poses a conundrum, the island would both attempt to support the life inside while trying to destroy it as a parasite. This paradox would ultimately lead to some disturbing results. To me, with that explanation in hand, you need no other clarifications.
Rules: When Jacob and his brother are playing the game, Jacob complains about how his brother is just making up the rules (he isn’t as we come to find out that he just understands how things work). In response he says something along the lines of how someday Jacob will make up a game and he can set the rules. The game he plays is proving that man is good and his rules are apparent throughout the series. The “mother” of the two boys also had a set of rules (the most important being that Jacob and his brother could not kill each other). I could write for months about the rules and how clear they were. I will just touch on one. “You can’t leave the island”. Jacob creates this rule because without it he cannot prove his notion of man’s goodness. The only instance we can definitely prove occurred (due to the confusion over alternate timelines) is Charles Whidmore leaving the island and having a child with an outsider. He was indeed banished for this. His punishment was to take away that which he wanted the most, to be on the island and have the power bestowed upon him by the island.
I could go on and on. My major problem with the ending is the disconnect with the rest of the story. Almost the entire series is told through the perspective of the island. The end is a Christian allegory (apparent even with the blatant attempts to make it seem like it was not related to any religion – stained glass window in the “The End”). The allegorical nature was an afterthought. Hurley throwing out Star Wars references like candy in the last season (one of the most famous film allegories). This ending was a way out of the series without telling the whole story. The unanswered questions that really should be addressed but never were due to the ending (I am presuming before the whole story could be told) is how Kate, Sawyer, Hurley, Ben and Claire die, what the island was like under Hurley’s control, what happened to Desmond after the island is “saved” and so on.
DK – Lost is definitely on Netflix. I watched it in its entirety there. So have several of my other friends. I’m not sure why you can’t find it. Not only is it available in DVD, but also via streaming. In Netflix’s search option, type in “LOST”, and it comes out on top.
Purgatory REALLY….. Then why were Rose and Bernard there????????? They made it very clear back on the island that they were at peace, and just wanted to be left alone. What did they have to “LET GO OF”???? You people should just stop trying to fix the producers mistakes. Lok point blank period…… there were off camera issues. Great show….. FOR THE FIRST THREE SEASONS!!!!!
That’s easy to explain actually. Rose and Bernard time traveled with the rest of them in Season 5. The “purgatory” thing started in season 6. Rose and Bernard were not in Season 6 other than appearing in the Flash Sideways thing only as a kind of fun way of including them into the final season. They were not a main plot point at all in season 6. Sadly, they were at peace which means they would have died when the Hydrogen Bomb was exploded, destroying the Swan site and Killing everyone, thus starting the “purgatory”
Unfortunately that’s not true. Bernard and Rose do appear in the regular timeline in season 6, in “The End”. They did not die when the hydrogen bomb exploded, but were transported along with Sawyer, Jack, Kate, etc.
I think it was a great series, i concur with the writer of this blog, the end was more than satisfactory, they were’nt dead all the time, everything really happened on the island!
Great series and great ending! thumbs up !
You know without going to deep for the people who don’t get the ending or say it is CRAP i can’t help feeling sorry for them.
In a world where everything is dominated by money, greed and power i feel it just points out what the most important things really are..love and happiness and to be a good person.
After events like the earthquakes (haiti/japan) the norway killings and the greed of newsinternational i think more people should have a little think about what really is important.
Yeah call me a big girl and idealistic whatever you like, it only reflects what kind of person you are..
Statue is Anubis, Egyptian god associated with the afterlife, so it fits in pretty well. Who built it is irrelevant to the plot, but the fact that it’s Anubis flows well with the other symbolism. This info might already be posted, but I’m reading this site as I just finished the show and I’m not trying to read through 66 pages of comments!
Thanks Bob, for explaining about the statue.
How come Ben remembers getting the doll for his birthday when he was a child, tho Richard claims he will forget his childhood.
How come Mikel (the guy who wears a patch) bled thru his ears (indicating a brain hemorrhage) when he apparently died from the electronic poles. He foamed at the mouth, and his skin was burned, but weeks later, his skin was fine, and he claimed the dose wasn’t lethal. Wow.
How does Ben go to the bathroom when he’s held captive for a week, poor guy. Lol. Inquiring minds want to know.
I wish these comments were posted by order of date.
The statue is Taweret, the egyptian goddess of childbirth and fertility (according to lost encyclopedia page 28/29) however she IS holding an ankh in each hand which is how Anubis is usually depicted (apparently), which may be where the confusion is stemming from. Also on page 29 there is a note about Anubis alongside a picture of the Taweret statue, further adding to the confusion, no doubt. Hope this helps.
On the bonus features of the DVDs for the series on the DVD with the final episode there there is a short clip called the New Man in Charge and it shows Ben going to the ware house where all the food drop pallets were packed. Ben tells the packers who have been doing the job for 20 years that their jobs are over and gives them very generous severance packages from Hurley. The men want answers and so Ben lets them watch a DVD made from an old Dharma betamax tape. In that it mentions that the Dharma workers who worked with the animals had to make sure the female polar bears were not pregnant before taking them to the swan location because the electro-magnetic properties adversely affected the fetuses. This is probably why the women were having pregnancy problems. Ben was representing Hurley in this clip and clearly he was doing things differently. Why no more food drops? Maybe no one was left on the island or he had Cluck chicken drops instead. It irriates me that Sawyer and Kate’s deaths and the others were not shown. I expected the p[lane to blow up as it passed the dying Jack overhead.
It irritates me that in order to have a full understanding of the show you need to watch a bonus feature on the DVD. Obviously LOST used the internet and DVDs as a source of supplemental information for obsessed fans, such as myself…but the show should have been self contained. I have almost learned more about the plot and intended direction of the show from bonus material than from the show itself. When I was first introduced to LOST it was during season 3. I managed to watch seasons 1 and 2 and half of 3 in one short weekend. I was obsessed. I had complete faith that the writers knew exactly what they were doing and that every detail had a bigger meaning. I was convinced that, by the end of the series, I would go back to season 1 and watch the whole thing over again, noticing all the little details that I missed the first time that would clearly have been clues to the bigger meaning of the show. Now, after the last episode, that will never happen. I have LOST interest. I realize the hours I spent trying to break the LOST code were all for naught. I kind of feel silly about the whole thing…that I actually thought there would be some huge revelation that would answer the questions that I carried throughout the entire show. I’m not angry about the ending…I just feel duped. I thought there would be something more. I didn’t require the writers to spell out every answer for me….I did, however, require an avenue within which a logical answer would be plausible. I am, more than anything, sad that I expected so much…no show could have lived up to the demands that I placed on LOST. I understand the overall meaning of LOST…it just wasn’t what I was hoping for….and I certainly no longer be watching the DVD extras and the video games and the sponsored websites to get all the information about the show. There was a time where I certainly would have….the ending, however, ensured that my interest was lost.
…..obviously not completely lost because I am reading blogs about the show. hard to break old habits.
Hi all, great explanation here, not sure if its already been posted or not, check it out if your interested.
http://lostendingexplained.com/ – sorry here’s the link
People forget that the first season of lost was amazing, intriguing and got them talking about what exactly this island was. The problem is though that it got too popular, it was originaly only intended for 1 to maybe 2 seasons, but they decided to run it for as long as they could.
This led to incredibly poor thought out twists and sotrylines which didn’t add up to the originaly intended idea. What was once a brilliant show became another overrun dargged out piece of garbage.
Hi Sambo
Hey pal, long time, how you been?
So I finally picked up a copy of the encyclopedia (took a long time to run across one here in oz) and its starting to bring the old LOST twitches back a bit, ha.
Still haven’t got the box set, it wasn’t released here. I’ll probably get it off amazon soon, and maybe start a rewatch in hi-def. Maybe even set up a site and kick things back off again, will have to see how the enthusiasm holds…
REGARDING THE ENDING OF LOST………… Bart – According to majority, AND according to the author of this website, you are correct in your assumption, that the people were alive on the island and died at some point AFTER most of the plot. There are some, tho, who believe they died at the crash, and that the whole show was their death. (would explain the oddities and impossibilities of the first few seasons, the black smoke, whispers, dead people appearing, flashbacks/life reviewed), etc. Some venomously oppose this, saying they have “proof.” Personally, I see LOST as being so open-ended… who knows.
Amy,
The ending to Lost isn’t open-ended at all, if you mean whether or not they were dead after the original crash. There is no further “proof” needed because not only does the show clearly state that it was real (in very clear dialogue, not some decipherable images or something), the creators and actors have said it was all real, with the guy who played Ben going so far as to state very clearly, “What happened on the island really did happen.” Even the reporters and bloggers and whatnot who initially said that they had died in the original crash (like that guy who does Primetime in No Time) backtracked because they realized they were incorrect.
I’m really not sure what other kind of proof people would need. The show says it … the creators/writers said it … the actors who played the characters said it. What else is left?
After all, why film a brand new scene with Hurley to explain more stuff if none of it happened at all?
Saying that the ending to Lost was open-ended would be like saying that the ending to X-Files was open-ended as to whether or not Fox Mulder was an FBI agent who believed in aliens … or that MASH was open-ended as to whether or not the Korean War had ended.
Sambo and Kate… EXCELLENT! Wow, really well said. Sambo, when you said that LOST EXPLORES rather than PREACES, that’s so true. And when you listed its themes (life & death, science & faith, fear of the unknown, fate vs, choice, control, pride, love, greed, deception, manipulation, forgiveness, tolerance leading to acceptance, etc.)… beautiful. And Kate, for me, it WAS somewhat spiritual (not religious), tho I see your point. With John Locke, with the rhythm of the island, with going blindly by fate and accepting, with letting go… all that is spiritual to me. Yes, there were loose ends, and yes, it was “Hollywood”, and yes, there were errors, but I admire the art they created in this show. I get frustrated with people who are “sure they are right” and “their way or the highway” instead of getting all this, so thank you, you two, and others for your insights and open-mindedness.
This is just my theory to the “Widmore/Linus Conundrum” I think when Ben said “He broke the rules” I don’t think he was referring to the island rules but some unspoken (or spoken) rules between him and Widmore. Anyway just my theory.
Completely agree, Stephanie.
whatev, lost got canceled cuz the ratins bombed, yall are delusional, they werr all ded, the whole time, people don’t survive plane crashes, look @ 911, everybody died. Don’t gimme hollywood bs, and also claire=dumbest haircut ever
Are you a troll, just screwing around, or are you really that ridiculously retarded? lol
oka can somebodyy answer…. when did the lost crew died? was it on their attempted to escape? please explain? i dont know when the dies, they didnt show it. Either or… i loved the story.
Ok they didn’t die on their escape attempt…but they all died some way or another, since everyone eventually dies. Kate, Claire and Sawyer might have lived to be 80 or they all might have died. But the point is that after they all died at some point, they went to the purgatory. The end.
I hope someday, someone decides it is time to REALLY tell the sixth season of “Lost,” because it should have been great. Your explanations here are efforts to clarify things that are left maddeningly (and not in a good way) unclear in the finale — and all the way through the final season. NONE of it, especially “sideways world,” matches anything that has come before.
Why put us through the plot machinations of Desmond and Mrs. Hume, of the “Constant,” of (apparently) quantum physics and time travel, of Ben’s duplicitousness, of Christian and the apparitions, of ANY of it, if there’s going to be absolutely no payoff? The show’s creators started buying into the idea that they were creating something great and meaningful, instead of realizing that what kept us watching, week in and week out, was the promise that all of it would at least make sense, even if not be explained?
The sad reality is, none of it made ANY sense. Season Six was a complete bust, from beginning to end; it seemed even the actors didn’t have their hearts in it anymore.
There were tantalizing glimpses of sheer brilliance in “Lost,” and tragically, the more time elapses since the final broadcast, the more it becomes apparent that the final season overall and especially the final episode truly killed the show. It can never have a long life or be as much an influence on pop culture as it would like, because it turned out to be a cheat. It was a shaggy dog story writ large, elaborate detail and compelling ideas all leading to … absolutely nothing.
The first five seasons of “Lost” are some of the most brilliant, most tantalizing, most compelling television ever created. The final season was not just a letdown … it came out of left field to undermine EVERYTHING that had happened before. I was a confirmed “Lost” junkie; I maintained my faith all the way to the end, but after the first 30 minutes of Season Six, it was clear something was wrong.
I didn’t want to know about Jacob and the Man In Black and their mama. I wanted to know WHY the survivors were brought there, WHERE the island was and why no one could find it, WHAT made it so meaningful and valuable to Widmore, WHY it existed for Penny and why she couldn’t get to it, WHAT the numbers meant, WHY the island traveled through time, HOW the Dharma Initiative and its experiments related to the rest of the story, WHAT brought all of these people together at this time, HOW Rousseau factored into it, WHAT Daniel and Charlotte’s story brought to it, WHY the island was connected with Tunisia, HOW the frozen donkey wheel worked … and how, ultimately, the survivors did or didn’t get off the island.
They didn’t tell me that. They concocted some smarmy crap about purgatory (which they had adamantly maintained all along was NOT the premise of the show), then had the gall to say they knew how it would end all along.
They made it up. They faked it. And they ruined it.
I don’t really understand some of your post, because at least a few of the things you mentioned were answered during the series or could at least be inferred. Things like the reason for the numbers and what they meant … why (or at least how) the time travel occurred … why people couldn’t find the island, etc. And others, like Rousseau and Tunisia, were never really questions to begin with.
If you’re going to go that far, you might as well start asking questions about Henry Gale or why the island allowed a dog to survive the crash.
John i could not have said it better myself!! I watched every single episode every week and they really dropped the ball on the last season but the biggest disappointment was the finale. I have never been so mad about how a series ended as i was with lost. It made no sense at all, didnt answer any questions and had no place with seasons 1-5.
They absolutly ruined what i thought could have been one of the best tv series ever.
Couldn’t agree more John, well said
I always considered Dharma killed by MIB pretending to be Jacob. Remember the cabin? Everyone called it Jacob’s cabin but it was surrounded by ash, the same kind od ash that was used as protection from MIB. As for Richard, what can I say – maybe he was fooled too?
Also, the rules of conflict between Widmore and Linus I kind of chalked up to Lost’s reference to traditions or religious “rules” that were adopted and accepted as fact for centuries though they aren’t, in fact, even necessary.
Having just watched the finale of Lost, i’ve got to say that it wasn’t the last series that cost this show, which was both compelling and riveting ending in such a poor way. Had a not had the box set, i would never have made it past season 3.
As soon as ‘Lost’ got past season 3, it had already Lost its way. The writers had clearly been on strike and quite frankly i reckon the show had ‘Vincent’ hurried in to write the remainder of the script.
Too many characters (remember crash survivors were still being introduced in the middle of season 4!!!) combined with more than 1 island, Jacob, A black ghost; it was ridiculous.
As a UK viewer it sums up US screenwriters and entertainment moguls leeching the life out of a programme which was endearing and memorable but whose reputation was forever tarnished by going on for 3 series too many. It happened with Lost, Sopranos, 24, The OC and it’s begun to happen to House, which i’d like to go on record to say that up to now has maintained most of its credibility. Can’t see that continuing to happen. All truly great series evolve to an ending. They are not stretched and pulled until the stories, characters and relationships simply become stupid.
Hopefully lessons are learnt. Lost as a show had more potential than almost any series i’ve ever watched. Totally agree with viewer John below. They had no clue what was going to happen, and probably in desperation put God into the equation in a last ditch attempt to add credibility and ‘strike a chord’ with the viewing public.
If we tuned in for God, then we’d of switched to CBN…..
Oh, silly Brit. Get off your high horse. lol
I realize that UK television is absolutely perfect and no one ever makes mistakes or disappoints fans, because you’re all so astute that perfection isn’t earned, but intrinsic to your daily comings and goings, but for a second, let’s say you actually live in the real world. You know … the world where people realize that British television, though good in many ways, has just as many missteps as US television. In fact, if you were to compare the percentage of good shows against bad shows, I think you’d be quite surprised what you’d discover.
Now, let’s look at the fact that you’re absolutely wrong and have no clear idea about how US television works and how producers often ruin shows over financial reasons. You are absolutely correct that US producers leech the life out of many shows, but in the case of Lost, that is not true. Why? Because after the third season, the producers got together and made a plan to end it at six seasons. If you knew ANYTHING about how US television typically works, you would know that this kind of plan RARELY happens in the US. Even though you may not have liked the ending, you can’t argue the fact that they ended it on their terms. If they had wanted to milk the series, they easily could have kept it going for two or three more seasons.
Case in point … X-Files. They did the show for nine seasons. Everyone knew who Mulder and Scully were. Those names had become part of the lexicon, forever immersed within pop culture. Then David Ducovney decides to leave at the end of season seven and what do they do? Bring on two new actors and keep it going for two more years. Even had they ended X-Files at season seven, it still would have gotten one more season than Lost.
If you do a little research, you’ll see that the X-Files model is usually the norm in Hollywood. That 70′s Show went on without the main character. Happy Days did the same thing. Time and time again, Hollywood stretches popular shows out much longer than they should for one reason: money. But in the case of Lost, that simply is not true.
It’s hard to blame producers, though. Back in the day, say the days of Lucille Ball, it wasn’t uncommon for a series to have 30-35 episodes per season. Now that’s been cut back to 18-22, on average. So they’re trying to get as much out of every show that they can.
I’m sorry if you don’t like it, but there’s just no way for most shows to be successful in the US if we were to use the British model of six episodes per “series” and then only doing two or three of those. It’s a completely different world here, it seems. Shows are often operated at a loss for a long, long time, and only start making any real money when they go into syndication. But that doesn’t happen until they have at least 100 episodes, which means that a lot of shows need to get through five seasons before any real money starts to be made. Of course, there are exceptions to this, but it’s very often true. For example, Buffy the Vampire Slayer operated at a loss for nearly its entire run. The money was made back from licensing and syndication and DVD sales. If that show had followed the British model, it would have been ten episodes and that is no way to tell a real story.
One thing against the US is that for genre shows, we want production value. Battlestar Galactica spent a LOT of money on effects, as does quite a number of shows. You guys have things like Lexx and Doctor Who, which, by and large, looks really crappy. That might not make sense to you, because you might not care about how a show looks — especially judging from how so many of your sitcoms look like they were taped using a home video camera from 1985 — but Americans do. So when a show starts off and it takes a million dollars just to make a pilot, the producers are going to push that series as long as it can just to make a profit.
One final note … concerning God … the show was never about God. If that’s what you got out of the series, perhaps six seasons wasn’t long enough for you to understand what was going on. They were talking about FAITH, and that does not automatically mean God. Or Jesus. Or anything else. Any person can have faith. Heck, an atheist can have faith. The show itself did mention the idea of God, but only as a reference point. The final episode never said anything about it. Yes, they all met in a church, but it was symbolic. There is no way that every person in that room was christian. The afterlife depicted in Lost transcended any one understanding of a spiritual deity, be that God, Buddha, or even Zeus.
Sorry you didn’t enjoy the entire series, though. But hey, at least it got an ending. I’m still upset over Quantum Leap and My Name is Earl.
I do agree with you for the most part however most of your reply was like comparing Pepsi to Coca Cola.
You can’t just claim 10-12 episodes isn’t enough to tell a real story because clearly it is, otherwise British Television wouldn’t have that set-up.
It’s not that American’s demand quality and the British don’t. Americans invest in television a hell of a lot more than the British do, because they need to. US have a vast selection of choice when it comes to TV and American producers need to make their shows better to compete. American shows cancel all the time, a cancellation without closure on British TV is very rare. The British however don’t invest much, because they don’t need to, the choice is limited, to an American that may seem like a negative point, but it’s not, it helps to provide new fresh shows instead of following roots of older shows. – Although that will soon change.
I don’t understand your point with the different qualities with cameras. Neither seems better and it seems like you just threw that comment in to be petty and arrogant.
I do agree that you are right for the most part and if that person truly believes that British producers and screenwriters are not “entertainment moguls leeching the life out of a programme” than he is a fool.
I will admit that I was a bit snippy in my response, mostly because I get tired of hearing how much better British TV is than American TV and it’s really not. Yes, some are brilliant and I love a lot of British TV from what I’ve seen, but there are many more American programs that I enjoy. But still, I was just being snippy.
If my comparison was like comparing Pepsi and Coke … well, maybe, but people do it ALL THE TIME. lol
Perhaps I should have been more careful with my words. Yes, 10-12 episodes are enough to tell a story, but not always. There is simply no way the story of Lost could have been done in 12 episodes, at least not with the same complexity or character development. Or Buffy. Or X-Files. Or … well, a whole lot of other shows. I guess you could argue that all of those COULD be done in 12 espidoes, but take shows like Buffy … the characters really grew and convalesced over time (over YEARS), and the show wouldn’t have appeared on so many Top Best Shows Ever lists if there were only 12 episodes. Several of the best episodes — The Body, Once More With Feeling, etc. — were done far into the series and those episodes simply could not have been produced any earlier. If a main character is killed off on episode 5, it doesn’t mean nearly as much as if they were to die in episode 100, when you’ve followed and cared for the character for years. Plus, might be because of the way our system is set up, but a lot of shows don’t hit their stride until after the first or second season. I can’t imagine shows like Fringe or X-Files or any of those types of shows being so short.
You’re right that it would allow for fresh new shows … in fact, that’s why I wish they would cancel Simpsons … because that show has been on for so long, we’ve missed out on other possible shows being developed, together with new creators, writers, etc. But honestly, so many crappy shows are produced here — every year, we see the Fall Preview and can pretty much guess which ones will be cancelled — that if even a semi-quality show can keep going, we often welcome it. Besides, the British keep Doctor Who going. We just do that kind of thing A LOT.
I didn’t mean to be arrogant or petty about the cameras. I was just using it as another point to explain why TV production costs so much more in the US than in the UK. We demand that our shows look the best they can. Just look at the first season of X-Files … doesn’t look good … but it got better over time, as the show became popular. Now, though, a lot of shows are being produced with very expensive, hi-def cameras right from the start. Many times, it looks like UK shows are being shot on video tape … that just wouldn’t fly here. So instead of using a $5000 camera, all our shows are opting for $300,000 cameras. These are just random numbers … I have no idea how much they really cost.
So it seems that you and I do agree, for the most part … I just need to explain myself a little more and not be so snippy. lol
Im sorry but I would have to say that British TV is vastly superior to American TV. I have visited America once before and the TV there was of apalling quality and made me cringe so much i gagged. The shows and actors are of no consistency and struggle to remain interesting. I would say Lost is the only high-calibre show that American TV has produced in recent years, maybe the sopranos too. British TV grants only the finest and highest quality shows to be aired rather than taking whatever it can get. It is a shame that American TV has been in the doldrums for so long maybe they would do well to study the english model of television. It is a sad sight to see desperate fans trying to stick up for american TV. Great post though thanks thought it was very accurate and cleared a lot of things up. -Jez
Interesting post. I’m guessing your point of this was to come across as a condescending jerk. If so, then job well done. By leaps and bounds.
I’ve spoken to probably about 50-100 “brits” over the past, oh I don’t know, ten years maybe, who have said that, by and large, people who are so adamant that British television is so much better are either a) delusional, b) arrogant, or c) programmed with an anti-American sentiment. Heck, you might be all three.
I’m not going to sit here and list all of the terrible British shows from over the years because a) I don’t want to, and b) I don’t have that kind of time.
So you visited here once and that is when you realized that American TV is appalling? What, you don’t have You Tube? It’s not like you have to come to America to find American programming. And what “quality” are you referring to? Do you mean how every TV show looks like it was shot with my parent’s old video camera? Oh wait … that’s British TV.
Oh, by appalling, you must mean our sense of humor, right? Like the toilet humor. That’s gross, huh? Dildo jokes, like the one in (the British version of) The Office, are much better. We make jokes about pooping, but we’re not sophisticated enough to make jokes about an apparatus that gets shoved into a woman’s vagina. Or perhaps you mean our portrayal of sex. Yeah, that’s just appalling, too. Not like the morally unobtrusive Benny Hill, a gross old pervert who ran around goosing women and acting like a fool. Oh yeah … that show was a reflection of society or some other made up crap in order to justify its crassness Give me a break.
And it’s not like you have reality TV, so maybe that’s what you saw on this magical American adventure of yours. Oh wait … Big Brother originated in the UK. Damn … I thought I had figured this out.
It’s very cool that your producers really care about the quality of their shows and don’t like them to be tainted by America. You know, like when Ricky Gervais was approached by Hollywood producers to adapt The Office and Gervais took such great pride in the show he had created and the quality within, that he scoffed at the idea and stood up for his artistic integrity and refused to sell out to the almighty dollar. Oh wait … that’s not what happened at all. I guess American TV is fine as long as there is a big fat paycheck involved. And of course, same goes for all those other producers who have swallowed what I’m guessing you think is pride and artistic integrity, and allowed American producers to adapt their own British shows. Why would American TV try to emulate British TV when British producers are so willing to sell out to us and our “crappy” ways, thus proving that their model isn’t working, if only from a financial standpoint?
Lost is only one of MANY fantastic American shows over the years. Sure, we have dumb things like Two and a Half Men. But shows like Mad Men, Buffy, X-Files, Dead Wood, Rescue Me, Arrested Development, Firefly, Dexter, Quantum Leap … geez, man, the list goes on and on. And as great as Lost was, it was VERY much a sci-fi soap opera much of the time. There are plenty of examples of melodramatic situations and dialogue … so much so that they should have softened the look to match those classic Marilyn Monroe movies.
BTW, your comment that “British TV grants only the finest and highest quality shows…” is funnier than nearly every joke ever told on Two and a Half Men. So maybe you should write comedy for American TV … you seem to be pretty funny.
Oh my word, Jim, I am rolling on the floor LAUGHING! I love you, I really do! Can I hire you as my verbal hit man? Actually, I agree with a lot of what you say (especially how GROSS Benny Hill was) but your way of wording it is priceless. Let me see… my husband’s ex is making life hell for us. Can I hire you to write funny mean letters to her? I also want to hire Ben Linus to play mind games with her (he can strangle her too, since he’s experienced in that endeavor), and then the Man in Black to sweep her off and away. Oh and hey, not ALL British people are snobs. Most, yes (case in point), but not all.
Here’s to American TV… yay!
Hi Amy, I’m glad you got a kick out of it. What’s funny is that I love Brits, I really do. Especially in TV. Although I don’t ALWAYS enjoy the dryness of the humor, I very often do enjoy it. I love things like Shaun of the Dead and both versions of The Office and even Mr. Bean. I still remember hearing Rowan Atkinson’s Fatal Beatings as a kid and cracking up. And Giles (from Buffy) is one of my favorite characters of all time.
I would love to help with your husband’s ex, but I have an ex of my own who needs just as many funny mean letters, most often in the form of “Are you EVER going to pay child support? Like … one penny? Look in your couch cushions and send that. At least it’s SOMETHING.”
I can sometimes come across as a prick — I really can. I don’t mean to (well, maybe sometimes, if I’m in an ornery mood), but arrogant people just irritate me, because there’s just no need for such things. If you want to say that you enjoy British humor more than American humor, that’s fine. I actually GET that. But to come here and say that British TV is VASTLY superior and that we should adopt their model when that model clearly isn’t good enough for their own producers to the point where they refuse to “sell out” … well, I have a problem with that. It’s not like I’m going around looking for Doctor Who forums and telling people how much better American TV is. Why do we need such things? I try to be careful what I say, though, because once I even got into it with a major contributor or editor or whatever with this website and although I was simply not happy with the way he had presented himself against me, my response could have very well (and probably should have) gotten me kicked off the site for good. I wasn’t about to back down from what I said, because I thought he was out of line, but I did avoid responding for a while because I obviously wasn’t taking my medication. (That was a joke.)
BTW, I’ve never truly identified myself before, but since this seems like a great opportunity to show you and whomever else who I am, this is what I do … http://www.blackroostercreations.com. It probably won’t surprise you that, yes, I am a writer. A little TV, a silly creature feature film, and now novels set up like TV shows.
I’m English and i have to disagree. Although we do have some good drama’s (mostly crime or similar nature) we do not have superior Tv to the yanks. There are dozens of long running series from the states that are superb. BSG, Lost, Blue Blood, Boardwalk Empire, Spartacus (both blood and sand and gods of the arena)Vampire diaries are some of the more recent ones to be aired. What have we got? Doc Martin (lame) the soaps (sad) The bill (finished/Pulled/cancelled) DCI banks, Frost, an endless list of police/crime dramas which only seem to encourage youngsters to commit crimes or educates them in ways to get away with it. Perhaps we should adopt a more fantasy/sci-fi ethos when it comes to TV. I don’t watch a lot of TV but when i do it’s mostly american series that have been sky+’d as our TV is repetitive and dull.
Other than TV thou we are far superior to the yanks! lol
Oh, btw, just one other correction … the writer’s strike happened during the writing of season four, not season three. That’s why there were only 14 episodes in season four.
Oh, sorry … there is one more thing. Most shows, as I said, are now between 18-22 episodes. The first three seasons of Lost were 25, 24, and 23 episodes. But after they announced that they would be ending the show after season six, the final two seasons were only 17 and 18 episodes. So not only did they not extend the show to a 7th or 8th season, they cut down the number of produced episodes. That doesn’t sound like they were trying to leech the life out of it at all.
JIM–
First, a serious round of applause for your eloquent response to our prim Brit
Having just finished the series (so I’m late to the party–sue me.), I do have some lingering questions/theories that this screenranter answered nicely but I don’t know….something’s just not settled in my head. I also wondered about Walt and what his “Special gift” was but in the bonus features there was a little explanation. My biggest confusion I guess comes from the time travel/atom bomb plot line with “purgatory” mix. See, I didn’t NECESSARILY get the purgatory from watching it straight out. If the bomb worked (as Juliet said it did, which Miles recounted) then they never DID crash so what happened in their normal lives (if we are to believe that the alternate universe was actually them dead and not representative of the non-crash existence). Did the bomb kill everyone? No, b/c all the Jacob/MIB, post-bomb events were real, right (and Christian said some died earlier/later than Jack) soooooo…………
Just a little uncertain of what exactly the end of Season 5 with finale all means. Any thoughts? Anyone? (Can’t believe people might still be paying attention to these types of posts since I’m so late to the party).
I just finished recently too which is I why I’m reading this also. Don’t have good answers for you but here is something else to read that did some serious clarification for me. There are for sure still questions I have but way too many too sort out. I’m going to have to rewatch it all.
http://lostendingexplained.com/
I just finished recently too which is I why I’m reading this also. Don’t have good answers for you but here is something else to read that did some serious clarification for me. There are for sure still questions I have but way too many to sort out. I’m going to have to rewatch it all.
http://lostendingexplained.com/
I just finished recently too which is I why I’m reading this also. Don’t have good answers for you but here is something else to read that did some serious clarification for me. There are for sure still questions I have but way too many to sort out. I’m going to have to rewatch it all.
http://lostendingexplained.com/
Something I don’t understand is what would’ve happened if Locke (MIB) actually did accomplish what he wanted to do and left the island.. ? or the supposed island..
Klonopoin – To answer your questions (and this is my humble option)… if Locke, as MIB, won and left the island, I believe he would have hit “earth” (non-island) and spread his evilness to people here. Mwahhh-haaa-haaa-haaaaaaaa!
What happened to the Vincent the dog? Was he just left alone on the island?
I personally think I have an explanation for the giant statue. Well I noticed that the statue is undoubtedly Anubis, and Anubis is the Egyptian god of mummification or the afterlife. Also in the right hand of the statue is an Ankh, which is symbolic of eternal life. This seems like a huge explanation about the island. I think of it as the statue as the guardian to the island, and the island withholds the afterlife, death, and eternal life. Also in season six you hear the statue called the devil many times in “Ab Aeterno.”
Thanks for this, It does clear up some things, but the finale is still a blur for me. I’ve watched the last season like 3 times and still nothing! Still a very good series, but I hated the end… to bad!
It’s been awhile since I posted. My blood lust for all things lost gets out of control if I don’t step away ever once in a while.
Though I thought this was worth posting… and something I noticed (just like all the little things that are picked up on when you re-watch lost)… In the attached fan made trailer Locke says, “we’re going to have to watch that again”. Of course he’s talking about one of the orientation tapes, but really it’s hint/nod to viewers and yet another anthem of the show. Love it. Enjoy.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UybkKoN0FqY
Just powered through the whole series because my wife wanted to watch it. Watched the finale last night…THANK GOD that is over. Had to do some googling on the show today to make sure that I hadn’t missed something but after reading the comments here it appears I was lucid enough.
Sorry for being that jerk but this show annoyed the hell out of me so much I had to vent! LOL Brownie points for making it through though!
It’s what the island wants…that’s not an reason or explanation, it’s lazy writing.
Why’s the baby dead? AHHH maddening!
Even more brownie points for those thought-provoking and insightful comments.
“It’s what the island wants” is only the most simple basis for explanation and was typically used by John Locke at a time when he didn’t understand what the island was. If that’s what you got out of it and didn’t figure that part out, perhaps you weren’t quite as lucid as you thought.
And what baby are you talking about? Sun’s baby? Again … thought you said you were lucid. Maybe you meant liquored up. lol
The answer of what the island wants and the characters seeing that as a reasonable argument for putting them self into danger is what I have issue with. It’s not reasonable to believe to think anyone would do half the things they did because of a gut feeling.
At the end Claire (or Charlie) is holding infant Aaron.
Arbitrary rules…ya you get to live forever…you you can’t leave, why not the ability to fly? Wait Jakob had that or was it genie powers he had? I suppose I don’t enjoy blind faith stories.
Amazing to still find current comments on this show..(hmm..that must mean something) I also just steamrolled through the entire series until the finale last night. And I have given myself some hours to reflect.
For me it wasn’t the finale that almost lost me in Lost…it was the second half of the series itself. Initially, I was manically addicted but as it meandered into the second half (4-6) I found myself beginning to squirm. I was still invested…but..
Although I appreciated it’s attempt to answer every question and weekly throw out newer clues and a widening pool of characters and themes; I was losing my investment in the original characters. They became too often absent or at odds with one another. The bonds between the characters and the qualities of redemption began to seem murkier and murkier for me. Everyone seemed more “lost”.
The well known mantra ‘live together, die alone’ was actually technically more along the lines of “If we don’t learn to live together we will die alone”.
One thing the finale did do for me was bring back those original bonds forged and found meaning in them..They all, the characters, once again learned to work together…and none of them ending up dying alone. Not in the end.
For all the things it couldn’t and didn’t do…it did do that.
I’ll be honest here. It’s been a while since I’ve seen the show, and I don’t want to give some big opinion on something that I only remember shallowly. I’d have to hear that in context, but I’m pretty sure that if I was on an island that helped me not to die and had a smoke monster and a plethora of other things, it would be pretty easy to convince me that the island was special. Like, if someone told me that Jesus was coming back to Earth and then a guy showed up in a white robe and started walking on water just before turning it into wine (or maybe Red Bull), I’d become a believer pretty quickly. I don’t think it was so much as a gut feeling or blind faith as it was being in a situation that clearly could not be explained. At first, most of what they did was for survival and/or to find a way off the island, but after a while, they realized that the island was much more than just an island, to the point where people like Jack, who was very scientific and logical, were willing to do anything to get back. But I don’t think any character except for Locke gave in quickly to the idea … and he made sense, seeing as how he had been healed.
A lot of people have mentioned Aaron being there and opinions are plentiful. Honestly, I don’t think Aaron was real … I think he was a construct … and the event of his birth happened because that’s what was going to happen in real life just before their crash. Everyone mentions Aaron being there … but what about the thousands of people on the freeway, in the hospital, in the airport, etc. … they were simply “constructs,” if you will, in order to make the ruse work. Aaron is no different than the guy who bagged Jack’s groceries at the store, but people look at him differently because he has a clear connection to one of the characters. But of course, you asked why the baby was dead … well, if you want to take the opinion that the baby is the real Aaron, why wouldn’t he be dead? Everyone else there who was on the island is dead. Aaron might have led a full life, but was represented as a baby in this constructed universe. As for why Aaron was in the church if he wasn’t real … even if I knew the baby in my arms wasn’t real, I’d sure as hell wouldn’t just leave him on the street somewhere. lol
Not sure what you mean by arbitrary rules … you mean like Jacob’s powers? I can’t answer that, I guess, but Jacob COULD leave … and did on several occasions. As for flying, maybe he was afraid of heights.
While this blog adeptly adresses several of the issues in the perplexing series that is Lost, I still find some of its matter void in explanation. For instance, after the detonation of the hydrogen bomb, why is the resultant is a shift foward in time to the present? Why are they simply not killed? And what relation does this hold with the ‘flash-fowards’ to purgatory that ensue? Why when Ben enters the chamber below the disembodied foot of the gargantuan egyption statue, do we see hieroglyphics dipicting what appears to be the black smoke monster. Has it been that previous inhabitants of the island have suffered similiar fates to that of Jacobs brother? And why having been tethered to the island all his life does Jacobs brother (the smoke monster) have so much knowledge of the outside world, adapt as he is in rigging up impromptu explosive devices and quouting pop culture. Also are we to belive all the intial survivours of 815 are killed by the ‘past’ others at the beach after the island begins to shift in time. And when he learns of this why with his god/hero/need to save everybody complex does Jack seem to care so little? Had he not spent over 3 months with these people? Ben as a whole is also riddled with contradictory and confusing parts. Why is it that he seems to hold knowledge on the deep inner workings of the island, yet it is revealed he has never actually seen Jacob. And when Daniel Faraday is prompted to return to the island by his mother so it can heal his mind (he suffers memoy loss and confusion), why is it he is able to perform his usual calaculations and experiments on the ship before it has actually reached its destination?
Sam,
While I don’t have time now to answer all these questions (though I’d absolutely love to) I can assure you that they are all answered in the show. I’ve seen it 4 times over. You just have to start thinking around the puzzle. Lost gives us all the answers… it truly does.
I have to go to work, but I’ll get to these… I’ll start with Farady and why Eloise truly sent him to the island. The fact that it would heal his mind had nothing to do with it.
What I don’t get is when Sun was giving birth at the hospital, (Jin is supposed to be dead back at the island)and you see Jin at the toy store buying a panda, who you think is for sun and their baby, but turns out to be for the baby of some guy he’s doing buisness with. Why wasn’t he with Sun? And why did he tell the nurse he wasn’t married?
Nella,
That’s EASY. And a question that has sadly come up a few times… I say it’s sad because (no offense) it’s so irritating to hear so many dislike the show over questions that are so obviously answered.
The two scene’s are not happening at the same time. We are led to believe that they are throughout the episode and then at the end we realize that Sun’s part of the episode is current and Jin’s part is happening at another time.
i got to add this ,,just watched the entire series for like the 4th time.the last show is still confusing but that not why im adding this comment ,,,on this whole baby thing,it is said if a woman gets pregnant on the island the baby and mother will die during the 2nd trimester.but did anyone forget about Ethan he was conceived and born on the island. His mother i forgot her name was married to the guy Paul who got killed by the hostiles.In which Sawer saves her and gets into the Dharma but then she get together with Horace and then Ethan is born ,,,,so somebody explain this mishap from the writers,,,they screwed up ,,lol
Actually Stephen…
This is another example of another fan not getting it.
The baby problems didn’t begin until after the incident. This is explained multiple times within the constructs of the show and is flat out SAID with actual human words in the epilogue attached to season 6. WHICH by in large everything the epilogue explained was also already touched on multiple times within the show.
I’ve seen the entire series 4x as well… it’s amazing the things you notice the next time around. The writers are genius’s and as I’ve said a million times… they expect us to pay attention. If we miss it, it’s our own damn fault. TV should always be this captivating. Show don’t tell.
ok so what incident are you talking about there are numerous incidents through out each episode give me the title of the episode,i own all 6 seasons and just watched it again,the whole show.so tell me when in the show it explained how Ethan can be conceived and be born on the island. ,,,when Ben brought Juliet to the island and every mother died after she got there and it broke her heart seeing this. Ben went out and talked to Juliet and said every woman who gets pregnant on the island dies and she wanted to leave cause there was no cure but Ben said her work is not finished until she can resolve this. Juliet also told Sun on the beach that every woman that gets pregnant on the island the body turns on the fetus.im not talking about no added this and that on the bonus discs,,,i want to know when in the show it explain how Ethan can be born
haha you got mad. Im sorry in the epilogue or the bonus scene in season 6 they explain electromagnetism is bad for the female polar bears youll see.
The incident is when the Swan station where Desmond was Blew up when they drilled through releasing a large amount electromagnetism im guessing making women unable to have children anymore. They explain this and it is proven when Juliet delivers Ethan when they go back in time. You also clearly see Ethan’s mother wasnt pregnant when her husband was killed. Meaning she got and had the baby on the island all before the Swan Station blows up
I watched the whole series on Netflix beginning to end in a short period of time. Frankly, it doesn’t matter the explanations for what was going on in the show because it’s all B.S. The plot is nothing but a bunch of pseudo-scientific nonsense and supernatural mumbo jumbo. There is no such things as purgatory, time travel, disappearing islands, smoke monsters, immortality, evil incarnate, spirits, ghosts, fate, or purgatory.(yes I said it twice). I can’t help but question why 21st century minds that are supposed to be rational would find the series to be entertaining. Yes, the acting was great, the music was good, and the characters lovable, (Hugo Reyes), but the plot was terrible. Many say that the first few seasons where good. I would agree on the basis that it was more about a group of people crashing on an island and having to survive, showing us the characters backgrounds and discovering interesting things out about the island. Yet, those interesting things didn’t have to be mystical or supernatural. I enjoyed the show up until it got all magical. I just ignored the smoke monster and all the faith junk and tried to enjoy it but alas, I was failed. It is clearly not one of or the best show ever due to its implausibility. At least Star Trek (not Abrams Trek), grounded its pseudo-science. I feel distressed that so many like this show. It’s a clear message at how stupid our society is. TV and film have reason to feel that they can just shovel us anything down our throats and we’ll like it. It’s amazing that this show is considered great while real great shows that are examples of how to take fiction or science fiction and ground it (Firefly and Quantum Leap to name a few, are cancelled. If you like good acting, good music and (arguably) good directing and have time on your hands and don’t mind your brain being turns into mush with nonsense after nonsense then Lost is a show for you. Yet if your a realistic person who accepts reality and enjoys reality based entertainment, this is not a show for you. Hey listen, it’s common for human beings to be duelists and believe in some sort of an afterlife so it doesn’t surprise me to much that this show was a hit, but I wonder sometimes why people can’t look at garden and enjoy its beauty without having to believe that their are faeries living underneath it, or in the case of Lost, smoke monsters, immortals, others and evil.
How stupid our society is? Well, I guess we just met our king.
Seriously, you’re just a troll … right? I mean, no person with even a modicum of ability to structure a sentence can really believe what you just wrote. So I am leaning toward the fact that you’re just screwing with all of us, to see what kind of responses you get. But since I do know that there are quite a few “questionably logical” people out there, I’ll be the first to bite and go ahead and respond so that you have a good laugh. I’ll even treat it as if you were serious… lol
First of all, the fact that you would actually watch a show that clearly has all the stuff you mentioned — and watch it in its entirety when you think it’s ridiculous is — well … ridiculous. You say that you enjoyed it until “it got all magical,” i.e. stuff starting happening like the smoke monster. So you watched the pilot for about forty minutes? Because unless you’re braindead, you would clearly recognize that a loud growling and someone being yanked from the trees is probably supernatural in origin. But even if you were a vegetable and ignored this, episode four featured a man who had regained the use of his legs.
I love the stuff you mentioned, too … Firefly, Quantum Leap, and Star Trek … but ALL of those shows use pseudo-science and sure, they ground it, but within the confines of imagination, not real science. Since you brought these examples up, let’s take a look at each. Firefly … so everyone left Earth and somehow found a star system with so many planets that could all sustain life. Yes, they were terraformed, but each one would be a different distance from the sun. If we were to terraform Venus, we still couldn’t live there without some kind of dome. Why is there not an ice planet in Firefly’s universe? And if Earth could “no longer sustain our numbers,” why not just take half the people to Mars and terraform that planet? That would make much more sense. But Firefly is the least of the culprits. So … Quantum Leap … really? Um … you’re saying leaping into a person’s body while their soul or essence or whatever was placed into a waiting room in the future isn’t pseudo-science? And who was leaping Sam exactly? God? Or something else? Obviously, it was some kind of entity, which was basically proven by the fact that there was an evil leaper who had to do a person’s bidding in order to be released. Which points to God and Satan. And what about the other leapers? When they leaped into a person’s body, where did that person’s soul go to? Was every leaper a scientist from the future who had a waiting room? Oh, and now we come to Star Trek. I can’t figure out why you excluded Abram’s Trek, but whatever. Star Trek was FULL of pseudo-science. Grounded in reality? Barely. Just barely. Why did no one ever discuss the fact that every time they were transported, their bodies were DESTROYED and then reconstructed? When Kirk stepped into a transporter and was beamed to another planet, it wasn’t Kirk, but a COPY of Kirk who would have appeared on that planet. The original Kirk (well, a copy of a copy of a copy) would have been killed each time he was deconstructed. And there is no way you can argue that fact or your point about enjoying reality based entertainment is mute.
None of what you mentioned is based in reality. None of it. Period. I don’t care if it’s in the future. There are certain constants that — unless we were to evolve further, into our own god-like entities — can’t be ignored. You can’t terraform dozens of planets and have them all look the same when they would be vastly different distances from the sun. You can’t leap a person into another person’s body — don’t get me started on the monkey lol — and then later say it wasn’t science, but GOD (or a similar entity) who was doing it. And the teleportation aspect of Star Trek is only the tip of the iceberg. That entire show was pseudo-science.
In other words, Lost, Quantum Leap, Star Trek, Firefly, Buffy, Battlestar Galactica, Supernatural … they are ALL basically the same in terms of reality.
And by the way, as far as the afterlife goes, that part was only introduced in the final season. So people DID enjoy the show without thinking of faeries. Silly silly troll.