I’ve been watching Lost since season one.
This sounds ridiculous, but I’ve invested a lot of time into that show. I don’t watch a whole lot of TV, but I’ve been religiously following Lost for 6 years. 6 YEARS, even if the last two seasons sucked and were all over the place and was apparently tossed together at random.
So when I watched the series finale, I was stunned. Absolutely devastated. Halfway through the show, I realized not one bloody question had been answered yet and it didn’t look like things would be wrapped up anytime soon. At first I thought I hadn’t understood what happened, because it was just so bland and obvious and the most likely ending they could have possibly picked.
I realize thoughts on this are divided. Some people loved it, and thought it was the perfect wrap-up. In one sense it was gratifying: everyone was reunited with their lovers and all those old relationship loose-ends were tied up. And I admit the relationships developed between the characters were crucial to the plot development, and I still want to have a naked romp with Sawyer. That last part was entirely unrelated, but important nonetheless.
But that’s not why I watched the show. I did not watch for emotional fulfilment, and I did not get caught up in the relationship drama. I watch Grey’s Anatomy for that stuff. I watched Lost because the mystery had me hooked and I was dying to know what was going on. For the first few seasons, every episode was an absolute nerve-wracking, thrilling ride.
Hardly any of my damned questions were answered. They fucking died? Are you kidding me?
Admittedly, the whole concept of the show was amazing, maybe even revolutionizing. A non-stop, 6 year, supernatural mystery. The kind of show that keeps you guessing. On the other hand, the writers have successfully turned me off from TV forever.
I’m also impressed they strung me along for 6 fucking years. I would have stopped watching 2 years ago if I knew things would turn out that way.
I also feel ridiculous for this rant, it’s just television. Thanks Lost, I want those years back.
Ah well, I suppose this was all worth it:
A rant nonetheless. I have to chime in here and say something very profound: I do not want a naked romp with Sawyer. Ok, needed to get that off my chest; although I can see his lure. I mean who wouldn’t want a scruffy, hard packed man with long flowing locks
Good rant. Hope you are feeling better now. They had me too all 6 seasons.
I’ll take Sawyer AND Jack!
Seriously though, for my real comment now…I start with a disclaimer by saying that I rarely find people with my similar movie/tv interests because of a couple reasons 1) I like stories that connect with me on a philosophical leve 2) I tend to latch onto stories that have some sort of redemptive value. Lost did that for me. Now before everyone yells at me: “BUT EVERYBODY DIED”. I understand that, but everyone dies; which they of course elude to. The show at the end answered a lot of things for me like: What’s the deal with Smokey, why is Jacob interfering with the lives of Oceanic, why does Alpert not age and a lot more. However, I realize it left a lot unanswered like: Why is Walt so special? What’s the deal with Jacob’s cabin? and a lot more…I felt all along when they said they were cutting it off at season 6 that they were going to have a tough time wrapping it all up and I was right.
All that to say, not answering a lot of questions wasn’t as big of a deal for me, because I thought it was a very moving finale and it take a lot to move me and not just because I’m 6′3″. It was a satisfying ending that connected with me on a lot of levels. I believe the Darlton are satisfied because I think a lot of the satisfaction for them is the ongoing mystery and questions that people will for weeks, months and years write blog posts, memoirs and books about.
Commence heckling…
@Spencer: No heckling! No worries. I understand why some people liked the ending and found it to be a satisfying wrap-up. It seems to be it’s just a matter of personal preference and HOW viewers watched the show…I was more heavily invested into the mystery side of things, and I like my mysteries solved.
That being said, you’re totally right, the entire series caused me some emotional distress unlike other TV shows can inspire…I cried, a lot…and I don’t usually!
@GotPassport: I like that idea MUCH better!
You know how I feel and I agree with everything you said. I want at least the last two years back. And uh I also want to know why there were polar bears. FUCKERS!
I started watching this show way back at the beginning too, but then during the middle of season 2 they started doing some crazy stuff with reruns and I got so frustrated that the show was going nowhere that I just stopped watching. Even though everyone told me I had to catch up with what was happening and hop back on the Lost bandwagon, I refused to do it because I didn’t want to waste all that time if the show truly sucked. Your post rests my case.
In fact, this is the reason I don’t really watch television at all. I get so ticked off if I waste my time that, instead of watching TV, I let the whole series run, then I rent it on DVD to watch if it turns out that it was actually worth watching. This way, too, I watch the show on my own terms.
First off: Agreed on the Sawyer point.
And I was really disappointed with the ending as well. I would have been much happier if the island exploded and they all died, but then got to live through the “alternate timeline”…Does that make me a creep? The last two years were so hard to watch, but I didn’t want to be a quitter. Good one.
Also, wtf is with Sayid ending up with that shannon skank? So annoying.
I could NEVER get into Lost. I hate it when I feel like people are dicking me around, and I constantly felt like those writers were DICKING ME AROUND.
A lot of hard core lost fan’s that I know here locally – note: I did not become a fan of this show – said that my summary of “So they were dead the whole time” was wholly inaccurate.
This is why I did not and will not watch Lost.
Oh, I feel your pain.
They did some terrific, amazing things over the last 6 years. They really knew how to hook a viewer. The “Lost twist” is now a screenwriting device we’re going to get really, really sick of seeing in all the upcoming contenders to its throne (like the failed attempt at it by the ultimately crap “Flashforward”).
All that – wasted.
Yep, they were dicking us around.
Even with the fact that everything that happened on the island actually happened, and no, they weren’t dead so everything that happened *did* matter, and the afterlife/sidewaysverse/whatever was after they were all dead and therefore not running alongside the main story…..they were still dicking us around.
I like a bit of mystery being left. I loved it when they refused to explain what happened to Starbuck and what she really was, in the BSG finale. I loved the ambiguity of Quantum Leap’s ending.
But hellfire. “Lost” was nothing but loose ends, flapping around on screen, right to the end credit. Really really basic stuff that we deserved to have at least a *hint* of an answer about, such as what the fuck was that clanking sound that accompanied the smoke monster? What? What was it? Why weren’t we told?
The ending was a nicely filmed, beautifully acted, emotionally semi-fulfilling insult to our brains. This story wasn’t yanked by a network getting cold feet and cancelling it. It was well-supported and its ending was pre-determined YEARS in advance. We deserved better. ABC deserved better. The actors deserved better.
But the writers couldn’t deliver. Hell, when they *tried* to deliver it was pretty damn awful (”Beyond the Sea”, the Jacob flashback). So maybe it’s better this way. Maybe we’ve been spared the worst they can do.
I gave up on it half way through the second season, I think I made the right decision as a lot of people seem to be pissed with the ending!
Even as a completely straight man, I can admit that Sawyer fella is an attraction specimen!
I can’t even read this because eventually, i want to finish and i think you have spoilers. I just couldn’t watch it on tv because it took so freaking long for anything to happen! I’m marking this as “Unread” and will come back when i finish.
I used to watch it and then I got fed up. But then I wondered if I was missing anything, so I was both catching up on Netflix and watching on TV. Probably not the best method, but oh well. But not liking the finale certainly has you in the majority! That’s for sure.
um. never watched LOST. never really felt like i LOST out on anything.
mwahahahahahahahahaha.
now modern family. there’s a show you need to watch. holy crap. funny.
As a person who has never, ever, ever watched one minute of Lost yet had to listen talk about it for the past however many years, I was sort of satisfied that so many people were upset with the finale. I’m kind of mean, huh?
Hahahaha, I’m surprised most everyone here was not satisfied with the ending. Mike, I’m with you totally 100%…the show had its merits, but it failed in the end. Now that I’ve had some time to cool off, I’ve decided I don’t entirely regret watching six years of it…maybe just the last two years. Maybe.
For the others that never got involved, I’d just like to point out that you missed out on a whole lot of Josh Holloway abs. Those might have been worth it for the mental anguish of the series finale.
Basia, I KNOW. And where was Mr. Eko?! Aghhh.
He’s the only reason I kept watching for even two seasons.
Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm.
I only ever watched the first season… and all this series finale bellyaching does not inspire me to ever bother with the rest of it ;P but then, series finales are very rarely satisfying…
Seriously, anyone can write a great mystery if they don’t have to answer for it in the end. I agree with everything you said (except the Sawyer part). The worst thing about this is that they’ve set a precedent. NOW we can look forward to lots of new “make up your own ending” crap. I, like you loved “Lost” in the beginning and was invested in finally finding out the mysteries. Then we got…THAT. Thanks for nothing douchebags (literally nothing!).
Here’s my take, if you’ve not read it:
http://heylady-blog.blogspot.com/2010/05/lost-may-contain-spoilers.html