LOST ... It only ends once. Discussion of Season SIX!

[erich]

Find out "What They Died For" in my latest write-up, over on TV Verdict.

I agree, Harold, fantastic set-up for the finale. Odd how the past couple of episodes seem to have set fans off on either a path of excitement or dread. Hopefully those two paths, like the ones on the show, come together in a good way by the end.

[HGervais]

I think the key thing every Lost fans needs to be asking themselves is what questions do we as fans want to see answered and what questions do we need to see answered because honestly Lost is still spinning out questions and there is no way the show is going to be able to answer everything. Nor I suppose should the show answer everything.
I have decided after the finale on Sunday I'm going to digest it and roll it around in my head and then I'm going to reread Stephen King's The Stand and then I'm going to sit down and watch the entire series from start to finish.

[Steve T Power]

Find out "What They Died For" in my latest write-up, over on TV Verdict.

I agree, Harold, fantastic set-up for the finale. Odd how the past couple of episodes seem to have set fans off on either a path of excitement or dread. Hopefully those two paths, like the ones on the show, come together in a good way by the end.

If nothing else, i now totally understand why Across the Sea was necessary.

[Selk]

Is Richard dead?

[erich]

Is Richard dead?

It sure seems that way, though we should probably put him in the "fate unknown" column with Frank Lapidus.

[HGervais]

I'm taking bets that Jack's unseen wife in the sideways universe is Juliet.

[Selk]

It sure seems that way, though we should probably put him in the "fate unknown" column with Frank Lapidus.

I assumed that Frank died since we didn't see him on the beach.

I'm taking bets that Jack's unseen wife in the sideways universe is Juliet.

I never thought of that.

I can't wait to see how the events on the island and the events in the "flash sideways" will come together. It may have something to do with the flashes that Ben was having.

[Boba Fett]

Find out "What They Died For" in my latest write-up, over on TV Verdict.

I agree, Harold, fantastic set-up for the finale. Odd how the past couple of episodes seem to have set fans off on either a path of excitement or dread. Hopefully those two paths, like the ones on the show, come together in a good way by the end.

If nothing else, i now totally understand why Across the Sea was necessary.

More like 15 minutes of Across the Sea was necessary.

[Selk]

More like 15 minutes of Across the Sea was necessary.

Honestly, with the back and forth flash-forwards, flashbacks and flash-sideways, I doubt that any of them are really dead.

[erich]

I'm taking bets that Jack's unseen wife in the sideways universe is Juliet.

I suppose this might be a minor spoiler, but since it is based on speculation take it for what it's worth:


From what I've heard, one reason Modern Family took the cast to Hawaii was so that Julie Bowen could shoot scenes for Lost. I assumed that meant she was reprising her role as Jack's ex-wife, Sarah.

[Observer]

Find out "What They Died For" in my latest write-up, over on TV Verdict.

I agree, Harold, fantastic set-up for the finale. Odd how the past couple of episodes seem to have set fans off on either a path of excitement or dread. Hopefully those two paths, like the ones on the show, come together in a good way by the end.

If nothing else, i now totally understand why Across the Sea was necessary.

More like 15 minutes of Across the Sea was necessary.

FOR THIS VERY REASON i didn't understand why they couldn't have made Across the Sea into a standard LOST flashback episode. Felt like they gained nothing by having the whole episode tell the story of Jacob and MiB.

Other than that episode, this season of LOST has been pretty outstanding to me. And I say this having been nearly tempted to give up last year (the section of the season that took place in the DHARMA Initiative was brutal to me). However, I would have felt stupid not watching to the end, no matter how frustrated I was with the show. And I'm glad I have. Loved the flash-sideways.

My mind will be blown on Sunday just thinking about the fact that it's ending.

[Selk]

Other than that episode, this season of LOST has been pretty outstanding to me. And I say this having been nearly tempted to give up last year (the section of the season that took place in the DHARMA Initiative was brutal to me). However, I would have felt stupid not watching to the end, no matter how frustrated I was with the show. And I'm glad I have. Loved the flash-sideways.

I would have said the same thing about midway through THIS season. At one point I got so bored that I considered just giving up but I figured that I've dedicated six years of my life to this show, I can't just bail out at the home stretch. Besides I'm dying to know how it ends.

[J.M. Vargas]

OK, caught up with all the unwatched Season 6 episodes of "Lost" over the weekend and ready for tonight's finale. But WOW, if "Across The Sea" is not 100% proof that the writers have been making shit all along and there never was an 'end game' other than keep the show running I don't know what is. It's not only a criminally horrible episode in just about everything (acting, writing, phony-looking sets, cheesy SFX, etc.) but for it to be among the final three to air is just unreal. I watched it at 4AM Saturday night/Sunday morning and I was convinced I was delirious because it all looked so surreally bad. The episode after that got the "Lost" narrative back on track somewhat, but it's an off-the-rails track that gets more rickety with every minute of show that's left.

Sorry but Golden McGuffin Pond = Bad Season of "Lost"!

[HGervais]

I'm taking bets that Jack's unseen wife in the sideways universe is Juliet.

Pay up!
Well, that was certainly....emotional. Lots to ponder.

[J.M. Vargas]

OK, had all night and this morning to think it over. The only thing I want to mention right now is that these...

... are the WRONG kinds of images you want to put the ending credits over if you want to perpetuate the notion that the 'sideway' storyline was the 'purgatory/afterlife' and the stuff that happened on the Island was the real-life stuff. I'm smarter than that and the first thing that crossed my mind (even though it happened after the final 'LOST' end title card, thus outside 'The End's' narrative) was 'OMG, they were all dead all along.'

[HGervais]

It's alarming to me that Drew McWeeny always seem to write words that I have floating around in my head and puts them in pretty much the same order but with last night's Lost finale, he does it again.

[BrettCullum]

Harold, thanks for the link. That is a very well written summation of the finale and the series in general.

For me... we did a podcast right after the show, and I found myself agreeing with Dave Johnson that I was emtionally satisfied yet somehow not intellectually. My inner man of faith was smiling, but my inner man of science was banging on a hatch door in vain. I missed the science fiction of the first three or four years, and felt a bit cheated that they just signed off with a big goofy community ascent in to heaven at the end. It felt fine, but I sure do miss knowing what a lot of these mysteries truly mean.

LOST was a brave show, and that left turn to spirituality was a bold move. I certainly can not say that anybody took an easy way out, but then also I can't seem to cotton to the idea that all of this was planned from the start either. I think they wrote themselves in to a corner a long time ago... the seasons were all too different to believe otherwise. But they did do it all with a grace and intelligence.

I hate seeing the show disappear, because smart television is always appreciated... and smart TV with a big huge budget and a perfect cast is rarer than a sixteen year old virgin who still believes in Santa Claus.

[HGervais]

Another really good take via The LA Times blogs.
The key part, One of my favorite books of all time is "Watership Down." In that story, the main action of the book ends with around 20 pages left. (It's here that I'll warn you there are spoilers for "Watership Down" ahead, but the book is almost 40 years old. C'mon.) The rabbits who have come to Watership Down to make their home have survived an incursion by the borderline fascist General Woundwort, and everyone is safe for a little while. It's a lovely scene, but it's made even more moving by the short epilogue, set in an undetermined future. The book's hero, leader Hazel, has grown old and is enjoying one last summer among all of those for whom he built a world worth living in. Which is when El-Ahrairah, something like the rabbits' folk hero and/or god, arrives to take Hazel away to what's after, not a rabbit Heaven, not exactly, but definitely a place where there will be less pain and less worry. The final sentences are elliptical, suggesting more than showing, creating something that is and always will be while staying just ahead of us. We are not yet ready to see what is next. We can only catch pieces. Hazel worries about those who will go after him, but El-Ahrairah insists he needn't worry. "They'll be all right," he says, "and thousands like them. If you come with me, I'll show you what I mean."

So when Sawyer was reading "Watership Down" back in season one of "Lost," I thought it was just a tip of the hat from the producers to a book I loved. I didn't know it was the answer to the whole series.

On Tuesday, I talked a lot about the letting go, about the process of readying yourself to let someone or something slip away from you and become a part of something else. It can be as simple as letting a friend move cross country, or it can be as profound as putting a family member in the ground and hoping you might see them again someday. The final season of "Lost" has been about having the kind of faith needed to accept that things will make a kind of sense, even when they don't, about realizing the world is sometimes a tragic one where bad things happen and sometimes a beautiful one where people can create things larger than themselves by the mere process of coming together and building something. I've talked here about how I love things that are about community, about the ways that people can work together toward something else. And in the end, that was what "Lost" was about as well. It just showed its cards awfully late.

I can already see on the various Internet haunts I frequent that the episode didn't work for everyone. It continued the series' hard left turn into outright mysticism, and some are frightened that the end of the show suggests that everyone has been dead all this time. While I can see where some are coming up with that theory from (or its far more cynical variant that this is a hallucination that Jack is having on his way to his final resting place), I don't think that is what we're seeing here. This flash-sideways universe is one final gift from the last protector of the Island that we see -- Hurley -- to everyone he ever knew or loved. It is a chance for him to do what he does best, as Ben says. He is taking care of people, giving them both what they wanted and what they needed. The structure here is meant to be elusive, to always run just ahead of us while we chase along behind. At some point in the "Lost" world, all of these people die. And then they end up in the sideways world, where they're able to have what they wanted (perhaps thanks to Hurley). And then Desmond becomes their spiritual counselor, in a way, helping them to let go.

[HGervais]

And yeah I did slap my forehead when it was pointed out that Jack's father name was Christian Sheppard.

[BrettCullum]

Well.. you might slap your head over Jack's Dad's name... but still, the show was filled with ironic names of philosopher and Bible allusions. I mean we had John Locke meeting a wild Rousseau with a Faraday along for the ride. Plus a CS Lewis and a Hugo Reyes! Jeremy Bentham! C'mon! Plus, a balloon traveller named Henry Gale! There were many ironic names on here. I did love Kate's reaction though last night to Jack's Dad's name...

[HGervais]

And in the room Jack & his father are speaking...the one with all the different symbols of faith....was that a wheel on one of the panes of glass?

[HGervais]

Well.. you might slap your head over Jack's Dad's name... but still, the show was filled with ironic names of philosopher and Bible allusions. I mean we had John Locke meeting a wild Rousseau with a Faraday along for the ride. Plus a CS Lewis and a Hugo Reyes! Jeremy Bentham! C'mon! Plus, a balloon traveller named Henry Gale! There were many ironic names on here. I did love Kate's reaction though last night to Jack's Dad's name...

I guess it was just a clue that had been sitting out there for six years and the force of putting it together got the d'uh moment out of me.

[Bryan Pope]

I didn't watch past season two, but I have to admit that that LA Times blog entry makes me kind of regret it. First time I've felt like that. I'll have to go back and catch the rest now.

[BrettCullum]

It will also go down in history as the only show that has made us sit through each character's personal history, then what happened to them in the future, AND THEN show us their "life" after they died. That's a lot of life showing there...

And yes... lower left corner of the window was a "wheel"... not sure... that might be Ezekiel's wheel or a Mormon figure... but I thought just maybe it was a frozen donkey wheel just to be sly and coy...

[BrettCullum]

I didn't watch past season two, but I have to admit that that LA Times blog entry makes me kind of regret it. First time I've felt like that. I'll have to go back and catch the rest now.

I'll be curious to see how people react to the series now that the ending is public knowledge and a news story. There will be no mystery for future viewers...

[Boba Fett]

It will also go down in history as the only show that has made us sit through each character's personal history, then what happened to them in the future, AND THEN show us their "life" after they died. That's a lot of life showing there...

And yes... lower left corner of the window was a "wheel"... not sure... that might be Ezekiel's wheel or a Mormon figure... but I thought just maybe it was a frozen donkey wheel just to be sly and coy...

I thought it was supposed to be the Dharmachakra:



It's fitting on multiple levels.

[erich]

My finale write-up has been posted over on TV Verdict. Also, be sure to check out the LOST postmortem podcast I recorded with Dave and Brett!

[molly1216]

funny... the only series 'ender' that didn't leave me screaming at the tv set was Farscape
when the characters were just turned into chunks and left them in a pile. (to be reconstructed later but we didn't know that at the time)

i knew we would end up holding the bag...the drain at the end of the universe..what utter horsepucky.
and the afterlife waiting room - multi-player role playing game was a cop out.
Jacob was an ahole, he continually brought people to his island to play games with..
and they all suffered and died.. what about all the other non candidates from the flight?
who over 3 years were basically red shirts? no sympathy for them, no white light for them?

creating a universe as complicated as the island - Gaia figure, cain & able figures, all the dharma symbolism..then tell you that oh, by the way it's all just sound and fury yet signifies nothing...is sloppy writing.

IMHO..the lost finale is whatever you expected it to be, if you want it to be cathartic you have it, if you want it to be incomplete you can read it that way too.

[HGervais]

creating a universe as complicated as the island - Gaia figure, cain & able figures, all the dharma symbolism..then tell you that oh, by the way it's all just sound and fury yet signifies nothing...is sloppy writing.

i can understand the anger a certain kind of fan of Lost would have over the finale but to call the writing sloppy is totally inaccurate. I think C & L made the decision, rightly, that no explanation of the island was ever going to satisfy the fans who wanted those answers and that the island was always the show's MacGuffin. The title Lost spoke directly to the characters and what was important was the journey of the characters and that is what they focused on. You can argue over the results but I don't think you can make the case that it's sloppy writing.

[molly1216]

creating a universe as complicated as the island - Gaia figure, cain & able figures, all the dharma symbolism..then tell you that oh, by the way it's all just sound and fury yet signifies nothing...is sloppy writing.

i can understand the anger a certain kind of fan of Lost would have over the finale but to call the writing sloppy is totally inaccurate. I think C & L made the decision, rightly, that no explanation of the island was ever going to satisfy the fans who wanted those answers and that the island was always the show's MacGuffin. The title Lost spoke directly to the characters and what was important was the journey of the characters and that is what they focused on. You can argue over the results but I don't think you can make the case that it's sloppy writing.

would you accept sloppy planning?

some of us didn't like most of the characters, ergo watching them evolve into less annoying people wasnt worth the time.

[HGervais]

would you accept sloppy planning?

some of us didn't like most of the characters, ergo watching them evolve into less annoying people wasnt worth the time.

I guess the question I would ask then if a person didn't like most of the characters, then why would a person stick around for six years?
I'll admit that Jack became kind of a disliked character in my head as the show went along but to C & L's credit by the time the end credits rolled I found I had a complete turnaround on him. And I don't really agree with the sloppy planning aspect either. Looking at the end of the series and going backwards, I think the broad strokes of where things would end up were there from the start. I'm pretty sure these guys had a plan. That plan may have deviated from because of real world pressures placed on the show but I really don't buy into they made it all up as the went along crowd. The island and the Others and the Dharma Group were all MacGuffins. The thing Lost creators were open about from the beginning was this was a show about these people. The sci-fi aspects of the show were window dressing, the meat of the show were always the characters.

[Steve T Power]

would you accept sloppy planning?

some of us didn't like most of the characters, ergo watching them evolve into less annoying people wasnt worth the time.

I guess the question I would ask then if a person didn't like most of the characters, then why would a person stick around for six years?
I'll admit that Jack became kind of a disliked character in my head as the show went along but to C & L's credit by the time the end credits rolled I found I had a complete turnaround on him. And I don't really agree with the sloppy planning aspect either. Looking at the end of the series and going backwards, I think the broad strokes of where things would end up were there from the start. I'm pretty sure these guys had a plan. That plan may have deviated from because of real world pressures placed on the show but I really don't buy into they made it all up as the went along crowd. The island and the Others and the Dharma Group were all MacGuffins. The thing Lost creators were open about from the beginning was this was a show about these people. The sci-fi aspects of the show were window dressing, the meat of the show were always the characters.

I thought elements of it were brilliant, but overall, as much as some are now touting this as a character show, for about 5 seasons the answers were all that mattered, and they just piled on more and more mysteries. That so many of these mysteries were just written off in the end really really sucks.

FANS: But what about this? What about That? Or that other thing?

WRITERS: Oh never mind that, none of it was important.

FANS: Huhwha???

WRITERS: Our plan got tossed when the show hit season 3.

No one seems to remember Abrams and his chats way back at the beginning, where he specifically stated that they had essentially planned for a one season TV event. The claim back then was they had a 1 season, 3 season, and 5 season plan, and only the 1 season plan was really fleshed out.

[erich]

would you accept sloppy planning?

some of us didn't like most of the characters, ergo watching them evolve into less annoying people wasnt worth the time.

I guess the question I would ask then if a person didn't like most of the characters, then why would a person stick around for six years?
I'll admit that Jack became kind of a disliked character in my head as the show went along but to C & L's credit by the time the end credits rolled I found I had a complete turnaround on him. And I don't really agree with the sloppy planning aspect either. Looking at the end of the series and going backwards, I think the broad strokes of where things would end up were there from the start. I'm pretty sure these guys had a plan. That plan may have deviated from because of real world pressures placed on the show but I really don't buy into they made it all up as the went along crowd. The island and the Others and the Dharma Group were all MacGuffins. The thing Lost creators were open about from the beginning was this was a show about these people. The sci-fi aspects of the show were window dressing, the meat of the show were always the characters.

I thought elements of it were brilliant, but overall, as much as some are now touting this as a character show, for about 5 seasons the answers were all that mattered, and they just piled on more and more mysteries. That so many of these mysteries were just written off in the end really really sucks.

No one seems to remember Abrams and his chats way back at the beginning, where he specifically stated that they had essentially planned for a one season TV event. The claim back then was they had a 1 season, 3 season, and 5 season plan, and only the 1 season plan was really fleshed out.

I'm amazed that so much of the post-finale discussion has been spent speculating on whether or not the writers "had a plan." They've said they did, at least far enough out that they weren't making it up as they went along. You can call them liars if you want, but I don't see a reason to doubt them. If you don't like that the show left many small details unanswered, that's fine, but don't justify that anger by accusing the show's writers of pulling the wool over our eyes. The show represented the philosophical idea that there are a lot of things in life we can't explain. They made a case for that position by creating layers of mystery that would never be solved. The heart of the show was the experiences of the characters. The only information we got (with very few exceptions) was information that characters either had, or gleaned from their limited experience on the island. Some of that information was accurate and some of it was flawed. To tie up all the loose ends would have required a deus ex machina moment so jarring it would have made the purgatory church service look like an ice cream social. Plus, it would have taken focus away from the characters. If you didn't like the characters, why watch the show? I thought the ending was perfect for what Lost was.

[Steve T Power]

would you accept sloppy planning?

some of us didn't like most of the characters, ergo watching them evolve into less annoying people wasnt worth the time.

I guess the question I would ask then if a person didn't like most of the characters, then why would a person stick around for six years?
I'll admit that Jack became kind of a disliked character in my head as the show went along but to C & L's credit by the time the end credits rolled I found I had a complete turnaround on him. And I don't really agree with the sloppy planning aspect either. Looking at the end of the series and going backwards, I think the broad strokes of where things would end up were there from the start. I'm pretty sure these guys had a plan. That plan may have deviated from because of real world pressures placed on the show but I really don't buy into they made it all up as the went along crowd. The island and the Others and the Dharma Group were all MacGuffins. The thing Lost creators were open about from the beginning was this was a show about these people. The sci-fi aspects of the show were window dressing, the meat of the show were always the characters.

I thought elements of it were brilliant, but overall, as much as some are now touting this as a character show, for about 5 seasons the answers were all that mattered, and they just piled on more and more mysteries. That so many of these mysteries were just written off in the end really really sucks.

No one seems to remember Abrams and his chats way back at the beginning, where he specifically stated that they had essentially planned for a one season TV event. The claim back then was they had a 1 season, 3 season, and 5 season plan, and only the 1 season plan was really fleshed out.

I'm amazed that so much of the post-finale discussion has been spent speculating on whether or not the writers "had a plan." They've said they did, at least far enough out that they weren't making it up as they went along. You can call them liars if you want, but I don't see a reason to doubt them. If you don't like that the show left many small details unanswered, that's fine, but don't justify that anger by accusing the show's writers of pulling the wool over our eyes. The show represented the philosophical idea that there are a lot of things in life we can't explain. They made a case for that position by creating layers of mystery that would never be solved. The heart of the show was the experiences of the characters. The only information we got (with very few exceptions) was information that characters either had, or gleaned from their limited experience on the island. Some of that information was accurate and some of it was flawed. To tie up all the loose ends would have required a deus ex machina moment so jarring it would have made the purgatory church service look like an ice cream social. Plus, it would have taken focus away from the characters. If you didn't like the characters, why watch the show? I thought the ending was perfect for what Lost was.

Not to call them liars outright, but maybe a disconnect existed in the early days between Abrams and the writing staff (as i understand it he didn't have much of anything to do with the later seasons, but he was the show's mouthpiece early on). Either way, i do tend to lean towards the "made it up as they went" camp. I know i'm not alone there. I may have sounded harsh, and that wasn't my intent, i thought what they did with the characters was fantastic, and i quite enjoyed the finale. Still, I couldn't help but feel disappointed that so many elements of the show from the earlier seasons (which i was more devoted to, it must be said) were left by the wayside. When i first started watching, and way back when we would all talk about it, i often said that I would love the show immensely if not for the flashbacks, i always felt they got in the way of the mystery that had captivated me for the first few seasons. Bearing that in mind, i'm sure you can understand my consternation when they twisted things on their heads, and the flashbacks, and by nature, the characters, became the focus.

That is also not to say that i feel the show suffered because of its focus on character. Heaven forbid a show be condemned for character development. Just that the elements that so captivated me early on were shoved aside and glossed over.

I'd still call it one of the best finales I've ever seen. I'd put my satisfaction level at about 83 %.

It could have been a courtroom episode where a missing character reappears and lays out the conspiracies and plot revelations for a gathered jury, only to vanish again in the end...

[BrettCullum]

Yes, Steve... I agree with you 100%!

The show feels like the plans morphed quite a few times during the run. I don't know if that was intentional or not, but it certainly felt like each year was its own animal leading us in a new direction... then they would have a finale that pointed us towards a 180 degree turn for the next season. I suspect they dealt with each year on its own terms with an idea of where they wanted to land.

I agree with Molly that it is sloppy storytelling to make such a HUGE deal out of many of these mysteries and then wave us all off with lines like Allison Janney's "Anything I answer will just lead to more questions..." It seemed like none of our characters knew what was happening or had any answers, not even the immortal Richard Alpert, Jacob, or the nameless Man in Black. It is rather unforgiveable to set up the maddening mysteries of Walt, the Others, Egyptian influences, time travel, heck... even a peak into the afterlife with very little reason given for ANY of it.

Now to placate Harold... I think they always upheld a certain quality in that even when it became obvious the messes they had made they still made them work. The character beats were always spot on, and in the end it seems the show's greatest strength was not the mindblowing mysteries but the human qualities that it explored so well. Sure, I hated and loved the people... but they were always well handled. That was probably a great marriage of excellent acting and solid writing when it counted.

Count me in the 80% satisfied and 20% angry camp...
But I am glad they wrapped it rather than simply getting cancelled with no chance to close.

[HGervais]

As I noted real world certainly pushed into the creative realm. From everything I have read no one expected Lost to take off the way it did in those first few episodes. All of a sudden you have to think beyond that first year. Then you start producing a show year in year out. You introduce new characters, new situations and different storytelling methods to keep things fresh for both the viewer and for the people involved in the show. Some of those new things work and some don't. Ben Linus is a prime example of a guest actor signed for three episodes really hitting and forcing the creative people to keep him and merge his character into something else they were already thinking about doing. For me the real point of change is when ABC & the producers decided on ending the show. It's at that point had a fixed point and it's at that point where the gimmicky stuff starts to move to the side. They had a finish line and I think it is where they really started putting everything together. Of course things changes, some things probably really radically, but I have no reason to not believe there were definite beats & resolutions the creators knew they wanted to get to from day one or the earliest days.
And I guess I come back to the "questions would only raise more questions" line. There really was no way for C & L to answer all the questions people wanted answered or do it in a way thay would satisfy those people. The mystery is always more interesting than the truth or the solution. The end had to be about the characters and their journey.

[BrettCullum]

We care about the people probably more than the mysteries, but in the same breath... couldn't we have had BOTH simultaneously? There are ways you can solve mysteries and answer questions that are character driven. It does not always have to be Hercule Poirot or Miss Marple in a drawing room explaining every little beat.

Even after they got the end date they were heaping on mysteries which seemed very important but ultimately led to a dead end. Like that crazy cabin where Jacob was supposed to live. It was surrounded by ash, and we saw someone in the chair... he even said "help me" to Locke. It was a truly creepy moment, one of the best of that year. And yet it makes no sense knowing that Smoke Monster was free to roam the island since the pilot episode and Jacob was I am assuming living in the four toed statue. Why even have the cabin? Who was in it?

And then we have Claire who is a character who even disappeared for a full season. It was mentioned by Dogen she was infected the same way Sayid was, and that they both had the darkness growing inside them. Yet neither was beyond saving apparently, and we never found out what kind of hold the Man in Black had over Claire to make her nuts enough to leave her baby in the bushes for Sawyer and Kate to find.

It just seems like even mysteries that could have informed what was happening to a character never got fully explained.

[Steve T Power]

Even with the debate and cross talk spurred on by season 6, i have to say; i've never seen such a loyal and dedicated following for a series as i have for Lost, and not the typical geek-passion crowd, or weekly haters either. For all intents and purposes, the gathering of Losties has been like one big love-in compared to shows like Star Trek, Buffy (oh dear God, Buffy)The X-Files or Battlestar Galactica. Sure people left the ship, but those who walked away, were usually hangers on or curiosity seekers more than hardcore followers. As far as mainstream TV goes, it's been remarkably well received, and loyally supported.

[BrettCullum]

It seemed to mark a time when GEEK CHIC became all the rage...

There was so much built up around the show in the form of podcasts, online forums, Internet games, facebook pages, and a rabid community that seemed to obsess to a degree I have rarely seen for any show. It proved that "cult hit" can become mainstream enough beyond the small in comparison sized audiences that graced BUFFY or BATTLESTAR.

And I will say I was far more satisfied with the entire run when I compare it to any other show. BUFFY really had no steam after season five (in my opinion), and BATTLESTAR had that head-scratcher of a conclusion. Even my all time favorite TWIN PEAKS seemed to flail badly once the Laura Palmer mystery was signed, sealed, delivered.

Whatever the case may be, I hung on the whole ride along with many others... and that says a lot.

[J.M. Vargas]

ABC: WE PUT THE AIRPLANE WRECK PICTURES OVER THE CREDITS TO "DECOMPRESS" THE AUDIENCE FROM THE SHOW AND GET THEM READY FOR THE LATE LOCAL NEWS: http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/showtracker/2010/05/lost-exclusive-abc-sets-the-record-straight-about-the-series-finales-plane-crash-images.html. The fact ABC felt the need to explain this means the theory that 'they were dead all along' (which Jimmy Fallon used as a punchline to an unrelated joke last night to a great reaction) may have gotten too out-of-control even for the suits running the network.

[HGervais]

The crash footage didn't do anything to me in the way of undermining what I had just seen. It was just footage to the crash of Oceanic 615. It was a curious choice and maybe not that well thought out but I don't really get why it would cause such confusion. Even a series as prone to throw out surprises such as Lost would not spend 2 1/2 hours telling its audience that everything that happened on the island was real and then with the end credits try and silently take that all away. It's dumb. It's silly and as a show Lost and its creative team are neither of those things. I think a lot of people saw the crash footage and used that to bolster their own theories of the show that had just been dismissed in pretty definitive terms. I think those people saw what they wanted to see.

[Bryan Pope]

BUFFY really had no steam after season five (in my opinion), and BATTLESTAR had that head-scratcher of a conclusion.

I thought Buffy ran out of steam after season three. There were a few isolated moments of brilliance (The Body, Hush, Once More With Feeling, This Year's Girl/Who Are You?), but, overall, it fizzled.

And I must be the only person on the planet who found the BG finale to be immensely satisfying. I'm okay with that.

[Steve T Power]

BUFFY really had no steam after season five (in my opinion), and BATTLESTAR had that head-scratcher of a conclusion.

I thought Buffy ran out of steam after season three. There were a few isolated moments of brilliance (The Body, Hush, Once More With Feeling, This Year's Girl/Who Are You?), but, overall, it fizzled.

And I must be the only person on the planet who found the BG finale to be immensely satisfying. I'm okay with that.

Nah, i loved it as well, and the show probably holds a spot at the top of my "tv shows Steve loves" list, which admittedly isn't very long.

[Dan Mancini]

BUFFY really had no steam after season five (in my opinion), and BATTLESTAR had that head-scratcher of a conclusion.

I thought Buffy ran out of steam after season three. There were a few isolated moments of brilliance (The Body, Hush, Once More With Feeling, This Year's Girl/Who Are You?), but, overall, it fizzled.

And I must be the only person on the planet who found the BG finale to be immensely satisfying. I'm okay with that.

Nah, i loved it as well, and the show probably holds a spot at the top of my "tv shows Steve loves" list, which admittedly isn't very long.

Above Spaced?!? Blasphemy!

[BrettCullum]

On that imagery... ABC executives are so dumb! They should have known LOST fans analyze even the color that the title cards are shown in. People comb through the show frame by frame, or at least they used to before the mystery was deemed "not quite as important as the characters." I don't blame people for trying to analyze it, although it would be counterintuitive to think that they were dead all along considering they had to "let go and move on" in that crazy AFTERLIFEverse. Still, they should have just ran some images from the show's run and said goodbye properly. It's a funny mistake that I heard hours of analysis on. Luckily, I didn't put too much stock in the images as anything more than just a curious look at an empty set.

BUFFY's most natural endings either came at high school graduation... which really is where it should have stopped... but also the end of season five where she died worked too. But they kept slugging and season six was okay with some intriguing parts, and then came the suckitude that was the final seventh season. That one still smarts save for one or two worthwhile eps. I am glad LOST did not go down that road of overkill and tedious climax.

I heard an interesting theory today though that many people thought LOST should have ended with the season five climax. If I were to pull the plug any earlier I would pick the end of Season Three which announced that they were done with flashbacks and the way they had always traditionally told the story. But I am actually glad it extended to the sixth season even if that whole alternate timeline turned out to mean absolutely nothing more than "wish fufillment". You almost could have pared down those flashes and not shown as much of them... they had no impact on the island plot at all!

[Steve T Power]

BUFFY really had no steam after season five (in my opinion), and BATTLESTAR had that head-scratcher of a conclusion.

I thought Buffy ran out of steam after season three. There were a few isolated moments of brilliance (The Body, Hush, Once More With Feeling, This Year's Girl/Who Are You?), but, overall, it fizzled.

And I must be the only person on the planet who found the BG finale to be immensely satisfying. I'm okay with that.

Nah, i loved it as well, and the show probably holds a spot at the top of my "tv shows Steve loves" list, which admittedly isn't very long.

Above Spaced?!? Blasphemy!

Well, maybe #2 spot... Spaced is just too damn good.

and Hawk The Slayer is rubbish.

[Dan Mancini]

BUFFY really had no steam after season five (in my opinion), and BATTLESTAR had that head-scratcher of a conclusion.

I thought Buffy ran out of steam after season three. There were a few isolated moments of brilliance (The Body, Hush, Once More With Feeling, This Year's Girl/Who Are You?), but, overall, it fizzled.

And I must be the only person on the planet who found the BG finale to be immensely satisfying. I'm okay with that.

Nah, i loved it as well, and the show probably holds a spot at the top of my "tv shows Steve loves" list, which admittedly isn't very long.

Above Spaced?!? Blasphemy!

Well, maybe #2 spot... Spaced is just too damn good.

and Hawk The Slayer is rubbish.

Steve, you're right. But let's give Krull a try, and we'll discuss it later.

[Steve T Power]

Above Spaced?!? Blasphemy!

Well, maybe #2 spot... Spaced is just too damn good.

and Hawk The Slayer is rubbish.

Steve, you're right. But let's give Krull a try, and we'll discuss it later.

Dammit Dan! Kids LIKE Jar-Jar!

What about the Ewoks? They were rubbish! You don't complain about them!

[Dan Mancini]

Above Spaced?!? Blasphemy!

Well, maybe #2 spot... Spaced is just too damn good.

and Hawk The Slayer is rubbish.

Steve, you're right. But let's give Krull a try, and we'll discuss it later.

Dammit Dan! Kids LIKE Jar-Jar!

What about the Ewoks? They were rubbish! You don't complain about them!

Yeah, but compared to Jar Jar, they were effing...Shaft.

[molly1216]

worth checkingout
unanswered LOST questions
http://www.collegehumor.com/video:1936291