[TV] Lost, does it keep being so good?

[Porcell]

I Lost my interest around season 3. It started to look like the writers were making up things as they went on, and we only got more and more questions and no answers.

That's the thing though, in some ways they did. I've thought about this before, and a TV series isn't (can not be) like a Movie. A movie you write the whole thing, iron it out, then shoot it. A TV series that lasts 6 years... well you just don't know what's going to happen in 6 years. When you don't know if you are even going to be renewed for a second Season, it's difficult to have your content all written down for five years down the road. Yes they have story arcs, generally know what they might be doing, but that's really it.

It's just not possible for a team to sit down and say "Okay, lets write 110 episodes with full plot details that we will film over the next 6 years."

I think in general the writers did a good job of going back and making it all fit together retroactively.

[Mascotte]

Just watch the entire thing but skip the finale 2 episodes.
Whatever you imagine that would be the end will be better then the actual end.
One of those 'can not unsee' type of deals.

[Deleted]

Okay, here's my two cents. I LOVE the show and it's one of my favourites. Ever. My favourite season is the first one, but I like all of them. And unlike many people, I did enjoy the ending. I suggest you just keep watching and see if you like it. Just remember - the characters is the driving force of the show, not the endless questions.

[Fuzzzie]

It goes through rough patches but is pretty good the whole way though.

[Kebab]

Mystery haters please go away, Lost is the best mystery show ever. And no, it never stops being awesome because mystery never dies in this show.

[pickley]

HAH! I got to season 3? Before i gave up. So much random shit keeps happening and is all what the fuck like. I can't really explain with out spoiling the whole show.

This is a common problem for the guy that made lost. He went onto Fringe, had a good first and second season then they just started making random shit up and it got pointlessly confusing.

[Fuzzzie]

Part of the fun of the show is it keeps you guessing. Even after the finale you don't find out all the secrets of everything. Damnon Lindelof is kinda becoming known for this approach to writing.

If you're interested, check out Chris Hardwick's Nerdist podcast with Jorge Garcia. It may contain some spoilers but talks a lot about how the shooting was and how the show wrapped up, unsolved mysteries etc.

http://www.nerdist.com/2012/06/nerdi...-jorge-garcia/

[conscript]

So, i just started watching lost, only watched 4 episodes so far, but i LOVE it, really it got me in the mood that only Twin peaks have gotten me in, when it comes to TV-series, The mystic, the action, the drama everything.

Now i see there is 6 season, and does the level of "goodness" keep being so good? Or does it fall? And if it does, how bad is it?

It keeps that level of good through at least the 5th season. Some people say it drops off in season 6, but I still immensely enjoyed every second that show has ever produced except for that tattoo episode with Bai Ling or whatever her name is.

All I have to say is Season 3 Finale bro. Mind blowingly good. Like greatest episode of a show ever made good.

Oh and I enjoyed the ending. Was it the way I wanted it to end, no, but it didn't break my love of the show. The end of the last episode still makes me cry. God I love Lost so much.

[Youvegotfail]

The level of 'goodness' stays consistant throughout. However, it has the worst ending for all the buildup of any television show I've seen.

pretty much this. Some seasons are definitely better than others, but i enjoyed every minutes of the show up until the last 10-15 minutes or so of the last episode.

This is a common problem for the guy that made lost. He went onto Fringe, had a good first and second season then they just started making random shit up and it got pointlessly confusing.

Fringe is still awesome IMO. Never have I felt like they were just "making up random shit"...I did feel that way towards the end of Lost's run, though.

[nevermore]

Fringe is still awesome IMO. Never have I felt like they were just "making up random shit"...I did feel that way towards the end of Lost's run, though.

I know this is off-topic, but I kinda wondered how ANYONE (with the most basic science education) could possibly enjoy Fringe. I watched the first 4 episodes and I literally felt like screaming "THIS IS BS" at my screen and throw it out the window. I've been told it gets better after the first season, but still. The random "science" stuff in this show is so painfully WRONG I just don't know what to say lol.
The very first episode... pump the girl full of LSD, make her lie into a pool of lube, stick needles into her brain and BAM you can magically transfer complex thoughts and imagery between people through a copper wire. Like, seriously. I wanted to scratch my eyes out.
And don't even get me started on the second episode with the hooker who is pregnant for half an hour and then gives birth to a grown up man, just because an "overactive pituitary gland". I mean come on

Sorry, didn't mean to sound troll-ish :/ But that show really pissed me off hahah

I have absolutely no issues with science fiction, loved Lost, but when the writers try to mix real-world science into a sci-fi/mystery type of show it just becomes a bad comedy.

[Deleted]

I'm a massive fan of LOST, the best series I've ever seen. I started watching it on release in 2004 and followed it right to the ending in 2010, waiting for the next episode to come out so I can get my fix. It's a brilliant TV show, and the ending is great too, I've never understood when I hear people say they didn't like the ending, but that's just personal taste I guess. Like others have said though, not everything is explained but I really like that, it leaves things your imagination will figure out. The only negative thing I can say about the whole show (unless you count the small annoyance of WALT?! WALT!?! WALT?!?! MY SON!!! WALT!?!?) is the Nikki and Paulo episode, it was horrible imo, I think that's in season 3 somewhere.

Now this thread has made me want to re-watch the entire show again for 3 third time x_X I've tried Fringe out and other J.J Abrams series out but none of them gained my interest like Lost did.

[Porcell]

(unless you count the small annoyance of WALT?! WALT!?! WALT?!?! MY SON!!! WALT!?!?)

Walt and Michael were annoying as FUUUUCK. Worst part of the show is those two. OMG so bad.

[Youvegotfail]

I know this is off-topic, but I kinda wondered how ANYONE (with the most basic science education) could possibly enjoy Fringe. I watched the first 4 episodes and I literally felt like screaming "THIS IS BS" at my screen and throw it out the window. I've been told it gets better after the first season, but still. The random "science" stuff in this show is so painfully WRONG I just don't know what to say lol.
The very first episode... pump the girl full of LSD, make her lie into a pool of lube, stick needles into her brain and BAM you can magically transfer complex thoughts and imagery between people through a copper wire. Like, seriously. I wanted to scratch my eyes out.
And don't even get me started on the second episode with the hooker who is pregnant for half an hour and then gives birth to a grown up man, just because an "overactive pituitary gland". I mean come on

Sorry, didn't mean to sound troll-ish :/ But that show really pissed me off hahah

I have absolutely no issues with science fiction, loved Lost, but when the writers try to mix real-world science into a sci-fi/mystery type of show it just becomes a bad comedy.

you realize it's a television show, right? It' not real, therefore the science doesn't have to be real. Doesn't bother me a bit.

[Jibjabb]

Short answer is sadly No it doesnt stay that good.

Season 1 and 2 are pretty well done and thoroughly enjoyable. After that its still entertaining but theres so much stuff going on it makes your head start to spin and it starts to defy all sorts of logic a little too much for my liking. Many of the mysteries go either unsolved or are explained horribly like the writers are just making stuff up as they go along. I dont want to spoil and I suggest at least making it to season 3 and you will see what I mean in terms of how random and nonsensical the show gets. And ya the ending was pretty crap.

[Fuzzzie]

Walt and Michael were annoying as FUUUUCK. Worst part of the show is those two. OMG so bad.

It's also interesting how Walt was built up to be this mysterious character but ended up having nothing to do with anything. From what I've read the actor playing him hit a huge growth spurt and didn't look anything like his character from previous seasons so he was written out to a degree.

It may seem like that should all work out and make sense, but the island time was only around 140 days or something.

[Halicia]

It's just not possible for a team to sit down and say "Okay, lets write 110 episodes with full plot details that we will film over the next 6 years."

100% untrue.

HBO, Showtime, and AMC do ABSURDLY good jobs of longterm series.

The key is to compartmentalize as much as possible within the relevant episode and season, and do NOT simply create loose ends that you don't know what you're doing with yet.

The story arcs in Lost weren't designed properly and the 'ask 3 questions, answer two' formula started to fall apart after even the writers began to forget about their 'loose ends'.

The ending just tried to make the show seem epic because it introduced 'epic' elements, but it was pretty disconnected with ... pretty much every previous season of the show and failed to really address what made the show interesting in the first place (at least to me).

[Afrospinach]

I thought the first two seasons were great, but it I felt it started stretching it a bit beyond that being complicated for the sake of a grand plot that just doesn't materialise in a satisfying way. Whole show is worth watching though imo.

[Vargur]

i would tell you to continue to watch it, however in my honest opinion it goes like this:

season 1 - awesome
season 2 - bit slow, no real answers, lots more questions and a lot of filler episodes
season 3 - the writers lost the plot and it all starts to get a bit wierd. even more filler episodes of little substance
season 4 - wtf are the writers up to? some questions answered, but still more asked. more filler.
season 5 - a few more answers, a few more questions, seems like the writers have finally found some direction
season 6 - writers read lostpedia, tie up a lot of loose ends, but leave it in a wierd way.

it's been a while since i watched lost, but i remember enjoying the journey. being able to blitz through all 6 seasons is a blessing and actually makes it more watchable, but also highlights a lot more of the unanswered questions.

having to watch it drag out over a 6 year period was painful and ever since, i've cursed the name j.j.abrams and any shows/movies associated with it, as you just know there's gonna be a really good concept, but no fine details and a dissapointing end. it's all about the journey.

watch and enjoy, dont let my scepticism ruin it for you.

I felt like that as well, but I'm on the second viewing and it all makes a whole lot more sense when you know everything, you understand more and you notice details you haven't even thought of before.

Like this picture that was basically on screen half a second... it's the head monk of the monastery where Desmond was a... monk, with a woman who appeared before on several occasions. Which I think it's Daniel Faraday's mother, Eloise Hawking.




Or how Locke first wiggled his toes in the first episode, before we knew he was paralysed before the crash.


Or how this guy that was a cop, trying to infiltrate Locke's friends' marijuana camp looks so much like Aaron Paul



Or how apparently there was a horse trainer's hand in there somewhere, but not on the blu-ray edit:



Or how Alexandra had a thing for boob grabbing
http://i.imgur.com/07aZIQD.jpg


You don't notice these kind of things first time around. This series is full of symbolism and hints at everything.


I could basically draw a map of how everyone's is connected to everyone else in one way or another after several seasons. It's really incredible.

[Joey Ray III]

I Lost my interest around season 3. It started to look like the writers were making up things as they went on, and we only got more and more questions and no answers.

It's always a bad sign when even the writers don't know where the story is headed to. Some people can tolerate that, I do not.

pretty much how I felt. the last 2 seasons I watched on the side while playing games.

[Isuckatpvp]

I Lost my interest around season 3. It started to look like the writers were making up things as they went on, and we only got more and more questions and no answers.

It's always a bad sign when even the writers don't know where the story is headed to. Some people can tolerate that, I do not.

This has been discussed to death for years, but here goes.

The reason Season 3 dragged was because ABC wanted them to drag it out as long as they could. They (the writers) wanted to do 5 seasons but ABC wasn't having it. They agreed to let it go 6 and that allowed them to get moving on the story instead of the meandering (which the writers admit happened in the first bit of S3).

Also, they answer every question that people had. You just had to pay attention and catch the symbolism that gave you the answers.

Lastly, they knew what they were doing from the start as well. I know several people who were involved in the show and they had a big old book they called "The Bible" or something to that effect that laid everything out in outlines and character arcs. There were a couple of changes in general (certain characters doing different things or being different constructs), but the crux of it was the same.