Television Was the ending to Lost really THAT bad? | Yes

Mr Pigeon

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*2004 called. It wants it Limited Edition U2 iPod back.

Just started rewatching this show and I forgot how good the first season was, but also how the final episode probably isn't going to be nearly as bad as I think it's going to be.

I know the final season was a bit of a letdown, especially since it didn't really explain any of the mysteries in a satisfying way, but the way everything comes full circle with Jack amongst the trees seems a damn but better than how other shows like Dexter, Game of Thrones and others have managed.

So, am I totally bat shit insane for thinking it, but does a show like Lost deserve a second watch so that we're less focused on solving the mysteries and more on the character development?
 
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altodevil

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It's a great show with a good ending.
 

Mr Pigeon

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the early seasons were so good because you thought it was all going to be explained. Easy to make stuff intriguing if you’re never gonna have to explain it.
Ah, but they did explain it! The numbers were to figure out who would become the next immortal person who would turn a big thing to keep a plug in a cave intact so the magic water didn't drain away from the island.

Pretty standard stuff, you know...
 

Paxi

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I've never seen the show. I've always been put off by people saying the ending is done horribly. Is it worth watching?
 

Solius

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I've never seen the show. I've always been put off by people saying the ending is done horribly. Is it worth watching?
It’s definitely worth it. Not seen a show like it since.
 

RedSky

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Abysmal ending, hated it.

First few seasons were excellent though, loved the mystery of the show and trying to figure it out, but holy shit was the last season a big bag of shit.
 

Paxi

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It’s definitely worth it. Not seen a show like it since.
Abysmal ending, hated it.

First few seasons were excellent though, loved the mystery of the show and trying to figure it out, but holy shit was the last season a big bag of shit.
See this is what I find concerning. Satisfactory ending is what I ultimately crave. Is it as bad as people are claiming it to be?
 

Hugh Jass

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Years ago when i watched the first season and it was brilliant.

Was thinking of watching later seasons and realized it probably would not be very good as it seemed there was too many episodes.

Tv series have evolved since then. Now days you are aiming for 6 to 10 episodes a season.
 

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Yeah, it was terrible. Especially if you watched the finale of Ashes to Ashes a few days before. Same/similar concept but didn't fill me with the unbridled rage that the Lost ending did.
 

Mr Pigeon

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See this is what I find concerning. Satisfactory ending is what I ultimately crave. Is it as bad as people are claiming it to be?
When I first saw it I hated the ending, and the last couple of seasons when I just seemed to have no idea what it was doing. Ok, maybe the final episode isn't that great but the final shot is, if that makes sense.
 

Zen

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I gave up after season 5 because I realised the entire thing was bollocks.
Pretty random place to give up though... you got through the truly tough times of late season 2 into 3..... 4-5-6 are shorter and more focused are the more individual arcs, but the never knowing what the endgame is still lingers and then happened with the finale.



Years ago when i watched the first season and it was brilliant.

Was thinking of watching later seasons and realized it probably would not be very good as it seemed there was too many episodes.

Tv series have evolved since then. Now days you are aiming for 6 to 10 episodes a season.
Well LOST played a big part to this - theres a few episodes that are horrendous in season 3 that add nothing. So they, maybe by choice, maybe not, had a historically bad episode about the origins of tattoos that led to them getting an end date 3 years in advance with shorter seasons.
 

Mr Pigeon

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Same as Game of Thrones. Absolute wankers.
This is what I'm kind of getting at, though. I have zero interest in watching GoT ever again thanks to that ending and yet here I am rewatching Lost.
 

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Definitely a bad end. Especially when the writers/creators came out afterwards and said that it wasn't about, you know...? And it feckin totally was.
 

RedSky

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See this is what I find concerning. Satisfactory ending is what I ultimately crave. Is it as bad as people are claiming it to be?
Lost was an unusual show because a lot of the hardcore fans would discuss the plot and mystery between episodes. It was pretty hardcore back then, lots of screenshotting and working shit out on forums. They also added a reality game during seasons which people played on the internet. When you provide fans with that level of complexity and they threw out a half assed ending, then expect the fans to be insulted by it.

I remember in the early seasons in particular the producers and writers would frequently release interviews stating that the show would make sense and the common theory behind the show wasn't correct. They lied. Whoops.

I do appreciate the character arcs in the show though and the initial mystery was amazing. When Lost was good, it was exceptional. Just faded near the end as the writers struggled to make sense of it all. They fell into the trap of dragging the show out for too long because it was so successful.
 

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What was the ending of Lost? I never actually watched the show because I heard there was a big outrage at the ending.
 

Hugh Jass

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Pretty random place to give up though... you got through the truly tough times of late season 2 into 3..... 4-5-6 are shorter and more focused are the more individual arcs, but the never knowing what the endgame is still lingers and then happened with the finale.





Well LOST played a big part to this - theres a few episodes that are horrendous in season 3 that add nothing. So they, maybe by choice, maybe not, had a historically bad episode about the origins of tattoos that led to them getting an end date 3 years in advance with shorter seasons.
It is still to many episodes per season i feel. It becomes harder and harder to make it good the more seasons there are.

I remember Vince Gilligan saying people were begging for another series of Breaking Bad but he made the point that it would only go downhill if he did that.

Dexter is good example. The first four seasons were very good and then it got boring.

Netflix has revolutionalized the television series. Now you dont have to do 13 one hour episodes a season. You can do what you feel is necessary to make a good series.
 

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Absolutely fantastic ending.

The fact people think they were saying they were in purgatory is genuinely worrying. Lack of very basic comprehension.
 

esmufc07

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Pretty random place to give up though... you got through the truly tough times of late season 2 into 3..... 4-5-6 are shorter and more focused are the more individual arcs, but the never knowing what the endgame is still lingers and then happened with the finale.
I gave it time in the hope some of the stuff that happened in earlier seasons would get explained, but in the end it became clear they were just making it up as they went along so I couldn’t be bothered with it anymore.
 

Mr Pigeon

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What was the ending of Lost? I never actually watched the show because I heard there was a big outrage at the ending.
the gang, after getting off the island, come back to the island because they all crave something that is only on the island whether it's fate or happiness or someone left behind or tasty wild boar. The other half of the story, usually told through flashbacks, are actually sideways in the final season of alternative universes that turn out to be the afterlife and everyone meets up in a big church where they all leave the apparent purgatory to go up and meet G-Dogg. Back on the island they have to fight a smoke monster that's now possessed one of the gang and the electromagnetic powers of the island that were harnessed by a weird experimental company for...weird experiments involving polar bears and other stuff turns out to be due to this magic river of magic water stuff that's in a cave with a big plug hole that is protected by the monster and God or something. Also, someone left their dog on the island and that dude has been happily running about for a while eating grass or something I guess

Still better than S7 and 8 of GoT
 

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I gave it time in the hope some of the stuff that happened in earlier seasons would get explained, but in the end it became clear they were just making it up as they went along so I couldn’t be bothered with it anymore.
There is nothing left unexplained.
 

Solius

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See this is what I find concerning. Satisfactory ending is what I ultimately crave. Is it as bad as people are claiming it to be?
There are a few things that are kind of forgotten about and with a show as convoluted as it made itself, it struggled to get out of a few holes. I loved it though. It’s all about the characters really and I think the ending was nice.
 

Mr Pigeon

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Absolutely fantastic ending.

The fact people think they were saying they were in purgatory is genuinely worrying. Lack of very basic comprehension.
Um, they weren't? In the flash sideways things anyway?

Damn.
 

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I have PTSD from the final season. I remember downloading the episodes when my adsl line had a hard 3gb cap.

Every week you thought they’ll definitely explain everything in this episode. By episode 17/18, I kind of realised it wasn’t going to happen.
 

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I've been rewatching for the first time in about 10 years, on Series 5 now. The first 2-3 seasons are great, barring the odd bad mini-arc/episode. 4 and 5 are alright, still a lot of interesting stuff going on but hasn't got the same intrigue. I've had to actively not let the ending cast a pall over the rest during this rewatch. I remember it being truly excruciating.

The creators have as much as admitted that past the 2nd series they were writing on the fly. They couldn't plan it out because the network owned the show and told them to keep the seasons coming or they'd hire someone else, and wouldn't give them an end point to aim towards. There was only so much they could do with the characters so they ended up adding more and more lore to fill the episodes and the various strings eventually became impossible to tie up satisfactorily.
 

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Um, they weren't? In the flash sideways things anyway?

Damn.
Wumminator is wrong. Ironic given his post.

While revisiting Lost on the ten-year anniversary of its finale with Observer, executive producers Jean Higgans and Jeff Pinkner reflected on how that purgatory ending came to be. It wasn't always set in place, though Lost's writers sought to create some kind of framework from the beginning. Eventually, the actual ending took shape in their minds, and according to Higgans, "it was pretty obvious to all of us that it was some form of purgatory."

From what the producers have said, the final season after the flash sideways was meant to be a form of purgatory.
 

Wumminator

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I've been rewatching for the first time in about 10 years, on Series 5 now. The first 2-3 seasons are great, barring the odd bad mini-arc/episode. 4 and 5 are alright, still a lot of interesting stuff going on but hasn't got the same intrigue. I've had to actively not let the ending cast a pall over the rest during this rewatch. I remember it being truly excruciating.

The creators have as much as admitted that past the 2nd series they were writing on the fly. They couldn't plan it out because the network owned the show and told them to keep the seasons coming or they'd hire someone else, and wouldn't give them an end point to aim towards. There was only so much they could do with the characters so they ended up adding more and more lore to fill the episodes and the various strings eventually became impossible to tie up satisfactorily.

That was true for the third season. Half way through the third season they got a end date and planned it all out,
 

Wumminator

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Wumminator is wrong. Ironic given his post.

While revisiting Lost on the ten-year anniversary of its finale with Observer, executive producers Jean Higgans and Jeff Pinkner reflected on how that purgatory ending came to be. It wasn't always set in place, though Lost's writers sought to create some kind of framework from the beginning. Eventually, the actual ending took shape in their minds, and according to Higgans, "it was pretty obvious to all of us that it was some form of purgatory."
They are talking specifically about the “flash sideways”. The idea that has gone around that they have been in purgatory all along is clearly nonsense.
 

Zen

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It is still to many episodes per season i feel. It becomes harder and harder to make it good the more seasons there are.

I remember Vince Gilligan saying people were begging for another series of Breaking Bad but he made the point that it would only go downhill if he did that.

Dexter is good example. The first four seasons were very good and then it got boring.

Netflix has revolutionalized the television series. Now you dont have to do 13 one hour episodes a season. You can do what you feel is necessary to make a good series.
Yet.... Netflix has no real great shows - or well, very few of them for how many they actually produce. HBO and cable did this..... and UK had been doing for even longer.

For LOST to get orders for 16 episodes as one of the top shows at the time was kind of unheard of. All in a row too.... though 24 starting in January started that, LOST just went further with more streamlined episode numbers.