*SPOILER-FREE* Thoughts on the Finale?

[RookieBatman]

So, I haven't followed Lost. I've seen a couple episodes, and they looked really good, but I haven't watched the show because, frankly, I'm a bit uncertain as to whether they'd be able to pull of a satisfying resolution to all these big mysteries and twists and turns. So, I wanted to ask what fans of the show that of the big finish. Bearing in mind that I'm completely unspoiled, please don't ruin anything for me (or anyone else in a similar situation), but I'd like to know whether people felt that the show ended in a satisfying way that met six years worth of expectations. Because, if they do, I'm definitely gonna start watching this show!

 

[Python Trek]

I think I can do this without spoilers.......

If you enjoy action, romance, humor, adventure, and thrilling characterization, you will LOVE this series. If you are like me, and you don't go in for "spiritual" stuff, you may find the series finale unsatisfying. But I have to say, up until that last ep., it was a helluva ride, and I will rank Lost as one of my all-time favorite TV series.

Hope that helps.

 

[RookieBatman]

So, would you say that you think the series is well worth it despite the finale? Ordinarily, I don't worry myself too much about how things are wrapped up. For something like Quantum Leap or even ST: Voyager, which kinda have arcs but are really just episodic, I wouldn't worry about whether the finales were satisfying. (Although, I'm the minority of liking both of those finales.) But with Lost, it just seems like it's all leading up to the something, and I think I would feel intensely cheated if that something didn't pay off.

 

[Spot's Meow]

I'm not sure if you will be satisfied. I'm really not even sure yet if I am. I wouldn't say there was anything bad about the finale, I didn't come away thinking, "six years all for nothing!" But at the same time there are many questions left unanswered. The thing with LOST though, is that they do answer questions, just not the ones you are expecting. You expect a TV show to go a certain way, in theme, plot, characters, etc. After watching so many shows throughout your life you become used to how things will play out, and sometimes a show will shake it up a little and surprise you for that episode, but ultimately the formula is the same. I can honestly say that this is not the case for LOST. It is a different kind of TV show that I don't think we've seen before and I'm not sure we'll see again. It doesn't follow a formula. It is always surprising you, not just with plot twists and turns, but with the whole point of the show. You may think you know where the show is going and what the point of it all is, but you are likely wrong. So I think, that many people were, rightfully so, expecting the show to be one thing, to ask questions and then answer them, or at least give some vague hints. And in many cases it does, but the show turns things upside down and says, well, maybe those questions weren't really important to begin with, maybe there are other things going on that were the true focus of the show.

Anyway, I'm sure that all sounds rather vague, but honestly even if this were a spoiler thread and I could explain everything it would not make any sense to someone who hasn't seen the show, and it wouldn't be any less vague! There are things that I liked about the ending, there are things that I felt they left out, but there was certainly nothing that I hated.

And I think that, most of all, the show was worth it, whether the finale was awesome or not. I really enjoyed watching it, it was so much fun, and I think you would enjoy it too. Just go into it knowing that any burning questions you might have after each episode, might not be as big a deal as you think they are, and remember that at its heart this is a show about a group of people who survived a plane crash on an island.

 

[coolghoul]

So, would you say that you think the series is well worth it despite the finale? Ordinarily, I don't worry myself too much about how things are wrapped up. For something like Quantum Leap or even ST: Voyager, which kinda have arcs but are really just episodic, I wouldn't worry about whether the finales were satisfying. (Although, I'm the minority of liking both of those finales.) But with Lost, it just seems like it's all leading up to the something, and I think I would feel intensely cheated if that something didn't pay off.

I'd probably say that first sentence you wrote. Despite the finale, LOST was great fun.

And I do feel cheated to some degree too.

However, there were several hours of great television in there that I'm happy to partake in.

A lot of people are saying that they loved the finale. I recognize the goodness that the writers put into the finale but I completely abhor that they chose not to put more in about the island.

I don't know why they didn't - maybe because there is going to be sequel at some point of time and the mysteries are needed for that?

 

[Kelso]

Avoid spoilers and keep in mind that the mysteries of the island only matter insofar as they affect the characters' journeys.

It's wonderful, up to and including the ending.

 

[Campe]

Lost is one of the most confusing, confounding television series I've ever come across before in my entire life. It will make you laugh, cry, give you unbearable headaches, keep you up at night, challenge you in many different ways and ultimately make you want to throw your TV out the window on more than one occasion. Questions you ask will not be answered, characters you fall in love with will be taken from you, and storylines that you feel are important will go nowhere.

And in the end, you will be more than satisfied.

 

[DeafPoet]

It's still a little fresh, but I think Lost will go down as my favourite show of all time.

I absolutely loved the finale. I think it makes me love the rest of the show more. I'm generally not a crier but I wept openly a couple of times last night.

However, as you can see from this thread already, opinions span the whole spectrum of how much one can love or hate a TV show. Lost truly contains some phenomenal hours of television. There's certainly a chance that the last few episodes could blow it for you but IMO that's not a good enough reason not to take a chance on it.

 

[sojourner]

OK, I'm a guy and not that emotional, but I just watched it for the second time and I cried like a teenage girl. The show was just Powerful.

Oh, and it flows much better when you can skip all of the commercials with the DVR.

 

[doubleohfive]

Two words:

EPIC WIN.

Also, everything Spot's Meow said.

 

[Temis the Vorta]

If you watch Lost with your heart and not your head - which is how the writers wrote it - then the finale is great.

Just keep in mind, the point of the story is not battling over the island, or action scenes, or good vs. evil, or a complicated mythology or getting answers to questions or even survival. It's about the characters and their human connection.

 

[Python Trek]

If you watch Lost with your heart and not your head - which is how the writers wrote it - then the finale is great.

Just keep in mind, the point of the story is not battling over the island, or action scenes, or good vs. evil, or a complicated mythology or getting answers to questions or even survival. It's about the characters and their human connection.

It can't be about both characterization AND mythology? Hmmmm.....I wonder if the writers can change lanes AND check their blindspot while driving?

 

[Hober Mallow]

Loved it.

 

[LitmusDragon]

Ending is good and does not ruin the series, so in that respect it succeeds.

The show as a whole is a wonderful ride and certainly one of the best dramas of the past 10 years.

 

[Obiwanshinobi]

And it's sad that there won't be a network show of this magnitude for quite some time. Almost an end of an era

 

[RoJoHen]

If you watch Lost with your heart and not your head - which is how the writers wrote it - then the finale is great.

Just keep in mind, the point of the story is not battling over the island, or action scenes, or good vs. evil, or a complicated mythology or getting answers to questions or even survival. It's about the characters and their human connection.

It can't be about both characterization AND mythology?

It CAN be, but it's not.

 

[stj]

Death scenes and long lost lovers meet again are easy to wring sobs from. The truth is the finale wasn't very well written, it was well scored. Every weepy scene was carried by Michael Giacchino. A series of music videos still isn't great writing. You don't have to be heartless to see this, although it is a self flattering way for the poor fans trapped in denial to go on the offensive.

Spoiler: finale spoilers

As far as being about the characters go, I don't know why Nadia isn't there with Sayid. I don't know why Charlie needs to imagine being arrested for drugs and reduced to playing museum openings as the accompaniment to learn something. I don't know why Jack needs to imagine a marriage with Juliet and a son and why none of them care when it all disappears. Frankly, I'm not sure that it isn't all Jack's Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge fantasy. Except that a character who imagines this crap must be nuts. It is the character work that is the biggest failure of all. The only character work done is a bathos about relationships and death scenes.

 

[Stone_Cold_Sisko]

So, I haven't followed Lost. I've seen a couple episodes, and they looked really good, but I haven't watched the show because, frankly, I'm a bit uncertain as to whether they'd be able to pull of a satisfying resolution to all these big mysteries and twists and turns. So, I wanted to ask what fans of the show that of the big finish. Bearing in mind that I'm completely unspoiled, please don't ruin anything for me (or anyone else in a similar situation), but I'd like to know whether people felt that the show ended in a satisfying way that met six years worth of expectations. Because, if they do, I'm definitely gonna start watching this show!

They do not offer a satisfying resolution to the big mysteries and twists.

They do offer some fairly satisfying emotional codas to various character relationships and fates.

I kind of liken it to the last half hour of DS9's "What you Leave Behind"..... lots of emotional character good-byes, which are all well-done, well-acted, and bring a genuine tear to your eye... and then a bunch of Pah Wraith cave stuff with Sisko and Dukat that isn't explained enough or in an emotionally investing way.

But they absolutely don't give the actual plot the meaning it deserves. IF that's your main impediment to LOST, it might not be the show

 

[Top41]

You don't have to be heartless to see this, although it is a self flattering way for the poor fans trapped in denial to go on the offensive.

For a guy who can't even abide by the rules of the thread--note the big SPOILER-FREE tag at the top--this sure is condescending. Let's keep it polite, and spoiler free. Thanks.

 

[doubleohfive]

Death scenes and long lost lovers meet again are easy to wring sobs from. The truth is the finale wasn't very well written, it was well scored. Every weepy scene was carried by Michael Giacchino. A series of music videos still isn't great writing. You don't have to be heartless to see this, although it is a self flattering way for the poor fans trapped in denial to go on the offensive.

Spoiler: finale spoilers

As far as being about the characters go, I don't know why Nadia isn't there with Sayid. I don't know why Charlie needs to imagine being arrested for drugs and reduced to playing museum openings as the accompaniment to learn something. I don't know why Jack needs to imagine a marriage with Juliet and a son and why none of them care when it all disappears. Frankly, I'm not sure that it isn't all Jack's Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge fantasy. Except that a character who imagines this crap must be nuts. It is the character work that is the biggest failure of all. The only character work done is a bathos about relationships and death scenes.

Spoiler: Everything stj just complained about

The flash-sideways were there for each of them to (finally) work out the emotional baggage and life-long issues each of the characters struggled with all their lives, and as we saw throughout the series.

Sayid spent most of his life being a bad man, torturing people (including Nadia) and killing people. He very likely even believed he was a bad man, but as Hurley says, "You may not know it but you're a good man." In the flash sideways, Sayid again finds himself in the same kind of trouble, willfully keeping Nadia away from him, and yet also in a place where he can pay his penance for his crimes. His pairing with Shannon, which was somewhat surprising, makes sense if you look at their relationship as relevant because he genuinely did love her and she him because of their shared experience on the island.

Kate was innocent in the flash-sideways because she felt justified in her life for her murderous actions because it very likely saved her mother's life from further abuse.

As for Juliet being the mother of Jack's son, that had more to do with Jack than her. The blink-and-you-miss-it element of the finale was that in many ways, as much as that last church scene was intended for all the characters, it was also primarily for Jack. In creating the son he had with Juliet Jack was able to resolve his issues with his father. This, coupled with 'fixing' Locke, his philosophical opponent throughout the series, allowed Jack to finally let go and move on.