Do you just watch Lost for "answers"?

Earthhorse

With season 5 underway, and having read the first 2 episode threads, it appears that one complaint that this show cannot shake is that it's not providing enough answers or with enough speed.

When Lost debuted it came with a lot of hype, having become such a success in the States, and when I tuned in I was a little dissapointed. The show was okay, I thought, but not that good. A lot of questions were thrown up; what is this island?; why did the plane crash?; what's with the numbers?; who are the others; and there have been many more since then.

But, for me, that has never been the appeal of the show. I stuck with season one for the character portrayals and with season two for much the same reasons. In my opinion, those first two seasons dragged - particularaly in parts - but seasons three and four have been far more solid and contained enough revelations to keep things moving. Other people seem to be pining for the days of season one when the show moved at snail's pace and kept everything behind the curtains.

So why do you watch Lost? Is it just to get all the answers? Are you actually enjoying the show as it goes? Are you just too invested to quit at this stage?

BleedTheF!FtH

The ratio of quetions to answers per episode is like 2:1

Thats why i dont watch,
they purposely do it to keep the viewers watching..

Earthhorse

BleedTheF!FtH wrote: »

Thats why i dont watch,
they purposely do it to keep the viewers watching..

That's my point though. I don't watch Lost for answers, though I'm quite happy to have them too.

Did you just watch Lost for answers when you did watch it? Are people sticking with the show just to get these answers or are they enjoying the show as it goes?

deadhead13

No, I've long since given up caring what the answer is and have even forgotten the question. 3 series too many.

Sad Professor

BleedTheF!FtH wrote: »

The ratio of quetions to answers per episode is like 2:1

Interesting you should say that. Evangeline Lilly was saying the same thing in a recent interview. But she said that she feels that ratio is reversed in season 5, i.e. 2 answers for every question.

jimbling

It's really annoying all right when people come on to episode threads with the same ol remarks about answers.... especially when there is a perfectly good thread to cover all such grievances.



I watch, and love, lost because it's a well written, well acted, entertaining piece of television.
But, I also believe it to be very satisfying.
I think a lot of the people who ask continuously for answers are, ironically, the very people who don't realise that there are huge amount of answers been given all the time. They're just to the minor sub-questions, rather than the major ones.

deadhead13

Your easily annoyed.

jimbling

deadhead13 wrote: »

Your easily annoyed.

oh FFS..... its You're not Your
man that's annoying :pac: :pac:

deadhead13

Lol.Enough said.

Mellor

BleedTheF!FtH wrote: »

The ratio of quetions to answers per episode is like 2:1

Thats why i dont watch,
they purposely do it to keep the viewers watching..

To be fair, its quite hard to have more answers than questions at the start

cooker3

I think for people who just want answers they are never going to enjoy lost. Something like Heroes where you have volumes and most everything is answered in that volume works better in that regard.

For me, getting the answers is just a bit part of the show. I enjoy the fact they drag stuff out within reason, I am all for delayed gratification. It makes getting those answers much more satisfying.

Above all else Lost has everything I want in a show, an over arching multi season story, interesting characters, great writing, great acting and I even love the music which is not normally a big thing to me.

I also agree with above poster talking about season 1 + 2. I think people are very nostalgic about season 1 in particular and I while it was great I think season 4 was much better season and far tighter from a story perspective.

Mr.Nice Guy

It doesn't bother me in the slightest. I actually enjoy the fact that the show raises questions and has the viewer ponder what they've just witnessed.

Sad Professor

cooker3 wrote:

For me, getting the answers is just a bit part of the show. I enjoy the fact they drag stuff out within reason, I am all for delayed gratification. It makes getting those answers much more satisfying.

Above all else Lost has everything I want in a show, an over arching multi season story, interesting characters, great writing, great acting and I even love the music which is not normally a big thing to me.

+1

Also, in my experience most of the people who say they want answers don't really want them at all. Look at the most popular episodes of recent seasons — Man Behind The Curtain, The Constant, Through the Looking Glass — they all introduced major new head-wrecking-type mysteries: Jacob, time travel, flashforwards, etc.

Having said that, I do understand people who have grown frustrated at the ever expanding questions posed by the show. The bigger the mystery, the bigger the chance that the final answer won't satisfy. And Lost will be judged in a big way by how it ends. If it ends with a bang, than I suspect even it's harshest critics will say that all is forgiven and will sing it's praises for years to come; but if it ends with a whimper, well...

Anima

If it ends with a bang, than I suspect even it's harshest critics will say that all is forgiven and will sing it's praises for years to come; but if it ends with a whimper, well...

Thats just it though. I can put up with all the meaningless stuff that won't be answered so long as the core story is resolved and resolved well. If it gets to the end and then they just say "a wizard did it".... I'll be fairly cheesed off.

jimbling

cooker3 wrote: »

I also agree with above poster talking about season 1 + 2. I think people are very nostalgic about season 1 in particular and I while it was great I think season 4 was much better season and far tighter from a story perspective.

Wow, I dunno about that. Season 4 definitely had a faster pace too it. But I thought Season 1 was absolutely Epic.

Anima wrote: »

Thats just it though. I can put up with all the meaningless stuff that won't be answered so long as the core story is resolved and resolved well. If it gets to the end and then they just say "a wizard did it".... I'll be fairly cheesed off.

That's why using "time travel" as answers really worries me, but I'll give it a chance.

leon45

The things that do get answered, we don't really care about by the time they are answered (and when you think back to the end of the first season all we wanted to know about was what was in the hatch - such small beans now)

I watch for the quality and the suspense

gustavo

I don't watch Lost for answers specifically because I trust the writers enough to know all answers will be forthcoming

I watch it because it is quite compelling and I am consistently amazed by it