What made Lost a great show?

Marcaiocht_Tonn

There are many debates going on here about the merits/faults of Lost and the fact that it's probably going to wrap up in a disappointing way - many valid points have been made on both sides of the argument.
I agree that how it's panned out in season 6 has been very disappointing, and I was among those who thought that the writers had a more profound and original master plan behind the island and its various mysterious inhabitants.
However, I just want to point out the parts of Lost that I think make it still a brilliant show, regardless of how it ends, and to highlight that a bad ending shouldn't tarnish the rest of it:

The characters: vast ensemble of interesting and compelling characters - despite a now-disappointing explanation for the island, it doesn't change that we cared about them and were compelled to watch how they dealt with their situation... in fact that's what got me into the show in the 1st place, seeing how Sawyer, Jack and Locke dealt and clashed with each other in the early days, with all their differing value systems and ideologies.

Environment: watching people trek through Hawaiian jungle, coastal and mountain scenery was pure eye candy for me. Just spectacular.

Dharma: I frikkin love the Dharma initiative, with all their mysterious, overgrown deserted stations with cryptic names and strange scientific purpose. If anyone has played the computer game Myst, there are many comparisons. And then watching it dawn on the frustrated Losties that it's not just any old Pacific Island, that there is scullduggery afoot, was just priceless. They'd had all their own little petty concerns and backstories, and now they were confronted with something far greater.

The music: Lost's muscial score is one, if not the best, soundtrack I've ever heard on a TV show. Varying from haunting to emotional to uplifting - the theme whenever Losties are reunited, the theme when the raft first left the island, Ricardo's theme (epic), Jacob's creepy theme, MIB's even creepier theme. Those heavy piano notes that occur whenever something weird/dangerous is transpiring. The weird screechy wobbly (I dont even know how to described it) "wwaaaaaaaarrrggg" sound when Flocke looks threateningly at someone. Just f**king brilliant stuff.

The mysteries: I'm annoyed that some of the most interesting ones will go unsolved - the numbers, the magical light, what is the smoke exactly etc. I did think there would be a cool profound and realistic explanation. But you know what, I enjoyed the process of wondering what they were, and how they f**ked with the Lostie's minds. And I kept coming back for more.

Emotional sh1t: Yeah, I'm an emotional wuss or whatever, but there were countless scenes in this show where I was misty-eyed watching characters be reunited/split up/find out important stuff, meet each other in flash backs and not know their siginificance. Example, when Sawyer told Jack in the jungle that he'd met his father in a bar. Jack and Sawyer didn't get on at all at that point (ha did they ever?) but that was a real connection for a moment, and I guess Sawyer knew he was telling Jack something very important etc. Just humanised the whole thing. Even small things like Sayid throwing an apple into Sawyer's hand in the first few episodes, during one the wrap-up montages where people were lighting fires and preparing for the night around the plane wreckage, having had a big row with him.

Generic castaway stuff: I love all stories about a group of people stranded on a Pacific island. Me and my friends always wonder how we'd get on, who would do what, who would be good at building stuff, hunting stuff, defending us from enemies, who would turn crazy and run off into the jungle to make a rival base, all that craic. So I just loved watching how the different characters in Lost, who had been strangers to one another on a plane, now were to put to the test in one another's eyes. Every time I get on a plane now I actually look around and wonder "if Lost happens to us on this flight, I wonder who is going to be what character here?"

I could go on an on. Would be great to hear what other cool things people latched on to in the show!

podgemonster

What makes a good Lost show?

Desmond.

Marcaiocht_Tonn

podgemonster wrote: »

What makes a good Lost show?

Desmond.

That's true actually, despite not being introduced til season 2, the Desmond/Penny storyline is one of the best.

jimbling

I'll be honest, the emotional side of lost never really got me going. And I have been known to get a little teary eyed during a sad movie. I often found the sad/emotional scenes in lost felt out of place for some reason.

Okay, sorry, take that back. Desmond and Penny phone call and them getting reunited certainly got me going. Great TV.

I think the Dharma Initiative was brilliant. It's a shame it has been cast aside for the more spiritual side of things right now...although I think the whole Desmond stuff will be related to the work Dharma did.

The Characters

Ben Linus
His character and it's role has gone downhill the last two seasons, but for the rest of the show he was an inspiration. Brilliant character, brilliant actor. Fantastic to watch on screen.

John Locke
Will possibly be forever my favourite character of any show. Wonderfully acted at every stage. And even though he got killed off two seasons ago, he's still putting in wonderful performances ever week

Hurley
Ah, Hurley, what a guy..... you just always rooted for him.

Desmond
No need to go into explanations here.....

The Rest
Most of the others had they're moments, but didn't stand out like the above.


The Intricacies
Okay, so it looks like a lot of the intricacies are not going to be explained. But it was still a fantastic part of the show.

ricero

the twists at the end of nearly every episode was like heroin for my brain or when they discover a new location on the island and john locke one of the best tv characters ever

Creamy Goodness

The mystery and mythical edge to season 1 was what got me hooked.

The introduction of Ben Linus and Desmond Hume made me stay watching it regliously.

murraymarmalade

knowing there is an end in sight and it wont be screened again. GL

RolandIRL

i loved all that dharma stuff. really interested in their episodes.
desmond and hurley...epic characters. hurley had some of the greatest one-liners

i love most sci-fi shows and lost is definitely among the top 4. (can't pick between all of them :P) the mystery behind Lost was what got me hooked. just all the unanswered questions...I WANT THOSE ANSWERS (probably not going to get them though)

the music didn't really do it for me. it didn't really stand out as much as other series.

it won't be long before nostaglia sets in, and people will be like "remember when Desmond blew up the hatch?"

Sir Digby Chicken Caesar

the others, the dharma initiative, the numbers, the mysterious healing (lockes legs) basically the mystery. The characters were what made the show watchable while I was wondering about the mystery, but this 'it's about the characters' nonsense just doesn't wash with me. It's about the mystery, and it appears they've screwed that up.

--edit

how could I forget the magic black smoke that ripped trees out of the ground and sounded like a mechanical monster.

Psychedelic

Love everything the OP mentioned, also love all the philosophical themes and references to literature. Ocassionally funny too, with Sawyer and Hurley usually being the source of comedy.

The best part of Lost was having your brains scrambled week-in week-out with the big cliffhangers and headfúck moments, and when something happened that would totally change the whole show around e.g. "We have to go back" in the season 3 finale.

Irish Guitarist

The characters were definitely what attracted me to it. I wasn't sure if I liked it or not for the first couple of episodes but then I got hooked when I saw Walkabout. I loved the line "don't tell me what I can't do" and John Locke looking at his wheelchair in the fire. I thought that was genuinely moving. I actually started to like the flashbacks more than what was happening on the island.

There was also Charlies struggle to quit heroin. I liked how they showed someone with drug problems that was a decent person. Then of course there was Hurley. He was more important than he was given credit for in the early episodes. I think he kept everyone sane by setting up that golf course. More recently I liked how Sawyers character developed, first by finally treating Hurley with respect and then getting involved with Juliette. Even when the storyline was getting really bizarre things like that kept me watching. Having said that about Sawyer and Hurley, I did like the way they interacted in the early episodes. I liked the episode where Sawyer was trying not to verbally abuse anyone for a week and he said to Hurley "I think you're rotund and annoying".

I also liked how there was a lot of weird stuff going on in the first and second series, before it got too weird. I'd have fonder memories of the smoke monster if it hadn't turned out he/it was an integral part of Lost and came out of an electromagnetic cave. I liked things like the Hurley bird too.

Mr. Incognito

Why the introductions of various incredible mysteries like the numbers, timetravel, the lighthouse, the explanation of MIB and Jacob, the rules, their powers, Whitmore's motivations, Ben's motivations,

They way they tied everything together seamlessly......

No wait. Whoops.

Lost sucks ass.

My emotional investment in the characters is what I will ultimately remember the show for but as a better than your average banana resolution Lost is a mess.

Spiritoftheseventies

I think the big success of lost is the Island. So many levels to it.

pickarooney

Well it wasn't the dialogue or the special effects...

The characters, first and foremost, or rather second and foremost as I was immediately seduced by the scenery before we'd met any of them. The mysteries and general whatthefückery brought it to another level.

The acting was fair to middling in most cases, exceptional in a few and the direction and editing on a par with any top-notch series.

I have never paid any attention to the score. Any time I tried consciously to listen to it all I hard was a flew plinky-plinks and a sad second on a violin. The appeal of this is among the greatest mysteries of Lost.

Marcaiocht_Tonn

pickarooney wrote: »

The appeal of this is among the greatest mysteries of Lost.

You'd agree that there are some parts of the score that are genuinely good surely? Some of the episode ending montages have brilliant themes. And you've seen people post on here about the recurrence of the season 1 theme in "What they died for".

Spiritoftheseventies

The score for the most part is very good. Not overdone and used in right places.

gustavo

The score is class - It really adds to the show