The finale of Lost aired 10 years ago this week. Were you a fan?

Shefwedfan · 25-05-2020 4:01pm

I have watched all seasons of Bosch and could never figure out where I knew the actor from......he was the man in black....

Penn · 25-05-2020 4:07pm

super_furry wrote: »

I always felt that they wrote and created all these mysteries and talking points but they had no idea how to resolve them and just dropped them, never to be addressed again. It's why the start was so much better than the rest of the show, once they finally had to start explaining just what was happening, the whole thing fell apart.

I'd disagree slightly, I think they did go out of their way to try and explain as much as possible in the last two seasons, to the point where

most of Season 5 was set in the 70's to show everything about Dharma and The Others, and in Season 6 we got flashback episodes for Richard and Jacob/Man In Black as well as explanations for the numbers, how the island heals people, the whispers.

The issue with the final season wasn't so much they didn't explain everything, if anything I felt they went to such lengths to try explain everything when really the answers for most of it just weren't that good. But I do agree they just made a lot of it up as they went and found themselves in a corner for a lot of it. Part of the issue was some people watched more for the mysteries of everything and wanting to see the explanations (which the writers are guilty of playing into and throwing even more mysteries into it), whereas the focus should always have been on the characters. The mysteries were never important, they were just what led the characters on their journeys.

Mr.Nice Guy · 25-05-2020 10:01pm

I seem to remember an interview they did at the time about Stephen King's influence on them, and how they liked the fact he didn't tend to plan things out ahead of time. Anyone that's read On Writing by King might recall he reveals in the book very few of his novels have an outline from beginning to end. I think he says The Dead Zone was one of the few which had, and he notes that's one of his most popular works. But most of the time he lets the story work itself out.

I believe Cuse and Lindelof followed this same formula, putting in these various mysteries - let's drop in a four-toed statue for fun, what if Walt was made to appear supernatural etc. - and ultimately believed they'd work it out 'later on'. Alas, when 'later on' became 'the all important ending' they had no idea how to dig themselves out of their holes.

I like King myself, but not sure he's the one you want to have as your influence when it comes to satisfactory endings.

barney shamrock · 25-05-2020 10:03pm

Ive never seen an episode of Lost.

ShineOn7 · 25-05-2020 10:06pm

Shefwedfan wrote: »

I have watched all seasons of Bosch and could never figure out where I knew the actor from......he was the man in black....

Titus Welliver

Superb actor and absolutely perfect casting for his role in Lost

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AFfmiQZ9K_AqVELGlhjBTYMfJSIg3HQt_zqPoY2lLDFPmLrJmAcVuUA-ObT5uZaSj1xMc89J3Bs-2w5uOacuXx0OrsqoM60xhkfDiLw

pjohnson · 25-05-2020 10:55pm

Tbf they fùcked up the Walt thing by casting an actual age appropriate actor. I think a growth spurt was the problem that meant he had to disappear earlier than planned. Same happened in The Walkong Dead with Madison Lintz.

RugbyLover123 · 25-05-2020 11:09pm

I always found it odd that Walt seemed to be the only person under 20 of the survivors on that side of the island. I suppose probably not the oddest thing.

Agent Coulson · 25-05-2020 11:17pm

If I remember right the show also lead to an upsurge in sales of Flann O'Brien books because one of his books was used as a prop.

The Golden Miller · 25-05-2020 11:17pm

XsApollo wrote: »

I’ve never watched this , is it worth it?
I remember at the time all the talk of it but I never watched tv.
Only started watching series after I binged on GOT after season 5 finished.
Nothing has matched Game of Thrones since for me.
It’s like GOT ruined tv for me as nothing has come close to that experience.

GOT's follows Lost, in the sense that Lost was the first fantasy TV show on such a big scale. If you mean you're looking for a show like GOT, that transports you to another world of escapism, then yes, Lost should do the job. Whatever about other TV, GOT certainly won't have ruined Lost for you

matthewmurdock · 25-05-2020 11:33pm

The last season really is terrible. They spend half the season on a red herring, that is, the flash sideways which are completely irrelevant to the main story.

They even opened the 6th season with the plane not crashing and the island at the bottom of the ocean to make you think it was a different timeline or something. Nope.

The sheer amount of mysteries that they set up and didnt answer is criminal. And rather than answer existing mysteries they kept adding new ones.

The characters are some of the best ever written though, that is undeniable. And The Constant is probably one of the best ever episodes of television.

dubrov · 25-05-2020 11:41pm

I enjoyed the first season and maybe half the second.

After that I kept watching under the assumption they would explain it all sooner or later.

In the end I felt cheated. That firstly made it up as they went skiing and there was no grand plan.

I will never watch any TV series by the same makers again

Penn · 26-05-2020 3:12pm

dubrov wrote: »

I will never watch any TV series by the same makers again

In fairness, I think that'd be a huge mistake. The Leftovers and Watchmen, both by Damon Lindelof, are two of the best things I've seen in years.

trashcan · 26-05-2020 7:04pm

RugbyLover123 wrote: »

The first 2 seasons were class. The 3rd was pretty good too. But it spiralled after that and became way too confusing. Take this from someone who’s rewatched the first few seasons a good few times and gradually lost interest as it goes into the last few seasons.

It seemed there was a good original concept for the show but to justify everything that was happening it really had to be a far fetched ending. Seemed like the writers made it up as they went along and the ending wasn’t the original idea at the start.

This. Was an intruiging concept, but it's clear that they really had no idea where they were going with it. After the first couple of seasons it just got very silly. I stuck with it to the end, but I wouldn't recommend starting now if you haven't seen it. Not worth it.

ShineOn7 · 29-05-2020 7:48pm

trashcan wrote: »

I wouldn't recommend starting now if you haven't seen it. Not worth it.

Oh it absolutely is

Lost should be watched for the characters and the journey. Not the mysteries

Penn · 29-05-2020 7:53pm

ShineOn7 wrote: »

Oh it absolutely is

Lost should be watched for the characters and the journey. Not the mysteries

I'd agree. Plus I'd say it's probably better as a binge-watch without having to wait years for answers on things.

Shefwedfan · 29-05-2020 7:55pm

Lost is one of those series which would be great to binge watch, the whole waiting and trying to remember back to previous season ,.....take a week off and just binge

JTMan · 30-05-2020 10:27am

Anyone know what I am doing wrong on Amazon.

When I got to play Lost I still get the error message "This title isn't available in your location".

Multiple posters above say they were able to play this on Amazon Prime. Did you have to change location?

Thanks

IrishJedi75 · 30-05-2020 1:44pm

Overall i enjoyed the series as it was worth it for the characters journey played by excellent actors.

But yeah,the shows plots turned into a incoherent mess after a while.

Shefwedfan · 30-05-2020 2:41pm

JTMan wrote: »

Anyone know what I am doing wrong on Amazon.

When I got to play Lost I still get the error message "This title isn't available in your location".

Multiple posters above say they were able to play this on Amazon Prime. Did you have to change location?

Thanks

Are you on Firestick? is other programs working?

JTMan · 30-05-2020 4:06pm

Shefwedfan wrote: »

Are you on Firestick? is other programs working?

No and yes.

I am going to this webpage and I am met with 2 error messages. The first says "Some videos may not be available to watch from your location. Go to PrimeVideo.com to see the video catalogue in the Republic of Ireland." and the second says "This title isn't available in your location".

Any thoughts as to why would be appreciated.

talla10 · 30-05-2020 5:48pm

JTMan wrote: »

No and yes.

I am going to this webpage and I am met with 2 error messages. The first says "Some videos may not be available to watch from your location. Go to PrimeVideo.com to see the video catalogue in the Republic of Ireland." and the second says "This title isn't available in your location".

Any thoughts as to why would be appreciated.

Sometimes I've found Amazon, for some reason, don't allow some of their shows to be shown in ROI. I was looking for Scrubs a few months and seems to be the same story. Very annoying

Shefwedfan · 30-05-2020 8:39pm

JTMan wrote: »

No and yes.

I am going to this webpage and I am met with 2 error messages. The first says "Some videos may not be available to watch from your location. Go to PrimeVideo.com to see the video catalogue in the Republic of Ireland." and the second says "This title isn't available in your location".

Any thoughts as to why would be appreciated.

Works for me but I have my location set as UK

joe40 · 30-05-2020 8:42pm

I haven't read through the thread but for me Lost was fantastic, but the storylines just seemed to spiral out of control for the writers so they couldn't finish it.

Tony EH · 30-05-2020 8:49pm

Figured out, during the first series, that they it was going to end in some sort of purgatory nonsense. Saw the final episode...and it was some sort of purgatory nonsense.

It was all just bollocks made up as they went along and strung out for 10 years.

Shefwedfan · 30-05-2020 9:05pm

Was it Lucozade that used to have the 30 sec ad before each episode to guess what it was about;.....

JTMan · 30-05-2020 9:07pm

Shefwedfan wrote: »

Works for me but I have my location set as UK

My default address is Parcel Motel in the UK.

How did you change your location to the UK?

Shefwedfan · 30-05-2020 9:31pm

JTMan wrote: »

My default address is Parcel Motel in the UK.

How did you change your location to the UK?

Got them on chat and told them I moved from Rep of Irel to Northern Ireland

Mr.Nice Guy · 31-05-2020 2:03am

It works for me and I'm on the Irish version of Prime.

Spon Farmer · 31-05-2020 2:09am

LOST is great. Looking forward to a rewatch in a few years.

JTMan wrote: »

Anyone know what I am doing wrong on Amazon.

When I got to play Lost I still get the error message "This title isn't available in your location".

Multiple posters above say they were able to play this on Amazon Prime. Did you have to change location?

Thanks

What device are you using?

Mortelaro · 17-06-2020 10:54pm

All of this is on Amazon prime, I'm just finished season 2 and enjoying it all as if for the first time again

RugbyLover123 · 17-06-2020 11:31pm

Mortelaro wrote: »

All of this is on Amazon prime, I'm just finished season 2 and enjoying it all as if for the first time again

That’s when it all starts to go steadily downhill haha!

Penn · 18-06-2020 9:49am

I'm rewatching again too (though I skipped Season 1). Most of the way through Season 3 now. I'm enjoying it again. Definitely some dud episodes, particularly when it comes to flashbacks of certain characters where you know they don't really matter (basically every Jin and Sun episode).

Juliet absolutely steals the show in every scene she's in though. An absolutely magnificent character and performance throughout.

The Black Oil · 18-06-2020 10:31am

George RR Martin famously said they '**** the bed' with the ending, iirc. Don't think that went over well with Lindelof.

Basq · 18-06-2020 10:36am

The Black Oil wrote: »

George RR Martin famously said they '**** the bed' with the ending, iirc. Don't think that went over well with Lindelof.

That’s rich from George RR Martin given the final season of GoT..

Shefwedfan · 18-06-2020 12:00pm

The Black Oil wrote: »

George RR Martin famously said they '**** the bed' with the ending, iirc. Don't think that went over well with Lindelof.

F**k me GOT was a right mess at the end.....

joeguevara · 18-06-2020 12:03pm

I was such a fan and never missed an episode. I thought it was amazing until the last 5 minutes of the final episode when it became clear what they were doing. It destroyed me watching series since.

ShineOn7 · 18-06-2020 4:50pm

Penn wrote: »

I'm rewatching again too (though I skipped Season 1)

Why would you skip season 1? it was a strong one and the Pilot is amazing

Penn · 18-06-2020 5:16pm

ShineOn7 wrote: »

Why would you skip season 1? it was a strong one and the Pilot is amazing

Just felt like too much setup and introductions/reveals that dont have the same impact when you know them. Half the first season is just "We need to find food and water". It did have some great moments and episodes, but I just didn't feel the need to watch it again (I've definitely watched it more than once already anyway).

Season 2, the more interesting stories start coming, the deeper mysteries, some answers as you go along. Just felt like a better spot to pick up from.

Nody · 18-06-2020 5:18pm

Basq wrote: »

That’s rich from George RR Martin given the final season of GoT..

Which he did not write; or direct; or was in fact involved in any shape beyond giving his general idea how the books would end about four seasons before it was even written. Sorry, but you're putting the blame for that one at the wrong place...

Basq · 19-06-2020 10:47am

Nody wrote: »

Which he did not write; or direct; or was in fact involved in any shape beyond giving his general idea how the books would end about four seasons before it was even written. Sorry, but you're putting the blame for that one at the wrong place...

He's credited as a producer and consultant..

.. so to think he wasn't consulted in any way about how it would end is laughable!

Nody · 19-06-2020 1:05pm

Basq wrote: »

He's credited as a producer and consultant..

.. so to think he wasn't consulted in any way about how it would end is laughable!

Except Martin stopped writing episodes after season 4, you know 4 seasons before the ending. And in his own words:

Benioff and Weiss “know certain things. I’ve told them certain things. So they have some knowledge, but the devil is in the details. I can give them the broad strokes of what I intend to write, but the details aren’t there yet.”

Once again; at season 4.

Instead of detailed notes, the writers only had Martin’s outline — a good start, but it obviously left large blanks to fill in. They had to come up with the mechanics and specifics of the story, a task so difficult that even the story’s creator has been stuck on it for the better part of a decade. And they didn’t just have to finish Martin’s tale, they had to make compelling television, the kind that could sustain the culture of hype and discussion that has exploded around the show.

So yes; the disastrous fight scene at Winterfell, the pathetic dealing with dragons etc. is all with the directors of the series who were even offered more time to do it properly but could not be bothered. Martin might say that John would kill a mad queen but the path from A to B is fully on the directors to deliver and they failed.

Mc Love · 19-06-2020 2:46pm

Think I need to watch this, only really starting watching for either the second or third season I think.

joeguevara · 20-06-2020 12:15am

My three favourite characters were Charlie,sawyer and mr eko. Never really connected with Jack.

Funny story. I was in Galway and saw Locke in a hotel bar with a bottle of buckfast in front of him. Wish I could say that I sauntered over, cracked a joke and ended up on a session with him. But I bottled it, left him alone and regretted it since.

Sad Professor · 20-06-2020 8:42am

At least Lost and GoT had endings. As Steve Jobs said, "real artists ship". Not to take away from his earlier work, but everybody knows GRRM will probably never finish ASoIaF.

fjon · 20-06-2020 9:01am

Fond memories of it initially. I believe it was on RTE on a Monday night, but some people got it earlier from their "American cousins".
For the first two seasons I would enjoy the discussion on the episode threads here on boards just as much. Basq(uille) led the group iirc and there were always pages and pages of discussions and theories after each episode.
I slowly lost interest and stopped watching altogether after the episode with Jack's tattoo, it was just getting a bit too silly.
I went back and watched the whole thing all the way through many years later and kind of enjoyed it, but t wasn't the same as watching it live and discussing it.

joeguevara · 20-06-2020 9:03am

Sad Professor wrote: »

At least Lost and GoT had endings. As Steve Jobs said, "real artists ship". Not to take away from his earlier work, but everybody knows GRRM will probably never finish ASoIaF.

Never watched GOT (see previous post of not investing in any series specifically because of lost) but I don’t think lost had a genuine ending. Being the number 1 tv show in the world at the time, there was a lot of scrutiny from the media. This was before social media really so it was more critics than fans. It was put to the creators very early on what was happening ( purgatory) and how it was going to end. They vehemently denied it and categorically stated that they new every part and what it would lead to in an ending that would explain everything. It was taken as gospel as they came across as genuine. Then polar bears, shadows, pod, time travel, The others, lottery numbers through so many spahers in the works and didn’t fit into any espoused theory. We waited patiently episode after episode with a cliff hanger and that music, series after series, with more cliff hangers and waited until the finale. Then it finished. We all realised that it was a lie and was being made up as it went along and didn’t explain anything. It wasn’t the real ending because it was an ending to try and prove that the obvious one was false.

I’m not going to give spoilers as some may not have seen it but none of it made sense or even tried to.

CastorTroy · 20-06-2020 10:36am

At times it did seem like they had been reading theories online and picking which ones to use.

joeguevara · 20-06-2020 10:56am

CastorTroy wrote: »

At times it did seem like they had been reading theories online and picking which ones to use.

The internet was nothing like it is now and online fans were tiny. Press conferences were really the only way to listen for the mass public. I abrams left after the first season and obviously it just snowballed and the network demanded it continued for money. We were told that the ending was known from the beginning. But it was literally like a kid making up sh1t. Explained well here.

https://youtu.be/gy84xLfkkAs

kerplun k · 22-06-2020 10:01pm

For me, this was the best tv show ever made.
I don't see anything coming along in my lifetime that I will enjoy as much as I did this.
The OA came close, but it just didn't get a long enough run to compare.

talla10 · 22-06-2020 10:04pm

kerplun k wrote: »

For me, this was the best tv show ever made.
I don't see anything coming along in my lifetime that I will enjoy as much as I did this.
The OA came close, but it just didn't get a long enough run to compare.

Very big shout. For me Breaking Bad is the best tv show ever made, incredibly clever, never lost its way and a satisfying conclusion.

Don't want to derail the thread so carry on...

The finale of Lost aired 10 years ago this week. Were you a fan?

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