Could someone please explain the rage over LOST?

[Pegghead]

Hello escapist, Pegghead here.

A while ago LOST finished up and the ending seemed to leave in its wake a mass of jokes, dissapointment and dissapointed jokes appertaining to the series involving the ending, smoke monsters, a wierd kind of church and lots of other things.

Now I never was a regular watcher of LOST, I've seen maybe one episode (That one where Hurley has flashbacks to winning the lottery or something) and as such I'm feeling as much confusion with all the dissapointed fans as I did trying to wrap my head around the series.

This video in part inspired me to make this thread so me and other people who didn't watch LOST might be "In" on some of the jokes and fan dissapointment without having to watch the entire series or make sense of the tv tropes page. So in brief if you were or still are a fan of LOST with each episode under you belt would you kindly help dear old Pegghead get down with the series summary (the key points so the things I've mentioned and the dissapointment/mockery might make more sense) and perhaps try to explain why it was all so dissapointing?

 

[unoleian]

It did a very excellent job of building up such a complex mystery with so many paths and branches that it seemed like it was going to build up to the revelation of a true divine being. People expected that show to give them God. Not literally, in a sense, but it's an apt metaphor.

There were a lot of red herrings, dropped plot threads, things that simply were with no explanation given, and that drove a lot of people nuts. Everyone wanted to be right with their theories, too, and disappointment was common when a thread didn't play out like they imagined it would.

I look back on that show and respect it for keeping me so hooked, it was less of a story, and more of a character-driven experience. Whatever happened, happened. It was how the characters responded to what happened, and changed, and grew, that was the real draw of that show.

In my opinion.

Now, a basic plot summary is very difficult. There was simply too much going on. Trying to explain the plot of LOST to someone who's never seen it is about as confusing and futile as explaining color to a blind man. Best thing to do is find the lost-pedia wiki and read that. Otherwise....

Some people crash on an island. Stuff happens. Hilarity ensues. Best I can do...

 

[British-Hobo]

*MASSIVE SPOILERS, obviously*




Basically the entire point of LOST was that there was some dude on an island protecting a light, because some crazy woman told him too. And he didn't know why he had to, just that he did. Also his dead brother who was now a smoke monster lived on the island, but the first guy (Jacob) wouldn't let him leave, because the crazy woman told him letting his brother leave would destroy the world.

The dude kept bringing people to this island and just sitting back and watching as they killed each other (yeah, this guy is meant to be the good guy), and then he decided he needed someone to replace him, so he bought a bunch of candidates to the island.

Then he ignored them for five years.

These five years are the first five seasons of LOST. We follow them doing all their stuff, and getting in relationships, some dying, others leaving the island (because for some reason Jacob didn't bother to stop them *cough*Jacob'splotwastotallymadeupatthelastminute*cough*), and coming back.

Then, Jacob gets killed by his brother. And THAT (in season six, the final one) is what makes him decide he should actually start appearing to these guys, so he did. As a ghost. Then most of them get killed, one of them takes over his job, they kill his brother, and it turns out that when they all die they meet up in purgatory and go to heaven.

It was disappointing because they invented a crap-ton of mysteries and ignored most of them, and all the finale served to do was explain stuff that was invented in the premiere of the FINAL season.

*end MASSIVE FREAKING SPOILERS*

 

[manythings]

So it was explained (I got sick of their BS at the end of season 3) to me the ending answered none of the questions that were always being hinted at and then it turned out a wizard did it all.

 

[More Fun To Compute]

That video was somewhat humorous.

The problem with Lost is that they were literally making it up as they went along. They made it so that everything was mysterious and hidden like Cloverfield but unlike Cloverfield it was a TV series so they had to keep on making new series until people stopped watching it.

Series 1. People crash on an island. Lot's of flashbacks and vaguely mysterious shit happens including finding a "hatch".
Series 2. They introduced new survivors, "other" people who were already on the island, how the hatch was part of something called the DHARMA initiative and sundry other mysterious shit that it was now obvious they were making up all along.
Series 3. "Others" and DHARMA initiative are expanded on. They now realise that they have to just stop making shit up and try to satisfy fans with some continuity.
Series 4. Another new faction. Some things probably happened.
Series 5. Time is all messed up now. People are still watching this? I guess they are since I still am. So confused.
Series 6. WTF. I feel slightly cheated even though they tried to appease me. I still like Hurley.

Recommended viewing. 8/10.