Talk Elections

So anyway I decided to watch this show because of my like though not to a fanboy level of the other works of J. J. Abrams and so I can understand a lot of stuff on TV Tropes better. Well I find it on Netflix Watch Instantly, despite all the talk I never bothered watching it while it was on the air because I knew it was the type of show that there was no way you could possibly catch up on after starting watching it in the middle so here I have the opportunity to watch it beginning to end in a relatively short period of time, which is probably the best way.

So I'm in the middle of season 2, and I have to ask does it pick up any time soon? It seems to be going nowhere after all those interesting bits with the hatch and the numbers and the computer and the Scottish guy despite the early tendency to basically just kill characters for emotional effect and no real plot reason. I already know that Michelle Rodriguez dies at the end of the season so maybe things will improve then since here character isn't exactly uninteresting but is getting undue attention and basically a drag on the plot now. And does that fat Hispanic guy ever start getting more attention than the Koreans? Because he is awesome and they are pretty boring. I should probably also ask if there are any episodes actually worth skipping.

I thought it just became worse (as in, boring) the more convoluted everything got, so I stopped watching early into Season 4.

There's some interesting stuff later. You learn a lot about the Dharma Initiative and "the Others," but some of the very basic mysteries of the show (ie, what the feck is the island) are never answered. In fact it just gets weirder.

I watched the first 5 episodes, became immensely bored and never watched again.

So you quit just before the time it actually started getting interesting.

That's their fault for not engaging me earlier :P

I watched most of the first season and after that watched a few episodes every now and then. When the final season started I read the episode summaries on the seasons I missed to catch up. It's an interesting plot but more in a casually-read-about-it-on-Wikipedia way then a watch-40-hours-of-video-about-it-as-it-slowly-unravels-around-endless-character-based-subplots way.

I thought the last half-dozen or so episodes were fantastic though.

I've watched the whole thing.  Season 1 is markedly better than any of the subsequent seasons.  The show was not the same after David Fury left to go write for 24.

It does have peaks and troughs though.  Things always get more interesting as they ramp up to a season finale, for example.

Towards the end of Season 3, and throughout Seasons 4 and 5, you do start to see some previously dormant plot threads tied together in interesting ways, such that you start to think "Hey, maybe the writers know what they're doing after all."

But then with Season 6 and the ending of the show you realize "No, the writers really have nothing interesting to say with this, and I can't believe how long they strung me along."

I really liked Lost, when all is said and done. But the point you're at (second half of season 2, first half of season 3) is basically the low point of the entire series. After that it picks up again.

It was my favorite show. I think the first two seasons made it one of the best TV shows ever but it went down hill after the third season. If you don't think it has "picked up" by the middle of the second season, I doubt that you'll like it.


Are you crazy? The fourth, fifth and sixth seasons just get more bizarre and string you along.

I actually think LOST is one of those shows that just does not work for Netflix.  One of the best parts of the sow was the speculation week to week.  I think the Sopranos worked better in this serial format also.

Ah, Lost...

This series has hold my breath for years, and I yet haven't watched the final episodes even though I have them. It's hard to make a final judgement on it for me, but overall I think it would be positive.

I can't say I've constantly loved it : some episodes were just beyond awful and showed clearly that the scenarists didn't know where they were going. Tons and tons of "capital revelations" that were in fact useles and brought nothing to the plot. Too much focus on everyone's personal stories. Etc, etc... Now let me say it clearly : some parts, the most important parts, were absolutely epic. Most season finales were orchestrated magnificently and were really a pleasure to see.

So, in the end, its a series with its highs (end of season 3, season 4) and downs (beginning of season 3, most of season 1 and a fair share of season 2). So, seeing the way it has ended is particularly depressing. As I've said I've not seen the finale, but I've been told it utterly sucked, and seeing the rest of season 6 it doesn't surprise me. Season 5's ending gave me a lot of hope so you can imagine my dismay...

After all, it was to expect : shows like Lost are particularly difficult to end, considering the amount of mysteries, complicatedness and tension makes every ending to be a disappointment. Of course that doesn't justify that.

No it did pick up at the beginning of season 2. The middle of it is where it lags now. Some of the flashback stories have been interesting, but I'm caring more about what the hell is going on with the island.

OK things got interesting again. That guy claiming to be from Minnesota isn't and just took the identity of a black guy from a <1% black suburb. It's kind of funny that I'll actually recognize things like that. Reminds me of the 30 Rock episode about Stone Mountain, Georgia which was a great episode but was kind of annoying in it was such an inaccurate portrayal of what is actually a predominately black suburb (of course from what I understand the writers were fully aware and that was part of the joke.)

^^^

You can still enjoy it, just make sure to stop by Season 6 (though truthfully after Eko stopped being a major character it jumped the shark) and mentally substitute an ending. Whatever theory you come up with will undoubtedly be more logical and better written than what's 'canon.'

I know where you are coming from, but I still felt there were some great episodes in the season. (Ab Aeterno being one)  It is cold comfort but even the worst of LOST was still much better than the vast majority of TV programming.  I was very disappointed in how they resolved certain characters and various elements of the show's mythology, yet Im still grateful to the writers for creating an entertaining program.

To be fair, they had to remove Eko prematurely because the actor freaked out in some way (or at least that's how I remember it)

The thing is, I knew from season 1 that the ending would suck. That's the case with most good tv series. Just look at Twin Peaks!

I stand by my opinion that season 4 and 5 outdo especially the beginning of season 3.

This exactly. The period from late season 3 to the end of season 5 is the greatest part of the telefilm IMO. Of course, it made season 6 even more disappointing, but as I've said ending a series like Lost in a decent way is almost impossible.

I believe he couldn't stand living in Hawaii, or his wife didn't. So he had to leave and couldn't be a part of the series. A shame, because I really liked his character and he was excellent for it. His death was almost as good as it was in Oz, at least.

Lost plods along and builds suspense but builds up to the season finales brilliantly. Seasons 3, 4, and 5 end well and all start off slowly. Season 6 was sort of all over the place, but every season has its HOLY sh**t moments. And I, for one, love a good HOLY sh**t moment.

"Enter 77" is one of the best episodes in a long time. This is getting good again.

If you made it through "Stranger in a Strange Land" without quitting you'll make it to the end.  Fascinating show, and I loved it all the way to the end.

That episode was kind of boring but not bad in a really notable way. It was pretty silly plot-wise but that's kind of a dumb thing to complain about with how it's been so far.

One thing bugging me is when I found out on official character bios and all that the Korean lady is supposed to be 24 and her husband is supposed to be 30...even though the actress playing her was already over 30 when the show started and the guy playing her husband (who is great, I remember him from Angel and he was great on that show too), was around 35...why not just have them be their actual ages since they're going to age six years anyway over the whole show...

I also just got thinking as to how many babies were needed to play Claire's son, they'd probably go through several a season.

Ha, Broyles from Fringe shows up in Season 4 and he's acting exactly like when he plays Broyles. Kind of jarring.

Season 4 was the best, but I have a feeling it's going to get pretty silly now. The foreshadowing for the plot now is pretty weird.

You really have to try and roll with it. But, yeah, season 4 is very good. Season 5 isn't too shabby though.

The haters on Seasons 5/6 of Lost are a vocal minority.  Ignore them and continue to bask in Lost's greatness.

No, really, the show ended terribly. Terribly. I started watching on the premiere date, and was captivated. The writers were stringing us along. I admit to a few "wow" moments during Season 5, especially the ending bits, but I absolutely loathed Season 6. They didn't tie up a lot of the loose ends. And the whole bit about Widmore ended... awkwardly.

Anyways, the ride from Season 1 to Season 4 is pretty awesome. From there onward it becomes pretty disappointing. The whole "Flash-sideways" parts were annoying and tedious.

Yeah, Eko was pretty epic. I remember being so sad that he died. I liked Desmond, Eko, and Locke. There were a few other cool characters.

A post like this confirms the brilliance of the "Take Harry's Opinion and Think the Opposite" strategy.

Oh so even you disliked the last two seasons?

It seems like it's at a good place to end now, going BACK to the island after getting off is taking the plot to ridiculous levels. Sure there's still some plot threads hanging (not much revealed about the island, whatever the smoke monster is, and of course the people still stuck back there), but this seems like if those were covered it'd be a nice place to end.

I'm pretty sure I've said that before, yes. It pains me to say that I disliked something about the show but so much of it just got too damn bizarre.

I liked the last two seasons and enjoyed watching them save for one episode.  There are several truly excellent episodes that dig deep into the characters.  I appreciated that they explored some metaphorical and allegorical elements, even if the resolution to many threads was lacking.

I hated season 6 but enjoyed season 5. Am I particularly weird ? ???

If so, then I'm weird with you.  I thought it was really just Season 6 that was terrible.

This time travel stuff is kind of ridiculous, and gives me the impression the writers ran out of ideas.

Season 5 actually got good about midway through it turns out. The time travel stuff was still kind of silly but the finale was really good and I guess they needed to be in 1977 for it to work.

But I'm really not big on these Not-Locke and Ben stuff...I'm actually finding the "alternate" or whatever reality stuff where the plane landed in the premier more interesting than the stuff on the island.

The ending was abominable.

"I'm sorry you had to see me like that."

I have to say, that should go down as one of the all time classic TV lines.

Done with the finale now.

I didn't hate it like many did, but there were a lot of obvious Handwaves that were basically just "because the writers said so", like why Jacob and his brother couldn't kill each other ("I made it so you can't hurt each other", that was seriously the entire explanation) or that deal with Desmond and the electromagnatism. And if that alternate reality was some type of purgatory after all the characters are dead, it opens up some questions in regards to the characters who survived and presumably died of natural causes, why does Claire have any memories of Aaron as an adult for example? Oh and the final battle with that smoke monster shapeshifting thing was REALLY anti-climatic.

But no ending really could've been satisfying so I won't complain as much.

As someone who has only watched the first season and the first half of 2, I feel almost compelled to watch the rest of it after reading through this thread and how completely up it's own ass that show apparently went.

The first 5 seasons are great IMO. It's only the sixth which is an abomination.