Board 8 > Lost is 20 years old

(+) Yeah! (+)

My main memory of Lost is the Nuzlocke comics

Was beyond obsessed with the show when it aired, but it really is frustrating as an overall product due to its tendency to introduce characters or situations and give them unsatisfying or rushed conclusions. I know some of those were due to behind the scenes issues, but a lot of them are the result of bad planning or just coming up with the plot lines as they went along.

Lots of characters done dirty or that they basically seemed to regret introducing or didn't know what to do with, or who had to be written out suddenly. Mr. Eko, Danielle Rosseau (that entire trio felt like such a missed opportunity, really), Libby, Ilana, Shannon, Charlotte, Nikki and Paulo, Sun/Jin in the final season, etc. Female characters not named Juliet (and to a lesser degree Sun, maybe?) were usually far weaker in their writing and stories.

It was still a great ride, the fandom really made it special. I still say "WE HAVE TO GO BAAACK!" all the time even though nobody knows wtf I'm even quoting.

Mr. Eko was only written out suddenly because the actor's mother was very sick and wanted out of the show to take care of her.

I should also point out that at a convention I was at, Dominic Monaghan and Emilie de Revin had a panel about lost and Dominic seems to have really disliked the show as it went on after he left. He more or less was as mean about the writing and mysteries as he could be without being an asshole about it. Lol Emilie tried to be a lot nicer about it but you could tell she agreed.

But also, Harold Perrineau is currently killing it on From and doing some of the best work of his career there. Check it out!

PrivateBiscuit1 posted...

Mr. Eko was only written out suddenly because the actor's mother was very sick and wanted out of the show to take care of her.

So I had heard back then, and it's a shame since it does hurt the show. I wouldn't really mind it if it was a one-time thing, but Lost had a tendency to kill off or write out characters to advance plot points without a proper resolution. It added up, especially considering how character-driven the show was. They were fantastic at creating interesting set-ups, but they'd often write themselves into a corner and be unable to deliver. It gave the impression they didn't have a vision, which is a big problem for a show that relied so much on setting up mysteries and/or dynamics.

Still loved the show, I even return to the soundtrack sometimes. It feels like it could've been so much more than it ended up being. The potential was there to be an all-time great.

The worst was definitely Libby, which only happened because they thought the other character wasnt likeable enough so they wrote her out as well, completely sabotaging her arc. In general, Lost went for shock value character endings just too much.

i assumed libby was written out because the actress was involved in a DUI incident

The DUI did Libby in, that's been confirmed.

scarletspeed7 posted...

The DUI did Libby in, that's been confirmed.

I had actually heard the opposite, for both her and Michelle Rodriguezs character. Especially since the actress turns up at multiple points later so it doesnt make much sense.

LightningStrikes posted...

Season 4 is my favourite. One of the very few shows to benefit from the writers strike because the reduced episode count focused the story. The first three are about equal. Season 5 is a clear step down but has some great moments including a really strong finale. Season 6 yeah.

this is my ranking as well

Yeah I had heard Libby and Ana Lucia were written out because of controversies with both actresses but now that you mention it, it really doesn't make sense that they both made guest appearances for the rest of the series if that were the case.

They actually did have a plan for Nikki and Paulo. Supposedly they were going to die in the season 3 finale in a redeeming self-sacrifice but the reception to them was SO overwhelmingly negative both internally and among fans that they decided they weren't willing to hold off the extra few episodes and just pulled the plug on them. Good riddance.

Ilana was the most pointless character on the show. If it weren't for her death scene I don't think I'd even remember she existed. And her actress was billed as a main cast member for the final season.

Speaking of which, I know this gets pointed out often in LOST topics, but how dumb is it that Jeff Fahey was billed as a guest star for seasons 4 and 5 when Frank actually kinda mattered, but then got upgraded to a main cast member for season 6 where he had just a few minutes of combined screen time?

If I understand it right with the Ana Lucia/Libby thing, Michelle Rodriguez signed on intending to do only one season, though there were discussions during filming about potentially keeping her on for longer. Since the character proved very unpopular they also wrote out Libby at the same time to add more emotional impact. To make up for this they got Cynthia Watros a role in a different show. Lindelof has denied that the DUIs had any part in it and even said in an interview that the episode was written before they found out about them, which adds up given the timeline. He even said that he considered rewriting the episode to avoid giving the impression that it was about the DUIs. So it has been expressly denied. Of course confusing matters is the fact that an anonymous source from production did say it was the reason and the actresses were subject to a lot of mistreatment about it on set. It is very hard to reconcile these two accounts but its definitely not confirmation. Personally I am inclined to believe Lindelof purely because of the timeline and the actresses returning to the show, but the DUIs were clearly something that did come up during production even if they werent actually the reason the characters were written out.

I think one of the great things about Lost was that sometimes there was no reason for characters to die. They left arcs unfinished, because sometimes we don't get resolution. I actually think Lost would have been better off if they didn't answer so much in that last season. Answers are good, but sometimes they aren't really necessary. And they're rarely ever satisfying.

The writers really did a poor job with the female characters on the show, though. I don't think they knew how to write female characters for the show, and it showed.

I remember absolutely loathing Kate. She had no redeeming qualities and just kept doing things to make you hate her, but they kind of pretend like she didn't do hateable stuff and that we should pity her.

ElizeLutus posted...

I think one of the great things about Lost was that sometimes there was no reason for characters to die. They left arcs unfinished, because sometimes we don't get resolution. I actually think Lost would have been better off if they didn't answer so much in that last season. Answers are good, but sometimes they aren't really necessary. And they're rarely ever satisfying.

The writers really did a poor job with the female characters on the show, though. I don't think they knew how to write female characters for the show, and it showed.

I agree, aside from Juliet and Rose and MAYBE Alex.

ElizeLutus posted...

Manifest was pretty good I guess.

I enjoyed Manifest and unlike LOST they had the whole series (at least where it was going and all the key events) planned out from the very beginning so everything had a point and it didnt veer all over the place and all the major characters actually had an important role in the whole thing. The final season suffered from the network cancellation, forcing them to squeeze what was supposed to be three seasons into one.

just remembered this song which still holds up (though maybe needs an HD remix but enjoy the 480p goodness in the meantime, lol)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iggE4ImYwyc

(note apparently this was released a week before the series finale based on the upload date)

(almost reminding me how great the "we have to go back" was, goddamn)

Underleveled posted...

I enjoyed Manifest and unlike LOST they had the whole series (at least where it was going and all the key events) planned out from the very beginning so everything had a point and it didnt veer all over the place and all the major characters actually had an important role in the whole thing. The final season suffered from the network cancellation, forcing them to squeeze what was supposed to be three seasons into one.

Agreed and Manifest did a really good job with the callbacks to prior events/characters. People kept popping up in season 4 and it's like... we haven't seen this person since season 1 which was how many years ago in real-world time? Should make for a really good bingewatch at least which I guess is what Netflix also figured when they picked it up. I'll rewatch it all in one go again, someday.

What's actually really interesting is that Lindelof and Cuse seemed to have learned a ton about being show runners and how to write shows from Lost, because they went on their own and made two of my other favorite shows in The Leftovers and Bates Motel.

Cuse had been around for ages (which is basically why he was brought on, to being in somebody with more experience) but its easy to forget that Lindelof had only been in the industry for a few years when he started on Lost and was suddenly running the biggest show on the planet. It sounds like it was quite challenging and he made a lot of mistakes.

To be fair to Lost, they wanted it to be three seasons. But it was so popular, ABC wanted ten. (Keep in mind this was after they originally thought it would flop). So they had to keep adding stuff.

Have been rewatching (which I very rarely do for shows) and nearly done with Season 1, just finished Numbers. Great episode, surprised it wasnt higher on the boards ranking.

Weirdly thanks to the setting and especially the sound this is kind of a comfort show for me now hahaha.