14 Years Ago Today We Learned, Canonically, that the Real Island was the Friends We Made Along the Way
- Thread starter excelsiorlef
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Imagine writing something as towering and accomplished like LOST and having to grin and play game every time you get asked about the fucking outriggers
How I Met Your Mother plot twist was telegraphed constantly the entire series. I think people were predicting the mother was dead (in case by some miracle I could spoil this show for someone) during the first season.
I stopped watching it as a teenager after season 2. Years later my wife and I tried watching it and made it to season 4. Maybe in like a dozen years my son and I can give it a shot.
I mean if you just want spoilers, I can give them to you.
These are the mechanics of the show's narrative, spoilers for all six seasons ahead:
Seasons 1-3 are set on the island in the present but every episode we flash back to a character's backstory. The finale of Season 3 was strange though, with elements of the flashback not really lining up with what we know. The twist at the end was that it was actually a flashforward, that at some point some of the characters get off the island but for some reason Jack thinks they need "to go back".
Season 4 then continues this concept with the flash-forwards replacing the flashbacks. Eventually the present timeline catches up to where the flash-forwards started and we see the entire story play out but along the way they have a lot of fun with slowly revealing what happened and why it happened. This leads the way for a wilder Season 5 that just goes full on into time travel. And then Season 6 presents it's gimmick as some kind of mysterious alternate reality but the reveal in the end is that technically they are still flash-forwards, just to a sort of limbo space the characters went to after death to find each other again and move on together.
By the time we get to season 6 we've consistently dealt with ghosts, magic, and all sorts of shit so it doesn't sound as out of place as it might just reading about it online like here. Though of course someone who, say, just watched some of Season 1 and wanted to immediately have a giant list of every answer to every mystery possible and specifically wanted them to all be grounded in the real world... yeah, they probably wouldn't like it. But the show made it clear that wasn't what it was doing pretty early on.
WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAALLLLLLLLLLLLT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Man, what a fun ride of a show. Haven't had a show quite like it since.
Man, what a fun ride of a show. Haven't had a show quite like it since.
I don't blame them for basically throwing away trying to settle up all the chips they laid down island wise, which are frankly overblown and instead devoting like 30% of the season to flash sideways to lead to more character moments and reunions. It's that emotional core people will remember the show by ultimately.
It's such a shame the TV budget definitely caught up to their ambitions with all those painted Styrofoam temple sets.
Also, it's fucking crazy how one characters naturally dark eyelashes lead to adding mystery to a random character. It was the perfect show for that kind of, where is this dude from, like mystery
It's such a shame the TV budget definitely caught up to their ambitions with all those painted Styrofoam temple sets.
Also, it's fucking crazy how one characters naturally dark eyelashes lead to adding mystery to a random character. It was the perfect show for that kind of, where is this dude from, like mystery
What an amazing show that turned to shit. Each loose thread, each dud of a resolution, followed by a lackluster last season and a shit ending (yes I get it, I just don't like it). Definitely a show where the ending (and the parts leading up to it) soured the journey.
Loved this show, and it taught me one of the most important lessons.
Speculation is stupid, and ruins enjoyment. Just watch the damn show.
Learned that around season 3, and just went along for the ride.
Speculation is stupid, and ruins enjoyment. Just watch the damn show.
Learned that around season 3, and just went along for the ride.
I like how you can say "Hey I saw this great new show with a good cast. Guyliner is in it!" and your friend is like "Oh rad I love guyliner, he's so good at being charming and mysterious" and it all makes perfect sense.
Eh, felt the show just got worse and worse as time went on and delivered probably the worst ending I've ever stuck with a show to the very end for. It also taught me dramas bore the crap out of me so at the very least it's saved me from sinking lots of hours into stuff I very likely wouldn't enjoy.
Legitimately my favourite show start to finish. Defined a lot of my tastes when it comes to consuming media.
It's too bad they never did reveal who was shooting at them from the outrigger, though. That one always bothered me.
The weekly threads on the other place were some of the most fun I've ever had on a forum.
It's too bad they never did reveal who was shooting at them from the outrigger, though. That one always bothered me.
The weekly threads on the other place were some of the most fun I've ever had on a forum.
Never finished but was obsessed the first few seasons. I recently watched this series of deep dives into the show and I think if I go back I'd get a lot more enjoyment from where I dropped off after the series was starting to lose me:
View: https://youtu.be/oTZ88eUQrJo?si=nVZfTt_4GRaOXt9e
View: https://youtu.be/oTZ88eUQrJo?si=nVZfTt_4GRaOXt9e
Fantastic show. I watched it after it had already concluded (back when bingeing meant renting or buying the DVD box sets), and I loved it all.
My favorite show of all time (Wire might as well take 1:B)
I remember calling in to work to watch season premieres and finales, as I was working night shift in those years
I remember calling in to work to watch season premieres and finales, as I was working night shift in those years
View: https://youtu.be/dL26K6T3IOw?t=83
I still never understood why this is such a prevalent question when the finale explicitly has the line "everything that's ever happened to you is real".
I binged LOST like 6 years ago with a roommate and I loved it. I guess I can see some of the answers to burning questions being lackluster if you were watching as it aired and had to wait years, but as a back to back watch, I felt satisfied with every single season and overall really loved the show.
Yeah the HIMYM finale wasn't bad because of the twists/reveals, it was bad because they spent the whole final season on a single wedding weekend instead of having just a standard season, and then rushed everything in the finale and botched the execution completely.
During the show's run I absolutely hated her character and oh my lord I let it carry over into her other roles. I know I shouldn't have.
My fourth fave character on the show was almost going to become her nemesis and I wanted that to go down so bad.
My fourth fave character on the show was almost going to become her nemesis and I wanted that to go down so bad.
The ending for the characters couldn't have been any better. It was beautiful and I cried. But the last season didn't answer as many questions as I would have liked, but that's not something that can be fixed in a single episode. The show was still exceptional, but it seemed like the writers got a little too ambitious with the mythology and ran out of time before they could wrap everything up properly. I wonder if things would have been better if they had taken a break in between seasons like a lot of cable shows do these days. It's still one of my favorites and I've been meaning to do a rewatch.
I remember all the hype and friends that obsessed over the mystery and lore. I watch it all, slept through some (terrible habit of sleeping on couches).
Overall it was a weird ride
Overall it was a weird ride
This is how I felt about it. The mysteries were enticing, but it was the character moments and the way they interwove the flashbacks (or -forwards or -laterals) with whatever was happening with the featured character in the present that really made the show for me. That's why I was pretty whatever about the mysteries not amounting to much in the end.
What's truly hilarious to look back on is that at one point there were actually people pointing at Heroes and saying, "Now that's how you write a show!"
This show still sticks with me to this day.
The finale was really interesting since because i was part of the group that wrote "the official theme song" we were brought on Jimmy Kimmel Live and locked in the building minus our phones as they showed us the finale hours before anyone else…
it was such a surreal experience to go right from the ending of the show to having Kimmel open up the episode sitting right next to my bandmate and I into what was that aftershow.
Finale I am not sure would have hit as hard as it did without all that surrounding stuff but I am glad the show existed even if the final season was a bit rocky and they just dropped important shit like the whole Whitmore vs Dharma rivalry.
Tho i will still never forgive them for Nikki and Paluo… or that horribad Jack's tattoo episode
The finale was really interesting since because i was part of the group that wrote "the official theme song" we were brought on Jimmy Kimmel Live and locked in the building minus our phones as they showed us the finale hours before anyone else…
it was such a surreal experience to go right from the ending of the show to having Kimmel open up the episode sitting right next to my bandmate and I into what was that aftershow.
Finale I am not sure would have hit as hard as it did without all that surrounding stuff but I am glad the show existed even if the final season was a bit rocky and they just dropped important shit like the whole Whitmore vs Dharma rivalry.
Tho i will still never forgive them for Nikki and Paluo… or that horribad Jack's tattoo episode
Still one of my fave shows!
You aaaaall everybody! You aaaaaall everybody!
Acting like stupid people, wearing expensive clothes!
Also, to anyone thinking of watching the show for the first time—in the final season, watch episode 15, Across the Sea, after episode 8, Recon, and before episode 9, Ab Aeterno. I legitimately believe that this is the way to watch the last season.
You aaaaall everybody! You aaaaaall everybody!
Acting like stupid people, wearing expensive clothes!
Also, to anyone thinking of watching the show for the first time—in the final season, watch episode 15, Across the Sea, after episode 8, Recon, and before episode 9, Ab Aeterno. I legitimately believe that this is the way to watch the last season.
No, thats absolutely not what happened. And Im lowkey sad that all the loud moaning around this show contributed to you not wanting to watch it. Its one of the best rides out there. And the ending is controversial, not necessarily bad. Many people loved it, certainly a lot more than the number of folks that loved the ending of GOT for example.
Sucks that this show came out in the overly cynical internet era. Im not saying folks complaints aren't legitimate, but man... this is an amazing show, and sometimes it feels like people are just WAITING for something, anything to tee off on so they can write it all off as terrible. 😅
Yep, this is sort of what I meant, but worded better. Man the over speculation on this show online really dampened my enjoyment of it to the point that I had to stay away from the discussions until the seasons ended mostly. I didnt realize that kind of interaction with people could ruin something for me, lol.
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I wish they had just made the island something like the sphere in Sphere. A place where the border between imagination and reality is really hazy. That the smoke monster was the manifestation of fears. That the crash was caused by someone thinking about a plane crash. That the Dharma initiative was conducting experiments to see how you could alter reality be deceiving the subjects into different states of reality. And so on. Would have made so much sense. But no, they had to go the route they did.
Rewatched this a few years ago, and the biggest surprise for me was that "Tricia Tanaka is Dead" became my favorite episode.
There are so many great ones in the series, but something about that episode being such a victory for a lot of the characters I like and just being a little fun and frivolous was so good.
There are so many great ones in the series, but something about that episode being such a victory for a lot of the characters I like and just being a little fun and frivolous was so good.
Best hyperbole ever!
Hmm... Maybe I imagined all those character assassinations in the name of getting to the next story beat / "ohshitwtf" plot twist?
I believe I read something about O'Quinn himself being annoyed at Locke's murder of Naomi, a woman he didn't even know... But hey, you're not supposed to remember stuff like that! The characters sure don't! No, Locke was a great guy: just look at Jack's speech quoted in that post right above yours! And yeah, I can see why Jack would say things like that. He was on such great terms with Locke, after all! * footage not found *
Also, love how Sun and Jin died. I mean, sure, the scene makes it look like they forgot about their daughter, but that's nothing a quick pick-up can't fix: let's shoot a scene where they talk about how her maternal grandmother will take care of her (the fate of all those cumbersome Lost kids... yes, even the one whose maternal grandmother was braindead: she just got better, shut up), insert it a bit earlier, et voilà! A job well done.
And Sayid! Ah, Sayid. Such a satisfying arc. All the way, too, even in the afterlife! No notes.
Never mind, you're right: truly a fantastic character study.
For example, let's have some characters time travel, get shot at by mystery people on some outrigger far away, shoot one of those in retaliation, and... never explain what the hell was up with that nor who were those (apparently super murderous?) people. What, you expect setups to be followed by payoffs? How quaint. Can't you see it's BETTER this way? How this loose end enhances the experience? Guess Lost is just too advanced for you.
"Ah, but who cares about that part? It's not important!"
Oh, silly me: it's just time travel, after all.
And, well... if it doesn't matter... maybe don't put it in there in the first place, then? For a show that was "all about the characters", it sure spent a lot of time on shit like this.
But ah, all right... Let's go with something a bit more plot-critical, like, say... the stakes of the final conflict?
Why did the candidates even "need to go back", considering them being alive was what was trapping Smokey on the island, and he couldn't touch them off-island?
Why did Jacob want/need a replacement anyway?
Why did he let himself get killed, when he defended himself the last time Smokey tried that one?
Speaking of which, how impressed are we supposed to be that Smokey's masterplan was just a repeat of something he had already tried with Richard, except a hell of a lot more contrived and thus likely to once again fail?
Did Smokey actually need to destroy the island in order to escape, or did he just feel like it?
And what would the consequences of that be? We're told that it would be "bad", but not what that would entail exactly. The only time a character was about to elaborate, she (and I'm sure that's a complete coincidence) dropped sticks of dynamite and exploded mid-sentence, so we're left with some vague "it would be the end of everything! everybody would die!". Does Smokey know this? Does Smokey want this? Why? Is it okay to ask why the main antagonist does the things he does? Also, how exactly would "everybody die"? Seeing how Widmore was willing to reveal Jacob's plan if Smokey promised to spare his daughter, it kinda looks like the idea was that Smokey, not the destruction of the island, would be the one doing the killing. So, like... one human being at a time? Again, I kinda feel like asking why he would even want to do this, sorry.
Yes, I can definitely see how not knowing all that makes the show BETTER. So much BETTER. I don't know why other writers even bother trying to come up with solid plots and character motivations. That's just silly!
Sure, they "just want to hate the show". It's just bad faith. Some kind of weird, suspicious agenda. No legitimate criticism whatsoever there. How could there be? It is "the greatest TV show of all time", after all.
"Hey, look, we were totally going to pay that one off, but then most of those mystery characters died, so you can see why we didn't. How unfortunate and completely out of our hands. And sure, we could tell you who they were supposed to be, but isn't it cooler this way? Yes. The answer is yes. Obviously. For reasons."
Outrigger chase
The outrigger chase was a shootout between two groups, one of those made up of the survivors and the freighter team. A time flash cut the battle short, and neither group learned the others' identity. ("The Little Prince") After a time shift, Sawyer's group found themselves in daylight and made...
lostpedia.fandom.com
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People love to speculate, and I just don't care. I don't care what anyone thinks will happen in Fallout season 2, I will watch Fallout season 2. I don't care what people think will happen next season in blank. I will just watch it. Then people hype themselves up on these theories, and get disappointed when it isn't their perfect little theory.
Loved it and loved the finale. Nothing will ever match the LOST fever. The second Christian showed up in that finale I knew what it meant, and it blew my god damn mind. I was like THEY PULLED IT OFF. Then in the days and months to come I realized how many idiots were just parroting the 'I KNEW THEY WERE DEAD THE WHOLE TIME' crap and it really tainted it's legacy.
So many amazing moments in this show, mainly focused around the characters and their backstories. It legit is amazingly written. Locke has to be one of the most tragic characters on tv ever.
Also have a music video:
View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8AY1bdMi3Sc
So many amazing moments in this show, mainly focused around the characters and their backstories. It legit is amazingly written. Locke has to be one of the most tragic characters on tv ever.
Also have a music video:
View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8AY1bdMi3Sc
You sure you don't want to add something about how I'm a bit like the smoke monster? Or ask me how I could possibly criticize a show's writing when I'm not even a writer myself? * stares at his bingo card *
I really enjoyed that rant. I identify with a lot of that. I loved the show, doesn't mean I had to love everything about it. The reason I found the ending so disappointing was because I cared so much.
