The Final Season GoT: s08 e06 The Iron Throne

[Willie Oleson]

Sure somethings weren't explained but in life some things aren't explained

But the things that happened on Lost don't happen in real life. These are intentional fantasy-mysteries (usually multiplying into more plot twists) and if you can't explain them then why create them in the first place?
The writers were being very obvious with all their hints and clues and the viewers thought it actually meant something. And that's why they kept watching.

 

[Alexis]

But the things that happened on Lost don't happen in real life. These are intentional fantasy-mysteries (usually multiplying into more plot twists) and if you can't explain them then why create them in the first place?
The writers were being very obvious with all their hints and clues and the viewers thought it actually meant something. And that's why they kept watching.

Yes, but those hints and allusions didn't have to mean anything at all. It was just a device to keep you coming back, something to keep you watching. Like a McGuffin in a Hitchcock movie. The very thing you think is important and vital to the plot actually means nothing at all in the scheme of things. And I think the writers were well aware of that very quickly. There was no way they could arrange everything into neat little boxes all explained and then put the lid on and store them away. How would they explain all of the strange things, the number sequence, the smoke monster, the two figures on a rock playing chess with peoples lives. As the show went on that was all just a mysterious backdrop for the interactions between the characters. Lost was a show more about character than about it's sci-fi back drop. I was totally fine with that. They got me. They got me to watch, addicted, and they got me to love the storytelling and the characters. Who really wants a TV show to end in the cutesy way most fans would dream their show to end.

Like on Knots Landing I just wanted Gary and Val to be together in love forever. Well, no, that's what I thought I wanted on some basic level. However if I did get that, I wouldn't have watched the show for 14 seasons.

 

[Michael Torrance]

And I think the writers were well aware of that very quickly. There was no way they could arrange everything into neat little boxes all explained and then put the lid on and store them away. How would they explain all of the strange things, the number sequence, the smoke monster, the two figures on a rock playing chess with peoples lives.

But shows have done that--Babylon 5 did that, and was the show that gave the idea of an arc to all shows that followed. It just that to pull it off, a show's writers have to plan the hell out of it and keep working their a@@es off, and the two at the helm of LOST were not willing. Babylon 5 ended on its own terms--not how fans would have wanted it. But it provided a satisfactory closure and made viewers feel that they got a pay-off for the years invested. The reason LOST lives in infamy decades later is that most viewers felt cheated from the "bait and switch" approach.

 

[Alexis]

But shows have done that--Babylon 5 did that, and was the show that gave the idea of an arc to all shows that followed. It just that to pull it off, a show's writers have to plan the hell out of it and keep working their a@@es off, and the two at the helm of LOST were not willing. Babylon 5 ended on its own terms--not how fans would have wanted it. But it provided a satisfactory closure and made viewers feel that they got a pay-off for the years invested. The reason LOST lives in infamy decades later is that most viewers felt cheated from the "bait and switch" approach.

I think that if someone was watching LOST and expected the supernatural/sci-fi madness to be neatly explained away then they didn't really get the show they were watching.

 

[Michael Torrance]

I think that if someone was watching LOST and expected the supernatural/sci-fi madness to be neatly explained away then they didn't really get the show they were watching.

Well, it ended up not being someone, but the majority of the people watching it. So maybe they should have tried some other venue--some zine rather than a US network.

 

[Willie Oleson]

watching LOST and expected the supernatural/sci-fi madness to be neatly explained away

They don't have to do that, and it's possible to enjoy the weirdness just for the heck of it, but let's be honest - the writers did present their story as some kind of puzzle.
If that hadn't been the tone of the show then it would have been a very different experience, I think.

 

[Alexis]

Well, it ended up not being someone, but the majority of the people watching it. So maybe they should have tried some other venue--some zine rather than a US network.

I mean I don't care, I was happy with it. I was also happy with GOT ending.

 

[Alexis]

They don't have to do that, and it's possible to enjoy the weirdness just for the heck of it, but let's be honest - the writers did present their story as some kind of puzzle.
If that hadn't been the tone of the show then it would have been a very different experience, I think.

Of course they did. And it was manipulative on their part, but it made me watch. And in doing so every season I met new characters I loved or hated and I keep at it until the end. The very end. So in that way their manipulations worked. I was a faithful viewer and I bought every season on DVD.
I think they achieved what they wanted there. It's about business not about pleasing every viewer who think they know what is best for the show.

 

[Michael Torrance]

I mean I don't care, I was happy with it. I was also happy with GOT ending.

But I don't think the two endings are the same. I think the problem most viewers have with GOT is not where it ended up and what happened, but how we arrived there. It is a pacing issue. That is not the same as the uproar with LOST. Now, I know there are some vocal fans of GOT (many of whom are probably GRRM fans) who insist the books will be vastly different--should they ever finish--but I think how (and how fast) they get to the outcome will be different, but not the outcome itself.
While I am not satisfied with GOT's sudden turns at the ending, it has not deprived me of wanting to talk about the show, remembering it, or even admitting I did watch it. Unlike that other show, which I feel embarrassed I was duped by it.

I think they achieved what they wanted there. It's about business not about pleasing every viewer who think they know what is best for the show.

But was it good business, if they had to apologize for it ever since and have to get over viewer distrust with every new show?

 

[Alexis]

But I don't think the two endings are the same. I think the problem most viewers have with GOT is not where it ended up and what happened, but how we arrived there. It is a pacing issue. That is not the same as the uproar with LOST. Now, I know there are some vocal fans of GOT (many of whom are probably GRRM fans) who insist the books will be vastly different--should they ever finish--but I think how (and how fast) they get to the outcome will be different, but not the outcome itself.
While I am not satisfied with GOT's sudden turns at the ending, it has not deprived me of wanting to talk about the show, remembering it, or even admitting I did watch it. Unlike that other show, which I feel embarrassed I was duped by it.

Somewhere in the middle of LOST's run I realised that it was stringing me along somewhat. I didn't care. The story and character moments I was getting from the show were what kept me watching. I somehow knew it could never all be made sense of. I was in love with the characters, Sawyer, Ben, Juliet, Jack, Kate and many, many others. I was also aware that the conventions of the show afforded me more ways of seeing those characters than a more standard format drama. I got to see multiple versions of the characters, in the past, future, in good times and bad, dead/alive. And I could only do this because it didn't have to make any logical sense inside that world. They didn't have to have Bobby in the shower moments because the show was always Bobby in the shower. LOST's main draw was the characters and how they interacted and crossed paths. Not really the plot.

 

[Alexis]

But was it good business, if they had to apologize for it ever since and have to get over viewer distrust with every new show?

If they have apologized for it ever, I think less of them.

 

[Ome]

The story and character moments I was getting from the show were what kept me watching.

Yes, absolutely!

I was in love with the characters, Sawyer, Ben, Juliet, Jack, Kate and many, many others.

Totally agree

I was also aware that the conventions of the show afforded me more ways of seeing those characters than a more standard format drama. I got to see multiple versions of the characters, in the past, future, in good times and bad, dead/alive.

Yes, yes, yes.

And I could only do this because it didn't have to make any logical sense inside that world.

That's very true

LOST's main draw was the characters and how they interacted and crossed paths. Not really the plot.

But this part of your post is what I really love the most.


I don't always know what is happening on Star Trek (all the series), nor do I know what's going on with Doctor Who (all incarnations) at times, for me, it is about the gadgets, the characters, the monsters, the aliens and of course the old thing called humanity. Seeing our people live, or survive when they are up against their own personal nightmares.

There are many shows (more so the fantasy/sci/fi genre) where I don't care as much about the plot as I do the characters. Obviously, it has to have a decent plot and sometimes tense, or controversial plot, but it's not always the plot that's important to me, it's the characters. More importantly, their journey through all the years it carries.


For every show I love and watch till the end, there are probably 4/5 shows that I quit along the way, either because of poor character development or simply the show loses too many of its original actors.




There is only one show that I was disappointed with its ending and that was DEXTER. Though I am happy if some fans were happy with its conclusion, it really matters not to me. I can accept it and move on without feeling like I had been cheated.

 

[Ome]

Frankly, most of forum posts are people disagreeing with each other,

Just imagine if we all agreed on everything.



No, forget that, it wouldn't be an interesting place to hang out in.