Bull Shannon
Well-Known Member
I agree completely. There's a particular nadir at the beginning of the third season where they introduce the second island, followed by a midseason lift once they secure a deal with the network for a specific number of seasons, but it still continually suffers from needing to simultaneously answer questions and expand the mystery, and keep the narrative ball moving forward constantly.A least for me the biggest issue was that it seemed like they had a fun premise and the show probably at some point had a workable and intriguing ending set up. The problem was network TV unwillingness to give up a cash cow until it’s become unprofitable. If Lost was half as long I feel like the ending probably would have been much less disappointing. People had starting speculating that they were in some sort of purgatory early on and as the show progressed the writers seemed intent on trying to push back against that theory. I will say that is speaks to Lindelof and Cruse creative ability that they essentially created enough intrigue to keep it going for years longer than it should have. The show was almost completely out of steam and then the “Flash Forwards” gave it another year or two of life. Unfortunately by the ending there was some much bloat and frayed loose ends that there was no way Lost was gonna end well. Thankfully Lindelof found an appropriate home for his new projects.
It's an incredibly uneven show (while there are better and worse seasons, each has episodes and storylines one could point to as series standouts and blemishes), but I just relished tuning every week to see what happened next. It was just so campy and unafraid to flirt with The Prisoner levels of weird. Shoot, it may finally be time for a rewatch; I haven't revisited it since around when it ended.