Lost - Is It Worth It?

[cobra kid]

Morning all,

I tend to start watching something and follow it through to the end without deviation. Lost popped up on Netflix and I've watched the first episode. Seems ok. I didn't watch it first time around so....... is it worth continuing??

[Puggit]

No - it's just a series of incidents without any end game to the plot. It literally doesn't finish, despite the series finishing.

[HTP99]

I starter watching it when it was originally launched, I don't think I got beyond series 1 as it just didn't grab me, from what I recall, the ending was a bit st!

Edited by HTP99 on Monday 19th August 08:32

[steveatesh]

I enjoyed it at first then it became a mess, and as other have said the ending was absolute rubbish……

[InitialDave]

It has some good characters and some decent episodes, but it becomes clearer and clearer that they hadn't mapped out an overarching story, and it kind of descends into being "and then, and then, and then" improv in terms of structure.

Watch it until you get fed up of it and then stop, and you're not missing anything earth shattering to not "finish" it, because the show's creators didn't.

[remedy]

I can't believe it's 20-odd years old.
I loved it when it first came out. The end of S1 was incredible. And this was before you could binge and had to wait for the next season!

I think up to S5 is great. Then the writers strike in 2008(?) hit and it got a bit messed up. Then it lost(!) it's way.
As everyone says, the finale was stupid. And exactly what the producer said at the beginning would not happen.

[MitchT]

Watched it on Channel 4 when it first started. Loved it initially but it seemd to have lost its way by the time Sky confiscated it and put if behind their paywall. Forgot about it pretty quickly.

[FamousPheasant]

In period, the early seasons where truly amazing TV, but as already mentioned the well documented ending takes away some of the magic. The speculation with the plot in the early seasons really added to the buzz but it's impossible to have that now without spoilers.

[Douglas Quaid]

It’s great and has a great ending. I don’t think everyone really understood it so the ones that are confused are the ones that slate it. To be fair I watched it the first time round and not sure how it’s aged. But it was amazing, watched it all with the wife and enjoyed it all.

[Risonax]

I'm not sure it can be watched now in the same way as in 2004-10. That show robbed me of years of life. Alongside the show they ran this very early social media campaign of fake websites and micro-episodes; the whole Dharma Initiative thing, Polar Bars, Stations, the Others, VW Buses, 6-toed statues, black v white. Those were the days of drip feeding one episode a week, and the side episodes were to build audience anticipation, and it worked. But it all fell apart in the final season, and clearly the writers got sick of the studio milking the original concept, which was supposed to be self-contained episodes that you could dip in and out of. There was some good acting in it.

Binge watching them now? Not sure it would be the same. For a while, it was very clever TV.

[Bighoose]

No. No, no,no. Starts with promise, drops off several cliffs before being hitting the rocks, being washed ito sea and eaten by sharks. Don't waste your time.

[durbster]

The first series was really good, to the point where if it had been one series I think it would have been considered one the greats. Each episode was really well crafted and it was fantastic to wonder about what it was all about.

As it was, it became a crucial milestone in TV history for the wrong reasons. They broke the unwritten trust between programme maker and the viewer for a whole generation. It felt like the first time TV changed from being people trying to tell a cool story, to people trying to figure out how they could string viewers along along for as long as they could.

I bailed out at the start of series three and I felt cheated, but they absolutely betrayed everyone who stuck with them to the end.

[flight147z]

Watched it during the original run. It's not the best show technically I've ever seen but I've not enjoyed watching anything else as much since. A lot of that was probably down to the suspense/theories at the time that you only get from watching the original airing

[cobra kid]

I think I'll pack it in then, if it's like Walking Dead. I did the same with that.

[Speed Badger]

Funnily enough I've just finished binge watching it over the course of the last few month. Yes it's absolutely worth it, the show makes much more sense binging it than waiting for weekly episodes and months between each series. And the ending which I didn't really get and thought 'meh' when I was younger, had me sobbing like an idiot because I understood it this time round. Being older in life and experiencing loss and grief helps immensely with understanding the ending.

[Radec]

Never finished it but it did grip me the first few series.

I think the same thing happened with Heroes.

Was there some sort of writers strike that happened at the time which meant there was a big break for these series and when they restarted they ended up being terrible?

[flight147z]

Radec said:

Never finished it but it did grip me the first few series.

I think the same thing happened with Heroes.

Was there some sort of writers strike that happened at the time which meant there was a big break for these series and when they restarted they ended up being terrible?

2007/2008 - most series ended up being delayed or shortened. Lost went from 25, 24 and 23 episodes in the first 3 seasons respectively to just 14 episodes in the fourth. It also premiered 3 months late

[Halmyre]

Look on it as a journey with no particular destination.

Plus you've got Elizabeth Mitchell and Evangeline Lilly perspiring in little vest tops. Or Matthew Fox and Josh Holloway perspiring in vest tops.

[PaulJC84]

I liked it but like most series it went on too long.

Enjoyed when they found the hatch. It started with someone living down there, showing their morning routine.

[lizardbrain]

Never seen Lost, but was enjoying 'From' recently, which is by some of the same people and actors,

that is, enjoyed it until I found out it was by the Lost people, so almost certainly will have no plot resolution of any kind and just meander as it pleases through different planes of supernatural weirdness

personally I need that 'breaking bad' feeling it's all mapped out and every plot line has a meaning. so I don't think I'd enjoy lost!