Why I Take Issue With Lost
Lost turned out to be a monumental let-down to me. A lot of people wonder why I make such a big deal out of poorly written fiction. It’s because, as in the case of Lost, we aren’t talking about real-world mysteries like “did Atlantis ever exist and if so where is it?” No, we’re talking about mysteries of the writers’ creation.
It is therefore the writer’s responsibility to present a story that makes sense, even if only within the context if its own universe. I’m all for suspending disbelief, but only if the writer(s) play by the rules they themselves set out.
With fiction that’s made up on the fly, like Lost, I can guess and posit till the cows come home, I won’t actually be any closer to an answer because the writer hasn’t thought of one yet.
So when Lost ended and they didn’t give the viewers any semblance of a decent explanation for why things were the way they were, it became painfully clear that they were just making it up as they went and just dug themselves into a creative hole which they couldn’t get out of. The entire 6-year run instantly became a shallow, ratings motivated creative brain-fart without an inkling of forethought–the stuff that’s most necessary for mysteries. It was clear now, it was a sham.
In other words there was never any point in trying to figure things out because there was nothing to figure out. The writers hadn’t thought that far. They just threw another “tune in next time” hook out their for viewers. Read Sherlock Holmes if you want an example of well thought out mysteries. It keeps you guessing because you know that the author thought the story through and things aren’t just randomly happening to keep you hooked long enogh to watch the next commercial.
Pretending that Lost was an intellectual exercise is to insult the already insulted, intelligent, viewer.
Update: College Humor has released a video summing up all of the unanswered questions left by the Lost producers and writers. It just goes to reinforce my point about their making it up as they went.