The Lost Series Finale (Hot or Not?)

As with Battlestar Galactica, I wanted to stop watching Lost over the years but just couldn’t pull myself entirely away and (mostly) stuck it out until the unsatisfying end. And these two journeys have reinforced my preference for movies over episodic TV. With the former, they’ve generally got the entire story arc nailed down before filming and the cast doesn’t generally bail along the way due to legal issues or puberty. Plus, there’s no network to artificially extend a story while milking additional advertising revenue.

Having said that, like BSG, we made up for Lost plot craziness with much MST3k enjoyment during the last season. To leave this post largerly spoiler free (we’re the DVR crowd), I’ll just offer you two innocous finale tweets I fired off as Lost concluded:

Wait, where are the Cylons and is this Earth? #

What a letdown. Seriously, no singing Ewoks?? #

OK, maybe one more – dedicated to Sayed: If you can’t love the one you want, love the one you’re with.

So have at it in the poll below. Which was the lesser of finales, BSG or LOST? And please sound off in the comments if you feel I’m off my rocker, that Lost provided a satisfying wrap.

Thanks to Twitter pal Feech1 for the poll suggestion. Stay tuned for the Lost Island Reunion Show in 2011!

26 thoughts on “The Lost Series Finale (Hot or Not?)”

  1. I voted BSG.

    But wouldn’t it be cool if one or both of these shows got crazy and did a reset, picking up after the end of their respective Season 1s (or even 2), and tried again with a hard cap of say two new seasons to do something different/better.

  2. Loved LOST’s ending— immensely satisfying. Don’t know what you were looking for. It’s primarily a story about people, love and destiny. The finale ended it all perfectly.

  3. To be fair, BSG has a certain element from the classic series that could easily explain “God” and the “angels” that was never introduced in this one (but has been heavily hinted at). One more movie could tie the “angels” and the return of Starbuck (using that phrasing intentionally there, BTW) up in a neat little package that would make a ton of sense (I just hope that’s where Moore actually sees things going, if they go further).

    As for Lost: I never enjoyed the series, it was never satisfying to me, so I’m voting for it.

  4. Watched and liked both shows. BSG was a complete copout and I was very disappointed with the ending… as if the actors just left the stage without ending the story. The Lost finale wrapped up both the “island” story and the “sideways” story and left us with some new puzzles that we can work out. I know some people were upset with what the sideways world turned out to be (I don’t think I’m one of them, but I’m not sure) but regardless, I don’t think that takes away from the “island” story which ended quite well.

  5. Count me in as a satisfied customer. I was on the ride all the way, and I found the finale wrap-up work for me. I have no issue with the sideways story reveal; I’m just glad that wasn’t the reveal for the main story.

    I think the island story was pitch perfect. It didn’t reveal everything, but enough was revealed to allow us to fill in the gaps. Possibly a comic book to continue the story? :-)

  6. I liked both, but was left with a similar feeling at the end of both. I was hungry to know why in your world 2+2=5 and you gave me a snickers bar and sang a pretty tune about the love affair between the numbers 2 and 5 — easing my hunger and making me weep — packed up your stuff and left. I still don’t know about Starbuck’s return, and I still don’t know about Walt and I stilll don’t really get what happened, and I will never know why 2+2=5, in your world.

    Now that I think about it BSG had more definitive answers. But I think Lost gave a bigger warm hug.

  7. Honestly, when I woke up this morning I realized why I was so angry at the end of Lost. There were just so many plot lines in the story that ultimately meant nothing in the end. The end itself was as someone else said satisfying, but left me empty about everything else. Using The Sopranos and Six Feet Under as the measuring stick for great series finales, Lost still fell way short.

    Oh and can someone tell me what Ben sitting outside at the end meant?

  8. Still not totally sure how I feel about the ending of Lost…some things added up and others didn’t. And yes, why was Ben sitting outside at the end, was he still in purgatory? Where were Walt and Michael?

    Oh, I never watched BSG…now I’m not sure I want to :)

  9. I really enjoyed Lost and it was the only show that I’ve ever counted down the days until each and every episode and watched them almost live. I had to force myself through each episode BSG as if my geek-card was on the line if I didn’t watch them all.

    The end was good, but not great. I enjoyed the character’s story, but felt the island deserve more closure. If the island just kept on testing people then, great, but I would’ve liked to have seen new people end up on the island at the end.

  10. I enjoyed it. In my mind, I played out Jack and Locke replaying the end of season 5 between Jacob and MIB… Jack sitting on the beach, Locke comes up to him and they have small talk until Locke says he wants to kill him.

    But this was obviously a completely different direction than that, and pretty satisfying overall. I am curious as hell about what happens on the island afterwards. They could have a whole extra season of just that.

  11. Double_K, the actor who played Michael was on Kimmel Live after Lost, and he said he believed he was still stuck on the island as a lost soul and continually “whispering”.

    As for why Ben stayed outside, he just needed more time to forgive himself for all he’s done. It was obvious the rest of them would be happy to have him inside, but needed to do some more soul searching.

    I really want to see a comic of Hurley and Ben defending the island.

  12. Ben may have also been hoping his “daughter” would swing on by before joining them inside? Then again, maybe she was immune, no redemption or purgatory needed given her origins and role. But, yeah, I wouldn’t mind comics or novels to flesh out and extend the story ON the island.

  13. I appreciate that you have the entire solution space technically nailed with the options available in the survey, though I do feel there should be an option for “enjoyed both despite some faults”. I guess “Equal Suckitude” would be the closest response for this, but it really doesn’t feel quite fitting.

  14. It wasn’t that bad really. It needed to end and no “answers” finale was going to please them all. So you know – dead people always satisfies ;)

    Loved Lost and love 24. Now I’ll just enjoy Fringe and hope for something else to entertain me on TV…

  15. Brent, you been watching V? Since it’s been renewed, I’m wondering if I should catch up. Also, I’ve only seen half of Fringe S1. Maybe worth watching again from the beginning to wherever we are. Hm.

  16. Dave … I’m watching V only out of misguided loyalty. With the exeption of Desparate House Wives and the ridiculous Doll House, if I start a series from Day 1, I usually hang on. But I’m on the verge of quitting V. I wouldn’t start now had I not wasted so much time watching it so far. The REAL pitty is that Fast Forward was cancelled.

    AS for the topic at hand, I too was completely frustrated with the too many unanswered questions at the end of Lost and the ‘convenient’ ending that most had guessed from day 1. That said, I thoroughly enjoyed the finale tying up all the relationship stories. Faraday’s pronouncement from a couple seasons ago that fate is pretty much going to find a way of making what is supposed to happen, happen – was the guiding principle of the last season. I had tears in my eyes several times over the final two point five hours. I really, really enjoyed it.

    On the other hand, I was furious with the ending of Battle Star Galactica. Stupid, stupid copp-out and inexplicable Starbuck silliness. So much of the last BSG episode was fantastic (the battle scenes) but the plot ending blew chunks in my opinion.

    I’m happy to see 24 laid to rest.

    The only show coming back next year that I REALLY care about is House. I enjoy Chuck and will watch it but if it had been canceled I wouldn’t have been disappointed like I am with the cancellation of Flash Forward, and was with the cancellation of Studio 60.

    Perhaps its time to cut down on my TV watching anyway. The fall will start a new chapter in my life for other reasons anyway :)

    …Dale

  17. I’ll tell you why it was disappointing. All the secrets that were reveled during the 6 years went nowhere, they had no bearing on how the show ended. The crazy glow in the dark map in the hatch. Where did the others come from? Why couldn’t the island be found? etc. No matter what answer you come up with for questions like these the ending could still be the same.

  18. V – I’m willing to keep it or leave it. If it continues, I’ll watch, but if it’s canceled I’m not upset.

    Fringe – Great show and really got good in the second season. Well worth catching up on, although not as serial as the others and can jump in the middle fine. Kind of like X-Files with some episodes as individuals and some as part of story arc.

    Flash Forward – First couple of episodes were rough, but it found its groove later on. I’m upset that it didn’t get picked up for a second season.

    Dexter – I will go where ever this show goes. Best thing on TV, period. I only wish seasons weren’t only 12 episodes each.

  19. Loved the show and the finale was excellent. Don’t know what you expected but if you watched the show for 6 years and couldn’t figure out that its a show about people and their failures and ultimate redemption then you completely missed the point. I can live without knowing the MiB’s name or where exactly the smoke monster came from or how Vincent survived….

  20. Loved the finale, and every dedicated fan I’ve talked to has felt the same. The only people that disliked it seemed to be the same people that have been complaining for 4 years that the show is going downhill.

    Lost did right by its fans. Sorry if you weren’t one.

  21. My take on finales –

    Lost had an OK-to good ending. Did not quite reach great.

    BSG’s finale was a total turd.

    24 – went out with a wimper, with visions of movie dollar signs.

    For current shows – I set a policy of not watching any new shows until they had been renewed for at least on season, and there is some buzz. This has served me pretty well, saving me from pining for cancelled shows. Catching up on DVD is easy. My wife had nostalgia for V, so we made an exception for that. Its been renewed, but I wish we hadn’t made an exception. Its pure cheese, with a bit of an odor to it.

    That said with 24 and Lost dropping (and The Office getting stale) we are going to need new shows soon.

  22. Wow, watching that video made me wonder if I missed some episodes. I didn’t have NEARLY that many unanswered questions left.

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