question of the day: What burning questions do you hope ‘Lost’ answers in its final season?
Lost won’t return to our TVs till sometime in early 2010, but series creators Carlton Cuse and Damon Lindelof sparked off fan excitement at San Diego Comic Con: during their Lost panel, they offered some clues -- maybe, if we can trust them -- about where the show will go in its final season.
Reports the L.A. Times blog The Hero Complex (awesome name for a geek blog, BTW):
Lindelof assured the faithful that all the mythology and mysterious plot points would indeed be wrapped up this season."Yeah, everything that matters will be answered," he told the crowd, still leaving some wriggle room for theorists (what doesn't matter?). Cuse even took the step of saying he was locking the scripted ending in a sealed chest, which would prove the writers were not making everything up as they went along, as some skeptics have insisted.
As they have in the past, the producers made it clear that they were relieved to be able to announce a clear end date for the series. The pair famously battled over the issue with ABC executives, who were loath to let go of something with such a devoted fan base. "The biggest moment in the show's life was when were able to announce the show's death," Lindelof said.But as for details on this final season, the producers revealed little. "We will be as honest and forthcoming as we never were," Lindelof joked at the beginning of the session.
And AceShowbiz has more on the no-longer-rumors about the return of some dead characters:
It has been confirmed that the sixth season of "Lost" will partly resemble the first season, including in terms of its cast. "There's a good chance you'll be seeing many characters you haven't seen since the first season again," said executive producer Damon Lindelof at the show's San Diego Comic Con panel Saturday, July 25.One of the familiar faces that will come back is Boone. The word of confirmation however, came from the character's depicter Ian Somerhalder who told Access Hollywood during the event, "Boone's gonna pop back in. Two minutes ago, I walked out of a green room with Carlton Cuse and Damon Lindelof. We're gonna work it out." The producers gave one big mystery to how Boone will re-enter the story because he had died in the first season from falling.
No other clues regarding other characters from season 1 that include Boone's sister Shannon. But the show will welcome back Juliet and Daniel Faraday, although there is no guarantee that they will be alive. Michael Emerson who plays Ben emphasized that no one really dies in the show, thus every possibility is available.
Who else do you hope will return to Lost? What matters do you that you’ll need answers on? What burning questions do you hope Lost answers in its final season?
(If you have a suggestion for a QOTD, feel free to email me. Responses to this QOTD sent by email will be ignored; please post your responses here.)
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comments
posted by PaulW (Wed Jul 29 09, 1:57PM)
Burning question 1: why did people watch this show?
posted by doa766 (Wed Jul 29 09, 4:08PM)
what was the deal with that radio transmission with the numbers that made Hurley go to Australia on the first place?
who are Adam and Eve (skeletons on the cave?
what's deal with Walt's powers?
how come all characters are related to each other in some way (Locke's father conned Sawyer's father. how come Desmond talked to Jack on the empty stadium and why it was never mentioned again)?
who are the DeGroots?
who are Magnus Hanso and Alvar Hanso and how are they related to the present events?
who was the economist that Sayid killed?
posted by Mark (Wed Jul 29 09, 4:49PM)
Why was the woman on the Island Hurley fell for also in the same mental facility as him, *and* also the woman who sold Desmond his yacht?
Why did Dharma set up such a bizarre containment system for the magnetic anomaly?
How did cocaine smugglers from Africa in a light plane clearly incapable of crossing an ocean end up in the Pacific?
posted by doa766 (Wed Jul 29 09, 5:19PM)
Yeah, Mark's right, Libby is one of the biggest questions remaining but I'm afraid it won't have any answers
it's one of those instances where the writers thought it would be cool and mysterious to have her show up at the mental hospital and on the cafe to give Desmond the boat but at the time they didn't think of how it would fit on the overall story
it's just for shock value, like the ending of the second season of the terminator series, and then they have to come up with a overtly complicated explanation or a very disappointing explanation or ignore it altogether
it's making it up as they go along, JJ Abraham said that he thought of the hatch on the first season and the episode aired before they decided what would be on it
posted by Newbs (Wed Jul 29 09, 7:51PM)
Sorry to jump down your throat, doa, but this is one of those arguments that is totally asinine and needs to be shut down hard. The end product is what's important, not how it was created or who thought it up and when. Maybe you don't like the story they're telling, and that's fine, but don't act like they're doing it any differently than the creators and writers of the shows you do like.
posted by Newbs (Wed Jul 29 09, 7:53PM)
posted by doa766 (Wed Jul 29 09, 11:27PM)
Newbs, you seem to be a little confused
when you write something you eiter outline where its going or you can "fly blind" and see where it takes you, the Lost writers almost always choose the second option, but that approach always damages the final product on TV because the previous episodes already aired and they can't be re writen, on books or movies the whole thing can be re writen to make it cohesive before its made public
the writers thought it would be cool to have the end an episode of the second season by having Jack ask Ana Lucia "how long it will take to train an army?", later they decided that wouldn't be a good storyline so that was never mentioned again, the samw with that episode where Sawyer got all the guns and said he was the new sherif and thing weould be different, it was never mentioned again, that's making it up as they go along and that's two of the many many examples of this on Lost and it affects the quality of the finished product
obviously they can't plan the whole series from the beginning but they can plan for one season and they didn't do it until the fourth
this is not complicated to understand
posted by Newbs (Thu Jul 30 09, 12:13AM)
So yeah, essentially: you don't like Lost. What is there to misunderstand? Except for why you watch it so closely when you think it sucks so hard?
It does seem odd that Ana Lucia never trained that army... I guess you're right about that. I wonder why she never got around to it?
posted by Chuck (Thu Jul 30 09, 12:20AM)
Why would one airliner have so many blue tarpaulin's on board. I mean, they seem to be everywhere. I am sure I must have been on flights with no blue tarpaulin's, what if those flight crashed? What would I cover my hut with?
posted by doa766 (Thu Jul 30 09, 3:49AM)
I used to like it at lot but at this point I keep watching because I know that the next one is the last season
by now the story is just about revealing mysteries and by that I mean coming up with some newly written explanation for some mysterious developments aired years ago, the mysteries are not the reason the show was so good, it was the characters
when it was about the characters it was brilliant and all the mystery was just window dressing, it made it even more interesting with some weird half sci fi/fantasy stuff on the background but the plot was firmly rooted on the characters and their relatioships
but they over did it with the mysteries and now the last two seasons are basically hours and hours of exposition to explain as much as posible, some things are better to be left vague and unexplained (Midi-chlorians) and all the old characters arcs are stalled and the new ones are not interesting
(spoiler) BTW Ana Lucia died several episodes after the "army" discussion with Jack, on the next episode after that she was alive and had already forgotten about it, and Jack as well
posted by doa766 (Thu Jul 30 09, 4:07AM)
Newbs, probably the biggest example of making it up as they go along is something the show runners were asked during comic con: the food dropped on second season
at the time it was done so it would fit with the hatch in lockdown episode but now it makes no sense according to how they continued the Dharma storyline
so on season six they'll have to come up with an explanation and even if it makes sense it's just to "correct" up an old goof that's too big to be ignored
posted by Lisa (Thu Jul 30 09, 9:53AM)
who the fuck is Jacob and his grumpy friend?
altho yeah the food thing defo needs to be addressed
I think the writers of Lost have a basic framework but they allow themselves to be surprised hence the great and mighty Michael Emerson as Ben
posted by Newbs (Thu Jul 30 09, 11:52AM)
The problems people have with this show are such trivial quibbles... I understand the desire to have loopholes closed, but as I stated above, it's the end result that matters. You're so caught up in this "making it up" thing that even if they do answer your questions you'll probably think it's dumb because you're already convinced they don't have good answers. So why even bother with it?
It's pretty cliché of me to say this, I know, but when I don't like a show I just don't watch it.
posted by Shannon Dunne (Thu Jul 30 09, 2:59PM)
In one of Desmonds visions in season 3, Des told Charle that he saw Clare get into a helecopter and leave the island and this prompts Charle to go down to the looking glass and eventually die. Will this end up happing? or was the vision false?
Let me know what you think?
posted by doa766 (Thu Jul 30 09, 7:14PM)
Newbs: I'll try to explain it to you one last time even though I'm sure you won't understand
it doesn't matter if the answers are good or bad, they are separate from the questions, which where never formulated with a particular answer in mind
the finish product is the problem on Lost, the loopholes and contradictions keep adding up to a point where the show is not about the characters anymore but rather about answering questions that are not really important to begin with
it's like the briefcase on Pulp Fiction, it doesn't matter what's inside, what matters is how people react to it
posted by Newbs (Fri Jul 31 09, 1:46AM)
posted by JoshDM (Fri Jul 31 09, 2:05PM)
Here's the question I want answered.
I understand the writers aren't going to address some questions, for example, Libby's backstory. Or at least, they've stated as much in an interview during the prior season. Granted, they could just as easily be putting up a smokescreen for a Libby backstory reveal in the final season. Nonetheless, there may be questions that are left unanswered at the end of the series that aren't able to be left "up to interpretation" (see the ending to "The Sopranos" for an example of an ending that is best left up to intrepretation (I am pro-assassination theory)).
That having been said, I would like to know if, post-end, the writers would open up a forum for questions to be asked and answered. Not nonsensical questions like Garcia asked at SDCC "Where's the inhaler?", but actual driving ones that might not get answered like certain character motives, or backstory elements that went to the wayside.
Certainly, I expect a few may be addressed in the show (like the supposed connection between Jack's first wife and the car crash that took out Boone & Shannon's father), but others (Libby's backstory) might not and I'd like to have assurance that they might at least say something to the effect of "Yeah, we were going to go X route with that story element and reveal Y, but that wouldn't work out, so we felt it best to drop that thread".
That's what I'd like; a place to ask and get answers to certain elements once all is said and done.
posted by JoshDM (Fri Jul 31 09, 2:29PM)
I'll answer a few questions
That transmission came from the radio tower on the island, which later was overridden by Danielle with her warning message in French. Timeline-wise, it's the serial number of the Swan hatch as assigned by the Dharma handbook. Completely normal. It is likely that those IN the hatch simply took the numbers from outside the hatch to program the computer passcode. Additionally realizing the passcode was necessary to be replicated in event of emergency (why put a passcode in place in the first place?), the number was broadcast on the radio tower for approaching parties to use. This is the message picked up by the military people. Why the combination of numbers became "magical" at that point, and why they appear so frequently is possibly able to be chalked up to superstition and coincidence, but see my answer to Walt below.
The above is my pet theory.
That question was guaranteed to be answered in this final season.
Standard plot-writing tactic. Walt's powers, all of which could be chalked up to instances of convenient coincidence, were revealed in the first season to establish that psychic ability EXISTED, so if the writers later decided to do something involving psychic abilities, it wouldn't be seen by viewers as some b.s. cop-out surprise element.
Again, the coincidence theory, though the last episode where Jacob involves himself with different past iterations of our characters may show that there was some long-standing manipulation of elements in order to intersect these characters for some reason. Obviously, there is something special about this select group, and I'm sure this manipulation coming to the front in the last episode we watched will become a larger element in the final season.
Some people / scientists who helped create the Dharma Initiative. Possibly no one important; I think with the early Season ARG (the GAME) becoming non-canon, these people can be dismissed.
Magnus is theorized as the captain of The Black Rock. At best, if addressed in the final season, they are all likely involved with the third group of people that Jacob brought to the island.
Probably no one, maybe someone involved in some dealings with Widmore and his planting of the fake Oceanic plane underwater, or maybe someone who worked with Ben Linus / Richard Alpert that needed to be dealt with. Likely an irrelevant thread that was whacked due to the writer's strike.