If Lost was cancelled after Season 5...

[Joe Washington]

If Lost was cancelled after Season 4 or Season 5...

How would you feel about No Place Like Home or The Incident being the ending of the show?

 

[Nardpuncher]

Well, at least it would've kept me from wasting time up to that crap ending.

 

[DonIago]

I loathe it when shows end on a cliffhanger. Not that I watch anything else on ABC, but I certainly wouldn't have forgiven them for that.

 

[Starbreaker]

Mass chaos in the streets.

 

[DonIago]

Dogs and cats living together!

 

[Mr Light]

If it had ended at Season Five as is I would have been perfectly happy. No disappointing ending. Basically got the rundown on the Island and the Jacob/Man in Black situation, the reason for them being on the Island, etc, etc.

 

[Warp Coil]

It would have been... irritating. Season five ended with a literal bang - the detonation of the nuclear warhead. Faraday's theory was that detonating the bomb would change the timeline so that Oceanic 815 would never crash on the island. Had "Lost" abruptly ended after season 5, the audience would be left to assume that perhaps Faraday's plan worked. Oceanic 815 landed in LAX. It never crashed. The events that the audience had witnessed over the past five seasons no longer mattered. The entire series is effectively erased. And we never got to understand who Jacob was, who the MiB was, why these people were brought to the island, why the island was important and worth protecting, etc. etc.

I'm much happier with the way the series actually ended.

 

[Nardpuncher]

It would have been... irritating. Season five ended with a literal bang - the detonation of the nuclear warhead. Faraday's theory was that detonating the bomb would change the timeline so that Oceanic 815 would never crash on the island. Had "Lost" abruptly ended after season 5, the audience would be left to assume that perhaps Faraday's plan worked. Oceanic 815 landed in LAX. It never crashed. The events that the audience had witnessed over the past five seasons no longer mattered. The entire series is effectively erased. And we never got to understand who Jacob was, who the MiB was, why these people were brought to the island, why the island was important and worth protecting, etc. etc.

I'm much happier with the way the series actually ended.

Which was pretty much as you described with a tiny little bit more added.

 

[Joe Washington]

I would think ending Lost with The Incident would leave two possibilities of its outcome hanging in the air rather than one: either detonating Jughead altered the flow of the timeline allowing Oceanic 815 to land safely in Los Angeles OR it transported the Losties back to the present where they would have to face Fake Locke who seems to be someone not to be messed with.

 

[Temis the Vorta]

A mob carrying pitchforks and torches heads for ABC Studios.

 

[Warp Coil]

It would have been... irritating. Season five ended with a literal bang - the detonation of the nuclear warhead. Faraday's theory was that detonating the bomb would change the timeline so that Oceanic 815 would never crash on the island. Had "Lost" abruptly ended after season 5, the audience would be left to assume that perhaps Faraday's plan worked. Oceanic 815 landed in LAX. It never crashed. The events that the audience had witnessed over the past five seasons no longer mattered. The entire series is effectively erased. And we never got to understand who Jacob was, who the MiB was, why these people were brought to the island, why the island was important and worth protecting, etc. etc.

I'm much happier with the way the series actually ended.

Which was pretty much as you described with a tiny little bit more added.

I found the actual finale to be poignant and emotionally satisfying from a character perspective. The events on the island were all real and our characters experienced those things. They sacrificed themselves to protect the island in one way or another, and despite all of the tragedy they endured, they were able to reunite as they moved onto the next phase of existence. I'm much happier with that than the idea of the show ending with a time-altering reset button that undoes the events of the series.

 

[DonIago]

^Couldn't have said it better myself.

Plus I liked getting Richard's backstory, and for all that it's a divisive episode I appreciated "Across the Sea" for finally giving us a look at Jacob and Mr. Black's backstory, even if the end result was that we learned the story started even earlier than we thought.

 

[Jack Bauer]

I would've been pissed since the story wouldn't be complete. I'm sure the outrage worldwide would've caused mass panic.

 

[Nardpuncher]

It would be OK just so long as the creators put out a statement saying that they never really planned to answer any of the mysteries the show brought up. Then we'd be able to sleep tight.

 

[sidious618]

It would be OK just so long as the creators put out a statement saying that they never really planned to answer any of the mysteries the show brought up. Then we'd be able to sleep tight.

This is bull. The show answered almost all the mysteries that were relevant.

 

[Nardpuncher]

It would be OK just so long as the creators put out a statement saying that they never really planned to answer any of the mysteries the show brought up. Then we'd be able to sleep tight.

This is bull. The show answered almost all the mysteries that were relevant.

You must be getting frustrated as you've probably had to disagree with many many people on this.
Or your definition of "answer' is looser than mine.

 

[Hober Mallow]

It would be OK just so long as the creators put out a statement saying that they never really planned to answer any of the mysteries the show brought up. Then we'd be able to sleep tight.

This is bull. The show answered almost all the mysteries that were relevant.

Is there a season one mystery that wasn't answered? Whispers, Smoke Monster, cause of the crash, the Others, Aaron, Christian walking around, Adam and Eve, the Hatch... what's left?

Now whether or not you were satisfied with the answers is another story. I wasn't really satisfied with how they handled Aaron -- by showing Claire's psychic to be a fraud -- but they did answer it.

 

[sidious618]

The only big question I can find that wasn't explained fully was the cabin which, while I'd have loved to see more of it, remains creepier as a mystery.