If you had your way with the final season, which parts you would have leave alone and which parts you would have changed?
Improving Lost Season 6
- Thread starter Joe Washington
- Start date
I'm not sure if this would have improved it, but if we need to make a change, I'd have dropped the Jacob-MiB-supernatural stuff and just made the story about a powerful island with amazing properties that is being fought over by human beings in the real world.
I'd have changed lots of things
Maintained the same style as the three previous seasons--lots of interesting revelations, satisfying answers, faster pacing, more of a focus on mythology.
I'd continue from season 5 bringing forth various pieces of the story and taking them one last final mile in their development by providing storylines that addressed the DHARMA Initiative/Hanso, storylines tied the glyphs ancient structures back to the mystery of the island and its first inhabitants and Protector.
I'd have treated Widmore and Eloise as more than just footnotes and continued to explore them and their relationship.
I would have not made Jacob and MIB brothers. I would have made them intriguing supernatural creatures with a satisfying backstory. I would have made the War Widmore spoke of the frame for the season and made it epic and exciting.
This season was so mechanical and lethargic. I would have ratcheted up the tension and the build up to the series monumental final episodes. I would have answered all the questions the series raised over the years.
Maintained the same style as the three previous seasons--lots of interesting revelations, satisfying answers, faster pacing, more of a focus on mythology.
I'd continue from season 5 bringing forth various pieces of the story and taking them one last final mile in their development by providing storylines that addressed the DHARMA Initiative/Hanso, storylines tied the glyphs ancient structures back to the mystery of the island and its first inhabitants and Protector.
I'd have treated Widmore and Eloise as more than just footnotes and continued to explore them and their relationship.
I would have not made Jacob and MIB brothers. I would have made them intriguing supernatural creatures with a satisfying backstory. I would have made the War Widmore spoke of the frame for the season and made it epic and exciting.
This season was so mechanical and lethargic. I would have ratcheted up the tension and the build up to the series monumental final episodes. I would have answered all the questions the series raised over the years.
Severely curtail the flash-sideways storyline. Start it when Desmond gets shocked into it and only do a single sequence for each character being affected by Desmond.
Instead of all that tripe, more relevatory flashbacks. One for Widmore. The full details of his exile. How did Jacob show him the error of his ways? How did he abduct Desmond? Another for Ben. His role in the Purge. What happened to his childhood sweetheart Annie? Another for Richard, showing his POV of the changing power shifts in the leadership with Ben and Widmore and Hawking. The truth about Ilana and her group. More Dharma details. Show Radzinsky getting stuck in the Swan alone and Kelvin coming to the Island. What was Faraday doing off-Island for three years?
In the finale, they actually FIGHT the Monster we've been seeing for six years who was set up as the ultimate villain of the series.
More answers. Duh
Instead of all that tripe, more relevatory flashbacks. One for Widmore. The full details of his exile. How did Jacob show him the error of his ways? How did he abduct Desmond? Another for Ben. His role in the Purge. What happened to his childhood sweetheart Annie? Another for Richard, showing his POV of the changing power shifts in the leadership with Ben and Widmore and Hawking. The truth about Ilana and her group. More Dharma details. Show Radzinsky getting stuck in the Swan alone and Kelvin coming to the Island. What was Faraday doing off-Island for three years?
In the finale, they actually FIGHT the Monster we've been seeing for six years who was set up as the ultimate villain of the series.
More answers. Duh
How about this as a way to make the flash-sideways more intergrated into the main plot of the season?
The nuclear bomb explosion at the end of Season 5 created a crack within time as well as within the force surrounding the island and it’s this crack that the Man in the Black plans to use to his advantage to escape from the island. The explosion has also split the Losties in 1977 into two. One set of them has woken up in present-day while the other wakes up within the lives of their alternate selves in the alternate timeline created by the Incident.
To fix the crack, the Losties in the alternate timeline must gather as much as everyone who was on Oceanic 815 as possible, take them onboard the plane, and fly them towards the crack caused by the Incident. Once that happens, the crack will be fixed which would mean the elimination of the alternate timeline and the deaths of everyone onboard 815.
In the alternate timeline, the bomb going off has caused the island to sink to the bottom of the ocean allowing the Man in the Black to roam free in the world which is why the world of the flash-sideways seem to be on the verge of falling apart for reasons unknown to most of the characters. Jacob is wandering the earth without any powers since the island-the source of his powers- is out of commission. This Jacob seems to have a connection to the original timeline in which he knows about the other Jacob’s death and he plays a major role in the regrouping of the Oceanic 815 passengers.
Once the crack is fixed mid-season, the Man in the Black wants to destroy the island in a fit of rage over the loss of the crack in addition to looking for another way of escaping the island. The only thing left from the alternate timeline is the alternate Oceanic 815 which has sunken to the bottom of the ocean which Widmore used as a part of his plot to make the world think that everyone onboard the plane was dead. Finding the plane made Widmore realize that something big is going down on the island.
The moment the crack is fixed is the moment Jack, Kate, Sawyer, Hurley, Sayid, Jin, and Miles are merged with the memories of their alternate selves. The rest of the season is focused on stopping the Man in the Black from blowing up the island.
The nuclear bomb explosion at the end of Season 5 created a crack within time as well as within the force surrounding the island and it’s this crack that the Man in the Black plans to use to his advantage to escape from the island. The explosion has also split the Losties in 1977 into two. One set of them has woken up in present-day while the other wakes up within the lives of their alternate selves in the alternate timeline created by the Incident.
To fix the crack, the Losties in the alternate timeline must gather as much as everyone who was on Oceanic 815 as possible, take them onboard the plane, and fly them towards the crack caused by the Incident. Once that happens, the crack will be fixed which would mean the elimination of the alternate timeline and the deaths of everyone onboard 815.
In the alternate timeline, the bomb going off has caused the island to sink to the bottom of the ocean allowing the Man in the Black to roam free in the world which is why the world of the flash-sideways seem to be on the verge of falling apart for reasons unknown to most of the characters. Jacob is wandering the earth without any powers since the island-the source of his powers- is out of commission. This Jacob seems to have a connection to the original timeline in which he knows about the other Jacob’s death and he plays a major role in the regrouping of the Oceanic 815 passengers.
Once the crack is fixed mid-season, the Man in the Black wants to destroy the island in a fit of rage over the loss of the crack in addition to looking for another way of escaping the island. The only thing left from the alternate timeline is the alternate Oceanic 815 which has sunken to the bottom of the ocean which Widmore used as a part of his plot to make the world think that everyone onboard the plane was dead. Finding the plane made Widmore realize that something big is going down on the island.
The moment the crack is fixed is the moment Jack, Kate, Sawyer, Hurley, Sayid, Jin, and Miles are merged with the memories of their alternate selves. The rest of the season is focused on stopping the Man in the Black from blowing up the island.
How many what if threads do we need?
Until we all OD on them like a kid eating too much pink cotton candy at the park.
Here's another idea: Jacob is Smokey. He's above good and evil; yin and yang, all in one. He needs someone to take over for him to protect the island from greedy, squabbling humans who will abuse its powers. The flash-sideways is a test he puts the Losties through, to see who is also above good and evil enough that they are capable of taking over.
This is a tough thing to find - how many people would keep the island a secret even if they knew its healing powers could save millions, or even if they could just make shitloads of money from it? Is there anyone who could be trusted?
Hurley, maybe. But even then, Hurley wouldn't be able to deal with the guilt of having a cancer-healing island he shares with no one. Maybe Jacob could bring Locke back to life, but Locke is a bit too obvious.
Could Jack, the doctor, so thoroughly get over his need to save everyone that he can keep the secret, and if so, what's the moral of the story? That it's good to let people suffer and die? That's an ending that no one would expect, and it would be fun to see the internet mania that would break out.
How to improve season 6? The only way I can think to do that would be to ignore season 5 because that's where a lot of the show's problems came from.
I would have gone the more predictable yet ultimately more sensible and satisfying route that the show seemed to be heading down at the end of season 4. Ben moves the island through time to 2007, the Oceanic Six (plus Ben) find their way back to learn that only a few weeks have gone by on the island. Locke is leader of the Others now and it's his duty to protect the island. Explain the Dharma Initiative and The Incident through flashbacks. Widmore finds the island again, his intention is to study the properties of island to save lives in the real world, but Jacob warns Locke that this will destroy the island somehow. Jack is somehow vital in protecting the island, so in the series finale Locke sacrifices himself by travelling back in time to convince Jack and co to go back to the island knowing that it will lead to his death.
No killing off the background Losties that Jack went back to the island to save. No random time-travel from nuclear detonations. No Jacob vs MIB. No good vs evil. All sides are shades of grey. Characters drive the plot.
I would have gone the more predictable yet ultimately more sensible and satisfying route that the show seemed to be heading down at the end of season 4. Ben moves the island through time to 2007, the Oceanic Six (plus Ben) find their way back to learn that only a few weeks have gone by on the island. Locke is leader of the Others now and it's his duty to protect the island. Explain the Dharma Initiative and The Incident through flashbacks. Widmore finds the island again, his intention is to study the properties of island to save lives in the real world, but Jacob warns Locke that this will destroy the island somehow. Jack is somehow vital in protecting the island, so in the series finale Locke sacrifices himself by travelling back in time to convince Jack and co to go back to the island knowing that it will lead to his death.
No killing off the background Losties that Jack went back to the island to save. No random time-travel from nuclear detonations. No Jacob vs MIB. No good vs evil. All sides are shades of grey. Characters drive the plot.
I strongly disagree with this assessment. Season 5 was a very good season and definitely in the top three maybe top two for the show.
No stalling, fast pacing, pulling together pieces strewn all over the series in satisfying and plausible ways. The show had finally found its rhythm and was finally capitalizing on all the early groundwork that fans had to sit through-sometimes frustratingly--and finally had momentum.
By the end of season 5 the series was poised to launch into the final season and take everything they had been developing and wrap them up by providing the final answers and pieces of the puzzle with everything building to the series Big Final Moment--6 years in the making.
Instead it seemed that as soon as Jughead detonated and season six premiered the writers themselves seemed to have been reset to the mentality they had in seasons 2 and portions of season 3. The tone is so different from S3-5 it is jarring. It is back to a stalling mentality, a slow pace, no answers. It struck me that their behavior was that of a child who grew tired of their toy and chucked it aside neglectfully in favor of going back to something else.
The problems this year wasn't that it was continuing in the footsteps of season 5--in my opinion that was its biggest mistake only if it had done so it would have been brilliant--instead it was a mechanical bore that wasted 18 precious episodes. Instead of exploring DHARMA, Hanso, the ancient civilization, Ann Arbor etc--stuff the audience was interested in--they gave us characters shifting back and forth from one camp to another, from one island to another; characters as plot devices or with precious little to do(Jin Kidnapped Plot Device, Sun struck her head, Claire's arc was as big of a mess as her hair, Sayid arc as explained by L/C was convoluted & unsatisfying); the new narrative device i.e. sideways flashes were boring; the attempts to look back at the series in its final episodes fell absolutely flat(all the old faces returning as nothing more than cameos, the gratuitous namedropping, the old sets like the cave or the cages where it felt so obviously that they were screaming to us--"Hey look remember these back in the early years"); Jacob and MIB were not provided a satisfying origin story; lots of unanswered questions leading to a feel of incompleteness when looking back at the series as a whole; no real clear Threat or Goal to frame and help drive the season as we had gotten in the previous years; no narrative urgency and most importantly the distinct feeling that the writers tried to go the traditional route in how they approached the final season the way any other drama would forgetting that LOST was its own unique animal.
So you might blame season 5 but personally Season 5 was everything Season 6 should have been--fun, thrilling, unpredictable, focused on the mythology and answers, epic ambitious storytelling, high stakes, well conceived action, tension-filled, suspenseful--everything season 6 most certainly wasn't.
Done something else with the flash-sideways.
The issue with the sideways storylines were they boring before we knew what the real deal was with them. At first we thought they might be an alternate timeline where everything was the same up until the point 815 was suppose to crash on the island and this would be an avenue to compare what their lives were like on the island versus had they never crashed so we could decide whether Jack made the right decision in trying to reset history.
Then it became clear with the appearance of Jack's son that this couldn't be an alternate timeline but an alternate universe/reality. After that it became sort of a pointless exercise since they basically just through characters together in these contrived situations just so they could bring back old dead characters for pointless cameos believing that by doing so they were somehow advancing the cause of making us feel nostalgic about the series ending. That feeling of contrivance was cemented when it was revealed it was an afterlife construct. There was no real rhyme or reason guiding why the characters were like they were or who they crossed paths or what harrowing situations they found themselves in i.e. Sun shot or Jin in the freezer. They were contrived as pointless red herrings that added nothing to the story.
I thought I might enjoy them in hindsight once what they were was out in the open but I don't. In hindsight, they are just souls of characters acting like wound up toys just going through the motions in some artificial environment until they wake up and realize they are dead. I know everyone has been echoing L/C's "it was all about the characters" mantra but honestly even if it were can anyonereally tell me that the character stuff in season 6 was the least bit interesting or compelling. Was I the only one who was bored by it and found my attention wandering? I was hard on LOST wannabes like V and FlashForward this season but the same things I were bitching about with the shows were the same issues I had with LOST this year--boring characters in boring storylines, filler masquerading as relevant to the mythology, dragging things out, uninteresting protagonists.
Holosuite/hallucination test of the Losties that would reveal which one was worthy to be Jacob's successor. That would still keep the stories in the "future" of the Losties so that neither reality would be negated and we wouldn't be watching a bunch of characters who aren't the real ones, plus it would give a plausible reason for everyone having amnesia, which the afterlife really doesn't - you die and lose your memory? Since when!
It could have been a total timeline reset, so that the timeline where Jack didn't have a son had been wiped out. That's not an alternate reality (but would be upsetting if they wiped out the whole frakkin show!)
R
rainrotoka
Guest
I want to be improve the last episodes of lost season 6. I really like the lost episodes, but In last episodes had disappointed to me a lot. I never expected this was the end of lost episodes. I had more exception to last episodes of lost show.
One thing that might have improved the show and added dimension to the MIB would have been to show a flashback episode from a time when he was briefly an MLB first-baseman.
^^^ I don't get it.
Nardpuncher
Rear Admiral
Well I just finished the series and was very disappointed.
SPOILERS!
I didn't need everything answered but enough that I can connect the rest of the dots myself.
I'd prefer the basic nature of the island be explained. I understand it has mystical properties. I don't need a scientific explanation, but one at all would've been better.
I can accept immortality once it's explained (for example : Richard's immortality was a gift from Jacob. Fine. But how did Jacob become the way he was? Again, I don't mean a scientific explanation of how someone becomes immortal but a simple reason)
The way I see the Lost finale is imagine the story of Superman, but with no origin...we just begin with seeing him in Metropolis doing his thing, but he has no memory of his birth and how he came to get his powers. Kryptonite affects him but we don't know why and how.
Then the show ends.
I mean, we're told with Supes that he's from another planet and our sun gives him power..Great, I accept that, sure it's not plausible, but I fully accept it. Kryptonite, being pieces of his home planet seem to weaken him. Sure, that sort of makes sense in its way too. But if you go like Lost and don't even give us a good exposition of 2 minutes ( I know you can't have every little thing explained especially by someone like Ben or Richard talking for a long time) then people will feel duped.
The whole sideflash was basically a dream in the sense that none of it was 'really' happening, so that ended up duping the audience.
Sure the acting was great and the story was engrossing with me wondering what Desmond was getting everyone together for as you think what they're doing in the sideflash will somehow bear on the events on the island...but no...he's just getting them together to get them together.
Once you take away the whole sideflash thing you're left with Desmond pulling a plug and Jack putting it back in and a bunch of them die.
SPOILERS!
I didn't need everything answered but enough that I can connect the rest of the dots myself.
I'd prefer the basic nature of the island be explained. I understand it has mystical properties. I don't need a scientific explanation, but one at all would've been better.
I can accept immortality once it's explained (for example : Richard's immortality was a gift from Jacob. Fine. But how did Jacob become the way he was? Again, I don't mean a scientific explanation of how someone becomes immortal but a simple reason)
The way I see the Lost finale is imagine the story of Superman, but with no origin...we just begin with seeing him in Metropolis doing his thing, but he has no memory of his birth and how he came to get his powers. Kryptonite affects him but we don't know why and how.
Then the show ends.
I mean, we're told with Supes that he's from another planet and our sun gives him power..Great, I accept that, sure it's not plausible, but I fully accept it. Kryptonite, being pieces of his home planet seem to weaken him. Sure, that sort of makes sense in its way too. But if you go like Lost and don't even give us a good exposition of 2 minutes ( I know you can't have every little thing explained especially by someone like Ben or Richard talking for a long time) then people will feel duped.
The whole sideflash was basically a dream in the sense that none of it was 'really' happening, so that ended up duping the audience.
Sure the acting was great and the story was engrossing with me wondering what Desmond was getting everyone together for as you think what they're doing in the sideflash will somehow bear on the events on the island...but no...he's just getting them together to get them together.
Once you take away the whole sideflash thing you're left with Desmond pulling a plug and Jack putting it back in and a bunch of them die.
^ Agreed
I would posit that the mythology never really progressed beyond Locke claiming to see the heart of the island early in season 1. Sure we get all of these extraneous details but none of them really matter to the plot.
The more I think about the final season the more it feels like it was "on wheels" and just written to play into the expectations that the audience already had on some level, even including purgatory in a roundabout way because that was a popular theory.
I would posit that the mythology never really progressed beyond Locke claiming to see the heart of the island early in season 1. Sure we get all of these extraneous details but none of them really matter to the plot.
The more I think about the final season the more it feels like it was "on wheels" and just written to play into the expectations that the audience already had on some level, even including purgatory in a roundabout way because that was a popular theory.
To me, we got that explanation of what the island was in season two. It was, well... an island sitting on top of a pocket of electromagnetic energy that gave it unusual properties. But to the various people who encountered the island, the island meant something different to each one based on his or her character, prejudices, and needs.
To the people who built the ruins, the island was a holy place. To MIB it was a prison. To the U. S. army in 1950s, it was nothing but a place to test weapons. To the Dharma Initiative, it was a place of great scientific discovery. To Locke, it was an affirmation of the existence of fate. To Jack, it was an attack on his free will. So the driving focus of the show for me was never "what is the island?" We learned that in season two. It was "what is the island to character A, and how does that conflict with what the island is from character B's point of view."
I'm not saying everything got a satisfying answer. Immortality and giant plumes of sentient black smoke were just glossed over. But as far as "what is the island?" that's a question I'm completely satisfied with.
To the people who built the ruins, the island was a holy place. To MIB it was a prison. To the U. S. army in 1950s, it was nothing but a place to test weapons. To the Dharma Initiative, it was a place of great scientific discovery. To Locke, it was an affirmation of the existence of fate. To Jack, it was an attack on his free will. So the driving focus of the show for me was never "what is the island?" We learned that in season two. It was "what is the island to character A, and how does that conflict with what the island is from character B's point of view."
I'm not saying everything got a satisfying answer. Immortality and giant plumes of sentient black smoke were just glossed over. But as far as "what is the island?" that's a question I'm completely satisfied with.
That was one beautiful reply, Hober Mallow.
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