I wanted to take a few days to gather my thoughts and decide how I feel about the way the show ended and how I feel about the entire story.

First off, I loved the finale...very moving moments between Sun and Jin, Jules and Sawyer, etc...I really did love the finale and I'm ok with the fact that they all died because it was a happy ending of sorts. My problem is not with the finale per say...just the series as a whole.

I stayed away from the negativity in this forum for the last several weeks because I wanted to give the writers the benefit of the doubt based on how brilliant the series was to that point (end of season 5). I assumed that the MAJOR questions would be answered...I was wrong.

Now for what I'm not happy about.

I can't rationalize how the writers could write such amazing stuff with a mixture of fantasy, sci-fi, and MYSTERY without giving us answers to the storylines that they introduced us to in the first place. This isn't going to be a thread where I list 100 questions still unanswered...we already have that thread.

This is about MAJOR storylines that were just ignored for us to figure out. Not the outrigger scene and who was shooting (sorry for anyone that felt that was MAJOR)

HERE ARE JUST A FEW THAT LEAVE ME SCRATCHING MY HEAD. I CONSIDER THESE MAJOR MYSTERIES THAT THE WRITERS SHOULD HAVE TIED UP OR NOT INTRODUCED US TO IN THE FIRST PLACE. Here are just a few...I could think of many more.

The (theorized) importance of "Children"/Fertility- Major storylines like Aaron, Sun and Jin's baby, Clementine, even Zach and Emma...not to mention the fertility issues, why mothers died during childbirth, when this started. The writers introduce us to these characters/island mysteries, take several episodes to introduce us to them, tell us some of their story, and that's it. Did Kate get Claire to see Aaron or did the plane crash after leaving the island??? What about Ji Yeon??? Sawyer ever meet Clem????? I mean, what the hell?

We were told that Annie would be a big part of Ben's story and promised an answer to her prominence and then nothing.

The Economist/Sayid Hit List-Really? That's all we get after Sayid spent (?) years (and several episodes) touring the Globe and killing for Ben...that's it? Just some dudes...not important (why was it ever part of the story then?)

Miles/Freighter people- I, for one loved Miles. Loved the character from the start. We get no answer about what happened to him (or Frank for that matter). Why even introduce that character and then ride him out to the end of the series with no explanation? Couldn't Hurley have been the guy that talks to dead people? At least Faraday had a purpose in the storytelling. Charlotte/Daniel were killed on island so there story was wrapped up...why did they need Frank and Miles to take people off the island just to leave us hanging? Did they make it home? What?

Paik family- seemed to be important to the whole island mystery...guess not. Just Sun's dad.

Richard- one of the most important and mysterious characters in the show. Loved Ab Aeterno...then nothing. Does he age? Die? Reunite with Isabell? Cmon guys! This was a beloved character you just left hanging.

Not showing us how Sawyer, Kate, Claire, etc died? In flashback form or something? ( Kate/Claire at least...they did have a big role in the whole Aaron thing...which seemingly is unimportant as well)

That enough of my rant. I guess in closing, If I didn't feel that most of season 3 (as well as bits and pieces of a few other episodes along the way "Expose'") was nothing but filler to stretch the story over 6 seasons, I wouldn't be so upset with the loose ends.

I feel that the writers, for many reasons (not the least of which was the fact that they knew years ahead of time that they had 6 seasons to wrap it up) had the opportunity to tell an amazing story AND tie up what I consider MAJOR loose ends.

In my honest opinion, the writers had really good intentions during the earlier seasons to end the show on a satisfying note by wrapping up the *major* mysteries of the island. However, after a certain point, they got in over their heads and realized they'd have to go way out of their ways to provide sound resolutions to the loose ends.

When they announced (in the middle of Season 3) the show would be ending after six seasons, I assumed the final three seasons would be tight, well-paced, and answer-filled. Instead, they kept piling on more and more new plot points, such as the freighter and time travel, and each episode added new elements to the growing list of unanswered questions. I can understand the first 3 seasons having filler episodes that don't advance the plot-- because, up to that point, ABC wouldn't negotiate with the showrunners and wanted to milk Lost's popularity for as long as possible. However, when ABC finally agreed to let the writers finish the show on their own terms, they now had a time frame to work with, and should have been able to resolve BOTH the characters and the plot.

Even if it was always a show about the characters, they drew enough attention to the major plot elements that the show became about both characters and mystery. Even in Season 1, there was a solid balance between character development and the overarching mystery of the show. The mysteries drew us in just as much as the characters did.

When they announced (in the middle of Season 3) the show would be ending after six seasons, I assumed the final three seasons would be tight, well-paced, and answer-filled. Instead, they kept piling on more and more new plot points, such as the freighter and time travel, and each episode added new elements to the growing list of unanswered questions. I can understand the first 3 seasons having filler episodes that don't advance the plot-- because, up to that point, ABC wouldn't negotiate with the showrunners and wanted to milk Lost's popularity for as long as possible. However, when ABC finally agreed to let the writers finish the show on their own terms, they now had a time frame to work with, and should have been able to resolve BOTH the characters and the plot.

THIS is EXACTLY what frustrates me.

Fans have been asking for answers since season 3 on many of the characters/storylines mentioned here. I understand it was too early to give answers on some of this stuff in season 3, but when you have 3 seasons left with a final date set for 2010, I expect that every character that is introduced to me have a meaning and reason...at least left me know if they live or die.

If I told you in season 1 or 2 that Kate, Claire, Sawyer, and ( am I leaving anyone out?)would die but you would never find out how...how pissed would you be????

I'm sorry you feel that way. I have enjoyed the mysteries and I'm glad they left it open-ended so those of us that chose to can continue to do what we've done from the beginning -- think, imagine, and fill-in the blanks. You can be as scientific or as spiritual in your own explanation as you see fit because it's your 'sideways' where you can resolve things how you see fit before letting go of Lost and moving on.

When they announced (in the middle of Season 3) the show would be ending after six seasons, I assumed the final three seasons would be tight, well-paced, and answer-filled. Instead, they kept piling on more and more new plot points, such as the freighter and time travel, and each episode added new elements to the growing list of unanswered questions. I can understand the first 3 seasons having filler episodes that don't advance the plot-- because, up to that point, ABC wouldn't negotiate with the showrunners and wanted to milk Lost's popularity for as long as possible. However, when ABC finally agreed to let the writers finish the show on their own terms, they now had a time frame to work with, and should have been able to resolve BOTH the characters and the plot.I agree with this as well. While I felt the show was very tight in Season 4, there was still a lot of filler in Season 5 and 6. Frankly, I don't understand why they had to rush the O6 leaving the island in S4, and killing characters like Danielle and Alex without finishing their story, while squandering time the following season. They spent half a season in the Dharma Initiative, but revealed practically nothing that we didn't already know. I would have preferred if they had continue the flashes for the entire season, and show us the mythology of the Island.

Character-wise, they did not let some of the characters like Sayid or Sun, resolve the issues that they showed in great detail in the flashforwards, in their 3 years off-island. They regressed Sayid for nothing, just using him to shoot Ben out of the blue, which was frustrating since it was obvious nothing would happen anyway. Meanwhile, Sun became an extra, and they didn't use any time to explore if she felt guilty about leaving Ji Yeon or about her vendetta which took her away from her daughter.

The planning for Season 6 was even worse. So they had only one season left, and multitudes of mysteries they could explore. They decided to introduce Dogen and Lennon, which told us nothing at all. Were they just meant to be cannon fodder for MIB? Time and time again, they have introduced characters like Ilana, Bram, or Zoe, which ended up being pointless, telling us nothing new, taking time away from the main characters who went here and there, and everywhere, walking from the beach to the temple to the beach to the boat, to the cage to the plane to the dock, where they fell into a trap and get killed off. And that's not even considering the "flash side-ways" which spent screentime on essentially body doubles of the main characters. The whole point of that seemed to be solely to trick viewers into thinking Jughead detonating did something.

It is disappointing, but I realized that these final two seasons doesn't detract from the power of the earlier seasons, thank goodness. I don't even understand why they asked for an enddate at this point. This ending wasn't all that satisfying and could have occurred whenever the show ended, since they were just reuniting in death.

I'm sorry you feel that way. I have enjoyed the mysteries and I'm glad they left it open-ended so those of us that chose to can continue to do what we've done from the beginning -- think, imagine, and fill-in the blanks. You can be as scientific or as spiritual in your own explanation as you see fit because it's your 'sideways' where you can resolve things how you see fit before letting go of Lost and moving on.

It's postmodernist writing. Saying, "We're not going to explain anything because we want to leave it up to the viewers" is equivalent to, "There doesn't need to be any sense or truth behind what we write." In my opinion, it's lazy writing. You would never read a murder mystery novel expecting the murderer to not be revealed in the end.

I'm not saying the writers needed to explain EVERYTHING and wrap up the show with a nice, big red bow. There is some creative license to leave some of it open ended. However, there are certain facets of each work of fiction that need to have closure.

The more I think about it, the more I hate it. The entire series boils down to the fact that Jacob was a moron.

Being the protector of the island, he is supposed to have the ability to make "rules". To me, he didn't make a very effective use of this ability. He has known since at least the time of Richards arrival about the loophole, so why not make a rule to close it? Apparently he made a rule to stop MiB from killing the candidates. Why can't he either make everyone a candidate or a rule to stop MiB from killing anyone?

We were led to believe that the Others built a runway so Ajira 316 could land on the island because Jacob knew in advance they were coming. Why not build the runway a few years earlier and either bribe the pilot or hijack O815 instead of having a convoluted sequence of events to get it to crash on the island?

Jacob makes a deal with Richard to act as his middle man because he doesn't like to interfere, yet Richard turns out to be clueless as to what he is supposed to do. For a guy who doesn't like to interfere, he certainly does it quite a bit when it is convenient to advance the plot.

Everything this guy does is the most convoluted obtuse method possible. He should have just abdicated the throne long ago, as he is obviously not qualified. IMO, baby Aaron or even Vincent could have done a better job.

It's postmodernist writing. Saying, "We're not going to explain anything because we want to leave it up to the viewers" is equivalent to, "There doesn't need to be any sense or truth behind what we write." In my opinion, it's lazy writing. You would never read a murder mystery novel expecting the murderer to not be revealed in the end.

Agree...lazy. If I wanted to let my imagination give me my answers, I would write my own book or television show. I pay the writers of television shows (with the purchases of the products advertised during their shows) to tell me a story...I don't want to imagine how it ended.

Remember, my issue is not with the finale...thought it was great until I started thinking...wait, Kate, Sawyer, Claire just died and we don't know how...what about Aaron? etc etc etc

How's this? Here's my "imagination" ending for some of our favorite characters...since I get to end the show, it has to be right...right????

Sawyer gets home, cracks a beer, and chokes on the can tab and dies 2 hours after landing the Aijira plane. Shame after all the heroic actions he had to go this way...but that's how it ended because it's MY imagination so I'm right!!!!!

Kate and Claire become lovers and raise Aaron together but get hit by a bus in a Gay pride parade. (poor Aaron! alone again!)

Richard is still alive and working at a mascara counter in LA.

Miles and Frank start their own business...Frank gives flying lessons out of one half of the building and "Miles Dead Talkers" is on the other side. It's called "Flied and Died"

Aaron and Yi Jeon (?) are orphans that are living in terrible conditions on a remote island somewhere. They die when they are young but I can't tell you how because I want you to use your imagination.

Pretty stupid huh?

I was very happy with most of seasons 1-4. I expected S5 to start the wind down of the plots so that the extra plot lines would be "answered" or dwelt with and leave the main plots to finish.

I expected S6 to have great writing and a sense of climax (like any good story).

Okay, I thought S5 & S6 were okay. They would have been GREAT if the creators had not said that S6 was the last season.

I think that the last 3 eps of S6 were my greatest let downs. I am a librarian, so I will relate the show to a book.
I thought that the story had a GREAT beginning and middle. It was leading up to lots of clues and had a great plot. Although the plot would take stupid u-turns (think Paolo and the girl episode), it stayed mainly true to leading the reader to a satisfactory ending.
But the writers forgot that when you get to the last 1/4 of the book, that is NOT the time to keep adding new elements to the story. (I felt that is what S5 & S6 did.) It is time to start leading the reader to a climatic conclusion. Instead, S5 kept adding new elements and new characters. Okay, I know I am close to the end, so why should I care about these people? And how do they add to the ending?

In S6, the only BIG answer I felt we received was: Adam and Eve---Foster Mother and MIB. Thank you for tying up that end.

It seemed amazing that the writers did not story map for the last 2 seasons to make sure everything was leading to the end.

Again, S5 & S6 were okay seasons... IF there was going to be S7 or S8.

So, Ihave mixed feelings on the ending. Mostly, I am not happy with it.

Not showing us how Sawyer, Kate, Claire, Shannon, Boone, etc died? In flashback form or something?

Just pointing out that we did see how Shannon and Boone died. They died on the island, Boone from injuries from falling in the Nigerian plane and Shannon from Ana Lucia's accidental gunfire.

I loved the finale. I do feel they were weak with wrapping up certain things regarding the island. As fans we all probably have a laundry list of stuff we wanted closure on. What bothers me is season six. Aside from the FS the season was about Jacob and MiB and the danger to the Losties and the world if MiB left the island. Then it shifted more into there needing to be a protector of the island and/or the light. Then we get the back story of Jacob and MiB where we see the light cave for the first time. That would have been a great time to explain it all. I don't feel like they gave us enough to understand what it was and why it was so important to the world/humanity. Just because "Mother" told us so? I think there needed to be more in depth there so that we would really fully get why our Losties and other less key players lost their lives and loved ones. I love what the FS turned out to be. It was moving and I didn't see it coming at all which I think makes it even more awesome.

I was all prepared to come here and defend till my death this show. Thankfully, I don't have to. I agree with what you are saying, there were many things I wished they would have answered but didn't. The point you are trying to make about Kate, Claire and Sawyer dieing and not finding out how, is a tad irrelevant. It should be assumed that the plane they left in landed somewhere and they lived out there lives how they wanted to. What I am hearing from people is that they think they all died at the same time, that when Jack's eyes closed everyone was dead, which just isn't the case, they lived lives Christian specifically said "Some died before you, some died long after" if you can't understand that then I can't really help you. The FS was simply a place for them to meet each other again so they could move on to whatever was next, we even hear that from Christian, talk about living up to your name:biggrin: Hurley and Ben are the bast obvious example that lives continued after Jack died You were a good number 2, you were a great number 1, that suggests to me that they lived on and had a great time protecting the Island together. Kate even said to Jack, I've missed you for a long time, or something to that effect, so these people had lives, Jack was the only one who died in The End, well Jack and Smokey, everyone else presumably lived to old age. Considering I was prepared for everyone to die, plus I had already written Richard and Lapidus off a few episodes before, makes me happy that they didn't, it really seems that Hugo led a great life as ruler of the Island, he even did what he could to get Desmond back to Penny and baby Charlie* In the end they didn't answer everything but did the best they could, so lets just enjoy what was a great 6 years of tv, what else would you have watched 2 and a half men? roflmao enjoy that bs.


*we have no proof that this worked but lets assume the happy ending for Desmond ok

I don't feel like they gave us enough to understand what it was and why it was so important to the world/humanity. Just because "Mother" told us so? I think there needed to be more in depth there so that we would really fully get why our Losties and other less key players lost their lives and loved ones.

Agreed. A couple lines of dialogue in which Mother said, "Since the beginning of time, this light has been here to protect the world from evil and malevolence. I am just one in a long line of many protectors, and soon, one of you will be my successor" would have gone a long way.

It should be assumed that the plane they left in landed somewhere and they lived out there lives how they wanted to. What I am hearing from people is that they think they all died at the same time, that when Jack's eyes closed everyone was dead, which just isn't the case, they lived lives Christian specifically said "Some died before you, some died long after" if you can't understand that then I can't really help you.

*we have no proof that this worked but lets assume the happy ending for Desmond ok

Should it be assumed? That's what makes me angry. I don't want to "assume" what happened to 3 of the most important characters in the show.

Should we also "assume" that everything was OK with Des?

See...that's crap...total writer cop-out. You're the writer, I'm the viewer...and you expect me to write your show for you?

I feel the writers had ample time to show their fate. In a show with flashbacks and flashforwards, THEY COULDN'T HAVE JACK SEEING THE FATE OF THE OTHER LOSTIES WHILE HE HAD HIS HAND ON CHRISTIANS CASKET? WOW, WHAT A GREAT FLASH THAT WOULD HAVE BEEN.

That could have gone a long way to wrapping up the Character part of my dissapointment...after all, it was always about the characters...so we were told.

There is SO MUCH more that they just pretended we would forget about that it's really useless even talking about.

My main problem with everything is that this was a show that the fans took crazy amounts of time to study to get answers that never came.

I guess I expect that the writers of a show where the fans are searching the internet (daily) for Sawyers books, wiki searching "Faraday" and "Locke", reading up on electromagnetism and time travel theories, hoping that it sheds SOME light on what's happening in the show...should understand the audience need for answers.
100%
Agreed. A couple lines of dialogue in which Mother said, "Since the beginning of time, this light has been here to protect the world from evil and malevolence. I am just one in a long line of many protectors, and soon, one of you will be my successor" would have gone a long way.

Many of the unanswered questions could have been handled with one line of dialogue or a small clip of video...Jack could have answered most of it around the campfire...Hurley asks..."dude, now that your like...Jacob, how bout some answers dude...?" or Kate saying "Jack, I'm not going anywhere until you fill me in on what's going on..."

Wouldn't they ask Jack to explain in real life? I think I would if I had been on an island for 3 years and FINALLY had someone that could answer my questions. I was excited during that scene that they were finally going to answer the island mysteries...or so I thought.

We were led to believe that the Others built a runway so Ajira 316 could land on the island because Jacob knew in advance they were coming. Why not build the runway a few years earlier and either bribe the pilot or hijack O815 instead of having a convoluted sequence of events to get it to crash on the island?



If they did the above there wouldn't be a show. The Losties had to feel a sense of "damn i survived a horrific plane crash when I probably shouldn't have". I think I'll reflect back on my life and see if I can't come to some conclusion and be redeemed.

Just thinking out loud.

It's postmodernist writing. Saying, "We're not going to explain anything because we want to leave it up to the viewers" is equivalent to, "There doesn't need to be any sense or truth behind what we write." In my opinion, it's lazy writing. You would never read a murder mystery novel expecting the murderer to not be revealed in the end.

I'm not saying the writers needed to explain EVERYTHING and wrap up the show with a nice, big red bow. There is some creative license to leave some of it open ended. However, there are certain facets of each work of fiction that need to have closure.

I was reading A Tale of Two Cities (another serialized work of fiction dispatched in weekly installments) the other night, but the last few pages were missing. I didn't know that at the time and thought the last chapter was the one where Charles Darnay was sentenced to death, leaving many questions unanswered. A friend of mine told me I should grab another copy and experience the impact and genius of how what I'd been reading would culminate. However, I'm just gonna choose my own ending rather than have this Dickens guy narrowly define an outcome at the expense of my wonderful and precious imagination.

Wow, I can't believe that some gal named Zoe killed Robspierre, married Nappy Bo, and re-installed the monarchy! This is the best Dickens/me ending ever!

I was reading A Tale of Two Cities (another serialized work of fiction dispatched in weekly installments) the other night, but the last few pages were missing. I didn't know that at the time and just figured the last chapter was the one where Charles Darnay was sentenced to death. A friend of mine told me I should grab another copy and experience the impact and genius of how what I'd been reading would culminate, but I'm just gonna choose my own ending rather than have this Dickens guy narrowly define an outcome at the expense of my wonderful and precious imagination.

Wow, I can't believe that some gal named Zoe killed Robspierre, married Nappy Bo, and re-installed the monarchy! This is the best Dickens/me ending ever!

LOL! This is great.

Postmodernism has been around for 65 years now. There's nothing original about an open-ended conclusion.

It really bothers me to hear people calling viewer questions "laundry lists" or calling people answer hounds. The writers announced the introduction of new characters, symbols, and plot lines, and told us that some were cool hints, Easter Eggs, while others were major developments. They said, inside this box we're unwrapping is something really cool, and we're letting you peek at important bits of it as we unwrap. Those who pay attention will be rewarded. We're introducing you to the Others, to the Dharma Initiative, which will be key, the Hatch will be key ... Really?

The Jacob/MIB conflict came too late and was not given a clear tie-in to what we'd already seen. For example, we don't know how Christian appeared to Jack off island, and Jack never asked Locke why he had seen his father materialize in a place far from where Smokey can go. We don't know why Christian appeared to Sun after Ajira crashed, if he was Smokey.

No one ever discussed who Eloise was helping by sending them back. Sending Locke's body sure didn't help Jacob. Is there something beyond Jacob that explains the need for them to approximate the original conditions? What is it?

Who put Kelson in the Hatch and why leave Desmond alone there, going psycho from lack of sleep, after Kelson died and the plane crashed? If Des's saving the world, aren't THEY concerned that he'll fall asleep and let it all blow up?

Why did Ben talk Locke into not pushing the button and causing Lockdown? Didn't he know about the EM? If they could go off island, the Others, and bring medical equipment, and new laundry equipment, why wasn't there a newer computer?

What was the deal with the sickness, and the vaccines Desmond took and that Claire was given, and Aaron? Why did Charlie have dreams telling him to baptize Aaron?

If the Smoke Monster could turn into MIB's form for Richard, why didn't he come talk to the castaways after they crashed? Why didn't he try to persuade them to take him on the raft? Why did he scan people and then flit off? Why didn't he work on getting Ben to stab Jacob before Ben and the O6 left the island? Did he know that Ben would kill Locke and that Locke's body would come back? What did Locke's body have to do with the loophole?

What was the magic ash? Why not have someone explain how it works, and what the Rules are? What was the point of Horace's ghost? If most of the DI left the island prior to The Incident, why did there need to be a Purge later? Why were the Hostiles and DI in conflict, and how did Widmore's group fit into the picture? How did Eloise learn so much about time? Not from Richard. He didn't know squat.

Why did Jack, Kate, and Sawyer need to be abducted, and if they were so important, why did the Others let them go when they had them in the middle of the jungle a few episodes before? The Others couldn't have shown up at the beach camp, said hello, is anyone here a doctor, cuz we need a surgeon? Oh,and come on over to our village, where we live in houses and have electricity and book clubs and the monster can't get us? It was never explained why the castaways and Ben's group needed to be enemies, other than to put a conflict into the show. It SEEMED as if the Others had some idea about good and evil and were doing special stuff, and were connected to DHARMA, but as the show progressed we never saw what. Ben's Others were done by end of Season 3.

Season 5 was an opportunity to explain all of this, but instead we just got new characters and had some fun with being back in the 70's. By the end, all those new characters were irrelevant, just like the Tailies in Season 2, the Others of Season 3, most of the freighter folks of Season 4.

All I can think is they never had answers. That's why they couldn't show them. They put all the stuff in without figuring out how it all tied together. Thus, they couldn't make sense of DHARMA, hostiles, Richard, Jacob's cabin, Christian, missing Claire, why Desmond was in the Hatch, what the deal was with the sickness, the smoke monster, Jacob, the sinister events off island in Season 4, or the time split.

All they could do was start the mantra of "it's a character driven show and the mythology isn't that important," and go off in a new direction -- the loophole, the Candidates, Jacob and Smokey, the light at the center of the island, Flash Sideways that may or may not be the result of Jughead detonating. TOQ said on Jimmy Kimmel that he didn't even know he was the smoke monster during Season 5. I'm not convinced that anyone knew ... but for sure I think that if the smoke monster was always MIB that it makes no sense he was ALWAYS smoke all that time.

The Flash Sideways didn't create a happy place for all the characters. Look what happened to Sun and Jin, Sayid. Neither was it Purgatory. Why was Aaron born to a dead mother? Why did it only last about a week and why was it set in 2004 Los Angeles, other than that if 815 never crashed, it would have landed then and there? What lessons did most of the people learn in the FS? Did they come to peace? Why was Desmond in an emotionally shallow life? If Jack was going to fix his life with an imaginary son, why didn't he imagine he was happily married while he was at it? Why didn't Boone matter enough to be shown, even though he was on the plane? Because he and Shannon were brought back to do guest appearances, that's why.

Why wasn't Miles a part of the final group? Didn't he spend years in 1977 with Jin and Sawyer? Why was he in the FS but not in the church, other than that he was a Season 4 character and it was a Season 1 plus soul mate final renunion? Does either limbo or heaven concern itself with TV seasons? Why wasn't Jack's mother in the church? She didn't matter to him, but his problematic father did? What happened to imaginary David? Would he end up playing music with "not time to leave" Daniel?

Why didn't Richard Alpert get to be in the Sideways or the church? At least outside? What happened to his wife? That was a Season 6 plot line! Why wasn't Des and Penny's son Charlie with them? Why did the older Aaron disappear from the show end of Season 4? Kate and James escaped together, so wouldn't he go find Clementine, as Kate knew all about her? What was the point of Kate finding Cassidy and Clementine if they were never going to be shown with Sawyer?

As for the ending, it could have been tacked on to any series. ANY series could have all the characters walk into the light. There is nothing specifically resolving the story lines of LOST in some of them but not everyone reuniting after death. CHEERS could have ended with the bar turning out to be limbo (because at some point everyone died) and the light outside the doors.

And the sad part was, this ending was already written for them by C.S. Lewis. Basically all they had to do was "adapt" the ending to the Narnia series. Do they think no one has read the whole series? For that matter, the penultimate Narnia novel had characters jumping (literally) through time to show how it all started, how the conflict began, except it did a much better job of explaining things. The writers could have done some flashing WAY back in time during Season 5 and shown some interesting island history.

What the ending did do was preach to the viewers about letting go. And it worked. I can't count how many people have repeated "time to let go" as the thing to do instead of looking at the series closely. For six years, people said "don't question the perfection of the writing until you see how they tie it all together in the end." People said that all the way to the Finale. Then, they turned around and said it wasn't important to tie it together, but to let go and be happy for the characters. They're not real people, they're characters. I've read thousands of books in my life, and I've therefore read a lot of endings, and said goodbye to a lot of characters. I don't need to have a sentimental ending to soften the blow. I was prepared to see some unpleasant events in the Finale. Didn't expect everyone to make it out.

I still don't know what Jack died trying to protect. Even in Season 6 there were different versions of what the island was about and what Smokey was trying to do. And Jacob was like the worst demigod ever. While I could get behind the idea of a flawed demi-god, it's weak that none of the Lostaways ever talked about how senseless his Rules were before Jack decided to give up his life -- nothing gets reflected on ... there were few or no realizations ... nothing of interest was revealed about the nature of good and evil ... blaming bad parenting is pretty thin. If I want to see how bad parenting creates monsters, I can watch Criminal Minds, as they do a much better job of illustrating how it works.

One thing I take from this, is that I have a mind of my own, and I'm not going to let the writers define how I respond to the series. I'm just looking at what there is, and it looks like a big ball of yarn with lots of pieces cut at random. It looks rather like the mess that Alice's kitten made of her work:

... the kitten had been having a grand game of romps with the ball of worsted Alice had been trying to wind up, and had been rolling it up and down till it had all come undone again; and there it was, spread over the hearth-rug, all knots and tangles, with the kitten running after its own tail in the middle.
~ Alice Through the Looking Glass ...

I was reading A Tale of Two Cities (another serialized work of fiction dispatched in weekly installments) the other night, but the last few pages were missing. I didn't know that at the time and just figured the last chapter was the one where Charles Darnay was sentenced to death. A friend of mine told me I should grab another copy and experience the impact and genius of how what I'd been reading would culminate, but I'm just gonna choose my own ending rather than have this Dickens guy narrowly define an outcome at the expense of my wonderful and precious imagination.

Wow, I can't believe that some gal named Zoe killed Robspierre, married Nappy Bo, and re-installed the monarchy! This is the best Dickens/me ending ever!

I'm having a hard time expressing my frustration with "we left it all to your imagination" as a valid excuse for laziness and lack of tied up loose ends...this pretty much sums it up!!!!!

Postmodernism has been around for 65 years now. There's nothing original about an open-ended conclusion.

It really bothers me to hear people calling viewer questions "laundry lists" or calling people answer hounds. The writers announced the introduction of new characters, symbols, and plot lines, and told us that some were cool hints, Easter Eggs, while others were major developments. They said, inside this box we're unwrapping is something really cool, and we're letting you peek at important bits of it as we unwrap. Those who pay attention will be rewarded. We're introducing you to the Others, to the Dharma Initiative, which will be key, the Hatch will be key ... Really?

... the kitten had been having a grand game of romps with the ball of worsted Alice had been trying to wind up, and had been rolling it up and down till it had all come undone again; and there it was, spread over the hearth-rug, all knots and tangles, with the kitten running after its own tail in the middle.
~ Alice Through the Looking Glass ...

I thought that I would be rewarded if I paid attention too. Are the writers really surprised at the reaction of the viewers for being upset?

Did any other TV show in history ever pride itself more with the "too smart for the room" clues and mysteries only to leaved them totally unsolved?

I read some comments on a Facebook entry today, saying the Finale was a Rorschach test, and how you read it says something about you. What a genius bit of marketing, to turn it around like that. If you don't like my ending, that shows you are bitter and cynical.

It's much like "Emperor's New Clothes." If you can't see the magic fabric, that means you are incompetent and stupid. No one wants to be thought that!

Imagine a con scene:
Mark: I don't know how I feel about this investment opportunity. Can we go over the nuts and bolts of how the payoff materializes?

Con Artist: hey, questions are for people who try to make everything about answers. That's so limiting, so anal retentive. This offering is a Rorschach test. Certain highly perceptive people will see the beauty of this investment; others don't have the vision. Whatever you decide tells me all I need to know about your perspective on life.

Mark: oh, of course I see it. This is visionary and groundbreaking. Boy, I feel sorry for the people who don't have the perception to grab this opportunity. Please, take my money. Have you had this ingenious plan for a long time?

Con Artist: Oh yes, I've been gathering investors for about six years now. I tell you, they're the epitome of people of true faith. It's all about faith, baby.