LOST - what was it really about?

I got over my anger at the steady downward decline of the show. I really did. I decided that whenever I wanted to go back and rewatch I would only rewatch season one and maybe some of season 2. A few days ago I watched the first episode with a friend and it was so awesome it HURT.

And then, of course, I went online to see all these posts about how if you were in any way unsatisfied with the finale of LOST this is because "you just didn't understand it." Apparently, LOST is too intelligent for us mere mortals who dare to criticize it. Not only that, but apparently, we're all too obsessed with getting answers to the sci-fi and the mysteries and we were just too stupid to realize while watching 6 seasons of the show that it was a story about CHARACTERS, dammit. Another comment that really irks me is that whole "it's all about the spiritual meanings, this show, not about the polar bears." 

Of course, what these people refuse to acknowledge is that characterization does not exist in a vacuum. They are failing - or purposefully refusing - to understand that a story is made up of ALL its parts. You need characterization, yes, but you also need setting, plot, conflict, and proper world-building if you're going to do a sci-fi OR fantasy show. But forget about all this. It's ok. I'll ignore everything I know about good storytelling and I'll even ignore all the mysteries that the show-runners PURPOSEFULLY shoved in our faces and tried to make us care about. I can do that. 

But I have news for you: 

My unanswered questions are CHARACTER questions. 

My disappointment is with the terrible characterizations. 

Without further ado, here are the Top 7 Unanswered Character Questions from LOST: 

1) If your show is all about good and evil then how do you reconcile all the evil things that Benjamin Linus did with your portrayal of him as one of the good guys in the sixth season? Why does he deserve to be forgiven for committing MASS MURDER of the Dharma folks? How is this consistent with the complete vilification of Ana Lucia just because she accidentally killed Shannon? 

2) Why on earth did Michael kill Ana Lucia and then Libby? What the hell did he ever do (before that point) that makes him a bad father? What I saw in the flash backs was that his wife was a total jerk and tore his kid from his arms for no reason whatsoever and then proceeded to manipulate, frighten, lie, and shame him into giving up his rights as Walt's father and allowing her rich white boyfriend to adopt Walt. Why, after escaping with Walt and not looking back for a second to think about his Friends on the island would he blow his first real chance to be there for Walt? 

3) Why on earth did you make me care about Widmore and Ben's "feud"? What the heck was it all about? 

4) Why can't intelligent people keep it together off the Island? Seriously, Jack went completely insane when the Oceanic 6 got off the island and we were given no motivation for this huge change in his character. Compare this to his first fine moments in season one where he really held it together in an unbelievably stressful situation. And then there's Sayid who apparently, despite wanting nothing better than to get away from his past just can't help being a killer no matter what situation he's in and actually consents to being Ben's pawn. Locke leaves the island and becomes completely incompetent to the point where he decides that hanging himself is a good idea. I could go on, but you get the point. 

5) Why are all parents completely insane? I'm serious. We never get to see normal parents on this show. Michael commits a horrific crime which is completely out of character for him in order to get his son back. Claire loses it completely and becomes Darth!Claire over her baby even though she's the one that willingly left him in the woods. Ben Linus is an insane psychopath who just loves the baby he kidnapped and raises her as a daughter and then lets her get killed for no reason. Eloise kills her own son and then sends him back in time knowing full well what her younger self will do! Jacob and the Man in Black's "mother" killed their own mother so they could be hers, supposedly, and then proceeds to mass murder a bunch of people for no reason and then sets the boys against each other for all eternity and so on. And then, of course, there's Christian Shephard who has got to be the world's worst father (but apparently they decided at some point that he was one of the good guys... don't ask me how and when this occurred, but he's ushering them all into heaven, so....)

6) What happened to Charlie's personal growth from season 1? One of the best things about the first season is all the arcs, so I was very upset to see Charlie back to his junkie ways after death... I mean, they completely threw away all his awesome character development so that they could make us think it was an alternate timeline that occurred because of the bomb averting the plane-crash.

7) If this show is about characters then why couldn't anyone be bothered to come up with a name for Jacob's brother? Also, why is Jacob the good brother and why are we expected to buy this when all his poor brother ever wanted was to just get off the stupid island?


Answer those.