Ashes to Lost
Den of Geek has an interesting comparison between the two finales of Ashes to Ashes and Lost.
I think their points about Lost's unfinished storylines are valid, as is their assertion that, judging from the end result at least, the Lost writers seemed to have no idea where they were going after a certain point (remember back in the very first series, when we all said the Oceanic 'survivors' were dead and in purgatory, and the writers denied it tooth and nail? Remember that? Well, I do). But for me, the reason why the Ashes finale was a million times better is much simpler:
Unlike Mssrs. Cuse and Lindelof? Matthew Graham and Ashley Pharoah actually gave their audience credit for some basic cultural and spiritual intelligence.
We understand metaphor. We pick up on subtlety. We don't need to be told that an elevator is the entrance to Hell; the red lighting, 'fire exit' sign and 'going down' analogy were all the clues we needed. We don't need to see our characters inside a church to understand that they're going to Heaven; a glowing light and a smiling face outside a friendly pub will do us just fine.
(And really, in spite of Lost's halfhearted stained glass window attempt to be inclusive and non-denominational? The image of someone called 'Christian Shepherd' leading a bunch of Lost souls into Heaven via an extremely stereotypically Christian church is not exactly awash with ambiguity.)
I know television executives think we're all morons. The abundance of reality tv shows would seem to attest to the validity of their lowest-common-denominator approach. But once in a while, thankfully, you get writers like Graham and Pharoah coupled with producers like Jane Tranter and Beth Willis who realize that most of us out there? Can actually think.
And may The Railway Arms bless them for it.
Q