Thinky-Thoughts About Freaky Finales And Unanswered Issues

[astrogirl2]

So, I've been thinking a little more about the Lost finale. Or, more accurately, I haven't been thinking about the finale itself, but about my reaction to the finale, and it occurs to me that there are a few other shows I have to thank for that reaction.

And, OK, I'm not getting into anything specifically spoilery here, for Lost or anything

Comments

[kernezelda]

Oh, how I raged and wept at the end of Quantum Leap. It was so unfair! I sat down almost immediately afterward, sobbing, and wrote a three page essay about how awful and wrong it was.

[astrogirl2]

Oh, man. I remember ranting and raving to anybody who would listen. I feel kind of sorry for the friend who was watching it with me. I'm pretty sure she wasn't happy, either, but then she had to listen to me going on and on, on top of it. Although, come to think of it, I seem to remember that she actually found it kind of amusing. :)

[kernezelda]

Our friends and loved ones, they are cruel, cruel people. *says she, darkly*

[astrogirl2]

They are! I have one friend who actually made a list of topics that would automatically send me off on a rant, and save it on his PDA to consult whenever he wanted to amuse himself. :)

Spoilers for ancient series

[vilakins]

The ending of The Prisoner annoyed me so much I've never bothered to watch it again despite Greg loving it almost as much as Lost. I've heard that it might not be a good idea to watch to the end of QL--quit while I'm ahead--and of course there's B7.

Another series that was really a stuff you ending because it was canned was Twin Peaks. I loved that series and was left feeling so pissed off and betrayed. At least it wasn't all a dream like I heard St Elsewhere was: now that wouldn't have made sense, a young autistic boy creating that whole complex and adult universe in his head.

Compared to all those, Lost did a really good, if frustrating job.

Re: Spoilers for ancient series

[astrogirl2]

Apparently I have so much to say on this subject that the comment was too long for LJ. Um. OK, part 1:

The ending of The Prisoner annoyed me so much I've never bothered to watch it again

I can totally understand that. I found it kind of crazy-making, myself, although in a way that also fascinates me, so that the "I want to poke around in this weirdness and see what I can make of it!" impulse ultimately mostly wins out over the "God damn it, this doesn't make sense!" reaction.

I read an interesting guide to The Prisoner a couple of weeks ago -- by the same folks that wrote Liberated, in fact -- and one of the points they made was that most of the time these days when people start watching The Prisoner, it's with the idea in mind that it's science fiction, or that it's a weird cult show, or that it's this surreal, metaphorical thing. I know that was my idea of it when I started, and it did make the finale easier to go along with, if not any less brain-breaking. But, they pointed out, when it first aired, people expected it to

Re: Spoilers for ancient series

[kerravonsen]

I never watched that show, although my sister was a fan, back in the day. A while back, I decided I'd like to give it a look, but it turns out the pilot isn't available on DVD, due to some stupid rights issue, so I said "screw it." It's too bad, though. Even if it doesn't end satisfyingly, I understand that it was a very influential show, and an interesting step in the development of TV towards things like Lost, so I'm a little curious about it.

Interestingly, the pilot was the only episode I watched; I watched it when it first aired. I enjoyed it, it impressed me, but I could tell that it was one of those things where you would have to watch every episode religiously in order to pick up the clues, and I decided I didn't have it in me, at that time, to invest the amount of dedication required to do so.

It doesn't surprise me at all that Twin Peaks was influential - it was the complete opposite to the "reset button" that was standard fare at that time. Without Twin Peaks, not only would we not have had Lost, but we wouldn't have

Re: Spoilers for ancient series

[astrogirl2]

Yeah, it's really interesting to me to look back on those shows from the 90s that, in hindsight, mark the transition period from the old episodic reset-button storytelling to today's heavily arc-based stuff. Heck, these days it's standard for even largely episodic series, like crime-of-the-week cop shows, to have some kind of arc going on in the background. And yet, I remember getting all excited when ST:TNG actually remembered Picard's experiences with the Borg after they happened and gave him an episode to recover. :)

[kerravonsen]

I am totally totally unsurprised that the finale of Lost didn't wrap things up; that is exactly what I expected from the start, which is why I decided not to watch the series. I didn't want to get invested in a show where they dangled all these tantalizing mysteries, and then completely failed to resolve them. I like my shows to make sense!

Which is one reason why I try to forget that the second Pretender TV movie exists.

[astrogirl2]

I find that the older I get, the more comfortable I become with mysteries, with the idea that both viewers and characters may never understand everything and that maybe the answers are less important than how the characters deal with the questions. Ten years ago, I think I would have felt exactly the same way as you do, so I guess I'm glad this show came along when it did.

Which is one reason why I try to forget that the second Pretender TV movie exists.

Heh. I will say, the version of that that I'm keeping in my brain is, um, heavily edited and relies strongly on the idea that certain central plot aspects may well be bullshit put over on characters who are inclined to believe cracky things, anyway. :)

[kerravonsen]

I find that the older I get, the more comfortable I become with mysteries, with the idea that both viewers and characters may never understand everything and that maybe the answers are less important than how the characters deal with the questions.

Truth is stranger than fiction: fiction has to make sense.

I suspect that part of my frustration with shows that don't make sense is that, unlike life, where the not-making-sense is more likely to be because one can't see the whole picture, with fiction, the author doesn't have that excuse, and if it doesn't make sense, then it is bad writing.

[astrogirl2]

Truth is stranger than fiction: fiction has to make sense.

I think there's a lot of truth in that adage, but I don't think that it's always bad writing. It may well be the case that the author is in fact interested in capturing and exploring the idea of real life not making sense, and if he sets out to do that and does it well, that's good writing. I'm not sure to what extent I'm prepared to argue that for the Lost writers, but I have seen it done brilliantly. Some of Stanislaw Lem's novels come to mind.

[izhilzha]

Heh. You beat me to this type of meta. Between Lost and this season's ending on Supernatural, I have discovered that I can be perfectly fine with plot holes and unanswered questions as long as the themes and character stuff rings true...and have also discovered that for a lot of fans that is NOT TRUE. Hmmm.

[astrogirl2]

I'd be very interested to see your take on this kind of meta... Although if it involved the ending to Supernatural, I guess I'd have to wait until after the DVDs come out to read it, as I'm still watching that via Netflix.

I find this really interesting, because half of me almost thinks there's something wrong with me for being able to overlook things that don't make sense and really ought to bother me, and half of me secretly suspects there's something wrong with people who get hung up on those kinds of details and fail to see things on the theme-and-character level. Whole me is pretty darned sure both of those halves are wrong, though. :)

[izhilzha]

Exactly what you said, there. I'm a details-oriented, left-brained mystery lover, and yet somehow.... Actually, I wonder if it isn't that both halves are wrong, but that both are right...?