The problem is that Lost for all it's good points is still just a TV Show. Because of that it was subjected to pressure to maintain it's audience along the way. While I accept the Producers had a basic plan as things went along they did more and more just to keep us watching. So as people look at the entirety of Lost how can you tell what is properly part of the Story and what is not?
I have been told by people who's wisdom and intelligence I respect that all works of Art should be judged solely on their own merit. No one person, not even the Author, has a monopoly on the truth of the work. The Author may see things one way but each Reader has the right to see it another.
The last TV Show I watched on a weekly basis was Buffy the Vampire Slayer. After that was over I realized that I was sick of watching 20 minutes of commercials to see 40 minutes of story. So I opted out of Cable and bought a Netflix Roku box. About the time that Lost was winding down it's 5th Season it seemed to me that perhaps it was worth watching. So over a couple of months my wife and I watched Seasons 1-4 at the rate of 2-3 a night. Then Season 5 came out and we watched that. I saw most of Season 6 on Hula.
What Lost has helped me to realize is that it would be best to wait until a show was over before bothering to take a look. I did exactly that with Roswell. That show seemed to be a big Soap Opera (you know all about Characters with the actual Story being second place in importance) and I do not care for those. But once the Series was complete I did a little research and found that it had more than enough SciFi in it for me to be interested. As it turns out we loved Roswell and own all 3 Seasons now.
Options now exist for those who like me wish to get out of the Advertising-driven Network TV rat race. I am no longer just a pair of eyeballs to be manipulated into watching their ads to see a bit of Story. These choices spell eventual doom for the Networks and frankly Lost has just helped push that along. The Producers manipulated and played with their Audience in a way I do not find acceptable.
And when it comes right down to it I cannot quite forgive them for Adam and Eve.
They introduce a mystery at the beginning of the Show and invite us to speculate. They publish puzzles to encourage us to consider the possibilities. Then it turns out that we are not even introduced to 'Eve' until the very end of the last Season? The most basic rule of any murder mystery is that you have to at least introduce the murderer towards the BEGINNING of the Story. You have to give the Audience the CHANCE of guessing. That is why people love Mystery Stories because it gives them a way to participate. Lost's violation of this most basic of rules is annoying beyond belief.
I would like to thank those who created Lostpedia. Your work here turns out to be far more interesting and thoughtful than the Show you are documenting.
To those people who I have annoyed by refusing to accept either the overall official explanation of the show or much of anything that came out of Darlton's mouth I am sorry. I am not a Troll and I do not take opinions to annoy other people. It is simply that I prefer an explanation that does not leave so many unanswered questions. I make my interpretations based on what I see on the Show. No Character who actually knew anything ever said 'the world will end if the Source goes out'. Dharma did not prove that. And I don't remember Faraday ever saying it either.
And in the end all Jacob said was 'Then this ends badly'.
Turns out he was kinda right.