Lost: 10 Major Flaws Of The Show (That Fans Tend To Ignore)

Summary Lost's ambitious storytelling and complex characters made it a hit, but endless mysteries and messy storytelling caused mixed reception.

Time travel elements and lackluster answers left viewers confused and frustrated with Lost's final season and conclusion.

Inconsistent quality, poor visual effects, and unnecessary plot points hindered Lost's overall impact despite some memorable moments.

The Lost TV show has a strange reputation. The series was one of the biggest things on television when it first aired and the ground-breaking ways it changed the format of TV storytelling are still seen today. However, by the time the series ended, the reception of the show was a lot more mixed. There are still plenty of fans who count Lost as one of their favorite shows of all time and enjoy rewatching it years after the finale. However, these fans might have ignored some of the more glaring flaws that were obvious to others.

It is not hard to see what some people love about Lost as the premise is immediately exciting and the cast is filled with complex characters making a thrilling ensemble. The show also delivered some unforgettable TV moments that remain impactful now. However, with the show's great ambition came areas where they faltered. From the show's endless mysteries to the controversial storytelling choices to where the series ended up, some problems with Lost are hard to look past.

Related 10 Lost Moments That Made Viewers Quit The Show While Lost was acclaimed for its mysteries and ability to keep the audience guessing, certain storylines were too out there, ruining the show.

10 Overly Complicated Storytelling

The Time Travel Elements Proved A Step Too Far

From the beginning of the show, Lost was not afraid to confuse viewers with all the mysteries they were throwing at them. From the monster lurking in the jungle to the mysterious hatch to the presence of others on the island, there was a lot to contend with.

However, given the simple setting of the show and the fairly standard storylines, this was easy enough to follow in the first seasons. However, this became more confusing as time went on. Lost introducing different time travel elements added a lot of confusion to the series and that is where it lost a lot of viewers.

By season 5, the writing had turned increasingly complicated and messy. With some things on the island taking place in different timelines while also showing various storylines off the island, it was easy to lose track of where the story was at any given moment and thus became harder to be invested in.

9 The Whole Final Season

The Finale Was Let Down By What Came Before

For a TV show that has had so much build-up over the years with mysteries and unanswered questions, there was a lot riding on its ending. The finale of Lost has a mixed reputation with many calling it a disappointment.

However, similar to Game of Thrones' ending, the issue with Lost was less about the finale itself and more about the flawed final season. The tone of the show had changed drastically with the fantasy and sci-fi elements growing to such an extent that they began to outweigh the characters.

The mysteries and unanswered questions also continued to pile up with new subplots and characters being introduced when viewers were really looking for things to be wrapped up. There had been a common complaint from the beginning of the series that it seemed like the writers were making it up as they went along and the final season didn't help to dispel that idea.

8 The Messy Answers

Big Build Ups Led To Half-Hearted Conclusions

Lost was known for its excessive number of mysteries and many of them were initially very intriguing. The smoke monster and the polar bear were two early signs of some truly compelling things to be revealed later on. However, not only did the show take far too long to address many of its mysteries, but the answers they gave were usually disappointing.

The polar bear is a prime example of Lost's disappointing answers as it is one of the first things to truly put the characters on edge to question how a polar bear made it to an island like this. There were even clues peppered out elsewhere in the show, including a comic book, that the polar bear was extremely important.

However, the ultimate reveal is that the Dharma Initiative simply brought the polar bear along for unknown scientific reasons. That's the kind of disappointing reveal that longtime fans of the series grew frustrated with.

7 There Are Some Major Pacing Issues

The Show Struggled To Maintain Momentum After Big Moments

The Lost pilot kicked the show off with one of the most exhilarating first episodes of a series ever. There were many who wondered how the show would be able to sustain such an exciting pace over the course of the 20+ episode season. The reality soon set in that it was not in fact able to.

While there were some great Lost episodes that were filled with thrills and twists, there were also many that felt like they added little to nothing to the storyline. "Filler episodes" can sometimes be an easy criticism to throw at a show when they simply have quieter character moments as opposed to action. However, Lost would seem to fluctuate between intense momentum with exciting reveals only to begin treading water with empty hours of television.

In a way, it was the show's own popularity that hurt it in this respect as, given how obsessively fans watched and waited for the next clue, these lesser episodes began to stand out a lot more. Lost likely would've thrived more on modern TV where seasons are typically closer to 10 episodes than the 20 or so that were expected in the 2000s.

6 Inconsistent Quality

Seasons Would Ebb And Flow In Terms Of Watchability

While awards are not the only measure of a show's success, there is an interesting anecdote that highlights some of Lost's issues as a series. Lost came onto the scene as a massive hit with viewers and critics.

During its first season, it was hailed as a television masterpiece and won the Emmy for Outstanding Drama Series. Yet after its second season, the show was not even nominated in that category. This became the struggle for the series over the years.

The show would lose audiences with its unending and seemingly pointless mysteries, only to introduce a new twist that would suddenly make things interesting and then subsequently lose its way all over again. Fans can look back on the show as having some great moments, but the inconsistency of the storytelling overall makes many people stop short of actually hailing it as an all-time great show.

Related 30 Mysterious Shows To Watch If You Liked Lost Lost is amongst the elite in the realm of really good, really memorable television hits. For more mysteries, fans should watch these shows.

5 Poor Visual Effects

The Show's Budget Couldn't Always Match Its Ambition

Lost is a network show from the 2000s, and it certainly looks like it. Television has come a long way in terms of the budgets and what they can pull off on the small screen. Shows like Stranger Things, House of the Dragon, and Rings of Power display the kind of scale that rivals many blockbuster movies.

Lost came from a different era, but even those who were watching the series as it aired would never suggest the CGI work was effective. With 20+ episodes in a season and a massive cast, it makes sense that there was not a lot of room in the budget for CGI.

The show also seemed to understand this and tended to avoid the need for such moments. However, it was easy to take the audience right out of the story any time the smoke monster appeared, the polar bear made an appearance, or the show attempted to do something bigger than they were used to.

4 Bloated & Unnecessary Flashbacks

The Flashback Stopped Adding Anything

The flashbacks on Lost were a great storytelling technique in the early episodes, with many future shows following that pattern. With the cast of characters each having their own backstories and mysteries, these flashbacks revealed aspects that they didn't want the other survivors to know.

This resulted in some incredible moments, such as when it was revealed that Locke was paralyzed before he went to the island and when Kate was shown to be the criminal on the island. However, after a time, these flashbacks stopped giving new information to audiences and began feeling like an excuse to get the storytelling off of the island for a little while.

There were instances in which the flashbacks felt unnecessary and even silly, such as the infamous episode that gives a backstory to Jack's tattoos as if they meant something profound. Season 4 switching to the flashforwards was a smart way to get past this issue that was beginning to drag the show down.

3 Neglecting Important Stories

The Show Often Dropped Notable Plot Points For Lesser Stories

Another frustrating aspect of the show dealing with its many mysteries was how it had opportunities to address some of the biggest questions fans had, but attempted to distract from that with less interesting storylines.

The introduction of the Dharma village should have been one of the biggest moments in the series where all of the questions surrounding the organization could be explored. However, it seems like the show was either not ready to answer those questions or simply didn't have the answers worked out.

Instead, they would give audiences things like Sawyer and Juliet's relationship to hang onto. As much as this couple was well-liked, it was a miscalculation on the show's part that fans would be more interested in that than the lore of the island which had been teased for so long.

2 Lackluster Love Stories

Jack, Sawyer And Kate's Romance Drama Never Mattered

While the main characters on Lost could be fascinating and fun on their own, three of the most central characters became tedious as the show continued to force them into an unnecessary love triangle.

Kate, Jack, and Sawyer are all key characters and the show quickly manufactured some tension between them with relationships blooming between Kate and both men. However, the soap opera storytelling did not have the desired effect as this quickly became the most boring aspect of the show.

There was a lack of chemistry between the romantic pairings and the stakes elsewhere were far too high to really take any of that drama seriously. Unlike some aspects of the show that were unpopular, Lost kept doubling down on this, forcing the storyline on viewers until finally giving up and making Sawyer and Juliet a couple.

1 Dangling Cliffhangers Left Unanswered

The Show Would Tease Ideas With No Payoffs

Lost often utilized cliffhangers, and most of them worked to spectacular and tantalizing degrees. The cliffhanger of the hatch being opened along with Walt being taken at the end of season 1, or the reveal of the flash-forward in season 3 were great examples of how the show could keep audiences coming back for more.

However, there were also far too many examples of when these cliffhangers felt like gimmicks with no real answers. For example, Sawyer stealing all the guns in season 2 or Jack deciding to build "an army" to fight the Others sound like interesting ideas that never really develop.

Most frustrating of all, the cliffhanger revealing Libby was in the same psychiatric facility as Hurley is never mentioned or referenced again. It feels as though the show threw these moments in there to get the audience excited even though they knew there was not really a reason or idea of what it meant.