jesus christ what the hell man the entire universe is telling you not to do this and you’re like “eh why shouldn’t I ruin my life?”
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the biggest problem with old shows is that there are soooo many fucking episodes in a season of legacy TV shows. one season of lost is like 49 episodes, you’ll never make it.
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If you want to watch an old show, you’ll probably have a good time with Buffy (as long as you can ignore Whedon being a creep)
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I’m actually digging it. I think what you’ve identified as it taking itself more seriously is kind of the exact direction I wanted Billions to go (if it really needed to go five seasons or whatever). I like it. But I also drink a glass or two of wine when I watch TV, so I like a lot of stuff.
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And then there’s still two more long seasons after that?
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Season four five and six are still excellent, it’s just that you can start to see the cracks in the writing. The show has a ton of momentum and won’t really let you slow down until it’s all over, at which point you might start to look back on a few things and go hey wait a minute…
I hesitate to say more because I think the pilot especially should be seen by everyone, and then the rest of season one is close to perfect. You’ll know by then whether you’re invested enough in the characters and mysteries to want to keep watching.
The creator of Lost (Lindelof?) said that he and the writers had absolutely no intention for the show to go as long as it did, but it was so successful that the network was like “MORE! MORE!” and they had to scramble to try to figure out more story.
I very much enjoyed the show, but sure, it got more confusing as it wound down. My wife and I rewatched it a few years ago with our son and I liked it a lot more. Everything actually made sense and I was satisfied with the ending.
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You don’t need to lie to the man
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I mean, real talk, S1 of Lost is more or less just as great as Risky as saying. Which leads to a prospective viewer to the question: are you a viewer who actually exists or are you a viewer who does not actually exist?
The viewer who does not actually exist may watch S1 and wisely listen to the consensus and just say “I’m good” there and stop watching because they have been strongly cautioned that it’s going to get a lot worse and go on forever and it’s not worth it. This person will have a great time and rest easy in the knowledge that they played things optimally. Alas, the “not existing” part of this person kind of foils this whole arrangement.
The viewer who does actually exist will watch S1, and if they agree about how great it is, they will invariably go “well I know what the reputation is, but maybe I’m different and maybe I’ll see it differently.” And then they’ll barrel ahead. And hours will be laid to waste and that unpleasant feeling will set in, but the unpleasant feeling won’t cause them to turn it off right away; they have to be sure. And then more and more hours will lapse until they either finally find the will to actually quit or - worse yet - tell themselves that they’re pot-committed and have to see this thing through. In either scenario, they will be left in the middle of a desert, thinking, “The haters were right. Gotta say, great call by the haters.”
Anyway, if a single great season is worth all of that, by all means fire it up.
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I would also say that even as the show falters, it continues to deliver a good clip of twists and great character moments that it’s easy to just let the show cook and keep eating. Like if you stop too soon, you’ll miss Ben Mendelson, who was so amazing that they kept him around through the end of the series.
I watched s1 of Lost in 2016 or 2017 (ish), way after everyone else, and loved it. Obviously I was aware of the reputation the show had at that point. I watched maybe 2 or 3 episodes of s2 and got bored and stopped, and never felt an urge to continue/finish.
A weird trajectory, I’ve often thought I should try getting back to watching it, but then I inevitably get scared thinking about how shitty it supposedly is in the second half/ending.
Apparently it’s available on Swedish Netflix too, maybe this means a binging session 
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I re-watch seasons of great TV shows all the time without issue and have attempted the Lost rewatch a couple of times and inevitably give up somewhere in S2 or S3.
I actually think a lot of the show is pretty good outside of the last season but you know there is not a satisfying ending to any of the big “mysteries” the show is sort of built around so at some point I always wonder what the point is and give up.
TV shows with fantastic performances and just good story lines are rewatchable but Lost suffers from the fact that it also has a medicore cast. Every character is basically a stereotype and even the efforts to flesh the characters out through flashbacks and the like are basically failures imo.
It’s a 9/10 for network TV and like a 4/10 by prestige TV standards imo
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Wat
Compared to great shows it does have a mediocre cast imo. Maybe not a popular take but almost the entire cast has been doing mediocre tv afterwards also.
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When you put a pile of nothing like Matthew Fox in the lead, you’re going to invite this take.
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Lost has a good cast imo. Just harder for everyone to shine consistently when the cast is so big. Locke and Ben really good casting for example
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Sure on him, but just at a glance of the rest of the cast, these are all great:
Naveen Andrews
Emilie de Ravin
Jorge Garcia
Josh Holloway
Malcolm David Kelley
Daniel Dae Kim
Yunjin Kim
Dominic Monaghan
Terry O’Quinn
Harold Perrineau
Henry Ian Cusick
Michael Emerson
I recognize one of those names. Not saying they’re not good, just that I didn’t find their names recognizable at all.
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Michelle Rodriguez made it pretty big after Lost
There’s also Maggie “Taken” Grace and Evangeline Lilly
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I recognize more of them than that, but mostly it’s from them having been on Lost. Dominic Monaghan had the biggest non-Lost role in Lord of the Rings 20+ years ago; no idea what he’s doing now. Terry O’Quinn had a supporting part in Primal Fear over 25 years ago. Uhh, Jorge Garcia appeared a little bit on Becker? Also 20+ years ago. I think they tried to make Josh Holloway work in an M:I movie or something and it didn’t take. I feel like Naveen Andrews was maybe in The English Patient? But that was before Lost.
Either I’ve entered a tunnel and I’m ignorant of any success this cast has had or there has been a collective failure to launch.
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