The problem is not that "some things" were left to the imagination but that basically everything remained unanswered. The only thing the finale really answered was the nature of the Flash Sideways.

But even that explanation was unsatisfactory because it didn't explain why in Spoiler:  (Select to view)
.

There are so many unanswered questions and that's the frustrating thing for me. An Elmyra Duff ending "I want to hug you and squeeze you into itty-bitty pieces!" could have been written by anyone.

I expected many, many questions to go unanswered.  But I did honestly expect some of the rather larger questions to be answered.

Still, I was fine with nothing being answered.  However I also expected a satisfactory answer to the whole "sideways time line".  The answer that was given there I felt was a complete waste of time.  I felt it was like the whole temple from the beginning of the season.  Give us a cool new place full of mysteries, introduce some interesting new characters, then just rip them away for no good reason and without any explanation at all.  What a waste of storytelling that was!

It just felt like they got everyone wound up all season waiting for the end, then just said "they all live happily ever after. The End".

So anyway, I enjoyed it for 2 hours and 15 minutes.  When I realized in those last 15 minutes that it wasn't going anywhere near where I thought it would, that killed it for me.

6 years of "wait for it... wait for it... wait for it...  Ok, sorry, we got nothing."

As I read elsewhere, JMS (Babylon 5 creator) remains the only person in the history to TV to come up with a long multi-year story, successfully pull it off and please everyone in the process.

Quoting xradman:

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I haven't seen S6 yet, but all this talk has me wondering...

Which was real and which was purgatory?  Did they all die in the original airplane crash or did they all survive living out their life?

There are differing opinions.  But I think most agree that the island stuff was real.  Meaning they're not all dead at the beginning of the show.

Guys, there are two different ways of filmmaking and tv-series making

There is the Bruckheimer / Bay way, where everything is explained and solved.

and

There is the Lynch / Cronenberg way where more than 50 % is left to the imagination of the viewer.

It is just a matter of taste what you prefer.
I surely prefer the Lynch way

Donnie

Quoting TheMadMartian:

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Quoting Taro:

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while my wife says: "what the hell kind of ending is this?!"

That made me laugh as I have done that many times.  for your wife.

Hahah, yeah. My mom is even better. Whenever she sees and episode that ends with an open ending (for example, in a detective series, the perpetrator isn't caught at the end), she just sits there looking at the screen after the show is over.

Then, after a minute or two she says: "hurm ... weird ending", stands up and goes about her business.

Sorry for the off topic but every time I used to see that, it made me laugh.

Quoting Taro:

Quote:
I do make a difference between a show that ends (really ends) and a show that is forced to abruptly end the story because it was cancelled. That's something I can't really appreciate (like the end of season 2 of Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles).

While it could have been a great starting point for Season 3, I actually found that the end of Season 2 could be considered a good cut-off point as well. I did not feel alienated as much as many here seem to be by the ending of LOST. TSSC did answer many/most of the question that had come up throughout the season. They did, however, end on a slight cliffhanger.

Quoting Mark Harrison:

Quote:
It just felt like they got everyone wound up all season waiting for the end, then just said "they all live happily ever after. The End".

I had a hunch it was going that way and now am glad I stopped watching after season 3 (I had skipped through most of season 2 due to schedulung problems).

Quoting DarklyNoon:

Quote:
Guys, there are two different ways of filmmaking and tv-series making

There is the Bruckheimer / Bay way, where everything is explained and solved.

and

There is the Lynch / Cronenberg way where more than 50 % is left to the imagination of the viewer.

It is just a matter of taste what you prefer.
I surely prefer the Lynch way

Donnie

Oh please... the "explanations" and don't-confuse-the-viewer -attitude in Bruckheimer/Bay films something completely different to what we are talking about here. This is about tying the loose ends in the end, not holding your hand in every little turn of events explaining why it takes place.

This is more like writing an excellent mystery tv-series, and THEN give it to Bruckheimer/Bay to finish it - and take the easy way out, because they themselves don't know what the hell it is about either. 

And I'll take Blue Velvet over National Treasure any day, too 

edit: typos