"Sundown" [Michael's 51'st episode]

I beg to differ. But it's my opinion against yours. LOL

Every season has a story builder.

1. Season 1 was all the trekking around the island till we found the hatch.

2. Season 2 started with Ana Lucia's gang (many who where abducted by The Others) and then Henry Gale to let us know that there are others who live on the island besides the plane crash survivors.

3. Season 3 taught us about Otherville and DHARMA.

4. Season 4 showed us how Ben operated DHARMA and introduced Widmore, who desperately was trying to find the island. Widmore also warned us that there are beings on the island who, if unleashed, will cause worldly harm and horrible wars.

Season 5 introduced time travel.

Season 6 will unravel the mystery once and for all. But for that, we must be patient. If the mystery is unraveled now, we might as well not have the rest of season 6.

And yes, the storyline may not involve Ben. But I am not that sure that it will be so. Because, if I recall properly, the past seasons didn't feature Ben right away either. I remember numerous complaints about that.

But as I said earlier, if you don't watch, it will only mean that you will not be able to coherently be part of the conversation.

Write your own story about that. I think that's one of the problems today. We are so interactive that we feel that the producers owe us something. They have to give us the story we want written.

But really it's your opinion. Technically speaking, you are in the minority. Many agree that the Jack, Kate, Sawyer triangle was futile. It was there to attract certain people whose brains could not absorve the real sci-fi flavor of LOST. Which, by the way, they were hiding till Season 5. Then the sci-finess exploded. The love shippers disappeared and the sci-fiers (I am quite sure that I am making up words here) were ecstatic. Now, I think, they are dabbling with the occult or even a bit of philosophy via ethics. And, it will turn off some people who are not interested in those subjects. But I am. I do want to know where evil stands. I want to know where the pendulum between good and evil stand. Can we really say that one person is evil when another one is doing the same thing is not considered evil?

Think of religions. How many of them fight for the "right" cause? Are they correct for assuming that their way is the only way? Are they correct is saying that just because you don't follow their way of thinking you are evil?

These are the themes that are being explored this season. And if it requires Jears, so be it.

Technically speaking, you are in the minority

Not according to my F/list on LJ!

I am interested in all the things u have mentioned, they just aren't delivering it in a manner that I find interesting.

I am interested in amny sci-fi/ occult based TV shows atm, this one jsut hasn't delivered

But it's not just one character I don't like... thats my point... even Ben has become frankly useless/ pointless. That's why I'm giving up. I'm not interested in any of them anymore or the story

Before you leave the Lost section of the fandom, I'm curious to know how they could have done it a better way to your liking. Though I too have early problems with S6, I can't think of too many alternate ways that they could have done it. Of course, giving Ben a bigger role is an easy change, but beyond that is a bit harder.
We may want Jack and company to stop hogging up screen time, get killed off or get sidelined somehow - but there's no realistic way to hope for that. Darlton wanted S6 to focus on the characters that started it all, so things could come full circle, therefore they needed to still have starring roles. I don't like it all the time, but it's far too late to change it, and even Darlton isn't risky enough to demote all the S1 regulars at the end of the show.
Of course, having those starring roles take place in the Temple was controversial- and I certainly would have had Dogen explain his magic devices/springs better, and explored why he and Jacob made so many awful decisions. But as I said in an earlier post, even seemingly bad Lost arcs often yield long term greatness later on.
The flash sideways is certainly a debateable tactic- but that's because we don't know their true role in things, and we won't until the finale. Despite that, I can't see another realistic way that they could have done flashes this year, since flashbacks were played out and flashforwards were no more. If it was me, I'd probably just have a year of flashbacks for supporting characters, like Richard, Ben, Widmore, Jacob, MIB, Eloise, Desmond, Penny, Christian, etc since that would answer mysteries. But having a whole final year of flashes not starring the major characters couldn't really happen, and I doubt it was an option to get rid of flashes altogether.
I guess your issues are with what they put in the flash-sideways, especially with "Jackass"'s son - but what would have been a better way to fill Jack's sideways, other than unrealistic ideas like killing him off and/or removing his tear ducts?
Perhaps I'm not all that creative, but I can't figure out how I would have done these first six episodes better than Darlton, at least within the limitations/corners they got into. You obviously have more ideas, so what could they have done - within reason, and other than giving Ben more screen time and not having him tremble in fear- with these plots and episodes that would have kept you around?

As far as the flash sideways go, that doesn't bother me. They obviously feel they need these flash sideways for some reason...so fine. I'll go along with them. However. I AM finding them boring in the extreme. I think what makes the sideways looks worse for me is that they've happily seemed to have dropped other storylines to fit these in. The payoff needs to be worth it. Alternative/Parallel universe stuff is nothing new in sci-fi - it's been done to death already so I'm waiting to see whether the two timelines converge...whether one replaces the other etc.

My big worry is a reset. I'm a big Dr Who fan - hell, I was weaned on sci-fi - but what lets down New Who is the constant pressing of that old red reset button. Great buildup...good tension...then kablam. Complete letdown. That's one of my worries with Lost - that they'll resort to doing something like that. I know they've said they won't - that it won't end with the plane not crashing etc, but you COULD look at these flash sideways and see them as a way for Darlton etc to cover their asses. Because technically it won't be a "reset" because things changed BEFORE the plane crashed.

And I guess we won't find out what the island is either. Which, to me, is a pretty big question.

Hallelujah. About freaking time. LOL