It’s very insulting

I agree with that completely and you could have easily listed 10 more items. This show has always had it’s share of eye-rolling plot contrivances (people about to reveal something getting cut off by someone running in to breathlessly announce “Jack [or Kate or whoever] is back!” is my “favorite”) but they just piled that crap on in season 5.

As soon as Daniel separated himself from Kate and Jack, I knew he was going to get shot by Eloise, I just knew it, it was that predictable. As soon as he got shot, I knew he was going to reveal he was her son and the screen would *boom* LOST.

When John’s body tumbled out of the container, I didn’t go “Holy crap! Didn’t see that one coming!” I went “You bastards! John has meant nothing the past 5 seasons”, it could have been Hugo’s co-worker Johnny’s body that Esau inhabited for all it mattered.

And if they try the “But! But! a tiny speck of John’s consciousness is still in Esau and will grow in strength until it battles Esau for control of the 50-something bald man’s body and soul!!11!!!” trick, I’ll never watch this show again.

And you have it backwards, Michael was the one who written so horribly after the first part of season 1 that he served no purpose, an interesting character (artist, builder, knew how to design an aqueduct etc.) turned in to a guy screaming “WAAAAALLLLTTTTT [sob] My boy! WAAAAALLLLTTTTT”. I was relieved when Christian said “You can go now”, the writers had killed Michael off years before.

What does bug me is that if you think of the last 48 episodes (seasons 4-6) in terms of how the show was run in the first three seasons, that’s two seasons of 24 episodes. So, roughly a third of the way in to the final season, they introduce two characters that are seemingly what the show is REALLY about?

I mean, I keep going back to the thought that almost everything we’ve seen for 5 seasons is pointless, all the drama, tension, deaths, tears and occasional yucks along the way were irrelevant because of stupid plot contrivances like time loops and the boring fate v. free-will debate. If “this” always happens, why am I’m supposed to be all bought in to what happens to these characters? Because of a few more plot contrivances, a handful of them are going to change something? So what!

I can see why Terry O’Quinn seems less than enthusiastic about the turn the show has taken.

Were gonna have to take the boy…….. ummmmm why?,

he’s just a special boy with some abilities, and thats it?

The only person that comes off as a bit of an a-hole is you.

Personally, I don’t think the writers are done with John Locke. While right now he feels like a patsy who was just a cosmic pawn, Jack’s comment to Alpert about not counting John out is very telling. Besides, it took Jack five seasons to finally acknowledge Locke’s “specialness.” I don’t think this is coincidence or just merely a dramatic irony designed to make Jack look more like an idiot than he already does sometimes. I think Locke’s “death” will have an even greater significance during season six than, say, Charlie’s death.

By the way, I understand why some might believe that this season’s story arc had our characters doing some things that seemed out of character. I would encourage you to go back and re-watch the first four seasons again. To me, I haven’t found anyone behaving uncharacteristically. Sure, they’ve changed — grown, even — but it has been a natural growth. Jack became a man of destiny, enabling him to eventually accept his final destiny. Kate has become a woman who will not run away. She tried to run from Jack’s decision to detonate the bomb, but finally realized she needed to stay the course instead of fleeing from her fear. Sawyer has become a stabilizing influence, a man at peace with himself who now considers the greater good, even when he doesn’t want to. Locke, despite being a manipulated pawn, finally accepted his fate. Sayid has been reduced to a shell of his former self, now ready for redemption. Hurley has gone from being the cursed lotto winner to a man capable of shining a light even in the darkest times. And Ben…he’s gone from manipulative worm to a man without purpose in a godless world.

Sorry to go on so long, but this story is really about the characters. It’s just that characters in stories — especially those as complicated as LOST — can be frustrating, like the people we know can be frustrating at times, too.

Faith? thats what got Locke super pawned.. give me a break..
No more faith.. Jacob was a manipulator,and so was his Black Rival..(Loophole Locke).

No faith.. . all …is …. L O S T

Chris in Fort Worth

But I think that’s exactly what the writers were going for. That’s kind of the point. It’s one of those things that takes your breath away and makes you re-evaluate everything you thought you knew. Unfortunately, the moment where we should’ve all been sad and going “Oh, woe is us! He’s really DEAD!” we were all thinking “Woah, that’s some other dude in his body!” It was a game-changing twist instead of a sentimental moment, which I think a lot of us would’ve preferred.

However, if there’s one thing we’ve learned on this show it’s that dead is NOT dead. Boone, Charlie, Ana Lucia…all these characters may be dead but that doesn’t mean we won’t get to see them again, either as visions or in flashbacks. Locke’s body may be dead, but his character might not be. Have faith!

Oops, I forgot! Nobody can EVER be unhappy with the show/an episode/a character because if you are, you’re just a silly person who only watches for the most superficial, soap-opera reasons. I’ll certainly test my knowledge against you or anyone else here, that doesn’t mean I have to pretend that the shitty storytelling in season 5, the way they jacked around characters just to fit the plot, the continued horrible writing for women characters and so on didn’t happen or that after 5 seasons being told “Nothing that you’ve seen really matters because it’s just plot contrivances” doesn’t suck.