that was all going pretty well until the final bit, I was hoping it would answer questions, instead the end felt kinda like a cop out

I feel like I've just been raped. Can't beleive I've wasted 6 years of my life for a cheap mushy sentimental cop-out of an ending, that made the whole mystery of the island that made me a fan of the show seem pointless.
What's worst is that some people actually like this. Way to reward lazy-writin guys.

I thought it was an alright ending, but didn't quite live up to the standards it had set.

can someone P.M me th eending! I don't watch lost but wanna know the ending!

Well that was... huh... something.

There were some good parts, but this show has definetly seen better episodes.

And yeah, the ending was a very silly cop-out.

Oh well... I'll always have the memories of watching "Through The Looking Glass" for the first time.

It certainly was.....sentimental....

For its cheap thrills, I enjoyed it. Hell, the first hour and a half were phenomenal television.

But I think I would have liked no explanation better than the "flash sideways" farce.

I'll watch the series again, this is just my initial reaction.

For your standard network T.V., not a bad show in summation.

I'm not sure how the ending was a cop-out, when I think of a cop-out I think of something not planned or made up as they go along. I feel they pretty clearly knew what the flash-sideways were from the begining of the season with Rose telling Jack "Its okay, you can let go now" being one of the first scenes of the season. While I was surprised by what the Flash-sideways ended up being, I do think it was in keeping with some of the early themes of the show, especially Jacks inability to accept death in the first season (The loss of his father, not giving up on Charlie after Ethan hung him even though he seemed long gone, trying to chop Boone's leg off with that door instead of admitting he was going to die, etc.), although I do think on rewatch it will give the 6th season kind of a jarring presence going back and forth between the two timelines. I agree that it wasn't of the series' very best episodes, but it still a very good episode. It had some really strong emotional moments, as well as as some very cool action and epic visuals.

For the series as a whole I would have a hard time being convinced that this is not the best drama of all time on American Broadcast TV. Personally I think it may be the best show period but that it really a tough thing to decide going between genres and taking into account the different times that shows came out. I know a lot of people think shows like The Wire, The Sorpranos or even Mad Men are all better, but I think while they are all great they don't quite match up to Lost as a whole.

The ending was a cop-out because the writers were to lazy or incapable of giving satisfying answers to the shows mysteries, so they took the easy way out by making a sentimental, manipulative ending, that not only didn't answer anything, but it also made it as if the mystery was unimportant (even though going by the hundred of threads made by fans speculating about the mysteries of the island, a LOT of people really card about the mystery). Also, the show's creators saying that the show was always about the characters... bull. the show was never about the characters. Al i can say is that I have never been left so unsatisfied by a show... ever. I'm actually glad this POS is over.

I can undestand dissapointment about not having a mystery you were interested in directly answered, there were a couple left hanging that I would liked to have had answered but I think they were minor. I'm curious what major questions were left that people think went unanswered, the biggest one I can think of is how Walt was special. The other questions that may not have been specifically addressed were at least given enough clues to draw your own conclusion.

I can't understand people saying this show had not always been about characters. One of the major things the show got acclaim/attention for was how large and diverse its ensemble cast of characters was. At least half of each episode we're character focuesd of island storylines, that served the sole purpose of character study/building using the flashback/forward/sideways device.  That character devise was there from the 2nd episode of the series. Also, even the on island story episodes frequently had little to do with mysteries and more about who the characters were. I understand that it was often the mysteries that got people hooked initially, but to say that the show had been predominantly about mysteries just is not true imo, I think at the very least it was a 75:25 character to mysteries/mythology ratio.

My issue was the massive waste of flash sideways time. As a friend mentioned, it was basically a flash forward, but perpetuated not just over one episode (s3 finale) but over the entire season. Now you are bound to piss people off if they expected a science fiction type answer to this (well we assumed it would be since Desmond was involved). Thats why im upset with the ending.

LOST was brilliant for alot of reasons, including religious/science ambiguity, but it seems as though, while they didn't "rob" the audience of the "real timeline of events" on the island (this is the biggest fear i had) they did rob us of an ambiguous ending/solution to Jacks life.