Is that if you make your entire story centered on “what’s inside the box” you hype up the mystery and the potential answer to the point where in the end no one is going to be satisfied by the answer, even if it’s an answer you planned or put a lot of thought into (and most of the time this isn’t the case, people will just make up an answer as they go along)
This problem is even worse if it’s a long-running series because the longer things go on the greater the expectations for the answer. Also, you have to consider that fans will come up with theories about what’s inside the box and the longer things go on the greater the odds someone will get it. And if the answer proves unsatisfying that is a black stain on the entire story because that’s what the entire story revolved around
The solution to this, is to not hype up the mystery too much, or to have the story have more to it than just the mystery. If the focal point of the story isn’t necessarily the mystery, but more the characters, then the audience may not care as much if the answer to the mystery isn’t shocking - the mystery was just an excuse to see the characters and have them interact. Likewise a mystery box can be okay if the story is relatively short, but it still has its risks - if the answer isn’t interesting or acceptable the whole story falls apart, so you are putting all of your eggs in one basket
If everything is planned and set up from the start you can end it satisfactorily. But only hacks make these so that doesn't happen.
>go to some con asking for what fan theories they have
>someone nails what you have in mind exactly
>welp time to change it
What if you just didn't do that? If someone got it right, then they won. These things don't happen in the vacuum of one autist's mind. If one dude gets it right, keep asking other people, and act shocked by the real weirdo theories like you've been found out. Normal viewers want a satisfying story.
>But only hacks make these so that doesn't happen.
And that's why JJ. Abrams is a hack. He only sets the boxes, but he has no idea of what contains, hoping to never open it.
They really opened too many mystery boxes back to back without resolving some of the first ones. Mystery box writing can be done well if it's actually planned out, but the writers didn't know what they were planning to do which is why you have elements like a little kid being psychic and talking to polar bears(or whatever the frick Walt was all about) and then ultimately writing him off the show because you had no idea where you were gonna go with him(didn't help thay they would have to come up with some BS because he was getting older)
What mystery box show was done right? (Dont say Dark)
The leftovers
They didnt have anything planned lmao. I really liked the show but never considered it a mystery box show, just a drama with vaguely supernatural things that didnt need to be explained because it was more focused on how the characters deal with loss.
Do you know any others? Im looking for a show to watch but i feel like ive watched all the good / decent mystery thriller type shows
1899 was well done but its ending was weird and stupid, you can watch it for the setpiece itself
The Terror (season 1) is unadulterated kino but light on the mystery box element
I think Dark did it better with regards to being more focused on the characters and using the mystery of the show to create interesting scenarios. I thought it was interesting to see the characters through time. It did get kind of ridiculous towards the end, but not too ridiculous.
The Prisoner mystery box ending: success or cringe?
The mysteries were resolved, which led to new ones, it worked fine.
Lost is widely acknowledged as one of the greatest shows of all time.
You are widely acknowledged one the biggest whiny little b***hes of all time.
>If the focal point of the story isn’t necessarily the mystery, but more the characters, then the audience may not care as much if the answer to the mystery isn’t shocking - the mystery was just an excuse to see the characters and have them interact.
This is why we weren't supposed to learn who killed Laura Palmer, but truthfully I think the suits were right to force the reveal. We should have gotten another season or so before finding out, but eventually they would have had to start focusing on other big plots like the Black Lodge and if they never wrapped up the murder I imagine it would have wound up weighing down the show where it would either waste time that could have been used on other plots or they'd have to ignore it completely, which wouldn't make any sense considering it's what's keeping Cooper in Twin Peaks.
Same thing happened with GOT they hyped the shit for "The Prince that was promised" and in the end it was a pedo cripple.
Funny thing is GRRM was making fun of lost ending.
all important mysteries were resolved
do you think they had season 5 of the sopranos planned when they were making season 1? the same with breaking bad or any other long show? of course not, but the main difference is that Lost has a lot mysteries and some of them take seasons to be solved, that backfired because it made the brainlet viewers feel impatient and angry
what was the mistery in the end?, i dropped it halfway through
the island is a supernatural seal for good/evil and also everyone is dead
>the island is a supernatural seal for good/evil
Yes
>and also everyone is dead
Average American media literacy
the church meet n greet scene was moronic trash
Elaborate
>Elaborate
Doesn't Christian literally spell everything out
i didn't stick to the end, i just want to know what was the explanation for the island thing
I can't remember exactly but I don't think its origins are even explained. seems to have had "stewards" at least since the time Latin was a major spoken language that end up trapped there for whatever reason
>island was real
>some died in the show
>some died after
>they joined in the afterlife to move on
That's it.
I’ve tried to watch this show twice on Hulu and never get past episode three. It’s crap.
A Lost x Battlestar Galactica crossover would have made for a better ending
In the case of Lost, legitimately think they thought of the whole purgatory end from the beginning, but then when people started guessing that's what it was they made up a bunch of bullshit mystery box twists in an attempt to throw people and try to get them to guess it was something.
I didn't read that whole wall of text, but if you watched LOST only for the "mystery box" and not for the characters, then you're moronic.