Now that I've had some time to step back from the thread...
I can completely agree on the revelation of the Others... getting insight into them has completely crippled them as a credible menace, especially since what motivations they seem to have are random, and somewhat silly. Not to mention what we've seen makes them seem incredibly incompetent. For example, Ben hoping to get Jack to do the surgery by... terrorizing and killing a bunch of his people, and then manipulating him by harming and torturing his friends? Especially seeing as how they seem to know so much about Jack, they probably know that had they just showed up and asked, he would have done it.
As far as the X-Files, I liken it to the "carrot on a string" analogy I used before. Mystery is good, and can be interesting. However, the thing that is left out is that mysteries also require answers, or as someone said above, they aren't mysteries, they're plot devices. That was the parallel I was attempting to draw - the relative lack in resolution of any of the questions it asked. In the case of X-Files, I agree with TwistedBishop - answering the questions ruined the show. The reason for this, in my opinion, was that there were never any answers to begin with. The whole premise of the show was not answering questions asked, and that is ultimately unfulfilling. After two and a half seasons, I see Lost heading in the same direction.
To draw more parallels, there is a reason that the most watched show in the world is CSI (actually, I think it's CSI:Miami... one of them) - there's a mystery, and it's answered. Now, I'm not a fan of the procedural dramas overly much, because of the pat resolution and lack of consequences. However, I do believe that there is a happy medium between a show like CSI and a show like Lost - an example of that medium is Heroes, IMO.
I've made the comparison before, but I want to make it again. There's a concept in the comic world called "writing for the trades." Lost does the same thing, except for on television. The problem that I have with that concept isn't the idea of decompressed storytelling, but that often the writers forget that they have to write a single, semi-self contained story each part. Often, in my opinion, that doesn't happen - it ends up being a single story simply divided into six, or twenty-two, or however many parts. I know I've said this before as well, but I enjoyed the second season of Lost a lot better when I could watch it all at once - I think it worked better that way. This is in complete contrast to my comments on the threads here, which people can probably look up. The problem I have is that each episode (and this applies to all decompressed storytelling) has to work on it's own, as well as a piece in the overall story arc.
In the end, I suppose it comes down to personal preference. Some people enjoy the show, and some don't - and I guess I tend to conveniently forget that. So, my apologies to anyone that felt I denigrated their preferences. I'm certainly not going to stop panning the show when I think it's bad... but I'll try to be a little less combative about it.
