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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Ruin Explorer" data-source="post: 9644660" data-attributes="member: 18">That's true, and Lindelof has done really well with that in other works (he's actually a good writer, contrary my beliefs prior to The Leftovers).But you have to pick a lane.Either, you're open with the audience that not everything is going to be explained or make sense, and that they shouldn't try to - in which case, you're not really making a "mystery box" show, you're making a "mysterious" show - which is a different thing, and appeals to a slightly different audience.Or you're saying that you have a plan, that mysteries will all have answers, at least in your head/plan, and that you're going to stick to that plan and gradually reveal stuff, and thus it's cool to speculate on it and trying and work out what's going on. This is how "mystery box" shows tend to operate now - they do actually pre-plan.Lost's problem was that, because it was still developing the format, they kind of tried to have their cake and eat it, as it were. It really didn't help that the writers were clearly enjoying their sudden fame and did a lot of interviews and talked a lot of smack. In S2 or S3 one of them even said what amounted to "We changed the plot because the audience guessed too close to what we were doing", which like, ugh. That's not what people want to hear!</blockquote>