this post was submitted on 25 Sep 2023
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I don't think I ever liked anything he did, not one thing.
I loved season 1 of Lost. Back then, I had no idea who he was or that there were no answers coming.
I watched lost really late, but i also hardly knew anything about it. The beginning is so much fun, and then it turns more and more into a show where it feels like they have no idea what they want to do with that show.
Fringe wasn't bad.
Fringe was good when there were still mysteries about it, when you were never sure what was going on. It kind of dragged out in the later seasons and whatever they did with the Observers was just… whatever.
Force Awakens, despite its unoriginal plot, was also somewhat good when it came out because of all the unanswered questions and the potential it had. JJ Abrams seems good at sparking things and planting mysteries (“mystery box shows”), but not so great at actually answering those mysteries. Force Awakens didn’t really start to look bad until Last Jedi came out and everyone realized that there was no plan and nothing mattered, but that was more on Rian Johnson than JJ Abrams. Yes, Abrams/Disney should’ve had something worked out beforehand, but Johnson seemed to go out of his way to just shut the story down midway through a trilogy and left nothing to move forward with.
The problem is Abrams was never sure what was going on in Fringe, or any other project, either. The mystery of Fringe or Lost gets completely ruined by the fact that there isn't a solution and never was.
I will forever be confused at how the most hated line from the sequel trilogy wasn't "a good story for another time." It was so classic Abrams in all the worst ways that I very nearly left the theater and I still feel a tinge of rage ever time I see that scene.
If anything, Abrams should just make trailers, I think that could actually be something he’d be really good at: driving up hype. He wouldn’t actually have to deliver on anything (which is where he falls apart), just set up a mystery (“Is this a good movie?”) and then he has nothing else to do with it.
This would actually be a brilliant use of his skillset. He very evidently doesn't research anything about the source material or care what the film is about, which fits modern movie trailers perfectly.
I think the pilot episode of Lost is one of the bets pilots ever, but it goes down hill really fast.
Have you tried Fringe? Not a huge J.J. fan myself, but I really loved Fringe
@paddirn replied to my similar comment quite thoughtfully
He was executive producer of Person of Interest, and I enjoyed that show right to the end.
Can't say the same for any of his other works though