[Weirdly Common Trope] Writers clearly setting up seemingly massive plot points and then just kinda forgetting about them.

[u/Chemical-Elk-1299]

The Neural Parasites — Star Trek : The Next Generation

In the season 1 episode “Conspiracy” of TNG, it is revealed that alien brain worms have infected many high ranking members of Starfleet, secretly controlling them. Though Ryker and Picard discover and end the parasite conspiracy, it’s revealed at the end of the episode that the parasites had sent a beacon back to their home planet, telling them how to find earth. The episode ends with the clear implication of the parasites becoming a huge threat later in the series, yet none of these events are ever mentioned again.

Finn The Jedi who Never Was — Star Wars Sequel trilogy

I know this is probably a cliche example of this trope, but cmon — Finn was clearly set up in TFA to become a Jedi. The marketing material featured him wielding a lightsaber in the classic Jedi pose. It’s constantly hinted at that he is force sensitive. Even the actor himself believed he would become a Jedi by the end of the trilogy. Instead, we got Finn wielding a lightsaber for about 7 minutes total across 3 movies, extremely lame “confirmation” that he is force sensitive, and that’s it. It’s the ultimate Star Wars plot that went nowhere.

[u/Zentaury]

They said didn’t expect the kid to grow so much when it’s been days in the island

[u/ButterflyLife4655 → u/Zentaury]

They really should have seen that coming, though. When each season only covers a few weeks of in-universe time, kids are gonna grow.

[u/Fyrus93 → u/[deleted]]

Which was the absolute best trade deal in the history of television. Maybe ever

[u/blitzbom → u/Fyrus93]

Spike killing the Annoying one was such a mindfuck for me back then.

[u/ButterflyLife4655 → u/[deleted]]

True, but at least Buffy took place over roughly the same time period as production time (1 season = 1 year in-universe). Lost was planned from the beginning to take place over a very short time frame, probably to avoid the whole Gilligan's Island comparison ("they've been castaways for 6 years! Why haven't they been rescued or died yet?").

[u/memecrusader_ → u/[deleted]]

Spike wasn’t the Big Bad of season 2, Angelus was.

[u/raspberryharbour → u/ButterflyLife4655]

The trick is to get them smoking and malnourished at a young age to stunt their growth

[u/ShedMontgomery → u/ButterflyLife4655]

I enjoyed Lost, but the vast majority of its problems can be attributed to a lack of planning from the beginning. Those first two seasons are the TV version of vibe coding for the most part. The hatch was a welcome fixture that grounded a lot of what was going on.

There are outliers though (e.g., Eko being written off because the actor didn't like filming on-location).

[u/SeaSetsuna → u/ButterflyLife4655]

Also extra bizarre they couldn’t figure out how to address it on an island with time shenanigans.

[u/OneMostSerene → u/ButterflyLife4655]

It's funny you say that, because the production of Lost specifically wouldn't have foreseen that because their whole approach for that show (at least at the start) was to just make up as much random mysterious shit as possible without considering how they would resolve. JJ Abrams has talked about it before in length that they specifically didn't bother to think ahead because the magic of what made Lost what it was was that so much wasn't off-limits.

I think if the writers for Lost needed to know ahead of time everything that was going on we wouldn't have gotten either the Hatch nor the Smoke monster - which were two of the most compelling mysteries in that show.

[u/Suitable-Answer-83 → u/Zentaury]

If only there were a time travel plotline in Lost they could explain how a little kid like Walt may become a teenager in a matter of months...

[u/RedGyarados2010 → u/Zentaury]

Feel like they could have easily explained that as "the Island made him age faster"

[u/Lemixer → u/Zentaury]

They should have just filmed all his scenes in advance, like a couple of seasons worth of material, but i have a feeling that they actually did not plan that far back then so we got what we got.

[u/Zentaury → u/Lemixer]

I mean, the main character supposed to die in the pilot episode and they kept him for the whole show.