@Darwin
Not the primary conflict, no. For example, in the story I’m writing now, a girl disappears. I’ve already decided that you’re not going to find out what happened to her. That’s not the primary conflict, though, believe it or not; that’s something in the background. But she’ll make another appearance, maybe not in the full flesh form, though… :)
@Jack79
Lost is far from perfect, but for some reason, the mysteries and unanswered questions are not what bother me. Sometimes I don’t want things to be answered, sometimes I just like to wonder about things and come up with my own answers. What bothers me are some of what people may call “the little things”. I love the show, but it has been on the lame train for a couple instances of “long lost parents”. “Gee, we just revealed that X is the son of Y and Z but has a completely different last name than either of them! We totally didn’t just make this up on the spot!” Eh…I try to ignore it and hope it won’t become central to the plot…
I know they make it up on the spot, but I don’t want it to be that obvious.