Serial Experiments Lain

Serial Experiments Lain is a show that has eluded me for so long. Its opening taunted me into its clutches by maintaining that I “don’t seem to understand”, as it leaped from perplexing episode to the next. By the end of its thirteen-episode run, I found that the show was correct in its initial taunting promise.
The show is very ambitious in the themes it decides to tackle which range from consciousness, our dependence on technology and how said technology is changing the way we communicate with one another. This is accented by a discussion on God and how faith has changed with the advent of the internet which has emerged as its own untamed Eden. Was the show successful in presenting these lofty themes? The answer to that is complicated.
Let us begin with the title character: Lain. She is presented as a recluse who maintains a distance from her friends. She is mostly quiet and monotone attracting very little sympathy from the viewer. When she is not quiet, she is mostly confused by what the fuck is happening around her. This makes for a dull viewing experience that neither asks interesting questions nor cares enough to resolve any plot threads in a satisfying way. Lain is lost in the shuffle of the plot, alternating from an uninteresting husk to a social butterfly without much rhyme or reason. It is only until the end of the show that the viewer is filled in on why she changes so abruptly and the answer to that question is deeply disappointing.
This brings us on to the plot which is willfully obtuse and refuses to give the viewer anything to latch onto for its thirteen-episode duration. It also pays very shallow lip service to the themes I discussed above refusing to elaborate or skilfully fold its ideas into the contents of the characters. The plot serves only to present an aesthetic of intellectualism without delving into why these specific characters were important in telling this story. Instead, the show reads like a terrible thesis statement with the thin veneer acting as the story.
Why then has the show accrued such a following? I am afraid that is a question I have no sufficient answer for because the show itself did not provide me with any suitable conclusions itself. Instead, the show trailed off into incoherent ramblings about objectivism and other tired, half-baked philosophical concepts without realising that the characters suffered as a result. My initial optimism for this show was beaten down episode after episode of sparse characterisation and obtuse abstract imagery which signified nothing. I do not recommend Serial Experiments Lain.