1. Most people watching anime at all don't think critically about it. Critical thinking is something once demanded of them in an English class, and they watch anime for the fun and colorful lights. Lain, then, is no more than a smoke-and-mirrors show for them, and when it fails to deliver the same commonplace plot of other anime, they get offended or mystified and call the show indecipherable. They may even try to summarize a plot without ever really thinking about it.
The key, though, is not so much to think about it but to pay attention. The plot is stated right by the characters throughout the episodes, it doesn't even require much brain-power to pick it up.
2. There are episodes in which the sub-plot has nearly nothing to do with the main plot. This includes aliens and little psychic children. Don't let this get to your head - this was probably done for the sake of those people watching it for the colors and cool stuff. But in the end, even as stated by the show's producers themselves, this was a mistake and detracted from the show. You have to realize that Lain was an experimental series, above all, with the end not being fully imagined until its actual conception. This left a lot or a few spaces for development, which resulted in some filler along the way.
3. Lain is my waifu. She was ever since I saw here and watched the series when it was still posted on YouTube, back in the days when you could still get classic anime series on popular video sites. She embodies various archetypes to me and other matters that are personal to me, and specifies a very particular feminine essence which requires lengthy discourses to fully define. In fact it can't be defines. Look forward to the analysis and I promise you won't be disappointed.
