Season three is an important reason for a couple reasons, primarily because it answers one of the key questions. Will they get off the island? At this point the answer is yes. We don't know who will or won't get off, but at least Kate and Jack make it off. It's unclear how they make it back to civilization at this point, although we're led to believe the boat off the island will be their salvation.
This answer ended the theory that all the castaways were really dead. This was an idea that was floated around early on, and while it was again suggested this season by a character on the show, it was never taken that seriously.
Letting fans know the castaways would get off the island also offered the first glimpse at the end of the series. Finally we could tell we were heading towards a resolution, even if we weren't sure where it would end. I'm not sure how important that was in retrospect. It seems that it was more significant in terms of introducing us to a new plot device, which was flash forwards instead of flash backs.
I'll get into this more with season four, but the mode of story telling in Lost is fascinating and this switch embodies that excellence.
But back to this season, which packed a lot of action. We had Jack, Kate and Sawyer with the others for a while. There was the introduction of the Russian. More knowledge about the Dharma initiative. We got to understand Ben (a little bit) and John Locke began to understand himself and his purpose. Oh yeah, a submarine blew up too.
It's hard to break down this season because there is so much to go through, so I think i'll tackle it in stages.
The first stage, or act, begins with Jack, Sawyer and Kate being held by the Others and ends with Sawyer and Kate escaping while Jack saves Ben's life with a surgery. The biggest part of this act is the introduction of Juliet. Juliet, much like Ben, immediately becomes a major player, who is largely responsible for shrinking the roles of Hurley, Claire and Charlie.
This is definitely a good thing, as Juliet is a complicated and compelling character, as evidenced in her back stories that show her struggles on the island, particularly with Ben. For most of this season Juliet's motives are in doubt, as are her allegiances. By the end of the season she cements her role as an ally of the castaways, but it is a journey fraught with a lot of intrigue. Elizabeth Mitchell sells it though. She plays a wide spectrum of emotions, from strong to fragile that she blows Kate out of the water as an actor.This is especially damning condemnation of Evangeline Lilly, who has a much meatier role. She is given so much in terms of story, but Mitchell tears her to pieces. This all plays out when the two characters are handcuffed together. Lilly simply overacts in the scene, displaying all the same overplayed facial features that she's been wearing on her sleeve through the first two seasons. Ok, maybe she is supposed to be this hard nosed kid who isn't reluctant to trust people and has turbulent emotions, but does she need us to constantly remind us?
These actors and characters are perfect foils for each other. Mitchell downplays everything and her character is very cool and calculating, with one exception in the most recent finale. Lilly is super expressive, like she's doing a play, and her character would rather jump into a pit than check to see if the fall will kill her. We understand all of this in the "first act," as Kate impulsively deals with Sawyer and Juliet plots Ben's demise, which is ultimately thwarted by Jack's constant ability to screw things up and the fact that it is hard to play Ben.
Done with this act, in fact I'm breaking from this format and will just deal with characters. Fate says Locke is the next to get my breakdown.
We join Locke after his successful attempt to stop pushing the button in the hatch, which was the result of his faith in the island himself being challenged and ultimately shattered. He is able to get his mojo back with the death of Mr. Ecko, who much like Boone, only serves to (re)affirm Locke's faith in the island. I'm not too impressed by all of this, as it doesn't require a lot of faith when you get as many signs as Locke gets. In large part this is my problem with Locke in this season, but it is in line with his character.
This is a guy who doesn't like being told what to do, but at the same time can give up at the drop of a hat. It's a confusing dynamic that seems like it results from his upbringing, especially his tormented relationship with his biological father as an adult. Ben understands this, and most likely for devious reasons gives Locke a chance to overcome his insecurities with a chance to kill his father. Locke can't close the deal himself, but he wants his dad dead, so he conveniently gets Sawyer to do it. The whole episode seemed pretty ridiculous, considering Locke tries to murder a stranger in the finale when he could have stopped her other ways, but he can't kill a guy he hates and apparently wants dead since he gets Sawyer to do it. I didn't get it.
I was uncomfortable with Locke's story in this season. Ok, he is special. Yeah, he's going to be important with the others. So what? I mean i couldn't even swallow it all before i had to eat more story.
I guess what I'm saying is that Lost bit off too much with this season. There is too much story here. It makes for more entertaining episodes, but it makes the whole season a little overwhelming. I can understand why this season is regarded as a comparative low mark and why viewers jumped ship, although the chaotic scheduling played a factor.
This season suffered from too many cooks in the kitchen. Unlike THE WIRE, which also suffered from the problem of too many characters, Lost tries to give everyone something to do. THE WIRE on the other hand simply pushed characters to the side, even the main character for almost all of season four.
Maybe it's heresy to suggest such a thing, but I could have done with some Shannon and Boone like axing in this season, especially with Ecko.
Ecko's death is done to further the storyline, but ultimately it only adds layers that aren't necessary and in hindsight feel more like a gimmick than anything of importance. He could have been killed in the hatch explosion and merely used in dreams for season three. This would have been especially poignant, since most of the tailies die in season two (but not Bernard!).
The worst travesty of this season is the introduction and death of Nikki and Paulo. I'm sorry, but huh? What was that? Essentially you have a self-contained episode that could have happened in any season. It isn't just dumb, it's insulting. I would have rather seen a clip show.
The one story that feels like filler, and really isn't, is Sawyer's public makeover with Hurley. Hurley suggests that Sawyer might need to be the leader of the group in the absence of Jack and Locke, which seems ridiculous at this point, but comes to fruition in season five. I didn't really need his whole mayoral campaign, but Hurley's assessment of the situation almost made it worthwhile.
Season three also has too much Sun and Jin action. We get it. She cheated on him. Their marriage was complicated. She's pregnant. Probably could have condensed that a bit.
The fact that that storyline is so overdrawn is indicative of the flaw in the entire season. Everything feels like it is spinning out of control, which actually makes the flash forward more important because it gave the viewer a chance to slow things down a bit.
In the moment a lot of stories, like the Russian's station are fascinating, but they may have opened too many cans of worms in this season. I normally applaud the ambition of this show, except not here.
There are essentially 23 episodes in this season and it is too much. In fact, I think this season could be the impetus for the idea that there really can be too much of a good thing.
And there are plenty of good things. The episode "The Man Behind the Curtain" is nothing short of spectacular. We see Ben's back story and catch a glimpse of island politics.
The season finale really leaves us hanging, and on two different fronts. Primarily we're wondering what is happening on the island, since the motivations of this new boat are in question. On the back burner we have the scene between Jack and kate in the future, which raises tons of questions that will be answered with various success (the he that Kate refers to is Aaron. eh).
Oh yeah, and who is in the coffin? I know the answer now, but if I had to guess then I would have said Ben, Locke or some not yet seen character.
So yeah, Shannon is dead, but this is nice, right?
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