Season three of Lost continued to expand upon the mythology of the show, but suffered from a barrage of issues. But, it was not without its positives, though they were few and far between.

LOST – Views from a Veteran – Season Three: Episodes 1-13

“You are not on the list because you are flawed. Because you are angry. And weak. And frightened ” – Mikhail in “Par Avion”

Desmond and Eloise Hawking from Lost episode 308: “Flashes Before Your Eyes” – Source

We have finally reached season three of Lost, which if you have been reading these posts or following me on Twitter (follow me at: @davidmanly), you know that it has not been easy. I love Lost, but season three had so many problems that even watching the episodes again, I still remember the disappointment.

First off, the first six episodes were aired in the normal timeslot, which was then followed by a 13 week break until the episodes resumed. In my opinion, it was a stupid move that had many people forget about the show and lose interest.

As well, the shows themselves obtained a significant dip in quality, as the flashback method of storytelling was getting old. This is shown most clearly in some of the worst episodes, such as “Par Avion,” which focused on Claire learning that she and Jack were siblings and trying to use a seagull to carry a message, and my vote for the worst of the series, “Stranger in a Strange Land.” That episode, which had the flashback focusing on how Jack got his tattoo, was pointless (and most fans tend to agree with me on this) and signaled that the producers had really run out of ideas. The creators and producers have even acknowledged and admitted this.

The producers also introduced us to Nikki and Paulo, two characters that we had not been introduced to or cared for, but were instantly supposed to accept them as regular cast members. That is not how you introduce new characters, and the fans reacted. In fact, the fan outcry was so strong that the creators solved that problem in the episode “Expose” but burying them alive.

But, those bad episodes in the first half of the season did serve a purpose (as well as a few in the second half), as it allowed Lost to have a season six end-date planned. This allowed the producers, creators and writers to craft a satisfying end arc for the show.

Therefore, even though season three is not the best work of the show, it only went up from there as the seasons progressed. In fact, there are a few hints of the brilliance to come, as in the midst of the bad episodes came one of my favourites – the Desmond episode entitled, “Flashes Before Your Eyes.”

The episode, which had Desmond travel back in time to 1996 and attempted to change the path of the future, was the show’s first attempt to demonstrate that it could pull of a science fiction story with heart. Not only did they achieve that, but they also introduced Eloise Hawking (a character we’d get to know in the later seasons) and cemented Desmond and Penny as the best couple on the show. In creating that episode, Lost set the stage for the great finale of this season, as well as the best episode of the series – “The Constant” from season 4.

As you can probably tell, season 3 of Lost has many problems, but once we watch the last few episodes of the season – wow. A true return to form, but you’ll have to wait for the next post for me to go into further detail about that!

But now, the various “Lost-isms” for the first half of season three!

There have now been a total of 19 fights, with Jack & Ethan, Sawyer & Sayid and Sawyer & Pickett tied with the top spot of two fights each.

“Sonofabitch” has been said by Sawyer 15 times, Ben has been beat up twice, and Desmond has amazingly said “brother” 28 times!

As always, I end with the top “Sawyer-isms: For the first time, we have a tie for first place! Both “Doc” and “Freckles” are tied with each being said a total of 26 times. Much farther back and tied for second are “Boss” and “Hoss” with five references each. And lastly, “Chief,” “Sweetheart” and “Chewie” are tied for third with four.

“The universe, unfortunately, has a way of course correcting. That man was supposed to die, that was his path. Just as it’s your path to go to the island. You don’t do it because you want to. You do it because you’re supposed to!” – Eloise Hawking in “Flashes Before Your Eyes.”