Lost, Season Three

With the holidays behind us, we’ve finally picked up our long journey through Lost. I’m currently a few episodes into season three.

I think I’m still following the major plotlines, but new threads and characters are being introduced at dizzying speeds. I’m not saying I want things to go back to dragging the way they did in parts of the first two seasons, but I do feel like some of the pacing is a bit out of whack now. At this point I’m convinced the island is the size of the continent of Africa, considering the sheer numbers of its population. I mean, they’ve already run out of names! Nikki and Paolo? What the hell?

Warning! This next bit is a mega-spoiler!

I’m really worried they’re going to let Eko die. He’s such a great, unique character, so it would be a shame to lose him, but beyond that, he’s pretty much the last character left from the initial season two outing. If they’re just going to kill him off, what was the point of introducing those characters in the first damn place? I like that they’re trying to establish a bias against plot immunity, but I’m starting to feel like that plot immunity only applies to characters introduced in the first five episodes.

I either want Eko to survive, and remain a major character in the story, or I want someone like Sawyer or Kate to die suddenly and bloodily, to re-instill that sensation that all bets are indeed off. I have some minor knowledge of events that happen in much later seasons, so I know of course that doesn’t happen, at least not to Kate or Sawyer. (Or Jack or Hurley or Sayid or Ben.) But man, it sure would be nice.