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The third season of "Lost" was one of the least popular, opening with heroes Jack, Kate, Sawyer, and Locke being held captive by "The Others," (and occasionally being violently abused). During this season the ratings plummeted nearly 50%.

The season opened with an unappealing "mini-season" of six episodes focusing mostly on the three captives. Three major characters had already been killed off in the previous season - Shannon, Ana Lucia, and Libby - but it was almost worse to watch the main characters trapped in tiny cells, watched over by those creepy, control freaks, the "Others." But the season gained momentum as it re-visited the remaining favorite characters, still waiting near the beach for rescuers.

Cheech Marin from "Cheech and Chong" even made a surprising cameo, as the father Hurley remembers wistfully in a flashback. The scene of Hurley driving an abandoned VW van is one of the happiest moments in the entire season - and the writers were so pleased they saved the van for a victorious comeback in the season's final episode.

And there's a new focus on Charlie, the young rock star (and recovering drug addict) who's estranged himself from Claire. He'll have to decide whether to risk his life to rescue the others, and makes a poignant list of the favorite moments throughout his lifetime - like swimming as a boy, or the time his band "Driveshaft" first heard their song on their own car radio.

It's these tender moments that nearly redeem the entire third season, but the show uses its 22 episodes to finally advance the plot. This season introduced a new character, Julia, who claims she wants to join the plane crash survivors (adding another obstacle for any romantic possibilities between Jack and Kate.) But a flashback for Julia also reveals how she left the mainland to perform pregnancy research for "The Others," and eventually there's even a flashback for their villainous leader Ben. (He's revealed to have a child among the island's original militarized settlers, and eventually participates in a mass slaughter which kills his own parents.)

As the curtains pull back on the origins of "The Others," season three raises the possibility that there's an even more evil group of aggressors waiting to seize control of the island. The most important scene appears in the final episode, apparently offering viewers not a flashback but a "flash forward" - a glimpse of the future that lies ahead for them, if they ever do escape the island!

The DVD of this season included intriguing footage of the writers at work, which was probably necessary to pad out its length, since season three had only 22 episodes - one less than the previous season, and two less than its first season. But the next three seasons scheduled even fewer episodes - just 16 apiece. It was season three when the series passed its halfway point, and began its sprint towards the finish!

But for some viewers, it also raised the question - will we still care when we get there?

Learn more about this author, Moe Zilla.
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