Kate Austen was given very little to do this season besides being involved in an uninspired love triangle between Sawyer and Jack. While I expect characters like Jin, Sun and Claire to fade into the background on a regular basis I was a little surprised to find myself losing interesting in core characters. With such a large returning cast and four new regulars to juggle it's understandably tough to keep every character's story engaging. Desmond's story is leaps and bounds more exciting than the rest of the new cast. He's a hopeless romantic on a quest to regain his honor and reunite with his true love. His appearance in the first couple of episodes of the season were used solely to introduce the concept of the button but his flashback and story in the two hour finale presented an intriguing new character. The best new addition to the Lost cast is the person we see the least throughout the season – Desmond David Hume. Their reunion alone makes his introduction worth the effort. Only Bernard, who really doesn't do much himself, feels like a relevant addition from the tail section as he ties up the loose end regarding Rose's husband. Don't get me wrong, I'm a big fan of Eko but I feel as if his character was completely mismanaged from the outside. Those last few episodes in which he finds himself destined to push the button almost seem as if the were a scramble to give the character something substantial to do. At some points he's a passive observer to events unfolding and the later he actively gets involved in the pressing of the button. Eko, he does have a couple of good flashback episodes but it also feels like the writers are never quite sure what to do with him. Neither contributes a substantial amount to the season or the series besides being canon fodder for Michael.

Beyond that, Libby slides into a cute love story with Hurley while Ana Lucia stands around and takes up space until she is shot to death by Michael. While the survivors on the beach have had it relatively easy, the tailies experience 48 days of hell in which their numbers shrink to a handful.

The introduction of the tail section characters does serve a purpose early in the season as it reinforces the Others as formidable villains. There definitely are some growing pains here as the showrunners work towards giving the show a focused direction but the great character work that the first season is praised for is still present. Unfortunately, the show stumbles somewhat in its sophomore season with some storylines seemingly going nowhere and some characters noticeably underutilized. Attempting to build on the strength of Season One, Lost Season Two introduces several new characters and a new mysterious group to keep viewers enthralled.

Lost season 2 episode 11