**A quick warning that if you have not seen the first two seasons of the show, that this review could ruin some secrets in those first two seasons, or leave you "lost" about where the show is going in season 3.** 

The third season of Lost began with a bang, beginning where Season 2 ended, with Michael turning on several of his fellow survivors, and getting a boat from the "others" to get off the island. Now Jack, Kate, and Sawyer are captives without hope, who are have been taken to a part of the island they (and the audience) have never seen before. We soon do find out that several other characters (Sayid, Jin, and Sun) have taken a sailboat found in season 3 around one side of the island to try and figure out where their friends have gone. None of the central characters are prepared for what is to come, as we soon see that some of the people on the island are not who we thought they were, and several of the questions begging to be answered finally get revealed as the first few episodes start to unfold. 

The third season of Lost was done a lot differently than most television shows, with the producers deciding that they were going to split the season into two halves. The first "half" was 8 episodes that they showed in the fall, leading up to a holiday hiatus that was supposed to serve two purposes. The first purpose was to leave the fans wanting more with a first-half cliffhanger designed to really leave people guessing. The second intent, was that they planned to bring the second half of the season back against Fox's American Idol hoping to steal away some viewers. Well that didn't go quite as planned by ABC, and the interval between sections really put a lot of fans in a sour mood about where the season was indeed going. The other thing that it did was throw some theorists for a loop as to where the show would be going. 

During the third season, a fan of the show could have formed and changed opinion about the show a dozen times. Not understanding where the story was going at times, and still at others getting frustrated that more questions were being created than answered almost spelled doom at times for a show that was down in ratings. The lucky part for the season as a whole, is that the second half was so strong in my opinion, that when people got involved in the weekly episodes, it made the show that much stronger. Now in this DVD set, you don't have to worry about the break, but rather you can just watch the next episode and not have to suffer through a cliffhanger for too long. That is, until you reach that season finale of the third season, and you find yourself gasping for air about where the show is starting to head. A lot of twists and turns are in store during season 3, and it includes revelations about how Locke ended up the way he was, and how the "man from the hatch" in season 2 got there. 

I find this 3rd season to be extremely thrilling, and it is only amplified by the great DVD set which they have issued to satisfy both the fair-weather fans, and the die-hards that live and breathe with the show. This was the season that Terry O'Quinn won a Best Supporting actor Emmy for his role as Locke, and one in which some of the characters really develop their back-stories. You get to find out a couple of really surprising things about the fate of several characters, and through the 23 episodes, you get to see deeper into the reason that they are on the island, and with some great special effects to start the season, you get to see how the "others" found out about the cast-aways. If you are a fan of extras, then this 7-disc set is REALLY going to excite you. It includes trivia, commentary for the episodes, explanations and insights of some of the episodes, and even a day in the production of the show. This DVD set is the best the show has had to offer yet, and the way the season built up to the end, a must-have for any true fan of the show.

Recommended: Yes

Viewing Format: DVD