The season premiere doesn't bode well since it seems we have the same exact problem that has destroyed the show's original quality--the characters' actions are utterly arbitrary, dependent not upon character or situation or realistic human behavior but on what the writers need to happen in the plot at that particular moment.

spoilers below:

A few examples

a) the group gets told Charlie warned them about the people on the boat--but nobody asks how, nobody asks exactly what he said, nobody thinks to have a discussion on it--which of course would be what normal people would do.

b) once they blindly accept that Charlie's statement (whatever it was) means the boat people are "bad", we get this utterly arbitrary false choice--leave to hide or stay to meet them like they're really rescuing us. No discussion at all of possibly taking advantage of the situation to, oh, I don't know--get a boat or a radio.

c) Hurley tosses their only communication with Jack's group into the ocean rather than just grabbing it and holding it (the walkie talkie)

d) Hurley somehow manages to "lose"himself two seconds after being side-by-side with Sawyer (I suppose that will be explained by Jacob "transporting" Hurley to the cabin)

e) Naomi isn't actually dead. Not yet. Nope, she gets knifed in the back and is close enough to dead so that the doctor (the doctor!) who looks at her thinks she's dead. But she has to be unconscious, because otherwise she'd know that the one who knifed her was considered a loonie by the group and was not Jack or Kate or anybody else. Then, she has to wake up after the scene with Locke but just in time to sneak away (while none of the 20 or so people standing around see her of course). She's alive enough to create a false trail (and one of some distance) and to climb a tree, but only near-dead enough so she can die 40 seconds or so after she is found and performs her necessary function.

f) Jack "knows" Naomi is hurt and thus can't get far, but rather than have someone else check the other trail for the short period of time he's just said it would take, he sends everyone away.

This is just bad writing. Bad at its most basic level. It shows no respect for the audience. None for the material. It's the kind of writing one expects of seven-year-olds: "And then the monkey grew wings cuz he needs to get to the top of the cliff where the lizard is. And then the lizard changes from white to black cuz now he needs to be invisible to the winged monkey . . . "

The show had its moments, but those moments only serve to remind you of how great it was in that first season and how far they've fallen since. They're enough to tease you into thinking maybe, just maybe the show will recover, while most of your head is saying you would have been better off had the show been cancelled after the first episode so you wouldn't feel so cheated.

I watched the show last night, and enjoyed it. The holes in the plot pointed out by the previous post didn't go unnoticed, but I think Lost has a history of getting some moves right and some not-so-right. I really like the show, so I'm willing to overlook the failures to get to the better bits. I've heard that there were some changes in writing staff from the first to the second seasons. JJ Abrams who created the season left to do other things or something. It would be like if, after Book 3, JK Rowling decided to pass off Harry Potter to another writer. A story as complex as Lost (or Potter) needs that single-mindedness of one writer (or one writer who's making all the decisions) to ensure the consistency and coherence that the viewing/reading public demands.

I'm still going to watch, though! I'm holding out hope that Libby's past will intersect with the story again.

I wouldn't say point e is a plot hole it seems to be the central plot of Lost. The island has the power to heal people even to bring them back to life. The russian was certainly dead the first time but like Naomi he came back to life. Locke as well was shot but arose I have a feeling that this will be the main story for the next 3 years some of the people on the island are not really alive. This is no doubt why only 6 of them get off the island.

I would have to agree with the mention of the writers though it looks quite clear that almost all of season 2 has been brushed aside as not relevant at this point with the exception of Michael and Walt who have been brought back.

It was every bit as bad as I expected. I want the polar bear to eat each and everyone of them. Nobody is good, nobody is bad, nobody is lost, nobody is found, nobody is right, nobody is wrong, nobody cares.

Dead people come back to life by the island? The island is Jesus? Flashbacks, Flashforwards, dropped plotlines, random plotlines and backstories and future stories that tell me i should change the channel before I fall asleep.

Why should JJ bother with a story, a script, an idea or characterisation? Cloverfield doesn't require a brain to watch and from now on, neither will Lost. Come to think of it, what exactly was the last season about anyway?

All I know is that everyone looks pretty well off and good looking for being castaways and I think Hurley is spending too much time at the buffet.

The whole thing is getting way too stupid. Why parachute if you have a helicopter? Why did Charlie shut the door and stay in that room while it flooded instead of running out? Why does a dead guy come back to life, grab a grenade, jump in the water and swim outside to detonate the grenade outside of the room where Charlie is? Wouldn't it have made more sense to skip the swim? Why hold the grenade until it explodes? Is that some metaphor about Iraq? I don't give them that much credit.

A bunch of people doing stupid irrational things that make no sense, scaring people and killing people over nothing - sounds like the national meme.

NBC should buy back "Passions" and run it head to head against Lost. It makes more sense.