I fear this season will end with the clock counting down and a empty shot of the hatch. Implying no one would get to it in time. Also, I believe The Others won't be explained until next season, then we may get an episode or two on their back story and maybe the hatches story.
The show does seem to be striving to get emotions though, which is a bad sign. Take Sawyer killing the frog. Totally unnecessary to his character. Yes, we get it, he is bad and evil, he had Charlie kidnap Sun, ect. But to have him crush the frog, it didn't really make much sense. But, the show really needs to just get to the point at this stage. I find they are moving too slowly, almost stalling just to build a climax for the last month of episodes.