shafted or just lost?

I watched the end of the first series of Lost, where they opened the hatch and stared down the shaft.

Then, tonight, they've finally descended into the shaft, which took a whole episode. It seems to lead to the living quarters of an old science project improbably supported by an old apple 2 computer.

Whatever technology was there has obviously gone wrong and now looks as if the system needs to be reset every 108 minutes, as part of an emergency protocol.

I know part of the idea is to make this series entertaining and complex, but when we take 2-3 episode to descend into the shaft, I wonder if the pacing is correct.