Claire is tending to her baby, Jin and Sun recently swam ashore after the boat was stolen in a gunfight.

I, for one, would be frustrated if they spent an episode watching people sit around on a beach, doing gardening, talking about the weather and looking for fruit while there were much more important things happening on other parts of the island(s).

Just sit back, close your eyes, and imagine the characters wandering around looking for food. Better yet, go down to a beach and walk about, watching people walk about on a beach. There you go. That's what the other people are doing. Pretty much nothing. Hooray!

They'll get their episodes when the time comes.

As for the 'pointless' things, there are lots of things that even at the end of season one you might have thought were 'pointless' (eg. polar bear) but I'm sure over the many seasons they will be explained.