So is this some kind of record time for the woobiefication of a bad boy?

Oh, I doubt it.

Yeah, I like Sawyer. But not as you know, my favoritest person ever that I want to spend ever so much time with. I enjoy the character, which is whole 'nother thing. He is interesting to me, not because woobie, but because of the conflict he engenders.

What I see is the reactionary stuff. Of course there should be organized efforts. Of course there should be education. Of course there should be shared resources. But they're still at the point where (presumably) half the people are living on the beach because they believe they will be rescued. This is a major mentality chasm, and one not conducive to the things they should be doing.

I'm about where Liese is WRT to why they haven't started setting up their community for the long haul. They're still in a kind of shock and denial. And, hey, Michael's going to start on the Aquaduct, yeah?

Sawyer. Sawyer, Sawyer, Sawyer. See now, what I like about Sawyer so far is that I don't think he'd take kindly to woobification. I think he'd nickname the apologist something... not nice. And I would laugh. I like to think his motivations for joining in the reindeer games last week were not because he was all hurt and lonely, but because he's self-serving: "Kate's hot, maybe I can get with her if I pretend to listen;" or, "Well, shit, if we're stuck here, I'm going to need something from one of these twits eventaully, so...;" or, "Damn, I'm bored. Think I'll go poke at the morons." This is the dream to which I will hold firm. Also? He's hot.

How long have they been on the island now? Two weeks?

I think last week was the first time I was really unhappy with the Sawyer characterization itself (as opposed to rolling my eyes at his apologists), since I have little of Jen's hope that his sudden turnaround was anything other than the writers mining his torture for sympathy before trying to make the character a snarky heartthrob in the fashion of daytime soap rapists. But he was definitely enjoyable earlier on when he was the annoying gadfly who wasn't necessarily doing anything wrong.

I was also disappointed that Jack was so blasé about having treated torture as a second resort rather than a last one, and on someone who turned out not to be the guilty party after all. I mean, I understand his and Sayid's reasons for doing so, but he should be tearing himself up over what happened instead of enjoying a leisurely golf game with adoring spectators. Also not thrilled that a dig about Kate liking Sawyer prompted him to abandon even halfhearted gestures of responsibility for the injuries, since I'd like to think violating his Hippocratic Oath in fairly brutal fashion should cause more upset than his prospective girlfriend of two weeks not joining him in shunning a rival.

I'd like it better if the mistakes seemed to have consequences that last a little longer than the teaser of the next episode.

Yeah, totally with you on that, Matt. I'm still hoping for some longer term ramifications. But since we haven't bothered with the ramifications of some simpler, more obvious things like, say, smack withdrawal, I'm not altogether too confident.

From what I've heard, smack withdrawal is rough for a few days (Charlie should be pining for a pair or two of unsoiled jeans in his size now), but then basically over, and it's nowhere near as difficult as alcohol withdrawal. He'd still be psychologically addicted, but not suffering physical withdrawal. And since we haven't (yet) run into a field of poppies, symptoms shouldn't recur while on the island.

I have little of Jen's hope that his sudden turnaround was anything other than the writers mining his torture for sympathy before trying to make the character a snarky heartthrob in the fashion of daytime soap rapists.

I suspect you are correct, though I shall continue to dream. I am actually disturbingly good at ignoring turns I don't like in favor of my own interpretation.

Couldn't agree more with your issues re: Jack and the torture. More likely futile hope... they'll deal with that at a later date.

Here's what's been bugging me, and I apologize if I missed the discussion earlier, but... Why did Sawyer not give it up and admit he didn't have the inhalers before he got pieces of wood jammed under his fingernails? I mean, my "Yeah, screw you and the horse you rode in on," attitude of defiance would stop well short of torture if it came to something as ordinary (though certainly important; breathing is good) as "Do you have an inhaler for the asthmatic, or don't you?" It seemed anti-self-serving, so I don't get the motivation for the character.

I suspect the writers were trying to get at Sawyer having something to prove by keeping silent, but it's lost on me. (Did I just write "lost on me"? That's so sad.) I mean, yeah, if people are unjustly persecuting you for something significant, ideally you hold your ground and you buck up as best you can, right? But this? This was not that.

It seemed anti-self-serving, so I don't get the motivation for the character.

He was being Faith, and exacting penance from people who didn't know what game they were playing. He's not only self-serving, he's self-destructive (within limits).

Oh. Huh. OK, actually I do remember reading something about that in previous posts, but I'd forgotten (the Faith comparison). It's too fast for me to buy it from him. Which is not to say that that's not what the writers intended, what with the relenting on scamming the parents of the kid who reminded him of himself. That one moment of opting out of a scam didn't make me think he'd change his ways or even want to try to in any significant way. Or feel awful enough so as to want others to womp on him for it. Faith earned my understanding. No one on the island has made enough of an impression to earn that kind of understanding from me yet. So there, islanders.

ETA: except for Charlie, because, well, what's not to love and understand? Cutie head.