Heh, for Charlie, I'm mostly struck by, "Aw, he's just got the sweetest expression when he looks at her sometimes." I think I conflate what I have grown to feel is DM's utter adorableness (which did not kick in for me until post-Hobbitness) with the character that is Charlie. I don't find the character particularly compelling, but... awww. Cute. Hey, at least I'm aware of my silly. And his story could always get more engaging, you never know.

I enjoy Charlie with Hurley, too. The writers need to keep that in mind.

Just so tavella doesn't feel all piled on about the villain thing, I must admit that Hurley is, unexpectedly, one of the most interesting characters to me. He's not a broken woobie, he doesn't seem to have a spooky hidden agenda or a terrible past; he's just an occasionally clumsy but essentially decent guy who's expending some effort to contribute to the community in any way he can, from the felicitous randomness of the golf course to the survivor roster to helping Charlie bury Ethan and prompting Sayid to talk to him afterward.

Wholly good, and entertaining, and interesting, and without question one of the people I'd actually want around if I crashed onto an Ethan and invisimechasaurus-infested island. Though still and all I'm fairly certain I would be bored to tears by the second commercial break of the first episode of a Lost populated exclusively by 46 Hurleys.

"Aw, he's just got the sweetest expression when he looks at her sometimes."

This is me. I'm not a particular DM fan (all my pervy hobbit fancy goes to Billy Boyd), but....cute. Woobie, indeed.

I used to like Charlie, and then somehow this week I couldn't stand him. It was like, "We GET. IT. You're tormented and surly." Last week he was disgustingly clingy with Claire (not fun to watch, but it was completely consistent with how his character's been written/portrayed) and then suddenly he's all distant? I don't know maybe it was just backlash from last week - it's ALL. ABOUT. CHARLIE.

re: bad characters - I think I like them better, too. The characters I find least interesting to watch are the holier-than-thou's who never did anything wrong.. But OTOH I do like Locke because he's so mysterious and I feel like he knows what he's doing on some level, whereas most of the other characters are floundering in the dark looking for someone or -thing to grab on to.

forgot which board I was on

I like Hurley too, he seems to be turning into a very important person on the island. Even though he's not the one making the big decisions he's making all the personal connections.

Jack's still the defacto leader, but they work more in a tribal council way, although I'm not sure if all the secrets are out there. Did Kate, Jack, and Charlie ever tell the whole story about the pilot?

I love the fact that Hurley is not just the Fat Funny Guy. He brings the humor, yes, but he's also by far the most attuned to emotional needs of anyone in the informal island council. And I think it's very much run that way, as askye said. Which is I think both much healthier than dictatorship, and one of the reasons I like Jack so much; back at the beginning when everyone couldn't make a decision without running to Jack, it would have been easy for someone with a more unpleasant or more powerhungry turn of mind to consolidate power, set up some enforcers, and have himself a little kingdom. Instead he was very laissez-faire outside of critical items.

I have to admit I've come around on Hurley for much the reasons JZ articulates. Communities need glue. He's the glue guy.

"Come around"? You didn't like him before? It's like I don't even know you.

Sawyer had been hunting the real Sawyer for years. If he knew Hibbs (?) rep I want to know why he just trusted the information that was given to him.

I get the impression that Sawyer's plan for finding RealSawyer consisted largely of wandering around conning people and calling himself Sawyer, figuring eventually he'd run into him at one of those conman conventions they're always having. After a decade or so of not being invited to the ConCon, I suspect he may have begun to notice some of the flaws in his otherwise brilliant plan.

Seriously, Sawyer makes Spike look like Dr. Moriarty. Good face work this ep, though.

"Come around"? You didn't like him before? It's like I don't even know you.

Well you would know me if you'd actually read this thread where I kvetched about the early Hurly love (which I thought unwarranted). But I do think he's doing the stuff which can pull the castaways into a community.