and if someone is taking care of her dog

She asked the lady who was setting her up to escape to take care of the dog. That worried me from the moment Jin gave her the puppy. Who's dog sitting?!

I liked how they used the dog going from wee pup to grown to show the passage of time.

The breaking the group into Cave vs. Beach dwellers seemed too contrived to me. I'm with the ones thinking it would make more sense to all go to the caves but have several people guarding the fire in shifts.

Hurley pissed me off this ep. First, still calling Jin "the Chinese guy" and then playing his discman while Charlie was playing guitar. Rude! I wonder when will get his story.

and if she never knew what her father's business really was

I think she got a pretty good idea when Jin came home all bloody.

After rewatching, I think she knew before then. She tells Jin that he doesn't know her father in the discussion at the party about eloping, and when he says he is going to work for her father and can suddenly afford an expensive ring, one of her reactions was clearly fear.

one of her reactions was clearly fear

The actress playing Sun has the most beautifully expressive face.

I'm interested in why no one brought up the monster as a deterrant to going inland.

Me too. Jack did refer to being able to "defend" or "set up defenses" which may have been in reference to the monster. But, since no one knows exactly what it is or what it can do (other than pull the pilot out of the cockpit and kill him bloodily), I don't get why Jack thinks the cave in the jungle where the monster has been is more secure than the beach where the monster has yet to visit.

Well, the skeletons suggest that the bodies were there undisturbed for many years.

Heh. There's an interview with Maggie Grace who plays Shannon at tvguide.com today and she says the cast sits around speculating about what's going to happen and, in particular, what the epileptic trees really are. She says,

Dominic thinks it's an elephant with cats duct-taped to it.

Makes sense to me!

I'm interested in why no one brought up the monster as a deterrant to going inland.

I thought Kate did, obliquely, when Jack asked her why she wasn't going and she said she didn't want to die. I assumed that was a reference to the pilot, but she wasn't saying it outright because only she, Jack and Charlie know about that.

It was weird to me that people weren't more freaked out by the bodies at the caves. Kate seemed to be when she first spotted them but that's about it. Aside from Charlie's reaction to them, which wasn't nearly as horrified as mine would have been.

I'm thinking that a few discreetly mummified bodies aren't as much of a horror show when you've been through six days of 'Lost'.

"Oh good, some bodies that aren't decomposing in a hot fuselage, being gored by boars or burning up in an enormous stinky pyre."

You know, I had forgotten until Locke made surprised noises about the "people here before us" that most of the crash survivors don't know about the message in French (or, I guess, the polar bear). Between Sayid's determination to keep hope alive and Locke's faith in the island, I'm losing my sanguinity regarding rational behavior from these guys.