If you haven’t seen Lost yet but want to, stop reading now. I’m about to spoil some surprises.

First off, I finally figured out where I’ve seen Ana-Lucia. She’s played by Michelle Rodriguez from Girlfight! During that whole flirting scene with Jack at the airport bar I kept trying to place her and I finally did. Of course, it sucks that she appears to be siding with “the others.” But one thing I’m slowly figuring out about Lost is that you can’t trust initial feelings about a character. For example, in Tabula Rasa, Locke finds Vincent and then tells Michael so he can be the one to return the dog to Walt. We get the sense that Locke is this highly compassionate guy, but then that episode ends on a close up of Locke watching Michael and Walt. The eerie music and the dark expression on Locke’s face suggest something sinister is about to happen and that Locke really isn’t the nice guy we were led to believe. And part-way through season two, I’m still conflicted over Locke. While I still think he’s mostly benign, we keep getting hints that there’s something not-quite-right about him. Jack is really starting to distrust him now and frankly, I think I am, too.

Another example of why I don’t trust my initial impressions: Sawyer. I really loathed him in the beginning, but I’m starting to get to know him now and I think he’s an okay guy. He may have a rough exterior and some unconventional methods, but from our discovery of his letter to the disagnosis of far-sightedness and then to his battle with Michael on the raft after Walt’s abduction, we find out that there’s a human in there after all. And so while I’m a little disturbed that Ana-Lucia seems to be in cahoots with “the others,” I’m going to reserve judgment about her until I know more. The main “other” guy, I guess his name is Mr. Eko, seems to speak fluent English which leads me to believe he’s not part of some indigenous tribe from the island but that he, like everyone else, wound up here by some freak accident. I really want to know what his story is.

Speaking of others ending up on the island, I don’t know if I like the Desmond connection. I like the character just fine but I guess maybe it would have been more dramatic for me had he been introduced earlier, like in season one. Know what I mean? Maybe if the tour de stade scene had been a few episodes before we see him again, which would have given me the chance to have forgotten about him, it would be been more surprising. But we were introduced to him via flashback in Man of Science, Man of Faith and he says, “See you in another life,” and then half an hour later, there he is inside the hatch. It just seemed a little obvious to me, which stripped the reunion of some potentially good drama.

Other thoughts: Walt’s abduction was pretty unsettling; seeing the numbers on the outside of the hatch actually gave me goosebumps; the Virgin Mary statuette in Charlie’s bag really, really worries me; Jin’s development is awesome, I love how he’s opening up; Sawyer’s slowly-unravelling vulnerability is also pretty awesome; Arzt’s “accident” was hilarious. I’m sure I’m going to hell for saying that, but c’mon, you know it was; Katey Sagal as Helen! that’s super fantastic; the “security system” is really confounding–is it a living creature or some sort of mechanical contraption? (WAIT DON’T TELL ME!); I really like Sayid. He’s the kind of guy who could talk me off the ledge; Boone’s psychotropic experience after being hit on the head by Locke was pretty interesting, and again it’s one of the ways the show makes you think one thing about a character (we’re led to believe Locke is pretty awful) but then we discover there was a logical reason for what happened (while his methods may be questionable, Locke really seemed to help Boone get over his attachment to Shannon); I think the only thing that could make this show better would be a few more half-naked scenes with Kate.