Dark Charlie = wearing hood. When will the folks on the island pick up on the fact that all you have to do to make Charlie behave is take away his jacket? Seriosuly, every time Charlie is up to something, he wears the hood.

Seems like a theme of the show, one that will be continued next episode, (a clip showed Sayid saying "I am a torturer") is that you can't change who you are. Sawyer is still a con man, even though conning people he's stranded with really does him no good. Jack still has control issues, which is what puts him in conflict with, well, everyone he comes into conflict with. Charlie's still shiftless, even though he's not using.

The only people who seem to have undergone signficant change on the island is Locke. His change has primarily been physical, but he seems much more competent and self-assure on the island than he did in his flashbacks.

One could argue that Shannon and Boone also changed. Boone was able to resolve his love/overprotectiveness of Shannon. Shannon was able to love and find someone to believe in her. Of coruse, they both died, which gives some creedence to the Purgatory theory, I guess, if one wants to ignore the distinction between narrative, meta-narrative, and non-plot reasons for people leaving the show.

Other notes, many gleaned from the ENWorld thread in this topic:
The waitress in the diner where Sawyer and the other conman met was Kate's mother. I knew she looked familiar.

Hurley is becoming the writer's voice to the rabid fan. His comment last ep, with Sayid, about the radio signals coming from "another time" were an example, as were his line about the newer washing machine in the Hatch a few episodes ago. At the end of season one, he was involved in the conversation with the High School science teacher about why he was still heavy and how he was part of the "cool crowd" on the island.