[D-Roc]

Yeah I thought he was interesting in this episode. I'll leave my disappointment over his rude treatment of Ben for anther thread, but he was very protective over Claire and Hugo, which was nice to see.

In a way he's replacing the void of Charlie for bothof them - both Claire and Hugo were close to Charlie and now Sawyer seems to be filling the gap that he's left..as you suggest, he's stepping up, evolving perhaps. Also, at one point didn't Claire call him 'Charlie'?..

However, I'm not so sure that he's changed all that much - since he himself said "I have no plans on dying" (or words to that effect) - and that's fair enough, but the context of the manner in which he said it was clear - he was prepared to sell people like Ben, Miles and Locke out in order to save his own skin.

Don't get me wrong, it's nice that he's protecting Claire and Hugo, but I wish he wouldn't discriminate against those who he doesn't understand. He seemed to be a mixture of incredibly selfless and incredibly selfish in this episode (imo).

It will be interesting to see which direction he ultimately goes. Although i do agree that his good deeds in this episodeare worthy of acknowledgement!