Lost, the Beginning of the End... and the beginning of the disappointment??

Ok let's be honest... anybody else annoyed?

1. After investing 20 precious minutes in digging a woman out of a hole, DON'T YOU DARE LET HER DIE ONCE WE GET HER OUT OF THAT HOLE!! I mean, c'mon. There's suspense, and then there's emotional manipulation, and then there's just freaking WASTING TIME. Lost writers, just go ahead and admit it, you have no idea how you're going to fill up the next season, do you? Otherwise why would you be killing time like this?

2. Having it both ways is just cheating, y'all. Are they going to have parallel universes during the whole season? Will the finale culminate in the characters coming face to face with themselves? And let's be honest, the losties just aren't as compelling on their own. It's the web of intertwined lives that we're obsessed with, not their own little lives and worries. We've seen Kate play escape artist plenty of times now, and Sawyer the jackass just doesn't hold the same allure. We're over it.

3. I TOLD YOU SO!!!!!! I totally called it that Locke was merely a manifestation of the smoke monster. Though really at this point I can't remember whether that was already accepted fact at the end of last season, so my gloating might be uncalled for...

4. I thought Shannon was going to be back in this season? Or could they not get her actress interested after all? Because right now I'm trying to come up with all kinds of interpretations as to where she is, and if it was just a real-life scheduling conflict then I don't want to waste my time wondering.

5. Aw Claire, I'm so happy to see you....! But Lord only knows why Charlie is trying to kill himself all the sudden, the pre-wreck Charlie we were introduced to on the beach originally gave NO indication of being even a little blue. I mean, beyond the level "oh, well, this is a crappy day..." that is completely justified when you're sitting on a beach because your plane wrecked and you're stuck on a freaky island.

6. Juliet, you almost made me cry again. Why on earth did they bother bringing Sayid back and not you? I'm nowhere near enough invested in him to be blown away by his recovery.

7. Speaking of dead people coming back to life, anybody have any opinions about whether Jacob being dead is the same thing as humans being dead? The pseudo-Locke guy is obviously not alive in the strictest sense of the word, and doesn't even need a body to exist. Jacob seems cut from the same cloth.

8. Reference from pseudo-Locke about returning home sounded awfully Mount Olympus-y to me.

9. Sigh, so what we thought was the temple was actually a wall? And beyond this wall is Shangri-La? Color me disgruntled.

10. Richard in chains? Is this some kind of reference to the slave ship? If it hadn't looked so 17th century I would start guessing that it was a more ancient slave ship, like, you know, Greek days. Or Egyptian, that would work too...

Best quote of the evening was from Hurley: "Aw man, that's gross."

I'm expecting better things from next week -- hopefully the premiere gave the writers enough new material to work with that they can start coughing up some answers. But I'm still happy Lost is back!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I'm just going to need a lot of Dharma beer to get me through future episodes if things don't start improving kinda quick-like.

What did the rest of you think? Did I miss something mind-blowing that would have made the whole two hours utterly amazing and transformative, or was I right in feeling a little exasperated? And did anybody else laugh at the fact that there are now THREE different Locke's bouncing around??

This picture pretty much sums up how I feel at the moment lol:

*EDIT I just read over at Rocks in My Dryer that people are saying that perhaps Sayid is the new manifestation of Jacob, a la Locke being the manifestation of Bad-Dude, and I really like that idea... especially with the way his arms were spread like a cross when they brought him out of the water. I thought as I watched that it seemed an awful lot like resurrection symbolism, so it could work out nicely if Jacob really is borrowing his body now... thoughts?