I at least would've liked a novelization or graphic novel of the past lore. I was far more interested in the Origin of everything than most other things.

I feel as if we could've done without Nikki and Paulo and had an extra episode about Mother.

YES!...I would like more validation that she actually was a Smoke Monster, and of how she may have inherited that form. Being that she: 1, Knew to tell her boys never to go into the light of "heart of the Island". 2. was able to get her son (MiB) up the ladder after she knocked him out. 3. was able to completely fill in the well and donkey wheel dig. 4. was able to kill everyone of MiB's community members, leaving them blood-stained exactly as the MiB left the pilot in the tree. 5. Etc....etc...