i always heard that subd is a smooth proxy, it means u can edit it in poly mode but at the same time see the smoothed version, and i guess its supposed to look ugly im poly , try to smooth them later, and see if its like in the subd way... i never really used subd, just a little to undestand a bit...

ehm, i guess the undo key will help; theres a way of previewlization, or better sauid, smooth lvl or somehitng like this, the 1,2,3 keys; and if u go to subd attributes, u could select ur 0 level key, im not sure if that answers ur question, but maybe it helps a bit.