Fair warning, this has nothing to do with Scotland. Today I turned in my mediterranean communities essay, and I'm feeling the familiar sense of inadequacy and crushing failure that usually heralds the B+ range. So after two days of intense, alternating bouts of research, procrastination, and collecting Oscar bets, I treated myself to what has turned into the best week of television I've watched online in a long time.
Ron and April are my favorite people in Parks and Rec, so I was happy to see April show some range in an uniquely April way - I'm fascinated by how Aubrey Plaza manages to communicate varied emotions through a series of scowls - and Ron practically growl when thwarted (hee hee). The Office was a welcome move away from The Workplace of Jim and Pam melodrama it's been most of this season, with Darrell, MegaDesk, and the Meredith-on-Packer-on-Michael action I never knew I wanted. If I had to pick, the working late storyline didn't have enough jokes in it, but the writers clearly are honoring my desire for more of Erin's inevitably horrific backstory and Andy sweetness. 
30 Rock is best at its writing and its guest stars, really. This season's been most uneven when it's too focused on any of the main cast. So today was a good day for me, because Elizabeth Banks is my favorite, and frankly, if I had to choose between Jon Hamm and Michael Sheen for my future husband, I would choose Michael Sheen. I would choose him in a heartbeat. I was tickled just by how he and Tiny Fey look together, and their awkwardness walked awkward/comedy line perfectly. He's so sweet and mild I wanted to jump him. That's not weird, right? 
But I'm now on my third (fifth) rewatch of Dr. Linus, and it's quickly become obvious to me that by tomorrow it will have taken the number two spot in my Favorite Episodes of Lost Ever (upsetting The Brig but not quite besting The Constant). Not only did my Lost fan melt, but my film student was impressed too. I love everything about this episode. The writing is so smart. The story is so well constructed, and so classic. This episode, more than any other of recent memory, really recaptured that season 1 sense of redemption, the blend of the mythology and the characters. The sideways world parallels the storyline of the island with beautiful symmetry that extends even to the visual cues. There's tender, nostalgic callbacks (Alex finally in happy scenes! Nikki and Paulo!), the overall plot does get forwarded, with a slo-mo reunion scene and a big twist at the end. A note perfect episode of Lost. 
Emerson's acting was unbelievable. I've watched that final scene with Illana so many times now, and they sell it to me each and every time. The camera just hangs a frame on Ben's bloody face and his voice takes it away. That scene is why Lost works. It's the emotional gut-punch that's so wanted and so earned. All the mysteries - the samurai and pirate ships and time travel - all that is fun and us genre geeks love it, and we love that a show is brave enough to not help us understand it but to just present a world wherein we can discover lighthouses and play with dynamite. But the show took a gimmicky concept - alternate realities - and pulled off a damned hard thing: to take Ben, the Big Bad, the lying and mechanical and cruel, and make us care about him and want to redeem him. 
As to what I think about the craziness going on and about to go down, well, I have my suspicions, but I really don't want to speculate too much on the big questions, ie. how the Sideways world and the Main Timeline will reconcile with each other, who will be the winning candidate, what the struggle between Jacob and MIB is all about. Mirrors and water seem to be the relevant motifs to watch out for, though. Those who can change, as evidenced by the sideways world and so far it's Kate, Ben, Jack, and John, and those who can't, Sayid, seem to be the dividing factor between Team Smokey and Team Jacob. And make no mistake, the character Terry O'Quinn is playing with such terrifying relish this season is the Devil. 
All the more alarming because Widmore, I think, just brought a sub over to his side. Main characters are going to start dying soon (Sun, for my money, is already gone). The genius of the sideways world, though, is that Dead isn't quite Dead, and I'm willing to bet that Maggie Grace, Cynthia Waltros, and Dom Monaghan will all have parts to play. Kate seems to be more key than ever she was, and I may be Charlie Brown here but I think that Jack finally is ready to lead. The war is coming, the one we've all known would come since the very first The Stand reference. I cannot wait.
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