Remember when I promised that I was totally gonna blog about my time in England, specifically Newcastle, Manchester, Lyme Hall, Stratford, Nuneaton, and London? And then that time I was totally gonna blog about St. Andrews while I was here, about how there are baby rabbits and fields of wild daisies and other signs of spring in Albany now that, previously, I thought only existed in Beatrix Potter stories? Yeah...about that...
BAAABIES!!!
I swear I'll find a suitably gimmicky way to acquit myself of my English adventures, but today is not that day. Today, it is LOSTursday, and this weekend will be LOSTunday, and I'm really not quite sure how well I'm dealing with it. Six years is a long time, and I'm acutely aware how formative this show has been for me. My own Capitoline triad of sci-fi, since I've moved past the Hellenistic period and onto Rome in my exam prep, would probably consist of Lost, Buffy, and BSG. But, on to the penultimate episode of one the last shows in what unhappily seems to me to be the end of a golden age.
Pacing. This is how you do pacing. Many scenes stood out on their own and the intricate evocation of scenes of yore (Kate stitching up Jack in the pilot vs. Jack stitching up Kate in the now) was ramped up exponentially, even for this season, which has more mirror twinning than a fun house. But what I loved was that, I think, this was the episode where the sideways world fully became as vital as the on-island storyline. Not to say that it wasn't compelling for me before. I've drooled over the all Jack/John scenes in the last batch of ALTs, the one in this episode was especially nostalgic, and for all the ballyhoo surrounding Ab Aeterno, I think Dr. Linus stands up as one of the most complete episodes of the show, period. But how great was Giacchinno's music pushing the scene where Desmond and Hurley free Kate and Sayid? Most Zen prison break ever. Ocean's 11 is the wrong analogy to use, but there's a similar sense of danger and glee and of things coming together finally. And how great was Ben's trigger being getting punched in the face? LOL is seldom appropriate, but here I think even ROFL :) applies. 
Admittedly, most of what's great about the sideways banks on our affection for familiar characters and situations, but I am fine with that. I got a tingle when Hurley and Desmond interacted with such familiarity, because it means, as many of us had suspected, that they now have full awareness of their island-lives. This is great news, guys, because what it suggests is that most of the resolution may take place in the much happier sideways world, still with our same characters, just in a different setting. Thus, Sawyer and Juliet (who is totally Jack's babymama, by the way.) can have their cup of coffee together, fully themselves as we've known them. We don't lose anything by their being in the ALT. Indeed, the LA X reality perhaps is the other side we keep hearing so much about. There's not really any antagonists in the ALT, just enlightenment.
Of course, if LAX does turn out to be the rosy reward at the end of the rainbow, the writers are also free to spare no one on-island. Richard's abrupt send off (Ricardusnonne moritur - He dead, ya'll) is indicative of the way the smoke's blowing, as it were. I think we were all happy to see Tina Fake go, and I forgive that Charles Widmore's revealed to be a complete chump, how come so many LOST power-houses turn out that way?, by the magnificent line reading (and lighting!) of Ben the moment after he kills his old rival. I also loved the rather quaint image of Ben settin' on his porch, waiting for Smokey to appear. For the record, I think Ben is playing MIB, and that he gave the walkie-talkie to Miles, whose continued survival is undoubtedly due to just how hilarious the man is, for a reason. Desmond AS the failsafe key I kinda get. How he'll destroy the island I don't. I think perhaps he'll be able to swim down into the light at the heart of the island and do...something. I guess. I don't know. He should totally go into the light and turn into a giant pillar of flames and then great, roaring cry of, "BRUUUTTTHHA!" he and MIB can battle it out in their elemental forms while Jack cries, Kate and Sawyer make out, and Hurley and Miles talk about time travel some more*. 
The scene with Jacob was exactly what I wanted it to be, and my crush on Mark Pellegrino has only deepened after Across the Sea. I laughed and nearly choked on some wheat-a-bix when Jacob said that the lines on the cave didn't mean anything. There are some pissed off fans on the internets today, let me tell you, and I kinda love it when the writers deliberately provoke them. But it was always going to be Jack, and we all knew it, and I'm glad the mystical baptism happened now and not at the very, very end. The on-island stuff did the standard, pre-finale piece-moving ramp-up, but like times a million, and I think this is perhaps the best set-up episode. And the last. It's hard to believe that in a few short days, we're going to know how Lost ends, and no one else who comes to the show later - and they will - will have it stretching out before them, completely unknown, barely visible through the haze of V ad-text at the bottom of the screen. I have two exams and 300 pages of Our Mutual Friend to deal with before Sunday. I'll see you on the other side. *If this is what happens, it will both send me into inconsolable weepings and puff my head up with so much pride that it explodes.
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