I'm pretty sure this has been my favorite episode of the season so far. I liked the higher-concept stuff about choice versus destiny, while getting the deal on Desmond and Penny's background. It felt like the story had meaning, like it was a story worth telling. Finally, I like that people acted a little less artifically dumb in this episode.
The one problem I had... people look to how Charlie reacts? Hurley I can see, but I always got the impression Charlie was always in the doghouse with Sawyer as to the other survivors, especially with the crazy.
I think a big reason I liked this episode so much is that it wasn't weighed down with all the mysteries.
There's a phenomena in modern comics I'm sure everyone is familiar with - decompressed story-telling, and especially writing for the trades. For those that aren't, individual comic books are generally reissued as a tradeback containing anywhere from four to eight issues, but usually six, hence the name "trade". Writing for the trades means the issues included are written as if they were all being read at once, and not on the quasi-monthly comics schedule.
A while back I posted that I had re-watched season two all at once, and it was a lot better than I had remembered it being. I'm beginning to think that the Lost crew is "writing for the trades," or in this case, the DVDs. The effect is the same - individual episodes dealing with the overall arc are very empty, but watched as a whole aren't quite as bad.
Now, just like the folks here, people don't agree as to whether decompressed storytelling is a good thing or not. I happen to fall on the side that it isn't, and so just like I'm not too happy with the state of comics these days (and especially DC/Marvel), I'm not too thrilled with the state of Lost either. This season has been a little better than the last, but even so this is the first episode in a long time that really felt like it actually had something to it.
Bah, just my crazy thoughts.
Oh, and Claire looked hot with the frazzled hair. I wish she were my valentine.
