When 'Lost' was in its prime, it was must-watch television. Remember first watching it, found it remarkably easy to get into, was hooked from the start and was on Season 3 by the end of one week. The general consensus is that the final season is a disappointment and cannot disagree.
It, Season 6 that is, started promisingly enough with "LA X", both parts, but the season since up to this point was variable, mostly somewhere in between of being decent and great. There were disappointments like "Lighthouse", "The Package" and particularly "What Kate Does", but there were excellent episodes such "Sundown", "Dr Linus" and the season's high point "Ab Aeterno" too.
"Happily Ever After" is an outstanding episode. Would go as far to say it's one of the best of the sixth season (second after its high point "Ab Aeterno"), one of the best episodes of the latter seasons and one of only two episodes ("Ab Aeterno" of course being the other) up to this point of the sixth season to not have anything wrong with it.
Pace is tight and none of the writing is taut and not soapy. There are even more shocks and the answers and revelations to the mysteries provided are wholly unpredictable. There is more story clarity than the previous episodes and character motivations are not as vague as some of the previous Season 6 episodes and along with "Dr Linus" it is one of few of the season to successfully link the timelines and themes in a way that is all-the-way-through cohesive and harmonious rather with clashing or an episode of two or more halves.
Of all the episodes of the show, up to this point of the season and of the season overall, "Happily Ever After" is the second most illuminating in terms of revelations and twists after "Ab Aeterno". It all makes sense and in no way feels disjointed. The story is utterly gripping, full of suspense and has emotion. The story and character development feels advanced rather than going backwards, being reiterated or ground to a halt. After a while of being underused or completely neglected, Desmond is the most interesting he's been in quite a while and has his meatiest material since goodness knows how long. Widmore is a formidable antagonist and Faraday and Charlie are written in remarkably well, not shoe-horned.
Acting can't be faulted, with particularly superb performances from Henry Ian Cusick and Alan Dale. The visuals are slick and stylish, the music chilling and understated, the writing tightly structured and the direction showing ferocity and control.
Concluding, outstanding. 10/10 Bethany Cox