Countdown to the End: Previewing "What They Died For" on Lost (Spoiler-Free!)

I hate spoilers. I don't read them, I don't like them, and I don't want to foist them onto you, my readers.

I had the opportunity last week to watch tonight's episode of Lost ("What They Died For") and I've kept my mouth shut because I don't want to ruin the sense of surprise and discovery that comes from going into an episode unencumbered by any advance knowledge of what's about to unfold.

So I'm not going to reveal even an iota of the plot of tonight's fantastic installment of Lost, written by Elizabeth Sarnoff and Edward Kitsis and Adam Horowitz and directed by Paul Edwards. (Sorry!)

What I will say is that it did remove some of the bad taste left in my mouth by the previous episode ("Across the Sea"), easily the most divisive episode in the entire history of Lost so far. It builds on some of the elements introduced there while advancing the main plot of the series: the fate of the survivors of Oceanic Flight 815.

While "Across the Sea" felt like an entirely different series, a parable slotted in right after a particularly tense and heartbreaking episode, "What They Died For" feels entirely like a penultimate episode of Lost should: it sets the stage for the final chapter (airing Sunday evening, of course) and kicks the action into high gear, signaling in no uncertain terms that the end is about to arrive.

While there's a lot of drama contained within tonight's episode and some crucial plot points, I do want to say that there's also a hell of a lot of humor as well, as "What They Died For" might just go down as one of the funniest episodes of Lost in a very long time. Despite the presence of some whiplash-inducing plot twists, there's also some nicely scripted levity. So you'll be laughing and possibly falling off the edge of your seat at the same time.

That's all I'll say about tonight's humorous and haunting episode, other than the fact that I really, really, really enjoyed it and there will be quite a lot to discuss after the episode has aired...

The penultimate episode of Lost airs tonight at 9 pm ET/PT on ABC.