Episode Cup, Elite Eight

I was eight for eight with my picks last round, and so far I'm two for two with my final four picks, putting my in 32nd place in the entire DarkUFO Cup pool. If "The End" wins it all, I'm going to go out in the same blaze of glory that Lost itself did.

Pilot vs. Live Together, Die Alone
Picked: Pilot Voted: Pilot

I don't know if I was just in a nostalgic mood that day, but I surprised myself and voted for the Pilot. Part of it is, the more TV I watch, the more I appreciate just how hard it is to make a pilot that kicks your ass and sucks you into the world of the show like Lost's did. The perfect amount of action, drama and weirdness sets the stage perfectly for what's to come. And unlike a lot of shows of this ilk, it doesn't try to hard to blow your mind and set up the big mysteries by throwing too much stuff at you. It's really a remarkable piece of television. Add in some nostalgia and yeah, it got my vote. "Live Together, Die Alone" is great (or else it wouldn't have made it this far), but the Elite Eight is the end of the line.

Through the Looking Glass vs. The Constant
Picked: Through the Looking Glass Voted: Through the Looking Glass

It's a shame that both of these two couldn't be in the Final Four, but I guess that's just the luck of the draw. This is like the Illinois-Arizona of Episode Cup regional championships. I've expressed my thoughts on both of these episodes plenty of times before, so it's no surprise that the vote and the pick were fairly easy for me. But the results of this one - a fairly easy win for "Through the Looking Glass" - tell me that the post-Season 4 Episode Cup was a bit of a fluke. By that I mean "The Constant's" victory was mostly the result of the recent-season effect. In a perfect world, I think "The Constant" would finish fourth behind only "Through the Looking Glass", "The Incident" and "The End", making it the strongest non-finale in the field, but it can't compete with the biggest of the juggernauts. If it could have won this year, and as the only other winner in the four-year cup history, it might have a case for best episode of the series. With its victory here, though, "Through the Looking Glass" plants it's flag as the greatest Episode Cup contestant ever.