I was under the weather so I couldn't immediately post my thoughts. I'm back now and judging for the ch.29 alpha, so is DS!
It's been a while since i read a chapter that felt like it was actually written by Don Silver, you know what I'm saying. I guess bottle episodes is just exactly the story needed : put the main characters back in familiar place and remind us the heyday of the series, which for me is chapter 7-16. Maybe I loved this chapter because it aligned well with one of my unrealized fantasy about this series,
that I posted earlier in this forum!!
What I most loved about this chapter is the primal aspect of it all. The trip from the living room to Lester's bedroom, from his perspective felt like a scary jungle trek. The beginning of the failsome felt like a mating fight between two snakes (which later devolved into a battle if dominance between Lester and Sarah) Through his eyes over this series we witnessed a beauty and the beast tale turn into predator VS prey hunt. Except this time, he came crashing into reality, that Sarah isn't a prey, but a predator herself. And he is not even a prey, might just be an ant getting crushed between their sweaty bodies.
I agree with verisimilinude that this is the first time I actually felt sorry for Dan.