Very good episode, and maybe one of the best ones we've seen this late in the game. It was nice to get away from the regulars and learn something about what the island is all about through Richard.
I don't know if people will like the idea of the island being the cork that keeps evil locked away, but I was satisfied with it. I'm not even sure if there is much left to explain other than the details of the fallout and the ensuing war.
The shot of John Locke towards the end was great and tells me it's on now. I'm sure there will still be a few loose ends to tie up along the way such as who is the chosen one, but a lot of my questions were answered tonight.
I would think that Richard is the chosen one. He has been there the longest and is the only one who can stop the man in black, or did I miss some thing?
Dont say its not worth it, when you can sleep with no fear, that kind of time is worth any thing.- FFX
Wow, I thought it was the best episode of the season, save the two-part premiere. Richard's backstory had kind of been gleaned from bits and pieces, but it was great to see it all laid out for us in full.
Interesting detail: the spirit of Richard's wife was, in fact, her spirit, not a manifestation of Jacob or the Monster. I really hope we get a Monster flashback episode so we can see who he's impersonated over the years --- we can infer that he posed as Yemi (just before Eko's death) and Alex (to Ben in the temple), but I'd really like to know what his position is vis a vis Christian Shepherd.
Did anyone else find the Jacob/Ilana flashbacks to be pretty pointless? The first one was just a repeat of the meeting we saw in 'The Incident,' and the second one was just Jacob telling Ilana about the six candidates (which we already knew she knew about).
"In Italy for 30 years under the Borgias they had warfare, terror, murder, and bloodshed, but they produced Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci, and the Renaissance. In Switzerland they had brotherly love. They had 500 years of democracy and peace, and what did that produce? The cuckoo clock." -- Orson Welles, The Third Man
Originally posted by Big BadDid anyone else find the Jacob/Ilana flashbacks to be pretty pointless? The first one was just a repeat of the meeting we saw in 'The Incident,' and the second one was just Jacob telling Ilana about the six candidates (which we already knew she knew about).
I thought it suggested Jacob uses people on different levels. There seems to be a hierarchy of Jacob loyalists going back to Ben and Dogen and now her. It shows that he has more than one agent, that Richard's experience is unique but he isn't singular.
"To be the man, you gotta beat demands." -- The Lovely Mrs. Tracker
Originally posted by odessasteps I think the "average viewer" will think this was a terrible episode and when it "jumps the shark."
Are there any 'average viewers' left? I don't care, I enjoyed the episode.
I think the point of Ilana's flashbacks was 1) to verify that she is what she says she is. We can trust her as an agent of Jacob without having to question her as a source. And 2) I wonder if this means we won't get an Ilana flashback episode, or will we get an Ilana sideways episode? (Can a sideways episode work if you don't know their history?)
I think that when Isabella showed up on the Black Rock and got attacked by Smokey, that was just Smokey taking her form to play Richard, but Hurley's spirits are legitimate.
I liked the clarification of the comments between Jacob and Smokey from the Incident.
Why did Smokey tell Richard to kill Jacob the same way Dogen told Sayid to kill Smokey? Did he Smokey give Richard the same knife Ben used or the same knife Dogen gave Sayid?
Old Smokey's delivery of "its good to see you out of those chains" felt clunky.
I liked Jacob waterboarding Richard to prove to him that he was alive. I also like how that counts as a metaphorical baptism for his new life.
The Black Rock washing ashore and destroying the statue seemed to happen a bit quickly. Still, it was good to have those mysteries explained. I can see why Richard would have no interest in returning there once he left.
You believe me, don't you? Please believe what I just said...
one of my friends think Ilana was only created because of them killing off Ana Lucia when Michelle Rodriguez left the show. She does certainly seem to resemble Ana Lucia in looks and attitude.
Nestor Carbonell is one of my favorite actors. Ever since he was Batmanuel in The Tick, I've loved the guy and it was fantastic to see him get his own episode of Lost.
Probably the most shocking thing about the Secret Origin of Richard (Ricardus Ricardo) Alpert is how nothing revealed was terribly shocking at all. Everything was pretty much in line with all the clues dropped about Richard over the years. Yes, he's immortal. Yes, he's of Spanish descent. Yes, he was a slave on the Black Rock. Yes, he worked for Jacob. However, that doesn't mean all of it wasn't really good and very well done.
It was a hard knock life for Richard. Everybody he knew in the Canary Islands except Isabella (we assume) was an asshole. The greedy doctor Richard killed by accident was an asshole. The priest was an asshole. Even his white slave master was an asshole. Jacob thinks the Man in Black was an asshole. The Man in Black thinks Jacob is an asshole. Richard 2007 thinks Jacob is an asshole. And Hurley... he's a really good guy.
I didn't put two and two together when Hurley was speaking Spanish to nobody that it would turn out to be Isabella's ghost or whatever. That was a sweet scene with Richard and Isabella while Hurley translated for the ghost.
Is Miles aware that Hurley is also a ghost whisperer now? Hurley's totally stealing Miles' thunder. But then, Miles has millions of dollars worth of Nikki and Paulo's diamonds in his pocket, so he may be richer than Hurley now. They're like two sides of the same coin.
Richard with the beard looked so much like Jim Caviezel in Passion of the Christ. I liked Jacob baptizing him in the surf four times. "Still think you're dead? Still think you're dead?"
Jacob pretty much laid out bare what his Purpose in life is and why he does (and doesn't do) what he does. It really is pretty much black and white between Jacob and the Man in Black.
When Isabella appeared, and there's no doubt now it was the Smoke Monster taking her form after scanning Richard, at the time I thought it really was Isabella, by way of The Magic Box Ben mentioned when suddenly Anthony Cooper was on the Island and Locke got Sawyer to kill him.
I liked the Black Rock smashing the Egyptian statue en route to being moored in the jungle. And that's how both of those things happened. ALL WILL BE REVEALED! Straight up.
So... what's Richard Alpert doing in the sideways Not Lost reality?
I loved this episode. Though my new main question is was Jacob searching for his replacement or was he searching for someone to prove Smokey wrong or both? And why did he need replacing? Who was there before Jacob, if anyone?
Lots of answers finally, still lots of questions, but I really enjoyed how things played out.
Richard's life story could be a series all by itself. He has obviously seen every candidate come to the island & fail. But then it also makes me think, why was Jacob looking for candidates to replace him ? Did he know that eventually the Man in Black would somehow have him killed ?
Hurley is now my personal frontrunner to be the candidate. The scene with Richard & Isabella & Hurley sealed the deal.
Interesting that Richard chose immortality in order to assist Jacob in his containment battle against the Man in Black. I am puzzled as to why Richard buried Isabella's cross & what exactly Jacob's lie was to Richard ? I have thought his whole reaction to Fake Locke in opener and his behavior since then have been a bit over the top.
The Black Rock doesn't look big enough to have done that much damage to the statue but then again, a hurricane can.
Originally posted by John OrquiolaSo... what's Richard Alpert doing in the sideways Not Lost reality?
I was thinking simply that he'd be dead in 2004 LA (being around 170 years old), but it got me thinking about how exactly The Incident skews the timeline. Then, my brain started to hurt.
Did Sun kind of confirm that SHE was the Kwon on the list?
Originally posted by dunkndollazInteresting that Richard chose immortality in order to assist Jacob in his containment battle against the Man in Black.
I thought he chose immortality so that he would never wind up in Hell for murdering the doctor ... He was afraid of eternal damnation, and chose life everlasting to avoid it (not too smart, but whatever).
Also, the first time we ever saw Jacob and the Man in Black together ... Was the ship they were watching the Black Rock prior to the storm hitting (since it was floating in calm waters), or was it a different ship entirely?
"All RAW is these days is a cheap version of Saturday Night Live, so if you wanna tune in to watch the amazing star power of Al Sharpton and Nancy O'Dell, go ahead! Who's gonna host next week, Big Bird? Wow, that's must-see TV!" - John Morrison (10/16/09 Smackdown!)
WOW. I have sooo many questions coming out of that episode...
This episode had me wondering most of all where Jacob and the Man in Black came from and how they got there. And if Jacob is pure good and MIB is pure evil, why is it that Jacob can't leave unless he finds a replacement? Does there always have to be a ying and a yang? Or is he there to protect the island from what it would become if MIB was left to his own devices? The only thing I really see MIB doing is attempting to corrupt the people that Jacob brings over, so I don't see what threat he poses to the island. Maybe Jacob's there just to make sure MIB can't leave...
And if it's Jacob bringing all of these people to the island, doesn't that make him the greater evil? He's just toying with people, wrangling them into his own hell on earth, just so that he can leave.
I too noticed a ton of touching going around tonight. It's gotta mean something, but what? Are they marking people as being "theirs"? And if so, what happens when someone like Richard gets touched by MIB and then defects? It's been theorized before that the MIB makes a deal with people, *then* touches them to mark them. But if my memory's correct, didn't he touch Richard before they made any kind of deal? What gave him the ability to mark Richard immediately, but now he seems to be waiting for Kate to "allow" him to?
So many questions...
And people have been making a big deal all along about how many of the Losties had previously killed someone. Is that what distinguishes them as "markable" by Smokey? Maybe that's why he killed everyone else on the Black Rock but left Richard alone once he scanned him.
And why does Jacob tell Ilana that there are only six candidates left when so many more are left alive, even ones that have been touched in their past like Kate? Did Jacob touch these people in their original timelines, or did he go back in time to do so, thus changing the present?
My head is spinning... ouch.
I liked the episode. Liked, not loved. I think Richard was amazing in his role. The thing that hurt the episode most was that most of the revelations were already assumed by most of the fanbase. Not that it's a bad thing; we're getting closer to the end now so it's almost a reward now instead of a disappointment. It just made the episode drag a little bit in places because we kinda already knew where it was going.
They didn't do a very good job of establishing why Richard would rather be immortal than die and be with his wife. I guess he worried she'd be in heaven and he in hell, but it took me until this morning to draw that conclusion after thinking on it a lot.
Did his wife really tell him/Hurley that he needed to kill MIB, or was that just another example of Jacob getting Hurley to lie for his own benefit? What happens if MIB is killed? Does Jacob get resurrected? Does the island disappear forever because its purpose was to bottle up the MIB, then giving us the ATL? And finally, if Jacob wanted to leave and wanted MIB dead, why hasn't he tried when he was, ya know, actually ALIVE to get someone to kill him? Is it because MIB broke the rules that he now has freedom to arrange his death? And who made the rules in the first place?
My girfriend also pointed out that in the bible, Jacob is the one to baptise Jesus. Is this a hint that Richard is the chosen one? Or did Jacob just think he was?
That last image on Flocke was a bit much. Very cinematic, but almost cheesey. And once again, no preview for next week... I'm hoping for a Jin/Sun episode.
"All RAW is these days is a cheap version of Saturday Night Live, so if you wanna tune in to watch the amazing star power of Al Sharpton and Nancy O'Dell, go ahead! Who's gonna host next week, Big Bird? Wow, that's must-see TV!" - John Morrison (10/16/09 Smackdown!)
I think maybe you and your girlfriend ought take a class in Sunday School.
Ha, noted... I was never a big church-goer, so I took it at face value. She actually went to Catholic school, believe it or not. I could insert one of many jokes here, but I'll take the high road. Anyway, I guess it wouldn't do any good to delete that part of my post at this point, but she (and to an extent, I) stand corrected.
If the island is the cork to keep the MIB captured... then the island being sunk in the intro to this season may be a bad thing. (But that all depends on what the explanation we are given for the sideways universe is.)
I watch this and remember Whedon is involved, and I wonder if which supprting character is gonna die. Hope it's not Pepper, but that would allow Tony to chase Widow.