'Lost': Richard Alpert, starring in a David Lean film

Ever since the season three episode when first we saw him, "Lost" fans have been wondering what the deal is with Richard Alpert. First, we found out that he was instrumental in helping the Others. Then, we learned that he was their conduit to someone named "Jacob." And, finally and most chillingly of all, we learned that the guy doesn't age, that he's been the same, smooth-faced, seemingly sinister fellow for as long as our characters have known him. Certainly Ben, who was probably closest to Richard at one time out of our main characters, had known him to look exactly the same to him when he was a child as he did when Ben was an adult. Every new fact we learned about Richard was a new question, a new thing we wanted answered sooner rather than later.

So to say that "Ab Aeterno" was the kind of episode "Lost" fans work themselves into a frothing anticipation for is a bit of an understatement. This was the episode that everyone was counting on to bring the answers (or whatever). This was the one that had to be so completely crazy that no other episode (except maybe the finale) could possibly hope to live up to it. This was the episode that was going to take all of our fan questions about just what's up with the whole season and send us giddily into the season's final episodes. 

Well, "Ab Aeterno" was kind of none of those things. It was also awesome.

I'm going to be honest with you, readers. I watched this one twice. The first time I saw it, I knew I had enjoyed it, but I wasn't sure if I liked it on the level of some of the best episodes or if I just thought it was pretty good. I think that I was clinging to my idea that the episode was going to take us through the full sweep of Richard's life, showing us when he first came to the Island and how he first met Jacob and then taking us to his time with the Others, or in between his early days and the Others. There are more than 100 years of history to cover here, and I was hoping we'd get to see as much of that as could be crammed into an hour and six minutes (minus commercials). 

Instead, we got a sweeping romantic epic set in the 1800s that took a hard left into something straight out of E.C. comics and then turned into some sort of spot the biblical symbol game. All of these things were good, and they definitely skewed toward the epic. But it was so far from my expectations that I wasn't sure what to make of it, beyond the fact that Nestor Carbonell proved that the series was genius to hire him as a day player back in its third season and then figure out a way to keep him around after his series "Cane" was canceled (in the fourth season of "Lost"). He gave a legitimately great performance, filling in every inch of the character's story with sheer pathos and tragedy. Even if the episode was nothing more than Carbonell struggling to get out of his chains in the hold of the Black Rock, it would have been better than most TV.

But on the second viewing, able to release myself from my expectations, I realized that this is yet another all-timer for the show, an episode that hearkens back to the days of season one in the best possible way: by filling in the backstory of a character we're intrigued by and like but don't yet really understand. "Ab Aeterno" has a fairly large pile of answers to big questions in the show's mythology, but what makes the episode work is that it's the story of a man who's ripped out of his life by a long series of circumstances and makes an ill-advised wish. I don't think it's an accident that both Jacob and the Man in Black have made fairly similar offers to the people in their circles (Jacob via Dogen), nor do I think it's an accident that Jacob describes the Island as a "cork." The cork is what you put in the top of the bottle when you want to keep the genie in, the genie that grants the wishes you think you want but only in the most horrifying way possible.

Let's just say here that introducing yet another doomed romance into the series' cosmos shouldn't work. You've got Desmond and Penny and Sun and Jin and the Sawyer-Kate-Jack triangle and Sayid and Nadia and Locke and Helen and ... well, the list could go on for whole paragraphs. So learning that Richard's motivated by losing his beloved wife Isabella felt like it might be piling on one relationship too many. But, somehow, Carbonell completely sold the sorrow Richard felt at the loss of Isabella, and by the arrival of the final scene where Hurley acted as an intermediary between Richard and Isabella's spirit, I was completely invested in the love of these two characters, even though I'd just met one of them a little over 45 minutes earlier. 

Now, much of that is due to Carbonell's riveting performance. But just as much is due to the script by Melinda Hsu Taylor and Greggory Nations and the direction by Tucker Gates. This episode embraces the fact that Richard's story begins in 1867 and just goes with it. It's not every show on TV that can pull off swooningly romantic shots of a bearded man galloping through the jungles of the Canary Islands on a horse. (Specifically, Richard is from Tenerife, which, if you know your "Breaking Bad," is the site of the worst air disaster in history.) This episode doesn't back away from the fact that it's going to include a lot of spoken Spanish or that it's going to feature Richard accidentally killing the doctor he tries to fetch for Isabella in a fit of pique. The twists and turns in this one might as well be out of a potboiler novel from the period, but they work because the show embraces them as whole-hog as it embraced putting Sawyer and Miles in the middle of a cop show last week.

But what I like even more is the turn things take from there. Richard, imprisoned and about to be hung after even the local priest won't give him absolution, is sold into slavery (to a man named Magnus Hanso -- cue everyone who writes on Lostpedia feverishly updating the history of half a dozen characters). He ends up on the Black Rock, imprisoned in the hold, on his way to work labor for Hanso, when the ship comes across the devil himself in the dark, then smashes through it. (The devil, of course, is the four-toed statue, but the show does a nice job of making it look especially menacing in the shadows and gloom.)

From here, the episode turns into something like a horror movie, as Richard is unable to leave his chains in the ship to take his place at Jacob's side, bearing witness to a marvelously constructed attack by the Smoke Monster, everything shot from the perspective of Richard watching the monster go by above decks while he's down below. Once he's freed from his chains -- by the Man in Black (the great Titus Welliver returning to the role he originated) -- he begins his quest to regain his wife, which quickly turns into a quest to help the man he just met keep the genie in the bottle.

You kind of have to approach these pure Jacob and Man in Black scenes in the spirit they're intended to be approached, I think. I long ago theorized that the two fulfill some of the same roles that God and his adversary (who isn't even Satan yet) fulfill in the book of Job, and I think this episode bears that out. The Man in Black believes that all humans are inherently corruptible, that there's something rotten at our cores that makes us willing to be his cohorts, whether we know it or not. Jacob believes we can overcome our sins and find a way back to something like righteousness. The two, then, are bringing people to their experimental Island to play games, to place bets, to spend their time idly, as demigods are wont to do. What they don't seem to acknowledge (or, rather, what Jacob doesn't seem to acknowledge) is just how much pain they cause in doing so.

Look at it this way: Hundreds of people have died since Jacob and the Man in Black began their little games, playing in a game that none of them would ever fully understand. But even more people are collateral damage in this scenario. Jacob brings the Black Rock to the Island, sure, not only destroying his statue and the ship (which gets tossed inland by the giant storm he cooks up) but also the lives of everyone on board other than Richard. The others in this scenario are just people whom neither participant in the game cares too terribly about. All they care about is the game, and the pawns are sacrificial. Indeed, it takes Richard to make Jacob realize just how ridiculous one of his conditions in the game (that people be allowed to make their way to something like justice on their own) is, since the Man in Black doesn't even begin to care about it. I wouldn't call either of these men good or evil, exactly. They're probably bigger and older than concepts like that. But they're definitely not good for the world as a whole (as everyone who recoils from the thought of the Man in Black escaping avers).

And, yeah, there's a pretty giant infodump about the Island in this episode, but the show mostly finds a way to do so organically. The Island, see, is not just the playground of Jacob and the Man in Black. It's also the place that the Man in Black is kept imprisoned, so that he might not corrupt the entire world. We learned that Richard is ageless because that was his third wish to Jacob. (The first two -- the return of Isabella and the absolution of his sins -- could not be granted). And the Island is not Hell, and the people on it are not dead, as Jacob proves when he practically baptizes Richard to show him he's still alive. (Notice, once Richard is done being baptized, he's reborn as a servant of his new lord. Hmmm.)

But none of this would work without the emotional core at the center of the episode, which is the story of Richard Alpert and the woman he loved and lost, and the way the Island could bring them together, but not really. We've talked about how the Man in Black gives you what you want, but there's always some sort of twist that keeps you from really having it, and how Jacob gives you what you want but in such a way that you can never really have it. And so, Jacob and the Island returns Isabella to Richard for a few moments more, but only a few moments. You can never really get what you want in this world or in the world of "Lost." Richard Alpert has spent a lifetime trying to get back a handful of moments, a silvery cross that proves ultimately worthless to everyone but him. Things slip through your fingers, and the Island, then, acts as a kind of repository, a place where you can live out those last moments one more time before getting on to the work you have to do. It's a hard life, but someone has to live it, over and over and over again.

Some other thoughts:

• * Really love the new Richard Alpert theme the score breaks out tonight. Lyrical and haunting, like the best of the show's work in that regard.
• * Honestly, I was disappointed that we didn't get more of Ilana's backstory in this episode. I assume that's coming shortly, but when the episode opened with her in the hospital, I thought I might be getting an intertwined backstory of her and Richard. Not to be, I suppose!
• * And, let's face it. Those opening scenes are way too rushed, designed to show that the characters know they're all candidates and then to send Richard on his jungle trek. It all happens just a little too quickly.
• * I've seen a few fans complaining that that last scene was heavy-handed. And while it was, I'm always happy to see Mark Pellegrino and Welliver sharing screen time, and I think they made the most of some pretty over-the-top symbolism. (Smashing open the wine bottle? Really?)
• * So. The Isabella Richard saw in the hold of the Black Rock: some sort of genuine spirit, a hallucination or the Smoke Monster? I think it's probably the monster, since when Richard talks to Isabella at the end, he needs Hurley as an interpreter.
• * It's rare to see an episode of TV that relies as little on the regular cast as this one does. Sure, Carbonell's in practically every frame, but everyone else gets a bit of a breather. Heck, Terry O'Quinn just turns up to look malevolent as he curses missing his bus or whatever it was that caused him to get there too late to take Richard up on his offer.
• * So we're running out of space for character flashbacks/flash-sidewayses. One has to assume there will be a Sun and Jin episode at some point and probably a Jacob and Man in Black episode, but beyond that, the sky's the limit. I remain almost alone in hoping we get some red-hot Lapidus action.
• * I was a little disappointed that Richard was learning English before coming to the Island. I liked imagining that everyone who came to the Island had to learn it.
• * And with that, I'll have to head out well before I'd like to (though I'd like to get this up before tomorrow, so). Remember to post your theories in comments and send me your links via e-mail or Twitter.

-- Todd VanDerWerff (follow me on Twitter at @tvoti)

Photos: Above, Richard (Nestor Carbonell, left) thinks Jacob (Mark Pellegrino) has taken his wife from him. He is mistaken. Below, the Man in Black (Titus Welliver) makes his return. Credit: ABC

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Comments

[Marthwell]

What I don't understand is that Ricardus was offered two choices: to see his wife again (MIB) or have everlasting life (Jacob). He chose life, but why? That would imply that he would never see his wife, who is presumably in heaven, at least to someone as religious as Ricardus appeared to be. How did he know to trust one man over another, especially since MIB seemed less hostile. Also, did anyone notice that Jacob didn't deny he was the Devil, but merely flashed his trademark smirk? Not saying that Jacob, just found his reticence interesting.

[Porky]

Thank goodness for this episode. I was half-expecting Jar Jar Binks or the Ewoks to show up on the island, given the last two yawner episodes. How the heck could Sayid's slow-mo slinking through the wasteland of the temple be followed up by Dr. Artz' annoying blather? It's like Han getting frozen in carbonite, followed by... Oh, you get it...

Anyway, we're back on track - in a big way.

Anyone else notice it took the MIB centuries to find the right guy to kill a god. Can’t get Richard to do it. Likely couldn’t get countless others to do it. Whoa – guess who's up to the task? Ben freaking Linus, of course. Ben's just the kind of mofo that pops up every few centuries to wreak havoc...

Lastly, the panorama shots in this episode were phenomenal...

[David Xarach]

I'm from Canary Islands, in fact from Gran Canaria, the other big Island in front of Tenerife. I was STUNNED to see this not just because of the fact that Tenerife is where the biggest air tragedy occurred , but to the fact that I don't know if the writers are aware of these, but we have some local legends that make perfect sense to what we saw in the episode:

- Tenerife was know in maps from 1350 as "The Island from Hell".

- Canary Islands have been speculated to be one of the possible locations of "Atlantis"

AND THE MOST INCREDIBLE THING
- We have a local legend, about a 8th island "The Island of San Borondon". A "magical" Island which can travel through the sea and disappear whenever it wants, and that it has been saw by a lot of sailors, but never documented.

There has been a lot of jokes between the locals, in the past, about the Island of "Lost" being "San Borondón" but now, it can perfectly makes sense.

If the writers know about all this things, this episode have been just genius, and they have done a terrific labor of documentation.

What do you think about all this?

[Cruzader]

In response to Marthwell, I think it was the priests' haunting statement that only penance would rescue Ricardo's soul. I think Richard didn't think he was worthy to die just yet. He wanted to do good (for Jacob) so he could absolve himself of his sins. I think he's been holding on to the hope that if he could fulfill Jacob's plans, he'd get be forgiven for his sins.

[Matt Roeser]

Awesome ep! A perfect blend of character, mythology, answers, and menace!

One thing I got excited about for a second was that Bible Richard had in his jail cell...I thought for sure, if brought to the island, it would be the same one that Mr. Eko would later find in the Arrow Station that had been carved out to house a piece of the orientation film...but then the Richard's priest went and took the Bible out of the cell with him! Darn!

[Jaboobinator]

Re: "I remain almost alone in hoping we get some red-hot Lapidus action." You are not alone in this!

I love Lapidus too. His character always manages to inject a little wry humor that allows the viewer to step back for a moment and giggle at the entire scenario.

His comment after watching Linus bury Locke was golden.

[Natalie]

Thanks for your recap - they're always great! I'm with you wanting a Lapides episode - there has to be a reason they've kept him around in such a major way.

I don't think it's coincidental that the baptismal imagery was paired with Richard taking on that mediator role - the passage from the Bible he was reading in the jail cell deals with those themes, as well as themes of escaping temptation from the devil (which Richard had just done with the MiB).

For more on these, check out my blog post on it at http://themothchase.wordpress.com

[Bbean]

Where it says "Richard, imprisoned and about to be hung.." it should be "...about to be hanged"

[KarenJ]

I'm certain that the Isabella we saw in the hold was the Smoke Monster - we heard that awesome 'Smokey noise' - then saw Isabella - then she went above - and we heard the 'Smokey noise' again and her scream. The timing all leans toward her being Smokey. Plus - it fits into Smokey's way of manipulation. Taunting poor Ricardo with Isabella - then making Ricardo the offer to see her again... so so mean and manipulative.

I'd like to point out that Ricardo wanted to live forever - not so he could have time to redeem himself (which would make more sense), but so he wouldn't go to hell. He felt sure he would go to hell if he died.

I'm particularly fond of the way Richard's name changes with the culture, time, or person referring to him. Ricardo, Ricardus (or is it Rikardus?), Richard. A wonderful touch by the writers...

I'm sure we'll see an episode about Lapidus and the Kwon's soon... but were's Desmond? Crud...

Todd, I'm with you on the whole demigod thing. This is really playing out similarly to greek myths (with a whole lot of religious referrences thrown in). I think it may be possible that Jacob isn't the guardian of the island because he wants to, but because he has to. Whether he was banished or is paying a penance of some kind.. I don't know. But it's his job and he's going to do it well. Therefore - he's more of a righteous man than a purely 'good' man (sounds kinda like Jack and Sawyer huh?)

Well - anxiously awaiting next week!

Love your posts Todd... errors included. We're all allowed a few...

[Laura]

Great post, as always.

I think I'll have to watch this again, because I was kind of disappointed. (Most posts I have seen this morning have given this episode rave reviews, so maybe I am missing something.)

I was disappointed that Richard actually came on the Black Rock. The show was suggesting this so heavily that I was hoping for some kind of twist. Plus, I always thought he was much older.

I was expecting something much more awful to pass between Richard and MIB, since Richard was so terrified when he saw Flocke. It just did not seem like that fear was justified. I thought there would be some bigger connection between the two. (Maybe it was all those years of Jacob telling Richard how terrible MIB was?)

Jacob is definitely not a good guy. When he talks to Richard about not being able to influence those who come to the island, I think this is more a rule than something he believes in, because he has no problem having Richard be his intermediary and doing this job for him.

Also, I really couldn't get too into the Richard-Isabella love story. The acting was wonderful, but at this point it was hard for me to care about a character/story so recently introduced.

Otherwise, I agree that Nestor Carbonell really pulled this off. I just did not love the story, although I'll give it another watch.

[Greg]

Definitely one of the classic Lost episodes. That could have been a standalone movie. I hope we get a similar episode with Desmond. I think the issues off screen have kept him from appearing much this season. But his character is so important to the timeline and history of the island, that he has to play a major role in what is going to happen.

[Jae]

Is it just me, or was the beginning of the episode almost exactly like "The Pearl," that horrid movie about a poor pearl diver in Mexico who finds a giant pearl and so can finally afford the heartless doctor, played by the late Richard Harris? I ended up loving the episode, but the beginning played like a bad Harlequin romance. Or The Pearl.

[Ashley]

Richard's name.

I think we got somewhat of a clue about Jacob and his origins from the way he pronounced Richard's name.

He says Ricardus, not Ricardo, which is how Richard's name is pronounced in Spanish and how everyone back in 1867 referred to him. So by saying Richardus, that implies an ancient Rome pronunciation. I'm thinking Rome before the time of Christ. It's just that the Ricardus pronunciation from Jacob and then repeated by Ilana somewhat bothered me, especially since Illana also speaks Spanish and would've recognized it as Ricardo also.

[Gracie]

Did anyone else think it was a little weird that in 1867, almost four hundred years after it was discovered, Ricardo referred to it as the "New World?" And also, that he was taken as a slave by Hanso, when England eradicated slavery in their colonies in the 1830's? These story points almost seemed better suited for the century before...

Beyond my historical nitpicking, though, I though this episode was amazing. I've always been a little worried that the writers had concocted a story so complex that the answers would never really turn out as interesting as they were built up to be, but if all the mysteries of the Island are resolved as beautifully as Alpert's, then I think we're all in for a hell of a ride the rest of this season.

Also, any theories on why Hurley can talk to dead people all of a sudden? Did something happen to him that mirrors what might have given Miles that sort of gift? OR was he not talking to Isabella at all? If the smoke monster can take Isabella's shape, why can't Jacob? If Jacob knew that Alpert was close to abandoning him for Smocke, he must have known that the only way to get him back onto his side was for the appeal to come from Isabella. If that's the case, though, I don't think I could see Jacob as any sort of "force for good" on the island anymore--that kind of manipulation is just too low. Jacob being Isabella in that scene would be consistent with what we know of Hurley's newfound ability, though. The only "dead" person we've ever seen him communicate with is Jacob, so maybe this ability is just a greater sensitivity to that particular "force" on the island, rather than the ability to talk to the dead.

Can't wait for next week!

[Mr. K]

A couple things that caught my eye, in bringing complexity to the MIB/Jacob conflict:
1.) The Man in Black's instructions to Richard are exactly the same as Dogen's instructions to Sayid a couple episodes back. So is this another "inside joke" between the two sides, that ends up codified as a religion?
2.) Notice that Jacob beating up Richard is very similar to how Not-Locke beats him up back at the statue. Is it just a similarity in fighting style or something else?
3.) One of the MIB's grievances is that Jacob stole his humanity & "his body". Given that we know the MIB can do this, could Jacob have done this literally? Is body snatching why Jacob's powers are more circumscribed?

Also, on a character note, recalling all the moments in season 5 where we heard "dead is dead", I wonder if Richard's faith was first shaken when he saw Locke come back to life and remembered that Jacob told him that was impossible.

[Jenna]

@Gracie- We have seen Hurley communicate with other dead people, not just Jacob. Charlie and Ana Lucia are two that I remember we've seen on-screen, while Hurley has been seen playing chess with Eko (before Sayid takes him to a "safe place.") What we haven't seen, for sure at least, is a dead Jacob masquerading as another dead person. He's always appeared to Hurley as he is- and something tells me that his desperation to help others through Hurley is the only way he can manifest himself while dead. I may be wrong- but that's my hunch.

That said, I really enjoyed this episode of Lost. I was surprised that almost the entirety of the episode was dedicated to one fluid Richard story. I thought for sure that we'd see flash-forwards to Richard's life with The Others, and other flashes. I thought Nestor Carbonell portrayed Richard perfectly- I was really engaged in the story.

Still- what to expect next? I don't know. :)

[Craig]

Gracie: I completely agree that 1867, the New World reference, slavery, and even the style of the ship all seemed wrong. After watching the full episode, I wondered if I had a dyslexic moment when they flashed the year: did I read "1687" as "1867"? 1687 would have seemed a more appropriate time period to me.

[CNorwood]

I like and agree with most of your comments except this one:

"The two, then, are bringing people to their experimental Island to play games, to place bets, to spend their time idly, as demigods are wont to do.."

Jacob as we are often told is the only one bringing people to the Island. He does so to prove to the MIB that they are not all evil. He wants to prove that not all men/women are bad. I guess he has yet to prove this.
The MIB doesn't care about bringing people to the Island, he just wants to leave and do his thing, or be released from Hell as we were lead to believe last night.

[Michelle]

I have the same thoughts/questions about 1867/1687. I actually went back to the begining to double check if I had misread the dateline, since so many of the visual and verbal cues suggested a time a much earlier than the 19th century.

[Jeremy Bentham]

A legendary Lost episode for certain... A thought about the Black Rock. Was it really a slave ship? The island's supposed location (the south pacific) is twice as far from Tenerife than the new world, no Africans were aboard and for some reason English was a prerequisite to board. I think the Black Rock equates to Whidmore's submarine: A vessel owned by a rich tycoon in desperate search of the island. Richard was simply an indentured servant to Hanso, but after crashing becomes indentured to Jacob.