Episode Report Card Cindy McLennan: A+ | 1411 USERS: A- YOU GRADE IT Is Richard Alpert... Myth-taken?
By Cindy McLennan | Season 6 | Episode 9 | Aired on 2010.03.23
Later, possibly on hanging day, the priest and guards arrive in Richard's cell, blindfold him, and march him down the dreary corridor. However will Jacob save him from this fate? Richard prays fervently (well, I think he's praying, there are no subtitles). Father Fail and friends lead Richard, not to the gallows, but to a room where a British sailor, Mr. Jonas Whitfield (like Widmore, but field-ier) awaits. Whitfield (Steven Elder) inspects Richard's hands and teeth, then removes the blindfold and asks Richard if he speaks English. When Richard fails to answer, Whitfield tells the priest to bring him another prisoner and let Richard hang. Richard finally finds his voice. When Whitfield inquires about his strong hands, Richard says he does field work. Whitfield: "I understand you're interested in going to the..." A ridiculously long beat "...New World." Richard is glad to go anywhere that isn't the gallows. Whitfield tells him it's his lucky day. He hands Father Judas Fail his 30 pieces of silver and says, "This man is now the property of Captain Magnus Hanso." He leans in toward Richard and adds, "I hope you don't get seasick.
Ocean; Nighttime; A Violent Storm: The good ship Black Rock is tossed about on the waves, and below deck, Richard and his poor prisoners are having a hellish time. One of them announces he sees land, and through a crack in the hull, we see the statue of Tawaret, when it was so much more than a four-toed foot. A prisoner declares the statue a devil. "The island is guarded by a devil." Sí, señor, but we call him Fauke. Richard clutches Isabella's cross and prays as the ship is taken up in a tsunami-like wave. The force of the wave and boat combined takes the ancient statue of Tawaret down to its Four-Toes form we know and love.
Island; Inland; Day: That must have been a Hell of a wave, because The Black Rock rests in the very same spot you'd find it today, if it existed, I mean. Soon the prisoners start to wake. After observing that God spared them -- at least some of them, they yell in Spanish (and Richard, in English) to the crew for help. Up above, the crew is too busy fretting about Hanso's death and landing in the middle of a "bloody jungle" to care about the brown people in shackles below. Finally though, their cries are answered -- sorta. Whitfield descends the ladder... and starts killing off prisoners, left and right.