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There are no visits to the Sideways world in this episode. Instead, it's all Richard Alpert, all the time. Praise the Lord and pass the ammunition.
Island; Lost-Away Beach: Sun and Ilana tell the gang that Sun, Jack and Hurley are among the "candidates" to take over Jacob's job, and yet none of them run screaming into the ocean, in a last-ditch effort to either kill themselves or swim home. When Jack wants to know their step, Ilana flashes back to Jacob telling her Richard will know what to do. Back in the present, when Ilana asks Richard, he laughs maniacally, and basically tells the gang: Go to Hell -- oh wait, we're already there! In addition to that unsettling (incorrect) revelation, Richard says that Jacob is a liar liar pants on fire, and then stalks off to join Team Faucke. When Jack spies Hurley talking to an invisible friend at the tree-line, he figures it's Jacob, but we know it's not, because Hurley's speaking in Spanish, whereas he and Jacob converse in English. When Jack wants to know who he's talking to and what's up, Hurley's all, Chill, dude. I've got this.
Tenerife, Canary Islands, 1867: Ricardo Alpert (who I'm going to keep calling Richard) rides a horse back to a cottage where his wife Isabella lays dying. When she coughs up blood, he knows he must fetch a doctor, so Isabella gives him her gold cross to help pay the fee. After hours of riding through the pouring rain, Richard arrives at the doctor's home, but Doc refuses to go out in this weather. Instead, the doctor retrieves a small bottle containing a very expensive cure from a locked cabinet, but since all Richard has is a few coins and his wife's gold cross, the doctor refuses to help. When Richard struggles with the doctor over the bottle, the doctor falls, striking his head on his table. He dies instantly. Richard grabs the bottle (which to me looks like the bottle of sand Richard showed a young John Locke, years ago, but the druggies people in the forums say the contents are too white [suggesting it's cocaine] and that the bottle is different, and I'm inclined to believe them). But what does any of this matter? When Richard returns home, Isabella is dead, and Richard is arrested and thrown in prison (which seems a little too pat to me, but who cares).
A priest visits his cell, but when Richard (sincerely) confesses his sins, the priest refuses to absolve him. Father Fail's story is that Richard, who is slated to hang tomorrow, has no time for penance, but really, the priest is just crooked. The day, he leads in a Mr. Whitfield (like Widmore, only field-ier) who is looking to buy English-speaking prisoners to accompany him and Captain Magnus Hanso on a journey. Richard fits the bill, so he's sold. Father Judas Fail gets his 30 pieces of silver.
They sail on the Black Rock, like you knew they would, and during a horrendous storm, they get caught up in a tsunami-like wave. The force of the wave and boat combined takes down the ancient statue of Four Toes, which Richard's fellow prisoners are convinced is El Diablo! The ship lands inland, like we've known for years. Soon the prisoners start to wake. Hanso is dead, though, and only five officers remain, so Whitfield kills one prisoner after the other. Just before he moves in on a pleading Richard, we hear the telltale ticka ticka rattle clank. Smokey pours in through the grates up on deck and brings Whitfield back up with him. Richard, still in chains, is judged and passes. DUN.
We spend an incredibly long time watching shackled Richard trying to free himself. Eventually, though, his wife Isabella appears. She says they're dead and in Hell, and that she's there to save him before the devil returns. When the ticka ticka rattle clank starts up again, Richard insists Isabella leave. She finally runs up top, where it sounds like she is killed by Smokey. Later, Esau shows up with a pitcher of water and some cups and touches Richard. When Richard asks if he's in hell, Esau says he is. He agrees to free Richard and "help" him find Isabella, if Richard will only agree to do anything he asks. He also adds, "It's good to see you out of those chains." He then gets Richard on his feet and explains that the only way to escape Hell is to kill the "devil." And he's delegating that task to Richard.
After a meal of freshly roasted boar (which is so not Kosher) Esau dispatches Richard to the statue to kill the devil, a.k.a. Jacob, who doesn't seem to be a devil at all. The knife and instructions Esau gives Richard are identical to the knife and instructions Dogen gave Sayid.
Richard arrives at Four-Toes beach, ready to do his duty, but is soundly thrashed by Jacob, who seems to know nothing about Isabella, but can guess how Richard came to assassinate him. When Richard keeps pissing and moaning about being dead, Jacob tries some tough love. He drags Richard into the surf and forcefully baptizes immerses him, 4 times, until Richard allows that he might actually want to live. Jacob tells him that's the first sensible thing he's said. He's not wrong.
Jacob pours Richard some wine, denies being the devil, and then uses his wine jug as a metaphor. The wine is hell. The cork is the island. Keep the cork in the bottle -- keep the darkness from spreading. (I'm so excited that one of my theories might be right, I can't stand it.) Jacob eventually manages to convert Richard to his team. Richard has only one request. He wants his wife back. Jacob admits he can't do that. Richard then asks for absolution from his sins. Jacob can't do that, either. Finally, Richard says that he never wants to die. "I want to live forever." Jacob says, " Now that, I can do." He then touches Richard.
Richard finds Esau and gives him a white rock from Jacob. Esau tells Richard that if he ever changes his mind, his offer still stands. He then hands Isabella's cross to Richard, saying it must have fallen off on the ship. Yeah, right. Whatever. Poof! The Man in Black is gone. Richard buries Isabella's cross and waters its grave with his tears.
.NOW: Richard trudges through the jungle and digs up Isabella's cross. He then yells out to no one in particular that he's changed his mind and wants to accept Esau's standing offer. It's then that Hurley appears. And with him, is the ghost of Richard's wife. Hurley interprets Isabella's words for Richard. Isabella says it wasn't Richard's fault that she died. It was her time. When Richard says he would do anything for them to be together again, Isabella says they already are. Once she's gone, Richard puts her cross back around his neck. Hurley then tells him there's one more thing Isabella said he has to do. "You have to stop the man in black from leaving the island, or we all go to hell." Hidden some distance away, Faucke watches with hatred in his eyes.
We cut back to 1867, I guess. Jacob finds Esau playing with the white rock. Esau says that eventually, he'll kill Jacob. Jacob doesn't seem riled up by this, and says someone will take his place. Esau says, "I'll kill them, too." Before Jacob leaves, he give Esau the jug of wine to keep himself busy. As he goes, he tells Esau he'll see him. Esau says he'll see Jacob, too. "Sooner than you think." He then smashes that perfectly good bottle of wine. Clearly, he is evil.
Hats off to Nestor Carbonell. This was damned near a monologue and he carried the episode without breaking a sweat. We got some answers, big (why Jacob granted Richard immortality) and small (the destruction of Four Toes, and the resting place of the Black Rock), and we learned how Richard becomes an advisor, too (which I'll hit in the full recap). We also seemed to amass additional evidence that Smokey is bad and Jacob is good, and truly does believe in free will. Most importantly, we learned the importance of Craphole Island. Buffy fans may have seen some (close your eyes) parallels to Becoming, I Only Have Eyes for You, and, of course, the Hellmouth. I'll hit those in the recap, too.
Speaking of, I'm starting the full recap now, so until then, please join us in the forums, but don't smash our wine, or there'll be hell to pay.
Watch the full episode here, then see what would have happened if the cast of Lost had never come to the island!
Want more? The full recap starts right below!Previously, on Lost, As Richard builds a ship in a bottle, Ben tells Sun that Richard has been a Craphole advisor for a very long time. Elsewhere and else-when, Richard tells Jack he wants to die because he devoted his life in service to a man who said he had a plan, but now that man is dead, so he's decided his entire life had no purpose. It's hard to argue, but we already watched that episode, so we know all about Jack's dynamite comeback.
NOW but not now on Lost: Jacob arrives at a hospital to visit a mummy, which turns out to be Ilana. Hey, shouldn't this be in the Previouslies? He's dressed all in black, and wearing gloves, because... um... they're speaking Russian. Oh c'mon, what would you wear if you had to visit a mummy in a Russian hospital? Anyhow, he's sorry he couldn't make it sooner. She's very happy to see him. Speaking in Russian requires too much energy so they switch over to English. Jacob says he's there because he needs her help. Ilana's willing, if not ready and able, so she agrees. Now it's time for the director's cut of this scene: There are six people he needs her to protect, and he'll give her one of his spiffy lists with their names on it. "This is what you've been preparing for." By getting her face blown-off? I never thought I'd say this, but suddenly colonoscopy preparation sounds like a gas. (Sorry.) The six people are... the remaining candidates.
Lostaway Beach; A More Nowish Now; Nighttime: The Jacobites sit around their campfire while Sun and Ilana explain that there are candidates to take over Jacob's job on the island, and Sun, Hurley, and Jack are all in the running. Of course nobody adds that there are six in total, and that nobody's really sure if Sun or if Jin is the "Kwon" candidate (my latest crackpot theory is that, because Jin and Sun are married, the two are one flesh/one candidate), because that would mean they were sharing information with one another, and then we'd be fresh out of show. Frank would like to know what to do , but Ilana's fresh out of knowledge. When Jack asks who does know, we flash back to...
Hospital: Ilana's bandages are off, now. She wants to know what to do after she brings the candidates to the Temple. Jacob tells her that Ricardus will know.
Lostaway Beach: Hurley can't figure out who Ricardus is, which is so fricking pathetic I'll give it no more ink. Ilana turns to the handsome gentleman behind her. "So Richard, what do we do ?" Richard laughs the shortest maniacal laugh I've ever heard, and says that Jacob is a lying liar who lies. He'd like to tell the Jacobites to go to Hell, but in his opinion, they're already dead and there. Really. Richard Alpert thinks they're all in Hell. He adds that he's going to stop listening to Jacob and start listening to someone else. He picks up a torch and storms off. Title card.
After the break, Ilana prepares to go after Richard, but Jack says why bother, since Richard doesn't know what to do . Ilana insists that Richard must know, because Jacob told her he would. Jack, who is new to acknowledging futility, handles Ilana pretty well. He points out that Richard, who thinks they're in Hell, is completely out of his mind. As Ilana returns to the campfire, Jack asks who Richard's "someone else" is. Ben: "Oh, this should be interesting." Hee! Sun answers: "He meant Locke." When Jack's all um, Locke's dead; I put my father's shoes on his cold, dead feet, Ben allows that Faucke isn't exactly Locke. Sing it with me, Buffy fans: If we want him to be exactly... he'll never be exactly... I know. The only really real Locke is really Locke and he's gone -- who?
It's then that Jack spies Hurley talking to an invisible friend at the tree-line, he wanders over, figuring Jacob has stopped in for some green beans and bananas, or whatever is passing for hospitality on Lostaway Beach these days. As Jack approaches, we hear Hurley speaking in Spanish. At first, Jack thinks Hurley is lying when he says his invisible friend isn't Jacob, but Hurley stands his ground. Jack: "Then who is it?" Hurley: "Sorry Jack, but this has nothing to do with you." Heh -- and I say that as someone who loves Jack.
Miles watches in wide-eyed wonder as Hurley follows after Richard with confidence and purpose. Ben turns his attention to Ilana, and tells her that Jack is right -- going after Richard is a waste of time, as he doesn't know anything. When Ilana asks why he's so certain, Ben says, "I've known him since I was 12 years old; that should count for something." Frank makes some comment about Richard and Ben meeting when they were kids so that Ben can play exposition fairy. "No, Frank. I was a kid. Richard looked just like he does today." Only with a really bad hairdo. Frank: "So you're saying this guy doesn't age?" Ben: "That's exactly what I'm saying." Frank: "And how the Hell do you think that happened?" Me: "Sit tight, Frank. We're about to find out."
Tenerife, Canary Islands, 1867: Richard. Rides. A. Horse. Revel in the beauty of the moment. Are you done? Not yet. Okay, me neither. [...] How about this, once you're done, take a look at Richard Alpert shilling Old Spice Body Wash (click on the photo strip to enlarge). Let me know when you're ready.
Tenerife, Canary Islands; 1867: Ricardo (and I'll continue to call him Richard, because keeping Sawyer and Jim Ford's names straight last week taxed my mind) arrives at a cottage on his you-know-what. Inside, his esposa bella, Isabella (Mirelly Taylor), lays dying of what appears to be Consumption. All their conversation is in Spanish (with English subtitles) so I'm going to paraphrase the hell out of this scene. When Isabella coughs up blood, Richard knows he must get a doctor. He grabs what few coins they have, but fearing it won't be enough, Isabella insists that he take her gold cross, too. He loves her very much, and does not want her to make this sacrifice, but she prevails. He can't imagine what he'd do if anything ever happened to her. To calm him, Isabella tells him: "Close your eyes." When he complies, she says, "We'll always be together." She reaches up and kisses his cheek. Richard composes himself. "I will save you." He kisses her on her forehead and leaves her alone and dying, clutching a Bible to her bosom.
Richard rides his you-know-what through the rain -- for hours. Yes. Wet Richard Alpert on a you-know-what. Is this going to be a problem for the whole hour, people? Sheeesh. Dr. Devoid-of-Humanity (Jose Yenque) is more worried about his floors getting wet than Richard and his ailing wife. He's not hauling his refined ass all through the night to Richard's humble abode circa de El Socorro for this peasant. Without even learning Isabella's symptoms, the doctor offers medicine he just knows will do the trick, but it's muy expensive, of course. Dr. Devoid retrieves a small bottle containing a very expensive cure from a locked cabinet, but since all Richard has is a few coins and his wife's gold cross, the doctor refuses to help, and throws Isabella's cross to the ground, calling it nada. Richard retrieves it and then begs the doctor to help, even offering to work to pay off the debt. When the doctor refuses, the two men struggle over the bottle. During their fight, the doctor falls, striking his head against his table, and dies instantly. Hooray! Richard grabs the bottle (which to me looks like the bottle of sand Richard showed a young John Locke, years ago, but the fine, upstanding citizens in the forums say the contents are too white [suggest it's cocaine] and that the bottle is different, and I'm inclined to believe them) and flees. The butler (Davo Coria), just returning with blankets to save Dr. Devoid's floor, stands there with his mouth open. He must know Richard is going to ride a you-know-what back through the pouring rain.
It's all for nothing. When Richard returns home, Isabella is dead -- her English language Bible ("Holy Bible" is visible on the cover) lies open on her breast. While Richard is still weeping over her corpse, the fuzz bursts in, which seems too damned quick to me, so I'm allowing that Richard's 143 year old memories (or since we're only flashing back from 2004 to 1867, I guess that's 137 year old memories) may have a couple of holes.
Prison: Richard is wearing Isabella's cross and reading her King James translation of the Bible (verses visible on screen: Luke 4:24-29, and the notation in upper righthand corner indicates the page ends with verse 4:37). which impresses the priest (Juan Carlos Cantu) who arrives with food. Richard, who is not hungry, explains that he and Isabella were learning English to immigrate to the "New World," which really was less new by 1867, yeah? When the priest asks if he's ready to confess his sins, Richard nods and readily drops to his knees. After admitting, "I killed a man," he begs for forgiveness. Even after he explains that Dr. Devoid's death was an accident, Father Fail refuses him absolution, arguing that Richard has no time to do penance, since he's to be hanged, tomorrow. "No, my son. I'm afraid the devil awaits you in Hell. May God have mercy on your soul." Yeah, Padre? And also with you. Commercial.
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.
When Richard pleads for mercy, Whitfield says they're stranded in the middle of a jungle, with limited supplies and no fresh water (hey Whitfield, it's a jungle, not a desert), and there are only five crew members left. He tells Richard, "If I freed you, it would only be a matter of time before you tried to kill me." Richard goes to grasp his cross and plead his innocence, but the cross is gone. Just before Whitfield slays Richard, we hear the telltale ticka ticka rattle clank, and a terrific commotion up above, with men screaming.
When Whitfield shouts to his crew for a report, their blood answers -- pouring down through the grates and onto his head. Not what he was looking for, guys. Again, Whitfield yells, "REPORT," and who should answer but Smokey! He envelops Whitfield and drags him back up through the grates. Richard, struggles to rip his chains from the ship, but freezes when Smokey pours back in. He faces off with Richard, who closes his eyes and (I believe) prays. When the ticka ticka rattle clanks stop, Richard opens his eyes, and the camera closes in on one. It reminds me of the shot of Jack's eye in the pilot, and many eyes since then. It also makes me laugh though, because on first glance, the shot does nothing to shore up Nestor Carbonell's claims that he does not wear eyeliner. But if you're watching on DVR, pause here and take a closer look. Some people claim they can see his contact lens, but that's not my point. My point is that he is not wearing eyeliner. His lashes are so incredibly thick and plentiful that they clump even at their roots. I've never seen anything like it. But I suppose that's not the scene's point. The scene's point is: Richard gets judged and passes. DUN!
The Lunesta Butterfly flits through the forest and into the bowels of the Black Rock, where it finds Richard trying to loosen a nail from the floor boards in order to free himself from his chains. When it rains, he tries to catch a drink off the drips from above, but much like Tantalus, it's always just out of reach.
Fun Aside from Wikipedia: "In Robert Graves' historical novel, Hercules, My Shipmate, Graves appears to claim that Tantalus was a member of an invading Greek tribe who was condemned to his torment in Tartarus for refusing to reject his patriarchal deities in favor of a local version of Ashtoreth."
Later, Richard frees the nail and sets to work on detaching his chains from the ship, but it's all to no avail. Later still, as Richard sleeps, we hear a boar snuffling off camera. Richard wakes to find it feasting on the corpses of his fellow prisoners. What a pig! When it notices Richard, it charges at him. Richard defends himself with... the nail. Yeah. The boar laughs so hard it has to run out of the ship. And Richard? He drops the nail -- just out of reach.
Later still, Richard hears a woman's voice. He turns to find Isabella -- a vision (or a vision) in white. She tells her husband that they're both dead and in Hell. "I'm here to save you before he comes back." Who? El Diablo. As Isabella struggles to free Richard, she says, "I looked in his eyes and all I saw was evil." Richard thinks he's seen the devil, too. When the ticka ticka rattle clank starts up, Richard orders a reluctant Isabella to run. He finally convinces her, but once outside, she screams and it sounds like she gets taken by Smokey. A heartbroken Richard collapses in a sobbing heap. Twice he's failed her.
Even later still, Esau/the Man-In-Black (Titus Welliver) shows up with a lantern, a pitcher of water and cups, and touches Richard, who wakes with a start. When Esau tells Richard he's a friend, Richard asks if he's in Hell. Esau lies says, "I'm afraid you are." Richard: "You were not on the ship." Esau: "I was here long before your ship." Richard asks if Esau has seen Isabella. "The black smoke came and she ran." Esau: "And she hasn't come back.... That probably means he has her." When Richard asks who, Esau says, "I think you know who." Soon, Esau presents keys to Richard's manacles, and says he'll release him, if Richard will promise to help him -- if he'll promise to do anything Esau asks. Once he freed, Richard collapses as he thanks Esau, who says, "Of course, my friend." And then: "It's good to see you out of those chains," (just like Faucke). He gets Richard on his feet and brings him out of the ship, as he tells him he's going to need his strength if he's going to escape. When Richard's all escape, Esau says, "That's right. I'm afraid there's only one way to escape from Hell. You're going to have to kill the devil." Dun.
Outside the Black Rock, Esau feeds Richard some boar. I suppose he's too weak and hungry to contemplate whether or not that's the same boar that ate his traveling companions, but I'm not. Eww. Soon, Esau gives Richard his marching orders: walk due west until you reach the statue. "Your ship smashed through it on its way inland -- broke it into pieces. That's where you'll find the devil." Now, there is much disagreement about whether or not a wooden ship could smash a stone statue. It seems to have become the fandom's own version of Rock, Paper, Scissors, but no one can agree on the frigging rules, so here's how I see it: the statue is ancient; it probably was assembled in pieces; the wave was tremendous (enough to carry the ship far inland), and it also hit the statue.
Esau unwraps a beautiful dagger -- the one Dogen gave Sayid when he sent him to slay Faucke. Esau's instructions to Richard are the same, too. "You'll only have one chance. Put this through his chest. Do not hesitate. Do not let him say a word. If he speaks, it will already be too late. He can be very persuasive."
Richard laughs. "How can I kill him with this? He is black smoke." Esau says, "No. I am." He then lies to tells Richard Isabella wasn't running from him (Esau); she was running from him (i.e. the "devil"; Jacob) "You aren't the only one who's lost something, my friend. The devil betrayed me. He took my body -- my humanity." Richard: "You -- you killed the officers on the ship." Esau: "I'm not the one you need to worry about. The devil has your wife and you have to kill him if you ever want to get her back." Richard shakes his head. "Murder is wrong. That is what brought me here." Esau says they can debate right and wrong all day, but the question before him will not change. "Do you ever want to see your wife again?" Richard: "Yes, I do." Esau hands him the knife, pats him on the shoulder, and takes his leave.
Richard treks through the jungle, finally arriving at Four-Toes Beach. With Esau's dagger at the ready, he marches toward Tawaret's ruins. It's then that Jacob ambushes him and kicks the Craphole out of him. Jacob is not his usual, laconic self when he finally disarms Richard demands to know what he's doing there. He's enraged -- vengeful. Richard will not be distracted from his personal mission, even if he can't carry out Esau's. "Where's my wife?" Jacob doesn't know her, doesn't even know that she didn't come on the ship. When Richard tells Jacob Isabella is dead, Jacob says, "Then why are you asking me where she is? Did you meet a man in the jungle, dressed in black?" Richard confesses that he did, and that that man told Richard that Jacob was the devil and that the only way for him to see his wife again was to kill Jacob. Jacob says, "That wasn't your wife." Richard insists it was. "She's dead, just like me." He won't listen when Jacob tells him he's not dead, so Richard throws the knife down in the sand, drags Richard to his feet, and into the water, where he forcefully baptizes immerses him, four times. Once Richard admits that he wants to live, Jacob tells him that's the first sensible thing he's said, and drags him out of the water. "What's your name?" Richard: "Ricardo." Jacob: "Get up. We need to talk." Commercial.
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Richard, who is now wrapped in a blanket, watches as Jacob returns from the statue base. "What is inside?" Jacob pours Richard some wine. "No one comes in, unless I invite them in." So, this is a vampire infested Hellmouth, Show? They drink their wine in quiet communion for a moment before Richard asks, "Are you the devil?" Just on Supernatural, Richard, and that show won't even exist for another 138 years. When Jacob denies being the devil, Richard asks who he is. " My name is Jacob. I'm the one who brought your ship to this island." Richard would like an explanation. Jacob takes another sip of wine and then sets down his cup and holds up the wine jug. "Think of this wine as what you keep calling Hell. There's many other names for it, too. Malevolence. Evil. Darkness. And here it is, swirling around in the bottle, unable to get out, because if it did, it would spread." Richard corks the bottle and continues. "The cork is this island, and it's the only think keeping the darkness where it belongs." He inverts the bottle, but the cork holds.
Jacob says, "That man who sent you to kill me believes everyone is corruptible because it's in their very nature to sin. I bring people here to prove him wrong. And when they get here. Their past doesn't matter." Like The Book of Job, with palm trees. It seems there were many others before Richard, but they're all dead. Richard wants to know why, if Jacob brought all those people to Craphole, he didn't help them. Jacob, currently a deist, says he wants them to help themselves. "...To know the difference between right and wrong without me having to tell them. It's meaningless to force them to do anything. Why should I have to step in?" Richard says, "If you don't, he will." Jacob's expression: Son of a bitch. He mulls over Richard's excellent point for a moment, and then asks, "Do want a job? [...] If I don't want to step in, maybe you can do it for me. You can be my representative and intermediary between me and the people I bring to the island." So is Jacob God and Richard Jesus, or is Jacob Jesus, and Richard is the Pope? I'm getting dizzy. Anyhow, Richard asks what he'll get in return. Jacob says to name it. "I want my wife back." Jacob can't do that. Probably not God. "Can you absolve me of my sins so I don't go to Hell?" Probably not Jesus. "Then I never want to die. I want to live forever." Jacob raises his eyebrows and nods. "Now that..." he reaches out and touches Richard on the shoulder. "...I can do." Hmm.
Richard finds his way back to Esau and gives him a familiar looking white rock on Jacob's behalf. Esau warns Richard that if he goes with Jacob, he'll never again be with his wife. "I understand. He can be very convincing." What and how did he talk you into, Smokey? He doesn't answer me. Instead, he tells Richard: "I want you to know, if you ever change your mind, and I mean ever, my offer still stands." That shines a different light on Faucke telling Richard that people seldom get a second chance. Anyhow, when Richard doesn't respond, Esau adds, "I have something for you. You must have dropped it." When Richard opens his hand, he finds Isabella's cross. "I found it on the ship." Of course you did. And then you used that, rather than her corpse, to create your little Isabella illusion, didn't you? Richard smiles down at the cross, and when he looks back up, the Man in Black has disappeared. Tearfully, Richard buries the cross near what looks to be the base of an old altar. He waters its grave with his tears, says, "Goodbye, my love," and hopefully goes off to bathe. We cut to...
NOW; Day: Richard trudges through jungle to the cross's resting place and digs it up. He says, in his modern voice, with no accent, "I've changed my mind." When nothing happens he looks up and says, "Are you listening to me? I've changed my mind." He rises to his feet. "I was wrong. You said I could change my mind. You said the offer would stand. Does the offer still stand?" He shouts: "DOES THE OFFER STILL STAND? DOES THE OFFER STILL STAND?" At the sound of footsteps, Richard turns to find Hurley approaching. "What offer, dude?" Richard asks, "What the hell are you doing out here? Did you follow me?" When Hurley says, "Well kinda," Richard hollers at him to get out. Finally, Hurley tells him to calm down. "Your wife sent me. [...] Isabella. She wants to know why you buried her cross." Richard: "How do you know about that?" Hurley: "'Cause she just told me. [...] She saw you dig it up, man. She's standing right to you." And then... she is.
Richard who cannot see his wife, doesn't believe Hurley at first, but thanks to our super-duper Hurley-vision, we know it's the truth. Hurley insists that Isabella is right there. In Spanish, Isabella tells Hurley that Richard doesn't believe her. In Spanish, Hurley replies that sometimes, it takes people a while. Richard turns right to where Isabella is, and softly repeats that he doesn't see her. In Spanish, Isabella tells Hurley to tell Richard that his English is magnifico. Hurley: "She's right there. She says your English is awesome." Even though he can't see her, Richard looks back to where Isabella is, and asks (in Spanish), "Are you really here?" Isabella (in Spanish): "Close your eyes." Hurley says, "She wants you to close your eyes." Recognition flashes across Richard's face as Hurley adds, "It's okay. I'll tell you what she says." Richard looks back to Isabella's spot and closes his eyes. Isabella continues to speak Spanish to Hurley, who speaks in Spanish to Richard. Here's the English: "It wasn't your fault I died, Ricardo. As much as you wanted to save me, it was my time." As Richard cries, Isabella touches his face. "You've suffered enough, Ricardo." Absolution, granted. Richard sobs and says, "I miss you. I would do anything for us to be together again." Isabella: "Mm, my love, we are already together." She kisses his cheek. When the camera changes angles, she is gone.
Richard opens his eyes. "Is she gone?" Hurley says, "Yeah." Richard looks at the cross he's still clutching in his hand, and thanks Hurley as he puts it back on. Hurley says, "Yeah, you got it," but will not meet Richard's eyes, so Richard asks him if something is wrong. Hurley: "She kind of said one more thing -- something you have to do." Richard asks what. Hurley, looks as though he's recalling Isabella's words. "She said you have to stop the Man in Black. You have to stop him from leaving the island, 'cause if you don't, todos nos vamos al infierno." We all go to Hell. The camera zooms out to show Faucke, watching from a distance, with hatred in his eyes.
Craphole; 1867: Jacob finds Esau playing with white rock. "Good morning. [...] I see you got my present." Esau tells him not to gloat. "It doesn't become you." Jacob: "So you tried to kill me?" Esau: "Do you expect an apology?" Jacob doesn't, he'd just like to know why. It's simple. Esau wants to leave. Jacob says that as long as he's alive, Esau isn't going anywhere, which is exactly why Esau wants to kill him. "And I will kill you, Jacob." Jacob says, "Even if you do, somebody else will take my place." Esau nods, "Well, then I'll kill them, too." Jacob looks off at the mountains for a moment, and then digs in his ginormous pocket and takes out the jug of wine, and hands it to Esau. "Here. Something for you to pass the time." When Esau doesn't thank him, Jacob rises and leaves. "I'll see you around." Esau watches after his jailor for a while, then sits back and says, "Sooner than you think," which Faucke will one day tell Richard. Esau then flips over the jug of wine, so that the cork is at the bottom, just like Jacob did, during his demonstration to Richard. After watching the contents swirl for a moment, he dashes the bottle against the rocks, spilling all that lovely red wine. See? Evil!
Okay, so I think the first Isabella apparition was Smokey (or a Smokey-manipulated Isabella), and the second was actually Isabella's true spirit, free from evil influence. In both cases, her cross is the conduit. Now that it's back where it belongs, Richard stands a chance at reclaiming his faith.
I really like the island as cork explanation. In other words, it's the Hellmouth, and the mystical energy emanating from it attracts all sorts. It makes me wonder about the sunken island we saw in the season premiere, though. When Jack, Juliet, et al blew up the island (or tried) were they helping Smokey without knowing it? If so, is Sideways Locke really Locke, or is he Fauke, too?
My favorite super crazy theory comes from RiverThames: "Jacob and the Man In Black are BOTH Aaron, having grown up and gone back in time. Jacob is Aaron from Flash-sideways Verse, raised by Claire, and MIB is Aaron from Mainverse, raised by Kate (another) but with a crazy mother (Claire)." I mean, I'm not betting the mortgage on it, but it's got a good beat, and you can dance to it.
It seems clear that Smokey is evil and Jacob is good, which seems so simple that I start doubting that assumption. Which makes me feel silly. Which removes my doubt. Which makes everything seem clear. Which makes me start doubting again. Then I start wondering if both Smokey and Jacob are trapped in a game, and they can't come out ''til the coach sends someone else in. Then I start wondering if anyone has compiled all the rules of the game, revealed to date. Since I can't travel through time, I need to stop, and get to the rest of my life, like family, food and sleep, so I'll lay off the speculation and analysis for this week.
In conclusion, I just want to say what a fantastic episode this was. I turned on the TV, and the thing I new, it was 9:50 PM. Seriously, that was the first time I looked at the clock, and my kids were up, man. Hats off to Nestor Carbonell. This was damned near a monologue and yet he carried the episode without breaking a sweat. We got some answers, big (why Jacob granted Richard immortality) and small (the destruction of Four Toes, and the resting place of the Black Rock), and we learned how Richard becomes an advisor, too. We also seemed to amass additional evidence that Smokey is bad and Jacob is good, and truly does believe in free will. Most importantly, we learned the importance of Craphole Island.
I'll see you Wednesday morning with my recaplet of "The Package." In the meantime, email me your speculation at CynthiaMcLennan[at]gmail.com, or twit it to me on Twitter, and join us in the forums, where we never dash our wine bottles against the rocks, particularly not when there's still wine in them.
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