Tuesday's episode of Lost, "Ab Aeterno," was all about Dick Clark Richard Alpert, the ageless wonder who doesn't wear eyeliner and has constantly played coy about what he knows about the island. It was also another entry in the ever-growing tradition of non-traditional Lost episodes that buck their season's storytelling devices.
For me, a break from the side-flashes was more than welcome. Even though I've recently started to warm to these alternate-reality tales, watching "Ab Aeterno" was like reuniting with an old friend thanks to the episode's straight-flashback narrative structure (although conspiracy theorists could reasonably argue that it, too, was a side-flash), which the Lost of old did splendidly.
We were flashed-back (flash-backed?) to Richard's real-time days, when he was an extra in Last of the Mohicans and lived in the Canary Islands in 1867. Things dragged for a bit—Richard had a sick wife, killed a doctor by accident, went to jail, and was sold into slavery, at which point he ended up on the Black Rock, our favorite dynamite-carrying sea vessel—before he was finally rescued by The Man in Black. That's when things really got cookin'.
Because in last night's episode, we learned more than ever before about Jacob and the Man in Blackalbeit through unreliable narrators. According to Jacob, he isn't the devil and the Man in Black is pure eviland being held captive on the island so that his pure badness doesn't "infect" the rest of the world (presumably as has happened with Sayid and Claire). According to Smokey, he's just a dude who wants to be free and Jacob is the Devil. Jacob's conversation with Richard on the beach was a fascinating, and worthy of a transcript:
Jacob: Think of this wine as what you keep calling "hell." There's many other names for it as well, "malevolence," "evil," "darkness." And here it is, swirling around in this bottle unable to get out because if it did, it would spread. The cork is this island. And it's the only thing keeping the darkness where it belongs. That man who sent you to kill me believes that 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.
In this game of white vs. black, right vs. wrong, good vs. evil, all we really know is that Jacob and Smokey pretty much hate each other's gutsand that they keep some rudimentary form of a score by trading different colored stones. When Jacob gots Richard on his side, he presents Smokey with a white stone, the equivalent of sliding over another point in a game of Foosball. The Man in Black, as Smocke, did something similar when he successfully converted Sawyer in the cave with all the candidates' names (I think he either removed a white stone from a scale or added a dark stone to it, tipping it in the favor of the darker shade).
And now we have Richard ready to leave for the other side because he believes Jacob is a liar. It wasn't until Hurley acted as speaker of the deceased that Richard learned what he really should do: Keep Smokey on the island, which puts him right back on Team Jacob.
"Ab Aeterno," as I said before, continued one of my favorite aspects of watching Lost: The writers' ability to step sideways and deliver what I call "special" episodes. Episodes that buck the trend of the season's storytelling yet still manage to be 100 percent Lost, making them some of the series' best episodes.
"Ab Aeterno" gave us the traditional flashback structure, and it may have been the series' flash-backiest extended flashback ever: We went all the way back to 1867. There was no side-flash, which some blame for making Season 6 frustrating. It almost felt like a missing episode from the series, but in a very good way.
A handful of other past Lost episodes did something similar and found a place in my heart as "special" episodes:
"The Other 48 Days" (Season 2, Episode 7): I think this is one of the more underrated episodes of Lost, as I remember watching it and thinking 'Holy crap, Lost is amazing.' Instead of flashing back to the characters off-island, we simply saw what happened to the tail section survivors after Oceanic 815 crashed. It was bold, it was risky, it was riveting.
"Flashes Before Your Eyes" (Season 3, Episode 8): Desmond becomes unstuck in time and is jumping around into his past, not simply flashing back. The result is the unique narrative stretching almost the entire episode, and completely blowing our minds (and Desmond's). Similar narrative structures occurred in "Meet Kevin Johnson," "316," and "The Life and Death of Jeremy Bentham," but it was done spectacularly in "Flashes."
"The Constant" (Season 4, Episode 5): Considered by many to be Lost's best single episode, "The Constant" featured more Desmond jumping around, but mostly a 1996 version of Desmond jumping forward. A great primer for the alternate reality we're dealing with now.
"Because You Left" (Season 5, Episode 1): Time jumps, time jumps, time jumps. But not just to times we hadn't seen before, to times we have seen before. We see Sawyer witness Claire giving birth from a different perspective, Locke sees the drug plane crash, etc. It wasn't just flashbacks, it was full-on time travel.
Have any other "special" episodes to add to the list? Let me know!
The rest of you, see me after class. Hovabyte and pichikin, let me know if this was better. Seriously, you two have to agree this was a pretty darned good episode.
"Ab Aeterno": This one really hit the good vs. evil nail on the head, and while it may not have been the most jaw-dropping episode of the season (that still belongs to "The Substitute") it certainly provoked the most thought, something that's been lacking from other episodes. Big thumbs up for this one.
1. "The Substitute" Ep. 4
2. "Ab Aeterno" Ep. 9
3. "Recon" Ep. 8
4. "LA X (2)" Ep. 2
5. "The Lighthouse" Ep. 5
6. "Sundown" Ep. 6
7. "LA X (1)" Ep. 1
8. "Dr. Linus Ep. 7
9. "What Kate Does" Ep. 3
Also one of my main problems isn't the sideflashes, they can be very entertaining(especially the Locke and Ben and Sawyer ones), but the fact that to me it seems that theyre just too many story lines going on at ones. Admitedly they're great storylines, but it just anoys me that we start of with one story and then the next episode we get to watch a different story and then don;t hear anything about the first one. I mean look at what happened after The Substitute: Locke showed Sawyer the cave and it ended with this big shocker that all those names and numbers were written on the cave walls. But after that we went back to the temple story and didn't hear anything from Sawyer for two episodes. Not even where he went or why Locke didnt bring him with him to the temple or even hwo the hell he got out of that cave. And now with this episode, it's an amazing episode but it just feeld like it could have been thrown in anywhere in the season. It only had a couple scenes at the begining and end of the episode that werent flash backs and those scenes didn't really move the plot along a whole lot. The episodes just seem too much thrown togeter with no one collective storyline runing through all the episodes that ties them all together
I anticipate the last scene of Lost being Jack (Jacob's replacement) and Locke (MIB) sitting on the beach next to the statue talking about the goodness/evil in people. Jack will say its all progress and MIB will mention how much he wants to kill Jack. Its probably more likely to be the first theory the way things are going and you know what... I could deal with that ending!
Its just a theory. It could also be a variation of this where Locke somehow is revived either as through the flash side ways or something else and Locke is the new Jacob (he was always the most natural replacement).
Titus Welliver is fantastic in MIB guise (possibly even better than Terry O’Quinn) and Mark Pellegrino as Jacob always brings some mystery to his roles.
Nestor Carbonell has proved to be a fantastic actor and his character of Richard is one of the understated attractions of lost. Bringing his presence into the foreground in the last few seasons has given us fans a lot to ponder. Okay, The basic back story of The Black Rock and how he landed on the island had pretty much been laid out for us in previous episodes but watching the whole story unfold in an episode which took us back to 1867 and yet still remained so true to the Lost style while filling in the gaps was fascinating.
Also, questions answered a plenty at last, but still some very important ones. Richard, although one of the others was not their leader. Why not? Why the others hostility to all visitors? Who brought Dharma to the Island and why kill them all?
Some of the characters are back and forth at the moment deciding who to align themselves with. This was made all the more obvious this week when Richard first decided he was going over to the other side and then at the end seemed to switch his allegiance back to Jacob. But hopefully this will just prove important for the big finale.
My one disappointment was that when Isabella told Ricardo to give the cross to the doctor, I was hoping there was going to be some significance with it finally winding up being given to Jack for some reason.
Regarding the best flash episodes; "Ji Yeon" The Episode with Jin and Sun always sticks in my mind because it was such a suprise that they were in fact each in different times.
I have been a fan of Richard's character since all the way back in his first appearance in Season 3 during Juliet's flashback. I think I can speak for the vast majority of Losties when I say that we've waited a long, long time for this episode, not just because of the confirmation on how Richard ended up on our favorite island, but because Nestor Carbonell is a terrific actor and has been one of the show's scene stealers ever since he became a recurring guest star. His performance was Emmy worthy to say the least.
I really enjoyed both "The Substitute" and "Recon" so far this season, but personally I'd have to place "Ab Aeterno" at the top of that power ranking list. I would say that this episode easily falls in the Top 10 Lost Episodes of all time, probably closer to the Top 5.
I'm real excited to see how the next 3 episodes play out (Jin/Sun, Desmond, and Hurley-centric episodes), and how the Charles Widmore vs Smokey storyline begins to grow. I'm already saddened by the fact that there are so few hours left of Lost until it's all over, but I can say without a doubt that we're all going to be in for one hell of a ride the rest of the way.
But a great episode, totally!
So Tim's question last week was who was Richard Alpert before they tell us, and Richard/Ricardo turns out to be the same as everyone else, that is, brought to the island by Jacob, and forced to carry out this examination of life's duality. We basically learn what we already know, that he came by ship, and Jacob wins him over and allows him to live forever. What we really learn, is at the heart of each individual, we do what we believe to be just and true, to be virtuous (within ourselves), and that we all make mistakes that we need to forgive ourselves for. "Forgiveness" may have been a more suitable title than, "From the eternal", as Richards search has been absolution from his sins, and peace from his guilty heart, and in all honestly, Richards is the same backstory, as everyone else, but with a different approach from Jacob; a mediator, not a candidate. The question is just as joostin_cdn asks: Who are Jacob and Smlocke? Why are they, where are they, and how does everyone play into their "removal of the cork" chess match, candidates, mediators, bystanders, and all? It was a great episode with fantastic production value, but it didn't answer anything beyond what we were led to believe. Necessary, consistent, and highly welcomed "special" episode, but unless LOST is completely lost on you, did this episode really push the plot forward?
the way he killed the doctor with very similar to the way desmond killed that guy who was with him in the hatch. and the end whrere he gets to talk to his love (although through Hurley) and she tells him about how their love is forever. and of course the same haircut.
Also I got a feeling that maybe when Hurley said that she told him to tell richard that he have to stop the man in black, it wasn't her, but he added it to convince him to do what Jacob wants him to do.
ONE LAST THING, I REALLY WANT TO SEE A HURLEY FLASH SIDEWAYS
Anyways, great episode.
Answers I need:
1. What the island is
2. Where the island is (ie. in reality, below the horizon, under water etc.
3. Who Jacob and MiB really are (ie. sons of Taweret? she did chain her son Set to the underworld because he was friggin evil and nuts....could be a corrolation between the story and statue of Taweret).
4. What happened to Rose, Bernard, and Desmond!!!
I'll be happy after that.