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"So, the Island is a cork in the bottle that is the earth, and it's keeping all the evil stuff held in Hell?"

"It would appear that way, yes, something like that," I answered my wife Valerie after having watching "Ab Aeterno" (lit. "From the Beginning of Time") in a different room from her.

"Well, what does that mean for the island being able to move? Or situated atop weird pockets of energy? Or having this population of Others on it? Or God not being able to see it [as Ben once said]? Or women not being able to survive pregnancy on it? I mean, it's like LOST has become this whole ‘nother story…"

I had to admit, it does seem like that. It's arguable whether or not this is a good or desirable thing, as in, whether the story has advanced in a natural progression to a higher plane where everything will make sense in a new light that has yet to be completely shone, or whether it will leave open several plotholes in the forms of the mysteries and MacGuffins we all came to love and wish to see explained. One thing this fresh way of viewing the island does explain for us is why we've heard phrases like "God help us all" from such characters as Eloise Hawking in reference to the O6 failing to return. There's clearly something grandiose at stake.

But it also brings up heavy questions. Such as, there's not yet enough evil, suffering, and chaos in the world? You're telling us there's a Pandora's Box out there that could make it even worse? And potentially the balance between Jacob/White and MIB/Black is all that's holding that in? Then why is Jacob conducting social/theological experiments there by bringing people to this supremely important location, people who could seriously upset that balance? Why does MIB resent his role so much (I'm working off the assumption that he himself is not evil so much as lazy and selfish and put-upon. He refuses to do his job any longer)? Where did we get all the evil we're already drowning in if most of it is contained? And I had forgotten this little tidbit about Pandora's Box… it contained Hope as well!

You may be getting the impression at this point that I disliked this episode. Nothing could be further from the truth. I loved it - definitely one of my all-time favorite LOST episodes. Nestor Carbonell rocked it as Ricardo, and Titus Welliver as the MIB is someone I want to see more of. I liked that we didn't keep flashing back to island happenings, and I loved the confirmations/answers about how Richard got to the island, where he was from, how and when the statue was broken, and how the Black Rock got so far inland. Of course, these answers yet again only brought up more questions, questions which we'll get at below.

Richard's History

I appreciated this straightforward telling, which I enjoyed without too much distraction of Easter Eggs or hidden symbols. The exception, of course, is the cross necklace belonging to Isabella, which is something that can be seen many ways, including as just a trinket. More on that later.

The year is 1867, 22 years after the Black Rock set sail from Portsmouth, England. This would apparently also be the year in which Jacob and the MIB have their Season-Five-Ending conversation on the beach while Jacob eats fish. Richard lives on an island (of course; did you expect anything else?), Tenerife, the largest and most populated of the Canary Islands. Hence, he speaks Spanish and is called Ricardo. His story is the archetype of the well-worn Psych 101 example that first challenges basic assumptions about right and wrong: what means may a man go to in order to save his dying wife if he can not afford the medicine that would cure her? What level of love/pain/desperation justifies what level of crime/sin/wrongdoing? May he lie? Destroy property? Steal money? Steal the medicine itself? Assault someone to get it? Kill someone to get it? Any of the above as long as he is prepared to face the consequences of his actions? Eventually, we all come to admit that we tend to have very personal subjective beliefs about the answers to these questions, even if we also have very deeply embedded theological and religious beliefs about what is always right and what is always wrong. Just watch any TV show or movie that deals with an issue like this and then discuss with like-minded people afterwards, and you will often find yourself - as many of us do with Richard here and Kate before him - wishing that he could avoid penance because, well, he's just so darn likable and after all, he never meant to hurt anyone.

Alas for Richard, his great tragedy is that he not only accidentally killed the stinky old doctor, he was too late to save Isabella, thereby failing in his promise to "save" her. I myself doubt whether the medicine would even have worked. The doc was a swindler, says I. After Richard handed over all his money, he reluctantly hands over the cross necklace, which is when we get this symbolic bit of dialogue:

Richard [handing over the Cross]: Now you have everything.

Doctor: This is worthless.

Most other LOST blogs may be able to gloss over this exchange with nothing more than a smile at it, but as you know by now, we have to take just a bit larger peek at it. The old gospel hymn "Now I Have Everything" came to mind when Richard handed over the symbol of Christ's sacrifice and suffering, the vehicle through which he purged our pain. As did so much heartache at being reminded of those who have cast this free gift aside without opening it just like the doctor did, with a cry of its lack of value or need. No treasure here, nothing I need at any rate.

Richard flees the scene with a symbol of love/his beloved/sacrifice/torture in one hand, and a symbol of healing/hope/false hope in the other hand. It's these same strong hands that start a domino effect of saving/dooming Richard Alpert. Consider…

Richard, not knowing his own strength, accidentally kills the doctor. He is doomed to execution.

What saves Richard? Strong hands and being able to speak English. These factors, having simultaneously bought his freedom and his slavery, then turn out to have doomed him to shipwreck.

What saves Richard? Smokey showing up just before Whitfield can run Richard through with a sword. But now Richard is doomed to manipulation and an impossible horrible task.

What saves Richard? A good ol' butt-kicking, baptizing snap back to reality with Jacob, where he is given a job and a long life. But now Richard is doomed to walk the earth wondering his purpose, forever separated from his love.

What saves Richard? Your favorite character and mine! More on this in a minute…

But before Richard embarks on this journey, he has a meeting with a snarky priest who reminded me of the lyrics to Sting's song "All This Time": … fussin' and flappin' in priestly black like a murder of crows. This guy enters with food and seeming care, but we come to find out he's either cruel or has ulterior motives he's not ready yet to divulge. His wearing black contrasted against Richard's lighter clothes, and his offer (and rejection) of food mirrored the first meeting we ever saw between Jacob and the MIB, but I think that's more literary than meaningful to the plot. I gave the priest the benefit of the doubt on his attitude after he assessed Richard's repentant heart, ability to understand English, and strength. I wanted to smack him when he offers to hear Ricardo's confession but then does not grant absolution. I was like, "What the crud, dude?" He tells Richard a) that his motives did not matter - murder is still murder, and b) that he requires TIME (one of our old favorite LOST themes) to work this out, but time he does not have. I also disagree quite vehemently with the theology of the statement, "The only way to return to His grace is through penance," as it wouldn't be Grace if it required penance, or if we could do anything of ourselves to earn it. The statement also assumes that Richard is (or any of us are) already in a state of grace unless and until he does/we do something as heinous as murder or manslaughter. Interestingly enough, though, Jacob too will reject a doctrine of Original Sin, associating that way of belief more with the Man in Black, when he has his conversation with Richard on the beach, which we'll examine shortly.

The passage Richard's wife's Bible is opened to when the priest examines it is Luke 4:24 (the marker atop the page says Luke 4:37, but the verse the camera is focused on is 4:24). This is the famous passage where Christ says a prophet has no honor in his own country. It's foreshadowing what Richard's role will become, and why he must leave his native land, and that he will become greater there than he possibly could have staying on Tenerife. His future is to become Jacob's representative, his go-between, his prophet.

Ultimately, the priest saves Richard from death and gives him the time he did not have. He leads him to this Whitfield character (why didn't we get to see Magnus Hanso himself? Is that being saved for a bigger, cooler reveal? Did Hanso survive the tidal wave, Smokey, and so forth? How does the Black Rock's journal end up in Madagascar seven years later (remember we learn this fact when Widmore buys the ledger at auction for a princely sum)? These are questions I'm still looking forward to learning the answers to). Though Richard has been freed from execution, we should not forget the priest's early prediction for him - you will meet the Devil in Hell.

When the Black Rock approaches the Island, the Devil is what they believe they have seen in the statue of the god Taweret. It's the nature of the arrival that intrigued me here. At the end of Season Five, when Jacob and MIB are looking at the arriving ship, it's just offshore. The seas are calm, and it's daytime. So why now does it appear to be a nighttime typhoon? I'm going with a difference in perspective involving how we know it's always a bumpy ride to get to the island, and how so often we've seen a day-to-night or vice-versa change (Frank's helicopter, the Ajira flight, etc). The idea would be that Jacob and MIB see the arrival one way - Jacob having brought the ship there, MIB being upset about it (perhaps he is even the symbolic source of the raging waves and "Here - you bring this, I'm gonna ram it through your statue" attitude), and that it is experienced by the Black Rock folks in much the same way as all the other folks who have ventured through the slim bearing that brings one to the island.

In several of my prior recaps involving the Black Rock I wondered what kind of circumstances could lead what kind of person to NOT unchain anyone - whether slave or free man or prisoner - who was the survivor of a shipwreck. We had seen skeletal remains in those chains in previous visits to the old ship. And now we know why they where there. Fear. Whitfield and the other officers were so distraught over being shipwrecked in the middle of the jungle that they were without hope, and afraid that any of the slaves set free would soon turn on them. Chances are Whitfield believed he was being merciful by bringing quick stabbing death to these chained people… just before Smokey just as mercifully brought quick squishing death to him and his cronies.

At one point during Richard's time in the hold of the ship, we come back from commercial break to follow a moth down to where Richard struggles. You know, long ago several smart people theorized about how LOST's six seasons would follow a chiastic structure, that is, there would be great parallels between the themes and events of Seasons 1-6, 2-5, and 3-4. ABC - CBA. This structure is used a lot in the book of Psalms and other places in the Old Testament. And sure enough, the character-centric episodes and several devices (e.g. Miles playing Solitaire in the Season Six Sayid episode è Sayid's episode titled "Solitary" in Season One) have seemed to bear this out. This was another example. In the Charlie-centric episode "The Moth" from Season One, not only does a moth show up just before Charlie and Jack are able to find the way out from being trapped, but Locke explains to Charlie that moths must struggle to be freed from their cocoons (prisons). Sure, he could use his knife to help one escape, but it would be too weak to fly. The struggle is required to become what an individual needs to become. We are to draw the same parallel to Richard here, as he fights to be free from the belly of the great ship. Escape and transformation are major themes yet again. Into what side will Richard transform?

Richard and the MIB

The first time Smokey appears, he kills all (we think; perhaps a member of the Hanso family escaped?) but Richard. On Richard, he uses his Smokey-flash memory-reading powers, just like he has on Eko, Ben, Juliet (the more I think on this, the more I think that Harper appearing and disappearing out of nowhere to Juliet was made possible because of this, and was Smokey rather than Harper), and more.

The second time he appears, is it perhaps in the form of the boar, who knocks Richard's only means of escape - the pin he pried loose - from his grasp? I say yes.

The third time he appears, it is as Dogen once said, "As someone you know. Someone who is dead." Smokey learned of Isabella, of course, when he did his memory-flashy thing. He pulls the trick he pulled on Sawyer - the same trick he has accused Jacob of using - to approach people at their weakest, most vulnerable, most broken moments, and lead them by the nose into making a choice (when there really is no alternative choice to be made). He plays up the whole "We're dead, we're in Hell, and oh yes, there's a Devil, and it's that guy, and he has your wife" angle. Even more cruel, he forces Richard to live through having "lost" Isabella all over again.

The fourth time Smokey appears, it's as the Man in Black. He's carrying that lantern again (the one from the cabin? The one Christian Shephard carried into the donkey wheel chamber to broken-leg Locke?). I failed in my search for a mirror image mythological or archetypal "lantern bearer," but if you have more luck/knowledge, please let us know if there's a particular parallel that is applicable. He also touches Richard (a Jacob-y thing to do), and comes bearing water, which to me was very interesting because of how it contrasts with the drinkable liquid Jacob brings, which we'll look at in the segment below.

He tells Richard:

• I've been here WAY longer than your ship, dude
• I want to be free, too
• Yep, you're in Hell alright. Don't doubt it for a second, even though you've seen people die here, and Hell is supposed to be for the already-dead
• I hold the keys. Do what I ask, I will free you (always the conditions with this guy)
• "Good to see you out of those chains" (okay, now we know even more significance to that line from earlier this season)
• "There's only one way to escape from Hell - kill the Devil." This is a great line, because it's all-at-once part of the ruse on which he has sold this poor vulnerable soul Richard, and the MIB's personal belief. For him, his existence is Hell, and his adversary (the literal meaning of "Satan") is Jacob. So just like that great line from Obi-Wan to Luke, "What I told you was true… from a certain point of view."

MIB tasks Richard with almost identical instructions to those Dogen gave Sayid regarding how to deal with Flocke: Use this special knife (sure would like to know the origins of that thing; can we assume Jacob has kept it from the time of Richard's failed assassination attempt to the time Dogen arrived on the island? Why is Jacob later able to be killed by Ben using neither this knife, and after having spoken?). The only difference between Dogen and MIB's instructions is that MIB says nothing about what form Jacob will present himself in to Richard. It will not be as a dead person, or as someone he knows. Is this because of what he goes on to explain next, which is that Jacob took "my body, my humanity"? This line makes me think that this current Titus Welliver-looking MIB is no more his original form than John Locke is. He's pretty ticked off about this, so much so that he nearly makes a fatal error in his honesty to Richard about being the Black Smoke. Sure seemed like Richard was just about ready to call the deal off when MIB had to backtrack and get his focus back on Jacob, and flat-out insist that Jacob the Devil had Isabella and Richard won't ever see her again if he doesn't get his mind back on point here.

Great line of protest by Richard: "Murder is wrong. That is what brought me here" [remembering of course that for now he still thinks "here" is Hell]. MIB is like, "blah blah blah. We could debate right and wrong all day. What are we going to DO about getting what we WANT, man?"

Richard and Jacob

Richard finds the ruined statue. As opposed to when Locke showed up to Sayid and "spoke" immediately, Jacob does not. Apparently angry about the destruction of Taweret, he has chosen the kick-booty first, ask questions later approach with whomever comes calling. He even reminds us of how protective he is when he tells Richard that ain't nobody getting inside that statue unless I invite them in.

The only thing that surprised me about Jacob is that he was capable of being surprised. I had been operating under a theory that he had always been one step ahead of the MIB, and always had contingencies for everything he did, in a very God-and-Satan way. You know, "Kill my son, seemingly end My plan, okay, well, joke's on you, He can't stay dead, you lose chump" kinda way. But here, Jacob is caught off guard by Richard asking where his wife is. The minute he asks Richard, "If she's dead then what are you asking me for?" the lightbulb goes off in his own mind. He knows what has happened. "Did you meet a man dressed in black in the jungle?" Uh, yeah, how'd you know?

Tiring quickly of Richard's moaning about being dead, Jacob treats him to a face-down reverse baptism that is perhaps a precursor to the ones true Others will one day undergo in the Temple pool, one where people have to decide whether they truly want to be alive or dead. It does the trick. Richard realizes that he can't be dead if his instinct is to avoid being killed. He's ready for a sit-down with The Big J.

Jacob introduces himself right away. "My name is Jacob." Obviously we get no such introduction from the MIB. I know several bloggers who don't think we are ever going to learn this entity's true name, by extension suggesting this information doesn't really matter. I agree in part, but I do think we will glean an identity from him someday soon. I would hold to the idea that his identity was taken when his body was, which is probably whenever he was imprisoned here and forced to do this task, which is when Jacob apparently was given dominion over him in an equal-but-I'm-the-boss sorta way. He also tells Richard he brought his ship here, just as he has many others before him.

Jacob brings no food to this meeting - only wine. As Jacob lays it all out for Richard, I couldn't help but think of Pliny the Elder's quote, "In vino veritas," which happens to be in the same language - Latin - as our episode title, and which we have been previously told is the language of the Others (though they sure do use it infrequently, outside of the 1950s and during Juliet's orientation). The meaning, of course, is "In wine there is truth," and Richard does appear to be getting a dose of it here, including the truth about the purpose of the island and what it is keeping at bay for the rest of the world. When I researched the origin of in vino veritas, I learned a little-known fact: the complete phrase actually states: "In vino veritas, in aqua sanitas." Or, in wine there is truth, in water there is health. The MIB brought water to Richard (and several times this season water and taking a drink have been prevalent themes). Jacob brings wine. Both truth and the sanity/health to apply it are necessary; one is not especially valuable without the other. I'm becoming further convinced that these two adversaries Jacob and MIB are necessary to island and world health, and that balance is the key to all of it.

Jacob uses his bottle of wine to demonstrate for Richard how the island is basically a cork on top of the earth keeping Hell contained within (remember that volcano we were once told of on the island? And the ash? Any significance to this metaphor?). The idea jives with those who place a literal location for Hell at the center of the earth (as in, as far from the presence of God as is possible, and where it's stinkin' hot). I guess it's kinda like how the Swan station kept the electromagnetism contained (and perhaps also for the same reason).

That's when Jacob explains "the game" he plays with MIB, a.k.a. his sociological experiments. He has been bringing people to this island for a long time trying to disprove, essentially, the sin nature. Eventually, he reasons, humanity is going to figure things out if given clean slates and fresh starts, and they will progress or evolve into higher beings who have no need of being told what is right and what is wrong. Richard sees the flaw in his methods right away - um, you say you want this, and you want this without stepping in. Thing is, you by definition already have an opposer, a counter argument, an enemy, and he will be more than willing to step in. He's the monkey in the wrench. That's when Jacob gets another bright idea, and offers Richard a job as his intermediary, his prophet. As we know, this is what will lead to the years and years of lists, followers, and a whole, well, "religion" built around island protection/worship. Richard, who has just spoken of no good reason for murder, will come to have no problem with killing Army dudes who won't leave, or going to any other extremes to protect this place, even if he isn't 100% sure on purpose. He will do these things out of faith.

A bargain is struck when Jacob gives Richard the only thing Richard wants that is also something Jacob can grant - long life without aging. Richard desires this as a way to avoid Hell, and perhaps as a chance to work off his sins in penance or in service to a greater good. But that's only after we learn Jacob can't give him Isabella back (and that sits right with us; in fact, MIB probably can't give her to him either, he could probably just appear as her for him. Be nice if Sayid recognized this), and that Jacob can not forgive sins (what? What kind of Christ figure are you, then? What was that speech about how "their past no longer matters" once you call people to your island, then?) that the deal is struck. Jacob touches Richard, and the rest is LOST history.

Richard goes back to the MIB, and they exchange "gifts." It would stand to reason that the MIB is ticked that Richard broke their deal about only following him if he freed him from his chains, but he probably also knows he has been touched by Jacob now, and so he can't squish him. In some ways, he's downright understanding. "I know Jacob can be very convincing," he sadly says. But he says Richard can change his mind any time. Ever (so he's aware Richard has been granted long life, is he?). Richard gives MIB the White Rock (is Jacob gloating?), and MIB gives Richard his wife's cross necklace back. "Oh, you must have dropped it. Hmmm." Kinda ominous there. Richard buries it to say good-bye to Isabella, to move on with his new task, and to be able to find it again should he ever need it.

Jacob & MIB

This time, they sit not on the beach, but on a vista in the jungle. This time, it is Jacob who comes to see the MIB, who tells Jacob that gloating does not become him. They go round and round about "stop trying to kill me," "well let me go then," "I'll never let you go while I'm alive," "well then you see why I have to kill you," "well then I'll make sure I have a replacement," "well then I'll make sure I kill them too" and on it goes. This time Jacob does not offer his friend food, but he has some drink for him - that same bottle of wine. MIB has no need of this reminder of "truth," so he smashes it, saying Jacob will see him sooner than he thinks. Really? Why that line? Doesn't it take, like, 137 more years before 815 crashes there to put his grand plan into effect?

I do love the words Jacob uses when he hands over the wine to MIB - "something to pass the time." If you read my recaps of Season 1-5, you know that I've long operated under the assumption that LOST is about a game - a game in which somebody LOST. And that a large part of this relates to the game these two are playing, which relates to the black-and-white two-sidedness of games like chess and backgammon in which neither side is inherently good or bad, and which a large part relates to making choices, such as those between two difficult sides in the computer game Myst. Yet another aspect is sports, such as baseball. And below all of these examples and metaphors is a question of why - why does humanity pursue them? Why do we involve ourselves in game play? Why do we create contests and games? Is not part of the reason to pass the time we have (note how baseball is referred to as our "national pastime" here in the U.S.). To give us something to do? To tap into the cosmic battle we all sense going on around us every day?

Jacob's words here bring that very large motif back to the fore for me, but it's clear MIB is a big "Homey don't play that" kind of dude. He's no longer interested in the game, and he wants out. Even if all he has to do is chill out, have fun with it, and in the process keep the natural order of things. Unfortunately, his inability to accept his role would spell chaotic disaster for all.

Island Events

We were mercifully spared too much from the 2008 island universe in this episode, which is good since we had so much to digest about the characters with ancient pasts. But here were the high notes:

We opened on a close-up of an eye opening! Been a long time. This was another mirror to the usual way of things from Season One. This time it was Ilana, and we were taken back to a conversation we had seen much of previously - the time Jacob recruited her to protect his "remaining candidates." It's what she has been training for, he tells her. She's recovering in a Russian hospital, and he wears gloves, perhaps to ensure he doesn't do one of his magic touches on Ilana. She is informed there are six candidates, and he will provide a list with their names. He also takes her as far down the path of instructions as getting them to the Temple. From there, follow Richard. He'll know what to do (even if he doesn't know he knows).

Question: what does this do to the time Ilana pondered whether Lapidus could be a candidate? Didn't she already know better? Also, Jacob described these six as the "remaining candidates." As in, the final ones? That 360-degree circle in the Lighthouse sure looked full. Only a few names left. Is this Jacob's last chance to prove his faith in humanity? If these candidates fail, is all... LOST?

LOVED Richard's insane laugh when told he knows the next step. Since this scene started the episode, we are tempted to think he was on to something with his "We're all in Hell!" reveal… but… well, not only did the rest of the episode reveal that to be flawed reasoning of a still-doubting and despairing man, but we've been down that road before with Anthony Cooper, who thought he had been dragged to Hell too… right up until Sawyer sent him there for Realsville. So, no, these characters aren't dead. But weren't we all a little creeped out by the way Richard got in Jack's face and said, "You're dead!" That one's still hard to shake, but I'm not going to let myself go down any rabbit holes with it.

I also loved how our "let's go back to the beginning" SuperFriends are having a campfire pow-wow. It's so different from how our other groups are behaving. They are unsure of themselves, but for the most part calm about it. They don't know the next step, but seem confident it will present itself. Sun gets to do some stuff other than asking where Jin is. She gets to inform Jack about Flocke. And I have to smile about how 2004 Jack would have freaked out on hearing that another corpse he had shod with his dad's shoes was now apparently walking around providing "another path" for Richard to follow. He takes this - as well as the "you're dead / in Hell" speech - nicely in stride.

So cool (convenient?) that Hurley speaks Spanish. I gathered early on that he wasn't speaking to Jacob, but wasn't sure who it could be until we met Isabella. They didn't give us subtitles for the Hurley-Isabella convo from the beach - Spanish speakers, any help here?

Richard gets where he's going in the early morning. He digs up the buried cross, and does something very interesting from a faith point of view - he "repents." To repent is to "change your mind" (he says these words), to admit guilt (he says "I was wrong"), to "turn around" (he turns around and around). Who does he find when he turns around? Not Flocke (who apparently got there just after Father Hurley, and of whom we get an ominous shot as the scene closes), but Hugo. And what can Hugo offer? His services as Whoopi Goldberg from the movie Ghost is what. It's just too bad he wasn't carrying a pottery wheel and some clay with him, because that would have been too cool. Where Jack restored Richard's purpose a couple episodes ago, Hurley restores Richard's faith, and helps cleanse him of what he REALLY has felt guilty for all these years - not killing the doctor, but failing to save his love Isabella. Her ghost at first fears Ricardo does not believe. Hurley's response is that sometimes, it takes a while...

Richard puts the cross back on.

Oh! But wait! "Isabella also told me one more thing --- stop the Man in Black, or we all go to Hell." No biggie, though.

"In came wine, out went a secret." - The Babylonian Talmud

Things Learned from Pop-Up LOST

Each week we look at what the production team did and did not want us to clue into from the previous episode by what they purposefully typed onto the screen in the re-run...

Notably Mentioned