Ab Aeterno

what we've been waiting for 'since the beginning'


First off: reaaaaally emotional scene with Richard and Isabellae

ON ISLAND

{FLASHBACK: Ilana was waiting for Jacob and they already know each other,
he tells her about the remaining candidates}

Jacob's been keeping Richard in the dark but also tells Ilana he will know.
Conflicting, or Richard forgot ?

Hurley's step in for Isabella was awkward at best.
But seems like he definitely managed to turn him around.
And Locke doesn't look too happy about it!


RICHARD FLASHBACK (standard flashback sound)

Nice scruff Richard. Scruffy Richard (calling it!)
This may have been the Canary Islands, but it was in 1867, birth year of Canada, the Canadian connection continues!

The start of Richard's backstory really starts off morose! Poor with a dying wife and a doctor who won't accept his compensation for medicine. Killing the doctor and coming back to a deceased wife and gets sentenced to hanging!

So Richard was indeed a slave, this continues the series of unfortunate events in Richard's life leading to the island.
PAUSE... Captain Magnus Hanso... [note to self remember to breathe]

It's funny how the Egyptian goddess is perceived as the devil by the crew.
Note, this was a kick ass kill by the smoke monster, through the grate!
Neat recall to the boars.

This is an interesting story plot. Is this Isabella? Or rather a manifestation perpetrating the myth of Hell so that the black smoke can easily recruit Ricardo. This would make sense from the smoke monster hovering in front of Ricardo and reading his mind rather than killing him. Able to use him as a pawn, appearing as his dead wife and claiming hell. Now he need to kill the devil (assumedly Jacob)
"I want to be free too"

CALLBACK: "It's good to see you out of those chains."
My question: what happens when you die in hell?
[they're still playing hard on that name aren't they?]

Now we officially know what happened to the statue. But this raises an interesting discussion topic: pregnancy issues. There were still good pregnancies on the island in the 70's, so what happened between 74/77 and the 1990s?

It seems MIB learnt the speech well, it's the same one Dogen gave to Sayid.
It's also interesting how he declares they could argue all day "about what is right and what is wrong", this is really at the core of many fan discussions and echoes our thoughts well.

Jacob's not playing with Ricardo's story and tries to convince him otherwise rather than using it. He's got mad fighting skills but also mad philosophy skills, attempting to 'kill' Ricardo to make him see he's not dead (goes back to my question).

The discussion with Jacob and the birth of Richard as the intermediary is FILLED with great imagery and analogies. Richard's role is almost entirely explained in this discussion, including why he is kept in the dark on many issues.
-The island is the cork to hell;
-"He believes it's in their nature to sin";
-"Their past doesn't matter";
-"I want them to help themselves", "I can't intervene";
-"If you don't, he will", this one struck a chord with Jacob, leading to Richard's role;
-Jacob's brutal honesty to Richard "I can't do that" seems contrary to his vague ways we've known before.
-We now know the origin of Richard's longevity: I never want to die.

The discussion between Richard and MIB is really respectful, MIB doesn't even try to kill him or hurt him or anything. Just as Locke did in present day island. His was also clue of Richard's overall importance in both Jacob's and MIB's plans.
The discussion between Jacob and MIB was more revealing. The colour associations and stated intents (coupled with Isabella's message) seemed like placing the sides in order.

As for the hell-in-a-bottle analogy, it seems MIB will no longer be looking to uncork it, but break it all loose!