LOST - Richard Alpert

This week on LOST, we took a break from peering into flash-sideways of a parallel universe, and we finally got the backstory for Richard Alpert, the ageless dude who's been on The Island for over a century and has been a guide of sorts, working for Jacob.

Very cool episode.  Gave us a self-contained story that also answered big questions and brought the series one step closer to the endgame.

Richard's life sure did suck back then.  He accidentally kills a doctor trying to get medicine for his ailing wife, only to find that he's too late to save her.  He gets thrown in prison and is about to be executed.  A priest refuses to even give him absolution of his sins, so he thinks he's about to go to Hell.  He gets a reprieve in the form of being sold into slavery, and his slave ship the Black Rock crashes onto The Island.  He has a bitch of a time trying to get out of his chains, and is scared shitless by the smoke monster, who makes him watch losing his wife a second time.

Eventually Richard is free and the smoke monster (now in human form) tells him to go kill Jacob, 'cause he's the devil, of course.  And if he does so, he'll get to see his wife again.  Richard gives it a shot, but his assassination attempt is a no-go.  Jacob doesn't just stand there and take it (like he will later with Ben).  He smacks Richard around a bit, dunks him in water (a baptism?), and then tells him his side of the story.

I've heard some people lament that the show is boiling down to a good vs. evil chess game between Jacob and the smoke monster.  I do hope it's not as simple as all that, as the show has tackled some interesting themes beyond that (science vs. faith, can you fuck with destiny), but I like what they're setting up here.

Jacob explains that The Island is a place where a great evil is contained.  Using a wine bottle to illustrate, the cork in the bottle is The Island, and the wine is all the evil mojo seething beneath it.  If the bottle was ever to be uncorked and the wine was spilled, well, that'd be a shitstorm.

So wow, I feel like I have a sufficient explanation as to what The Island is and why we should give a shit about which one of the Candidates is gonna be Jacob's successor.  I wasn't completely sure that was ever gonna happen.

There's no chance in hell that every question I've ever been curious about throughout LOST's six seasons is going to get answered, but I have faith that all the major ones will. 

By the way, the LOST recaps posted on Videogum are fucking hilarious.