Richard Alpert, ageless wonder. Richard Alpert, man of shaken faith. We recently saw him attempting to blow himself to pieces, and now, three years after we met him (he first appeared in 3×07, “Not in Portland”) it’s finally time to explore the story behind one of the most mysterious characters we’ve ever met.
Jacob went to Ilana and told her that she needed to protect the six remaining characters, that this is what she’d been preparing for. Preparing how? Why is she in bandages? Will we ever find out more about her story? I hope we at least learn those details.
On the island, she asks Richard what to do next, as Jacob told her he would know. He has no clue, and reminds Jack and informs the rest of the group that he was just trying to kill himself. He then tells them that they’re all dead, and that the island is not real; they’re in hell. He thinks it’s time to start listening to someone else, grabs a torch and heads for the jungle, presumably the find the Man in Black. Hurley is seen speaking Spanish to an invisible person, but tells Jack that it’s not Jacob he was talking to. Ben says that Jack is right, and Richard knows nothing. Ilana seems to disagree, and this is very ironic because Richard knows infinitely more than Ben does about the island, as we’re about to find out. Ben then points out to Frank that he met Richard when he was a kid, but Richard still looks the same today. Frank realizes that Richard doesn’t age, and Ben confirms that notion. Frank then asks “and how the hell do you think that happened?” Hold onto your butt, Frank, we’re all about to find out.
The year: 1867. The place: Tenerife, Canary Islands. Tenerife is the largest of the seven Canary Islands in the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Africa. Mr. Richard Alpert arrives home to find his wife Isabella sick; she’s coughing up blood. He says he will save her and departs for the doctors and promises he will return with help for her. He rides through the dark to get to the doctor. The doctor says he will not go out to El Socorro, as it’s a half days journey and it’s dark and raining, but he has very expensive medicine he can sell to Richard. He doesn’t have enough, and after a struggle for the medicine, Richard accidentally kills the doctor. He runs out past the butler and rides home, only to find Isabella has already passed away. A moment later, he is arrested, taken away and put in jail. Father Suarez visits the English Bible-reading Richard in his cell; he’s been teaching himself the language. He confesses his sin of murder, but the Father will not absolve him of that sin. He is the hanged the next day and told that the devil awaits him in Hell. Very strange to see the man we know as ageless being given one day to live. So, what will it be that spares his life? The next morning, he is blindfolded so Jonas Whitfield, a ships officer, can inspect his hands and his mouth. Jonas asks Richard if he speaks English but receives no response. Jonas says “take him away…hang him.” Richard immediately confesses that he does speak English, and is then told he is the property of Captain Magnus Hanso. The captain of the Black Rock, which is caught in a nasty storm. One of the men on the ship says he can see land. He sees an island in the distance. The statue of Tawaret is then seen, and the man says the island is guarded by the devil. A giant wave takes the ship right up and into the head of the statue, and everything goes black. I love that they showed us how the statue fell. While not a significant detail in the story, I really enjoyed this. Richard and the other chained men wake up and realize that they’re in the middle of the jungle. Jonas Whitfield comes down and kills everyone except Richard. He’s just about to kill Richard when the smoke monster comes out of nowhere to pick him up and take him away. It returns to inspect Richard as we’ve seen it do to other characters in the past, but not in a very long time. Over the next few days, Richard attempts to free himself from his chains. He sees his wife, who tells him they’re both dead and in Hell. She says she’s here to save him before the devil comes back. Just then, the smoke monster is heard outside. She attempts to run but it grabs her before she is even off the ship. This is an interesting trick; apparently MIB/Smokey can appear as someone and be Smokey at the same time, all in his attempt to make Richard believe that the devil exists on the island. MIB comes to Richard that night with some water and says he’s “a friend.” He offers him a deal: do anything he asks and he’ll help him out of his chains. He then says “it’s good to see you out of those chains” and helps him up, which is the opposite of what we saw earlier this season when FLocke said that very line and then took Richard down with three punches. MIB then says they’re going to escape from Hell by killing the devil.
Continued belowThe next morning, Richard is eating some boar that MIB cooked up for him when he is told to walk west to the ocean and hands him a dagger that looks conspicuously like the one Dogen gave Sayid. His directions are also almost exactly the same as Dogen’s, and he reveals that he is the black smoke and says that killing the devil is the only way for him to see his wife again. Remember, murder is the reason he ended up here in the first place. As Richard approaches the statue’s foot, he is knocked down and thrown around by Jacob. Richard says that he thinks he’s dead, so Jacob takes him and holds him underwater until Richard asks him to stop, because he wants to live. One interesting island baptism later, Richard realizes that he’s not actually dead.
Jacob gets a jug of wine and for him and Richard to share for one of the most important scenes in the series’ history, a scene that provides a massive amount of context for everything we’ve seen up to this point. Jacob explains that he brought the ship to the island, and tells Richard to think of the jug of wine as Hell, and the cork is the island; “the only thing keeping the darkness where it belongs.” MIB believes that everyone is corruptible and Jacob brings people to the island to prove him wrong, but he can’t help them know the difference between right and wrong; it’s up to them to realize it on their own. Jacob then offers Richard a job as his representative between him and the people he brings to the island. He wants Isabella back, but Jacob can’t do that. He also can’t absolve him of his sins. He can however, give him the gift of eternal life. Done, with one touch of the shoulder. Richard returns to MIB, who knows right away that things didn’t go as planned. Richard gives him a white rock (the inside joke) and MIB laughs and tells him that his offer stands if he ever changes his mind and hands him Isabella’s necklace. Richard promptly buries the necklace.
If they were in Hell, I’d say Jacob was Cerberus, who guarded the gates of Hades to prevent those who crossed the river Styx from ever escaping, but I don’t believe for a second that they are. I also don’t believe this is the last we’ll see of Jacob and MIB; they appeared in this episode as part of Richard’s story, so now I think we are owed their stories, and I hope we get them.
Back in the present day, Richard arrives at the very spot he buried that necklace and digs it up to begin a poignant, touching scene. He looks up at the sky and says that he changed his mind and was wrong. He repeatedly screams to the heavens “does the offer still stand!?” Hurley then walks out of the jungle and asks what offer he’s talking about and says that his wife sent him. She just told Hurley that she wants to know why he buried her cross, and she’s standing right next to him. Richard can’t see her, of course. She says that it wasn’t his fault that she died; it was just her time. Hurley then tells him that she said he has to stop the Man in Black from leaving the island, and if he doesn’t, “we all go to hell.” Just then, FLocke is seen watching the two of them from afar.
The Man in Black is sitting atop a hill playing with the white rock when Jacob comes and sits next to him. MIB says he tried to kill Jacob because he wants to leave, to which Jacob replies “as long as I’m alive you aren’t going anywhere.” MIB vows to kill him, but Jacob says that even if he did, someone would take his place. MIB says he’ll kill them too, and hands him the jug of wine to “pass the time.” MIB smashes the jug. This was likely just his way of taking his anger out by smashing something, but the thought that popped into my mind was crazy: is this a metaphor for evil escaping out into the world even though the cork (island) is still in place?
Either way, this was the best episode of the season and well worth the wait. The anticipation was high but both Nestor Carbonell and the writers hit a home run.
We’re halfway to the end. Bring it on.
