Ab Aeterno is Latin for “since the beginning of time.” Apt, because this Richard Alpert-centric episode is one of the best since the beginning of Lost. We have been waiting a long time for his backstory. Now we know. It did not disappoint.Richard’s story was a deviation from the usual sideways flashes of this season. It comprised the middle part of the episode book ended by the 2007 island happenings. All aspects were good, so this is the first episode in a while I can say was good from start to finish rather than having to credit the island story, the flash sideways, or the last few minutes for saving the story.
The episode begins with Ilana’s group sitting around the campfire. Ilana is perplexed as to their next move, but explains “Ricardo” knows what to do. Ricardo is Richard and, unfortunately, he does not know what to do next. He claims Jacob has done noting by lie to him, so why trust him anyway? In a loving nod to the fans, Richard tells them all they are dead and in hell, a theory that has been alive sice the show’s first season even the theory has been dismissed by the show runners. Richard runs off, telling them he is going to listen to someone else for a change. Hurley, after having a conversation with a someone we do not get to see, runs off after him.
(Digression: For a few seconds there, I swore it wasAna-Lucia sice Hurley would not tell Jack who he was talking to. It did not take long to figure out it was someone else from Richard’s past, though. End of digression.)
So we now get Richard’s back story. He lived in the Canary islands I 1867. His wife, Isabella--yes, that be who Hurley’s chewing the fat with, if you did not see it coming--is very sick. Richard runs off to fetch the doctor, but he refuses to come. He offers medicine, but only if Richard can afford it. He offers the doctor his wife’s golden cross pendant. He says it is worthless and tosses it aside I the first hint of the episode the Biblical devil is a part of the grand scheme of things. They scuffle . In Richard’s desperation, he accidentally ills the doctor. He runs off with the medicine, but is too late. Isabella is dead. Richard is arrested for murder.
In prison, a priest refuses to grant Richard forgiveness for the murder. The only way he can earn forgiveness is through penance, but since he is going to be hanged the next day, that is pretty much out of the question. Richard is spared right before hitting the gallows by agreeing to become aslave instead. I assume this is another instance of Jacob not allowing candidates to die before he is done with them. Or the island, as Ben has claimed. But Ben lies….
Richard is in chains on the Black Rock as it crashes on shore in a heavy storm just like Desmond. I have no idea if that is significant, but since Desmond still has a role in events, maybe it does. The Black Smoke Monster kills everyone but Richard, who is left in chains to dehydrate to death. Isabella appears to him as a trick by the Black Smoke Monster,. Then he encounters Hobbes.
Jacob’s counterpart is still nameless. I called him Hobbes last season because his theory on human nature matches that of philosopher Thomas Hobbes and me, for that matter. There are strong hits by the devoutly Christian Richard that either Hobbes is the devil or Jacob is or at least the devil is o the island. Hobbes frees Richard with the promise he will hunt down and kill Jacob at the statue so they can both leave hell, ashe claims the island is. Richard is given the same instructions to kill Jacob assayed was to kill DarkLocke--stab him in the heart before he speaks. Richard fails and gets beaten up for his trouble.
The two have an intriguing conversation in which Jacob makes two eye opening statements. First, he offers Richard a job as his right hand man. Richard wants his wife back or a ticket out of hell in exchange, but Jacob says he cannot do either. Richard wants to live forever, then. That, Jacob can mysteriously do. Does the island posses a fountain of youth or does Jacob have special powers? Not clear yet.
Secondly, Jacob explains the island in terms of a corked wine bottle. His right hand man serves as the cork which keeps all evil things in the bottle fro escaping. By evil things, he is referring to Hobbes. Richard agrees to work for Jacob and delivers a white rock to Hobbes in response. Hobbes tells him he can change his mind at any time and gives him Isabella’s golden cross pendant, which he buries. Abandoning Christianity in the process, I assume.
Richard has changed his mind in 2007. He digs up the cross and calls out for DarkLocke. Hurley intervenes and acts as an intermediary between Richard and Isabella in which they have a tender moment. Maybe my lingering recuperation from surgery last week is getting to me, but I nearly teared up. Television does not often do that to me. Isabella’s last words are that Richard has to stop Hobbes from escaping or else everyone will go to hell.
At this point, it is too obvious a twist to say Jacob is the evil one and Hobbes is on the up and up. I am wondering now if this is not a Trading Places kind of thing with two old men manipulating unwilling people’s lives in order to satisfy miniscule bets between one another. I would like for the ending to be a little more significant than an Eddie Murphy/Dan Akroyd movie.
I may not have to worry about that. This episode has strong allusions to Robert Jordan’s Wheel of Time series of novels. If you have not read them, time plays a major part in the story, but it is mostly about keeping evil trapped in a similar manner to what DarkLocke described to Sawyer a few episodes. A direct lift would be disappointing. I hope there is a twist coming.
But I did love this episode. I cannot say I was one of those clamoring to find out about Richard’s past, but it turned out to be a fascinating installment of Lost. I believe the Christian overtones are a red herring, but they were done respectfully. There is something you do not see too much on network television. Of course, now that I have said that, Hobbes will wind up being Lucifer exiled to the island by god after rebelling and Jacob is an archangel or something. Then everyone can whine about another ’God did it” series finale just like with Battlestar Galactica..
Rating; **** (out of 5)
