"LOST" - Ab Aeterno

Mar. 23 Episode: Ab Aeterno

This was an exciting episode... we finally got Richard's back story, plus we had some questions answered: When did Richard come to the island? How long has he been there? How and when was the statue destroyed? How did the 'Black Rock' come to rest in the middle of the island? Now we know!

Richard begins to believe that he's been chump'd, that he believed the wrong guy. Richard has lost faith.

There seems to be much debate online about who is "really" the bad dude... to me there is no question. The MIB continues to deceive and make promises he can't keep. Jacob does not.

When MIB asks Richard to kill Jacob, Richard says, "You killed the officers on the ship." MIB deflects with, "I'm not the one you need to worry about. The devil has your wife and you are going to have to kill him if you ever want to get her back." Instead of answering the accusation, MIB just turns the conversation in another direction... then offers Richard something his heart desires... to see his wife again. This is the evil deceit.

According to Jacob, MIB believes that everyone is corruptible because it's in their very nature to sin. "I bring people here to prove him wrong. And when they get here, their past doesn't matter."

MIB... just like Satan... finds your weakness, your desire, and uses that, along with his promises, to persuade you to sell your soul. For many, it really doesn't take much.

Richard asks Jacob why he didn't help the others who have come before... Jacob replies, "Because I wanted them to help themselves." This is what God wants... for people to help themselves, not bemoan 'Why me, why doesn't God fix it." We are not puppets for God to manipulate. Jacob, like God, wants people to know the difference between right and wrong, he wants people to do what's right... but he doesn't force them... he gives them free will. (In season 5 finale, Jacob tells Ben (before Ben kills Jacob, of course), "You have a choice. You can do what he (Locke) asks or you can go." Jacob tells Hugo in the cab when discussing coming back to the island, "It's your choice Hugo, you don't have to do anything you don't want to.")

One thing I noticed... maybe I'm reading too much into it... but when Jacob states, "Why should I have to step in?" Richard replies, "If you don't, he (MIB) will!" Jacob pauses with a look of contemplation, almost like this is when he begins to devise this plan! So, in essence, Richard is the one who gave Jacob this idea... which begins this whole production to finally convince MIB that people are not inherently bad.

As Jacob says to MIB and Ben in the season 5 finale... "It takes a very long time when you're making a thread."

Then Jacob offers Richard a job... as Jacob's representative. Richard asks for something in return:
1. His wife back. Jacob says, "Can't do that."
2. To absolve him of his sins so he doesn't go to hell. Jacob says, "Can't do that either."
3. I never want to die, I want to live forever. Jacob, "Now that I can do."

Unlike MIB, Jacob doesn't make promises he can't keep. He can't bring Richard's dead wife back to life. He can't absolve Richard of his sins. Jacob is not God. It's like Jacob is the gatekeeper that keeps true evil 'the devil incarnate' at bay. Of course MIB is going to see it differently... he's not getting his way. He wants to run rampant across the earth causing death and destruction. Some people theorized that Jacob AND the Man In Black are to be replaced... I don't think that's correct. MIB was looking for a loophole to kill Jacob... that's why Jacob set out to find a replacement.

Jacob = Good
MIB = Bad

The only way I think this could possibly be wrong is the whole mirror image thing... that what is right is wrong and vice versa. I don't see any other way around it.

When I saw Hurley speaking to no one in what sounded like Spanish or something... I didn't think much of it and kind of disregarded it as someone who had previously died on the island. When Isabella appeared to Richard I thought, "That's who Hurley was talking to!!!" Then thought no, it couldn't be, you're reaching. She died somewhere else a long time ago. Then when Richard is shouting out to MIB that he's changed his mind... I was like... hurry, Hugo, hurry... you have to save Richard from making this mistake... and I knew that I had been right in the beginning, Hurley had been talking to Isabella.

I liked the analogy of the wine bottle and the island, with the cork keeping evil contained. Then at the end when MIB breaks the bottle of wine... I was like... the cork is the island, keeping evil at bay, unless he finds another way out. He has to break the island! Is that what Jack did by blowing up the bomb?? Did Jack break the island thus enabling evil a way to escape?? I guess we'll find out.


Check out this site (Geronimo Jack's Beard) for Podcasts by Jorge Garcia (Hurley) and his girlfriend, Beth (Sidekick22).  They discuss the scripts when they receive them, then release the podcast after the episode airs.  They also have guests like Michael Emerson (Ben Linus) and this last one was with Nestor Carbonell (Richard Alpert).  Here's the link to the latest podcast... GJB #609 Ab Aeterno.