Quick Take: Lost, "Ab Aeterno" "Do I sound like somebody who has a plan?" – Richard Alpert
Review: Lost, "Ab Aeterno" (S0609) There are some episodes of Lost that have a slow build, that begin with a flashback sequence that has significance later, or have early scenes that allow us to hang out with the characters to get to know them better.
This is absolutely not one of those. When Richard Alpert (Nestor Carbonell) reveals in exasperation to our "candidates" Jack (Matthew Fox), Hurley (Hugo Reyes), and Sun(Yunjin Kim) that "we're dead… we're all dead" and "we're all in hell" and that "we are not on an island… we never were," it's difficult – even after five-plus seasons of Lost to not sit back and think, "whoah."
And for the record: I like sitting back and thinking "whoah."
Also for the record: it's great to finally have a Richard-centric episode. He's a great character and Carbonell has done a magnificent job at keeping this deeply mysterious character engaging, opaque, and somehow oddly earnest all at once.
I love that Richard arrived to the island on the Black Rock, a 19th Century sailing vessel that we first saw moored on high ground on the island many seasons ago now. I'd be astonished if the show writers had any idea that there would be a Richard tie-in when the ship was first introduced, so it's a great way to square that circle, so to speak. Richard's backstory as a Spanish peasant on the Canary Islands who is imprisoned after accidentally killing a doctor/landowner type while attempting to save his dying wife plays out very dramatically and well.
On the island, there's a great sequence with "Ricardo" and the smoke monster entity who eventually becomes Not Locke and Jacob (Mark Pelligrino). There's a repeat of the actions and request that "Not Locke" makes of Sawyer (Josh Halloway) in Recon, and we're reminded that this figure, the smoke monster incarnate, and Jacob have been at it for a long, long time. We're also being given indication that Jacob may not be the sinister (or at least fully sinister) figure that we thought he once was.
Jacob's explanation of how the island is like a cork that keeps hell (or evil or malevolence) "bottled up" may be the closest and clearest thing we've had to an explanation to What It All Means in the entire history of the show. Jacob, while not the devil, is perhaps more a bored prison guard who summons people to the island to see how they will react. While he won't deign to "step in" to help them himself, he's moved to appoint Richard to be his "representative."
The end run for the show – and again, this is a big perhaps – is crystallized by Hurley revealing to Richard that "we have to stop the man in black… or we all go to hell."
More thoughts on "Ab Aeterno":
Jacob visits Ilyana in the past… she is to protect six candidates. Why is she so bought-and-sold into the Jacob worldview? Ack, too many questions.
"Candidates… candidates for what?" – Jack. Good question!
"Do I sound like somebody who has a plan?" – Richard Alpert
Hurley's off speaking Spanish to himself. You could see how he might get tossed in the psychiatric institution back on the mainland.
The Spanish doctor/landed gentry dude of Canary Islands / late 19th Century times tossing Richard's sick wife's gold cross to the floor… not cool in any epoch. Not sure if that justified his getting his head slammed into a table just so, but still.
"I'm afraid the devil awaits you in hell." – Spanish priest to Richard.
So lets do some geography, shall we? The island as we know it is located somewhere between the vast stretches of ocean between Australia and Los Angeles. The island Richard Alpert arrives on is somewhere between the Canary Islands and the New World. This island hops around a lot.
The smoke monster has been around a very very long time, it seems. I recall that I used to hear mechanical chain-like sounds when the smoke monster came on the scene. Perhaps this effect was removed as the reason for its existence and tie-in to the story evolved?
Also around for a long time: the "others," or at least a version of the others that were around way back in the day.
"There's only way to escape from hell. We're going to have to kill the devil."
"If you ever change your mind, and I mean ever, my offer still stands." Richard is assuming that this holds for over a century. I guess we'll see!
Hurley sees more dead people… "She's standing right next to you," he says to Richard of Isabella.
Video: Lost, "Ab Aeterno" Catch all of the glory while available, from Hulu:
Review: Lost, "Ab Aeterno" Richard must make a difficult decision.
From Around the Web: Lost, "Ab Aeterno"
What's Alan Watching?: What made this one a highlight not only of the final season, but of the series' entire run, was what made "Lost" so compelling at the beginning, before hatches and fertility experiments and time-traveling Scotsmen and the rest of the mythology (which I really do like): it was both a great character piece and a white-knuckle thriller.
Pop Culture Zoo: But the episode really came together for me with Hurley’s scene at the end, and it tied together Alpert’s story in a surprising way. It seemed like it was leading to a point where I was expecting Alpert to get killed or claimed by Smokey, and instead we got the reveal of Isabella’s ghost. As much as I enjoyed watching Alpert get bounced back and forth between MiB and Jacob’s chess match throughout the episode, the emotional Ghost Isabella scene delivered the goods. And there was no pottery involved, which is a plus whenever ghosts are involved.
A.V. Club: One of my favorite aspects of Lost is the way that any given week, the show can whisk us to other places and tell stories in any genre the writers choose. Last week, they dropped us off in a cop show. This week, it was a tragic Victorian romance with Biblical overtones.
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