WARNING: THE FOLLOWING POST CONTAINS SPOILERS FROM THE LATEST EPISODE OF LOST.
After the jump: Mini-recap, questions, theories, and predictions!
This week on Lost, a few hundred years ago, a hot young Latino named Richard (or should I say Riccardus?) accidentally killed a doctor while trying to get medicine for his dying wife, Isabella. Not only did the doctor die, but his wife died too! He got thrown in prison and then sold as a slave to some guy who was sailing the Black Rock!!! As we all know the Black Rock crashed on the island (but not before taking that big statue with it!). After the crash, Richard would have been killed with the other slaves by the ship’s captain, but Smokey came in and killed the captain first! And then he played some tricks on Richard, making him think Isabella was alive – but of course this was just to mess with Richard’s mind and try to convince him that Jacob = The Devil! Smokey told Richard that he was in Hell, and if he killed Jacob, he’d get to leave and be reunited with his wife!
But since Jacob was apparently all-powerful, he convinced Richard that Smokey was really the bad guy, and explained that his hobby was bringing new people to the island in order to prove that they could be good if he just gave them a chance. Even though they always turned to the Dark Side in the end, Jacob said he’d keep trying. He said Richard should stay here on the island as his assistant to help with his Good vs. Evil experiment, and he made him immortal to boot! So Richard joined Team Jacob and the rest is history. But now that Jacob’s dead, Richard thought maybe he’d join Smokey after all! Good thing the ghost of his dead wife (speaking through Hurley, of course) warned him not to, or else apparently we’re all going to Hell!
*slow clap*
So people like Doc Jensen et. al are going to tear every single bit of info out of this episode and write very eloquent novel-length recaps about it. While I might be thinking all those thoughts I just kind of like to ask some questions and ponder them at my leisure :D
Questions:
1. Ilana had been training to protect the candidates – why did Jacob choose her? She doesn’t seem very prepared haha.
2. So Smokey asked Richard to kill Jacob with the knife and warned him about speaking to him, the same way Dogen asked Sayid to kill Smokey! WHAT DOES IT MEAN? Are Jacob and Smokey equals? How come it’s too late once they speak? And how come Ben had no problem killing Jacob with a regular knife, even after he spoke to him?
3. Hurley said if the Man in Black gets off the island “We all go to hell.” Did he mean the people on the island will go to hell, or that it will cause hell on earth? Will everyone on the planet become evil zombies like Sayid and Claire?
4. How did Jacob and Smokey get there in the first place? Did Jacob capture and trap him or what?? Is Smokey like a genie trapped in a bottle? And the island is the cork?? Is the island itself special, or is it special because Jacob is there?
5. Smokey told Richard that Jacob took his body – what was that all about? Smokey keeps insisting he was once a man (with a mom no less!) so what the hell??
6. When Jacob touched Richard, he made him immortal. Then how come Richard thought someone else could kill him? Jacob touched all the candidates, but they’re not immortal as far as we know (Kate and Sawyer aged after he touched them!) – did he give any of them special powers??
7. How come Smokey can’t kill Jacob himself?? And if Smokey’s really evil incarnate then how come he judges people so…fairly? Did he go around judging people to see who’d be capable of killing Jacob? Is that why he let Ben live back when Ben went to the Temple to be “judged?”
8. Where does Widmore fit into all of this?
9. Is it possible Jacob wasn’t only trying to contain the Man in Black, but SAVE him in a Jack Shephard-esque way?
10. Is Jacob God? I never really believed that theory, I always thought of him as being something more…metaphorical, but this is getting nuts. Jacob brings people before him to test their free will against temptation/sin? Is this Eden?? Are the Adam and Eve in the caves ACTUALLY ADAM AND EVE? lol
11. What about Christian’s role in all of this? What’s his deal, anyway? It seems like he’s Smokey’s messenger the way Richard was Jacob’s. He appeared to Locke at the Donkey Wheel, he lured Claire away from Aaron, he let Michael blow up the freighter. If Jack is Jacob’s replacement it would make sense for him to have to face off with his daddy dearest in the end, no?
Thoughts:
– THIS EPISODE WAS AMAZING. WELL WRITTEN, WELL ACTED, WELL EDITED, WELL EVERYTHING-ED. FREAKING LOVED IT.
– Remember last week on Little House Michael Landon said the ones we love never really leave us once they die? RIGHT ON, ISABELLA.
– Jacob dunking Richard in the ocean = Baptism!! Hey-yo!
– Richard’s entire story was so well done and heartbreaking and AWESOME!!!!!!!!! I CAN’T GET OVER HOW AWESOME THIS WAS.
– So the Black Rock crashed into the statue and broke it!!! It’s like a Lost NERDGASM!!!!! AGH!!!!
– Maybe it’s not that Jacob needed ONE replacement, maybe he needs all 6 candidates to replace him! They could each have a part to play.
– So Smokey found Richard inside the ship, checked out his brain while in smoke form, saw that he’d respond to Isabella, and then showed up as her, right? Right.
– Nestor Carbonell was amazing. AMAZING!!!
– I loved Jacob giving the white rock to Smokey. I know it’s the one that was on the scale, but what does it mean? I want in on that inside joke.
– So I guess now we know why Smokey was “very disappointed” in Richard haha!
I’m sure I’ll be adding more as I think of it. God that was so awesome.
It’s gonna take some effort to digest this episode. And we got less than 5 minutes of current island events, which I think worked out pretty well.
And to shed some light on Magnus Hanso, check out Lostpedia. That’s where I go when shit isn’t making sense on this show.
http://lostpedia.wikia.com/wiki/Magnus_Hanso
http://lostpedia.wikia.com/wiki/Alvar_Hanso
On to your questions:
1) We’ll probably get more on Ilana, why she was injured, what kind of training she got (and if it was at THE Jack Bauer Institute), etc..
2) I don’t think the knife has some magical power, I think it has more of a symbolic nature. Symbolic of what, you may ask. Well, I don’t know….
Jacob & Smokie can’t be equals, since Smokie can’t leave the island without killing Jacob. And even after Jacob’s death, the candidates, having been touched by Jacob, make it impossible for Smokie to leave. Jacob can’t transform into white smoke either (or whatever the physical opposite of black smoke is). Ben was able to kill Jacob because Jacob allowed it, it was a test. Logic behind that is what Miles said to Ben in Dr. Linus : “Right until the moment the knife went into his chest, he was hoping he was wrong about you”.
3) I’m leaning towards Smokie becoming President of the world on that one, and everybody’s walking around like Nutso-Caire and Zombie-Sayid.
4) They may have been born there and I believe Jacob trapped him. The island keeps evil away from the remainder of the world. I think the island has special physical properties (hot pockets of electromagnetic energy, displacement through time, lighthouse that appears out of nowhere) but Jacob certainly has some special powers as well.
5) What Smokie said was Jacob took his humanity, not his body necessarily, I’m tending towards his soul, perhaps his conscience even.
6) Immortality does not equal invincibility, imho. Like, if you chopped his head off, he won’t grow a new one, he’ll die. Maybe he gave Sawyer/Kate/etc. other gifts. Sawyer got street smarts and cunning. Kate became a chameleon (hiding from the law). Jack got the gift of Jears-mastery, etc…
7) Beats me why Smokie can’t kill Jacob. And I think he judges people based on what those people have going for them. He kills those who still have hope, and spares those who are broken and utterly desperate. He can then manipulate them to do his dirty work. And yes, this precisely why he let Ben live.
8. Not sure about Widmore, my wildest guess is he made some kind of deal with Smokie, in return for control of the island.
9. NO!! One Jack is enough doucheness for this show, we don’t need any more.
10. Not really into religion, so can’t say for sure. My wikipedia research did however turn up a ferryman by the name Charon. Check it out and lemme know what you think.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charon_%28mythology%29
11. Christian was Smokie himself, Smokie was able to take the form of unburied dead people on the island before he Jacob died. This is why he is stuck as Locke now. And I don’t want Jack to be Jacob’s replacement. I want that motherfucker to die a painful, horrible death, just because I had to put up with his annoying presence for six fucking seasons.
I do have a few questions myself.
What’s the deal with all those spirits? Is the island a place where people can see and speak to the dead? Or is that exclusive to Hurley?
What happened to all the people who came to the island before Richard? How did they die? Who killed them?
How old is Richard exactly? My estimate is 170-180, he appeared to be in his thirties in 1867.
Also, please have a few OMG!!WTF!!!POLARBEAR!!!! in the next recap. I miss them.
Wow, Richard’s life was like one giant FML in this episode. Let’s analyse:
Richard’s wife is sick – FML
Richard can’t afford medicine for his wife – FML
Richard gets pushy and accidentally breaks the doctor’s neck – FML
Richard’s wife dies anyways – FML
Richard is thrown in prison with a death sentence – FML
Priest refuses to absolve Richard’s sin – FML
Richard’s ship rides a tidal wave into the middle of some Island – FML
All of Richard’s buddies are murdered – FML
He’s left chained to the wall with no-one around – FML
He can’t reach the water dripping from the ceiling – FML
Stupid boar knocks the nail out of his reach – FML
Smokey makes him believe his wife dies AGAIN – FML
Smokey manipulates Richard, making him think he’s in Hell – FML
Richard gets beat up by Jacob – FML
Jacob dies and Richard loses all faith – FML
Hurley and Isabella save Richard from joining the Dark Side – MLIA
@richard FML post
I so agree! After seeing this episode, I just kept thinking, wow, he has the worst life EVER.
Wut? It was the canary islands, which is spanish territory, so that makes him white….
Spain is in Europe.
ok, first, the smashing of the wine botte. that was important. i don’t think it was just a fit of pique that prompted it. i think that symbolized with either a.)the bomb going off or b.) the energy of the island erupting. also WHILE richard was speaking with isabella (mib) we here the sounds of smokey in the distance. again, mib tells richard HE is smokey. I still don’t buy it. I do not think he morphs into smokey. I think he can call smokey but is not smokey. anyway, i have to watch again so I can sort some other stuff out. thanks ack, first place i go to for a re-cap. have a good week. and thanks to everyone else for great thinking/comments.
I loved this episode. Richard and Isabella’s reunion at the end brought me to tears. Actually, Richard’s whole life made me want to cry. He was just dealt a crappy hand.
What I didn’t like was Jacob’s explanation for why he brings people to the island. He brings lost/hopeless/troubled souls, erases their past and “hopes” they will make good choices this time? So it’s all just a game he plays with MIB? Tell me I’m wrong.
Jacob dunked/waterboarded Richard three times, yes? Very much like the Catholic ritual of baptism…
This is just a little sprout of a thought that popped up last night, re: the whole thing about the ritual knife, if he speaks it’s already too late, etc, mirroring what Dogen told Sayid, and the “he stole my body” thing…What if Jacob and Smokey trade places/roles on the island? Maybe this is why the lines between which is good and which is evil are blurred (if we’re assuming the dichotomy). Perhaps when one of their bodies is killed, the spirits swap out. What if Jacob’s body can leave the island, but Smokey’s can’t? That would totally change the flashbacks and “touches” – who was really tapping the losties to end up at the island.
Poor Richard…he’s having the worst day/week/century ever.
@Ikik – Richard was definitely dunked more than three times. The crowd I was watching with tried to make the baptism connection, too – turns out it was four or five times. It still looked a LOT like a strange sort of baptism, though…
And apparently Smokey is more of a beer kinda guy… No, MIB, it’s okay – that wine was only half as old as Jacob, go ahead and waste it all…
It’s interesting that there are so many allusions to ancient civilizations all over the Island… there are the Asian temples, the Egyptian statues, and the MIB handed Richard a Roman sword/dagger (the fist on the hilt was a dead giveaway), not to mention the Others all knowing Latin. It’s like the-powers-that-be are showing us just how old this Island is. All the mythological personifications of Evil must’ve were probably inspired by the MIB. Heck, maybe the mix of cultural symbols on the Island are there because of whomever Jacob brought to the Island.
Also, randomly: Didn’t Smokey’s stainless steel mug and carafe set seem a modern and little out of place in 1867 (or whatever the year was)?
Agreed. Life for Richard pretty much sucks. But hell, if you can rock suspenders like that, something must be going right. :) Hopefully we get some Ilana story as well.
The scene with Hurley, Isabella and Richard was very Ghost Whisperer-ish.
This episode was full of many, many wonderful things, but not least among them were the …
Delicious REARS. Beautiful, beautiful Rears. So opposite to pissy, annoying Jears in every way.
Also, did it adequately fill your need for Richard in Chains, Ack? We knew we’d see ’em, but I never thought we’d get to see that much of them.
[…] ‘Lost’: ‘Ab Aeterno’ thoughts? Posted by christine on Mar 24, 2010 in Miscellaneous |. Subscribe. SPOILER ALERT! See Doc Jensen’s quick take; post reactions all night, read his full recap after daylight… SPOILER ALERT: Mini-Recap & Discussion Post For “Ab Aeterno†| The […]
I loved this episode, one of my favorites in the whole series thus far. Number 11 is bugging me too because they dragged the whole Christian Shepard thing on for sooo long. Even if he is Smokey just taking the body of Christian, why did he appear that way to Locke and Michael, they don’t even know him so he would have no emotional effect on them. Unless of course he can’t communicate with them whatsoever without a body, so since Christian’s was around he used it as a means of being able to talk to the Losties…so yeah. answered my own question I guess lol…BUT how was he on the freighter that Michael blew up if he can’t leave the island?
I still really want to sort out the whole not being able to give birth on the island thing. After this episode I’m thinking Jacob prevents the babies from being born (by killing the mothers?) because he doesn’t want to bring innocent beings who haven’t made ANY sins yet on the island. So maybe he’s protecting them from being so close to Hell. Why Claire was able to have Aaron or why Ethan was born there…no clue. Maybe because their moms were candidates? Or is anyone who gets to the island (one way or another) a candidate because Jacob summoned them? AHH I love Lost.
[…] staying up all night after an episode airs and writing down everything that comes to him. “EveDoc Jensen – If you don't know already, Jeff (Doc) Jensen (over at EW's Totally LOST) writes a weekly LOST […]
MIB is the physical form of being born evil. Jacob brings people to the island, and then allows them to pick sides. By choosing to go with the MIB they must take part in evil activities, but gain what they truly want most by accepting his tempting offer. Jacob’s side comes with free perks, but is exclusive only to those born pure. Ben’s choice of good over the power he really desires enabled him to join Jacob. The season 5 finale showed us that people have been coming to the island for a very long time, and MIB said they always end of fighting and dying because of their nature, and it always ends the same. He didn’t just mean fighting amongst themselves, he meant they joined sides and fought out many times a war similar to what we’re going to see. Jacob said it only ends once and everything else is just progress. It seems like MIB has been winning the entire time, yet Jacob is still trying to prove his point(MIB seemed like he wasn’t too happy about a ship coming, though he should have loved the opportunity). Too confusing to make any assumptions, it’s just so much to take in.
Is it possible that for Jacob or MIB to win, they must truly lose? But the rules are that they cannot purposly lose, they must actually prove their theory or there would be no point?
[…] SPOILER ALERT: Mini-Recap & Discussion Post for “Ab Aeterno†| The …So people like Doc Jensen et. al are going to tear every single bit of info out of this episode and write very eloquent novel-length recaps about it. While I might be thinking all those thoughts I just kind of like to question some questions … Read more […]
So, Isabella was “talking” to Richard via Jennifer Love-Hurley… XD
1. I have no idea. And you’re totally right…ill-prepared Ilana. I still feel totally indifferent towards her. But I guess I would like to know why Jacob chose her.
2. I don’t think it really stops a person from having the ability to kill either the MIB or Jacob if they speak before a person can kill them. What I took away from the episode was this…the MIB kept telling Richard that “he [Jacob] can be very convincing.” I think by allowing either the MIB or Jacob to speak before killing them, they’re able to manipulate and convince someone into not killing them simply with power of persuasion. They offer the person something they didn’t have that they want, such as the MIB offering to bring Nadia back for Sayid and Jacob also offering whatever Richard wanted to him. But Ben, who was so blinded by his hate for Jacob couldn’t really be persuaded to not kill Jacob, and so he did.
3. I got the feeling it was the whole world because of Jacob’s metaphor using the wine bottle. He called the MIB the swirling dark wine, and the island the cork, keeping the wine/darkness from getting out. Because the whole island itself represented the cork, it seemed as if Jacob was referring to “getting out” to the rest of the world.
4. I don’t know. I’m starting the think that Jacob and Smokey and the island were created at the beginning of time and have had something to do with the meaning of life or something for like, ever, lol. Ugh, I want to know so much more about them and Richard that I would die for a frakking spin-off!!
5. I have to agree with another comment on here and say that I don’t necessarily think it’s his body that was taken, but maybe like his humanity, his freedom, his free will, whatever, and those are such extensions of a person’s body that he just refers to it as his body. I’m leaning towards his entire humanity in general.
6. lulz, Richard still thinks they’re in hell, so maybe not so surprising that he thought maybe someone else could kill him. And maybe Jacob just gives people different gifts? I’m thinking like Jacob’s touch doesn’t necessarily equal immortality. It just did for Richard because he asked for it.
7. Well, however Jacob is keeping Smokey on the island, that’s probably the reason why Smokey can’t kill him either. And I dunno…I guess I’ve always thought that labeling Jacob as good and Smokey as evil was way too broad and general. I’m not sure if Smokey is really evil incarnate or something more, with a deeper meaning…same with Jacob. Good call on Ben, though, that is probably why.
8. Who the frak knows, lol?
9. Umm…maybe? I guess if Jacob is really on the side of good, he might have some kind of moralistic reason like that, I guess, other than trying to stop Smokey from making everyone his zombie slaves, ha ha.
10. I don’t know…like I said above, I’m starting to get the feeling that the island/Jacob/Smokey have to do with the meaning of life, how the world spins, life in general, I don’t even know. But I want to know so bad.
11. You know, as I’ve been rewatching the series recently, I’ve been wondering the exact same thing. At one point I considered the possiblity of him being the MIB in disguise but thought that that just wasn’t it. Maybe he is the MIB’s replacement…maybe the MIB brought him back via the way he said he could bring Nadia back? I totally could see Lost having him and Jack have a face off at the end…it would be the ultimate display of daddy issues EVAR!
All in all, AMAZING episode! One of my favorite episodes ever, right up there (and maybe even beating, gasp?) Flashes Before Your Eyes. For some reason, I usually don’t find regular Richard to be that sexy, but found Spanish, long-haired, and rugged Ricardo to be incredibly so. God, I wish he still had that accent! ;_; By the way, I also noticed Smokey kept calling Richard “my friend” and totally thought of Caesar. I’m still wondering if we’ll ever see Caesar again or if he really was just a useless character after all, lol.
1.) I hope we’ll see more of Ilana and the other protectors. I’m assuming her beaten state shown in that first clip was some sort of proof that she passed a test by living through it.
2.) The only thing I can think is that Jacob relied too much on his own optimism and in his faith in Ben being a better man. Come on, though! Even WE knew better than to trust Ben!
3.) I’m going with hell on earth. Global pandemic. It starts with apathy then slowly progresses to crazy rage and wild hair. I think Danielle got a taste of it, too.
4.) I’d consider Jacob and Smokey as the origin of the island, in terms of its near sentience, and wonder if we ever really will find out where the two of them came from. The focus of our story is really the island, after all. But I wouldn’t be surprised to see a flashback episode with one or both of them. OH! Maybe they’re brothers… like Cain and Abel! (I can also picture a moment like in Firefly’s ‘Out of Gas’ where you see Mal finding Serenity, instead we’ll see someone like Jacob finding the island and thinking it’s perfect.)
5.) Is Jacob walking around in a Smokey-shaped body, leaving Smokey to find a new form of his own? Could they both be smoke monsters? Or maybe they have a Frankenstein/Frankenstein’s monster sort of relationship. It’s hard to imagine either of them ever being normal men.
6.) Maybe for the remaining candidates his touch simply changed their fate, as we’ve seen with the alternate views of their lives, and added some kind of inherent advantage or aptitude on the island. I would imagine this is an ability he could control, too. It’s not always ‘on’. As for Richard… desperation?
7.) Maybe for Smokey it’s still part of the game for him to technically win by corrupting someone else to kill Jacob without even letting him explain his side – thus the need to kill him before he speaks. (Though there’s likely more to that part of it.) As for the judgment… my only thought is that this seems pretty common with ultimate good vs evil. The good side is very black and white about what is right and what is wrong while the evil side seems to embrace the grey area and show a great deal of understanding for the individual. The good side’s zealousness often makes them seem just as bad, if not worse, than the evil side.
8.) Well, the person that came for Richard was a Whitfield, which at first sounded very much like Widfield to me. What with the surname changes that were so common when people came to the new world, I don’t think it’s a far stretch to think this is a Widmore descendant. (Moor is another word for field…)
9.) Absolutely! Jacob could very well be trying to save what’s left of Smokey’s humanity… like Dumbledore trying to protect Draco.
10.) Richard is Jacob’s prophet. Heh! The Christian ideals do seems pretty heavy handed here, but maybe we’re going more with simile rather metaphor? I keep expecting there to be more to it, like Jacob is really a sadist and just enjoys watching everyone hurt themselves. LOL But overall it all seems like a game of chess to me – a literal dark against a literal light, right down to the clothes they were wearing. These people are their pawns and they’re always trying to send someone else to take the other person’s king, or life. Man, Locke was so in-the-know early on!
11.) I would definitely agree that Christian seems like Smokey’s middleman and really like the idea of a showdown of Ultimate Daddy Issue proportions!
I LOVE RICHARD!!!!!!!! :D:D:D:D:D *more when coherency and not-midnight returns* I just had to add that while I was here… uhmmmm………………
Well, I must say… I’m Spanish and what we’ve seen on this episode wasn’t Spanish from Spain AT ALL lol!!
Anyway, I read every week your reviews, I’m completely in love with them :))) great job!!
Anybody else adore Richard’s mad little laugh at the beginning of the episode?
And “Ab Aeterno” is now, in my books, the best episode of the entire show apart from “The Constant”.
@CHOFI I was wondering if someone would comment on the Spanish spoken in last night’s episode and whether it sounded like Castillano or other Spanish. I’ve spent a lot of time in Spain, and I’ve always had a horrible time understanding people from the Canary Islands. I don’t think their Spanish sounds like Spanish spoken in other parts of SPain.
2- im unsure if this has already been said, but i think its not meant to be taken literally. i think ben was able to kill him because he had so much anger- he was so determined. richard and sayid were kind of half-heartedly into it, and they were persuaded against it.
4- ive been asking myself “which came first: the island or the people?” for too long, ack. too long.
5- jacob sounds like he was being an ass! why would he take away smokeys humanity and imprison him there? what if jacob’s improsoning him *caused* smokey to become evil? hmm? wot then?!
7- i have a theory about that. there are rules that jacob and smokey have to follow. i think part of the expiriment is that smokey had to judge people fairly- if they are already corrupted, he can kill them. if they arent corrupted, he can try to recruit them. but he cant hurt any that are still good because thats in jacobs territory.
ive also been wondering about the whole free will vs destiny thing because it seems like the line between them is getting fainter and fainter. jacob and esau both believe in destiny (human nature to be good or evil) but they also believe in free will as well, so… are they really not so different after all?
also richard was epicly fierce in this ep. those chains looked hawt on him XD
@CHOFI and @Wintergirl None of the Spanish spoken sounded noticeably Castilian to my Latin-American-trained ear. Nestor Carbonell’s accent was definitely, markedly Cuban– but he commented on the latest Geronimo Jack’s Beard podcast that apparently the accent of the Canary Islands is very similar to the Cuban accent. He gets mad props for researching it in my book. Anyway, regardless of the accents, the Spanish makes a nice change from the “Russian” or “Latin,” et cetera spoken on the show…
@Wintergirl & @N.Y.C. Actually, all the actors all from Latinamerica (from Mexico, mostly). I cant tell for sure that anyone of them was Spanish… Yes, Cuban accent is close to the accent of the Canaray Island, but is still different… but that’s what ALWAYS happens in American TV Shows, so I’m not surprised lol
*actors are from (sorry!)
Great episode! I loved it!
The acting was superb.
It’s just a shame they didn’t include the Richard-Smokey love scene… XD Don’t know what I’m talking about? Check out the latest slap down video from abc, it’s hilarous :D
OMG, so so so good…. I feel exactly the same as your mini-recap and the experience of watching. Can’t wait to watch that one again!
Out of all the new questions this creates, though (and not really “new” questions, haters! More like, how does this all fit together with the stuff we already knew?), here’s the biggie, in my book:
“And how come Ben had no problem killing Jacob with a regular knife, even after he spoke to him?”
Because if wimpy Ben can stab and kill, and studly Sayid can’t…. whoa.
Just one more thing: What is it with Widmore? If Ben used to be on Team Jacob, and was sworn mortal enemies with Widmore, you’d think Widdy was in cahoots with MIB. But Flocke seems to need to spy on Widdy and wants Sawyer to help him in that effort. I know a lot of people are lying or hiding things or whatever, but…. WHO’S ZOOMING WHO????!!!
@Wintergirl: Richard’s Spanish was most definitely South/Latin American and not Castillian. I’m fluent in Spanish and noticed right away that both his accent and wording was Hispanic. There is a large difference between Hispanic and Castillian Spanish.
I don’t know the history of the Canary Islands (whether they were more Castillian than Hispanic) but Richard’s, Isabella’s, and the doctor’s Spanish were most definitely Hispanic.
Okay, so here’s a thing I just thought of. The Canary Islands are just off the coast of Africa, right? And Whitfield told Richard he was taking him to the New World, presumably an English-speaking part. So how’d they end up in the Pacific? And it was like 1857, right? Did anyone still call the Americas the New World at that point? Were they headed to Australia? Was the island spacetime-jumping again and cropped up in the Atlantic?
Yes, I geeked out and listened to Geronimo Jack and Nestor def. did say that he researched Canary Island dialect and found that it was much closer to his folk’s Cuban dialect (some same slang, etc.) So he chose to avoid Castillian sounds. ANYWAY, he also said that he as an actor thought that when Isabella came to him on the Black rock that she wasn’t smokey, that she was a spirit, or hallucination. So, if it’s true that Matty Fox is banging strippers, then I transfer all of my affection to Nestor. He rules all!
I think the “loop hole” is that one of Jacob’s chosen ones had to choose to kill Jacob. MIB/Flocke had to convince someone to kill him and the easiest person to do that would be Ben. Just my 2 cents…
@Chofi and N.Y.C.
Thanks for responding to me. Castilian and Latin American Spanish sound nothing alike, even to my untrained ears. It always makes me laugh when Antonio Banderas is in a movie and his character is portrayed as a child. The child always has a Latin American accent while Antonio’s is clearly Spanish.
2) I also think that it might not be completely literal, but more about how persuasive they can be, and how once they start talking people will be lured into their way of thinking?
3) I think that Hurley meant that if MIB leaves the island he will go on to corrupt everyone in the world, turning them all into sinners and thus creating Hell on earth, but also condemning them to go to Hell in the literal sense.
4)I don’t even *know* what to think about that one. It could so easily work either way! But maybe there’s something about the Island that caused it to be an ideal sot for Jacob/MIB to preform their ‘people are good vs people are bad’ expiriment.
5)I’m not sure, since it does seem like MIB and Jacob are essentially equals, but maybe in trapping him on the island Jacob initiated some sort of contract with MIB, something that somehow trapped him and made him less human?
6) That’s a really good point. I think that Locke’s gift, at least, was letting him live, but maybe he just helped them in whatever way he thought they needed help? Because no one else besides Richard made a deal with Jacob, so maybe no one else was given the chance to ask for whatever they wanted?
7)I think that Jacob and MIB made a contract that forced them to follow a certain set of rules. I guess the rules were something to make sure MIB judges everyone fairly and that Jacob can’t tell people what to do, they have to make their own choices to prove that they’re naturally good/bad.
I don’t know about the rest…
Well, and it’s not just the accent… the actors are clearly latinos, u know? despite popular belief, Spanish people are completely different physically (me, for example, I’m very white and blonde!! lol). But… it’s ok hahahaha
Ilana had been training to protect the candidates – why did Jacob choose her? She doesn’t seem very prepared haha.
***Because she looks like she’s Isabella’s twin sister?? Ilana/Isabella — even the names are similar. Again, people “recycle” in this story again and again, re-inhabiting each other’s roles.
2. So Smokey asked Richard to kill Jacob with the knife and warned him about speaking to him, the same way Dogen asked Sayid to kill Smokey! WHAT DOES IT MEAN? Are Jacob and Smokey equals? How come it’s too late once they speak? And how come Ben had no problem killing Jacob with a regular knife, even after he spoke to him?
***Because Jacob chose to die. I am reminded of Aslan’s willing sacrifice in _The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe_, in which the White Witch believes she’s gotten the upper hand by sacrificing Aslan, but unbeknownst to her, there is an older, deeper magic that says that if the sacrifice is a willing one, then the Table is broken…and Time itself moves backwards.
3. Hurley said if the Man in Black gets off the island “We all go to hell.†Did he mean the people on the island will go to hell, or that it will cause hell on earth? Will everyone on the planet become evil zombies like Sayid and Claire?
****I think the second.
6. When Jacob touched Richard, he made him immortal. Then how come Richard thought someone else could kill him? Jacob touched all the candidates, but they’re not immortal as far as we know (Kate and Sawyer aged after he touched them!) – did he give any of them special powers??
***They aged, but they didn’t die. Think of this, though: Remember the scene at the Black Rock when Kate et al. are running through the jungle WITH UNSTABLE, SWEATY DYNAMITE in their backpacks and they’re FINE? By contrast, Arzt just like…breathed on one of them and BOOM: Artz all over Hurley’s shirt. They age to adulthood, but after that, they’re unkillable. Jack falls down a hill and launches over a cliff and he’s saved. They’re all shot at like one million times, but they’re apparently bulletproof. And on and on.
7. How come Smokey can’t kill Jacob himself?? And if Smokey’s really evil incarnate then how come he judges people so…fairly? Did he go around judging people to see who’d be capable of killing Jacob? Is that why he let Ben live back when Ben went to the Temple to be “judged?â€
***Because it’s not so simple as Smokey Bad, Jacob Good. I think it’s more like in A Clockwork Orange: For there to be free will, *evil must exist.* Not only must evil exist, it must exist AS A CHOICE, or we all are condemned to be nothing more than organic windup toys: clockwork oranges wound up by God. Jacob says explicitly that he can’t just tell people what to do. They have to figure it out for themselves, do for themselves, and most of all choose for themselves. Without good, by the way, there is no evil; without evil, there is no conception of “good.” They need each other. It’s more like yin and yang than black and white.
8. Where does Widmore fit into all of this?
***IDK!
I assume you’ve seen the new Lost video of Sawyer? It’s set to Carrie Underwood’s Cowboy Casanova and it ROCKS nearly as much as your recaps:-)
http://abc.go.com/music-lounge/
4. Oooooh, I like the genie in a bottle idea. I’ve never heard that before.
9. oooh I also like this idea too.
I also believe that Smokey came to Ricardo as the smoke, read his brain and came to him ala Isabella (and OMG I could listen to Carbonell say Isobella all day long) like he did with Eko, coming to him as Yemi. I still refuse to believe the island is Hell.
@Liz156: I was folding laundry and rewinding just to hear the same thing. Also his “Te extrano” (I miss you).
About the accent and appearances:
1. Nestor did a fine job: canarian accent sounds A LOT more Cuban than other Spaniard accents.
2. In fact, there are several different accents in Spain (compare someone from Madrid and someone from Seville!!!) and several latin-american accents: have you ever listened to a an Uruguayan or an Argentinian???? They certainly don’t sound like what Americans call latin-american (which for you would be, mainly, the Mexican accent).
3. To the ignorant Spaniard that commented before: there are many people in Latin america that look EXACTLY like Spaniards (many Argentinians and many Cubans, like Nestor himself who’s parents are Spaniard!!!).
4. Anyway, stop being so simplistic, people! There’s a lot more variety of appearances and accents in Latin America and Spain than what you’re making it look like.
@Isabella: Where are you from?
Anyway, I just meant in all TV shows in general, when they are suposed to portray Spanish characters and they use south american actors (Alias, McGyver…)… I didn’t mean to offend anyone, but I don’t think I insulted anyone neither…
@Isabella
1. Nestor did a fine job: canarian accent sounds A LOT more Cuban than other Spaniard accents.
Glad to know that. I’ve learned that Latin American accents are closer to southern Spanish and Canary accents.
2. In fact, there are several different accents in Spain (compare someone from Madrid and someone from Seville!!!) and several latin-american accents: have you ever listened to a an Uruguayan or an Argentinian???? They certainly don’t sound like what Americans call latin-american (which for you would be, mainly, the Mexican accent).
I think we’ve established that accents vary greatly in Spain. The same can be said of the US. Compare a New Orleans accent to a Baton Rouge accent to an Atlanta accent, etc. For the record, I don’t know anybody in the US who refers Latin Americans as Mexican. There are several countries that make up Latin America.
3. To the ignorant Spaniard that commented before: there are many people in Latin america that look EXACTLY like Spaniards (many Argentinians and many Cubans, like Nestor himself who’s parents are Spaniard!!!).
No need to insult anyone. He wasn’t trying to offend. It’s sometimes hard to express yourself exactly as you mean to when English is not your native language.
Thanks a lot, Wintergirl :)
Yes, please no name calling on Rachel’s blog. It’s such a nice place to be. Hope everyone has a lovely weekend with happy memories of Ricardo.
BTW,did anyone catch the references to The Stand? I haven’t seen either Vozzek69 or Doc Jensen — whom I expected to be all over this — see the comparisons between Richard’s imprisonment in the hold of the Black Rock and the imprisonment of Lloyd Trask in the prison after the superflu.
If you Stephen King fans will recall, Lloyd was being kept in prison when the superflu struck, leaving him essentially up the proverbial creek, trapped in a jail cell without access to food and water, and though he was immune to The Sickness — uh, sorry, the flu — he was unable to free himself because when the power went out, the cell doors lock automatically. He’s in there for days and days without food until finally, he pries off a leg from his bunk bed in order to hook the leg of the guy who’s died in the cell next to him…because he’s hungry.
Just about then, the Man in Black — Randall Flagg — shows up holding in his hands a key that also looks like an eye. He offers freedom to Lloyd on the condition that Lloyd serve him faithfully, which Lloyd faithfully does.
Okay, so the parallels here are pretty obvious. Like Lloyd in the cell, Richard is trapped in the hold of the Black Rock. In both places, a sickness exists that threatens some people, but to which both men are mysteriously immune. In both, the characters are surrounded with other prisoners who have died. In both, the spectacle of some agent (protagonist or pig) eating one’s chained companions is heavily emphasized. In both, the dark man comes with a key and offers freedom.
Anyhoo, that has been our comparison/contrast essay for today. Good luck on Dr. Linus’ Euro History quiz next period, kiddos.