Answers! Thank you... Richard's back story was something we've all been waiting for. Seeing how he came to the island, and how he got the job as Jacob's "assistant" was a key piece to the puzzle that is Lost. Could his story been summed up in five minutes? Absolutely:Richard's wife was sick, he tried to save her and in the process accidentally killed a mean old doctor. He went to prison, got some bad religious counseling and was sold into slavery before he could be put to death. The slave ship he was on hit a bad storm, got carried to the island on a huge wave, crashed into the 4-toed statue and landed in the middle of the jungle.
But eye-liner actor dude was probably like "Hey, I've been standing around while everyone else has been acting their pants off. Give me a freakin' episode to try out this Spanish accent I've been working on!" So we got a full-on flashback that was actually pretty compelling, but lasted for over half of the episode... our patience paid off big time, however, with some huge reveals at the end of the show!
I know I'm going to have to watch the last 15 minutes a few more times to fully appreciate what's going on... but here's what we now know in a nutshell:
The Smoke Monster kills everyone on The Black Rock except Richard. The reason is because he can't kill the people Jacob specifically brings to the island. Instead, Mr. Smoke Monster gives Richard the 'ole brain scan, finds out his weaknesses and disappears only to return in the form of someone who can influence Richard: his dead wife (This is the same trick he used on Ben, by coming back in the form of Alex to convince him to follow "Locke"). Smokey then tempts Richard with the possibility of seeing his wife again if he does him a favor (similar to the deal he made with Sayid). The favor? To kill Jacob. Smokey lies to Richard, tells him he's dead and in hell, playing on his deep belief in religious fairy tales. He also tells him that Jacob is the devil and that he somehow stole his body. It's not clear if this is part of the lie or if there is some truth to the fact that Jacob is responsible for The Man In Black being able to take the form of other people. This scene is important because it's the first time Smokey finds the "loophole": He can get someone else to kill Jacob, freeing himself from the island.
Richard hunts down Jacob, gets his ass kicked, and realizes that he is not really dead after being repeatedly dunked in the ocean (Talk about religious symbolism... baptism anyone?). So, if he's not dead... what is going on?
By using a bottle of wine as a metaphor for evil, Jacob explains that the cork on the bottle is the island, the only thing keeping the darkness where it belongs. The Man In Black believes that everyone is corruptible because they sin by nature. Jacob brings people to the island to prove him wrong. Jacob doesn't want to interfere with these people once they're on the island because that would defeat the purpose of his argument. Richard points out that if he doesn't, the Man In Black will. Impressed by his insight, Jacob "hires" Richard as his intermediary, to advise the people he brings to the island. In return, Richard will never die.
At this point, Jacob realizes that the Man In Black won't stop until he's dead... and if Jacob dies, evil will be spread all over the world. So he comes up with the idea of auditioning the people he brings to the island as "candidates" to take over his job of keeping the island safe, and keeping the cork on the Smoke Monster.
Richard is now on Team Jacob and is instructed to hand the Man In Black the white rock... as a way to show the balance of power is now on Jacob's side (also a pretty douchey way to rub it in!).
At the end of the show Jacob approaches the Man In Black and wants to know why he tried to kill him. It's because he wants to leave the island. Jacob tells The Man In Black that he will never leave the island as long as Jacob is alive; and if he dies, someone else will replace him. The Man in Black says that he’ll just kill the replacement, too. Looks like this is what is happening back in the present day - Jacob died, Dogan was his closest replacement and The Man In Black had him killed too. Looks like one of the gang on the beach needs to replace Dogan if they want to keep the Smoke Monster on the island... who will it be?
Phew... your thoughts?
I was looking forward to your thoughts on this. I think they are still leaving this very open ended. They are certainly making us lean towards smoke monster as the evil one and Jacob as good.
ReplyDeleteWhat I found very interesting and I wonder what the connection is this. Why is it that the Man In Black gave Richard the same knife, with the same speach (before and after) as Dogan gave Sayeed to try to kill the smoke monster? That I found odd. Especially considering one is supposedly good and the other evil.
Also, Jacob leaves the island all the time, if he can come and go as he pleases and the "cork" still stays on the island, why does he feel the need to stay?
Chad: My thought on the reason Dogan used the same speech on Sayid as Smokey used on Richard is because The Smoke Monster probably tried the same trick on Dogan and attempted to use him as the "loophole" at some point. I don't think that Dogan really believed that the Smoke Monster could be killed; he only sent Sayid out there to die because he knew that he had been infected.
ReplyDeleteRandom thoughts/questions...When did Dogan replace Richard as Jacob's helper and why? Does this mean we need a Dogan backstory?
ReplyDeleteLoved the fact that episode started with Richard saying they were all dead. Lots of fans had argued this and now the creators have cancelled out that theory.
If the basic gist is that the 6 are candidates for redemption why are some of the other people like the stewardess or the kids even on the island? What is Ben's role if he is not a candidate? Although many things have been answered I still have too many questions.
One of my top ten episodes because we got some answers! So, since Jacob touched Richard after he said he never wanted to die, can we assume the Oceanic 6 won't die either? Why was Jacob spying on them - was he trying to get an edge over old smokey? Bring only truly good hearted people who can't be corrupted...but then there's kate and sawyer...and syid...and..jin. Oh...well, anyway, they don't exactly fit the mold but then they sort of form a sub-group. They are symbolic representations - like charicatures maybe.
ReplyDeleteSo now where does Dharma fit in? Were they "brought" here or did they actually discover the island? Did they get there while Jacob was away? If Jacob knew about them, what did he do? We know smokey interacted with them, hence the sound barrier.
And what about the time travel - how does that fit with Jacob?
And who the heck was that little blond boy from a few episodes ago?
And why the pregnant lady deaths?
I wonder if Richard can't die, because he requested as his wish, to live forever. And/or because Jacob touched him on the island, where as the others were touched outside the island....add in the fact that Jacob touched Locke, but he IS actually dead! It just adds to the confusion, I feel like we are being given answers yet in return even more questions! It's what makes this show so appealing!
ReplyDeleteok... a few things bother me. first of all... Desmond assured Charlie that if he died by drowning in that room it would GUARENTEE that Claire and baby would end up on helicopter and be saved... but that did not happen. Did Desmond lie b/c he knew that if Charlie died that way it would guarantee that he (Desmond) would get Penny back? Unlike his other flashes, we never actually saw a representation of this specific flash.
ReplyDeleteOther thing that bothers me... we were told that Jacob's small interaction with each character in the show was a subtle manipulation to assure that they would end up on flight 815 that brought them to the island... What is bothersome is that in this last season the alternate reality shows that WITHOUT Jacob's influence all the characters STILL end up on flight 815. So really his "touch" or manipulation is for some other purpose other than assuring they end up on that flight (since they all end up on that flight anyway without his influence). Perhaps he is just chose ppl among who he knew were already going to be on flight 815 and has been watching them and guiding them to be the sort of ppl he wants them to be by the time they crash on the island. But what sorta ppl does he want them to be? He influenced Sawyer to be a criminal rather than a cop... none of the "Jacob" reality story lines seem to be more positive than the alternate reality. So what purpose did his "touch" or influence serve? Certainly wasn't to make sure they end up on that flight... since they all do that on their own w/out his help.