Joe Biden's F-Bomb

If you missed seeing this on the news... Joe Biden drops the F-Bomb as he greets Obama to the podium to talk about signing of the Healtcare Bill. You can hear the microphone pick up Biden saying "This is a big F-ing deal!"

Lost: Cork it up!

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?