Lost: History Revised

By Dan Birlew | Posted March 24, 2010 in Television | 5 Comments »

Apologies for the lateness of this post, but with Justified coming on right after Lost (and as in last night’s case, overlapping) it’s going to be a bit difficult to get this weekly summary out right after each show airs.

Last night’s episode was the first told entirely from the perspective of the island’s perpetual resident, Richard Alpert. The castaways have met Richard in the present and also during their time travels in the 1950s and 1970s… and he never ages. Richard acts as a kind of “adviser” to the leaders of the Others, such as Charles Widmore, Eloise Hawking, and Ben Linus. This episode depicted his origin in flashback and showed how he got the job… kinda on a whim:

• Ilana is in the Russian infirmary, bandaged from head to toe. As we saw in the previous episode “The Incident,” Jacob arrives and apologizes for being late. He explains that he needs her help, to protect the last six candidates. As the conversation continues, we next see Ilana sitting upright, without her bandages, fully healed. Obviously Jacob healed her. Jacob explains that “Ricardus” will know how to protect the candidates.
• At the beach camp, Sun is explaining what Ilana said to her previously about candidates. Ilana reveals that Richard is Ricardus, and that Jacob said he would know what to do next. Richard freaks out and says he doesn’t know what they’re supposed to do because Jacob was a liar. Grabbing a torch, he flees into the jungle.
• While Richard flees into the jungle, Ilana loads her rifle and gets ready to go after him. Jack tries to stop Ilana. Ben and Sun indicate that they know that Richard means to go ask “Locke” what to do. Meanwhile, Hurley is speaking Spanish to an unseen dead person. Jack thinks he’s talking to Jacob, but Hurley denies it. Meanwhile Ben leans over to Ilana and says that Shephard is right, Richard doesn’t know anything. Ben has known him since he was 12. Frank deduces from this that Ben is saying Richard doesn’t age.
• Most of the rest of the episode takes place in a flashback. Richard is on horse, riding through Tenerife in the Canaray Islands in 1867. Richard is young and bearded and goes by the name Ricardo. He rides up to a house and enters. The woman inside, his wife Isabella, is sick. Speaking Spanish, Ricardo says wants to go get a doctor, but Isabella gives him her crucifix instead. He promises he will save her.
• Ricardo rides through the rain to the house of a doctor. The doctor is inside eating dinner. Ricardo explains that his wife is coughing blood, but the doctor refuses to ride out in the rain. He expects a premium for the medicine Isabella needs. Ricardo gives him all the money he has, plus Isabella’s crucifix. The doctor tosses the crucifix aside and calls it worthless, enraging Ricardo. They scuffle, and Ricardo throws the doctor into the table where he hits his head and dies. Although the butler sees, Richard takes the medicine and rides back to his wife. But Isabella is dead. The local authorities break in and take Ricardo prisoner.
• While shackled in prison, Ricardo is visited by a priest. The priest asks to see the bible Ricardo holds, which is in English. The priest asks for his confession. Richard confesses to killing a man. The Priest refuses to grant absolution, explaining Ricardo must do penance. And since the hangman is waiting on Ricardo, the priest says that the devil is waiting for him in Hell.
• Ricardo is taken from his cell, presumably to be executed. But a white Englishman is sitting on a bench in the corridor. The man, Mr. Whitfield, checks Richard’s teeth. At first, Ricardo won’t admit to Whitfield that he speaks English. But when they intend to take him back to his cell Ricardo recants and speaks English. Mr. Whitfield claims him for the service of Captain Magnus Hanso.
• The Black Rock is sailing on the ocean in a storm. Chained in the hull, the slaves look through holes in the hull, see the statue of Taweret, and think it’s the devil. A tidal wave lifts the ship up high enough that it crashes into the head of the statue.
• The next day, the Black Rock is grounded inland on the island. Ricardo wakes up with the other slaves, who beg someone to release them. Mr. Whitfield enters the hull. He stabs the slaves one by one, explaining that there are no supplies left. He explains to Ricardo that he’s killing the slaves because if he freed them, they’d try to kill him. Before he can kill Ricardo, the sounds of the smoke monster are heard. The sounds from the deck above indicate that everyone above is obviously killed. The smoke reaches through a grate and grabs Whitfield, yanking him out. Ricardo cannot break free of his chains. The black smoke enters the hull. It “examines” Ricardo with a series of flashes, then vanishes. Richard opens his eyes as the smoke monster makes the familiar “all-clear” sound (a kind of “ahwoo” horn sound).
• Ricardo is trying to free himself from the Black Rock as a storm begins. He tries to drink the rain water pouring from the nearby grate, but cannot reach it for his shackles. He still cannot pry himself free.
• One day Ricardo awakens to find a boar eating one of the other slaves. After the boar flees, Ricardo spots a nail on the floor but he cannot reach it. He starts to despair.
• Awakening from sleep at a later time, Ricardo hears a woman’s voice. It is Isabella. She approaches Ricardo and claims that this is Hell. The smoke monster can be heard outside. Ricardo tells Isabella to flee. She does, but it sounds like the smoke monster attacks her outside.
• Someone brings a canteen and cup into the Black Rock’s hold and wakes Ricardo. The English-speaking man is the Man in Black, Jacob’s nemesis. He gives Ricardo water and claims he is a friend. He says that Ricardo is in Hell. But Ricardo realizes the Man in Black wasn’t on the ship. Ricardo asks if the man has seen Isabella. The Man in Black says that He has her (meaning the Devil). He explains that he wants to be free too, and makes Ricardo agree to do anything he asks. The Man in Black frees him from the shackles, saying “It’s good to see you out of those chains.” The Man in Black drags Ricardo toward the hold’s exit, telling him there’s only one way to escape from Hell: “You’re going to have to kill the devil.”
• At a camp site in the jungle, the Man in Black watches Ricardo eat. He explains that when Ricardo is done eating he must walk due west to find the statue, which is now broken into pieces from the collision. That’s where he’ll find the devil. He gives Ricardo a ceremonial knife (just like the one we saw Dogen give Sayid earlier this season) and says to stab him in the heart before he can say one word, otherwise it’s too late. Ricardo doesn’t understand how he can kill the Devil if he is black smoke. The Man in Black admits to Ricardo that he himself is the black smoke. Ricardo is confused. The Man in Black explains that the Devil who has Ricardo’s wife also took the Man in Black’s humanity, and that Ricardo needs to kill the Devil to get Isabella back. Though he doesn’t understand why the Man in Black killed all those other men, to see his wife again Ricardo takes the knife. The Man in Black leaves him.
• Ricardo heads to the beach, where he finds the remains of the four toed statue. He approaches the base and draws the knife. He spots an open entrance in the side of the base just when someone attacks him from behind. Ricardo fights, but gets his butt kicked. His attacker takes his knife, and Ricardo sees that it is Jacob. Jacob asks where he got the knife. He pries from Ricardo that the Man in Black told him to attack Jacob to save his wife. Jacob says that the person he saw was not his wife, that he’s not dead, and this is not Hell. Jacob forces Ricardo down to the water and dunks him in the water several times until Ricardo says he wants to live. Jacob asks his name, but when he says Ricardo Jacob mistakes it as “Ricardus.” He tells Ricardus to get up so they can talk.
• On the beach, Jacob brings Ricardo some wine. When Ricardo asks what’s inside the statue base, Jacob says that no one can come in unless invited by Jacob personally. Jacob claims he’s not the devil, that he’s the one who brought the Black Rock to the island. Jacob uses the wine as a metaphor for evil. Then he sticks a cork in the bottle and says that the island is a cork keeping evil from spreading to the world. Jacob says the Man in Black is trying to prove that everyone is corruptible, and that’s why Jacob keeps bringing people to the Island: to prove him wrong. When people get to the island, their past doesn’t matter. Jacob brings them here to help themselves, to prove that they know right from wrong, and he doesn’t step in. Ricardo points out that if Jacob won’t step in, the Man in Black will. Jacob seems impressed and offers Ricardo a “job,” stepping in for Jacob, being his intermediary. In exchange, Ricardo wants his wife back. Jacob says he can’t bring Isabella back, and can’t absolve his sins. So Richardo says he doesn’t want to die (to avoid being judged for his sins). Jacob touches him and says that he will never die.
• Ricardo heads back through the jungle to the Man in Black’s camp. Ricardo gives the Man in Black a white stone. The Man in Black says he understands, and says he knows Jacob can be convincing. He says if Ricardo ever changes his mind, his offer still stands. The Man in Black gives Ricardo his crucifix back, and then vanishes. Ricardo buries the crucifix at the spot, near a carved stone bench.
• In the present day, Richard emerges from the jungle and finds the stone bench. He starts digging in the dirt to find his crucifix. He calls out that he’s changed his mind. He calls out for the Man in Black, saying he was wrong. He wants to know if the offer still stands. Someone emerges from the brush, but it’s not the Man in Black. It is Hurley, asking what offer Richard is talking about. Hurley explains that Isabella sent him after Richard. He says that Isabella is standing right next to him, and then we see her as Hurley does. Hurley explains that he wants Richard to close his eyes, and he will repeat what she says: She says it wasn’t Richard’s fault she died, it was her time. Richard cries and says he wants to be with her. She says he’s suffered enough, and that they are already together. She kisses him, and Richard can tell she is gone. He puts on the crucifix and thanks Hurley. Hurley explains that she also said he has to stop the Man in Black from leaving the island or “We’ll all go to Hell.” Nearby, the Man in Black (as Locke) is listening.
• Back in 1867, the Man in Black sits on a rise, staring at the island. Jacob approaches and says good morning. The Man in Black tells him not to gloat about winning Ricardo, and asks Jacob to let him leave. Jacob says he won’t, and even if the Man in Black kills him, he’ll get someone to take his place. Jacob gives him the wine, and the Man in Black promises Jacob will see him again, sooner than he thinks. After Jacob leaves, the Man in Black smashes the wine, freeing the metaphorical evil inside the bottle.

Analysis after the jump >>

Tags: Lost

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