The LOST-pocalypse is poised to tell us Richard Alpert’s story! Here are the rules, the liveblog begins below:
10:03pm — At the core of the show lies an epic battle between Jacob and the Man in Black. I love that it extends as far as a philosophical debate to mythical (and possibly Biblical) proportions. Seeing more of these two in their tug of war? Do want. Now.
10:02pm — “She said one more thing. Something you have to do. She said you have to stop the Man in Black. Or else we all go to hell.” AND, he was listening! Looks like Hurley arrived just in time to save Richard from his mistake.
9:58pm — And he returns to the necklace…and he changes his mind?! Who shows up? Hurley. Sent by Isabella? This scene is pretty remarkable. So if we trust that Hurley sees actual dead people (and everything we’ve seen to date leads us to believe this to be true), then Isabella isn’t a trick by Faux-Locke. Rather, a move by Jacob to keep Richard on the right path? For what it’s worth, I don’t want to see Alpert go over to the dark side.
9:57pm – One thing is true, the Man in Black tempts exactly like the devil would. The necklace is the seed of promise, and a reminder of Richard’s choice.
9:54pm — The backstory of LOST was just summed up with the description of a bottle of wine. Hilarious.
9:52pm – Time for another classic Jacob talk. “No one comes in unless I invite them in.”
9:45pm – Jacob can kick some ass. Ha! Jacob’s tough love lesson is remarkably similar to a baptism. “I want to live!”
9:43pm – Interesting that the Man in Black repeated, verbatim, the instructions that Dogen gave Sayid when prepping him to kill Faux-Locke. “Drive this deep into his heart. Do not let him say a word. If you let him speak, it’s already too late.” Same knife, too.
9:37pm – THE MAN IN BLACK RETURNS! “That probably means he has her.” Wow, this is a serious case of conditioning. “I need to know that you love me. Do you love me?” So here’s the thing, Richard was one of the earliest people to be manipulated by the Man in Black to try and kill Jacob.
9:33pm – Note to self: One skill worth learning is lockpicking. Seems to come up time and time again. Fascinating, the first thing to appear to Richard post-Smokey is a boar — seems religiously loaded, no? And here comes Smokey as Isabelle…first thing she re-enforces is the “island is hell, devil is on the island theme.” OK, that’s just plain jacked up, now Richard lost Isabelle a second time? Psychologically, this has to mess with someone.
9:26pm – Oh man, Richard’s first day on the island was a doozy. First a storm, then shipwrecked, then his captain tries to kill him, then finally Smokey shows up and wastes everyone except Richard. I think he deserves a little mental instability, all things considered.
9:21pm – OK, this padre goes down as the shadiest priest in the history of mankind. Selling Richard as a slave to Magnus Hanso — BLACK ROCK, BABY! So, in another twist of fate, The Black Rock hit the statue on the head. Crazy. Strike that, Magnus is crazy. While he slays his captive slaves, here’s the passage from the Bible that Richard was reading.
Luke 4:31-37
31And came down to Capernaum, a city of Galilee, and taught them on the sabbath days.
32And they were astonished at his doctrine: for his word was with power.
33And in the synagogue there was a man, which had a spirit of an unclean devil, and cried out with a loud voice,
34Saying, Let [us] alone; what have we to do with thee, [thou] Jesus of Nazareth? art thou come to destroy us? I know thee who thou art; the Holy One of God.
35And Jesus rebuked him, saying, Hold thy peace, and come out of him. And when the devil had thrown him in the midst, he came out of him, and hurt him not.
36And they were all amazed, and spake among themselves, saying, What a word [is] this! for with authority and power he commandeth the unclean spirits, and they come out.
37And the fame of him went out into every place of the country round about.
9:18pm – Whoa! I don’t think I’ve ever known a padre to refuse absolution. “No my son, I’m afraid the devil awaits you in hell.”
9:15pm — Anyone else find it interesting that even Richard’s past includes crimes committed for a loved one? Is Isabella his wife or his girlfriend? Either way, his willingness to do anything for her well being led to the death of an innocent doctor. Richard lands in jail, wrongly convicted for an accidental death. Was that Luke 4:37 earmarked on his Bible? In English, nonetheless.
9:10pm — Jack is firmly a believer these days, but he doesn’t trust Richard. Alpert’s lost his mind. I love that this is playing out like a tale of horror and suspense. Richard’s story opens with horseback riding…why do I feel tones of Cloud Atlas here?
9:00pm — I suspected that Jacob gave Illana information regarding the candidates, but I didn’t expect that he would guide her to “Ricardo.” Naturally, Richard is still a doubting Thomas…WHOA! “You’re all dead.” Ha! Darlton are toying with us. “This is hell.” Well, not knowing might be hell for some.