Richard's Backstory!!! And it did not disappoint!
Richard apparently has no clue what's going on with Jacob and "the Candidates" and boy is he frustrated!
A long.... flashback to the island...
Wait, it's the Canary Islands and it's 1867! Richard's wife Isabella is sick and needs help.
He takes all his money and her cross to the doctor but he's too lazy to go out now. He has medicine but Richard doesn't have enough. He gets frustrated ( I see a theme) and accidentally kills the doctor ( much like Desmond accidentally killed his button pushing partner, Kelvin, by a push and whack on the head). He gets the medicine and flees.
Isabella, unfortunately, dies anyway. Richard gets arrested and asks for absolution. The priest however, say NO. What? What a jerk. He does get him sold to Magnus Hanso (Great grandfather of Alvar Hanso, founder of the Dharma Initiative). He ends up on the Black Rock and most spectacularly crashes through the Tarawet statue (Hello, only four toes) to land in the middle of the island.
Once shipwrecked, the officer kills the prisoners but Richard is saved when the Smoke Monster takes out the rest of the ship's crew (Loved how Mr. Whitefield was taken!). Lots of suffering, boar fighting, and then, I think, a visit from Smokey Isabella. Rough stuff, then Man In Black, lets him out.
Convinces him the "Devil" took his wife. Very biblical in this episode. The Devil also betrayed him and took his body. Now, he must be killed with the Dogan knife!
Jacob fights back (unlike when Ben actually kills him) and Richard gets a fun baptism. Ok, not really fun per se. But, man, He Wants to LIVE.
The island is a CORK and the wine...??? Ya, that explains it all. Alright, I'll roll with it. Jacob uses his persuasive powers and gives Richard the job of intermediary. (Because, duh, if you don't tell people what to do MIB will! Was that really a surprise to Jacob?) He can't give him his wife back or grant him absolution but he can make him live forever! Some demi-god, can't even grant your wishes. Richard returns to MIB and gives him the inside joke white rock. MIB gives him the cross and tells him the deal still stands.
Back in the present, Richard returns to where he buried the cross and wants to take MIB's deal. Uh oh... ah, Hurley appears and pulls a Whoopi in Ghost and lets Richard talk to Isabella. So sweet...
Jacob and MIB have another chat... Wine gets smashed. Hmmm....
Up next: The Package
30 sec Commercials for the Lost finale are selling for $900,000. Crazy...
A midnight bumper movie from the South By Southwest Film Festival (SXSW)... Here's a great intro to it from Peter Hall...
"Okay, so the film in question is only two minutes long, but I'm not kidding when I say it was one of the most talked about things at the fest. Joe Nicolosi made this brilliant bumper to play before all of the SXSW midnight films and even halfway through the fest, after many of us had seen it well over a dozen times, it still got a healthy round of applause every time it played. ...
I don't want to say what it's about if you haven't seen it, as that would slightly rob the fun of discovering it for the first time. But I will say that it may be, depending on where you work, slightly NSFW. There's no profanity or sexuality, but there is a drop or two of the red stuff (this is the midnight bumper, after all) that may raise the eyebrows of any innocent bystanders."
SXSW Midnight Bumper from Joe Nicolosi on Vimeo.
Sawyer is pulling a con. It's 8:42 (numbers) and it's time to go, but wait, the chick he's swindling gets the drop on him. Except, "LaFleur"...He's cop, James Ford.
Locke sends Sawyer on a recon mission to Hydra Island.
Sawyer makes a deal with Widmore to bring the "Smoke Thing" to him and tells the smoke thing the same plan. Playing both sides so he can steal ... the sub to get away. What? That's the end! Really anti-climatic for me.
Oh well...Next up: Ab Aeterno which is Latin for "Since the beginning of time." So that must mean it's centered on Mr. Richard Alpert. YeeHaw! I am so excited for this episode.
I really, really enjoyed seeing alterna-Ben.
He's teaching Alex (on island daughter). (Somehow, this cameo really surprised me. Guess I was just expecting Ben and Artz :) She clues him in to villainous principal's affair and he goes for a power grab, much like his island self.
He enlists Artz who wheels and deals himself to some new equipment and a choice parking spot. But alas, he is not the power hungery island Ben and when the principal ups the ante by threatening to ruin Alex's Yale chances, this time Ben chooses her. The choice he's always been regretting.
Oh, and he really seems to have a good relationship with dear old Dad. They went to the island at some point but no clue as to what happened. And in a twist of irony (which I totally missed, Thanks internet for cluing me in), he's pumping life saving oxygen gas into him instead of the poisonous purge death gas.
Back on the island, Hurley wants "cheese curds." :) Richard confirms (mostly) that he was brought on the Black Rock. We learn that he is not a cyborg or vampire. (Jorge ad libbed the vampire line and it made it into the show, very cool). He just wants to die, but semi-god Jacob touched him and gave him a gift/curse, so he can't kill himself. Let's ask the "do no harm" doctor to do it. Sure.... The ocean gazing must have emboldened Jack and he plops down to watch the dynamite burn down. And... nothing. Not really a surprise, but perhaps Richard's faith is restored a little.
Miles rats Ben out and Ilana makes him dig his own grave. Nice. His Royal Lockey-ness uses the force and opens Ben's bindings and tells him to come join his band of merry men over on Hydra Island. Ben bolts and Ilana follows, then... The Truth. Ben explains, I think, sincerely... and Ilana FORGIVES him. Pretty amazing. Ben finally feels accepted and that's why he stays.
Miles finds Nikki and Paolo's diamonds... Sweet. The talking to dead people finally rakes in the cash. And we get a classic slo mo reunion. So, Season one...I loved it!
But.... bum bum buh DA.... WIDMORE's Back! Finally... is this who Jacob was waiting for?
Up next: Recon
*** On a personal note, I really like this recap. My creative juices must have been a-flowing. But perhaps it is totally incomprehensible and the time change has addled my brain enough to convince me that it's actually good.
Leonard (Johnny Galecki) and Sheldon's (Jim Parsons) coffee table. Pic taken by Wil Wheaton on the set of the Big Bang Theory.
Oh, and Jin's in the frig. Did he give the watch to Keamy?
Best fight scene in Lost? Me thinks so. But no one kills. Sayid's banished, but wait, go kill MIB with my dagger. Don't let him talk.
He talked. No blood. Great faces by Terry O'Quinn here. Claire and Sayid come to the temple. Kate tells Claire she raised Aaron.
Creepy Claire smile and song. Sayid kills Dogen and Lennon.
Awesome Smokey attack.
Creepy Sayid smile. Kate ends up with Locke's group. Should be interesting.
Next up: Dr. Linus
Ben episode. Nice. I wasn't really into Sundown as you can probably tell from my short recap. It had great action, but I had a major sinus infection (still do in fact) and did not feel good at all. It was kind of Meh for me.