Some more thoughts..
I will post Chapter 12 soon, but first I have some thouths on the last episode of Lost.. thought I'd put them out there for the hell of it..
This one focused on Richard..heavily so and in a very good way. It featured themes that have been prevelenet on Lost for awhile, themes of faith and redemption. And really on the nature of destiny versus free will and good versus evil.
In the episode, Richard is having doubts, his faith is tested, as everyones is. And in his meg-flashback we see him lose his wife, and while attempting to save her kills a man, in what would probably be condsiered manlaughter in this day and age. The action is too late to save Isabella and of course Richard is about to be hanged for this.
He is begging for forginess and savlation from a priest who tells him he can't give that to him. And that's true, a statement that will be expaneded upon later. Instead of being hanged he's sold on slave ship. The Black Rock natch. And crashed intothe sttue where our favorie supreme being lives. And once they've crashed things get interesting.
The caption and the others, infected by what seems a madness or just survival, kill everyone off below deck, but before he can get to Richard, our old friend Smokey appears and kills them all. It seems to stop and study Richard before leaving him to starve and quite posibly die. And then.. it come back. When he's on the point of it, and shows him his dead wife. almost like bait. And then come the Man in Blak. Who proceeds to feed him and unchain him and take care of him. And tells him a story.
Tells him the devil has his wife, that they are in hell and the only way to escape is to kill the devil. He gives him a knife and basically the same deal he gave Sayid, many, many years later. I'll bring her bakk, if you do this for me. And Richard, like Sayid, takes the offer in exhange for that possibility.
But the man he's sent to kill isn't the devil, he's the only thing keeping the monster aka man in black aka the devil himslef on the island. And MIB wants him dead so he cn escape. The man he's sent to kill is Jacob. And Jacob by beting Richard sensless and nearly drowning him proves that in fact he is still alive and not in hell. And then proceeds to explain in Jacob way, what the hells going on here.
When Jacob askes Richard what he wants, he says first he wants his wife back. Jackob says he can't do that. Then he says he wsnts absloution, and Jacob says he can't do that either. So Richard finally says, "i dont' want to ever die' And Jacob says he can do that.
There's a lession here that others on the island ned to hear. That those we loved died because it was their time to go, and that no force can bring them back to you the way they were. No matter what they may promise. And that no one can give you absolutoion but yourself. Jacob is telling Richard the truth there, telling him the truth he NEEDS to hear. Now what he WANTS but what he NEEDS. There's a big differenecne there.
And the thing about the eternal life is that, it isn't always a blessing. You may get to a point where you wish for deathh. And maybe that's a lession Jacob has taught him too, Jacob,like God, never has to really explain why he dose things. But he is the force of White, the only thing that is keeing the creature contained on the island. And without the White, Darkness reigns surpreme.
The eerie and intentional parrallel with the offer given to Sayid an dthe offer given to Richard shows the magnitude of the evil your dealing with. It will do anything, promise anything, and use anyone it can to get what it wants. Which is too escape. In Richards moment of weekness he's willing to give in finally to this, only to get a message from his long dead love, and to learn that no one will give her back to him. Because she's been with him along.. And therefore breaks any hold the monster had on him at that point. And maybe saved him.
I can only wonder if this forshadows some similar moment with Sayid and others down the line. Quite possible considering the parrallels going in many lives. I don't personally believe it's too late for anyone there to be honest This episode has really given me hope on that one.