Lost 6x09 "Ab Aeterno"
1. FINALLY, AFTER ALL THIS TIME, A RICHARD EPISODE.
1. a)...though, to be honest, I think I see why it's taken this long for us to get a Richard flashback. It was... revelatory, I guess.
2. I really like the title of the ep. It means "from eternity", btw.
Spoilers from here on...
This ep is sort of... random, because apart from a bit at the beginning, and the stuff with Hugo at the end, most of the regular cast isn't in it. The majority is Richard, Jacob, the Man In Black, and some other people, including Richard's dead wife Isabella.
Things We Learnt About Richard:
#1. He lived in Tenerife, at least until 1867 and his life went to hell. Figuratively (?) speaking.
#2. He's actually younger than I thought. I was working on a rough estimate of three, maybe four hundred years... based on this ep, if we estimate his age at 35 (or so) in 1867, he's only been around for 175-ish years. Which is still a lot, but... less than previously thought.
#3. The Tragic Backstory: Wife was sick, he went to see a complete asshole of a doctor to get help/medicine, asshole doctor wanted more money than he had, there was a fight and the doctor ended up dead. So Richard goes back home - but his wife's already dead, and at that point things only get worse because he gets dragged off to prison, where an asshole priest shows up to take his confession, says he can't absolve him and tells poor Richard he's going to be hanged in the morning.
Well, he wasn't, obviously. Some British guy showed up looking for prisoners who speak English. Which Richard does. This leads to him being carted off on the Black Rock as a slave. The Black Rock gets shipwrecked on the Island, and the crew/other slaves get dead.
Smokey may have had something to do with that last part... and it was apparently Jacob who brought the ship there in the first place.
Now... as far as I can tell, Jacob brought the ship to the Island to prove that people can be good. The MIB tried to use Richard to kill Jacob, because the MIB thinks that people are inherently sinful and corrupted or something. Apparently, Jacob brought other people to the Island... but they died, probably because they wouldn't or couldn't "help themselves".
(I have to admit, Jacob is behaving an awful lot like God. That's not necessarily a good thing IMO... but it *did* give me the most awesome idea for a Supernatural crossover *ever*.... hint: who does Mark Pellegrino play on SPN? Yeah...)
I've been thinking (a lot) about the whole Jacob-MIB situation. The black/white imagery that keeps getting used (their clothes, the stones...) would seem to point to a good/evil situation.
The problem I have with that is the fact that... Jacob's behaviour/ideas do seem like the sanctimonious, arrogant ideas of someone with an inflated opinion of himself and his own importance. As Dean Winchester would put it, Jacob's a dick. Also, I don't think this is a matter of good vs evil. I think it's perfectly possible that the MIB could have been the "good" one, had events occurred differently.
They didn't, though. Given the situation as it is now... this doesn't strike me as just good vs. evil, this strikes me more as prisoner-and-guard, with the prisoner (MIB) trying to escape and the guard (Jacob)... amusing himself by bringing people to the Island to make them "better" or whatever. So Jacob isn't really the "good" guy... but neither is the MIB. Also, I'm confused, but that goes without saying.
Other:
1. The dagger (and the speech) that the MIB gave Richard to kill Jacob with was *the same* as the dagger/speech when Dogen asked Sayid to kill the MIB. Not a coincidence.
2. "It's good to see you out of those chains". That's what the MIB said to Richard in the Black Rock. It's also *exactly* what Smocke!MIB said to Richard at the beginning of the season. Again, I suspect this is not a coincidence.
3. ...why exactly did Magnus Hanso need the slaves, anyway? Not that it matters or anything.
4. Um... I figured that Hugo was talking to Isabella almost straight away. It was the only situation that made sense - if he'd been talking to *anyone* else, Charlie or Ana-Lucia or Eko or whoever... well, he'd've told Jack that.
5. That scene between Richard and Ghost!Isabella with Hugo translating (I guess that applies) was... really lovely. Just... beautiful.
6. ....whoa, wtf, Richard *asked* to live forever? Hm. That was unexpected.
~~~
OK... now that's done, I can go back to nice, relatively uncomplicated and *totally awesome* Deadwood until next week. *sigh*
1. a)...though, to be honest, I think I see why it's taken this long for us to get a Richard flashback. It was... revelatory, I guess.
2. I really like the title of the ep. It means "from eternity", btw.
Spoilers from here on...
This ep is sort of... random, because apart from a bit at the beginning, and the stuff with Hugo at the end, most of the regular cast isn't in it. The majority is Richard, Jacob, the Man In Black, and some other people, including Richard's dead wife Isabella.
Things We Learnt About Richard:
#1. He lived in Tenerife, at least until 1867 and his life went to hell. Figuratively (?) speaking.
#2. He's actually younger than I thought. I was working on a rough estimate of three, maybe four hundred years... based on this ep, if we estimate his age at 35 (or so) in 1867, he's only been around for 175-ish years. Which is still a lot, but... less than previously thought.
#3. The Tragic Backstory: Wife was sick, he went to see a complete asshole of a doctor to get help/medicine, asshole doctor wanted more money than he had, there was a fight and the doctor ended up dead. So Richard goes back home - but his wife's already dead, and at that point things only get worse because he gets dragged off to prison, where an asshole priest shows up to take his confession, says he can't absolve him and tells poor Richard he's going to be hanged in the morning.
Well, he wasn't, obviously. Some British guy showed up looking for prisoners who speak English. Which Richard does. This leads to him being carted off on the Black Rock as a slave. The Black Rock gets shipwrecked on the Island, and the crew/other slaves get dead.
Smokey may have had something to do with that last part... and it was apparently Jacob who brought the ship there in the first place.
Now... as far as I can tell, Jacob brought the ship to the Island to prove that people can be good. The MIB tried to use Richard to kill Jacob, because the MIB thinks that people are inherently sinful and corrupted or something. Apparently, Jacob brought other people to the Island... but they died, probably because they wouldn't or couldn't "help themselves".
(I have to admit, Jacob is behaving an awful lot like God. That's not necessarily a good thing IMO... but it *did* give me the most awesome idea for a Supernatural crossover *ever*.... hint: who does Mark Pellegrino play on SPN? Yeah...)
I've been thinking (a lot) about the whole Jacob-MIB situation. The black/white imagery that keeps getting used (their clothes, the stones...) would seem to point to a good/evil situation.
The problem I have with that is the fact that... Jacob's behaviour/ideas do seem like the sanctimonious, arrogant ideas of someone with an inflated opinion of himself and his own importance. As Dean Winchester would put it, Jacob's a dick. Also, I don't think this is a matter of good vs evil. I think it's perfectly possible that the MIB could have been the "good" one, had events occurred differently.
They didn't, though. Given the situation as it is now... this doesn't strike me as just good vs. evil, this strikes me more as prisoner-and-guard, with the prisoner (MIB) trying to escape and the guard (Jacob)... amusing himself by bringing people to the Island to make them "better" or whatever. So Jacob isn't really the "good" guy... but neither is the MIB. Also, I'm confused, but that goes without saying.
Other:
1. The dagger (and the speech) that the MIB gave Richard to kill Jacob with was *the same* as the dagger/speech when Dogen asked Sayid to kill the MIB. Not a coincidence.
2. "It's good to see you out of those chains". That's what the MIB said to Richard in the Black Rock. It's also *exactly* what Smocke!MIB said to Richard at the beginning of the season. Again, I suspect this is not a coincidence.
3. ...why exactly did Magnus Hanso need the slaves, anyway? Not that it matters or anything.
4. Um... I figured that Hugo was talking to Isabella almost straight away. It was the only situation that made sense - if he'd been talking to *anyone* else, Charlie or Ana-Lucia or Eko or whoever... well, he'd've told Jack that.
5. That scene between Richard and Ghost!Isabella with Hugo translating (I guess that applies) was... really lovely. Just... beautiful.
6. ....whoa, wtf, Richard *asked* to live forever? Hm. That was unexpected.
~~~
OK... now that's done, I can go back to nice, relatively uncomplicated and *totally awesome* Deadwood until next week. *sigh*