Episode 9: “Ab Aeterno”

Each week, “The Patriot” will offer insight and analysis of the latest episode of “Lost.” There are spoilers present in this, so read with caution. For a full summary, check out the official website of“Lost.”

Ricardus

Allison: The name Jacob gave to Illana on whom to talk to when she found all of the candidates.

Canary Islands, 1867

Kate: Richard and Isabella are speaking Spanish right now. And Isabella is dead before Richard can save her, although he accidentally kills a man in an attempt to keep her from death. Richard is pretty religious though, teaching himself English from the Bible.

Allison: Richard seemed really passionate and caring for his wife. Does this translate his feelings towards the island? He has taken the most rash actions to save the only thing he loved.

Kate: Seriously, who is this priest? Whatever happened to God’s forgiveness? Are we just telling someone they have no hope now?

Allison: I think it’s in the rules you have to forgive people if they go to penance.

Kate: So, Richard did come over on the Black Rock that Jacob and the Man in Black saw from the shore. I guess it’s better than execution, but I thought it would have been Jacob that saved him from being hung. If the Smoke Monster really took the life of the captain, wouldn’t that mean that the Man in Black, not Jacob, saved Richard?

Allison: Richard’s shipmates saw the statue that was on the island that Sayid saw the remains of in season two. The Man in Black must know that there is something bad about Richard and that is why he saved him.

Kate: I still don’t believe that they are dead.  I wonder if they’re ever going to explain why dead people appear on the island, from Isabelle to Christian in earlier seasons.

Allison: He must be hallucinating. He hasn’t had water in how long? I think they might. I think Christian was the Man in Black, in the same way Locke is the Man in Black. I think that because Christian befriended Claire,  Locke and Claire were friends. I think she knows that he has these powers.

Kate: That would make the most sense. He takes the body of someone that will more easily draw in those people that he wants to follow him. The only problem with that theory is that we don’t know why Claire didn’t question  Christian’s disappearance and why Locke suddenly shows up to be her friend.

Richard and “Devil”

Allison: Man in Black is trying to get Richard to kill Jacob, so he’s been trying for over 200 years to get someone to killJacob.

Kate: This is what Dogan told Sayid to do. He said to kill the Man in Black by stabbing him in the chest without letting the Man in Black say anything. Both the Man in Black and Jacob portray the other as the devil. Although sometimes it seems like neither are exactly good, I’m positive that the Man in Black has the worst intentions.

Power

Kate: How did Jacob and the Man in Black gain so much power? The Man in Black is the smoke monster and Jacob can bring ships and people to the Island. I like the contrast of their philosophies as well, with Jacob believing that he should allow people to make their own decisions in the hope that they are inherently good, unlike the Man in Black, who thinks people are all evil.

Allison: I assume this is one of the unanswered questions, and will remain as such.

“We’re all dead”

Kate: The producers have shut down the idea in the past that the cast is dead or in purgatory. So Richard, or Richardo, must mean a figurative Hell. Seriously, it’s not that terrible on the island. In addition, the island is, according to Jacob, keeping evil in its place. However, with the Man in Black symbolically breaking the jar, evil is now out in the open.

Allison: Jacob is desperately trying to prove that Richard is not in Hell, he seems to have a reason for it. That reason, however, is unknown. Jacob is going to use Richard to “keep evil on the island.”

Richard losing his mind

Kate: He is the second person on the island this season to go nuts. Insanity is turning into a recurring theme. However, I cannot believe no one thinks that it is crazy that Hurley is talking to an invisible Jacob and to Isabella.

Richard and the Man in Black

Kate: I’d assume he’d be able to see his wife again if the offer still stood. But, why has the Man in Black deserted him now? Maybe because he doesn’t necessarily need Richard anymore to help his cause, he has enough other people.

Kate Froehlich can be reached for comment at [email protected]

Allison Walczyk can be reached for comment at [email protected]