Ab Aeterno

Oh, pour me a drink of Italian red wine, let me taste it and call back to mind; Once more to my thoughts, once more to my soul; This story as great if not greater than all.

Late last fall when I found out that we were getting a Richard Alpert episode this year I shouted “Finally!” because I knew it would be a good episode. When Richard let out that desperate, almost maniacal giggle I knew it was going to be a GREAT episode. Easily the best of the season so far and it will probably end up ranking with the top episodes of the series. The giggle comes after Ilana tells everyone that Richard should know what to do next. Jacob told her he would during her little flashback part. I don’t think we will ever get an Ilana episode but I still want to know what happened to her and why she was in the Russian hospital. At first I figured Jacob heals, her but does he? We never see him touch her like he did everybody else. In fact they go out of their way to show him wearing gloves when he sees Ilana. Maybe she had to heal on her own. Maybe we saw a few visits from Jacob during her flashback and she didn‘t heal real fast. Of course that would be a little selfish coming from someone she looked at as being like a father to her. Ilana gets very emotional when Jacob tells her that she has to do what she has been preparing for. They knew Jacob’s days were numbered. Anyway, back to Richard, this is an episode about Richard. Richard says he has no idea what to do next. He blurts out the fact he had tried to kill himself and Jack didn't tell the rest of the group about it. He says everything Jacob says is a lie. He tells them they are all dead and that they aren’t on an island but in hell. Richard says he is going to start listening to someone else and then leaves.



I know his “we are in hell” comment has confused some people. Anthony Cooper told Sawyer that they weren’t really on an island and it was a little too hot for heaven back in episode The Brig. This is a shout out to some of the fans who early on in the show said the survivors were actually all dead and that the island was hell. The theory became one that many fans believed so much so that Team Darlton (Carlton and Damon) came out and said the island was not hell and the survivors were not dead. Richard Alpert says the same thing here but again he is wrong or maybe he is speaking metaphorically. Or is he? When he first says to Jack “You’re dead.”, maybe he knows something we don't and Jack really is dead. Remember that tattoo on Jack’s arm? The one Achara gave him in Thailand that translates to “He who is among us (the living?) but is not one of us”. OK, let me come back in off of this limb and continue but before I do let me reinforce that they are not dead and they are not in hell.

Aging with time, like yesterday's wine

Jack asks Ilana about going after Richard and he asks who Richard was talking about when he said he was going to listen to someone else. “This should be interesting.”, Ben chimes in with. Jack gets the cliff notes version of Locke being alive but not really Locke. Jack hears Hurley speaking to someone in Spanish and Jack thinks it's Jacob. Hurley stands up for himself again (I like the new Hurley attitude lately) and tells Jack that it doesn’t concern him. Good for him and in a way he is letting Jack off the hook. Jack doesn’t have to do anything right now. Back around the campfire, Ben says that going after Richard is a waste of time and that Richard doesn’t age. Ben says that he first met Richard when he was 12 years old. This means Ben did forget he met Richard in the jungle years before when Ben first came to the island instead of years later after Sayid shot him and was taken to the temple.

I've rambled around this dirty old town singing for nickels and dimes.

Times getting' rough. I can't get enough to buy me a bottle of wine.

Richard is on a horse (but I bet he doesn’t smell like Old Spice) on the Canary Islands in 1867. His wife Isabella is very sick. He tells her he is going to go get her a doctor and takes all of the money they have with him. She gives him her crucifix and tells him to take that as well. She tells Richard to close his eyes and as she kisses him she says that they will always be together. Richard gets to the doctors house and the doctor turns out to be an a-hole. His comment about Richard dripping water on his floor really ticked me off as I wold imagine it was supposed to. But it didn’t anger Richard. The doctor tells him that the ride to Richards’ house is too far away. He says he has medicine that will make his wife better but it is very expensive. Richard doesn’t have enough money and the doctor throws the crucifix aside and says that it is worthless. Richard picks up the crucifix and begs the doctor for medicine swearing he will work off the debt. The two men scuffle and the doctor falls back and hits his head on the table and dies. Anybody else remember a similar scene playing out for another person on the island? Anyone? How about Desmond killing Kelvin? The looks on both of their faces were almost the same as if to say “Oh crap I didn’t mean to kill you, now I am so screwed!”. Richard takes the medicine (notice it’s white) and goes home but he is too late, Isabella is already dead. Richard cries over the body of his dead wife as the constable breaks down his door to arrest him.

The preacher will preach and the teacher will teach. The miner will dig in the mine. I ride the roads, trusting in God, huggin' my bottle of wine.

A priest (dressed in black) visits Richard (dressed in white) in Richards’ prison cell. Richard is reading an English language bible. It is open to Luke chapter 4 which is where we find the story of Jesus rejecting the devils temptations. The priest asks why he is reading an English bible to which Richard says he is trying to teach himself English. Richard and his wife were planning to go to the “new world” to start a life and a family together. Richard confesses his sins to the priest and asks for forgiveness. The priest says that God doesn’t forgive murder unless the sinner pays for his sins with penance. The priest says Richard doesn’t have time for penance because he is going to be hung in the morning. The priest leaves and takes the bible with him.



The next morning Richard is blindfolded and taken from his cell. A man named Whitfield (when I first heard his name my ears heard Widmore and I freaked for a second or two until the name digested and then I was like “Oh, OK, never mind”) checks Richard over and asks if he speaks English. Richard doesn’t answer and Whitfield says to take him away and bring him another one. Richard says he can speak English and says he has experience working in the fields. Whitfield gives the priest a small bag of money, I would assume it was money anyway, and says that Richard is now property of Magnus Hanso heading to the “new world“. Hmmm, the “new world” eh? America isn’t really all that “new” by 1867. Slavery in America was abolished in 1865 at the close of the Civil War so was he really going to America? A ship that leaves the Canary Islands heading to America wouldn’t be anywhere near where the island is when flight 815 crashes onto it. If the Black Rock was heading to Australia, however, the island would be in it’s path and it would also connect Richard with the flight 815 survivors. In 1867 Australia was having a large gold rush and part of it was still a British penal colony so it was still considered “new” to a lot of people. We do have an island that moves here people, so it is possible that at the time the island wasn’t where we know it was in 2004 and would have been somewhere in the Atlantic instead when the Black Rock crashes into it.

Little hotel, older than hell, cold as the dark in the mine. Light so dim, I had to grin, I got me a bottle of wine.

Richard is one of the prisoners on the Black Rock locked in chains below deck. A huge storm batters the ship as another prisoner says he can see an island. Then he says he sees the devil. We get a look at the statue again as the Black Rock smashes into it. The Black Rock (black) destroys the (white) statue . That had to be the biggest wave in history. Arzt, back in Exodus from season one said that a large tidal wave (supposedly this one was over 200 feet tall) could have swept the Black Rock into the jungle. Looks like he was right. Team Darlton stated in a pod cast that the ship we saw at the end of last season near the island when we first meet Jacob and the MIB was indeed the Black Rock right before the storm brought it to the island. The surviving prisoners wake up and we hear someone say that Captain Hanso is dead. The slaves cry for help and Whitfield comes below deck. He pulls his sword and begins killing the slaves. He explains that they are stranded in the jungle without fresh water and limited supplies. There are only five officers left alive and he tells Richard that if he was to let them go it would only be a matter of time before they came back and killed him. We hear the familiar noises that tells us that Smokey is nearby. The remaining crew are killed and blood drips onto Whitfield’s shoulder. Smokey comes through the wooden grate and takes Whitfield which was sort of like how he took the pilot of 815. Richard is then scanned by Smokey and left alive and very alone.

I can't help thinking about the time you were a wife of mine, you aimed to please me, made elderberry wine

What was the deal with the butterfly? Was that the MIB coming back to check on Richard? Was it Jacob? Am I reading too much into everything now? Richard is trying everything he can to get free of his chains but is just far enough away from the rain that he cannot get a drink. A boar shows up and nibbles on one of the dead prisoners then charges at Richard and knocks the nail from his hands. Was the boar the MIB? This time I’m betting it was. This puts Richard just about where the MIB needs him to be but not quite. What else does Richard need to send him over the edge? Isabella comes to Richard and tells him they are dead and in hell. She says he has to get away before the devil comes back. Richard says he has already seen the devil. Smokey returns and Richard tells Isabella to run. As she leave the Black Rock it sounds like Smokey gets her.




The MIB comes to visit Richard this time in human form. He touches Richard and it seems to revive him. Does he have a power in his touch like Jacob? He gives Richard some water to drink and tells him he is a friend. Richard asks if they are in hell and the MIB says he is. Richard says the MIB was not on the ship and MIB says he was there long before the ship came to the island. Richard says that the black smoke was after his wife. MIB is setting up the con so well Sawyer would have been impressed as he tells Richard “it probably means he has her”. Just a little question and I don’t want to blow your mind but what if he isn’t talking about Jacob? What if there is still another entity involved here that we don’t know about? The MIB says that he wants to be free also then he uses a set of keys he supposedly found on one of the officers. Richard promises he will do anything to help the MIB. Like before the MIB tells Richard it is good to see him “out of those chains”. He tells Richard the only way to escape hell is to kill the devil.




MIB tells Richard that he will find the statue if he heads due west and follow the beach. Inside the statue he will find the devil. He gives Richard a dagger (the same dagger Dogan gave Sayid) and gives him the same instructions that Dogan gave to Dark Sayid (there I used your reference, Cerpts!) about killing Flocke a few episodes ago. Richard asks how he is to kill the black smoke and the MIB comes right out and tells Richard that he is the black smoke. Two episodes in a row now the MIB has flat out told someone that he is the black smoke. Maybe that’s all that is really left of him, if so this form we see now isn’t his real form either. Maybe his real body is in a cave somewhere on the island with a black rock in his pocket lying along side of a female body that has a white rock in her pocket. Could Jacob and the MIB just be two halves of one complete entity? They are opposites; black and white; but are they cut from the same cloth or maybe I should say tapestry? MIB says that the devil betrayed him and took his humanity and took his body as well. Does this mean that Jacob is actually in the MIB’s real body? Now I’m getting confused but I think it's my own fault. Richard points out that murder is wrong and it is what brought him to the island. MIB gets a little pissy with Richard and says that they can talk about what is right or wrong all day long but if he ever wants to see his wife again he has to kill the devil.

Pain in my head, bugs in my bed, pants so old that they shine. Out on the street, I tell the people I meet to buy me a bottle of wine.

Richard gets to the beach and sees the destroyed statue. He sees the door in the foot of the statue as Jacob greets his with several punches to the face. Jacob sees the dagger and asks who gave it to Richard. Richard asks where his wife is and Jacob says he doesn’t know. Richard: “She’s dead.” Jacob: “Then why you asking me where she is?” You can’t argue with logic. Jacob asks if Richard met a man dressed in blac. Richard tells Jacob what the MIB said he had to do. Jacob says the woman he saw was not his wife (points to it being the MIB which is why he scanned Richard) and he also tells Richard that he is not dead and that they are not in hell. To prove it Jacob takes Richard out into the ocean and water boards him. Jacob dunks Richard into the water four times as Richard is “baptized” into Jacobs way of thinking. Finally, Richard says he wants to live. Jacob tells him to get up because they have to have a talk. My only question with this scene is why did Jacob fight back here but not when Ben tried to kill Jacob?

Bottle of wine, fruit of the vine, when you gonna let me get sober? Leave me alone and let me go home. Let me go home and start over.

Jacob tells Richard that no one can come into the statue unless he invites them in. So how exactly did Ben and Flocke get in? I don't remember them being invited in. Maybe Jacob was unable to fight back at this point for some reason. Richard asks if he is the devil and he introduces himself as Jacob. He says that he brought the ship to the island. Jacob shows Richard a bottle of wine and says that hell is the wine in the bottle. Swirling around trying to get out, it is more than hell, it is also evil and malevolence. It is always trying to get out Jacob says, but it can’t because if it did it would spread. The island is the cork in the bottle keeping the evil inside. (Now in the flash sideways we know the island is at the bottom of the ocean and I am assuming that if this is the case then it is probable that the evil was let out? If so then things in the ATL are what happens if the MIB was to get off of the island?) Jacob says that the MIB thinks all people are corruptible and that it is in their nature to sin. Jacob brings people to the island to prove him wrong which we sort of found out in The Incident. Jacob tells Richard that there have been others before him but they are all dead. Jacob doesn’t want to tell the people he brings to the island what is right and what is wrong because to do that would make it all pointless. He is obviously a believer in free will. The MIB, not so much, as Richard points out that if Jacob doesn’t he will. Did you see the light bulb go on over Jacob’s head? It was almost a “D’oh!” moment for Jacob wasn’t it? So he offers Richard a job as Jacob’s go between; a representative. Richard says that in return he wants his wife back. Jacob says he can’t do that. Absolve him of his sins so he doesn’t go to hell? Nope, can’t do that either. Live forever? Done! So now we know why Richard doesn’t age. If Jacob couldn’t bring Richards wife back why did he supposedly tell Dogan he could bring his son back? The MIB said he could bring Richard’s wife back so did Dogan really talk to the MIB and not Jacob?

Old red wine well past its prime gonna have to drink it with you some other time.

As soon as Richard gets back to the MIB’s little campsite he knows Richard made a deal with Jacob. Richard gives the MIB a white rock and says Jacob told him to give it to him. MIB says he understands because Jacob can be very convincing. Almost sounds like Jacob conned the MIB at one point somehow. We have got to get a flashback of these two soon! MIB tells Richard that if he ever changes his mind his offer still stands. MIB gives Richard the crucifix back and leaves. Richard buries the crucifix in the dirt near the cement bench. Richard seems to “kiss away” any chance to see his wife again as he says goodbye to her while he covers the crucifix with dirt.

When I reach the end of my workin' life I'll sit and say 'I wonder was it all worthwhile‘? Just got time for a little more wine.

Back in the current time, Richard is back in the same spot and digs up the crucifix. Yet something else on the island that didn’t stay buried. Remember Locke telling Paolo about things on the island not staying buried? Richard announces that he has changed his mind and asks if the offer still stands. Hurley shows up and Richard tells him to go away then wants to know why Hurley followed him. Hurley says Richard’s wife sent him. Hurley asks Richard why he buried his wife’s crucifix. That proves to Richard that Hurley is telling him the truth. Hurley says that Isabella is standing right next to Richard. This scene reminded me of a little movie from 1990 called Ghost. Who remembers is? In the movie Patrick Swayze is dead and Demi Moore is his widow. Whoopi Goldberg (who won an Oscar for best supporting actress) is a psychic that communicates messages between Patrick and Demi . If you’ve seen it, you might know what I mean if not I suggest you see it. Isabella talks as Hurley translates. I want to think that maybe Richard could actually hear her but if he couldn’t I know he felt that kiss. Isabella tells Richard that he has suffered enough then she says that they are already together. The way she tells Richard to close his eyes is the same way she told him the last time he saw her alive. Both times she made him close his eyes before she kissed him, as it turns out both times it was kind of a kiss goodbye. Isabella leaves and Hurley tells Richard she had one other thing to tell him. Richard puts the cross back around his neck and asks Hurley what he is to do. Hurley says that Richard has to stop the man in black from leaving the island. If he doesn’t then they all will go to hell. Unlocke, who I guess was coming to greet Richard and offer him the original deal is watching from a distance. Seems he could see that Richard has rededicated himself to Team Jacob and won’t be joining Team MIB after all.

Spill the wine and take that pearl

MIB sits on the island beneath a palm tree as Jacob walks up which is reminiscent of when the two met in The Incident. Jacob sees the rock he gave Richard to give to the MIB. What is the deal with the friggin‘ rocks already? The MIB tells Jacob not to gloat. Jacob says the MIB tried to kill him. MIB hopes Jacob doesn’t expect an apology. Jacob wants to know why and MIB says because he wants to leave. Jacob says that as long as he is alive the MIB isn’t going anywhere. MIB tells Jacob that is why he wants to kill Jacob. Jacob says that there will be someone to take his place if the MIB kills him. The MIB says that he will kill them as well. Jacob gives the MIB the bottle of wine and says it will help him pass the time. He says that he will see him around. MIB says “sooner than you think” and smashes the bottle of wine on a rock.



So what is Jacob’s deal? The only way the MIB can be free from the island is to kill Jacob. If Jacob is killed the evil will be unleashed and all hell breaks loose and the world is doomed. The only way for the MIB to kill Jacob is for someone else to do it. The only way for this to happen is there actually has to be people on the island. So why does Jacob keep bringing people to the island?!?! It would seem that his life isn’t as important as proving the MIB wrong.



Ab Aeterno is Latin for "from eternity". The phrase is used to mean "since the beginning" or "for long ages". In the Vulgate Bible (Catholic), the episodes title is found in Prov. 8:23 which reads "Ab aeterno ordita sum et ex antiquis antequam terra fieret." This translates in the NKJV, "I have been established from everlasting, From the beginning, before there was ever an earth."



Socorro, where Alpert lives on the Canary Islands means the action or effect of providing help, or the thing used to help which Richard becomes when he accepts the job Jacob offers. Socorro is located on the island of Tenerife, where two planes crashed into each other in 1977. 1977 is an important year in the timeline of LOST and the island. The crash remains the deadliest airport disaster in aviation history. Also in the Canary Islands is the legendary St. Brendan Island which may or may not exist. If it does it is the 8th island to make up the Canary Islands.




I don’t want to throw a wet blanket over the fun but which was the real ghost of Isabella? Did we ever actually see her ghost? Is she the one on the Black Rock? Nah, I’m staying with that was the MIB. So was it really her at the end of the episode when Hurley is telling Richard what she is saying? Maybe, but what if it’s not. What if that is really Jacob? Could he take her form in order to tell Hurley what Richard needs to hear in order to keep him on Team Jacob?




This episode succeeded in doing many things. First and foremost it endeared Richard into my heart forever. This brought to mind The Constant when Desmond and Penny were reunited by a phone call for me. In this episode, Richard and Isabella are reunited through Hurley. In a way Jacob was able to give Richard his wife back. It is the power that Jacob gave to Hurley that allowed him to be the go between for Richard and Isabella. I found out that Richard was once a loving husband, a hard worker, and a good man. It told me that Nestor Carbonell needs to submit this episode for Emmy consideration. It also told me that flash backs are so much better (and easier to recap) than flash sideways. This episode was a nice change and it felt familiar in how we watched it as well as how I wrote this. I don’t think we will get many more like this and that sucks. Then again there are not many more episodes either way is there?