Ab Aeterno

From Lostpedia:

Ab Aeterno is Latin for "from eternity". The phrase is used to mean "since the beginning" or "for long ages".
The phrase comes from the Latin translation of the Bible found in Proverbs 8:23 : "I was appointed from eternity, from the beginning, before the world began."

Now that that's out of the way, on to my recap.

Dragging Index: 2 out of 10. They spent way too long on the "Oh no Richard cannot escape his chains" aspect of the episode, but other than that they were fine with the pacing.

Getting the backstory for Richard was very rewarding, in my opinion. We've only wondered where he came from and who he was since Season 3, for goodness sake.

Also, Richard's transformation from serene and confident representative of Jacob to wild-eyed, panicked deserter is pretty good. You can't get away from the Christ/Peter parallels here. I assume Jacob will return and Richard will be as stalwart as ever.

1. Richard's name is Ricardo (or Ricardus?), and he's of Spanish descent.

2. He originally came from the Canary Islands, which are off the northwest coast of Africa.

3. Old-timey Catholicism is great. "You have to pay penance to atone for the murder, but you have no time for that, so you're eternally damned. Have a nice day, my son."

4. Magnus Hanso died in the shipwreck.

5. Richard saw his wife, Isabella, on the ship after the wreck, even though her body is not on the Island. At this point, I believe she was Smokey. The rules as to who he can and cannot impersonate are not very restricted.

6. I think Esau/Smokey spared Richard because he saw the weakness of Isabella in him; she was away to get Richard to do his dirty work for him: namely, killing Jacob.

7. The instructions Esau gave to Richard are exactly the same as the ones Dogan gave to Sayid. "Here's a knife, stick it into his chest before he can say a word. If he speaks, it's too late." However, Jacob was killed by Ben waaaay after Jacob had said a few words, which lends credence to the idea that Jacob let himself die.

8. Esau tells Richard that Jacob is the devil, and that they are all in hell. This was the prevailing theory of Lost in Season 1 until the producers specifically debunked it.

9. Esau also tells Richard that Jacob stole his body and his humanity. There's some good back story there.

10. Jacob is fairly rough with poor Richard; in fact, he's the roughest we've seen him be with anyone so far. And why? It's not like Richard was a threat to him. Maybe it's just sheer frustration, as I discuss later.

11. Jacob says no one goes into his home without his permission. This further indicates he planned on dying.... Ben and Locke/Esau walked in no problem.

12. Jacob explains his philosophy as it relates to free will in a decidedly odd conversation with Richard.

a.) Esau believes all mankind can be corrupted because it is in their nature to be bad.

b.) Jacob wants to prove Esau wrong, so he brings people to the Island for... testing? Observation?

c.) Apparently Esau has a 100% win rate at the point that Richard arrives.

d.) This frustrates Jacob, but he wants people to choose right without him being there to educate them.

e.) Richard astutely points out that while Jacob may not interfere, Esau sure does, and what chance do people have with only evil influencing them?

f.) Jacob offers Richard a job. Whether this is just a way to keep Richard from joining Esau, I don't know. Richard is also the one who asked for immortality, something he curses later.

13. It seems odd Richard goes over to Jacob's side so easily. Esau is offering Isabella, while Jacob can only offer immortality. Hmm... a neverending life without your love, or the chance to be with her again. And Richard goes with Door #1? Maybe he sensed Esau was lying.

14. Esau is the king at finding what people want most and then offering it to them. He offers Nadia to Sayid, Aaron to Claire, leaving the Island to Sawyer. Esau doesn't even have to poke or prod through conversation to discover this desire... he just nails it and uses it as soon as possible. Quite a skill.

15. Esau says he will kill Jacob, AND kill whoever replaces Jacob. It makes me wonder why he isn't offing candidates left and right. Kill Jack, Hurley, Sawyer, Sun and Jin, etc. and be done with it. With no candidates for replacement, no one can act as the cork. Yet he allows them all to live for some reason.

16. Hey look, Hurley speaking Spanish for the first time on the show! He relays a Ricardo/Isabella conversation that is very touching and sad. Can we assume he relays the whole thing, and that when suddenly Hurley is not doing so, it's just a mechanic to make the scene more poignant?

"She said you have to stop the Man in Black from leaving the Island. If you don't do that, we all go to hell."

So there ARE some overt religious elements to this show after all!

Also, huh? Literal hell? Is this a figurative statement? Ugh.

Now that Jacob has expressly stated his beliefs and desires for humanity, I have to think the Others are a supreme disappointment to him. Richard is a direct intermediary with them, so you'd think they'd be a.) informed of Jacob's will and b.) interested in doing good a little more.

Instead, they routinely kidnap, torture, brainwash, kill and otherwise terrorize newcomers to the Island. I doubt these actions are in line with Jacob's goals.

Hey, look, if you think of Jacob as God, these are yet more religious overtones.

Get out your Bibles, everyone. If I'm right, we're headed for some serious Armageddon stuff in these final episodes.