LOST 6.9 – "Ab Aeterno"

WRITERS: Melinda Hsu Taylor & Greggory Nations
DIRECTOR: Tucker Gates
GUEST CAST: Mark Pellegrino, Titus Welliver, Mirelly Taylor, Juan Carlos Cantu, Izzy Diaz, Davo Coria, Steven Elder & Sheila Kelley

[SPOILERS] A break from the season's flashsideways formula, making way for the long overdue flashback for the mysterious, apparently immortal Richard Alpert (Nestor Carnonell). "Ab Aeterno" ("From Eternity" in English) was a curious episode, in that it was undoubtedly very entertaining, did an effective job answering some fundamental questions (or, at this late stage, confirming old theories), and was pulled through its simplistic storyline thanks to a marvellous performance from Carbonell, but there were still some worrying elements that prevented it being the homerun I think was expected...

Tenerife, Canary Islands, 1867. A bearded "Ricardo" (Carbonell) is desperate to cure his beautiful spouse Isabella (Mirelly Taylor) from a high fever that's killing her, so he races on horseback to the local physician to buy lifesaving medicine. Unfortunately, he doesn't have enough funds to pay for the vital medication, and the obstinate doctor is accidentally killed during a struggle by a blow to the head on a wooden table. Ricardo's situation goes from bad to worse, as he returns to Isabella with the stolen remedy, only to find she died while he was away from her bedside, and is thrown into jail for murder to await a hanging. A reprieve came in the shape of a British naval officer, Jonas Whitfield, who agreed to spare the English-speaking Ricardo from an untimely death (and fiery, eternal damnation in hell) by taking him to the New World as one of many slaves aboard the Black Rock ship, which hits a ferocious storm and washes up on The Island after colliding with the four-toed statue of Tawaret.

Ricardo essentially became the sole survivor of the shipwreck, after his fellow slaves were murdered by Whitfield to help ration provisions and the Smoke Monster/Man In Black (Titus Welliver) arrived to eradicate the rest. It would appear that the MIB's plan to kill Jacob (Mark Pellegrino), by tricking someone into doing the deed for him, is one he formulated a long time before manipulating Locke and Ben, which calls into question why Jacob fell for it the second time. Here, the MIB wasted no time in manipulating the religiously devout Ricardo, by scanning his memories while he's still in chains, then appearing as the "ghost" of Isabella to persuade him the Island is actually Hell, before arriving as the MIB to offer Ricardo the chance to escape damnation by killing "The Devil" (aka Jacob) with the same ornate knife Dogen wanted Sayid to kill the MIB with.

Ricardo agreed to the MIB's plan, but after arriving at the foot of the broken statue (is it plausible the Black Rock could have smashed that thing to pieces, incidentally?), he was quickly disarmed by Jacob, who proved he wasn't "dead" by almost drowning him in the sea, and proceeded to explain the true nature of the man he'd met in the jungle and of the Island itself. The MIB is essentially a representation of "evil", currently trapped in a "bottle", of which this Island is the figurative "cork" keeping it contained. Jacob brings people to the Island to try and prove to the MIB that people are not inherently bad and easily corruptible, but refuses to get too hands on with his candidates. However, the situation with Ricardo has opened Jacob's eyes to the downside of not being as proactive as his enemy, so he recruits Ricardo to be his permanent, thus immortal representative, or "middle man" for candidates. I guess Richard's the Pope to Jacob's God, which means Ben was a cardinal?

I think this episode's rather predictable and clichéd storyline was rescued by two things: (1) the performance of Carbonell, who committed himself 100% to the role and gave a nuanced portrayal of a naïve and pious Richard, which even managed to make a rote "tragic love story" tug at the heart-strings, despite the fact Isabella's never even been mentioned before now; and (2) the simple fact there was hardly any ambivalence and double-talk, with Jacob giving generally clear answers and explanations to simple questions. There was nothing especially momentous or unexpected in what Jacob confirmed, but it was just nice to have a few things made apparent as we enter the last half of the season.

Overall, I wasn't as awestruck by "Ab Aeterno" as many people appear to have been, mainly because Richard's pre-island story felt very predictable, but it would have been a whole lot worse if Carbonell didn't give the material a significant boost thanks to how he tackled it. Plus, I can't deny it wasn't fun to get some longstanding answers to questions surrounding the Black Rock, the destruction of the statue, what the Island actually is, and Alpert's role. And despite the episode's unsurprisingly developments and formulaic story, I'll admit the way present-day Alpert was prevented from going over to the "dark side" thanks to Hurley (Jorge Garcia) communicating with Isabella, was a great deal more heart wrenching than it would have been without Carbonell's involvement.

Asides

-- A quick theory: Jacob's Cave wasn't Jacob's Cave, it was the MIB's Cave. Jacob lives solely in the foot of the statue. That's why the white stone the MIB was given by Jacob rested on the scales in the cave (later to be thrown away as the "in-joke" between them), and the crossed out names of candidates on the cave walls are those people the MIB has managed to eliminate from competition. It's only bad guys who live in caves, right?

-- As much as I've enjoyed Terry O'Quinn's "evil Locke" performance this season, there's a part of me that's annoyed Titus Welliver's not on the show every week as the "big bad". He's so good at it. I hope he returns.

-- Why didn't Jacob defend himself against Ben's knife attack, if he could so easily disarm Richard, who likewise was sent to stab him? Is Jacob perhaps vulnerable once you're actually inside his statue residence?

-- When we saw the Black Rock sailing close to the Island in the season 5 finale, there was no sign of any storm and it was broad daylight. A continuity gaffe, or did Jacob summon a tempest when night fell?

-- This hasn't been referred to since, but wasn't there a point when the MIB was essentially imprisoned inside Jacob's Cabin (posing there as Jacob) and contained by a perimeter of ash? If so, it's never been explained: (a) who imprisoned him there, (b) how the Smoke Monster was still able to travel around the Island beyond the Cabin (if that's the MIB's true form), and (c) who broke the ash circle to release the MIB so he could inhabit Locke's dead body. Will we get answers to all that soon?

Questions, Questions, Questions!

Surprisingly, there weren't many this week, as this episode actually answered plenty without raising subsequent ones, but...

-- How, when and where did Jacob meet Ilana? Is she a representative of his, off the island? Did she have a role on the Island, before being sent away? Is she immortal, too?

26 MARCH 2010: SKY1 (HD), 9PM