LOST Season 6, Episode 9 | Ab Aeterno (Lost Plot Explained)

YES!! Now we are talking. A full length episode dedicated to Richard or should I say Ricardo which explains many mysteries of the island while confirming the answers to many questions that had been hinted at over the years. It could be argued that this episode completely clarified the entire plot of Lost and later on I will break that down for you. This was a pivotal episode in the pantheon of the Lost mythology. It was well done, well produced and if I had any Emmy giving power I would hand a statue to Nestor Carobnel for his work here as Richard as it was astounding.

So with all of that being said let’s dig into some analysis. The best place to start is actually as usual at the beginning.  The episode is titled Ab Aeterno which in Latin means “from eternity” which of course is metaphorical for the life that Richard chose. The episode actually begins with a close up shot of Ilana’s eye in bandages. This may seem trivial but if you look back over the history of the show this shot is an ongoing theme. In fact the first episode ever opens with a shot of Jack’s right eye.  Check this out:

	Character	Eye	Episode	Flash
Season 1
	Jack	Right	“Pilot, Part 1“	Yes
	Locke	Right	“Walkabout“	Yes
	Jack (young)	Right	“White Rabbit“	Yes
	Sun	Left	“House of the Rising Sun“	Yes
	Claire	Right	“Raised by Another“	Yes
	Boone	Left	“Hearts and Minds“	Yes
	Michael	Left	“Special“	Yes
	Sawyer (young)	Left	“Outlaws“	Yes
	Jin	Right	“…In Translation“	Yes
	Aaron	Left	“Exodus, Part 2“	No
Season 2
	Desmond	Left	“Man of Science, Man of Faith“	No
Season 3
	Juliet	Left	“A Tale of Two Cities“	Yes
	Locke	Right	“Further Instructions“	Yes
	Claire	Left (flashback)	“Par Avion“	Yes
Season 4
	Sayid	Both (closed)	“The Economist“	Yes
	Locke	Right	“Eggtown“	No
	Jack	Left	“Something Nice Back Home“	Yes
Season 5
	Jack	Right	“316“	Yes
Season 6
	Ilana	Right	“Ab Aeterno“	Yes

The fact that this episode started with the eye shot and that this was the first time they’ve used it this season let hardcore fans know that this episode means business.

When Tenerife, Canary Islands 1867 flashes on the screen we are shown Richard riding furiously back to his home to try and get to his dying wife Isabella. When he reaches her, Richard decides he has to go to the doctor to get medicine but to make payment they will have to hock Isabella’s cross. This episode is extremely focused around religion and it’s used in a way to both educate the fans about the central conflict on the island while also playing with the time line of religion to drive home specific points. In 1867 religion, especially Catholicism was a core component of many peoples lives. People were god fearing and tried to live their lives in accordance to the church and the bible. Richard travels to the doctor and gets into a skirmish with the doctor after he won’t give him the medicine and he proclaims that the necklace is worthless. There is a struggle which ends up with the doctor dying in an accident. It’s not solely the fact that Richard committed accidental murder that crushes him it’s the fact that he know he has committed the ultimate sin. When the priest comes and ask Richard to confess his sins, Richard does so but much to his disappointment he is not given absolution. The priest tells Richard that murder is a sin that cannot be forgiven and can only be made up for with a life of penance. He tells him because he will be executed the next day this won’t be possible… so he will go to Hell. This is genius writing because as we know, later in the episode Richard asks for the gift of eternal life because he is so fearful of going to hell (a common fear during this time period).  Jacob grants him this gift which in turn allows him to have many lives of penance. How long would it take to be absolved of an accidental murder? If the answer is 143 years then Richard is all clear!

Furthermore Richard is sold into slavery by the priest to a man name Magnus Hanso. This is worth mentioning because Magnus Hanso is the great grandfather of Alvar Hanso who was the founder of the Hanso Foundation. The Hanso Foundation founded the Dharma Initiative and actually helped set up all of the stations on the island. This was discussed in Season 2 during the Swan Orientation film that also provided a tutorial on how to push the button in Desmond’s Hatch. The reason I point this out is because as always with Lost it’s all about family and connections and the fact that Magnus crashes The Black Rock on the Lost island and later his relative founds an organization to study the island is perfect Lost symmetry.

Speaking of the Black Rock we finally get it confirmed that Richard was indeed a slave on the ship. We knew this because as discussed in my previous blog http://bit.ly/9a1ynW because when MIB/Lockness Monster comes out of the statue after Ben kills Richard he says, “It’s good to see you out of those chains Richard”.  The irony of course is that the MIB says that exact sentence to Richard in this episode but this time he’s in his true form as it’s said in 1867. We also discover that the Black Rock is responsible for the destruction of the Statue (ie Jacob’s home) and it ends up in the middle of the island by being thrown through the statue on massive waves. As they are swishing towards the island one of the slaves screams in reference to seeing the statue that he sees the Devil protecting the island…which of course isn’t true…or is it? When the priest said the next day Richard was going to hell, maybe he was right. Richard certainly seems to think so as that is the question he asks the MIB. It’s also a fantastic wink to the viewers to classify the island as hell as during Seasons 1 and 2 many people hypothesized that the island was Hell or Purgatory. The writers came out and said that is not so but now they are playing with the audience a bit all under the guise of the 1867 belief system that is being explored in this episode.

This all leads us back to Jacob and the Man In Black and their struggle on the island. Prior to releasing Richard, the MIB tells Richard that he must do whatever he asks if he lets him go. He agrees and MIB confirms with him that he is in hell and that he must go kill the Devil.  This is where things get interesting because when Richard asks how he can kill the devil if he is Black Smoke, the MIB tells Richard that he is the Black Smoke and that the Devil betrayed him and stole his body and his humanity. He tells him to kill Jacob in the exact same way that Dogen will later instruct Sayid to kill the MIB. This would be to plunge the knife deep into his chest, before he speaks a single word. The knife is military dagger used as a sidearm by Roman legionaries. On the sheath, it depicts the Roman she-wolf suckling Remus and Romulus which if of course significant because they were the demi-god mythical brothers who founded Rome which plays nicely into an allegorical angle to MIB and Jacob struggle. Just to push Richard over the edge MIB tells him he has to kill Jacob if he ever wants to see Isablella again. So Richard takes the dagger goes to find Jacob and gets disarmed by Jacob rather abruptly and then gets dunked in the water numerous times until Richard claims I want to live. This whole seen played out shockingly similar to the actions of a baptism and once it concludes Richard is literally ready to begin a new and extra long life on the island.

As the conversation continues Jacob explains that he brought Richard to the island and that the island is like the cork of a bottle of wine and the wine inside the bottle is evil. Jacob says without any cork the wine ie the evil would spread.

He says the MIB believes that everyone can be corrupted as it’s in their nature and that man is bad. Jacob says he wants people to know the right between right and wrong without being told.  He states he brings people to the island to prove MIB wrong. We now have confirmation of what the struggle is between the MIB and Jacob and what the role the island plays in it all. Jacob offers Richard a job to be his representative and intermediary. We have seen play this role since we first met him and this moment solidifies our thoughts about the Jacob and Richard relationship. Before Richard accepts he says in return he wants his wife back which Jacob says he can’t do. He then asks for his sins to be absolved which Jacob says he can’t do. He finally asks for eternal life and is granted it with a touch by Richard.

It appears that Jacob that has the ability to affect people’s mortal lives while MIB can decipher their spiritual. We know that Locke was able to walk on the island, this was after being touched by Jacob and we’ve seen MIB in the form of Smokey analyze people and then kill them or allow them to live. For example he evaluated Mr. Echo and then proceeded to destroy him where as in this episode he evaluated Richard and allowed him to live. I’m not sure what his criteria is but there is definitely a process that he is using and one could surmise it’s spiritual in nature. This would also tie into the fact that we know he can take the form of dead people on the island as we’ve seen him do with Ben’s daughter Alex and now Locke. So not only is this century or longer game/war been waged between MIB and Jacob the extent of their gifts seem to vary greatly and be opposite in nature. One focuses on the living and the other on the dead.

Later on Jacob comes across MIB and he is tossing the white stone that he had Richard deliver to him. This moment ties back into episode 4 of this season which was titled The Substitute. Sawyer descends into a cave with MIB. Upon their arrival there is a scale in the cave with a white rock on one side and a black rock on the other side. MIB takes the white rocks and throws it into the ocean telling Sawyer, “It’s an inside joke”. The scale obviously represents the balance between Jacob and MIB and by throwing the rock from the cave which apparently he has received many from Jacob over the years he is declaring that finally the balance of power on the island is his. In this episode when Jacob asks MIB about the git of the stone, MIB tells him not to gloat. He says that he sent Richard to kill him because he wants to leave the island and requests that Jacob let him go. Jacob informs MIB that as long as he is alive that won’t happen and MIB says he will kill Jacob and he says he will be replaced to which MIB states he will kill his replacement too.

We can safely assume it was at this moment that Jacob realized that MIB would never relent from trying to kill him and he needed to have replacements waiting in the wings. It’s not too much of a leap to say that this is why he created the Candidate system. In this episode it was 100% confirmed by Illana that Sun, Jack and Hurley are all candidates. We know Sawyer and Sayid are too from the cave and lighthouse and Locke is now off the list.

In this episode Jacob gives Ilana a list of the remaining six candidates listed above and tells her to bring them to Richard and that he will know what to do.What’s amazing is that the man that thought he was going to hell and the man that wanted absolution from his sins so bad that he requested to life forever…now is the man who has to help annoint the next Christ like figure on the island and restore balance back to the scales of good and evil and make sure that the Man In Black can not leave the bottle and run wild.

Because we’ve all waited so long for clarity about the show I feel as though it’s time to lay things out concisely.

LOST PLOT:

For centuries two spiritual forces have hypothesized whether man is inherently good or inherently evil. Jacob represents the light side of humanity and believes in the goodness of man and free will. The Man in Black represents the dark side of humanity and believes that man is naturally evil and will inevitably self destruct. As they experiment with the lives of humans to prove which theory is correct the Man in Black plots to kill Jacob so he can leave the island and more swiftly aid in spreading chaos and destruction. Jacob is not only the Man in Black’s spiritual counterpoint but he is also his jailer. He knows that one day the Man in Black will kill him so he begins to bring Candidates to the island so that when he is finally destroyed his replacement will continue on to protect the world from the chaos the Man in Black would like to thrust upon humanity. After successfully murdering Jacob, the race is on to see if the Man In Black can escape the island before one of Jacob’s five remaining Candidates (Jack, Sawyer, Sun (or Ji-Yeon), Hurley or Sayid) rise up and accept their destiny to thwart the Man In Black’s escape and bring order back to the island inevitably saving the world from ultimate destruction.

So there it is, the entire LOST show wrapped up in a bow and delivered to us in an episode which suitably was brought to us by  Richard Alpert. It’s almost too perfect that it’s an episode about Jacob’s representative who tells us everything we’ve always wondered about the show. If it was Jacob himself..he’d be breaking his own rules. According to Jacob, we have to figure this stuff out for ourselves…with a little help from Richard of course.

Tagged as: Candidates, Ilana, Jacob, Lost Plot, MIB, Richard, Smokey