Man, haven't been to this website in awhile, but I just needed to get a reaction down for the Richard episode. Now, I wouldn't be surprised if this episode turned out to be among the best three of the season (the Ben episode would also get one of those slots), and top ten of the entire show. They've finally definitively answered the question of the island's purpose, all while silencing/gibing a certain subcategory of fans. "This place is hell!" No, Richard, you're just talking nonsense. The writers have returned us to one of the standard theories of television: a majority of great, layered television will somehow be an extension of the Twilight Zone, which itself borrowed from weird fiction writers, though I suppose a microcosmic hell would have also fit that bill. Anyway, the underlying conflict of the show is similar to the plot of "the Howling Man." Some relatively human force imprisons evil incarnate, another human lets it loose, and the latter becomes the new caretaker...only for the process to be revealed as cyclical (I'm oversimplifying, so watch the episode). Of course, in Lost's case, Jacob was able to imprison evil incarnate for a far more substantive amount of time.
I'm not going to lie, the "reunion" made me tear up. This had little to do with the dialog written for Isabella and more to do with the sheer magnitude of the encounter, as Richard had lived 150 odd years wanting to reunite with her. Ironically, the only legitimate way for him to accomplish this in a full sense (yeah yeah, everyone "haunts" everyone, especially Hurley) is for him to die. Hopefully, he'll finally be able to RIP when they have their climactic conflict with Flocke (teehee, course correcting).
Finally, I can't wait for Flocke's con to blow up in his face. While O'Quinn is doing good job portraying MiB, I'm tired of people accepting him. Even if the con is obvious to us, more of the Losties should display better judgment. They know that the smoke monster killed Eko and has been frakking with them since the get-go. As such, they cannot trust these contrived rationalizations he's telling them. I guess Richard's remark that MiB is an unrepentant killer, regardless of how he polishes his acts, is another reason I liked this episode so much. More of the characters need to directly challenge Flocke's flimsy attempts to explain his position, especially since Flocke isn't allowed to kill some of them.
Hmm, Jacob mentioned the overall argument he was trying to prove to MiB. Do you think that an individual sacrificing his outside life in order to become the new caretaker would be enough to convince MiB? I mean, he's been challenged before, but usually kills those contrarians instead of accepting their arguments. With the candidates, that doesn't appear to be an option. MiB will actually have to hear them out rather than silence them.
p.s. The further we get, the more I think Desmond will be the next Jacob (no, I don't care if his name "isn't written" on some silly cave wall). Arrrgh, two more weeks until the Desmond episode.
p.p.s. Loved the penal colony, Gospel of Luke, Heinz dilemma (well, one step further), and dagger irony.
p.p.p.s. After revisiting the Adventures of Brisco County Jr, I am convinced that Cuse needs to use his magical wit and connections to get Bruce Campbell into one of this season's episodes.
