Lost Discussion Group: Latin Lover

While the fanboy in me would love a “Other 48 Days”-style straight-up immersion in the history of Richard, that wouldn’t be dramatically satisfying. I’m just most curious in something that should be revealed in the first act of the episode: does Richard have a sideways life?. Really, anything in the next hour will be fascinating, and I kind of applaud Damon and Carlton for creating a character so intriguing that, frankly, I really can’t conceive of a way I’m disappointed by whatever the episode presents.

I hope this will shed some light on Smokey. Even though Richard doesn’t know about the candidates, he sure seems to know about Smokey and a lot of the crazy Island stuff. In fact, I’ll just take it a step back and say I hope this episode wraps up a lot of little Island mythology questions (What’s the deal with the babies dying? Why broadcast the numbers? Why let the DI on-Island in the first place? Etc.).

I’ve sadly been thinking more and more that, considering the pace of the first half of the season, they’re not in a hurry to tell the story, so they won’t be answering as many questions as many of us had hoped. If we’re lucky, this is the episode to do answer as many questions that are inconsequential to the story resolution as they can.

Um, you mean aside from the whole “I never age” thing?

I’m actualy predicting (not a spoiler, since I have no inside information) that this episode is going to blow wide open our knowledge of the battle between Jacob and the Man in Black. What better character to explain/show the basis behind a centuries old conflict than a man who, apparently, does not age?

I also think we’ll learn more about what it means to have Jacob “touch” you…

But what I’d really like to know is why Alpert visited Locke as a child to give him that Dalai Lama-esque test all those years ago….

Am I the only one who giggles every time someone mentions being secretly “touched” by Jacob?

Yes. *serious look* ( :) )

Oh, one more thing — if you’ve noticed, this is just the 3rd episode this season to alter from Season 1′s template in terms of flashbacks/flashsideways storytelling:

Season 1 Pilot: flashback to plane; Season 6: flash side to plane. (SAME)

Season 1 Tabula Rasa – Kate flashback; Season 6 What Kate Does – Kate flash sideways (SAME)

Season 1 Walkabout – Locke flashback; Season 6 The Substitute – Locke flash sideways (SAME)

Season 1 White Rabbit – Jack flashback; Season 6 Lighthouse – Jack flash sideways (SAME)

Season 1 House of the Rising Sun – Sun & Jin flashback; Season 6 Sundown – Sayid flashback (DIFFERENT…but why? Also, note the similar titles)

Season 1 The Moth – Charlie flashback; Season 6 Dr. Linus – Ben flashback (Different, but almost had to be since Charlie isn’t on the island right now)

Season 1 Confidence Man – Sawyer Flashback; Season 6 Recon – Sawyer flash sideways (SAME).

Season 1 Solitary – Sayid flashback; Season 6 Ab Aeterno – Richard Alpert flash somewhere??

Notably, Solitary was the episode we first met Danielle Rousseau, a mysterious inhabitant of the island who had been there longer than the 815ers. So, thematically, having this episode be an Alpert episode would be somewhat similar.

To continue the pattern — the next episode after this should/could be a Claire episode (Season 1 was Raised by Another)

Pff…CLEARLY the wrong noun declension of the Latin word “lux”…

I’m sorry but this was all I could think of when the subject of Latin came up…

I have to agree with jnb987. I don’t have any overall questions regarding Richard that I want answered. He’s so mysterious that I’m happy we’re getting an episode devoted to him. Although I do agree with Chaddog in that I hope we’ll find out what being ‘touched’ entails.

And if Jacob touched Richard like he did Jack, Hurley, et all, does that make Richard a candidate? Is there (to borrow the off color metaphor up thread) a ‘good’ Jacob touch (a la Jack and our heroes) and a ‘bad’ Jacob touch (a la Richard the Undying One with Fantastic Eye lashes?)?

Re: the use of Latin by Richard and Jacob’s bodyguards. Although Latin stopped being the language of common people over 1500 years ago, it remained the main language of science and education. Scientific papers were published in Latin so that scientists from different European countries could read and understand them. Western society’s elites from the time of the Middle Ages to the early 20th century were supposed to study it. University lectures for subjects such as mathematics and medicine were presented in Latin for hundreds of years. Therefore the major universities of Europe and America (including Harvard) required a fluent knowledge of Latin (AND Greek) for admission. So a wealthy, well-educated man of the 19th century would be able to speak Latin.

Aside from the immortality, I suppose I’m most curious about Locke/Smokey’s comment “Nice to see you out of those chains.”

A slave? Prometheus? Why was he chained?

[And who in the heck was Smokey's crazy mom?]

Doesn’t Ab Aeterno mean “since the beginning of time” or something? I’m really excited for this episode. We know nothing about Richard, so it’ll be fascinating to learn any bit of his story.

Also, I just googled Ab Aeterno and it does mean from the beginning of time. So maybe we get to learn some ancient stuff!!

Also, I think Richard gave Locke that test because Locke time traveled to Richard in the 50s and told him he was going to be the leader of the Others. So when Richard gives him the test, one of the object was the compass that Locke had given him. He was hoping young Locke would recognize it as his own which would prove that older time-traveling Locke was correct. Does that make any sense?

With Ab Aeterno being episode 9 already… time flies… I see a big reveal coming our way. I love to finally see Ricardos as a young man, before he became eternal. The phrase is often used in theology for things like the universe, which were created outside of time. Who knows, maybe Richard was a priest in the 1850, or somehow entangled with the church, and just a passenger on the Black Rock. So he became entangled as a man of faith with Jacobs and Smokeys game…