3/23/2010

Lost Update - Running With The Devil


Lost Update - Season Six - 03/23/2010


I live my life-like there's no tomorrow
All I've got, I had to steal
Least I don't need to beg or borrow
Yes I'm living at a pace that kills

Yeah, running' with the devil
Running' with the devil
I'm gonna tell ya all about it

I found the simple life ain't so simple
When I jumped out, on that road
I got no love, no love you'd call real
Ain't got nobody, waiting' at home


Tonight we finally find out about the mysterious Richard Alpert, the man who doesn't age. We also find out that he made a pact with the devil for eternal life. However, the six year question is, who is the devil that made the deal, Jacob or the Man-In-Black?

The song lyrics above, penned by Van Halen, hone in on what life for Richard has been since 1867, when he lost his wife and made the deal with the devil. He's been running with the devil ever since, with no home life, no love of his own. But if Lost is about the devil and God, and heaven and hell, how does my theory hold water, or wine, if you are Jacob?

Just what is the Grassy Knoll Institutes Lost theory….I’ve been waiting six years to tell you…..
Although it appears the survivors of Oceanic flight 815 are on a tropical island, they are being deceived. There is no island. The survivors are in a virtual reality laboratory. All the castaways are interconnected to one another sharing each others thoughts, memories, and feelings. While in this virtual reality laboratory, a battery of physical and mental experiments are performed on them. And who is running these experiments? As Juliet stated, the Aliens of course.

Tonight, while the group was gathered around a campfire, Ilana asks Richard what to do next. Richard replies that he doesn't know. After being pressed, Richard becomes frantic and says he's going to tell everyone a secret. He says to Jack that he's dead, that were all dead, and the island, it's not what you think it is, they are not on an island, they are in hell. Richard runs off in the jungle and this starts his back story.

Here is Richards story in a nutshell. Take a deep breath and continue...
Richard was alive in 1867, his wife Isabella is gravely ill, he seeks the doctor to help her, the doctor is a major prick, says it's going to cost him plenty, Richard gives him everything he has, it's not enough, Richard gives him Isabella's cross and chain, the doctor tosses it to the floor claiming it is worthless. Richard goes crazy, tries to wrestle the medicine from the doctors hands, the doctor falls, hits his head, and dies. Richard flees with the medicine, but he's to late, Isabella is dead. The police burst in, take Richard to jail, condemn him to death, the priest refuses to give him absolution, says he will meet the devil in hell. On his way to the gallows, meets with Whitfield, asks if he can speak English, Richard answers yes, he becomes the property of Captain Magnus Hanso, shackled on the Black Rock ship, the ship crashes on the Lost island, only a few survivors, Whitfield kills all the prisoners except Richard. Smoky intervenes, kills the sailors above deck, and Whitfield as well, comes face to face with Richard, growling and scary sounds going on, Smoky leaves. Richard tries to escape, he cannot, he sees Isabella, she says they are dead and in hell, Smoky returns, Isabella runs, but not fast enough, MIB appears, helps Richard out of his chains, asking for his help, Richard agrees. MIB tells Richard that to get out of hell, you must kill the devil, gives knife to Richard, same speech mIB gave to Sayid, same results, Jacob lives, befriends Richard, baptizes him, shares wine with him, shows the cork, keeping evil trapped, hires Richard as intermediary, Richard asks to live forever, Jacob grants it, Richard gives MIB white stone, Richard begins his sojourn. And here we are...... Exhale slowly.....

As I stand atop my pulpit tonight, I see many a wide eyed Lost fans believing that the writers have lied to them when they claimed that the castaways were not dead and not in heaven or hell. But here we are, with only 7 episodes left, and all we hear now is heaven and hell, good and evil, God and the devil. Who can you believe? Who can you trust? One thing is for certain. You cannot trust Ben. He always lies. It's his nature. However, you can trust me. I have not yet led you astray. I have charted my course and kept a steady hand at the wheel and piloted you through the rough and choppy waters and shown you the way of virtual reality.

Richard in his many years on the island, has been seeking redemption for the murder he committed long ago. He is doing his penance. Running with the devil. His test, how far will a man go to regain the love of his life, to honor his dead wife, to achieve redemption. He's been at it for 150 years and it looks like he's about to win. But wait, 150 years old, and he hasn't aged a bit? What type of magic is this? Certainly we can rule out human science and medicine as factors. That leaves only two choices. Supernatural, God and the Devil, or Virtual Reality, where the castaways are being experimented on without their knowledge.

Lets analyze for a moment shall we. I do not know of any religion where a knife is used to either destroy the God or the devil so the other can escape. The bible states that God cast Lucifer from Heaven to rule Hell for all eternity. That is two places. Heaven and Hell. Jacob and MIB are in one place. The island. And if they are dead, are they completely dead, or just mostly dead? I ask this because if they are dead, several castaways died twice, and some castaways came back from their first death, or their second, and interacted with the dead, who thought they were living. See my point. It cannot be the road the writers are on.

As Sherlock Holmes famously spoke, "That when you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth?" Which leads us to Virtual Reality. Look at all the impossible events witnessed on the Lost island. An invisible island, a smoke monster, a man that doesn't age, an island that cannot be found, an island that moves, time travel, alternate realities, miraculous healing properties, Juliet and her amazing rack, seeing dead people, talking to dead people, dead people coming back to life. When you attempt to apply all the other lost theories to all these events, they fall short which leads us back to Sherlock.

Tidbits From Tonight's Episode:

* Richard is from the Canary Islands, was alive in 1867.

* The Black Rock tumbled the statue.

* There's a a lot of dead people walking around.

* Richard makes a pact not only with MIB, but also with Jacob. Big time conflict there.

* Jacob says there are many names for hell. One of them could virtual reality.

* Jacob explains containing evil on the island to Richard through an illustration of the cork in the wine bottle holding the dark liquid inside.

* MIB smashed the wine bottle.

* Hurley speaks to Isabella. Relays message to Richard.

* Richard must stop MIB from leaving the island.

A final note. Jacob reiterated tonight that he will not interfere with the castaways. They must choose what they believe as right and wrong. They must choose their own path. What good is it if Jacob tells them what to do. They must find it our for themselves.

Just as any controlled experiment, the subject must be motivated enough to perform without knowledge of said experiments for pristine data to be recorded. That is why Jacob stays on the sidelines only observing.

Until next week, get Lost!

A special Shout out to Travis from Las Vegas. I told you Richard was going to say they weren't on an island.


LURKING, STILL LOST ON THE GRASSY KNOLL


50 comments:

  1. First to comment again. I knew tonight was going to be great. Richard, the black rock, living forever, making a deal with Jacob. A real jawdropper when he tells Jack that is is dead and in hell. Sounds a lot like a religious theme, making deals with the devil, but I don't think it is, that the writers would tip their hand and be so blatant to comeout and say they are dead and in hell.

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  2. No no no....... The island is the gateway between heavan and hell. Jacob is talking to Illana when she appears to be in a coma. Jacob and MIB are the gatekeepers to each portal. Everyone that follows MIB goes to Hell and the ones that follow Jacob get a pass to heavan. They are the final judgement.

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  3. Last night rocked. We finally got to see where Hanso came from. Captain Hanso from the Black Rock prisoner ship. MIB has been trying to kill Jacob for years. I did notice one thing, Jacob has a good right cross. He beat up Richard pretty good. Can't believe only a few more weeks left of Lost.

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  4. I saw this episode coming a mile away. I found it interesting that Richard tried to explain that the island they see, what it around them, that it's not really an island. Exactly what I said at the very beginning. And Richard believes he is in hell when in reality, it's virtual reality.

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  5. Glad you returned Fox. And yes, the show has gravitated heavily towards the religious side of the equator, but, if it is heaven and hell, then the writers have already shown their hand and the end game is over.

    Also, I'm Catholic. I believe in a heaven and a Hell. My faith dictates that while living, you must obey the teachings of Jesus to enter into the kingdom of Heaven. If you do not, you are condemned to an eternity in Hell.

    On Lost, it would seem you are saying these people have the ability to change their fate after they died. A shot of redemption at some sort of weigh station, where you get another chance to choose good or evil. So for the millions of Catholics who watch, that is not how the afterlife is.

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  6. Yes, last night's episode was pretty entertaining. Richard has a dark side, he is a murderer but a devout religious person. Great conflict.

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  7. don't you mean the same speech Dogen gave Sayid.

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  8. So at what point would Richard have entered the virtual reality experiment? He believes he has been alive for over 150 years so has the VR been running for longer than that? I'm with you on your theory just trying to gut check it against character timelines

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  9. Richard got his ass kicked by MIB (in lockes body) and by Jacob. I have not seen either hit anyone else. Why are they beating up on Richard.

    While Jacob control the good and MIB controls the evil, I think Richards role is control over the gray area in the middle (the island)

    The island is the cork. Good is the space outside the bottle, and evil is the wine inside. That was a nice visual. I would like to hear some thoughts on this. If you rememeber in the beginning when the island was under water... Does that mean the bottle was upside down?

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  10. I am back on the wagon.. I was LOST but now I am found. This weeks episode saved me.

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  11. Yes, exactly. Dogens speech.

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  12. That's the beauty of the VR theory. Richard only believes he has been given the gift of immortality. He only believes he has been living on the island for over 150 years. He only believes that he has had dealings with not only the devil himself, but with God as well.

    For all the castaways, the time inside the virtual reality experiment need not be exactly measured. It's like a dream, some dreams seem to be a week long when in reality they were merely seconds or minutes long. Same with Richard. he was introduced to the longevity scenario, to see what the gift of immortality would do to the psyche. For Richard, it made him want to end his life.

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  13. Perhaps Richard is both Jacob's and MIB's constant. The object that keeps both grounded.

    One thing about the cork analogy, keeping the evil bottled up inside not letting it spread. The genie is already out of the body. Look at mankind, murder, war, rape, theft. Millions of people a year die at the hand of other people. Evil is out in full force. So Jacob thinking that somehow keeping MIB on the island is keeping evil at bay, he is grossly mistaken.

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  14. I once was lost
    But now am found
    Was blind but now I see

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  15. Lost Believer3/24/2010 11:23 AM

    I am thinking that we are seeing the opposite of good and evil. I mean Jacob is the evil one and MIB is the good one. Just because Jacob is wearing white doesn't make him the good guy. MIB wants to get everyone off the island, to stop the insanity and suffering. Jacob wants them to stay and wants more people to come.

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  16. scarlett711773/24/2010 11:47 AM

    I definitely feel like that would be Richard's idea of hell- anywhere without his wife. Hell can be a state of mind, not just a geographical location.


    Some interesting tidbits:

    I found it really interesting that Jacob dunked Richard 3x- just like a baptism. (Some sources say he was dunked four times, but I think that first one was a fall.) And the concept of Confirmation by putting a hand on the shoulder too.

    The title (Ab Aeterno) comes from a really interesting bible passage: Proverbs 8:23 : "I was appointed from eternity, from the beginning, before the world began." And when Richard was confessing to the priest, the bible was open to Luke 4:24 "And he said, Verily I say unto you, No prophet is accepted in his own country." Chapter four begins with Jesus' temptation by the devil.

    For anyone who cares or doesn't know the story, the name Jacob means supplanter. What is a supplanter?

    1 : to supersede (another) especially by force or treachery
    2 a (1) obsolete : uproot (2) : to eradicate and supply a substitute for b : to take the place of and serve as a substitute for especially by reason of superior excellence or power.


    Biblical reference there too in Genesis 25. Jacob and his brother Esau. :-)

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  17. Best show of the new season! It's getting good again.

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  18. Just noticed Jacob was in all black at the beginning of the show

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  19. Yes, I fleshed out this scenario in several recent updates. Just because Jacob looks like the good guy, doesn't mean he is.

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  20. Good and evil do not necessarily have to be religious, and perhaps MIB is a whole new kind of evil the likes of which we have never seen, and don't want to.
    As for dead people walking around, I think MIB pretends to be the dead people to manipulate the castaways. Hurley sees the real dead people.

    At least we know what the battle is now, to keep the evil on the island. Now it's time to fill in the missing pieces.

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  21. This makes sense for Richard. He is a very religious man. What better way to keep him in line during the virtual reality experiments than to threaten him with eternal damnation and coming face to face with the devil.

    Each castaway is fine tuned in their scenario, but all having the same experience. Look at all the castaways, they all have the same scenario, same experiment, but yet, a variable changes each ever so slightly.

    Case in point, threatening Sawyer with the devil wouldn't work to well. Giving him the opportunity to kill the man who murdered his parents, well, there's his motivation, his variable.

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  22. Agreed Daman, and can't wait for the series finale.

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  23. I don't think the clothes they wear equals good or evil. perhaps the writers just tossed that in because people are conditioned to believe that.

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  24. How true Ben. Perhaps Jacob is that new kind of evil. He is the one forcing the plane crashes, making the castaways suffer, causing some to die, torturing them, putting them through hell. doesn't really sound like a good guy to me.

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  25. jacob is clearly righteous there is no question in my mind. how asinine would it be that JACOB biblical good guy name is evil? and THE SMOKE MONSTER is some how the good guy? you got to be kidding me! i mean the actor who plays jacob, how could he look anymore spiritual. And look how well terry O'quinn has transformed his look to be completly sinister.

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  26. i can... i dont want it to end!!

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  27. I remember the old Western movies. The bad guys always wore black and the good guys always white. We are conditioned to think this way. Sort of like all motorcycle riders are in the Hell's Angels and are thugs. In actuality, some of the nicest people you ever want to meet are motorcycle riders, and some are in the Hells Angels. And sometimes, bad guys wear white. Clothes do not make the man.

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  28. True, when the finale airs, Lost is over. The writers even said they will not be doing any interviews after the finale airs. However, I would like to know if my theory is correct or not. I stated from the very beginning that I have a one in a million chances of being correct, but 999 thousand theories have fallen short and I am in the home stretch.

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  29. Had a thought....what if there are two smoke monsters...jacob as one and mib as one. One kills and the other does that scanning thing.

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  30. only seen episode last night. Damn Irish TV. Anywho, what about the fact that Richard didnt die BEFORE he made the pact for everlasting life? he was about to be hung,ship crashes,about to be stabbed and he goes without water for seemingly days...
    Just one more question (cant remember if it was ever answered, maybe its a stupid question). remember Kate seen the big horse on the island?? where did that come from or go?

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  31. Did anyone interpet what Hurley was saying in that foreign language at the beginning?

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  32. Anything is possible. In several updates back, I also brought up this scenario, since Jacob went up in smoke, hence, logically, he could be a smoke monster as well.

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  33. I see your point, but when you look at all the castaways on the island, they also had extreme experiences getting to the island.

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  34. Kates horse, along with many other island anomalies can be explained with my virtual reality theory. The horse was Kate's constant, what kept her grounded.

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  35. i was hoping someone would bring that up and know the answer.

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  36. How would you know that unless you've been there? You seem to know how "God" works, professing your Catholicism and all, but being who God is, wouldn't you think he'd give everyone 1 last shot just since he's such a swell and nice guy? But instead of letting us know it is our last try, actually make us think we are still alive? Quite brilliant if you ask me, but who am I right? ... Oh, by the way, I had to say this because you are Catholic, but what about pergatory? Aren't you one of the only Christ following religions that believes in pergatory, and since you do, what would that be? THE ISLAND, haha

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  37. Do you believe God to be good? Planes crash, people suffer, people die, people are tortured, and this all happens on God's watch. The true essence of God is within us all to make the choices ourselves to do what is right. We must block out the urge to what is evil; revenge, greed, etc. We must supress the darkness within us all to bask in the light. By the way this is a Kabalistic view...not the Force.

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  38. Plus, if you were going to recruit a guy to kill Jacob, wouldn't you go for quantity? Any of the ship's crew could have done it, why were they all killed only to leave one slave inside the ship?

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  39. Well played...... I am actually excited for LOTGK's response...

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  40. Becuase the slave would be the most grateful.

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  41. Justin, about Purgatory, they cannot be there for one reason alone. In Purgatory, one requirement is that you must be DEAD to enter. And, as we all know, the writers have stated that the castaways are not dead. At least not yet.

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  42. The force is strong in this one Obi Wan.....

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  43. Very good point, but old smoky was killing everyone on the ship perhaps to avoid a reset, as in what has been occurring for Millennium. Smoky left Richard alive recognizing his religious beliefs knowing he could prey on them in hopes he would do his bidding and kill Jacob.

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  44. It´s like the devil is locked in the island, if he goes out kabum! the judgement day, everyone will be affected by the dark and the hell will be earth, only good people will resist evil but off course they will died, so slowly earth will become hell!
    I wouldnt discharge the idea of Supernature, God and the devil yet, its like it all goes around of people nature, people ability to understand whats wrong or right where is the limit, killing for love is less wrong? Maybe, maybe the intentions count.
    Its like the MIB only wants to go out and kill those who doesnt worship him, maybe he wants to have his followers, be worshiped.
    And Jacob try to probe him wrong, people will know to act good, so he is just trying Mib to surrender and stop being the devil, Lucifer redemption.
    I think that if the comments says that we dont have to expect a happy ending, its probable that the MIB escapes, but one more thing achieves this, if Jack or other replace jacob the same history will continue, so it wouldnt be a real final. The other option off course for a real ending is MIB redemption or being killed.
    If your theory is right i have to say its sounds probable and its very very good when the experiment ends? they have been playing around for a long time, if they are aliens fighting, what are they deciding, because the most important thing of an experiment is the reason of the objective, so if MIB is right, what? The final season wil become the day of independece? and if Jacob is right the will let us live?
    I dont want to be exigent but there are few chapters left, do you have some sort of theory about the end? it would be interesting!

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  45. What Hurley said was: "yes, i can help you but i dont know how to find him, i dont know where he is going..." he was talking spanish. He was talking with Isabella thats why he was talking spanish. And he was referring to Richard

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  46. I do have a ending. Check out my previous updates, the series finale is in there.

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  47. Thanks mate, love the write ups

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  48. You are very welcome hickman.

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  49. what is the black smoke and is Jacob the devil or god like? why is Jack now Jacobs replacement then Hurly? I don't get what Desmonds doing taking the cork out of the pit? what is that the goodness running out and then to put it back is that like to fix it all. are they all dead and did they go to heaven? so if so what about Desmond,Jack and Hurly?

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  50. Have you not seen the series finale from 2010?

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