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.

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LURKING, STILL LOST ON THE GRASSY KNOLL