- Last night’s Lost finally exposed the mysterious past of Richard Alpert, the un-aging man who has one of the longest tenures on the island, while also answering quite a few major questions about the island’s past. The hour kicks off with Jacob, the island’s mysterious protector, visiting Ilana in the hospital and giving her a mission to protect those who would ultimately comprise the Oceanic 6. He explains that once they arrive on the island, she is to take them to temple and ask Richard what to do next. It’s then back to the present and to the island, where a group consisting of Hurley, Jack, Sun, Ilana, Richard, Ben and Richard sit on the beach around a campfire. When the talk turns to the Oceanic 6 being “candidates,” Hurley asks for what. Sun explains that they are candidates to replace Jacob and when Ilana relays the information she was given by Jacob to ask Richard what the next step is, he flips out. He snaps that none of what they see or experience on the island is real and that in fact, they are all in hell. With that, he decries his years spent in service of Jacob and says he is off to find someone new to follow. Off he runs into the jungle and Ilana wants to follow him, but Ben talks her out of it. Down the beach, Hurley is speaking Spanish to someone, but when asked who it is, he says no one. We then jump back in time to 1867 and to the Canary Islands, where a long-haired Richard is riding a horse through the countryside. He dismounts and enters a house where his wife, Isabella, is sick and dying. He rides to get a doctor, but the doctor is an arrogant man who refuses to ride so far to see Richard’s wife. He says that he has medicine that will heal her, but when Richard’s payment is insufficient, the merciless doctor refuses to go or give him the medicine. They brawl, Richard shoves him and the doctor falls into the sharp edge of a table, breaks his neck and dies. Richard takes the medicine and leaves, but by the time he gets home, Isabella is already dead. He is thrown in jail for murder and is next seen in a cell, reading Luke 4:37 in English in a worn Bible. A friar enters and speaks to him and Richard explains that he and his wife were going to New World and he was learning English for that reason. Asked if he is ready to make his confession, Richard says yes and admits to accidentally killing to the doctor. The friar tells him that there will be no forgiveness for him because he has no time to do his penance - he’ll be hanged tomorrow. But Richard’s life is spared when a man in a sailor’s uniform shows up at the fort and asks to see him because Richard speaks English. The sailor, named Whitfield, asks if he does indeed speak English. At first, Richard won’t respond, but he changes his mind and Whitfield asks him if he still wants to go to the New World. Richard is then informed that he is now the property of Cpt. Magnus Hansson and put on the Black Rock, the slave ship to the New World that we know ended up shipwrecked on the island. During the night, the boats bounces on stormy seas and Richard looks through an opening in the side of the ship and sees the now-infamous four-toed statue off the coast of the island. The Black Rock smashes into the statue and somehow ends up in middle of jungle. When morning dawns, Whitfield comes below and begins killing slaves because as he puts it, if they were freed, they would be competition for food and supplies. Before he can kill the last of the slaves - Richard, the Black Smoke Monster comes to the ship, kills all four officers above deck and comes below to snatch and kill Whitfield. The BSM comes back for Richard but stops inches from his face as Richard recites a prayer. When he opens his eyes, the BSM is gone. However, he is still chained to the wall of the ship and can’t get free. For days on end, he struggles to free himself, to no avail. One day, as he lays passed out on the floor, Richard awakes to the sight of a wild boar picking over the carcass of one of the other dead slaves. The boar comes charging at Richard, but he ducks out of the way and when he looks up, the beast is gone. Suddenly, Isabella appears on the ship and explains that they are both in dead and in hell right now. She has come to save him before “the devil” comes back. Unfortunately, when she steps above deck, the BSM snatches her away. Later on, the Man in Black comes aboard the ship and gives Richard water. He also to free Richard if he agrees to help him. The Man in Black says they are in fact in hell, but they can escape if they kill the devil. Out in the jungle, they make camp and feast on wild boar. The MIB gives Richard directions to walk to the ocean, hang a few turns and find the base of the four-toed statue. Once there, he will find the devil and must plunge a dagger through his heart before the devil can speak, otherwise he will have no chance to kill him. Oddly, these are the same instructions Doken gave Sayid back in the present and at the temple earlier this season in regards to faux Locke, which is of course the BSM occupying Locke’s body. The Man in Black says the devil took his body and his humanity. Richard goes to the base of statue but before he can figure anything out, he gets his ass kicked by Jacob. Jacob says he’s not in hell and that he is not the devil and when Richard isn’t convinced, Jacob takes him to water and keeps dunking him over and over again until Richard admits he isn’t dead, isn’t in hell and wants to live. They sit down on the beach for a chat and when Richard asks why they aren’t going inside the base of the statue, Jacob says only those he invites are allowed in. He goes on to explain that he is not the devil and in actuality, the island and his presence there are best explained by a jug of wine that he is holding. He likes the island to the cork on the bottle and explains that the island is keeping the very essence of evil, which is everywhere in the world under various names, contained just as the cork keeps the wine in the bottle. Jacob then explains that the Man in Black is that evil and that he, Jacob, brings people to the island in an attempt to prove to the MIB that not everyone is corruptible and that some want to do good. However, everyone he has brought to the island has ended up dead. Asked why he didn’t step in to help them, Jacob states that he wanted them to help themselves. It’s eerily like the concept that God gives man free will and allows him to live as he pleases and does not step in to control the day-to-day lives of men. Jacob then offers Richard the job as to intermediary to those whom he brings to the island so Richard can step in to provide that help. In exchange, he asks Richard what he wants. When Richard asks for his wife back, Jacob informs him that he can’t give that. Richard’s next request is for absolution and that request is denied as well. Finally, Richard says he wants to live forever and that, Jacob says, is a wish he can grant. With that, he sends Richard back into the jungle to meet the Man in Black and to deliver a gift, a white rock, and a message: I have won this round. Undeterred, the MIB says to Richard that his earlier offer stands and will indefinitely. That offer was for Richard to get his wife back and be free from hell, which the MIB insists the island is. When Richard looks up, the MIB is gone, having handed him his wife’s cross necklace and vanished. Back in the present, Richard is rushing through the jungle and stops at the same spot where he buried the necklace after the MIB gave it to him so many years ago. He unearths the necklace and is surprised to see Hurley coming after him. Despite being berated for following, Hurley tells Richard that he has been speaking to Isabella and that she’s here now. To prove it, Hurley says that Isabella told him to ask Richard why he buried her necklace. Hurley then acts as medium and helps Isabella tell Richard it’s not his fault she died. He can’t see her but eventually is able to sense her presence. Once she says what she needs to say, she leaves. Before she goes, tells Hurley to tell Richard he must stop man in black from leaving the island or “we all go to hell.” The camera then switches to faux Locke standing on a hill nearby looking on. Back in past, Jacob and the Man in Black talk on a hill overlooking the jungle. The Man in Black asks Jacob to allow him to leave the island and Jacob says no. The MIB shows no regret for having Richard try to kill Jacob and vows to try again. Of course, we know the island’s rules stipulate that the MIB cannot do the killing himself. Jacob hands him the jug of wine and walks off, promising to see him soon. The smashes it and says to no one in particular, “Sooner than you think.” Overall, a truly bizarre and out-there episode, a lot of things explained but those revelations are pushing the entire show further toward the brink of absolute absurdity. Tune in next week to see if that push continues………
- Score one for the animal-rights kooks, er, activists. Lovers of the animal kingdom worldwide are celebrating the decision to reject a bid from Tanzania and Zambia to temporarily suspend a worldwide ban on trading in African elephant ivory so they can offload legal stockpiles in an “everything must go” sale. The decision was made at the 175-nation Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES), meeting in Doha, Qatar, on Monday. Delegates voted to reject the proposal amid concerns about elephant poaching and shoot down a petition from the two African countries. The delegates also rejected a petition to remove elephants from a list of animals "threatened with extinction" to allow trade in other parts of the animal was also thrown out. "Poaching and illegal ivory markets in central and western Africa must be effectively suppressed before any further ivory sales take place," said Elisabeth McLellan, of the World Wildlife Fund (WWF). The decision isn’t likely to sit well with growing ivory markets in countries such as China and Japan. CITES banned the international commercial ivory trade in 1989 after elephant populations dropped dramatically across the world, but it doubled back in 1997 and allowed Botswana, Namibia, South Africa and Zimbabwe to sell limited stocks of ivory to Japan. Then in 2002, at a CITES meeting, further sales of stockpiled ivory were permitted in return for a nine-year moratorium on further sales. Both Zambia and Tanzania wanted delegates to believe that their elephant populations were sufficiently on the rise to merit the allowance of ivory sales, but to no avail. Tanzania asked to sell almost 90,000 kilograms of ivory that would have generated as much as $20 million and Zambia was hocking more than 21,000 kilograms. Critics refute the claims that elephant populations are growing and that poaching is on the decline. So props to CITES for stepping up to continue the protection of our pachyderm pals, it’s much appreciated……….
- Wherever you are in the world, the following policy holds true for one and all: If it’s free, it’s for me. People love free stuff and if you don’t believe me, just look at the lines snaking around the block outside your local Denny’s (and no, that’s not the line of Denny’s hostesses Tiger Woods is screening for his next mistress) offers a free Grand Slam breakfast. If people will throw away three hours of their life just for some scrambled eggs, toast, sausage links and silver dollar pancakes, then they will do most anything for free stuff. Many businesses in the United States are picking up on this trend and offering their own take on giving away something for free. Tuesday has become the choice day for giving away free items and on March 23, Starbucks did something that stunned even me: offering a free pastry with the purchase of any brewed or iced coffee until 10:30 a.m. Yeah, because that’s going to make up for a decade-plus of charging people $7 for a damn large coffee with milk and foam, ass hats. Still, leave it to Starbucks to offer something free, but only if you purchase something else first. Verrrrry generous of you, Starbucks. Take a hint from Ben & Jerry's, which is celebrated Free Cone Day on the same day, except it was just a free cone without the purchase of anything else. You didn’t have to throw down five bucks for a hot-fudge sundae before you got the free cone. For Ben & Jerry’s, Free Cone Day is a tradition dating back to 1979. Of course, the idea behind the free giveaway - whether it’s a taco, a sandwich, a pastry or other food item - is to draw customers in with the hope that while they are they for their free item, they will purchase something else that they would not have been on hand to buy if not for the giveaway. In 2009, KFC had the backing of none other than Oprah Winfrey for its grilled chicken giveaway and National Pancake Day at IHOP was the largest one-day event in the 51-year history of the company. As always, people love free stuff and if it’s free, they’ll take three…..and they will wait in line for a long time to get it…………
- Damn. Anything that is going to drive up drug prices for Average Joe Druggie is not cool with me and I can’t help but feel that the arrest of Jose Antonio Medina Reguin, a drug kingpin suspect believed to be the major supplier of heroin to the United States, by Mexican police today isn’t going to help. Reguin, known as the "King of Heroin" or "Don Pepe," is suspected of smuggling up to 441 pounds of heroin into the United States each month. To the police who arrested him, I ask this: Now who is going to smuggle that heroin into this country? How is the average heroin user on the street going to get his or her fix now? And oh yeah, less heroin means a higher demand for less product, thus higher prices, which a poor, struggling heroin addict cannot afford. Additionally, less drugs for the same amount of heroin users means someone isn’t going to get their fix and you can bet that violence will ensue. Sure, arresting a guy who made up to $12 million monthly seems like something to pound your chest about, but since when do we persecute people for having an entrepreneurial spirit? Reguin wanted to get rich on the backs of destitute, toothless heroin addicts living on welfare and you had a problem with that? But just because Reguin was arrested in Mexico doesn’t mean he will stand trial there. Mexican officials have already stated that they will initiate judicial proceedings to honor an extradition request from the United States. What amazes me is that according to authorities in Mexico, Medina worked alone, without formal affiliation to any drug cartel. This guy was in danger not just from the law, but from cartels that I am certain did not appreciate having someone with no link to them usurp their business. His preferred modus operandi for smuggling his product into the U.S. was inside hidden compartments in cars and other overland vehicles. Now, someone is going to have to step up and fill the void that his arrest has created and soon…………
No comments:
Post a Comment