Episode 6:07 - Dr. Linus

Last night's episode was classic LOST, a good story with great characters, more questions, a few answers, and a cliff-hanger ending.  I've heard a lot of complaints about Dr. Linus, but I'm not going to complain about any of the remaining LOST episodes.  Let's just enjoy the ride people!

Okay, so what did we learn last night?

7. Richard Alpert – If you have a pulse and are a fan of LOST, you’ve got to be wondering what the heck is going on with Richard Alpert (and I’m not talking about his guyliner)! He claims that Jacob gave him the ability to never age (can I get that in a bottle?), but we’re still not sure why. What brought Richard to the island? Why did Jacob select him to be his ‘advisor’? Does he have a relationship with Jacob’s nemesis? How old is this guy? One of my burning Richard-related questions comes from Season 3, Episode 20 (The Man Behind the Curtain). Richard meets young-Ben in the jungle, and this is the only time Richard’s appearance is different. His hair is long, his clothes are disheveled – what’s up with this? Why isn’t he clean cut Richard we’ve seen ever since? Weird. Let’s hope for some Alpert back story in Season 6.

So Richard came to the island on the Black Rock, in chains.  He reinforced that Jacob gave him the ability not to age and he is unable to kill himself.  We know the Black Rock set sail from England in March of 1845, making Richard really, really old.

11. What does it mean when Jacob touches you? - In Season 5, Episode 16 (The Incident), we see Jacob touch eight of our favorite Losties (Sawyer, Kate, Jack, Locke, Sayid, Hurley, Sun, and Jin) sometime during their life. He touches Sawyer, Kate, Jack, Locke, Sun and Jin before they travel to the island on 815 and touches Sayid and Hurley after they were rescued as part of the Oceanic Six. He also visits Illana in a Russian hospital and while we think he touched her, he was wearing gloves. When he touches John Locke after Locke falls eight stories, it appears that Jacob brings him back to life. What does this all mean? Will it have implications for the characters he touched in the future?


Richard explains that when Jacob touches you it's not a gift, it's a curse.  What does that mean?  We're still not sure, but it's a step closer.

18. Why can’t Ben kill Widmore? – In Season 4, Episode 9 (The Shape of Things to Come), Ben travels off the island Ben visits Widmore in his bedroom in the middle of the night. Widmore asks Ben if he’s come to kill him and Ben replies “we both know I can’t do that.” Why would this be? What is the relationship between these two characters and how will it end? Is one man good and the other man bad? Does the Widmore/Ben relationship shadow the Jacob/Man in Black relationship? I’m sure we’ll learn more about this relationship in Season 6.

We only saw Charles Widmore for a second at the end of this episode, so I'm sure a showdown is coming up soon!  How did Charles find his way back to the island and what will he do to Ben and the other Losties?

25. Who does Illana work for? – Illana (no last name) crashes on the island in 2007 after escorting Sayid on Ajira 316. Once the plane has crashed she and a few other survivors (including Bram) stuff John Locke’s corpse into a giant metal box and begin wandering around the island to find Jacob’s cabin. When they find Jacob’s cabin deserted, Illana takes the group to the ‘shadow of the statue’ where she shows John Locke’s body to Richard Alpert. We’ve seen both Illana and Bram before, off the island. Illana is visited by Jacob in Season 5, Episode 16 (The Incident) where she says she will ‘help him’. Bram throws Miles into a van in Season 5, Episode 13 (Some Like it Hoth) and tells him not to work for Widmore. So how are they connected to Jacob and the island? How does Illana know her way around the island enough to find Jacob’s cabin and the statue? Who do they work for, who are the “good guys”?

Jacob was "like a father" to Illana.  She also seems to know everything about the island, including Miles's ability to speak with the dead. I wish she'd start talking more!

31. Jacob’s Origins – I know I’m not alone when I say I hope that a large portion of Season 6 is dedicated to Jacob’s back story. Who is this guy? How long has he been on the island? How did he become the leader of the island? Is he good or bad? Did he ever live in that cabin, or has he always lived inside a foot? Does he travel on and off the island via the frozen donkey wheel or is there some other way? How does he know the Losties he traveled to touch? How does he make Richard Alpert seemingly immortal? Jacob must be explored in depth this season!

I don't know about you, but the more I learn about Jacob, the less I like him.  He forced Dogen to choose between his son's life and living on an island, he trapped the Temple Others in the Temple, he cursed Richard Alpert with eternal life on the island but never told him anything...Doesn't sound like a guy I'd want to make a deal with.

What else we learned:

Roger Linus eludes to the DHARMA Initiative in the flash-sideways.  This is the first time we've heard about DHARMA off island.

Illana tells us that there are only 6 candidates left.  She's not sure if Kwon refers to Jin or Sun.  So who could the six be? John Locke was crossed out, so that leaves five of our Losties (Hurley, Sawyer, Sayid, Jack, Sun/Jin).  Austen, number 51 is the only other name not crossed off that we've seen, so I think we can assume those are the 6 left.