SPOILERS AHEAD
The black smoke monster is the Devil and also a nice man wearing a black Tommy Bahama silk shirt.
Jacob is Good, or God, and he wears a cream colored Tommy Bahama silk shirt. Sometimes the two guys get together and say enigmatic things to each other. They exchange gifts like small rocks and wine carafes.
Richard Alpert, named for the real life modern philosopher Ram Dass, was once known as Ricardo, lived in Spain, and was taken prisoner on a ship to the island in the South Seas in 1867. With little else to do, he agreed to become Jacob’s assistant. His remuneration? To live forever.
And so “Lost” finally explained much of its loony back story last night. We kind of knew it already, but it was great to see Nestor Carbonell self learn English to the point where he was using slang in a short time. Also, Ricardo had a hot wife, which is nice to know since he’s spent the next 150 years presumably without a date.
“Lost” doesn’t make sense, but as it winds down, it’s nice to see the loose threads coming together–sort of. Richard Alpert has always been the most mysterious figure in the show. It’s unclear if the writers knew who he was except that he lived forever and had the name. For what it’s worth, we now know as much about him as we ever will.
The only new question raised this week: where did all those Tommy Bahama shirts come from?
