Proletaria-tron: Well this episode was decent in my opinion. I didn’t mind the alternate timeline story at all. We got to see what I would expect from Linus. His life sucked, and he was still a scheming little bastard. And this time he didn’t betray Alex. We also found out that that Dharma Initiative still exists in this timeline but somehow the island doesn’t hold the same properties that it did in the normal timeline.
As far as the regular timeline went we got an answer! Richard Alpert was “touched” by Jacob and thats what caused him to stay young forever. Hes immortal, he can’t even kill himself and apparently Jack has some sort protection from the dying by being a “Candidate”. So it seem that Richard came over on the Black Rock and hasn’t aged a day since. So 2 answers really. I don’t really have much else to say about this episode. It was solid but not a hell of a lot happened. Some more political manipulation by the Smoke Monster to what I’m thinking is tricking someone to take his place so he can leave. Also I was less drunk for this one. Not sober but less drink. Arse-bot how’d you feel about it?
Arse-bot: I actually have mixed feelings about this episode… I found it interesting and slightly boring all at the same time and I think that’s because of what Proletaria touched on already: It was a solid episode, but not a lot happened – but a few very profound things did.
The alternate time-line was pretty interesting, but more than the story the little tidbit about Linus still having been to the island, only this time they didn’t stay. So there it is again, the island is still playing a role even in this time-line – even if for now it’s minimal. I have a feeling though that the fact that Linus has been to the island may come into play in this alternate time-line.
The regular time-line was fairly good as well this episode. This Jack and Hurley adventure is probably what has me most interested right now and it seems the more they find out, the closer to the edge Jack gets – it took a lot of balls to just sit there with a lit stick of dynamite tempting fate. As Proletaria pointed out, Alpert is immortal because he has been “touched” by Jacob and somehow Jack’s candidacy appears to be protecting him. My guess is this is why the bomb never went off and how our favorite castaways have escaped certain death continuously since LOST began.
Ben Linus’ main time-line story was definitely interesting. We find out that everything that has happened has had a profound effect on him despite is portrayal of a constantly detached demeanor. His plea to spare his life and how he has given Jacob everything with little in return was a highlight of this episode for me. And now, we have Jack, Hurley and Alpert reuniting with Sun, Ben and the others on the beach – with Widmore in a damn submarine right off the beach.