LOST Lunch Wednesday: Ab Aeterno (Live Forever)

So what do we think about this episode? I apologize for not writing about the last few, but I just felt like we weren't learning anything new. The last 3 episodes (the Sayid-, Ben-, and Sawyer-centric ones) were amazing, don't get me wrong -- fantastic acting, good dialogue, and totally entertaining. But there wasn't much to blog about beyond being obsessed with Sayid, starting to feel a connection to Ben, and loving Sawyer's bad cop routine. But THIS episode really cracked open the proverbial can of worms. We got a boatload of religious references, and what I (and the Watcher) thought was a shout-out to Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Hee! Here are some random nuggets that we talked about at lunch today:

• Is the island Hell? Or some kind of Hellmouth? I personally don't believe the characters on the island are all dead. But there's definitely some kind of devilry going on. Given all the Catholic references we've got going on, is it Purgatory?
• Who's the bad guy -- Jacob or the Man in Black? They keep shifting the ground beneath our feet on that one. I'm starting to wonder if they aren't changing positions based on who they can 'recruit' to their side (note the hand-off of the white rock from Jacob to the MIB when he wins over Richard)
• There are some interesting parallels between Richard's story and Sayid's. Both are reluctant (or in Richard's case, accidental) killers, both are consumed by their guilt, in agony over their lost love, and both were very obviously portrayed as Christ figures before being dunked in water
• Also of note, the Bible passage Richard was reading in prison was from Luke, Chapter 4 where Jesus returns from 40 days of being tempted by the devil in the desert

I'm starting to feel like we're really building up to something with this show. The next episode is about Sun (who we learned is the Candidate, not Jin) and I'm guessing it will be similar to the Sayid/Ben/Sawyer episodes in terms of what is revealed. But then they've got to start showing us the goods and answering some of these questions!