Season 3, Episode 20: "The Man Behind the Curtain"

Whoa. Probably the biggest episode this season so far in terms of content, and to prove it, most of the Lost fanboy sites I visit have crashed due to the massive amount of traffic that Wednesday's episode generated. There are a TON of questions that came out of the latest shocker of the season. This post will most likely be a bit of a ramble cause there is just too much stuff to go over, but I'll give it my best shot.

Let's try and take look at this one chronologically, shall we? First off we learn that, once again, Ben is a dirty liar and the was not in fact born on the Island. After around 9 or 10 years of presumably unsuccessful times, his father (aka Uncle Rico from Napoleon Dynamite) re-connects with Horace Goodspeed (aka annoying Percy from The Green Mile), who hooks him up with the Dharma Initiative. Just like that, we see Ben's real introduction to the Island.

During initiation on the Island Dr. Marvin Candle makes an appearance in an all too familiar role as he directs new employees via videotape talking about things like "harnessing the Island's properties for the advancement of world peace" and what not. Roger starts showing us his dark side as he grows angry with receiving "work man" status in this Socialist-like commune. As we move forward, Rogers anger - like his taste for ice-cold Dharma brewed beer - grows steadily. While the writing through this part was a little below Lost standards, we learn that Roger blames Ben for his mother's death and BAM, Ben's got his own set of Daddy issues (which seems to be all the rage in Lost Land these days), and more importantly, he's got a reason KILL EVERYONE.

Well, not really. He sees his dead mom and since he's all set with Dharma life he packs up his trusted bunny heads out to the Jungle. And here's where things start to get interesting. The whispers are back and this time they sound like a man and a women having a conversation. Things like "he is her son" and "he can't help us" are supposedly heard. And then out of nowhere long haired hippie version of Richard Alpert appears and tells Ben to think about his decision and to be patient. But the most important revelation here is that - being privy to what's going on in the future - we realized that Richard hasn't aged a day since this conversation, which was at least 30 years ago from the present.

I think there are two possibilities working here. The more obvious one is that Richard is an Island native and has benefited from one of its many powers. We know from the Hanso Foundation website and from past episodes that one of the Dharma Initiatives was researching "Life Extension." Additionally, towards the beginning of the episode, Ben says to Richard, "Today is my birthday. You do remember birthdays, don't you Richard?" Therefore, it is believable that Richard has inherited this anti-aging power via the Island. It would make sense that only natives can acquire this ability because Ben, who we know is not an Island native, clearly ages as time passes. You may ask, "why do they need kids then?" Well, they need kids cause they're not immortal - they can die just like the rest of us - so they still need kids to perpetuate the utopia that is OtherLand, even if they aren't Island born. You may also ask, "well, if Richard was born there, why can't they bear children now?" And to that I would say....I don't know.

Another possibility is that (and this is a bit out there) Richard isn't real. He's a figment of Ben's imagination. That, or he's just like Hurley's friend Dave, or Jack's dead Father, or Eko's dead brother, or Ben's dead mom - he either lives in Ben's mind or is produced by the Island somehow. Think about it...in my recollection Richard hasn't actually conversed with anyone on the Island except for Ben and Locke. Both Ben and Locke are "special" in some way (we'll get to that later), so I can accept that. But again, I don't think Richard has talked to anyone else. Of course, the big fault in this theory is that Richard was in Portland recruiting Juliette. Not sure how to defend that one. But still...something is up with this Richard Alpert. Keep an eye on that guy.

Okay, okay, now let's focus on the big shit: Jacob. While I wasn't too excited about the whole "invisible" thing, it was a big reveal and all of us are asking the same question: who is Jacob? Well first off, after a quick poll of the agency there were some folks that did not see the split second glimpse (17 frames to be exact) of the actual Jacob in the shack. Therefore, below is a clip in slow motion showing the shadowy leader in all of his glory:





So who is this guy? Why is he holed up in this crappy shack in the middle of the jungle? And most importantly, what does he mean when he groans "Help Me" to Locke? As you can imagine, there are a bunch of theories...here are a couple that could make some sort of sense.


Jacob is smokie. While his body remains within the shack (or somewhere else, who knows), he can be somewhat omnipresent throughout the Island via the smoke. Some evidence to support this claim can be the black/grey mystery powder that Locke found surrounding the the shack (inert smokie matter?) and this picture, which shows a puff of black smoke in the area of the empty chair.

I"m not sure what to make of this approach, but what the hell do I know. Let's try another one:

Jacob is a character that we haven't seen yet, and he is being held prisoner by Ben. At some point, Ben was "summoned" by Jacob and was allowed to communicate with him, which gave Ben the power and influence to lead the Others. Jacob saw something "special" in Ben that the Others now see in Locke. However, somewhere along the line there was some sort of falling out between Jacob and Ben (maybe when Locke arrived to the Island?), but by then Ben had figured out a way to contain him so that he would not lose the position of leadership over the group. The mysterious powder could be some sort of barrier that surrounds the shack, containing him to that location.

But then if Ben knows he's a sham, why would he bring Locke to the shack? He did so to see how "special" Locke really is. In my opinion, Ben lost the ability to communicate with Jacob some time ago. His "conversation" the other night sounded forced and silly. However, when Locke spins around to Jacob's plea for help, Ben looks downright SHOCKED that Locke was spoken to by Jacob. At this point he knows that he's done. If Locke is the new "chosen one" (for lack of a better term), then Ben knows what he has to do, which is eliminate him. (Well, then why didn't he blow Locke's brain out??? I don't know. Maybe Ben wants to truly test Locke's healing ability.)

There are more out of control theories, but this post is long and (as promised) rambling as it is. In a nutshell, other theories are that Jacob is Alvar Hanso, or that Jacob is Locke's twin separated at birth, or that Jacob is Desmond. The list goes on and on. Honestly, at this point we're in the dark. But we know Locke is an integral part of this show. I would be shocked if he is in fact dead. If you guys have any interesting theories, blast off with a comment below.

Easter Eggs:

That mysterious painting from Ben's apartment I posted a few episodes back makes a return in his flashback...must be a portrait of his mother...

Overall, great episode. Again I'm not too psyched about the supernatural overtones but I'm hoping that the writers will tie it all together in due time. Only two more episodes to go folks!