Ab Aeterno

All right, the second LOST episode recap!  For this I watched most of Ab Aeterno and the brief flashback in The Incident Part I of Jacob and The Man In Black watching The Black Rock approaching.

I enjoyed this very very much, although the fact that The Man In Black is still alive somehow is strange.  I guess however that the Smoke Monster is assuming his form, but apparently also has all his memories as well.  At first, I was wondering if the Smoke Monster was something that was being kept in the cave that The Man In Black was thrown into and got released, but I guess not.  I guess the Smoke Monster is more or less The Man In Black, transformed by the island.  And I guess the body of The Man In Black that was buried at the end of Across The Sea was the actual body of the human form of The Man In Black.  I guess you could call the Smoke Monster The Man In Black's soul.  Kind of freaky.

Ricardo, or Richard, is someone who is clearly going to be coming back, as Jacob apparently made him immortal, presumably by having him drink the same thing Mother made him drink in Across The Sea.  His whole story is again representative of what seems to be the show's central theme, namely what does the concept of right vs. wrong really mean?  Indeed, I'd heard the show is very much about faith, and this episode proved it.  

Everything about this episode was very strong.  The acting in particular by all involved was top-notch, way better than Across The Sea; the actor playing Ricardo was especially powerful.  The writing was good, the cinematography was superb, especially at points where the entire screen was almost pitch-black, and the music was varied and intense.  Kudos to everyone that worked on this episode; it was extremely compelling.

Now I need to figure out how i'm going to recap the next bit.  I've gone through the two big flashback episodes, and now have to work my way through all of the small flashbacks.  Expect to see another recap pretty soon though.