Was it the greatest LOST episode? I'm not sure it tops "The Incident" or "Through the Looking Glass". What I do know is that it is, hands down, the best non-finale, non-premiere episode ever. The hype was well worth it, and episode 6x10 is going to get a raw deal in a lot of people's books because this was an impossible act to follow.
In an extended flashback started in "The Incident", Jacob gave Ilana a list (of course) of the six remaining candidates, and tells her that after she gets them to the Temple, Ricardus will know what to do. But in 2007, Richard is freaking out. He claims again that everything Jacob says is a lie and that they're all dead and in hell, and that it's time to start listening to somebody else. He sets off into the jungle.
This sparks a heated conversation among the beach campers, with Ben saying "this oughta be interesting" as Sun lets Jack know that Locke is the man that Richard wants to talk to. We don't really see Jack's reaction to this; I assume that'll be next week. But Ilana sets off after Richard, even as Jack says he's crazy and Ben concurs, citing that he's known him since he was 12, and explaining to Frank that Richard was the same age.
Meanwhile, Hurley is chatting in Espanol with an invisible presence. Jack assumes this is Jacob and demands to know what he says, but Hurley insists that it's not Jacob and that it's a private matter.
And thus begins the most epic flashback in LOST history, besting Desmond's time-tripping in "Flashes Before Your Eyes", Ben's first flashback in "The Man Behind the Curtain", and well, you name it. In the Canary Islands in 1867, Richard finds his wife Isabella sick and leaves to get medicine, talking their meager stock of gold coins and even his wife's cross. But the wonderful panacea of Obamacare has not yet arrived in the Canary Islands, and the doctor refuses to come all that way to treat Isabella (hey, wait, that does sound like Obamacare). He gets some medicine out of a cabinet, but Richard's booty is not enough, even with the cross. Richard is desperate; they struggle and he accidentally kills him by blunt force trauma, Desmond/Kelvin style, although this time the instrument is a table and not a rock formation.
Richard rushes back to Isabella, but she's already dead and he's arrested. In jail, he reads an English bible and confesses his sins to a priest (but is it really?) and reveals that he had intended to move to the New World. The priest refuses to absolve him, explaining that only through penance can he make good, and there's not time for that since he's going to be hanged the next day.
Richard is led out of his cell, but a Mr. Whitfield is there, and when Richard confirms he speaks English, Whitfield purchases him as a slave for Magnus Hanso. As suspected, Richard is put on the Black Rock. A storm hits, and the ship is approaching land. Another slave sees the Island and the statue, which he believes to be the devil--"This Island is guarded by a devil". A tidal wave takes the ship up and into the statue, which destroys the statue (hopefully the wave, not the ship, because that would be silly).
Richard and the other slaves are still chained up as the survivors scurry around above them. We learn that Captain Hanso is dead and only five officers are left. The slaves finally get Whitfield's attention, but he starts killing them one-by-one with a sword, explaining that they have no water or food and that if he frees them, they'll seek revenge. But before he can kill Richard, the Monster interrupts, killing everyone including Whitfield, smoke ripping right through the wooden ship. The Monster scans Richard but leaves him.
We see Richard struggling (and failing) to reach water dripping through the ship's deck, eventually managing to pry loose a nail to pick at the locks. But a boar rummages through, munching on his friends and eventually charging Richard, knocking the nail away. When all seems hopeless, Isabella appears and claims that they're both dead and in hell. They need to get away from someone--she's looked into his eyes and seen nothing but evil. Richard realizes he's seen the same thing, and then hears the sounds of the Monster. He finally convinces Isabella to run, but she's either killed by the Monster or never comes back. Of course, it seems clear that she was just a projection of the Monster itself to soften the target.
Some time later Richard is barely alive when Black Robe himself (as seen in "The Incident") arrives on the scene (some people are saying he resurrected him by touching him, similar to what may have happened between Locke and Jacob after his fall in "The Incident", but I think he just woke him up). He gives him water and says he's a friend (echoing what he'll say to Claire). But he doesn't free Richard until he agrees to help him, to do anything he tells him to do. Under the circumstances it's impossible to blame Richard for agreeing, and after he frees him, Black Robe says "It's good to see you out of those chains" (he'll say it again in "LA X"). They both need to escape, because they're both in hell according to Black Robe. He wants to be free himself, and there's only way to achieve that--kill the devil.
As Richard chows down on boar, Black Robe tells him to head to the statue, where the devil lives. When Richard inquires about Isabella and whether the black smoke got her, Black Robe confesses that he is the black smoke, but claims he saw the devil with Isabella and couldn't stop him. He admits to murdering the officers, and gives Richard a dagger with which to stab the devil. He instructs him do it with no hesitation and not to let the devil speak--he can be very persuasive (this of course mirrors what Dogen tells Sayid about Black Robe in "Sundown").
But Richard isn't too keen on this plan; after all, he believes that the reason he's in hell is that he murdered the doctor. Black Robe responds that the real question is whether or not Richard will ever see his wife again (shades of Nadia) and throws in that the devil betrayed him, stealing his body and his humanity.
So off Richard goes, approaching what's left of the statue as rubble is strewn all around. But Jacob gets the jump on in and beats the crap out of him. It's a different Jacob than the one we've seen in the past--he's angry and he wants to know why Richard is there. Then he asks if he met a man dressed in black in the jungle, and Richard responds in the affirmative. Richard believes he's dead, but Jacob claims that he's not and that it was not Isabella that he saw in the jungle (of course, he's implying that it was a manifestation of her created by the Monster).
Richard still doesn't believe he's a live, so Jacob drags him into the ocean and starts dunking him underwater. Richard begs him to stop, and when Jacob asks why he says "I want to live". Jacob says that that's the first sensible thing he's said and asks his name. Ricardo is the Espanol version, and Jacob says they need ot talk.
Richard asks what's inside the statue, but Jacob says that no one comes in unless they're invited. He denies being the devil, but does say that he brought the ship to the Island. In response to the question of why, he uses the glass of wine they're drinking from as a metaphor. The wine represents hell, malevolence, evil, darkness--whatever you want to call it. It's trapped in the bottle, and the Island is the cork that keeps it in. Black Robe believes that all humans are corruptible because it's in their nature to sin. Jacob brings people to the Island, where they have a fresh start and who they were before doesn't matter (echoing what both Jack and John said in Season One) and to attempt to prove Black Robe wrong about human nature.
Richard asks why Jacob doesn't intervene, and Jacob explains that he doesn't want to force people to do things (obviously contrasting himself with Black Robe)--it has to be their choice. But Richard astutely notes that if he doesn't intervene, Black Robe will. Jacob takes this in, and offers Richard a job as an intermediary between him and the people he draws to the Island. Rather than intervening directly, he'll use Richard as a vehicle. Incidentally, all of the people previously brought to the Island by Jacob are dead--Richard is the only survivor.
Richard asks what he'll get out of this arrangement, so Jacob asks what he wants. Richard asks first for his wife and then for absolution of his sins, but Jacob is unable to do either. So Richard instead asks for eternal life, and Jacob touches his shoulder and explains that he can grant that.
Richard returns to Black Robe, who immediately knows that he hasn't killed Jacob. Richard gives Black Robe a white stone for Jacob, and Black Robe asserts that should Richard ever change his mind, the offer still stands. Then he gives him Isabella's cross and disappears. Richard buries it under a small stone structure of some sort, evidently wanting to shut off memory of his past life as he embarks on his new eternal Island life.
End flashback and in 2007, Richard returns to this site and digs up the cross. He's changed his mind, says "I was wrong", and begins desperately repeating "Does the offer still stand?" When someone emerges from the jungle, though, it is not Black Robe but Hurley. Hurley explains that he was sent by Isabella (which makes who Hurley was talking to in Spanish one of the show's shortest-lived mysteries). Richard doesn't believe this until Hurley relays that she wants to know why Richard buried the cross. She says (in a mixture of through Hurley and Richard finally believing that she is present) that "It wasn't your fault I died...it was my time...you've suffered enough". Richard wants to be together, but "we are already together". Richard puts her cross around his neck (Eko/Yemi leaps to mind), but Hurley says she said one more thing--Richard has to stop the Man in Black or else they all go to hell (and I guess that since the show flat out called him the Man in Black I should now follow suit. Starting next time, I guess). We see that Locke/Monster/Black Robe was watching this unfold from a distance.
Flashback again, and for the first time it's a Black Robe flashback. Jacob comes to see him shortly after Richard has pledged allegiance to him, and Black robe says "Don't gloat, it's unbecoming of you". He again states his desire to leave, but Jacob refuses. Black Robe explains that this is why he wants to kill him, and vows that he will. Jacob retorts that he does, someone will take Jacob's place. Black Robe vows to kill that person too. Jacob gives Black Robe the rest of the wine to pass the time, and as Jacob walks away Black Robe slams it against a rock, demonstrating that Jacob really is good with metaphors.
* I guess I was wrong about Jack's dynamite stunt reigniting (pardon the pun) Richard's faith in Jacob. He was still off the deep end until Hurley was able to deliver the one emotional connection that matters to him, even after 140 years.
* I've noticed people complaining about the Black Rock and the storm, specifically that when Jacob and Black Robe saw the ship in the distance in "The Incident", it was a calm day. Two points: we don't know whether that ship was actually the Black Rock--people just assumed that to be the case, but we know that Jacob brought many people to the Island through the years. Secondly, would a sudden weather anomaly really be beyond what we've seen on this show before?
I agree that the notion of the ship destroying the statue is silly; it would be the other way around, but the tidal wave seems to explain this quite well.
* Is there anyone still out there that wants to claim that BR is not evil? I can't say it enough: I'm not saying that Jacob is necessarily good. Just that Black Robe is evil.
* It seems as if Richard convinced Jacob to change his policy on interacting with people. Later, Jacob would go even farther by visiting the Lostaways. One wonders if this change in policy was also the result of a suggestion, by Richard or someone else.
* It's interesting to learn that the Others as we know them didn't exist in 1867. Richard Alpert's arrival and suggestion to Jacob apparently was a sea change in the relationship between Jacob and people brought to the Island. The earlier inhabitants apparently interacted with the Island without Jacob's guidance, which could explain some otherwise incongruous things like seeming cult-worship of the Monster.
I doubt the show will devote any time to it, but I would be very interested in learning how the Others' society developed, when and how the forefathers of key figures like Widmore and Hawking arrived, and the like.
