If I were to pick one episode to show a LOST newbie (other than Pilot) it would be Ab Aeterno. It is a monumental achievement in acting and directing, but better yet it's almost completely self-contained and requires very little knowledge of the series.
As Nestor Carbonell has suggested in the past, it's pretty much a feature film squeezed into a television broadcast.
We start off at the beach camp with a mixture of Losties and non-Losties sitting around a fire. Ilana prods Richard to reveal their next move and he responds in a way nobody expects. He's convinced they're all in Hell.
From there it's a sweeping, adrenalin-inducing journey beginning with Richard's failed attempt to save the life of his wife, Isabella. He is eventually purchased as a slave and put on the Black Rock, which ends up shipwrecked on the island thanks to a colossal tidal wave.
The Man in Black descends upon the Black Rock and manipulates Richard into performing a task — killing Jacob, the man he describes as "the devil." The task backfires, with Jacob easily defending himself and then having his own heart-to-heart with Richard. Jacob offers him a "job" as his representative, and as payment he bestows the gift of agelessness upon him.
Hurley is the missing link in bringing Richard back to his senses, for he can see Isabella and offers to translate her words to Richard. This is the real magic of Ab Aeterno, for not only does it advance the mythology but it also presents an elegant and bittersweet love story.
And so the mystery of Richard's past with the island is a mystery no more. That sound you just heard was a thousand online theories collapsing in a single instant. Some were convinced Richard's history extended all the way back to ancient Egypt, presumably because his initials spell "Ra", the Egyptian sun god. Many predicted he had some sort of involvement with the Black Rock, but the guesses about his role on the ship ranged from Captain to hostage.
Melinda Hsu Taylor and Gregg Nations really should be applauded for this ambitious script, for not only does it give Richard his overdue centric but it opens our eyes to the dynamics between Jacob and Man in Black.
I'm going to be blunt: is an absolute sin and travesty that Nestor Carbonell wasn't nominated for an Emmy for this performance. It may sound like sour grapes but it's left me wondering how much an Emmy is worth these days if spectacular performances aren't acknowledged.
I can only guess the Hollywood elite weren't familiar with the Richard Alpert we'd seen over the last few seasons. The version of Alpert portrayed in Ab Aeterno was a shock to everyone, in fact I kept forgetting I was watching Nestor Carbonell because his acting was so raw and convincing.
Check out his mannerisms in the scene where he speaks with Man in Black by a campfire. MiB hands him a dagger to kill the "devil", to which Richard replies in the best English he can manage, "How can I kill him with this? He's... he's black smoke?" The way he delivers that line is acting at its finest.
Titus Welliver (MiB) and Mark Pellegrino (Jacob) are the perfect complements to Carbonell's legendary performance. All three actors gave Ab Aeterno an enormous sense of gravitas that was sorely needed at this point in the season.
Mirelly Taylor was simply radiant in her portrayal of Isabella. Her translated "conversation" with Richard is now an iconic moment in LOST, if not for the dialogue than for the imagery itself.
The only scene preventing Ab Aeterno from achieving a perfect 10 in acting is the opening campfire sequence. If it weren't for a few expository lines from Frank and then Hurley standing off to the side rattling off stilted Spanish, there's no question I'd go with a perfect score.
Ab Aeterno looks and feels like a feature film and much of that credit goes to Tucker Gates. It's very obvious that Gates fell in love with this episode and poured every bit of creativity into it, starting with the scene of Richard racing home on horseback.
The intensity really kicked in when the Black Rock hit violent storms at sea. When a slave looked out and saw the Taweret statue illuminated by lightning, chills literally ran through me. The CGI in this scene was some of the best you'll ever see on LOST. For whatever reason the Black Rock and excellent CGI are synonymous.
The directing and effects post-shipwreck were just as impressive, particularly as the Smoke Monster rolled down the steps into the slave quarters. It coiled up to within a few inches of Richard and flashed its blinding white light, causing him to utter a desperate prayer. When that scene abruptly snapped to black I was left sitting in absolute awe.
The Richard/Isabella reunion was one of the most beautiful scenes of the season, thanks in part to how it's directed. Notice Gates' approach of panning from one side of Hurley's shoulder to another to allow Isabella to disappear in one smooth shot. Simple yet effective.
The set designs, costumes, and photography were all tastefully done and vividly captured the essence of the late 19th century. For roughly 50 minutes I felt like I was transported into another world and it almost felt like I'd traded LOST for something completely different yet equally compelling.
Very, very minor deductions for a blatant continuity problem to start the episode. I have no idea why they decided to continue the Jacob/Ilana meeting from The Incident in the manner they chose. The bandages were arranged differently on Ilana's face and there were just enough differences in the lighting to make it obvious the scenes were shot over two time periods. They should've just cut to the later shot of a fully healed Ilana and continued the conversation at that point. Continuity problem solved.
Even if Ab Aeterno hadn't delved so deeply into the mythology I'd still love watching this episode for the love story that it is. It's such a technical triumph that I also see it as a learning tool, a demonstration of how certain directorial techniques underline the urgency and atmosphere of a scene.
Naturally a few critics in the LOST community suggest Ab Aeterno is overrated and a bit of a "filler" episode. I honestly don't understand what they're thinking (and really, I don't care to) because this episode not only revealed everything we could hope to learn about Richard but also introduced several pillars in the mythology. Jacob's wine-bottle analogy helped many fans conceptualize the relationship of the two forces with the island they inhabited.
Ab Aeterno was a big deal in every conceivable way, and I suspect the only reason it has some critics is because they'll reject anything that is so widely applauded and appreciated.
The atmosphere kicked in the moment I saw Richard on horseback. The sets were so well-designed that I was completely immersed from the start, then the extended scenes with Richard chained in the Black Rock had me feeling his despair.
It was because of Richard's hellish journey that his reunion scene with Isabella is as powerful as it is. Ain't gonna lie... the moment she touched his face I was already in tears.
Last but certainly not least, Michael Giacchino deserves a great deal of credit for Ab Aeterno's intensity and atmosphere. According to writer Melinda Hsu Taylor, Giacchino wanted to "experience" the episode on his own prior to creating any custom music for it. It's clear that he was moved by the story as much as I was, for the music he composed was truly something special.
