LOST: Y Mi Amor Tambien

This week's episode brings us back to the good old days of flashbacks, although it was more along the line of Meet Kevin Johnson where the flashback answered a question. The question here, of course was: How did Richard get to live so long without aging? As always with LOST, we get some answers but not quite everything. I will say one thing though: it's nice to have a character who doesn't have any mommy/daddy issues for a change.

DISCOVERIES

1. The Black Rock crashed into the Statue, which is why it's only a four-toe sanctuary now. Cool.
2. Richard was sold into slavery by his priest. Not cool.
3. Jacob isn't the MIB's rival; he's basically the guys warden.
4. Hurley can speak to dead people from any age, whether they died on the Island or not.
5. Manipulating John Locke and Ben Linus wasn't the MIB's first attempt to kill Jacob.
   

OBSERVATIONS

1. Frank has to be the only character even remotely curious about what the hell's going on on this Island.
2. Is it me, or was Richard's story a little...Dante's Inferno? I mean, without the demon killing.
3. Seriously, Richard's priest is a real douche for selling him off as a slave.
4. And that Jonas guy is an even bigger douche for killing off the slaves so he can get a bigger lunch.
5. In the end, despite his long tenure on the Island, Richard is as much a pawn as everyone else.
6. Jacob is the second Formerly Loyal To Jacob Guy to make an attempt to join F-Locke after Jacob's death.
   

QUESTIONS

1. How long was Richards chained up before he was freed? I would expect that he would be starving (and well...stinking).
2. What does Richard know that will help the Candidates?
3. Why did the MIB only leave Richard alive?
4. If the MIB is so evil, why didn't Jacob just destroy him?
5. Why can't the MIB just turn into smoke and float off the Island?
6. Did Jacob give anyone else the ability to live long/forever?
7. What made Richard decide to join Ben an attacking the Dharma Initiative?