Warning, nothing but spoilers ahead. UPDATE AT THE END.

He wasn't always so clean-cut. (ABC photo)

You know, it took me a while to appreciate the greatness of Wednesday’s episode of “Lost.” “Ab Aeterno” (which translates to “from the beginning of time), told us Richard Alpert’s story, and was nothing that I expected, veering away from the series’ usual storytelling format and giving us a pretty straightforward historical romantic tragedy. But once I got over the disappointment of Richard only being about 170 years old (I was sure he’d been an ancient Egyptian or Roman or something) and accepted the fact that we wouldn’t see every key moment in his 140-year stay on the island (they’d need more than 66 minutes), I appreciated the information dump we got, and the powerful storytelling behind it. I liked this episode a lot. (I find myself saying that after pretty much every episode this season.) Here are some random thoughts:

— As anyone who watched Sunday’s Season 3 premiere of “Breaking Bad” would know, Richard’s hometown of Tenerife, Canary Islands, was home to the worst air disaster of all times. Huh.

— I loved (and appreciated the simplicity of) Jacob’s wine bottle analogy. The wine is the evil force, all bottled up, and the island is the cork, keeping it contained. Thank you! Finally, an explanation for something on this show that doesn’t make my nose bleed.

— Nestor Carbonell rocked, with a gripping (Emmy-worthy?) portrayal of a 19th-century farmer struck by tragedy after tragedy. It was a wrenching performance, topped by his desperate, harrowing scenes trying to break free of his chains on the beached slave ship.

— Speaking of the slave ship, what was its purpose? We know the Black Rock (and Richard) was owned by Magnus Hanso, ancestor of Alvar Hanso, the industrialist who bankrolled the Dharma Initiative. It was Magnus’ diary that apparently led Alvar to the island, and it may also be how Widmore found the island later in life (he bought the diary at an auction a couple of seasons ago). The interesting thing for me was that Richard’s knowledge of English was so vital. Seemed like they had bigger plans for him that to just be Whitfield’s manservant. Slavery had been outlawed across Europe by 1867, and I have a theory that Magnus was sailing for the island with a plan and wanted a disposable crew of laborers who no one would miss. But to do what? Tap into the island’s power?

— Where was the island when the Black Rock crashed onto it? Probably not the South Pacific, since a merchant ship sailing from the Canary Islands to the East Indies would be more likely to go around the tip of Africa — the Cape of Good Hope — and across the Indian Ocean. But we know the island can jump in space as well as time, so it very well might have been in the eastern Atlantic. In the end, maybe it isn’t too important. (BTW, I know Richard and Isabella were planning on going to the New World — though were they still calling it that in 1867? — but all indications were that Hanso’s dealings were in the East Indies.)

— We finally found out Jacob and the Man In Black’s game. And it turns out they are totally Randolph and Mortimer from “Trading Places,” only instead of playing for $1, they’re playing for rocks. They’re self-indulgent demigods who have a game going amongst themselves using people as their pawns, with no real regard for their well-being. Case in point: Jacob said he was responsible for bringing Richard to the island, but had no qualms about the rest of the crew being massacred by Smokey. Just collateral damage. That’s why I think the good vs. evil theory doesn’t quite pan out. I don’t think either one is particularly good. So that was the big revelation (though not really a surprise): It’s all just a bet to see if humans are inherently corruptible or ultimately good? The odds were stacked against Jacob though. Not knowing what was going on big-picture, who in their right mind would refuse Smokey’s offer to get them off the island, or to see their loved ones again? How would you even know he was a corrupting influence? It was kinda interesting to see Richard convince Jacob this was unfair to the pawns and a lost cause for Jacob, which led to Richard becoming his emissary to nudge the human pawns toward the path of good (which is ironic, seeing how The Others didn’t seem so good).

— I bought Richard’s terror at being damned to hell for the doctor’s death. Even after 140 years, it seemed like he still felt guilty and was searching for redemption. But don’t forget Richard helped take part in The Others’ massacre of Dharmaville decades later. He doesn’t seem like a mass murderer though; why wouldn’t he be even more haunted by the deaths of so many innocent men, women and children? I hope the writers will clear this up somewhere along the line, because now that attack is looking totally out of character. Of course, having absolute faith in someone can make people do crazy things.

— Wondering why Richard was so distraught over Jacob’s “lies”? Jacob said he couldn’t raise the dead — for example, Isabella. So when Richard saw dead “Locke” walking around, he flipped out, thinking he missed the chance to have Isabella walking around again. Of course, if his dead wife was possessed by Smokey — like “Locke” was — they probably wouldn’t have lived happily ever after. But you can understand why Richard thought he had been had.

— I think we can safely say the Isabella we saw on the ship was Smokey in disguise. But at the end, under the tree with Hurley, I think that was really her. Remember, since Smokey was in Locke’s body at the time Jacob died, he’s stuck in there and can’t take other forms. I questioned that after we saw UnLocke watching the proceedings from afar, but I think he just showed up late.

— Religious symbolism? We’ve got your religions symbolism. Jacob dunked Richard in the water one, two, three times — hey, a baptism! — before Richard became his disciple. The bible passage Richard was reading in prison (Luke 4:24-27 — “No prophet is accepted in his own county”) comes just after the passage describing Jesus’ 40 days in the desert, where the devil tempted him (much like the Man In Black tempting Richard). Lots of Adam and Eve symbolism too: the tempting serpent, the tree of knowledge, all in an Eden-like setting. And of course, Jacob’s assumption of human nature is very spiritual: That man in inherently good, and shouldn’t need to be prodded by God (or gods) in order to do the right thing. Of course, Jacob’s utter disregard for the folks he brought to the island kinda nullifies that.

— You know, Jacob never denied being the devil. And he never came out and said that the Man In Black was the one being contained. (Of course, Blackie’s smashing the bottle implied that, but . . .) I like how they’re keeping open the possibility that Jacob is the actual bad guy. I know it’s a longshot, but it’s intriguing. Oh, and back to the smashed wine bottle — looked a lot like spilled blood, didn’t it? Hmmmm.

–We’ve seen the science vs. faith theme throughout the series (Jack vs. Locke, etc). But now even the seasons themselves pit science vs. faith. For the past two seasons, the island has had scientific explanations — a magnetic anomaly, wormholes, string theory — but now we’re getting more of a religious/spiritual/mythological explanation — two god-like beings playing an eternal game. Which is right? Or can both the scientific and the spiritual co-exist? Sounds like a question a whole lot bigger than a TV show.

So what did you think of the episode? Got any crazy theories of your own? Let’s get the comments section fired up . . . .

UPDATE: And I have a follow-up to my own question, which has been nagging at me: Why did Whitfield kill all the slaves after the shipwreck? His reasoning that there wasn’t enough food and they’d end up killing him makes no sense. They’re not on a lifeboat — an island that lush obviously has plentiful fresh water, and even if the ship lost all its supplies in the storm, there’s still a bounty of fish, plants and island animals for food. And wouldn’t you want extra bodies in a situation like that? To help build a new boat, or to plant crops, or to build shelter? Seems like a slave would be even more handy to have around. UNLESS . . . . what if stabby Whitfield was Smokey in disguise? What if the real Whitfield died in the shipwreck, and Smokey just possessed his body (like he did Isabella) in order to mess with Richard’s (Ricardo’s) head even more. To build even more fear and desperation in him, to push him to what he thinks is his certain death. After which the Man In Black will appear to be even more of a savior. Like how a torturer or interrogater wears down their prisoner, pushing them until their spirit is completely broken, then the “good cop” comes in and is seen as a protector, someone the prisoner can trust, and the spills everything he knows. If Jacob brought Richard to the island, and MIB knew it, then why wouldn’t he put on an elaborate ruse to get to him? Maybe that whole bit with Whitfield seeing the blood drip down from above, then get “eaten up” out of sight of Richard was all part of the trick. (I don’t know how, but Smokey can apparently make people see things that aren’t really there.) Remember, it all happened out of sight, and Smokey played the exact same trick with Isabella.

Of course, my theory doesn’t account for Smokey coming into the ship and checking out Richard after “killing” Whitfield. Though that could have been part of the act too, to see how Richard responded or something.

Or am I reading too much into it?