Fictional character of the TV series Lost
Richard Franklin Alpert is a fictional character played by Néstor Carbonell in the American ABC television series "Lost". Alpert is introduced in the third season, specifically in a flashback of the character Juliet Burke (Elizabeth Mitchell), where he claims to be a doctor for a bioscience company called Mittelos Bioscience; he is later revealed to be a member of a native island faction called the Others, where he plays a role in the group's hierarchy that has been compared to that of the Panchen Lama in Buddhism by the series' producers.
A major mystery behind his character was his agelessness; from the third through fifth seasons, Alpert appears both in the present day and in several flashbacks dating to the 1950s, 70s and 80s; in all the different time periods, Richard always appears to be a man in his mid-40s, not having appeared to have aged at all. The nature of his agelessness and his true age is revealed in the season six episode "Ab Aeterno"; in the 1860s, Alpert was a prisoner on the "Black Rock" when it crashed on the Island. After meeting the true leader of the Others (Jacob), he made Richard ageless in exchange for his loyalty. At the end of the series, following the deaths of Jacob and the Man in Black, Richard becomes mortal.
Originally introduced as a guest star in the third-season episode "Not in Portland", Alpert reappears throughout the third season, both in flashbacks and present-day island events. In the spring of 2007, shortly before the conclusion of "Lost"'s third season, Carbonell was contracted as a regular on the CBS television series "Cane", which jeopardized his future on "Lost." Nevertheless, the 2007–2008 Writers Guild of America strike resulted in "Cane" being cancelled and allowed Carbonell to return for the final three episodes of the fourth season and several in the fifth.
Character biography.
In 1867, Richard Franklin Alpert was a Spaniard known as Ricardo who lived in the Canary Islands with his wife, Isabella, who was dying from tuberculosis. Richard promised to save her and rode out to the home of the nearest doctor in the midst of a heavy rainfall. The doctor claimed to have medicine which could help her, but Richard could not afford it and was refused aid. He grew desperate and pleaded with the doctor, who wound up getting accidentally knocked back and hitting his head on the table, killing him instantly. Richard took the medicine and rushed back to Isabella, only to find her dead. He was then arrested for murder and sentenced to be hanged. When the time came for his execution, Father Suarez, a priest, sold him to Magnus Hanso, who was setting out to the New World.
Richard, now a slave, was chained below the deck of the "Black Rock", which got caught in a bad storm and shipwrecked on the Island, colliding with the four-toed statue of Tawaret in the process. The other surviving slaves were executed by Jonas Whitfield, an officer of the ship. Before Richard could be killed, the Smoke Monster arrived and killed all except him. As he worked to free himself, a vision of his wife appeared and told him they were in Hell. She was then apparently killed by the Monster as well. Still in chains below deck, Richard was visited by the Man in Black (Titus Welliver), the Smoke Monster in human form. The Man in Black freed him on the condition Alpert would help him.
The Man in Black told Richard they are in Hell and he must kill Jacob (Mark Pellegrino), whom he referred to as the devil, in order to get his wife back. The Man in Black gave him a dagger and sent him off to kill Jacob, who lived at the foot of the statue. When Richard arrived, he was attacked by Jacob himself. Richard then told Jacob that he tried to kill him because he had been persuaded that Jacob was the devil and that he had Richard's wife. Jacob then convinced Richard that he is still alive and not in hell by continuously submerging his head underwater until Richard admitted he would drown and die if Jacob did not stop. Jacob explained to Richard how the Island is like a cork in a wine bottle, keeping the Evil contained. The Man in Black thinks humanity was evil and corrupt, while Jacob wants to prove to the Man in Black that humans can do good and was bringing people to the island to contradict his belief. Richard points out that Jacob's policy of non-intervention leaves a vacuum the Man in Black is very willing to take advantage of. This convinces Jacob to give Richard a job as his sole intermediary between him (Jacob) and the people coming to the Island in the future. In exchange, Jacob granted Richard immortality, after stating he was unable to bring Isabella back from the dead or absolve Richard of his sins.
Richard returned to the Man in Black and told him he was joining Jacob. The Man in Black informed Richard he found Isabella's cross on the ship. Richard took it, and after crying buried it at the base of a tree.
Alpert is next seen in 1954, in the episode "Jughead", where he leads a group of Others who have recently killed a detachment of eighteen US soldiers who landed on the island with a hydrogen bomb. Alpert first asked the troops to leave peacefully, but was "forced" to kill them when they refused. He hints he was ordered by someone higher in his chain of command.
The Others captured Daniel Faraday (Jeremy Davies), Miles Straume (Ken Leung) and Charlotte Lewis (Rebecca Mader) in the jungle after their third skip through time to 1954, a result of the island having been moved in "There's No Place Like Home". Alpert was under the mistaken impression the three were sent by the military to retrieve the bomb; Faraday played along in order to gain access to the bomb and repair a crack in the casing. Alpert reluctantly allowed Faraday to see the bomb after Faraday professed his love for Charlotte as a way of proving he does not intend to detonate it. As Faraday worked, John Locke (Terry O'Quinn) walked into the camp, having followed a young Charles Widmore (younger, Tom Connolly; older, Alan Dale) to their location. Locke attempts to continue a conversation he began with Alpert in the future, but was met with skepticism. His mention of Jacob, the Others' leader, and the compass given to him in the future by Alpert himself (an ontological paradox), convinced Alpert to at least hear him out. He told a reluctant Alpert if he was suspicious of Locke's claims of time travel, Alpert should visit Locke's birthplace in two years for proof. Locke was unable to convince Alpert to tell him how to leave the island before another time skip occurs.
Alpert took Locke's advice and visited the newborn Locke two years later on May 30, 1956, in the episode "Cabin Fever". Five years later, he visited a five-year-old Locke, giving him a test not unlike those administered by the Panchen Lama to Dalai Lama potentials, under the guise he was recruiting children for a special school. He showed Locke several items, including the compass, and asked Locke to identify which items belonged to him. Along with several other items, Locke picked a knife; angered by Locke's failure, Alpert left in a hurry, claiming Locke was "not ready" for his school. Alpert tried to recruit Locke again in the 1970s, this time into an internship program with Mittelos Laboratories in Portland, Oregon, but a teenage Locke turned it down.
In 1973, in "The Man Behind the Curtain", Alpert encountered a young Benjamin Linus (younger, Sterling Beaumon; older, Michael Emerson) in the jungle. Ben expressed a desire to run away from his father, a member of the scientific research group called the Dharma Initiative, and join the Others. Alpert realized Ben is special when Ben mentioned seeing his deceased mother (Carrie Preston) in the jungle. He agreed to Ben's request, but told Ben it will require time and patience.
In 1974, Richard entered the Dharma Initiative's barracks in "LaFleur" and demanded the whereabouts of two members of his people, they having been killed and buried by Juliet Burke (Elizabeth Mitchell) and James "Sawyer" Ford (Josh Holloway) following Locke's successful attempt to stop the time skips. Sawyer managed to appease Richard by taking responsibility and revealing knowledge of Alpert's encounter with Locke in the 1950s. In 1977, Richard again encountered Sawyer in the jungle in "Whatever Happened, Happened", this time with Kate Austen (Evangeline Lilly) and a wounded Ben Linus, whom they wanted healed. He warned Sawyer and Kate by saving Ben's life, Ben won't retain any memory of the event and will lose his innocence. Sawyer and Kate acknowledged this and Richard took Ben to the temple. Shortly after this exchange, Alpert tells several of the Others he did not answer to Charles Widmore or to Ellie (Alice Evans), then leader of the Others. Regardless, he was briefly berated by a middle-aged Charles Widmore (David S. Lee) in "Dead is Dead" for bringing Ben to the camp.
Later on, he had another encounter with Daniel Faraday in "The Variable", who frantically demanded to see Ellie and the bomb he told their people to bury. Ellie shot Daniel in the back, much to Alpert's displeasure, and he listened as Daniel explained to Ellie she was his mother. Ellie was convinced Daniel was telling the truth, and Alpert joined her, Jack Shephard (Matthew Fox), and later, Sayid Jarrah (Naveen Andrews) in retrieving the hydrogen bomb in "Follow the Leader". During this mission, Richard confided in Jack he has been keeping tabs on John Locke and "he is not that special". Jack insists Richard have faith in Locke.
In 1988, Alpert observed the tensions between Charles Widmore and Ben Linus in "Dead is Dead" when Ben was given the order to kill Danielle Rousseau; Ben spared her and instead stole her child, Alex. Alpert said nothing in this exchange. As an adult in the early 1990s, Ben assisted Alpert in killing the members of the Dharma Initiative with poison gas in "The Man Behind the Curtain". After the purge, in 1992, Richard consorted with Ben in banishing Charles Widmore.
In 2001, Alpert attempted to recruit Juliet into Mittelos Bioscience in "Not in Portland". Juliet initially declined the offer, offhandedly joking the only way she could go is if her employer, her ex-husband, were hit by a bus; Alpert saw to it that this "joke" became reality in short order. Alpert claimed to have forgotten Juliet's joke when she mentioned it later, and she accepted the job offer. Alpert then admitted the company is not really in Portland, and Juliet was taken to the island. Three years later, when Oceanic Airlines flight 815 crashed on the island, Alpert was in Miami, Florida, filming Juliet's formerly cancer-stricken sister playing with her young son, footage Ben showed to Juliet in "One of Us".
Alpert encountered Locke once again, in 2004, when the latter infiltrated the Barracks, now the Others' community, in "The Man from Tallahassee". Locke destroyed their submarine to prevent Jack and Juliet from leaving the island and was captured. At Ben's request, Alpert fetched Anthony Cooper (Kevin Tighe), Locke's father. Ben arranged for Locke to kill Cooper in front of the Others as his initiation in "The Brig", knowing Locke would not be able to do so. Locke was thus publicly humiliated when he refused. The next day, Alpert hinted to Locke that he was unhappy with Ben's leadership and informed him Sawyer had a connection to Cooper which would make him kill the latter, Cooper having been the man whose con inspired the murder/suicide of his parents. Alpert was then instructed by Ben to take the Others to "the Temple," a safe haven, while Ben negotiated with the Flight 815 survivors in "Through the Looking Glass".
After Ben was taken into custody by Martin Keamy (Kevin Durand) and the mercenary team sent to the island by Charles Widmore, Alpert captured Kate and Sayid to enlist their aid in retrieving him in part 1 of "There's No Place Like Home". In part 2, Ben was rescued and Keamy was shot several