The Characters: Richard (as Nestor Carbonell)

I haven’t even started this post and already I hear doubts. Isn’t Richard Alpert as much a mystery as a character? True, perhaps. He’s also one of the most universally liked characters, partly because he is so mysterious. We know just enough about him to know he’s dangerous. Throw in tall, dark and handsome and the woman want him and the men just want to be Richard Alpert.

In my most excited Lost moments, I imagine that Richard is part of the biggest long con on the show. Especially during the 2nd and 3rd seasons, I noticed that a lot of the show’s signature flashbacks featured semi-famous character actors in minor, one off roles. There was Saul Rubineck as Michael’s lawyer[1], Bruce Davison as Hurley’s shrink[2], and Zeljko Ivanch as Juliet’s ex-husband.[3] These are also three of my favorite Hey, it’s that guy actors. On the female side there was Julie Bowen as Jack’s ex-wife.[4] There were also slightly more famous names: Robert Patrick as Sawyer’s ex-partner in crime[5], Katy Segal as Locke’s girlfriend[6], Suzie Kurtz as Locke’s Mom.[7] I never thought all these familiar faces were a coincidence. I very early theorized that since so much of Lost was a shock to the audience—the isolated island setting, the complete serialization of plot, and a lot of strange, unlikable or foreign protagonists—the flashbacks were designed to give comfort as much as to fill in the characters back story. The flashbacks provided a self contained story of the week complete with the guest stars one finds regularly on any other network show.

So, when we all saw Nestor Carbonell giving a power point presentation to Juliet Burke,[8] we all thought, hey, it’s that guy from Suddenly Susan and a couple shows I never watched, he can’t be that important. As I rewatched the show, I saw even more of that type of casting: Hurley’s friend is DJ Qualls[9], Sawyer’s other con man boss is Kevin Dunn[10], and hey, that’s Bill Duke as the warden of Sawyer’s prison, never mind J.J. Abrams staple Ian Gomez as a fellow prisoner.[11] The important distinction was between on-island and off-island. Those people who ended up being important on the island were never as famous. I checked IMDb and John Terry, Alan Dale and Kevin Tighe have plenty of screen credits, but I cannot put them in same category as the names of above, all of whom have a couple famous movies and a couple stints as series regulars. The lesson: recognizable faces appearing in bit parts as just that, recognizable faces in bit parts. Except for Nestor Carbonell.

The strikes against the theory are many. But there are two aspects of the character that aren’t open for debate. First, the contrast with Michael Emerson. Emerson went from playing the sacredly underling Henry Gale to the manipulative Others’ leader Benjamin Linus in like half a dozen episodes. Richard’s character has been keep on a slow, steady boil for 3 years. Second, I think the producers did wire Nestor Carbonell to play against certain stereotypes. Even though he’s an American actor, because of his descent and the other roles’ he has played, people expect Carbonell to have a Cuban accent. They expect him to be ethnic. People also except the Others to be scary. Granted, I am sick to death of eyeliner jokes, but he does have intense features that could be played up to make him the scariest of the Others. Instead, Carbonell is the polite Other. He is cool, steady and often a peace-maker. We miss him when he’s not around. He is the Other we want to meet in a dark alley.

In fact, he is the Other a young Ben meets in the jungle. I think that may be the single most important shot in the show’s history: a young Ben played in 1974 by, well, a kid who is definitely not Michael Emerson suddenly seeing the 1974 Richard standing in the jungle, still played by Nestor Carbonell and looking just as he did in 2004. In a soft, clear voice, he tells Ben to return to his camp. He also tells Ben that if Ben wants to join the Others, he should really think hard about it and he must be really patient, but it can happen. Maybe he is the scariest Other.

[1] “Adrift”
[2] “Dave”
[3] “Not in Portland”
[4] “I Do”
[5] “Outlaws”
[6] “Further Instructions”
[7] Deus Ex Machina”
[8] “Not in Portland”
[9] “Everybody Hates Hugo”
[10] “The Long Con”
[11] “Every Man for Himself”