What the hell is the deal with Richard Alpert

[erikau]

The more I think about him, the more I am ANNOYED by his character haha.

Why does Richard appear to Ben in the woods in 1973, looking like some castaway with long hair and dirty rags for clothes...yet in 1954, and then again when he strolls into Dharmaville in 1974, he's in clothes that look like he just bought them at Express for Men, and he has his hair biffed. Then, after the Purge, he talks to Ben looking all Island-Joe again. What. The. Hell. Why go through all the trouble to disguise yourself as some jungle man one minute, and the not give a **** that you look completely anachronistic a year later? I mean I get it with Tom and the beard glue thing...they were actually trying to fool the 815ers into thinking they were hillbilly jungle folk...but with Dharma and even Ben it's like one minute he's Robinson Crusoe, and the next he's Mr. Guyliner. There's no consistency, and if I were Horace or Ben I'd be like "What is this dude's DEAL?!?!?!" Tell me that Alpert didn't stick out like a sore thumb in his navy button up, black slacks, shiny shoes, and slick hair, next to Horace in his hippie dippy 70s clothes and hair. I'm seriously baffled. What is the point of having Richard appear all long haired and dirty one minute, and clean and modern the next? Are there two Richard's? What. The. Hell!

[sugarnuts]

Haha i know Richard's character is confusing. I think he might actually be dead, much the same as Locke. Which i guess isn't 'dead' because thet're obviously walking around and stuff, i mean that they were dead at one point and the island somehow 'ressurected them'.

It would explain Richard's seeming immortality. I doubt that Locke is going to grow older. i might even go so far as to say that like Locke was a proxy for Christian, Christian was a proxy for Alpert. I doubt it is that simple, but do think Richard and Locke are in the same exact condition.

[Lurcher]

Perhaps he is Winston Niles Rumfoord- stretched between two time points with no real control over it

[erikau]

I'm just wondering if the Alpert we see dressed in rags, dirty and unkempt, is the real "old" Richard Alpert. I'm thinking maybe the one who always looks dapper and modern, like really modern, 2000 modern, IS from the future and is jumping back to influence things, much the way he jumps to the real world to influnce things. I just cannot otherwise undestand the gap there, the back and forth between modern and old, seemingly without reason or purpose. If anything, Richard showing up in Dharmaville looking modern made him stick out to me, the other Others (haha) we'd seen in the field taking Amy were dressed in the dirty rag type clothes...so him showing up looking clean, and hair gelled was totally whacked out to me. This is before the Others took over the Barrcks, where would he have been living that he would look like that, when his other people still look kinf of dirty and weird? I'm really confused, and the only thing I can come up with is the modern Richard is future Ricahrd.

[sugarnuts]

I think your right that the Richard Ben sees as a kid is the "real" Richard so to speak. He hasn't become the Richard we know yet. There is definetly something different about him, something more human.

[Lurcher]

it's a good time to point out- where do they live?! in the 50's they were living in the recently vacated military tent, and later they lived in the barracks. they all seemed somewhat reluctant to head to the temple

[mugatu22]

Who gives a s*it how he dresses...

Why the fu*k does Alpert wear eye-liner?!

[sugarnuts]

He rocks the MANscera to look good for Jacob.