LOST Soundtrack Analysis: 6x09 "Ab Aeterno" (Richard Alpert & The Man In Black's Themes)

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#LOST SOUNDTRACK ANALYSIS (Michael Giacchino's score)
"I want to live forever."
As we finally reach "Ab Aeterno", we literally move backwards in time to explore new themes for The Eternals of LOST: Jacob, Richard and the Man In Black. Go watch it!
☠🦶🍷
So many years after the show's ending, Michael Giacchino's amazing soundtrack for LOST still has many, many secrets to uncover. Not only does every main character have their own theme music, but much like the interconnected writing of the show itself, Giacchino's score connects locations, scenes, emotions and conflicts in unbelievably brilliant ways. For the foreseeable future, I will be exploring Michael Giacchino's soundtrack from ABC's LOST in a weekly video, covering all episodes of the show and their musical connections to each other.

[@RustyGoose]

Man you put so much work into these videos, and they’re legitimately insightful. You don’t get nearly enough views or credit. (I guess it’s a 10 year old show now i suppose) Well done! I thoroughly enjoy them!

[@ghostontheshore2418]

YES! I have been looking forward to this analysis from day one!! I love this episode to bits, as well as its score.

[@M4ke4l]

I was waiting for that one,Jacob/mib/Richard themes are amongst my favorite themes, Giacchino work was uncredible for those. Always great and interesting ideas and concept we got here.Thanks for the great work! Loved the editing things aswell.

[@ashlyn37]

I'm a little late to the party, but wow this was a great analysis! I loved hearing all the different iterations of Richard's beautiful yet tragic theme, but I was really blown away by your catch that the Man in Black's themes, along with Locke's destiny theme, are all used when Jack kicks him off the cliff!

[@FringeMusic107]

Never too late to join a party! Thanks a lot. This was a really fun episode to dive into!

[@Choekaas]

Damn, figuring it out backwards! You constantly impress me. :D Also, Richard's theme feels almost like an Ennio Morricone piece. I can imagine it fitting quite well into "The Mission" despite that "The Mission" has a lot of flutes and oboes, but just the grandiosity and musical genius of Morricone and the way he pulls your heartstrings. I feel like Giacchino did it here, in a different way that he has done before. I don't know. I'm rambling. I just think Giacchino really poured something great in this episode. His energy in season 6 is so amazing.

[@AatVandelay]

The reversed identical theme blew my mind too. It also amplifies other motifs like the theological view of senet where it's a 1 player game that the person plays themself, siblings, and that jacob & MiB are playing the same game in terms of refining the stories they tell to convince humans over the eons.

[@Bethune_Groundstaff]

Trippy

[@MJJMayor]

While Richard's theme is very cool, my favorite of what I call the "Island Mythology" themes from Seasons 5 and 6 (i.e. Jacob's Theme, Temple Theme, Source Theme, etc) has to by MiB's second theme. And that's almost entirely due to "Mother of a Plan". The way it starts with the really somber piano that seems to pull slightly different chords/sounds out of the theme and then builds with the strings and the cellos on that countermelody is so good. I have a lot of conflicting feelings about "Across the Sea" as an episode, but hearing that part of the music consistently makes me emotional even though I still have never felt that connected to any of the "Across the Sea" characters. Also really cool moment there that I never noticed with the final death of the MiB using both his themes and Locke's Destiny theme.

[@soundwave-815]

Yessss

[@maddyc2412]

True, if you watch all seasons only to watch the cut version of the finale, you need to reconsider all your life choices

[@tasfa10]

YESYESYES!!!

[@michaszkot4419]

Ah, yes one of the best Lost episodes with one of the most bullshitest mystery explanation - surfing Black Rock destroying the Statue... How couldn't you love an episode such as this one.