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Okay, this Richard thing is bugging me (although it was good to see him back). We know he is a recruiter, having recruited Ben, Juliet and now Locke to join the island's mysterious ways. He's either ageless or he's time traveling, but either way I still can't figure out who he was working for (or funded by) when he was part of the "natives" or "hostiles" or before that time. Maybe somebody can help me sort this out. Consider the following (dates are approximate and based on my guesses as to Locke's various ages in last night's flashbacks):

Ageless Richard:

1956 - Richard visits Locke in the incubator (speculation: after getting the birth notice from Cooper?)

1964 - Richard visits Locke at his house and gives him the object test

1973 - Mittelos camp recruits Locke and other science geeks with the help of chemistry teachers everywhere (Note: the timing of this effort coincides with the 1970 founding of the Dharma initiative . . . so is Mittelos part of Dharma?)

Mid-1970's (guessing here) - Richard the native recruits a young Ben with a long term goal of infiltrating the Dharma camp.

1992 - Ben and Richard and company gas the Dharma bums and throw Hector and company into the mosh pit (without checking for maps first).

2001 - Richard recruits Juliet, using the name Mittelos Corporation (or Foundation, or whatever), to help with the island fertility problems.

So here's where I stumble with the ageless Richard theory. He has recruiting authority and off-island travel priveleges both before and after the Dharma overthrow, and is obviously well-funded for these efforts, dating all the way back to the 1950's when Locke was born. But if he was part of the "natives" prior to 1992, and not on the Dharma insider list, does that mean he was a former Dharma member that went native at some point? Or does it mean that he is now traveling in time as a recruiter in order to get Locke and others to the island? And is he associated with the other recruiter Abbadon, who seems to switch sides as well, or is Richard his counterpart on the "hide the island" side of the coin? Also, who the hell was paying for all of his travel costs and Mittelos cons for all those years, long before Dharma came about, and why the hell doesn't he age?

On the time travel theory, consider the following as an alternative to him being ageless:

Time-traveling Richard:

-- Richard knows when Locke is born, and travels back in time to 1956 to appear at the hospital and view the little fighter in the incubator. (This theory makes some sense, because if Emily concealed her pregnancy from even her mother, there would not really be a birth announcement or any way for the recruiter to hear about the premature birth. On the other hand, he could have heard about the tough little baby that heals himself from the newspaper or someone on the hospital staff.)

-- Richard travels back in time to 1964 to give Locke the object test and see if he is truly special, bringing things that will belong to Locke on the island or on his walkabout maybe. (What was in that vial, anyway?)

-- Post-plane crash, he travels to Australia circa 2004 to make sure that Locke gets rejected from the walkabout and put on Flight 815 back to LA. Makes a side trip to Claire's psychic, with a plane ticket for her to ensure that her unborn child makes it as well. (This one is sheer fabrication, to demonstrate how certain folks could have been put on that plane purposefully, under the assumption that Richard knows about the plane crash because it already happened).

I know the whole time travel thing is viewed as an easy out or an explanation for everything, and I actually thought we were getting away from it for a while, but it really does help explain some inconsistencies in the ageless Richard story. I'm not sure about Ben's age either, but generally, I found the whole idea of Richard being the recruiter for the island's next leader to be quite interesting, and am glad they brought him back from the temple, or the sugar cane business, or wherever the heck he went.

Sorry this is long, any thoughts?