That’s a good point (i.e. MiB is not shown unlocking Richard’s feet). On the other hand (foot?) in Oslo’s pics the other slaves’ feet were shackled.
Richard, we now know, is a Spaniard from the 19th century. Probably a devout Catholic. The Pope admonishes us not to play with our donkey wheels. 
Does anyone else see Hurley as the new Richard? I mean, he’s basically already there. That puts him out of the running for Jacob, of course.
I think Jack is the new Jacob. His redemption is the central to the show.
Jack-ob. 
I almost want to say that is too obvious. I hope that isn’t the answer. I’m still sticking with Aaron, although I’m not putting any money on that!
If you watch the scene you can see that he is passing the stone around in his hands. I figured that the smaller weirder stone is because he had been rolling it around so long in his hands that it had eroded.
Plus in the scene with Richard, Hurley, and Isabella. After Isabella leaves you can see Hurley look to the side and say “Yeah, you got it” which I think is Jacob telling Hurley to tell Richard to stop the MIB
You can see the shackles on Richard’s ankles when the smoke monster comes down the stars to look at him for the first time. You can see them even more clearly (including some links from the chains) soon after when he falls to the floor after trying to reach the dripping water with his mouth.
ETA: I’d provide pics, but apparently the native screen capture command on a Mac doesn’t work with DRMed iTunes videos.
I only started watching in season 3 or 4 so I need to ask a question: was Jack Shepard’s dad’s corpse ever shown to be definatively on the island?
The reason I ask is Schmoky is shown to be able to take the form of dead people Christian Shepard and now Isabella (who was most definately not on the island). He took on the form of John Lcke but Ilsa says he can’t change to which everyone wonders why. Could it be because Schmoky now has the form of a dead person on the island.
I’m one of the most churchified people on this board, and I don’t know anyone who’s put any real thought into the subject who thinks that. Whoever implied that is working on a very simplistic level.
My wife was out of town this week and we just rewatched this episode.
I don’t have a ready pic, but Richard’s feet were clearly shown unchained. In fact, at one point he was laying in the orientation we’re complaining about - his feet stretched out in the direction away from the wall.
Either he was so tired and distressed that he didn’t think to use his feet or (more likely) it was a continuity error.
heh, can’t argue with that. Except to say based on your photos, he was shown to be lying down with his feet away from the wall in multiple shots, (linked as pic1 and pic4, named pic2 and pic5 when you open them), not just one. Clearly making the “my head just barely can’t reach” scene incredibly stupid.
On the whole killing of the slaves thing - here’s the understanding I got.
“Only 5 officers survived” - Officers, not people. Many of the crew presumably survived as well, and in those days discipline was maintained aboard ship with the lash. The surviving crew would be fairly dangerous to the surviving officers, only their possession of the weapons would keep them in control.
Adding the slaves to the crew numbers was seen as a danger by the captain. Combine this with the lack of food and water, and he thought he’d rather take his chances against X - the slaves desperate men.
Have the producers ever told us what Eko’s role was going to be?
No, all we ever saw was his unlocked & empty coffin, which Jack found near the “Adam & Eve” cave.