Richard breaks a wall between the tunnels and Horace's house, knocks out Eloise

Back in the chamber with the hydrogen bomb, Sayid packs it up and is ready to leave. Richard and Eloise leads them a short way through a tunnel before stopping a stone wall. He takes a sledgehammer to the rocks, breaking through to the lower level of Horace's Dharma house.

Jack says that he'll go first, but Eloise stops him saying that he shouldn't forget that she's in charge. She says that she's going first because she won't hesitate to shoot if someone is in the house. Before Eloise can leave, Richard knocks her out with the butt of a gun. Richard tells Jack that he's protecting his leader. He says "She's going to be angry when she wake up but that's better than being dead." He says that she ordered him to help you and he did and now they're on their own. He says he's going to take her out the way they came in.

Jack and Sayid head through the hole in the wall and enter the Dharma house.

Richard took a bold move here protecting Eloise. I believe it's the first time we've seen him disobey Eloise, though he has done things that Charles Widmore has not approved of. It really seems like Richard is more willing to follow Eloise than Charles.

Sayid removes the h-bomb core, Richard asks Jack about Locke

Back in the chamber, Sayid is still working on removing the bomb's core from the housing. Jack asks if a backpack is big enough to hold the bomb and Sayid says yes. Richard picks up a sledgehammer next to column with hieroglyphics on it. Sayid removes the core of the bomb as Eloise watches him.

Richard bends down to talk to Jack and tells him that over 20 years ago, John Locke walked into the others camp and said he was going to be their leader. Richard says that he's gone off the island three times since then to visit him, but he never seemed particuarly special. Richard asks Jack if he knows Locke. Jack says that he knows him and "If I were you, I wouldn't give up on him."

It seems like Richard might be ready to give up on Locke but Jack's newfound support for him might be what convinces him to stay faithful to Locke and help him in the future.

Also, is Richard counting reaching out to to Locke through his high school science teacher as the third time he visited him, or was there another time we did not see?

Sayid studies Daniel's journal diagrams of the bomb, Richard objects to the mission

Down in the tunnels, Sayid is reading Daniel Faraday's journal and tells Jack that they don't have to move the 20-ton hydrogen bomb. He says that Daniel left specific instructions on how to remove the plutonium core and detonate it. Jack says that they have to wipe out a pocket of energy and asks if just the core will be enough to do that. Sayid says that the core is a thermonuclear weapon.

Richard stops Sayid and says that they put the bomb underground 20 years ago because it was emitting radiation. Richard turns to Eloise and asks if she thinks this is a good idea and confirms that she is pregnant (with as-of-yet unborn Daniel Faraday). She says that because she is pregnant is why they have to do this. Sayid says that once the core is removed, they will have approximately two hours to take it to the Swan station site because Daniel left a very specific time table.

Richard, Jack, Eloise and Sayid swim through to the tunnels

Richard Alpert is the first to jump into the creek and swim to the tunnels. Jack prepares to go under next. He tells Sayid that he won't blame him if he doesn't come. Eloise tells Jack to take a deep breath and that there will be an opening in the far end. We see Jack swim towards the small waterfall and under the rocks. He makes his way through a tunnel with and comes up in a chamber.

Jack tells Richard that it was a lot further than he though it was. He scans the room which has hieroglyphics on the columns. Jack asks "Where are we?" and Richard says "The tunnels." Jack asks how they're going to get a bomb out of here. Richard says "The same way we brought it in" and Jack replies "I assume you don't mean through the pool." Richard says "It's a 12-foot long, 40,000 pound hydrogen bomb. No, not through the pool."

Eloise comes up through the pool and Sayid is right behind her. Jack goes to help Sayid and says "I didn't think you'd come." Sayid says "Well, if this works, you might just save us all. And if it doesn't, at least you'll put us out of our misery." They then set off on their journey through the tunnels. Richard seems considerably less than thrilled about this entire situation.

So what exactly are the tunnels for? It seems possible that this is how the smoke monster travels through the island. Richard seems to go along with Eloise's plan even though he seems incredibly skeptical about the entire thing.