(Thanks to losteastereggs.blogspot.com for this collage of Eko's final confrontation).
The fifth episode of the third season brought some answers (again, one of them is simply, "Ben"), expanded some recently introduced characters, introduced us to yet another Dharma installation (and its inhabitant), brought back a favorite mystery, and killed off a beloved character. Could this much in one hour indicate that we're in November sweeps? I submit that it can...
The loss of Mr. Eko, the occasionally violent religious nut played brilliantly by Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje, is a tough one to swallow. Mr. Eko's journey seemed to be one of the ones with more stops left than most of the 815 survivors' (he really didn't outlive Claire?) His death reminds Locke, Sayid, and the we the audience that life on this island is nothing to be taken for granted. Moreover, from a pattern-spotting perspective, Mr. Eko's death reminds the audience that any character featured in an episode's flashback is the most likely to die before the scenes from next week (Shannon, Ana Lucia and Eko were the featured flashbacks in each of their death episodes). And while "The Cost of Living" raised some interesting questions about our ability to trust what we see on the Island, the producers have often reiterated, if a character dies on-screen on Lost, that character is dead. But that does not necessarily mean we have learned all there is to know about Mr. Eko...
And what did we learn about the on again/off again priest from Nigeria? In the immediate aftermath of Yemi's fatal gunshot and Eko's betrayal by his ill-fated drug gang members, Eko returned to Yemi's village to take his brother's place as the local priest. Years before, in the church where Eko would someday embark on some of the more brutal "justified" homicides in his life, Eko was both scared and defiant when a nun angrily ordered him to confess to stealing food to give to his starving brother. Upon his return, as a fabricated member of the cloth, Eko learned two things about Yemi: 1) he had been procuring a vaccine from a local medical clinic and funnelling some of it to the local gangster/ warlord to protect the village, and 2) he had planned to relocate to London. As a notorious drug lord himself, Eko knew he could only hide under the collar in Yemi's village for so long, so he formulated a plan - he would procure the vaccine, ostensibly to funnel to the gangsters, sell it on the black market instead, and run off to London in Yemi's place. The gangsters learned his plan, tried to hack off Eko's hands with a machete, and found themselves beaten and cleaved to death by the angry priest. When the villagers saw Eko emerge from the church carrying the bloody machete, they knew what had happened. Alter boy Daniel told Eko his mother had said that Eko was a bad man. When he asked Eko if this were true, Eko replied, "only God knows." Before leaving for London, Eko saw the villagers boarding up the church. He took umbrage, but was told the church was no longer sacred because murders had been committed inside. Eko's defense that he had saved the village from the gangsters was met by the harsh truth that others would take their place, and the accusation that he owed Yemi "one church."
So now we know exactly why Eko had started to build the church on the island. But when we look at the order things went down, some interesting questions arise, which may even explain Eko's demise - he started to build the church, presumably to repay his debt to Yemi. He then saw images of Yemi leading him to the Pearl hatch, where he found his new calling - pushing the button in the Swan hatch, at which point he abandoned the church. Was that the moment his fate was sealed? As producer Carlton Cuse teased this week, "What does the island want?"
An excellent question, and one which Eko's final day attempted to answer with a number of disturbing visions. Still recovering from the Swan implosion and time spent as a polar bear chew toy, Eko awakens to Yemi, telling him it is time to confess and be judged, and that Eko knows where to find him. At that very moment, Eko's tent begins to burn, but Eko is saved by Hurley, Charlie and Sayid, who has just returned from his boatless hike back from the Pala Ferry. Charlie recounts the brief emergency for Locke, and that he had muttered something about his brother, only to discover Eko has wandered off.
Having accompanied Eko on the journey to the Pearl last season (and encountered Yemi, himself), Locke knew that his plan to use the Pearl station's computer and monitors to search for Jack and co. would coincide nicely with the search for Eko. Locke calls for volunteers to join him, Desmond and Sayid, which Hurley immediately points out is quite different from Jack's technique of quietly selecting expedition members. Locke reminds Hurley that he's not Jack, and, accompanied by Charlie, Hurley, and newbies Nikki and Paolo, they make for the Pearl. I actually liked how Nikki, speaking for all the nameless extras, jumped at the chance to be included for a change, though I'm not a fan of grumpy Paolo's at this point. Caution, Nikki - when Dr. Arzt went on his first trip with the main gang after grousing about being an outsider, he blew up.
In the jungle, Eko has another couple of visions. First, the warlords we would learn he slaughtered attack him, but Eko again gains the upper hand. As he is about to slay their leader, the helpless victim transforms into alter boy Daniel, who tells Eko to confess before disappearing. Pausing to reflect by a stream (a scene quite reminiscent of Eko's cleaning off the gangsters' blood with holy water), he is joined by...our old pal, Smokey! Smokey appears intrigued, hovering over Eko as if wondering what he will do next. When Eko turns around, Smokey skittishly departs...
That's when Locke's party finds Eko, and together they journey to the burnt out husk of the drug plane. Locke shows Sayid and the rest how to access the Pearl hatch but remains topside with Eko. Eko discovers Yemi's body is missing from the plane, which Locke explains could either be due to the fire Eko set or the animals on the island, and returns Yemi's cross, which he found on his polar bear hunt, to Mr. Eko. Eko reacts violently to Locke's mention of Yemi's name, and Locke leaves Eko to join his crew in the Pearl hatch.
Down in the Pearl, Nikki, having watched the Mark Wickmund orientation tape, notes that the multiple monitors are meant to watch the other stations (plural) and not just the Swan. So she comes up with the idea of trying to establish a feed from another post to try to find their missing comrades. Sayid and Locke start splicing cables, and an image appears of what can only be described as a 1970s cubicle. Suddenly, into the frame steps a mysterious figure with an eyepatch, wearing a Dharma jumpsuit. Mr. eyepatch knows he's suddenly being watched, and disconnects the camera, leaving only static (real subtle of the Dharma folks to put a signal on the "hidden" cameras that someone has tuned in).
Who is this guy? Where is he? I could not get a clear look at the Dharma logo on his jumpsuit, but suspect I know what it would show (see the possible spoilers section, below, for my thoughts). As for the eyepatch, is that covering the space the glass eye found by the tailies in the arrow station used to occupy? Speaking of things found in the arrow station, am I the only one who notices Eko keeps finding answers in bibles that are anything but scripture (i.e. the removed section of the Swan film, and the picture of him and Yemi)? Locke's crew doesn't have time to investigate this new mystery, however, as a disturbance topside gets their attention...
That disturbance was Eko's last stand. Yemi emerges and again tells Eko to confess. However, grasping Yemi's cross, Eko says he will not confess as he has not sinned - everything he has done, from killing the old man to save Yemi from being press-ganged into a life of crime, to stealing to feed Yemi, to killing the gangsters who menaced the village in Nigeria, to killing the Others who ambushed the tailies, was necessary, and Eko is in fact proud of some of these actions. I was a little bothered that the things Eko did as a vicious drug lord between some of these incidents didn't inspire some amount of guilt...and apparently so was "Yemi," who angrily snatched away the cross, snarled that Eko spoke to him as though he were his brother, and marched off into the jungle. Shouting "who are you?" repeatedly, Eko follows Yemi, only to be overtaken by Smokey, who suddenly looms large and menacingly, then grabs Eko like a giant arm, and pummels him to death against the trees and ground. When Locke finds Eko in his dying moments, Eko whispers to Locke that they are all next...
Which would have been enough to make this a fantastically full episode. But we actually got to spend some time with Jack, Juliet and Ben at the Hydra station. "Invited" to attend Colleen's viking-style funeral in the linen pajamas the Others are all wearing, Jack tells Ben he knows it was Ben's spinal x-ray that he saw. Ben denies it at first, but after asking Juliet why she told Jack the x-ray was his (she did not), he confesses several things. First of all, Juliet's flirtations were meant to subtly win Jack over to perform the surgery (does Ben really think Juliet looks like Sarah? I mean, other than blond hair a certain level of attractiveness, I don't see it). Second of all, the Others' manipulations were designed to get Jack to want to perform the surgery, since we all know a motivated doctor is a good one. And finally, Ben believes there is a God, since two days after he learned he had a spinal tumor, a spinal surgeon literally fell from the sky.
The fifth episode of the third season brought some answers (again, one of them is simply, "Ben"), expanded some recently introduced characters, introduced us to yet another Dharma installation (and its inhabitant), brought back a favorite mystery, and killed off a beloved character. Could this much in one hour indicate that we're in November sweeps? I submit that it can...
The loss of Mr. Eko, the occasionally violent religious nut played brilliantly by Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje, is a tough one to swallow. Mr. Eko's journey seemed to be one of the ones with more stops left than most of the 815 survivors' (he really didn't outlive Claire?) His death reminds Locke, Sayid, and the we the audience that life on this island is nothing to be taken for granted. Moreover, from a pattern-spotting perspective, Mr. Eko's death reminds the audience that any character featured in an episode's flashback is the most likely to die before the scenes from next week (Shannon, Ana Lucia and Eko were the featured flashbacks in each of their death episodes). And while "The Cost of Living" raised some interesting questions about our ability to trust what we see on the Island, the producers have often reiterated, if a character dies on-screen on Lost, that character is dead. But that does not necessarily mean we have learned all there is to know about Mr. Eko...
And what did we learn about the on again/off again priest from Nigeria? In the immediate aftermath of Yemi's fatal gunshot and Eko's betrayal by his ill-fated drug gang members, Eko returned to Yemi's village to take his brother's place as the local priest. Years before, in the church where Eko would someday embark on some of the more brutal "justified" homicides in his life, Eko was both scared and defiant when a nun angrily ordered him to confess to stealing food to give to his starving brother. Upon his return, as a fabricated member of the cloth, Eko learned two things about Yemi: 1) he had been procuring a vaccine from a local medical clinic and funnelling some of it to the local gangster/ warlord to protect the village, and 2) he had planned to relocate to London. As a notorious drug lord himself, Eko knew he could only hide under the collar in Yemi's village for so long, so he formulated a plan - he would procure the vaccine, ostensibly to funnel to the gangsters, sell it on the black market instead, and run off to London in Yemi's place. The gangsters learned his plan, tried to hack off Eko's hands with a machete, and found themselves beaten and cleaved to death by the angry priest. When the villagers saw Eko emerge from the church carrying the bloody machete, they knew what had happened. Alter boy Daniel told Eko his mother had said that Eko was a bad man. When he asked Eko if this were true, Eko replied, "only God knows." Before leaving for London, Eko saw the villagers boarding up the church. He took umbrage, but was told the church was no longer sacred because murders had been committed inside. Eko's defense that he had saved the village from the gangsters was met by the harsh truth that others would take their place, and the accusation that he owed Yemi "one church."
So now we know exactly why Eko had started to build the church on the island. But when we look at the order things went down, some interesting questions arise, which may even explain Eko's demise - he started to build the church, presumably to repay his debt to Yemi. He then saw images of Yemi leading him to the Pearl hatch, where he found his new calling - pushing the button in the Swan hatch, at which point he abandoned the church. Was that the moment his fate was sealed? As producer Carlton Cuse teased this week, "What does the island want?"
An excellent question, and one which Eko's final day attempted to answer with a number of disturbing visions. Still recovering from the Swan implosion and time spent as a polar bear chew toy, Eko awakens to Yemi, telling him it is time to confess and be judged, and that Eko knows where to find him. At that very moment, Eko's tent begins to burn, but Eko is saved by Hurley, Charlie and Sayid, who has just returned from his boatless hike back from the Pala Ferry. Charlie recounts the brief emergency for Locke, and that he had muttered something about his brother, only to discover Eko has wandered off.
Having accompanied Eko on the journey to the Pearl last season (and encountered Yemi, himself), Locke knew that his plan to use the Pearl station's computer and monitors to search for Jack and co. would coincide nicely with the search for Eko. Locke calls for volunteers to join him, Desmond and Sayid, which Hurley immediately points out is quite different from Jack's technique of quietly selecting expedition members. Locke reminds Hurley that he's not Jack, and, accompanied by Charlie, Hurley, and newbies Nikki and Paolo, they make for the Pearl. I actually liked how Nikki, speaking for all the nameless extras, jumped at the chance to be included for a change, though I'm not a fan of grumpy Paolo's at this point. Caution, Nikki - when Dr. Arzt went on his first trip with the main gang after grousing about being an outsider, he blew up.
In the jungle, Eko has another couple of visions. First, the warlords we would learn he slaughtered attack him, but Eko again gains the upper hand. As he is about to slay their leader, the helpless victim transforms into alter boy Daniel, who tells Eko to confess before disappearing. Pausing to reflect by a stream (a scene quite reminiscent of Eko's cleaning off the gangsters' blood with holy water), he is joined by...our old pal, Smokey! Smokey appears intrigued, hovering over Eko as if wondering what he will do next. When Eko turns around, Smokey skittishly departs...
That's when Locke's party finds Eko, and together they journey to the burnt out husk of the drug plane. Locke shows Sayid and the rest how to access the Pearl hatch but remains topside with Eko. Eko discovers Yemi's body is missing from the plane, which Locke explains could either be due to the fire Eko set or the animals on the island, and returns Yemi's cross, which he found on his polar bear hunt, to Mr. Eko. Eko reacts violently to Locke's mention of Yemi's name, and Locke leaves Eko to join his crew in the Pearl hatch.
Down in the Pearl, Nikki, having watched the Mark Wickmund orientation tape, notes that the multiple monitors are meant to watch the other stations (plural) and not just the Swan. So she comes up with the idea of trying to establish a feed from another post to try to find their missing comrades. Sayid and Locke start splicing cables, and an image appears of what can only be described as a 1970s cubicle. Suddenly, into the frame steps a mysterious figure with an eyepatch, wearing a Dharma jumpsuit. Mr. eyepatch knows he's suddenly being watched, and disconnects the camera, leaving only static (real subtle of the Dharma folks to put a signal on the "hidden" cameras that someone has tuned in).
Who is this guy? Where is he? I could not get a clear look at the Dharma logo on his jumpsuit, but suspect I know what it would show (see the possible spoilers section, below, for my thoughts). As for the eyepatch, is that covering the space the glass eye found by the tailies in the arrow station used to occupy? Speaking of things found in the arrow station, am I the only one who notices Eko keeps finding answers in bibles that are anything but scripture (i.e. the removed section of the Swan film, and the picture of him and Yemi)? Locke's crew doesn't have time to investigate this new mystery, however, as a disturbance topside gets their attention...
That disturbance was Eko's last stand. Yemi emerges and again tells Eko to confess. However, grasping Yemi's cross, Eko says he will not confess as he has not sinned - everything he has done, from killing the old man to save Yemi from being press-ganged into a life of crime, to stealing to feed Yemi, to killing the gangsters who menaced the village in Nigeria, to killing the Others who ambushed the tailies, was necessary, and Eko is in fact proud of some of these actions. I was a little bothered that the things Eko did as a vicious drug lord between some of these incidents didn't inspire some amount of guilt...and apparently so was "Yemi," who angrily snatched away the cross, snarled that Eko spoke to him as though he were his brother, and marched off into the jungle. Shouting "who are you?" repeatedly, Eko follows Yemi, only to be overtaken by Smokey, who suddenly looms large and menacingly, then grabs Eko like a giant arm, and pummels him to death against the trees and ground. When Locke finds Eko in his dying moments, Eko whispers to Locke that they are all next...
Which would have been enough to make this a fantastically full episode. But we actually got to spend some time with Jack, Juliet and Ben at the Hydra station. "Invited" to attend Colleen's viking-style funeral in the linen pajamas the Others are all wearing, Jack tells Ben he knows it was Ben's spinal x-ray that he saw. Ben denies it at first, but after asking Juliet why she told Jack the x-ray was his (she did not), he confesses several things. First of all, Juliet's flirtations were meant to subtly win Jack over to perform the surgery (does Ben really think Juliet looks like Sarah? I mean, other than blond hair a certain level of attractiveness, I don't see it). Second of all, the Others' manipulations were designed to get Jack to want to perform the surgery, since we all know a motivated doctor is a good one. And finally, Ben believes there is a God, since two days after he learned he had a spinal tumor, a spinal surgeon literally fell from the sky.
This revelation from Ben is interesting. At face value (a serious leap of faith, to be sure), this confirms the Others had nothing to do with the plane crash, or the people who would be on board. It also suggests that Juliet's ostracizing of Ben from the book club apparently coincided with the revelation that Ben had a fatal ailment.
But Juliet's relationship with Ben was even better illuminated by her "my lips say yes, but my cue cards say no" conversation with Jack (thanks again to losteastereggs.blogspot.com for this collage)...
Since the cell is monitored constantly, Juliet could not tell Jack out loud to intentionally botch the surgery, so she pretended to be showing Jack "To Kill a Mockingbird" while instead doing her best INXS/ Love Actually impression. Interesting choice of films - doesn't Juliet know, as Atticus Finch told Scout in TKAM, "it's a sin to kill a mockingbird?"
So now, as always, there are more questions. Can Juliet be trusted? Does she really want Ben killed? Is he in fact dying from a big tumor? What does their rift mean for the Others' society, and how will Jack's choice, whatever it may be, impact himself, Kate and Sawyer? What did Eko do in London before relocating to Sydney? What, if anything, is the connection between Smokey, who last year projected blurry images of Eko's past, and Yemi (and the other visions on the island)? What did these various island entities want from Eko (and the rest of the group, for that matter)? How did Eko deserve death in his third encounter with Smokey, and not in his first two? Who was the guy with the eyepatch? Where was he, and why did he not want to be watched? And what else is in store in next week's mini-season finale, entitled "I do?"
****SPOILER WARNING******
Taking a look at the Swan hatch map, it should be obvious there is at least one station that has been teased that we have not yet seen - The Flame. The producers have said that we will see the Flame this season. It would seem that this was the spot where Mr. Eyepatch was lurking. As for what goes on at the Flame, and what Mr. Eyepatch is doing there, your guess is as good as mine.
2 comments:
Enjoying the blog, Dan. Keep up the good work. The question of whether Jack can trust either Juliette or Ben is absolutely fascinating and is going to bother me all week. Lost is back in top form, I think. Stands alone as the best show on network TV.
Anyone else find it interesting that everyone who survived from the back of the plane is now dead? The only exception to this is Bernard, who we haven't seen in some time. Interestingly... he wasn't supposed to be in the back of the plane. Hi seat was up front with his wife, next to Jack. Is there a reason the island has taken these people? The only other "survivors" to die were Boone and Shannon - brother and sister. Does that mean anything?
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