Podcast, interviews, and Eko

(Thanks to Entertainment Weekly for this image).

If you don't want to know anything about the producers' plans for Lost, you'd better stop reading this post right now. That said, with one possible exception (the end of this post), there are no revelations of story elements that have not yet appeared on screen.

In interviews in Entertainment Weekly and TV Guide, and in their weekly podcast, producers Damon Lindeloff and Carlton Cuse discussed the behind-the-scenes goings-on that led to the death of Mr. Eko (Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje) in last week's episode. In short:

• The character of Eko was always meant to be a short-lived, but crucial part of the cast.


• Eko did not die last season because the deaths of Ana and Libby made that just a bit too much.


• The producers would have preferred that Eko lived a little longer. However, since Adewale wanted to end his time on the island, they wrote the death in early this season.


• Part of the reason Niki and Paolo were conspicuously, yet lamely, introduced early this year was a red herring designed to counteract the ads the producers knew that ABC would run. They knew that killing off a main character during November Sweeps would require ads that said a character would die. So they introduced two new characters, much like Dr. Arzt, in part so that fans would assume the ads referred to the newbies instead of Eko. Were you fooled?

The producers also discussed some of what we have to look forward to after the coming 13-week hiatus ends in February. Again, there are no "answers" given here - just a partial timetable of topics to be addressed:

• In roughly the 8th episode (second one back), we will learn what happened to Cindy, the children, and the other tail section abductees.


• The characters will return to the Black Rock at some point soon.


• The end of this week's episode, a Kate-centered edition entitled "I Do," will fundamentally change the game for the survivors and shift the focus of the show back to the beach on the "main" island.

And finally, the producers discussed some of the Smoke monster mystery, and what we've seen already. What follows may or may not be a spoiler; on the other hand, the producers may not intend to better explain this. With that caution, read on or not (it's up to you)...

Lindeloff said in this week's podcast that you would not be wrong to interpret the end of "The Cost of Living" to indicate that the manifestation of Yemi and the smoke monster are one and the same. They also suggested that, when we last saw Smokey, the images from Eko's past that played were Smokey's "downloading" of images from Eko's mind that could be manifested this way. They stopped short of saying all of this was clearly the case, but implied it very strongly.

So that's it, Lostophiles. See you later this week for the recap of "I Do" and of the "Fall Season."