"?"

NOVEMBER 14, 2010

FOCUS: EKO
EPISODE: 2.21
AIRED: MAY 10, 2006

Back when Aintitcool used to publish stories consisting of the upcoming episode titles, I figured "?" was a placeholder for an as-yet-unrevealed moniker, since they were usually pretty self-explanatory ("What Kate Did") or based on obvious dialogue or character descriptions ("Man Of Science, Man Of Faith"). So leave it to Lost to make an episode called "?" that actually DOES make sense, as the episode focuses on unanswered questions as well as a location marked by an actual question mark burned into the ground.

Sometimes I wish that Eko had been a main character right from the start, and/or that they gave him a season of his own. His back-story is far richer than most of the other characters - here's a guy who was taken as a normal child, molded into a soldier, then became a drug dealer, and finally a priest. Even if he had lived until the end (which I believe was the plan; he certainly wasn't meant to die in the first quarter of the 3rd season), I don't think they ever would have run out of interesting flashback stories for the character. Again, sometimes I think re-casting really is better than the alternative.

That said, I wonder why they didn't let Libby have a flashback here. She doesn't die until the very end of the episode, and they could have used the time to clear up some questions and just saved the trek to find the ? station (and Eko's flashback) for the next week. It also would have been dramatically exciting, because we as the audience could see it as a sliver of hope that she would survive.

That is, if Jack wasn't so pessimistic about her chances. As with "Do No Harm", half of the episode deals with Jack's attempts to save someone's life, though he doesn't go at it full throttle this time, which I never really noticed before. Is he finally learning to let go? Or is he so focused on getting the guns/going after the Others that he sees Libby's situation as sort of a blessing? It doesn't take him too long to flat out tell Sawyer he only really wants the heroin in order to find the guns (a rather silly plot point - why did Sawyer have them in the first place? If Jack took all the meds back in the poker game, why weren't they included when their "therapeutic value" was the only reason they had them?), and most of the time he's just standing around looking at her instead of trying to get the bullets out (since she was shot through two heavy blankets, wouldn't the impact be dulled enough for it to be a fairly shallow wound?). Also, I'm no doctor, so I'm confused by why the bleeding stopping is a bad thing.

(Also, how does the Island's healing power work, anyway? It can cure cancer and paralysis, but not gunshot wounds or beatings?)

On the flipside, Locke seems to be losing his faith here. Why is he so incredulous about Eko having visions and going by what he learned in dreams? Isn't that sort of right up Locke's alley? I get that he's frustrated due to his inability to draw the map, but even that helps make my point - if he believes the map is somehow important/special, shouldn't he be doing anything to help trigger his memory, such as going off to find one of the things on it? But I love his expression when he asks Eko if he can open the door himself - dude's practically aroused by the promise of a new mystery to solve.

Quick question though - is it possible for two men to push a goddamn airplane? One of whom is injured and thus does not have full leg strength to push with? They make it seem like it's made out of balsa wood or something.

But man, you gotta feel for Hurley here. Even Sawyer looks like his heart breaks for the poor guy when he asks him and Kate if they had seen Libby. And when he tells Michael that he's glad he's OK... man, I don't think I ever hated a fictional character so much in my life (unless you count the asteroid in Armageddon). But, silver lining, the plot thread helped establish Hurley as a full character. Up until now he's just been the weird funny guy who was hanging around but never really getting involved, but starting a couple episodes up until the end of the season, he was one of the main players. Yay!

After tomorrow's episode, I'll be at the two part/three hour finale, which I will try to watch in one sitting since I fell behind due to Screamfest and have yet to "double up", which I need to do a couple times per season if I'm going to get everything done in 108 days as originally planned. Also if memory serves, the 2nd season finale is the most adventurous of all of them, with the big trek across the island to the Others' territory, and Desmond's awesome flashbacks, etc., so it'll be fun to watch all at once. And yes, I just need to satisfy my Desmond fix. For some reason I thought he came back sooner in the season than the finale, but a quick check for tomorrow's episode reveals I was wrong; it's not until the first part of the finale that he reappears. Lame.

Where are we?