"The Cost Of Living"

NOVEMBER 21, 2010

FOCUS: EKO
EPISODE: 3.5
AIRED: NOVEMBER 1, 2006

So basically, whenever you have a flashback episode, you’re going to die? “The Cost Of Living” is the third time in a “row” that a main character was killed off during their own flashback episode (after Ana Lucia and Shannon). From then on, I would get nervous whenever possible folks like Desmond, Charlie, Claire, or even Sawyer would be the focus of an episode, because it meant they could be dead by the end of it.

I will give the Lost folks credit though – they always managed to hide who was being written off. Shows like Desperate Housewives are constantly being spoiled by the press – if someone’s leaving, it gets reported weeks before. But not on Lost; with the exception of Juliet, everyone’s death came as a surprise (she was announced as being on V before her death episode aired), and none shocked me more than Eko, who I thought was being groomed to be a possible leader like Jack and Locke. It’s a damn shame, too – he’s the only one of the actors to leave the show and never appear again. He’d be mentioned from time to time (Hurley apparently saw his ghost a lot) but Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje would never be seen on the show again. Bummer.

Anyway, it’s at least a fitting wrap-up for his character, as we learn what happens in the aftermath of Yemi’s death, namely, that he pretty much started being a priest for real that same day. We also finally learn what his building of a church was all about – the one Yemi worked at was closed down after Eko killed some dudes there, so one of the parishioners told him he “owed” Yemi a new church. I bet Yemi’s really happy about the piss-poor glorified stick fort that he built before deciding to push a button instead. At least Charlie seemed to be trying to finish it up a bit.

He also gets the most brutal death of the show’s entire run. Everyone else got shot or fell off a cliff – Eko gets picked up and slammed repeatedly into trees and the ground by the goddamn smoke monster (it even makes itself into a giant hand!). I like to assume it was the writers’ way of getting back at him for ditching the show (he was reportedly tired of being in Hawaii) and screwing up their long-term plans for the character. Again – sometimes it’s better to just recast, guys. It didn’t hurt Fresh Prince of Bel Air when they got a new Vivian.

We also get our first appearance of “Patchy”, aka Mikhail (Andrew Divoff), who would go on to be a pain in the ass for the rest of the season. He even appears in Via Domus!

And Ben also reveals his master plan to Jack, which, as we already suspected, involves operating on his tumor in exchange for freedom (Jack should have played ball and demanded a whole bunch of stuff, I think). But Juliet doesn’t want him to do it, so she puts together this ridiculous scheme where she films herself playing INXS: The Home Game* while saying something else to Jack. Apparently, Ben didn’t think anything about this was strange – To Kill A Mockingbird without sound? Wouldn’t like, I dunno, Armageddon or something where people didn’t TALK MUCH be less suspicious?

Speaking of the weird things with the Others – anyone else think they set them up to be some sort of cult with this one? What’s with the white robes and burning the body at sea stuff? It was never really addressed again, so I guess it doesn’t matter. But that’s the type of little throwaway thing that annoys me as I go back and watch them all knowing how it ends – why’d they bother with this sort of stuff and never really follow through on it?

Pretty jam-packed episode, huh? I didn’t even mention Goddamn Paulo’s adventures in the bathroom. Hell, there’s even a deleted scene that explains what Kate and Sawyer were hauling rocks for in the first place (the runway that we see in Season 6). I guess it evens out with episodes like the one where Claire tries to put a message in a bird’s claw (i.e. worthless).

Where are we?

*Yes, yes, Bob Dylan did it first... the INXS one is the one that popped in my head during this scene.

PLEASE, GO ON...

"?"

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?

PLEASE, GO ON...

"The 23rd Psalm"

NOVEMBER 3, 2010

FOCUS: EKO
EPISODE: 2.10
AIRED: JANUARY 11, 2006

Longest in-season Lost break ever? The last episode aired 6 weeks ago, which again made things kind of jarring when “The 23rd Psalm” aired, because it was only a day to the folks on the show. 24 is the only other major show I can think of that didn’t more or less match the time it aired – something like Desperate Housewives or House takes place over the same 9 months that the shows air (it allows for holiday themed episodes!). Luckily this one isn’t AS “connected” as the last time there was a big break; in fact some things DO seem like time has passed, such as Michael using the computer – it feels like this isn’t the first time he’s gone down there hoping to talk to Walt again.

But the bulk of the episode is about our favorite new character, Mr. Eko. In hindsight it’s kind of a sore spot of an episode, because they were poising him to be a major player and now we know he’ll be dead less than 20 episodes later. Goddamn you, Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje, for not liking Hawaii enough to see your character through. However, it’s such a good episode that it doesn’t bother me much. I loved the revelation of the plane’s origins; it continues to be one of the better fitting “jigsaw pieces” of the series as a whole (unlike, say, Claire being Jack’s sister). I don’t know enough about geography or beechcrafts to judge the validity of the plane getting from Nigeria to the South Pacific on one tank of gas, but otherwise it works perfectly.

It’s also a sort of last hurrah for Charlie, who’d become an insufferable bastard starting with the next episode and pretty much continuing through the rest of the season. He’s in his element here though; being the comic relief and tagging along with someone on a personal quest of some sort, and coining a good term (“Jesus stick”) while he’s at it. He’d regain our sympathies in season 3, thanks to his death “curse” and reconciliation with Claire, resulting in one of the all time best episodes (“Greatest Hits”), but man, I am not looking forward to sitting through the “baptism” and “let’s whack Sun over the head so Sawyer can steal the guns” portions of the show again.

This episode offers our first real “look” at the smoke monster, looking very little like Titus Welliver. There’s a cool moment where it flashes images of Eko’s life, something that I wish they had done more with (or even, again? I can’t recall it ever being brought back). It’s a total badass moment for Eko, who just stands there like “Yeah, WHAT?” (I also dig the Peter Jackson-esque camerawork as it races toward him). Also, I noticed that the three who had the closest encounters with Smokey are also the three men who have been at odds with Charlie – Eko, Jack, and Locke. Not really anything to it, just sort of interesting. I’m not confusing coincidence for fate.

And it’s another happy ending episode! Sawyer and Kate are flirting, Jack’s seemingly OK with it, or at least pretending to be (been there dude, shit sucks), Hurley and Libby have their first little moment, Ana Lucia gets a fish... good times in Lostville. Well, except for Charlie, who gets kicked out of the “house” for lying about carrying heroin around and not using it (in fact, does he ever actually use again? I don’t think he does). Tough break, dude.

Where are we?

PLEASE, GO ON...