TVSquad

I believe that the black creature is a manifestation of peoples pasts. If you examine all the images, they are all things we saw in the episode from Ecko's flashback. His brother, a woman, even jesus on the cross. Ecko was on his way to the plane to face his past, to find his brother, and he was not afraid. He was not afraid to face his past and he stood up to it and it did not harm him. That is my interpretation.



As for Michael, I agree, I don't think it's Walt. I think it's someone luring him away.



And as for Charlie, I have no clue what he's doing with all the statues. Maybe he's preparing to have his own burning man festivel on the island, or something?

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Time to break out the Image Editors...

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Did anyone catch Mr. Eko and Charlie saying..



"Yea though I walk through the Shadow of the Valley of Death, I will fear no evil."



I checked my Bibles and I'm sure it's "Valley of the Shadow of Death.."



Hmm, a clue perhaps?

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I mentioned this in the chatroom, but during the drug deal, the two middle eastern men are talking, and one says something to the effect of: does sayid know. Don't know if anyone else caught that.

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Is it possible that Michael is going nuts and hallucinating the whole "Walts sending me messages" thing? When Jack interupted their conversation on tonight's episode there was nothing on the screen when he walked by.



I just don't get the black cloud thing. I mean, I saw it and I also picked up on the "flashes" inside it (thank you Tivo) but what was exploding and why did it sound like it was breathing?



I'm sure we'll have answers to all of these things by season 9 [grin].

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So basically, Eko got a recap on the previous events on Lost in just a few seconds, thanks to the resident ghost monster, while ABC took a full hour to explain it to us? Honestly! Where's the love?

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Mark: I caught that as well.

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I just watched that part again, and it does sound like he says "does Sayid know," but it could just be something in their native language.

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Come on. Posting that on the front page an hour before it airs on the west coast? The spoiler warning below it could be the definition of ineffective. Either hold off til 10PM on the west coast, or put the spoilers after the jump. Is that asking too much?

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come and discuss about LOST 2x10 on dharmasecrets.com

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actually... i think the idea behind the monster is kind of along the concept of "your life flashing before your eyes." there were pictures of him (or his brother) as a child... of the man he killed as a child... of an older woman and man (his parents?)... of the church... of Eko as he was when the plane crashed (in his suit)... and of a crucifix. (i think that's all of them... HD-TiVo slow motion is so great!) i think it's kinda saying that there are no secrets.... the "monster" knows/sees it all. (of course, on a show where everyone has secrets and nobody tells anyone anything, this is sort of ironic.) speaking of which... why doesn't Michael tell someone about the typing? that's just stupid.

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Has anyone considered the possibility that the smoke (which we all saw in the season one ending, and possibly in the premiere when then ship crashed) and the tree-ripping, pilot chewing thing in the woods may in fact be two seperate, yet nontheless somewhat connected beings?

That way, they have us believing firstly that we "know" (or think we know) what the "monster" is, only to have us thrown off when they bring up yet another twist later on (maybe in the season 2 finale)...

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I thought this was one of the better episodes--better than good. Here are my thoughts on the show and some of the comments:



(1) The middle-eastern drug dealers are clearly speaking arabic. There is a three-sentence exchange, all in arabic. The last arabic-spoken phrase clearly has something that sounds like "Sayid," but it is definitely NOT "Does Sayid know?" We like to find familiarity among the unfamiliar, but they would suddenly break out in english sentences. That said, there may be some intention in putting in "Sayid" or it may be a red-herring.



(2) Michael and the computer. I personally like the idea that Michael is imagining the whole exchange with Walt. That is clearly a possibility based on the fact that the screen was blank when Jack looked. In fact, if you take the whole exchange line-by-line: "Dad?" "Are you O.K.?" "Yes" "Are you alone?" "Yes" "Can't talk long, they're coming back soon" "Where are you?" You need to..." ...then it is very possible that these are all things in his head. However, without over-analyzing the conversation, it just makes much more sense that there is something on the other end of the line, which more than likely is this as-yet-unrevealed higher power that Locke refers to as the "island." Look, Jack lost his Dad, the island gave him his Dad. Kate had the whole thing with the horse, the island gave her the horse. Charlie has a heroin addiction, and the island gives him heroin. Locke lost his ability to walk, the island gave that back. So does it not make sense that Michael lost Walt, and the island is "giving" Walt back via the communications with him? I mean, the mysterious others can't be responsible for all these things, and the island itself is clearly a character and clearly, somehow, supernatural. So right now, I am leaning towards the following possibilities (1st) It's the island somehow talking to Michael (2nd) It's all in Michael's mind (sort of the same thing) (3rd) It's the others setting a trap (4th) It's Walt.



(3) The images in the monster are all images from the show: the church (from when he enters to ask his brother the favor), the old man he killed at the beginning, etc., etc. Yeah, I know, you can't make them all out, even with tivo, but there are also several men (from the loading of the plane), a woman, and a crucifix. So what does all this mean? Eko said he wasn't afraid of facing the monster. Could it be the "monster" showed Mr. Eko what was in his soul? Earlier, Eko was referred to in Nigeria as the one who had no soul? Are these images all the people he is responsible for their deaths? From the old man he shot as a child to Jesus Christ (who it is said died for our sins, thus making us all responsible for his death). Is Eko's ability to make peace with all these things mean the monster has no power over Eko, because he doesn't fear what lies inside himself? Hmmm....



(4) Just a quick comment on the "Jesus Stick." I heard one person comment that it was ironic that Eko carried around this stick with scripture on it, and yet it was covered in blood (Charlie called it "odd"). Come on, the symbolism is so thick here. A "Jesus Stick" would be covered in blood, i.e. symbolic of the wooden cross? Anyone? Remember, there clearly was a crucifix flash in the monster.



(5) I love how Locke and Eko seem to be parallel characters. Both have stood their ground against the black cloud monster. Both are clearly the spiritual leaders of their groups. Both refer to themselves as spiritual people--Eko says, yes, he is a priest, while Locke refers to himself as a man of faith (whereas Jack was a man of science).



(5) Talk about your symbolism: "though I walk through the Shadow of the Valley of Death." Think that's an apt name for the monster, the security system, the black cloud--The Shadow of the Valley of Death? Remember, the monster flashed images of death when confronted by, or confronting, Mr. Eko. Maybe the island is the Valley of Death, the physical opposite of the Garden of Eden, and the monster is the Shadow. O.K., that last part about Eden, I'm not really serious about that--that's just going to far.



(6) Did you notice that the monster, when it was flashing images, it was like they were trying to showing as some kind of electromagnetic flashes. Clearly, the electromagnetism plays a huge part in the story. Maybe the "security system" is electromagnetically controlled (a viable theory) and it drew out the images from Eko's mind and his electric nervous systems and neuron-stored memories (a theory), but the thing didn't attack because Eko wasn't afraid, thus his body wasn't emitting the electric impules produced by fear (yet another crazy interpretation). Who knows.

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Can I just add that I think a medical doctor might like to know that there is a major heroin stash on the island. A good opiate might come in handy as a painkiller when he has to operate on gunshot wounds and other injuries. It irritates me that nobody bothered to tell him.

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Did anyone get a Tivo view of the bible verses Eko was carving into the "Jesus stick"? It'd be interesting to look those up for some possible clues.

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Here are the stills with identifying name links.



http://lost.cubit.net/investigations.php

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I actually took a lot better screenshots (widescreen) including one of the "Jesus Stick". Ten scenes in total for flashes during the pass through the "smoke".



http://www.putfile.com/mutterin



1. Church

2. His Brother?

3. Man Eko kills as a child

4. Eko as a child being taken away

5. Looks like Jack upside down

6. Eko's Brother?

7. A woman?

8. Can't tell

9. Eko grabbing brother after he's been shot

10. Jesus on the cross

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Sorry I missed the chat last night - broadband connection problems. This show is more fun when you can bounce theories off of someone else and get their opinion.



I think Jules Winnfield needs to hand that wallet over to Mr. Eko. What an intriguing and complex character!



The questions I was left with don't involve the monster. I want to know how a puddle jumper got to the South Seas and why Eko was in Sydney.



Thank goodness the dry spell in good TV is over for a while.

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Tom - good post .. just to add to your (2), the island gave Eko his brother back.



I thought it was a great episode. I love the "monster" smoke. This is much better than a big King Kong type, real monster. This island is full of some type of energy.. and the monster symbolizes that the most.

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Well, I thought it'd be more about Eko's parallels to Moses (the staff, leading them across the island, etc.), but they just brought that right up at the beginning. Of course it did all end with Eko watching the plane burn, maybe a parallel with Moses and the burning bush? Eko's conversion seems to have centered around events that plane was involved with.



I'm curious as to why Eko was in Australia, and also on flight 815. I think there's room for another backstory.

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