(S03E05) Now there's only one new episode of Lost left before a 13-week hiatus until February. The writers have answered quite a few questions in the last two episodes, but you know we're going to be left with a big, fat cliffhanger one week from tonight.
This episode had a heavy religious theme that ran through all of the storylines. In Eko's story, we come to understand how he interprets his life and that he does not see himself as a sinner, despite all the people he has killed. Eko spends the episode chasing his brother, Yemi, around the island. I think that Yemi was the black smoke, either actually taking the form of a man or causing Eko's hallucinations (he also saw the people he killed and the altar boy). During season two, in the "23rd Psalm" episode, the black smoke scans Eko and we see scenes from his life in the smoke. So, the question is: did the smoke take on alternate physical form or did it cause him to hallucinate? It did seem to admit to him that it was his brother at the end, and it may have set the tent on fire at the beginning.
Whatever the smoke was, the island was demanding a confession from Eko tonight. But Eko did not give it what it wanted: he explained that he was proud of his life and his actions because he did what he had to do to survive. Maybe the island didn't like that answer, because the black smoke took the form of a hand and beat Eko against the trees and the ground. He died, but not before telling John Locke, "You're next."
While it should be shocking when a main character like Eko dies-- he really was a terrific character-- the most staggering part of this episode, in my opinion, was the conversation Jack and Juliet had. Juliet pleaded with Jack to save Ben from his fatal neck tumor, but while she spoke, she played a video that showed her with messages written on cue cards. The messages said that "Ben is a liar" and that some of the others want him dead. She wants Jack to perform the surgery but to kill Ben on the operating table and she says she will protect Jack from the others. Here's the text from the cue cards:
- "Ignore everything I'm saying."
- "Ben is a liar."
- "And he is very dangerous."
- "Some of us want a change."
- "But it has to look like an accident."
- "It has to look like we tried to save him."
- "And that's up to you, Jack"
- "It's a complicated surgery. No one would ever know."
- "And I would protect you."
- "Now tell me to turn off the movie."
This is stunning news. But, is Jack being played? We already know that Ben is a liar. Is Juliet messing with him or is she sincere? Juliet and Ben both seem to be sincere with Jack-- the games appear to be over. But these people are super sneaky and manipulative so we just can't trust them, can we? We do have reason to believe Juliet, because the season premiere this month showed us that Ben had been shunned from the book club. Even if Juliet is being honest, I don't think Jack can bring himself to break the hippocratic hypocratic oath and just let Ben die in the operating room. I don't think he'd be able to live with himself if he knew he got off the island because he killed someone. Religion plays a small role in this storyline when Ben tells Jack that he believes in God because, two days after he was diagnosed with a terminal tumor, a spinal surgeon landed on the island.
Finally, Locke's restored faith in the island leads him and a team of castaways to the hallucinating Eko where an interesting exchange occurs. As Eko is drinking from the stream, the black smoke appears. Locke also appears across the stream and later tells Eko that he saw a beautiful bright light. Eko saw dark, black smoke. This seems to be a throwback to the good versus evil theme that was heavily played up in the first season.
Locke and friends also find the Pearl hatch, where they see a one-eyed man via closed-circuit television in another hatch. Who is the one-eyed man? Did we find his eye in the Arrow hatch inside a bible with the missing Orientation film clip? How did he know he was being watched? Previews for next week didn't show anything about a one-eyed man so I suspect we won't know who he is until 2007.
Is anybody else annoyed with the new characters, Nikki and Paolo? Nikki seems to be trying too hard to fit in with the others and Paolo seems awfully aloof. I'm annoyed by these two because they seem cleaner and less beaten up than the other characters that we know and love. They seem like imposters who want to be part of a clique. It's going to take a lot for me to care about those characters. I think the writers are intentionally trying to slowly introduce us to the characters, but I still feel a little bitter when I see them on camera. I feel like they haven't been through the same hell on earth that the other characters have been through-- which is probably true.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 5)
11-02-2006 @ 2:04AM
Mike said...
I'm having a hard time with Pablo and Nikki, it's not just you. Every single time I see them I wonder why they aren't using Rose and Bernard instead. Those are at least characters we know and actually care about.
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11-02-2006 @ 2:04AM
Contender said...
It was pretty surprising that Mr. Eko declined in the end to confess, as that seemed to be the direction of the episode. However, I was pleased finally to find out why Eko was building a church. In the flashback the nun told Eko that he owes Yenni one church. Clues blog discusses too in http://www.LostExposed.com/ Interestingly Eko never finished the structure and never finished his journey before the island took his life. It all seemed quite premature. I have to say I loved Hurley's comment about Locke seeking help, where Jack never did.
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11-02-2006 @ 2:15AM
jake said...
I was absolutely riveted by the juliet/jack videotape conversation -- I thought this was such great television to think of such a great scene where the thoughts of one character run contradictory to what they are saying. This alone should put to rest any notion that Lost is well Lost.
I was disappointed that Eko died -- I thought he was certainly one of the most interesting characters to come along but I knew it would be him when they started focusing the episode on him.
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11-02-2006 @ 3:14AM
Stigmata said...
What a shock!!!..............NOT
I really thought they would have done in Sayid or Charlie, although that would have killed the show for me! Those characters (esp Sayid) are awesome!
Still, i feel this show is dragging its heels here, they should have less flashback stories cause i think it really has nothing to do with the island does it?? i mean we are on season 3 here folks!
either show the connections, or reduce the flashbacks.
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11-02-2006 @ 3:53AM
Dan said...
It always makes me laugh when people suggest losing or having less flashbacks. They are an INTEGRAL part of the show. They are part of what makes Lost...well Lost.
Just because a flashback doesn't have a direct connection to the island it renders it useless? A lot of the flashbacks use parallels. They show us where these characters come from and where they are now. They pose interesting questions: Have they changed? Have they learned from their mistakes? Are they trying to redeem themselves?
Ekos flashbacks in the latest episode were clearly showing some of the horrible actions he has comitted whilst showing his lack of regret/remorse over such actions. It is this that may have cost him his life in his mini "judgement day".
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11-02-2006 @ 4:31AM
Stigmata said...
Dan, i agree that some of the flashbacks are interesting and have a clear connection to the island (ie Locke and the use of his legs, Hurley and the numbers, Walt and his powers, Claire and the mystery of the Baby etc..), however MOST of the flashbacks are just filler.
The interesting flashbacks, like the ones i just mentioned, are what sucked us into Lost, NOT Kate's, Jack's or some of the other's flashbacks, SHEESH!! They are just pointless and lame and dont go anywhere.
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11-02-2006 @ 5:07AM
Michael Canfield said...
Although Eko was one of my favorite characters, I didn't feel much when he died. Seemed obvious that he would be killed. Ironically, by trying to shock us and kill off major characters three or four times a season it has become routine. Not to mention all the plot threads that ending up going nowhere -- like half-built churches.
Yes Paolo and Niki are annoying. Sort of like when they bring new players halfway through a lame reality series just to "mix it up." Now we are stuck hoping they will kill Paolo and Niki sooner rather than later. Does anyone think either of these two will still be around this time next year?
My theory is the black smoke must have killed Eko because he decided he accepted himself and refused to think of himself as a "bad person." He refused to repent.
It's the same game they are playing with Jack. They want him to refuse to kill Benry even when Julia gives his a good reason to. And Benry is willing to risk his life for the experiment, 'cause those Others are all nuts. They know the plane crash was an accident, and the survivors were no threat to them.
I just wish Jack had said something like this to either Ben or Juliette: "Hey, did you guys ever just think of coming over and introducing yourselves? Then ASK me if I'd operate on your spine?"
My favorite thing tonight was the pounding titles over the previews for next week: THE. BEST. EPISODE. YET. -- yeah, if they do say themselves.
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11-02-2006 @ 5:35AM
stephen said...
Next week's episode, the fall season finale (the best episode yet) trailers:
http://www.dharmasecrets.com/forum/index.php/topic,8977.0.html
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11-02-2006 @ 5:59AM
Dan said...
I think they tried to explain the Church in tonights episode "You owe him a church" etc.
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11-02-2006 @ 7:05AM
Kia said...
"I just wish Jack had said something like this to either Ben or Juliette: 'Hey, did you guys ever just think of coming over and introducing yourselves? Then ASK me if I'd operate on your spine?'"
You ROCK Michael Canfield!
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11-02-2006 @ 7:32AM
LC said...
So now we know that in season one, Locke saw a bright light being, while Echo sees a black smokey one. I wonder if there are two beings, one good one evil laying claim to the castaways or if it is one being whose visual intgerpretaion is dependant on the virtue of the beholder.
Juliet is definitely playing Jack. Now whether she is doing it with Ben, I don't know. If she really wanted Ben to die, she had a number of occasions to kill Jack and make that look like an accident, such as when she knocked him out after the room flooded. That way she could have let the tumor kill Ben and get what she wanted without some big conspiracy to do the job.
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11-02-2006 @ 7:26AM
Cottonball said...
How did the one-eyed man know he was being watched? By the blinky light that appeared on the camera, of course. Easy to notice in the dim light of a hatch...
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11-02-2006 @ 7:39AM
Zach said...
I had missed the last three weeks of LOST due to work (I know, huh!)...so I just watched episodes 3, 4 and 5 back to back to back. Not remembering which episodes yielded certain details helped me draw conclusions. Here's what I got...
- Locke says he saw the same thing as Eko...the "light". Eko says that's NOT what he saw. This almost mirrors Locke's conversation with the young cop on the Humbolt pot-farm..."there's hunters and farmers." In the forest, Locke isn't able to shoot the cop, and the cop says "you won't shoot me - you're a good person." Does that mean that farmers=can't kill=good=white light and hunters=kill=bad=black shadow? Just kicking around that idea.
- We know Eko owes Yemi a church, which is why he started to build it. But didn't Locke build his sweat-house "inside" of the church? The sweat-house is Locke's church. Locke has taken on Eko's journey. Locke says to Desmond "don't mistake coincidence for faith." Didn't Locke say the opposite to Eko in the hatch last season ("don't mistake faith for coincidence")? It seems that ever since the beginning, that idea of faith with Locke has been tugging him back and forth (remember "Man of Science, Man of Faith" was the first episode of season 2). Sometimes the contrasts of coincidence, faith and science were with Eko. Sometimes they were with Jack. Or, in terms of motivational speakers everywhere - do you see to believe, or do you believe to see?
- Juliet & Jack. This could go in any direction. Jack, despite being a doctor (a man of science), is very endearing and trusting, even to his enemies (a man of faith). Even though Jack would rather wholeheartedly believe Juliet, he finds Ben...charming? Powerful? I don't know.
- Ben says to Sawyer something about how the only way to get a con man to respect them is to con him. It's a very earnest talk, but I think it's another leaf of the same onion. Are the plane-crashers on the other island? I don't know. I don't think so. I think it's another con, and in Ben telling Sawyer that he conned him already, it seems to lend itself as a curtain over the bigger con - the art of misdirection through Ben's charming earnest.
- Kate...going for the Emmy - "I love him." She's really flattened out as a character lately. It's funny how the show's used her as a piece of meat just as the Others have. I'm sure she'll be back in things soon. It's not really anyone's fault - she's in jail, so there's not much they can do with her.
So...that's what I got right now.
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11-02-2006 @ 7:33AM
Chris W said...
I always loved Eko's story. It's such a conflicted tale of redemption-through-living. That's a great thing about the show, IMHO, that they can blur the lines of morality to such a point that one ends up liking the characters that he/she would otherwise deem "evil". These strangers are all on an island, out of reach from the real world, and with the ability to live the life they always wanted (the greatest example is Locke) regardless of what they have done or who they were. But in order to move forward, not only do they have to fight off wild animals and hostile neighbors, but they have to confront their inner demons: their Yemis, their Christians, their Daves, their heroin, their pushover-ness. That's what the flashbacks are for. Now that the slate has been wiped clean and external factors are less influential, every character is on a journey to be happy and at peace with themselves; but at the same time, there's no real 'society' or 'moral authority' to keep them in check (what with all the murderin'). Or is there? We don't know who controls the black smoke, or what it's purpose is, but it seems to work in tandem with its encounterer's conscience. So we might believe that the hand of God is zipping around the island and punishing those who sinned and intoxicating those who haven't (Locke) with brightness. But was Eko wrong for turning out the way he did? I'm glad he didn't repent; he sacrificed his innocence, and basically his soul so his brother could be spared. Granted, Yemi was shot because of him, but Eko did atone for certain things by being generally pious in his travels pre-Island and on the Island. I wonder why Eko decided that the church was not worth finishing, though, when he changed his mind about what he needed to do; he never seemed defiant of his duty to his brother.
As for the Others' camp, it's all a little fishy. Juliet knows damned well that Jack's obsession with fixing things and doing good will categorically prevent him from doing harm. And if he does, and there's really bad fallout? Well, I hope he has that booze from the plane still because that's what he'll be doing until the series ends. Why would Juliet ask him to kill Ben when she could do it herself with poison? She could just blame a Lostie, too. I don't know what's more messed up, that Ben had a plan to break Jack and coerce him into wanting to save him, or that Juliet wants Jack to commit murder in the O.R.?
Oh and when Ben "tells Jack that he believes in God because, two days after he was diagnosed with a terminal tumor, a spinal surgeon landed on the island." I think the word choice in the episode is key: "a spinal surgeon fell out of the sky."
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11-02-2006 @ 7:38AM
Tara said...
I was sad to see Eko go. As my husband said last night, this does kind of prove the theory that any actor on Lost that gets arrested in Hawaii gets killed of the show.
But seriously, I thought this was an great episode. I loved how we were sort of given confirmation that the Others are indeed playing mind games with Jack to get something they wanted. And I believe that Kate & Sawyer are being used as pawns in that game. I don't know if we can trust Juliet either. She may be trying to kill Ben to get the power all to herself. And I do think that Jack would kill "Benry" as #7-Michael called him, as long as he had reason to believe he would be getting home or at least getting something major out of it all when he was done.
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11-02-2006 @ 8:18AM
cress d said...
I'm so pissed they killed Mr. Eko. I loved his character. He was such a great addition in season 2. He had such a pivotal role in the season 2 finale. And this is how they "off" him in season 3, w/ barely any screentime until this episode. IT WAS WEAK!!! I guess if you join the show in season 2, you are probably not going to last long. Who is next Mr. Lindeloff, Desmond(another great character)? You kill Mr. Eko to make room for the two new castawys who so far SUCK!!!! Eko was awesome. I expect more from this show, but this episode upset me. Kill Charlie. Have the black smoke drag him back to the shire so we never have to see him again.
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11-02-2006 @ 8:26AM
Diana said...
The big boulder and rocks blocking the entrance to the plane resemble the story of Jesus. His tomb was sealed with a large boulder, but when it was opened a few days later, his body wasn't there - same for Yemi.
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11-02-2006 @ 8:48AM
Cee Rubin said...
Michael, that may be the best comment anyone has ever made on any episode of Lost ever! So funny!
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11-02-2006 @ 8:56AM
Jay said...
My friend and I were watching and when we came up to where Eko's brother's body was gone, we decided: ZOMBIE YEMI!
Then when we saw the eyepatch guy: PIRATES!
Lost is so awesome! I demand more Zobmies and Pirates!
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11-02-2006 @ 9:12AM
Steve said...
In season one, Jack saw his father on the island and went chasing after him. Last night's ep. had Eko seeing his brother and chasing after him. Have any of the other castaways seen loved ones on the island?
Also, I think Jack may have some conflict about killing Ben because Ben promised he would "get him home."
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