Friday, May 9, 2008

3.5 The Cost of Living

Sayid has arrived back at the beach camp, where he is checking out Eko. When he leaves, Eko is only partially conscious, but gets a visit from the spirit of his brother Yemmy, carrying a lighter. Yemmy tells him it is time for him to be judged. Soon after, the structure holding Eko catches on fire. Eko is dragged out by Charlie and company. Soon after, Eko disappears into the jungle.

Locke has a plan to get Jack, Kate, and Sawyer back by making contact with the Others from the computer at the Pearl Station. Desmond has said that the station computers can be used to communicate with each other. Locke finds out that Eko mentioned his brother’s name before disappearing, so Locke thinks Eko is also headed for the Pearl (or the plane above it, anyway). Unlike Jack, Locke invites anyone who wants to come along. The group is joined by Nikki and her partner.

Eko is drinking from a stream and patching his battered body with mud when he is visited by the smoke monster. The monster seems to scoot away when Locke and gang arrive a few second later.

At the plane, all but Eko descend. The computer only goes one way (incoming), so no message can be sent, but Nikki suggests they hook up one of the other TVs. Briefly, an underground scene with a mainframe computer displays, then a man with a patch in that other location notices that he is being videod, and shuts the feed. Locke says not they’ll be expecting them – and he is not displeased by that revelation.

Up top, Eko discovers that his brother’s body is no longer there. But Yemi again appears. Eko follows him a distance away, but given the chance to confess, he refuses, saying that he is not sorry for the things that he did (including killing a man to save his little brother’s life). At this, Yemi says he is not his brother and retreats into the jungle. When Eko follows, Yemi disappears but the smoke monster returns. This time, it is not just curious; it is aggressive, grabbing Eko, slamming him against trees and fatally bashing him into the ground. Locke arrives just before Eko dies and hears his last words: "We’re next."

Meanwhile, in the Others camp, Jack is visited by Ben and asks him some questions about his tumor. Ben says he doesn’t know what Jack is talking about, but his face says something else. Ben is there to ask Jack to wear a white tunic and go to Colleen funeral, where her body is launched to sea on a flaming pyre. At the funeral, we get confirmation that Jack guessed correctly – Ben asks Juliet why she told Jack about his situation.

Ben visits Jack again and admits they were going to try to win Jack over and get him to voluntarily operate on Ben. Ben feels blessed that two days after he found out he was dieing from a spinal tumor, a spinal surgeon fell out of the sky. He asks Jack to think about performing the operation.

Jack’s next visitor is Juliet. She puts in a videotape which she says is the movie To Kill A Mockingbird, and she talks to Jack while it plays, telling him that Ben is a great man and saying the performing the operation is definitely the right thing to do. But the videotape is not what she said: it is a home-made movie of her holding cue cards that, in summary, say that Ben is dangerous and a bad man, and that some of the Others want change. She asks Jack to kill Ben on the operating table and make it look like an accident, and that she will protect him.

Eko’s flashback extends the story of what happened after he survived the ambush of their drug flight. Eko, in priest’s garb, took over Yemi’s church for a few days before flying off to London to continue studying (as Yemi had planned to do). During that week, Eko stood up to a miliitia that was planning on taking 80% of the vaccines that were to be delivered. But his bravery just got an innocent woman killed. When he is caught trying to sell the vaccine to another shady character, the militia leader threatens to cut off his hands. Eko goes postal with a machete inside the church, killing all three militia men. When he emerges from the church, a woman tells him that the church is not sacred and can no longer be used, and that Eko must repent – and he owes his brother a church as well.

Comments

Eko will be missed. Every line he delivered was pure and beautiful. He is a mesmerising actor on screen, and no doubt will get heaps of roles after this – in fact, I wonder if he wrote himself out.

The ‘tailies’ (tail section survivors) are now almost extinct. With Eko’s death, the only remaining tailie that we are certain is alive is Bernard. However, Cindy and the kids were taken by the Others, and, if what Ben says is true, they are still alive (Ben says they are not murderers).

This episode gives us no glimpse of Jin or Sun (although we can assume they made it back to camp with Sayid). We also don’t get to see Kate or Sawyer.

It’s possible that the guy with the patch is the one that dispatched the smoke monster. The patch guy could also be a member of another group (not the Others). At least, that’s my theory at this point in time.

Now we know why Eko was building a church on the island: it was payback to Yemi for corrupting the one in Africa.

Beware Juliet! Remember that she may not be as innocent as she claims to be. Remember that when Juliet was holding a gun to Kate’s head, Sawyer felt that she would have pulled the trigger, no questions asked. It could be that Ben is a much more benign leader than Juliet would be.

Nits

Why does Ben feel so blessed that a spinal surgeon fell out of the sky? Ben can leave the island at any time to get treatment.

Quotable Quotes

"Two days after I found out that I had a fatal tumor on my spine, a spinal surgeon fell out of the sky. If that's not proof of God I don't know what is."
- Ben to Jack

Sayid: What did he [Eko] say, John?
Locke: He said: 'We're next.'

Desmond: That’s quite a coincidence.
Locke: Don’t mistake coincidence for fate.

Juliet: He let you out?
Jack: Gave me a new shirt too.

Daniel: Are you a bad man? My mum said you're a bad man.
Eko: Only God knows.

Juliet: You want to guess what's for lunch?
Jack: I'm not... I'm not big on mysteries.

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