Lost 3.05: The Cost of Living review

The One Where: Mr Eko is beaten up by the smoke beast.

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AIR-DATE: 1/11/2006

Written by: Monica Owusu-Breen and
Alison Schapker

Directed by: Jack Bender

Starring: Michael Bowen, Adetokumboh McCormack

Rating:

In Flashback
Mr Eko returns
to his brother’s church, taking on
the role of the small African
township’s new priest. He deals
with a local protection racket by
killing the gang’s leaders… in the
church! The local people are not
very impressed with their new
blood-soaked priest and are
happy to see the back of him.

On the Island
Mr Eko is
recuperating at the survivors’
beach camp, but is feverish and
keeps hallucinating that he’s
seeing his brother, Yemi, who
tells him it is time he confessed
his sins. Eko then creeps out of
the camp, heading towards the
crashed plane that contained the
body of his brother.

Locke and Desmond discuss
how they are going to rescue
Jack, Kate and Sawyer. Desmond
points out that the hatch could be
used for communication, so
Locke suggests going to the
other hatch, the Pearl, to see if it
can lead them to the Others.
Sayid wants to search for Mr Eko,
but Locke points out that the
crashed plane and the Pearl are at
the same place, so they can kill
two birds with one stone.

Jack has guessed that it is Ben
who has the tumour. Ben asks
Jack to operate; in return, he’ll
set him free. Juliet gets a secret
message to Jack saying that Ben
is not to be trusted, that some of
the Others want a change of
regime and that he should only
pretend to “cure” Ben.

Locke, Sayid, Desmond and
two new regulars, Nikki and Paolo
(who don’t do much here except
provide weak comic relief) get
the Pearl’s communications
system working. They briefly see
a man with an eyepatch.

Outside, Eko sees his brother
again and confesses. But Yemi
says, “You talk to me like I am
your brother,” then walks off into
the jungle. Eko follows, and is
attacked by the smoke monster.
As he lies dying, Eko whispers to
Locke, “You’re next.”

Review
Superseer Desmond
didn’t see that one coming.
While it’s vaguely annoying that
another great Lost character
bites the dust (and we’re still
stuck with Jack) this is a superb
episode, Lost at its best, and a
fitting goodbye to Eko.

Again, part of the reason it
works so well is because of the
feeling that this is an ensemble
show. Too many episodes this
season have jettisoned two-thirds
of the cast. It’s also good
to see Locke motivating the
survivors and getting them to
pool their knowledge of what
they’ve learnt about the island.

So, the smoke beast was
“creating” the illusion of Yemi. Did
it also create previous illusions,
such as Locke’s meeting with
Boone? Could the eyepatch guy
be Jacob (see “I Do”)? Things are
getting very intriguing indeed.

Dialogue
Ben: “Two weeks
after I find out I have a tumour
on my spine that will kill me, a
spinal surgeon falls out of the
sky. If that’s not proof of God, I
don’t know what is.”

Dave Golder

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