S2Ep10 - The 23rd Psalm (Eko's first flashback) - 01/11/06

Hello my dear friends,

Thank you for finding your way to my blog. I dare say this is going to be much easier than dealing with all of the email issues as of late, so I hope this works for you as well. You can find past episode write-ups via the archive links on the right. I am working on formatting them and getting up what I have from Season One as well.

Right now, I am actually in the middle of writing this post (somewhere in the paragraph under "Blowin' Smoke"), but I had to jump back up to the top to say how happy I am that our beloved show just won Best TV Series - Drama. Though it is kind of weird because I think JJ Abrams wanted to give a speech and Damon Lindelof just took over the mic, but whatever. They won, and now I can sleep peacefully tonight rather than plan some sort of revenge on the Hollywood Foreign Press Association. Yay!

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And now... After 6 weeks of waiting in agony, Lost returned with what nearly everyone on the boards deemed an excellent episode. So without further ado....

...STOP! EKO TIME.

While many people on the boards, including me, had previously thought Eko might somehow be connected to the Nigerian Drug-Smuggling Plane with Faux Priests a.k.a. Charlie's Own Personal Heaven a.k.a. Boone's Deathtrap, no one expected the connection to be quite this tight. Eko was supposed to have been on that plane, and his brother (rest his soul) was on it --- that was a surprise. And except for people who read spoilers, no one thought Eko was going to have been a "bad guy" in the past. But before I go any further, can I just say that the man is HUGE? Damn! Seriously, he is a big guy. It was just more apparent to me in this episode I guess - perhaps from his drug lord flashbacks or from, I don't know, him standing next to Charlie. OK, now that I got that out of the way, there are of course several questions resulting from Eko's flashback that we must discuss:

1) When exactly did the end of his flashback take place?

The number one question I have is: when did the drug plane take off? Was it ten years ago, five years ago, one year ago, or say... 50 days ago? I'm not schooled in corpse decomposition so I have no idea how to judge how long the dead bodies have been on the island, but it's really bothering me. I still am not letting go of the time warp/time loop theory until I have absolute proof that all events have happened in a completely linear fashion. Way back early in Season One, when they found the "Adam and Eve" skeletons in the caves, Jack judged they had been there 40 to 50 years because of the level of disintegration of their clothes. But now since Eko burned the plane, I'm not sure Jack will get a chance to inspect the plane's passengers and make a guesstimate. I think the one faux priest Boone and Locke originally found is somewhere else in the jungle, however. Regardless, I do not think we've seen the end of Mr. Eko's flashbacks (we still have absolutely no idea why he would be in Australia), so until then I guess we are all going to have to wait patiently.

2) How could a plane that small make it from Nigeria to the South Pacific?

Another big question, and one that I'm positive TPTB want you to ponder as Charlie mentioned it in a roundabout way during his ultra-annoying rant while Eko was praying:

CHARLIE [while Eko's praying]: He saved your life, huh? Sure, that makes sense. He takes off in a plane in Nigeria -- we're out in the middle of the South Pacific -- that makes all the sense in the world.

One theory: there is some sort of "wormhole" (or perhaps many of them) that leads to the island - enabling either time travel or travel over great distances. Before you dismiss me as a sci-fi dork, consider these things: a) several of the books shown on the show (A Wrinkle in Time, The Third Policeman, etc.) deal with this sort of thing, b) when mapped in order, "the numbers" mark a spot in the Central African Republic, not too far from Nigeria. Perhaps the plane took off, was flying east and encountered this spot and got sucked in and landed on the island, and c) it happened in "Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure," a fine movie that greatly influenced not only how I think but also how I talk - so perhaps it influenced the creators of Lost, too, as they are close to my age. San Dimas High School Football Rules!

3) What did Eko do after the plane took off?

I am going to make a proclamation about the cast of Lost. They are some of the best "non-verbal" actors I have ever seen. Jack and his damn crying, Kate and her expressions of confusion or surprise, Locke during his encounters with Lostzilla, MajorlyPissedSayid giving Ana Lucia the look of death, and now Eko and his eyes flickering with the realization that the police think he is the Real Priest.

So my guess at what happens after that scene is that Eko DOES become a priest (or acts like he's one) and continues that life up until his crash on the island. It looks like he had on some sort of black priest-looking suit when he crashed. He did also tell Charlie that he is a priest. Other evidence: um, no, on second thought, I'm not going to list it all out. If you don't believe me, go re-watch The Other 48 Days and then tell me if you think this isn't a religious dude.

4) Speaking of that, what's up with the stick?

The bizarro spear stick thing that Eko's kept with him on the island has the names of various books of the Bible carved into it, but also the word "hateth" - which probably is some sort of clue. I have perused threads specifically related to the carvings and while I learned quite a bit about the Bible, there really wasn't an overall theory anyone was proposing. I already told you that the writers said the stick is important. How important remains to be seen.

5) Is Eko a "bad" or "good" person?

I'm so confused! Eko originally saved his little brother from being taken by the gang, but he did this by murdering an old man. And because he offered himself up to save his brother, he ended up leading a life of crime and becoming a drug runner, while his brother became a priest. Eko's actions ended up getting his brother killed. We do not know what happened between that point in time and his arrival on the island, but we have reason to think he may have followed a religious path after his fellow gang members deserted him and took off with his brother. On the island, he was trying to save everyone after the crash, brought the dead bodies to shore, did several other commendable things... and then killed two Others. With all of this new information on Eko, I'm not so sure he was actually on the Others' "good people list." More on this topic shortly when we discuss Smokey a few sections below.

6) Coincidence, or fate?

An overriding theme of show has been "is there such a thing as fate or destiny?" Eko's backstory is a prime example of that theme. Eko was supposed to be on the drug plane. He wasn't. The drug plane ended up on the island... But yet Eko still ends up on the island, too. Was Eko's fate/destiny to be on the island, and therefore one way or the other, he was going to get there? Other characters have had similar situations I've covered before.

BLOWIN' SMOKE

I guess I should start out by saying that I actually NEVER thought that what so many people are calling "smoke" on the boards was smoke. I was always thought the "wisps of black stuff" we've seen briefly in the past were nanorobots or clouds of electromagnetic matter or something. Everyone is now calling that stuff Smokey, but although I can't think of a better name, I also can't bring myself to type Smokey over and over again in this or future write-ups, so until I think of something better (or someone else does), I'm just going to call that thing: Black Cloud Thing. Fresh outta creativity this Monday night, sorry.

Now that we actually SAW Eko's staredown with Black Cloud Thing, there are (surprise, surprise) even more questions (besides the obvious - what IS the Black Cloud Thing?).

1) Is Black Cloud Thing the Monster?

Typically, the "Monster"/Lostzilla is preceded by chain-rattling/rollercoaster-ish type sounds and huge puffs of air and trees disappearing. We saw that this time too, but then Black Cloud Thing arrived on the scene. We have actually seen Black Cloud Thing before without all of the hoopla (Jack and Kate saw it in the jungle just whizzing by with no sound). Therefore, I'm not sure that Lostzilla and Black Cloud Thing are one in the same. I still think that Lostzilla could precede Black Cloud Thing in some instances and is truly just working as the "security system," just trying to keep people away from certain things or scare them out of certain areas, as Danielle alluded to. Black Cloud Thing, however, could be the real power on the island. But then again, they could be one in the same, I'm just not sure yet. If they are, then I would like to know how the Black Cloud Thing killed the pilot in the premiere.

2) Was the Black Cloud Thing also what Locke saw in the jungle, or did he see something else when he "looked into the eye of the island" early in Season One?

3) Was the Black Cloud Thing reading Eko's mind?

To my peeps who watched with me at my place, we missed something huge, and I can't believe it. Although we did discuss the possibility that Eko was seeing something other than black stuff, such as something relevant to his life, we completely missed that they did actually show what was in the Black Cloud Thing. However, it was only visible via slo-mo. When the camera panned through the black cloud, there were several flashes of Eko's life shown and you could plainly see them if you paused the show. So the question is - does that mean that the Black Cloud Think was reading Eko's mind and taking in images from Eko? Or did the Black Cloud Thing project the images and Eko was actually seeing them? I think it was the former, and I think the Black Cloud Thing was scanning Eko's past to judge whether or not he was a) good or bad, or b) worth messing with. What is more interesting to me is if the Black Cloud Thing left Eko alone because he thought he was good... or because he thought he was bad...

On to other non-Eko-related topics:

DIE, RANCH, DIE!

I was very disturbed while watching Locke attempt to teach Michael how to shoot a gun. Here's the thing: I really like Ranch dressing. And to have to sit there and watch Locke and Michael just mercilessly shoot a perfectly good container of Dharma Ranch, well... there's just no justification for that. Surely they know that EVERYTHING tastes better with Ranch on it?!?!?!! Perhaps "the sickness" has taken them and they don't realize what they've done. Did they not have Blue Cheese or something? That stuff's nasty.

WALT IN THE MACHINE

Dammit if Michael doesn't have to get on the IM again. He's like me at work. But at least I know who I am IMing with - hey Michael - THAT'S NOT WALT! Why would your son ask if YOU were alone? Please. The funniest part of the episode was definitely when Jack walked in and Michael was like a deer in headlights. The screen going dark once again leads me to believe that whoever is typing to Michael can actually see him and perhaps has some sort of control over the systems in the hatch.

ISLAND LOVE FOR HURLEY

Did I see a little spark between Hurley and Libby whilst they attempted to do whatever it was they were trying to do with that tarp? I believe I did.


HOBBITS GONE WILD
Of all people watching the show, LOTR fans such as myself should probably have the greatest patience for Charlie, because a part of us still sees him as happy little Merry. But hear this you writers of Lost - even my patience is waning. Please make him stop being so annoying, I beg of you. Now you're turning him into some sort of heroin squirrel, hoarding away Virgin Mary statues like it was going out of style. What's next, is he going to do that thing that squirrels and hamsters do where they push their paws against their cheeks and spit up tons of little drug packets that he's been storing down his throat? At least Claire finally got some sense.

BEST LINES OF THE EPISODE
The boards were absolutely AFIRE with love for what is definitely one of the top 5 lines of the entire series, the only reason worth keeping Charlie around right now...

CHARLIE: Uh, I'm lost. It was dark. I was following Sayid. Right afterwards a big bag of rocks fell on my head so I'm sorry if I'm a bit spotty with the geography.
EKO: Climb that tree.
CHARLIE: What?
EKO: Climb that tree and perhaps you will be able to get your bearings or spot the plane.
CHARLIE: You climb it. What if I don't? You going to beat me with your Jesus stick?

SAYID'S BABY MAMA DRAMA
http://www.eonline.com/News/Items/0,1,18099,00.html


DWIGHT FROM 'THE OFFICE' COMMENTS ON LOST

http://blogs.nbc.com/office/

(If it's not on the first page, find the 1/13 archive page)


WHICH CHARACTER ARE YOU MOST LIKE?

Here's the test:

http://www.okcupid.com/tests/take?testid=5052228135609532493

I took the test. I was most like Boone. No comment.

Until next week... please share your comments below!

- e