S2Ep21 - ? (Eko's second flashback) - 5/10/06

Hello my dear friends,

While most people on the boards seemed to think that "?" kept up the momentum started at the end of "Two for the Road" and was another great episode, I found myself a little bored whilst watching. And it did not help matters that my favorite character was on the receiving end of a vicious head-butt courtesy of Eko. Eko is climbing onto my you-know-what list....

But I must get going because there is a lot of stuff to talk about. So here we go:


DREAM A LITTLE DREAM OF YEMI

In this episode, instead of Jack's dad popping up all over the place, we had Yemi (Eko's brother) literally popping up all over the place. First, Eko had a dream where both Yemi and a now-deceased Ana Lucia were instructing him to make Locke help him find the ?. Yemi also added that the work being done on the island was very important -- "more important than anything." One could look at this two ways: 1) It was "the island" forcing these visions upon Eko because it needs someone to take over Island Worship now that Locke has lost enthusiasm, or 2) It was truly Eko's dream and actually was meant to be interpreted at face value. If you remember, Jack's zombie dad appeared and led Jack to the waterfalls, Charlie's dreams seemed to serve the purpose of getting Aaron baptized... so perhaps Eko's dreams of Yemi were also to set a series of events in motion.

However, what made me start to doubt that was the fact that then Locke saw Yemi in a dream, which seemed like a stretch since he had never met him before. That's what's making me lean toward the "the island is making them have these dreams to protect itself" side. But WHY would the island, or whoever is controlling events on the island (if there is such a group), want Eko and Locke to realize that they were being "observed" all along? I do not have the answer for that.

But I will repeat that the head-butt Eko gave Locke made me very mad.


?

So what exactly did Eko and Locke find? First off, I do NOT think they found the "?". They clearly found the Pearl Station, which was on the Hatch Map, and is not the same thing as the "?", at least according to the map. Now, perhaps it will lead them to the ? and that is why Locke's dream led Eko to climb up the cliff and look down and discover the marked hatch in the first place. Although I was surprised that this was not really discussed heavily on the boards... I personally do NOT think that Eko saw a ?, but rater a circle, which served to "mark the spot" of where he was supposed to investigate further.

Obviously, we don't really know, but you can judge for yourself above.

And keep in mind that they actually had Eko say:
EKO: It's salty.
LOCKE: What?
EKO: The earth. It's been salted so that nothing can grow.
LOCKE: Why would any want to salt -- there's nothing here.
EKO: I believe they made a circle -- a target -- so that this place can be seen from up above.

Notice, he did NOT say "question mark!"


ORIENTATION, AGAIN

There are several things to discuss from the Pearl Station, but let us begin with the Orientation video. My guess is that this video was made before the video in the Swan (original) Hatch was filmed. Why, you ask? Because in this video, Dr. Mark Wickman (the guy previously known to us as Dr. Marvin Candle - get it, Candle... Wickman... hardy har har) has use of both of his arms. In the Swan video, one arm appears to be a prosthetic, and he also speaks solemnly about "an incident." So I figure that whatever the incident was, it caused him to lose one of his arms (hilarious post on the topic: "D H A R M A: Don't Hover Around Rationalizing My Arm!").

What his real name is, I have no idea.

Two other things to note from the video, besides the revelation that "it's all an experiment," which I will cover shortly:

1) Once again, the copyright was 1980. To the Lostaways, it is the year 2004 (plane crashed at the end of September 2004 and they have been on the island 65 or so days). Could Dharma REALLY keep up an experiment for 24 years??? I've been on some projects at work that will probably last that long (work peeps know what I'm talking about!), but still, that would be pretty impressive.

2) At the end of the video, Dr. Wickman says (this is from the guy who transcribes the show, not the official transcript... It was jumpy in places, but this sounds close to me):
"At the end of your 8 hour shift, proceed to the Pala ferry which will take you back to the barracks [audio/video problem] prepare for your next shift [/audio/video warp problem]."

What? A ferry?

WHAT?

A FERRY?


Something tells me that's where our dear Desmond was headed when he ran away... But then why haven't the Lostaways found it yet?




YOU AIN'T NOTHIN' BUT A LAB RAT, CRYIN' ALL THE TIME

Poor, poor Locke. He was SO EXCITED to find a new Hatch after seemingly meaningful dreams that both he and Eko shared, he even asked if he could do the honors and be the one to open up its door (do NOT think for a second that it was lost on fans that this hatch opened with ease and the other one took a half-season to open). But then, his very soul was shaken after learning that his button-pushing quest was all for naught. Throw in some bitterness at the realization that NotHenry was telling the truth (he never pushed the button and nothing happened), pepper it with the memory of many pitiful Locke flashbacks, and you've got one sorry man.

LOCKE: I was never meant to do anything. Every single second of my pathetic little life is as useless as that button! You think it's important? You think it's necessary? It's nothing. It's nothing. It's meaningless. And who are you to tell me that it's not?

No Locke, don't worry! e loves you!!!! e LOVES YOU!!!!!

While others on the boards fessed up to crying during the "slo-mo montage of despair" at the end (Hurley, Jack, Kate and Sawyer all opening up the flood-gates), I was crying for the loss of Locke's hope and sense of purpose. Oh, the HUMANITY!

But wait, IS it all still just an experiment? Were the people in the Pearl Station simply just watching the people in the Swan Station go about their daily lives while pushing the button for no reason every 108 minutes? Or had something changed since the filming of the Pearl video and the button DOES need to be pushed? Hmmmmm. Regardless, one of the big questions is: was the video monitor still working when Michael killed Libby and Ana Lucia, and if so, a) did anyone watch it happen 'live' and/or b) does the tape still exist somewhere?

A few things are for sure:
1) There was a video camera observing the Pearl Station itself. Was the Pearl Hatch also just an experiment?
2) The pneumatic tube that the Pearl Station workers were supposed to send their journals through still works, and Locke sent his Hatch Map up it. Dah. Probably a bad move. Remember what happened to Augustus Gloop!!! Pneumatic tubes = bad news (although if Oompa Loompas appeared and sang a psychedelic song, then I would be down with it).
3) Eko took the journals - I'm sure those will come into play, though they looked like they had been there a while (covered with dust).

Other weird Hatch happenings to note:
Locke printed out a log of what appears to be each time the numbers were entered.

An analysis of this log from Sledgeweb's Lost site:
"This repeats over and over, the number before the colon increases by 2 with each entry (except on the entry with the :53, which increments by 1), and the numbers after the colon (17 05 53 41 29) stay the same.

If you look at the two digits before the ":" as hours, and the two digits after the ":" as minutes, each entry is exactly 108 minutes after the previous entry. For example: 52:17 would be 52 hours and 17 minutes, or 3137 minutes. 54:05 would be 54 hours and 05 minutes, or 3245 minutes. 3245 - 3137 = 108 minutes"


In addition to the log, the video and the journals, there appeared to be drug remnants on one of the tables. There is much debate about this on the boards: Is it a cigarette butt? Is it the Virgin Mary baggies? Is it cocaine? Is it something else? I do think it looks like a cigarette butt amongst other crumply brown things - not sure if they are drugs or not: what do you think?




YEP, THEY'RE DEAD

Geez, no one wept over Ana Lucia kicking the bucket, big surprise. And Sawyer sure did side-step Kate's questions about how Ana Lucia got his gun, now didn't he? Now his secret is safe...

Regarding Libby, was her spitting up of blood really necessary? No. It was just gross.

So they are both dead. Why was Libby kept around for one more episode? Two reasons:

1) Her gasping of "Michael" doubled with the ultra-horrified look on her face might be just enough to cast doubt in Jack's mind in the near future (especially since it looks like Sayid has doubts in the preview).
2) Hurley needed to say good-bye.


POOR HURLEY

That sucks, dude. Sorry.



NOT SO HOLY

I think I mentioned this a long time ago in a first-season write-up, but I will repeat it again here: I do not like freaky little kids! After Eko's flashback, I am now expanding that statement to: I do not like freaky teenagers, either! Seriously, did that girl in his flashback who had supposedly died and come back to life not look like she was straight out of The Exorcist? And was the replay of her "autopsy" and all the shrieking and screaming not enough to turn your blood cold? I didn't like any of that at all, thank you very much. I am not even going to put you through the agony of seeing her picture here again, either. You're welcome.

So what purpose did Eko's flashbacks serve? I think a few important things came out of them:

1) Eko was definitely not embracing the Priesthood after his identity mix-up. He wanted to get to the U.S. and be done with it, and was still hangin' with shady peeps (like the guy in the confessional). So I found that very interesting because on the island he has seemed to have done a 180 and has become all spiritual. Combined with the fact that if we assume Smoky would've killed him in their staredown had he been a "bad person" and that didn't happen, then something must have happened on the island to make Eko rank as a "good person" in the Island's judgment.

2) So the father of the "came-alive-during-autopsy girl" was also Claire's psychic. And if you did not catch that then just stop reading this write-up right now because you are not worthy. However, he claimed he was a fraud. Actually, here is what he said:
"MALKIN: Because she knows I'm a fraud. Because I make my living as a psychic. You see, that's what I do. I gather intelligence on people and I exploit it. Everyday I meet people looking for a miracle, desperate to find one. But there are none to be had. Not in this world, anyway."

Now, HOLD UP. Remember, the timing of Eko's visit to this man was the exact same time that he was also convincing Claire to take the ill-fated flight 815 in order meet up with people who would adopt her baby. And he was the one pursuing Claire doggedly about this! So was he a psychic or was he a fake? It could be either.

Here are both sides:
A) He's a fake - but working with Dharma. He is not a psychic and really did just exploit people who came to visit him, but was also part of the Dharma Initiative and was given specific instructions on how to deal with both Claire and Eko so that they would both end up on flight 815. That's tough for me to buy, because Claire's friend randomly convinced her to go see the psychic. And although he did put Claire on that specific flight, he did not arrange the flight for Eko. But some would argue that he knew that someone else was arranging the flight for Eko, and his job was to ensure Eko did not delay going to the States in order to investigate the "miracle."


B) He is really a psychic and had something to hide from Eko and the church at large. This would mean that everything that happened with Claire remains the way we interpreted it, and that something freaky did happen with his daughter, but he doesn't want anyone snooping around about it, so he dismissed "the miracle" just to get rid of the Church. Speaking of the Church, when they were talking about needing to "prove the miracle," did anyone else think of Father Guido Sarducci from Saturday Night Live way back in the day? As in waaaay back in the day? I did.

3) And finally, back to the last reason why Eko's flashbacks were important: The girl's warning about Yemi. So Scary Autopsy Girl finds Eko before he takes off to the U.S., and gives him a message "from Yemi" - thus justifying Eko's increasingly weird behavior on the island in present time. So did this girl really have a visit from Yemi in the afterlife and hence it kind of was a miracle, or was she told to deliver this message to Eko by her father as part of an elaborate plan by Dharma?

And either way, how in the holy hell did Yemi and the Nigerian drug plane end up on Craphole Island in the first place?!?!?!? At least Eko finally questioned these bizarre occurrences out loud to Locke.



WISE WORDS FROM THE BOARDS

- I love those pneumatic tubes - that's the reason I use the drive-thru at the bank. (e: agreed, I have always been and will always be fascinated by those things. It doesn't take much to amuse me.)
- I gotta say, Hurley made me tear up, but it was Sawyer and Kate at the end that really did it.
- "Why did you hit me?" "Because you were being difficult" Damn, I wish I had thought of that before. From now on, I'm going to headbutt people who are difficult.
- Eko rocks my socks. He and Henry Gale were pretty much the only reasons to watch this season. Locke's face when he figured out the hatch was just a big Skinner box was great. Somebody needs to explain to me how Yemi got in Locke's dream.
- I really liked this episode. And THANK YOU Eko for actually discussing one of these amazing coincidences with another character.
- Always more questions than answers...any ideas as to why the only video feed working is the one in the Lostie's hatch?
- Also, interesting method of delivering their notes on the occupants of the hatch. Nice to see where all my checking deposit slips go.
- The questions now are why was Pearl abandoned? And for how long? And of course, can we trust that the button really is meaningless?
- About the psychic: After he started talking about how there was no one he had never wrapped his song his dance around, for some reason I thought he was lying, because I can't imagine why else he'd pester Claire so much so obsessively. I thought that maybe he "saw" Eko in his vision or whatever and didn't want to keep him from making that flight or something. (e: good point)
- One frequent arrangement of psych experiments is that the person who believes s/he is the "observer" is actually the subject. Both could be subjects, or either side could be a subject. Although the directions for the Swan station sound like textbook instructions for a psych experiment, frankly, so do those for the Pearl...so are both experiments, and if not, which one has the real subjects?
- Terry O'Quinn (Locke) and AAA (Eko) are incredible. I love this show sometimes. It's been a long time coming for this particular Ebony/Ivory Dynamic Duo to form up. I am a little annoyed that the Hatch (psychological experiment as it is) will remain central -- I'd prefer Locke and Eko explore the island, not sit in chairs listening to the Doobie Brothers.
- You know, it's considered rude to cut off somebody's last words, Jack.
- I think the dead girl's Dad was lying to Eko about being a fake psychic in order to get rid of him. Didn't he tell Claire to keep her money and never come back? Not something a scam artist would do.
- I think Eko has been hitting the Dharma Ranch Dressing. His belly looked very well fed tonight.



BEST LINES OF THE EPISODE

[We see Locke, Kate, Jack and Sawyer walking through the jungle at night.]
JACK: What were you thinking, John?
KATE: Jack, leave him alone.
SAWYER: No, Jack, don't leave him alone.
JACK: Shut it, Sawyer. If Ana hadn't lifted your gun we wouldn't...
SAWYER: Well, ain't that swell, Gimpy McCrutch over here covers up that the Artist Formally Known as Henry Gale tried to strangle your little amiga, and suddenly it's on me when she goes vigilante.



LOCKE: You hit me. Why did you...?
EKO: Because you were being difficult.
LOCKE: Are you insane?
EKO: No.



EKO: Ana wants me to help you, John.
LOCKE: Help me do what?
EKO: Find the question mark.
LOCKE: You don't even know what you're talking about, do you?
EKO: No.



LOCKE: You lost already?
EKO: Your map is inexact.
LOCKE: No kidding.
EKO: These landmarks -- is this a river?
LOCKE: No, it's a wavy line.




CLASS IS IN SESSION

Here's one way I will spend my summer:
http://www.loststudies.com/

Shout out to DC for being my Lost-addiction enabler!




ANOTHER HANSO AD

I hope you saw it this time, 'cause I did.

This one had this address at the end: www.sublymonal.com

I have not been on it because I don't have the right Flash Media player and haven't had time to download it. Feel free to leave a comment and enlighten me...



UPCOMING EPISODES

5/17 - "Three Minutes." - OK, so I thought that "?" was going to be Michael's flashback to what happened while he was running around screaming in the jungle, but judging from the previews, it looks like that is what this week's episode is going to cover. Additionally, the previews showed nearly all of the Lostaways staring off at something in the distance in disbelief. And (#$)*#(%)$#*(#* if I didn't run across a major VISUAL spoiler on accident, so I'm getting very frustrated. Spoilers are EVERYWHERE - hence the lack of my usual inclusion of links to various articles - I just can't chance it.

5/24 - "Live Together, Die Alone." - The two hour finale draws near. Let it be known that I got in a fight with my husband over the fact that he wanted to read this week's Entertainment Weekly, which has Lost on its cover (as well as four MORE "bonus Lost covers" on the inside), and contains spoilers about both the finale AND next season, and I didn't want him to because I knew he would not be able to not let something slip. Luckily, we were distracted by some people arriving at our place and I was able to hide the magazine. Hee hee.

Until next week,
- e

P.S. - If you leave a comment, it will not be posted until I review it - it does not automatically go live. I try to review them frequently, but sometimes it takes a day. Keep 'em coming!