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GET
A weekly commentary of the television showby Carlos R Savournin
3 - 5: The Cost of Living
*This commentary contains spoilers. Do not read if you have not seen the above mentioned episode.*
Inner demons. Clearly, that’s what Eko had to face in this week’s episode, The Cost of Living. Through a series of flashbacks, we learn that Eko was struggling in his new role as priest thereby replacing his brother, Yemi, whose death he feels responsible for.
Eko is forced to face himself and his past in order to come to terms with his internal conflict, and he does so by aide of his brother’s ghost who wanders the island for the second time. After waking from a near coma state, Eko sets off on his own to find his brother’s body which is located near the Pearl hatch.
Enter Locke. When Locke hears that Eko might be looking for his brother, he knows exactly where to look (remember, Locke saw Eko’s brother in a dream once before). And, as luck would have it, they need to go to the Pearl hatch in an attempt to communicate with the other hatches in the hopes of finding their kidnapped friends. Joined by Nikki and Paolo, they set off to find both the hatch and Eko.
Who? You may ask yourself. Nikki and Paolo. They’ve apparently been on the island since the crash, and in one line, they explain why we’ve never seen them before; because they were never included in any of the plans. So, they tag along in the expedition to the Pearl.
On his own, Eko is stalked by the mysterious black smoke that we haven’t seen in quite some time. Searching for his brother’s body, Eko continues to be haunted by his past – and men he killed in Yemi’s church in an attempt to protect the villiage. The smoke follows him around, but when the Locke’s group meets up with Eko, the smoke disappears clearly indicating it wants some private time with the priest – and boy does he get it.
Locke, Sayid, and their crew enter the Pearl and begin to toy with the wires of the communication system while Nikki sits back and watches one of the orientation videos. Lucky for the others, Nikki comes up with a plan so brilliant (and so painfully obvious) that it was almost hurtful to hear her think of it and not Sayid or Locke. As we all know, the Pearl is an observation station with video feed into all the other hatches on the island. “Why not just rewire it to change the feed to another hatch?” she asks. Well, duh. Once they do as they’re told, they are confronted by a man wearing an eye-patch who sits in one of the hatches. Who he is or where he came from is yet to be told.
Meanwhile, Jack, still being held prisoner, confronts his captor, Ben, about the spinal X-ray revealing the tumor. Ben, at first, denies knowledge of such X-ray, but by the end of their conversation, it is clear Ben is, in fact, ill. Later, Juliet enters the room with a movie for Jack; but the video is of her holding up a series of cue cards asking him to botch Ben’s surgery. She asks him to kill Ben. But Ben said he would get Jack off the island if he does as he’s told. What to do… Save the man who holds you prisoner, collect $200 and go home, or kill him thereby freeing the other Others of his grasp? Decisions, decisions. Truth be told, I wouldn’t trust Juliet as far as I can throw her. Her plea for Ben’s death might have been a set-up, because we all know the Others are not the most trustworthy people.
In the end, Eko finds that his brother was not his brother at all, but a way to lure Eko into an isolated part of the island. In last season, Eko faced the mysterious black cloud in a stare-
down, and won. This time, he wasn’t so lucky. Just after Eko came to terms with himself and his past, the smoke came down upon him like the hand of God (thanks Trish!), killing him – and killing our expectation that Eko will teach all the other survivors that there is hope.
Locke and the others stumble upon him as he takes his dying breath, and with that, he whispers “You’re next.” Well, so long as Locke isn’t involved in a driving related incident, that might not be true.
Let me explain:
On December 2, 2005, Michelle Rodriguez and Cynthia Watros (Ana-Lucia and Libby, respectively) were arrested for DUI. On May 6th, 2006, they were killed in an episode titled “Two for the Road”. On September 5th, 2006, Adewale Akinnoye-Agbaje (Eko) was arrested for driving without a license, and in this week’s episode, he was killed.
Coincidence?
Eko once told Locke (and Locke repeated it in this episode), “never mistake coincidence for fate.” And the fate of Eko seems too much of a coincidence when compared to the other most recent deaths on the island.
RIP Eko.
Until next time, Get Lost.
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© Savournin, 2006
All pictures are property of ABC Television and the Walt Disney Company
