The Cost of Living Reviews

We've seen some interesting things on Lost so far this season., but nothing that has come as out of left field. Which is why that this episode has the most shocking finale that we've seen so far, arguably one of the better ones in this series history. Like all of the episode centered around Eko, there is a strong religious and ethical feel to it, which makes the ending seem biblical.

Eko is still recovering from the injuries that he suffered in 'Further Instruction', when he begins to see visions of his brother, Yemi, saying that he has waiting for him. He should not have the strength to carry himself out his tent, much less march through the jungle. This is suggestive of something, but right now let's ignore and focus on the drama, which is enthralling.

The flashback takes place not long after the action that we saw in 'The 23rd Psalm'. Eko returns to his brother's church, still numb, with the idea of resuming his responsibilities. He's there little more than a day before militiamen come and tell him that they have come for vaccine that his brother had negotiated for the village. Perhaps trying to demonstrate that he was worthy of being a new man, he tried to prevent this. When he failed, he reverted to his old ways, and slaughtered the militiamen in his brother's own church. Rather than expressing gratitude, the villagers responded by boarding up Yemi's church (thus explaining why Eko was so determined to build one on the island) This is a symbol of religion's seeing as things as purely good or purely evil. As we see in the teaser, Eko once stole from the church to feed his brother when he was hungry. The priest said he was wrong, but would it have been wrong for Yemi to starve rather than help his brother?. In 'the 23rd Psalm', Eko damned himself to save his brothers life, and then became a bad man. But there was good in him, even if his methods were wrong. Does this make him a bad man?

We'll get to that in a minute. On the other side of the island, Jack is let out to attend the funeral of Colleen, who has now figured out that the x-rays he saw belonged to Ben. Ben tries to deny it , but the urgency behind Jack's urging are enough for him to realize that he can't toy with him any longer. Of course, it's possible that this is part of a larger plan to try and make him do the surgery anyway, but it's hard to figure, even now.. Then there's his little bit in which, when asked if he believes in God, he replies: "Two days after I learn I have a fatal tumor on my spine, a spinal surgeon falls out of the sky. And if that's not proof of God, I don't know what is." As with everything Ben says, it's impossible to tell if he was lying or not. He was surprised to see the plane crash, but his faith, even now, seems more based in the island than any higher power. Hopefully, we'll learn more about this as we near the end.

And then there's Juliet. By now it seems that Jack is beginning to trust her more implicitly, and it's not just because she went to a lot of trouble to make him a cheeseburger (we're still not sure how she pulled that off). Then she goes through a little exercise in which Jack supposedly is watches a movie while Juliet is begging him to save Ben's life. In actually, she is showing him cards with writing telling him that Ben can die during the course of the surgery, by accident. All the evidence we gather seems that she was acting alone on this. We'll later see that she, among the Others, had a particular reason to loathe him, but it's hard , even now, to see her as being this cold-blooded or merciless.

Meanwhile, back on the other island, Locke is trying to find a way to help Jack and co. by investigating another one of the stations --- the Pearl. When Desmond tells him it's a hell of coincidence, he repeats Eko's old line "Don't mistake coincidence for fate." Difference is, now he believes in the latter than the former. At the Pearl, which des lead him to intercept Eko, he finds another camera which leads to another station. We don't know where it is, but there's a creepy man with an eye patch looking back at him. We're going to run into him again, too.

Meanwhile, Eko has returned to the plane, and in a reenactment of Jesus in the new testament finds his brother's body gone, and his brother standing in a garden. When asked to confess his sins, Eko says he has none--- that he did the best that he could with the life he was given. To the end, he is embracing the gray area of the world--- and it is the end. The smoke monster appears again, and for the first time, we see onscreen an attack. Before Eko stared the monster down, and it ran away. But this time, he showed fear, and as if making him pay for that indecision, the monster kills Eko.

Even now, the death of Eko is probably the most shocking of all the characters who have died on the series (Not painful, we'll get to that, believe me. Perhaps the reason, it baffled me most was why--- after surviving the plane crash, the hatch exploding, and the attack by a polar bear--- would the island decided now that he is unworthy of it, especially considering that he stares the monster down in this episode too. (Yes, his injuries were serious, but given what we learn on this island, there's an excellent chance he would have recovered.)Why have Locke go through the effort of saving him only to kill him two days later? The best explanation I can come up with was that saving Eko was Locke's test to regain communion with the island. Eko's test was whether he could face up to his sins. He refused, which made him unworthy of living.

(It therefore came as a surprise to learn a little later, that Adewale Akinnouye-Agbaje was convinced by the end of 'The 23rd Psalm' that his story was so tightly written that he had no reason to stay more than a season and asked for his character to be killed. Talk about counter-intuitive) The last scene also has it's own repercussion. His last words to Locke were construed as being "We're next', meaning the group as a whole. I am more convinced that Eko was speaking to Locke alone, and meant You're next. Perhaps Locke's fate has not yet been written, but it does seem more accurate foreshadowing of what happened in later seasons.
Even the possibility with that last shot of Eko and Yemi happily playing together, indicating that maybe something on this island showed Eko some mercy is questionable. Considering what we will later learn, it is possible that even in death Eko has found no rest.

Whatever you believe about Eko's life or fate, 'The Cost of Living' offers a rarity of so many characters on Lost. A complete story has been told about a man, and his fate and history were revealing purely by his actions on the island. He faced his destiny on the island, and even if he came up wanting, at least, unlike so many other characters currently on the island--- he didn't deny who he was.
My score:9.5

Eko follows what appears to be his brother into the jungle. It turns out to be the smoke monster, which proceeds to kill Eko. Jack finds out that the reason he was captured was to operate on Ben's spinal tumor. Juliet conspires with Jack against Ben, telling him to kill Ben during surgery but to make it look like an accident. In flashbacks, Eko becomes a priest after Yemi is killed and Eko kills a few men to protect his town. We learn about Eko but sadly Mr Eko dies he was awesome and I cried when he died because he was in my top five favourite character. However, awesome storyline, I love his dreamsYummy Jack, I love him, I love the way he is with Ben. I really don't like the two random people - Nikki and Pabalo. I love the Jack and Juliet scenes - especially the "movie" scene oh and the Ben and Jack scene I also love the scene in the other hatch.

Logic/Details - » Now was time to focus again in the camp character. Since Locke restored his faith, Eko lost Is place in the story as a support character for Locke, like Ana Lucia was for Jack, so Eko fulfilled is role. With this , was essential to make is goodbye impressive and the writers could do it. The way the writers did it, leave us with one of the major mysteries to be revealed in Lost.

Locke and Sayid trying to find Jack and Co, while Jack is having is conversation with Ben, who has to be saved by Jack or he will die. All this is a setup, the only thing that escaped the setups was Eko and the Smoke Monster ability revelation. This episode only reinforce that who find redemption only finds death.

This episode feel like was rushed, suddenly Yami appear and want Eko confession, suddenly Desmond remembers that the computer in the Hath could be used to something else.

Progress -» One more character is death and Locke and Co have no clue where is Jack. Eko flashbacks only show what he really is and Jack now has a important decision to make due to the last scenes that he had with Ben and then with Juliet.

Emotions/Stimulation/Highlights -» There are two scenes in Eko flashbacks that are interesting, since this season concentrates on showing us the dark actions that some our characters made, even Locke and Jack, and Eko is not exception. The Last scene with Eko and his supposed brother was shocking and what Eko said to Locke was too. Of course this what happened with Eko and what he said to Locke was the best highlight of this episode. Other great highlights was Jack conversation with Ben and then With Juliet, very surprising, unpredictable and may cause serious doubts about Juliet true motivations.

Ending - » Like someone that watch this show can Expect, great cliffhanger and a nice and intriguing death sentence.

Overall - » What make this episode valuable is the dismiss of one of the characters and the way that occurred. The cliffhanger help too, and the conversation Jack had with Ben and principally with Juliet make this episode deserves at least a 8. Episodes like "White Rabbit" and "Dave" now have a completely different context.

In this episode; It's all about Mr. Eko and his personal battle between his consciousness both off and on the island. The off - island drama deals with the betrayal of his brother and how he killed men in his church, forever eliminating his chance of redemption. On the island he searches for his brother after mysteriously seeing him on the island, also Locke, Sayid and Desmond explore the Pearl station. Across the pond to the barracks; the Others farewell Colleen and Ben asks Jack to operate on a tumour on his spine, little does Ben know that conspiracy cooking between Juliet and the good doctor.

Despite only being known for "the episode where Eko dies" this episode is stunning hour of Tv with enough action, drama, laughs and intrigue to keep any fan happy.

The real theme of this episode is faith which is shown in different forms; through the sceptical eyes of Locke, the desperate eyes of Ben and of course the confused eyes of Eko. Having this theme as the heart of the episode really brings Lost to another level. As usual; the barrack business moves to slowely and uncovers too little to be memorable but it does provide a decent build - up as to whether or not Jack will spare the life of his enemy. The sub - plot with Locke and yet another station is over before it really begins but from what this simple critic can tell, the Pearl is the most boring station with nothing but white noise TV's and a toilet that works which was confirmed by Paulo. The real suprise was a TV which broadcasted as mysterious eye - patched man who promptly disconnected his webcam, it looks like he'll be showing his obscured face again.

As you've most likely pieced together from the last 295 words of my review, this episode really is all about Eko, his tragic tale of losing his faith combined with a very powerful performance from Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje is what makes this stunning, too bad Eko is no more. While the Ben and Locke sub - plots are practically devoid of any mystery, Eko's story takes leaps and bounds in consolidating the supernatural powers of the island. Not only are there unexplained appearences of people from Eko's past but the good old smoke monster not only appears and confronts him but fatally wounds him by tossing him around until he dies. From this; two main questions emerge: What is the nature of his various visions and how is it connected to the monster? and Why did the monster kill him then and not in their previous encoutners. As much as i'd love to tell you that my hours of searching every Lost blog on the web wielded some answers to them, the truth is it didn't. Perhaps the most curious aspect of the episode which makes for an effective cliffhanger is Eko's final message to Locke, "You're next". While the survivors are perhaps the most oblivious to the nature of the monster than anyone; the information that it's deadly and after them should be enough for the time being. LOST

Mr. Eko, en deuda con su hermano, va a buscarlo para entender qué quiere éste de él. Su excursión no hace más que llevarlo donde el humo negro, y éste le pide que se confiese, que admita sus pecados. Al Eko no reconocer sus actos como pecados el humito malito decide matarlo, amenazando con seguir con todos los demás.
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Juliet y Jack (más algunos otros) vs. Ben: quién tiene todo bajo control? Quién? Nadie al final? El hombre tuerto? Si Ben tiene un tumor mortal en la espalda... por qué no deja la isla? Si el avión se estrelló realmente por el electromagnetismo y no por cuenta de the others... qué pito tocan estos en la historia? Qué tienen que ver ellos con humo negro/god?

The reviews for this season, thus far, has been quite depressing to read. There have been so many negative reviews and this one is no different. I actually found this to be the best of the season so far. The last episode was great but this one had so much more in it. The events of this episode makes you realise how constrained "Every Man for Himself" was. Much of it was only about Sawyer, Kate and the Others, and we were subjected to countless violent acts. While all this was entertaining and eye grabbing, this episode had much more to offer. In fact, on reflection, it had almost every major mystery the series has introduced to us, thus far: The Others, The Smoke Monster, The Manifestations, The DHARMA Initiative, The Pearl Hatch, etc. This is why this episode is a pivotal edition to the series. Indeed, the new information we are given regarding the Monster should be considered as pivotal. It would seem that the Island manifestations / ghosts and the Monster are one and the same. When taken with the Monster's scanning properties introduced to us in "The 23rd Psalm" the general speculation is that the Monster scanned Eko's mind, his memories, pulling out of him his backstory, to determine if he is worthy of remaining on the island. Using those memories of Eko the Monster now uses it against him by re-projecting / playing those memories back to Eko as the manifestations he sees, almost like re-playing a recording. The manifestations we have seen before are all explained, Christian Shepherd, Walt, Hurley's friend, Dave, Kate's Horse, etc. Locke has mentioned that he needs to speak to the island and the island needs to tell them what the survivors need to do. In "Further Instructions" the island shows what Locke needs to do, by showing him a manifestation of Boone, which could be the Monster showing him, and not just the wacky paste he takes. Also interesting to note is Locke explaining to Eko that when he saw the monster (way back in early Season 1) he saw a beautiful white light. Eko only saw Black smoke. This reinforces the whole black / white metaphor. If white is good then so is Locke and that is why a) Locke saw a white version of the monster and b) why it let him go.
However, what it doesn't explain is why it attacked Locke in the first season finale. Rousseau believes the Monster to be a security system. If that is correct, then the Monster, despite knowing that he is good, still attacked Locke because it was protecting the properties of the island, in that case The Hatch and it's electromagnetic properties, which it may have a connection to somehow.

Monster-aside, we also a creepy introduction to an eye-patch guy.
I also found the Juliet / Ben / Jack scenes to be fascinating. Does Juliet really want Ben dead or is thia a trap for Jack? Nikki and Paulo continue to be a bit annoying, despite Nikki's observations in the Pearl, which I was surprised that none of the others noticed, particularly Locke, who has already ventured into that room.

Eko's passing was quite sad. I liked his character, though he wasn't one of my favourites. Despite three backstories which gave us great insight into his character, we still didn't see much more of Eko, which was a shame, particularly when he arrived in the Fusies camp, like Ana-Lucia and Libby. This was a fabulous episode, which builds well to a truly shocking climax. Eko's brother, as the Monster appears to Eko and leads him to his death, which reveals how the Pilot met his demise. And as he dies he utters either "We're next" as Locke tells the other A-Mission team or "You're next", as he is supposed to utter. This is bound to lead to rapid speculation as to the future of Locke's on the island on the island. That is to assume that Eko meant that Locke alone is next to be meant to wiped out. Could it also mean that Locke didn't lie when he told the others what he said. "You're, "We're" - it could just be symantics. All to be revealed, I guess. As so many have already pointed out, Eko, is the third character to be killed off the show, where the actor/actress who portrays that character has been in a spot of trouble off set. Are the show's writers and creators the real Monster? Did they themselves JUDGE AAA / Eko, as the Monster did and in the same breath did they judge Michelle Rodriguez / Ana-Lucia and Cynthia Wathros / Libby, for their worthiness on the set of LOST? Which, therefore, brings up the ultimate question: were their deaths just coincidence? Or, as Eko, and now Locke, have both said, "Don't mistake coincidence for fate".......

All things considered, I thought that this was a good episode, but it definitely wasn't my favorite episode of Lost. The reason that I didn't like this episode very much was because it was a Mr. Eko-centric episode, and I've never liked Mr. Eko or been very interested in him. I honestly can't say that I upset that they killed Mr. Eko off because I'm not upset about it since I never liked Mr. Eko in the first place. My favorite aspect of this episode was the whole story line involving Jack, Juliet and Ben. I really enjoyed getting to see more of Juliet and Ben since I find their characters so interesting. I also liked getting to see a little bit more of Nikki and Paulo, and I'm really looking forward to learning more about their past. All things considered, I thought that this was a decent episode, but at the same time, I definitely didn't think that this was the best episode ever of Lost either.

We start off by seeing a nun take Eko and Yemi into the church for confession for stealing from the little hut behind the church, but this flashback and others are a result of Eko laying on the beach in some sort of fever, probably as a result from being blown violently from the bunker and then dragged off for lunch by a polar bear.

Sayid has checked up on Eko, but him and Charlie go away from the hut, meaning that Sayid, Sun and Jin have walked all the way back from the otherside of the island. They haven't gone far when the hut he's in burst into flames, they pull him out and then put the fire out, by that time Eko has disappeared off into the jungle.

Jack is told to change by Ben and then they go to the memorial service, Jack asks Ben if he's got any signs of the tumour yet, Ben acts like he doesn't know but speaks to Juliet later, she replies in saying she did not say who, but that by his actions he told jack himself.

Sayid asks Charlie what Eko had said to hum. Charlie replies that he was just mumbling about his brother, Locke tells them that he knows where he is going and they are going to the same place, but this time to see if they can communicate with the others, using the pearl station.

Eko is struggling on his path to the pearl station, we see his flashbacks of returning to Yemi's church just after his death, of the militia in the area, of Eko actions and then Yemi appearing before Eko. Locke and the other find him by the stream as the black smoke disappears, so they all go off to the hatch.

Eko is unable to find his brothers remains in the plane, Locke remembers that he has Eko necklace and cross so gives it back and then goes and joins the others in the bunker, where the girl with them is watching the orientation tape and comes up with a good suggestion, causing Sayid and crew to fiddle with the cable and boards behind the tv screens, until they come up with a picture of an eye-patched man in another staion.

At this point there is the distraction of banging coming from up above, Locke misses the black smoke picking up Eko and smashing him about the place, but he does get there for his final dying words of "You're next"

Eko follows what appears to be his brother into the jungle. What appears to be his brother is actually the smoke monster and Eko is killed by it. Jack finds out that the reason he was captured was to operate on Ben's spinal tumor. Juliet conspires with Jack against Ben, telling him to kill Ben during surgery. In flashbacks, Eko becomes a priest after Yemi is killed and Eko kills a few men to protect his town. I miss Mr Eko and he was killed for no reason in my opinion, but died in a great way and I really enjoyed seeing the monster kick some butt.