Summary: Flashbacks reveal that Eko was a war lord in Nigeria. He goes to his brother Yemi, a priest, to transport drugs out of the country via plane. Yemi initially refuses but Eko threatens him to get him to do it. Yemi calls the military and ends up being shot in the chaos and sent out on the plane in place of Eko. On the island, Claire tells Eko about Charlie's Virgin Mary statue. Eko is aware of what it is and goes to find Charlie, demanding that he take him to the plane. Claire is angry when she learns that heroin is in the statue. On the way to the plane, Eko and Charlie encounter the smoke monster. Once at the plane, which si the same plane from the flashbacks, Eko mourns over Yemi's body.
The Good: Eko's first episode delivered the goods. His past is every bit as dark and fascinating as I had hoped it would be. The story of Eko being a war lord in Nigeria is a big surprise, and the man we see in the past is the stark opposite of the religious man on the island. It's a surprising twist that makes Eko's story immediately gripping and exciting to follow. The story we are told in flashbacks is actually very good. The brotherly relationship between Eko and Yemi is nicely explored, and we are shown that they do care quite deeply for each other despite their differing morality. The background we get on Yemi is effective, and it's enough to make Eko finding his skeleton in the plane a harrowing moment (see: Best Moment). Furthermore, we get the bonus of learning the history of the plane in the jungle, solving one of the show's bigger mysteries from season 1. The island story was refreshing in how it reverted to season 1's style of storytelling. One of the things that season 2 hasn't done very well is creating a dramatic and exciting story on the island. With the return of a mission through the jungle filled with tension and conflict, the show regains some of its ability to create compelling drama. The conflict came from the start of a unique new relationship between Eko and Charlie, while the drama came from the unexpected presence of the smoke monster, which was an excellent addition to the episode. The scene where Eko stared down the smoke monster was intense and fascinating, raising several questions about the monster (see: The Unknown). It was nice to get some advancement in Charlie's character arc. He had been carrying the Virgin Mary statue for a while now with nothing much of substance happening. It's past time that he gets some focus. Eko is the perfect person to bring the focus onto Charlie as he stumbles around, desperately making excuses to make himself look better. Of course Charlie isn't using, but he did make a mistake by not telling Claire about the statues, and now it seems his new character arc will be about owning up to his decisions, and even though he hasn't been using, he needs to accept that he has to win back the trust of the people around him, including Claire, Locke and Eko. This is excellent set-up for that storyline in a Charlie-centric episode down the road. The Bad: Why didn't Charlie tell people about the monster? It's the same issue from "Exodus", only this is even more unbelievable because this is the same Charlie who was gossiping in the last episode. Would he really keep his mouth shut like this? He should be freaking out! Instead he's calm as can be for the rest of the episode, which is completely implausible. The same goes for Eko. Stoic or not, Eko should have had a more pronounced reaction when he was confronted by the supernatural. Claire's unnecessarily rude to Charlie here. Sure he lied to her, but he doesn't deserve this treatment from her. It's highly unbelievable that she wouldn't care to help Charlie recover from his addiction, especially seeing how kind Charlie has been to her, and how he went to save Aaron back in "Exodus". Claire's behaviour here isn't consistent with that. This episode doesn't quite hit that level of excitement or emotion to get it close to an 80. Don't get me wrong, this is an excellent episode, but it doesn't ever threaten to go above and beyond that. The Unknown: How did Eko transition from a war lord to a priest? Why didn't the smoke monster kill Eko? What was it doing to Eko? If you pause when the camera moves through the monster, there are flashes of Eko's past visible. What does that mean? Is the smoke monster reading his memories? How can it do that? Why would it do that? Is this what it did to Locke back in "Walkabout"? Why didn't it do the same thing to the pilot in the first episode? What did "Walt" communicate to Michael? Where is he? Will Michael try to go after him? Will somebody find Charlie's stash of statues? Will Charlie be able to free himself from the clutches of heroin before it backfires on him in a big way? Best Moment: Eko enters the plane and discovers that one of the bodies inside is Yemi. In a rather unsettling scene, Eko hugs this decayed body and cries over the loss of his brother. It's a very sad moment that provides the catharsis for the flashback story. Character of the Episode: Eko. Conclusion: This was great stuff. The island story and flashback stories both hooked me immediately and told a compelling story. This was one of the better episodes of the season for sure. Score: 73
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Aaron DhillonJust a university student who loves to watch TV. And analyze it way too much. Archives
March 2024
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