Summary: Flashbacks show Eko returning to Yemi's village to take up his job as a priest. Eko doesn't fit in and comes face to face with a group of people who take 80% of the vaccine shipments from the village in exchange for "protection". Eko kills these men to secure the vaccines for the village but he is shunned by the villagers who are angry at him for sinning. On the island, Eko wakes up to a vision of Yemi who tells him to find him in order to confess. Eko goes after him alone. Locke, Sayid and a few others decide to go to The Pearl in an attempt to find a way to communicate with the others to get Jack, Kate and Sawyer back. They find Eko on the way. Eko stays outside while the others go in and sees Yemi. He reveals that he is unrepentent and Yemi reveals that he isn't actually Yemi. The monster then appears and kills Eko. Locke, Sayid and the others manage to get a glimpse of a man in a different Dharma station. At the Hydra, Jack asks Ben about his tumour. The others hold a funeral for Colleen. Juliet secretly asks Jack to kill Ben during the surgery and to make it look like an accident.
The Good: This episode tells a really strong story for Eko as he makes his exit from the show. The flashbacks are very nicely done and they complete Eko's story in a very satisfying way. In previous flashbacks we had seen Eko as both a crime lord and as a priest in training, and now we get to see Eko trying to make the transition from one to the other, and how the person he was has influenced the person he became. We get to see that despite being a religious man, Eko isn't somebody that regrets the crime he has committed. He's a very pragmatic man who became religious to pay respect to his brother. He isn't a priest at heart, and that shows when he mercilessly slaughters people in a church for the betterment of the village. Eko has always done horrible things with good intentions, and he's never shown to care at all about what the morally correct thing is. The flashbacks do a wonderful job of building up the story for a big climax with Eko's confession. While the tension doesn't build as superbly as some of the best episodes of the show, Eko's emotional state is developed perfectly to set up for a big moment of redemption at the end. The tone of the entire episode is quite dark, be it in the flashbacks, or with Eko on the island. It becomes clear that there is a nagging memory that Eko must atone for, and the episode builds its drama by slowly unveiling what it is, and whether Eko actually feels any guilt for what he has done. Everything culminates in a fantastic scene where Eko pours his heart out for "Yemi" (see: Best Moment). It's a powerful scene, but perhaps more importantly, it develops into a truly stunning character death that raises many questions, and promises that the show will soon start delving into what's really going on with the island. A few little things were done very well with the Locke storyline. The interesting visual of a man with an eyepatch is immediately memorable and excites me with the possibilities of what's to come this season. I was also a big fan of Locke inviting everyone to come with them to the Pearl. It never made sense why Jack only invited a few people on every mission, so it's nice to see Locke making a logical decision by following the principle of strength in numbers. I was also very happy to see that Locke immediately starting working towards finding a way to save Jack, Kate and Sawyer. Seeing how nobody did anything when Claire and Michael were missing, it feels refreshing that something is actually being done now. Lastly, I'm enjoying Nikki and Paulo so far as some random side characters. I always liked it when "Lost" gave some attention to the random other survivors instead of shifting them to the background and ignoring them. The Bad: Unfortunately, Eko's story isn't entirely consistent with what we have been shown about him, and it's clear that the writers invented the concept of this episode after introducing his character. The unrepentant Eko that we are treated to in this episode would never have taken a 40 day vow of silence like he did in "The Other 48 Days". It's common knowledge that "Lost" wasn't a planned TV show, and things like this continually prove that point. Furthermore, Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje leaving the show did not make things easier for the writers to conclude Eko's character arc. His death was always going to feel anticlimactic considering the circumstances, and it's unfortunate that the actor didn't want to stay on the show. Still, I feel the writers did an impressive job giving Eko a fitting send-off, but I am left feeling like there was still more that could have been done with the character. Furthermore, 3 of the 4 tailies have been killed off now which makes me question what their role in the overall story was if they were all just going to die. The storyline with the others isn't very interesting in this episode. The mind games all amounted to nothing since Jack figured out the truth anyways, which is pretty frustrating. Also, the others continue to look pretty incompetent. Now we learn that there is infighting between Ben and Juliet, which is a boring development that made me roll my eyes. The show has taken the least interesting route with its handling of the others. The Unknown: What's with Colleen's funeral procession? What kind of religion do the others follow? Why did the others see it as necessary to break Jack? Was it just because Ben wanted to recruit him as their doctor, or is it something else? What happened to Yemi's body? My mind immediately goes back to Christian's body being missing back in "White Rabbit". Is this somehow connected? It can't be a coincidence that Christian has also appeared on the island, just like Yemi has. Who is the eyepatch guy? Where is he located and what is he doing there? Eko's death has raised so many questions. If Yemi isn't Yemi, then who is he? Has he always been a fake? Does this have something to do with how Yemi's body disappeared? Also, the monster killed Eko immediately after this reveal. Why? Was Eko deemed a bad person for not repenting his sins? How is the monster connected to "Yemi"? Does the monster serve whatever being "Yemi" was? I'm very confused, but also extremely interested to learn more about what happened here. Best Moment: Eko follows Yemi out into the jungle to make his confession. Then Eko hits us with a big twist by revealing that he does not believe he has sinned. The whole episode had seemingly built up Eko's guilt for having murdered so many people, so it is a surprise when his character takes this turn. It's a very welcome surprise wince it provides us a very unique take on morality, and it allows Eko to deliver another wonderful speech about the hardships he has endured. But then in another massive surprise, "Yemi" hatefully tells Eko that he isn't his brother at all. The tension immediately ramps up and we get hit with the shocking spectacle of the monster brutally murdering Eko. This sequence of events was outstanding, developing the mystery of the show in a huge way while also sticking to an emotional core. Brilliant television. Character of the Episode: Eko. He will be missed. Conclusion: This was easily the best episode of the season so far. It still had its flaws, but this was the first time this season that it felt like we had watched a story that was worth telling. And boy did Eko's final story deliver, as it developed the mystery in a big way while showing us a strong character journey. This had the classic twists and turns that we've come to expect from "Lost", and this episode did more to set up for the rest of the season than any of the previous 4 episodes. Score: 76
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Aaron DhillonJust a university student who loves to watch TV. And analyze it way too much. Archives
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