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Man, after all the trouble Locke went to in order to rescue Eko a couple of episodes ago, Eko has to go and get hisself killed!
Eko's haunted by visions of his dead brother (and actual priest) Yemi, which can't lead to anything good (especially since the idiots in charge of putting together promos at ABC should be told how the show generally features one character -- or in the case of Sun/Jin, or Bernard/Rose, one couple. So when they tell us that someone's gonna die, and then we see that it's an Eko episode, what happens isn't all that surprising).
Meanwhile, Locke decides to lead an expedition to Pearl Station, so they can use the computers to try to contact other stations. Locke is apparently the anti-Jack, evidenced by him being Mr. Open-Door Adventure Policy, and puts out an open call for people to join the expedition. In a surprise move, Nikki and Paulo saddle up, and appear to be serving as the Greek chorus. That will be the most useful thing Paulo does on the trip. His other contributions? Saying stupid things, and going to the bathroom. time, Locke should use a little coach's discretion and make Paulo a healthy scratch. In Pearl station, Sayid uses a little electronics-fu to fix a feed to one of the monitors, and we see this strange electronic equipment (according to Paulo, they're called "com-pu-ters") and some creepy eyepatch-wearing guy.
In the flashbacks, we see what happened to Eko after his posing-as-priests smuggling routine got his brother killed: he takes over Yemi's church. And when some militia strongmen try to muscle in on vaccine shipments, Eko kills them. The church gets boarded up, much to Eko's chagrin. It doesn't really impress the yummy mummy Eko's got his eye on, either; she has to explain to him, "Dude, I don't think anyone expects you to have the whole Bible memorized. But there are only ten commandments, right? And 'thou shalt not kill' is pretty high up the list. You owe Yemi a church." So: no nominations for Eko at the 2004 Priesty Awards, I guess.
Eko refuses to apologize to his brother's ghost for the things he's done, saying he did what he did to survive. And then the black smoke picks Eko up, like a fist holding a G.I. Joe, shakes him all around, and slams him to the ground. Before he dies, he tells Locke, "You're ." Want more? The full recap starts right below!
Two young boys are crouched outside a metal shed, with the older one bashing the shed's padlock with a rock until the padlock breaks. The boys open the door, and the older boy grabs a basket from which he plucks some sort of foodstuff that he hands off to the younger one, and he tells him to eat. The younger one hesitates, so the older boy says, "It's okay, Yemi," at which point Yemi hungrily wolfs it down. The older boy, who I'm presuming is Eko, doesn't eat anything, or maybe he just didn't get the chance to, because a stern looking nun stomps up and says his name, glaring at him. I think this nun's alleged resemblance to LL Cool J begins and ends with the fact LL also sometimes wears glasses.
Inside a church, Yemi and Eko sit in a pew, the nun standing guard, as a woman leaves the confessional and gives a majorly half-assed genuflection to the altar before scurrying on out of there. The nun tells Eko to go inside. Eko doesn't move; he glances at what he can see of the waiting priest behind the confessional. The nun orders him to go confess that he stole, but Eko protests that Yemi was hungry. The nun says that's no excuse for his sin. I went to Catholic school and would like to tell Eko not to bother. You will never change a nun's mind. No matter how often you tell her you just want to be friends.
Yemi looks terrified, and takes hold of Eko's hand. Eko stands up, and slowly walks over to the confessional. He looks back at Yemi, still petrified. Maybe this priest is one of those priests? The nun yells "Confess!" at Eko, who turns back towards the confessional.
On Craphole Island, though, present-day Eko is unconscious inside a beach shelter as Sayid gets up close and personal with him. Keep in mind that Sayid has apparently been walking for a couple of days, no shower, no toothpaste. If Sayid's smell doesn't wake Eko up, nothing will. Sayid asks how long Eko's been like this, and Hurley says it's been a couple of days. Charlie's there too, and Sayid asks him what happened. "Before or after we rescued him from the polar bear cave?" says Charlie, who might be embellishing things just a little bit with that "we" business, and at any rate could drop the "isn't it self-explanatory?" attitude. Hurley says that Locke's going to want to know Sayid's back. Sayid's gotta report back to Locke now? Huh. They leave, with Hurley offering a "stay alive, dude," to Eko, which ought to take care of things. Zoom in to Eko's eyelids, where the REM bulges tell us we're in for a dream sequence.
This initial dream sequence will take the form of the ghost of Yemi introducing what are essentially "previously on Lost" scenes that I'm not sure couldn't have been shown at the top of the hour, retelling the whole story of Eko and Yemi. Hey, less for me to recap. Knock yourselves out.
When the previouslies have wrapped up, the unconscious Eko is awoken by Yemi, who has lit a lighter. Yemi tells Eko it's time to confess. Eko nods, but doesn't seem to be able to speak. "I will be waiting. You know where to find me," says Yemi. The glow on Eko's face from Yemi's lighter gets a lot brighter.
Maybe that's because the hut is on fire! Fortunately for Eko, Charlie, Hurley, and Sayid have walked all of about 15 feet in the last few minutes. With a few nameless (for now, but who knows what season will bring?) Lostaways, they start fighting the fire and pulling Eko from the shelter. They lay Eko down by a tree a little ways away, a delirious Eko muttering "my brother" and couple of times before passing out.
Locke comes running up, which you'd think would have Charlie covering his face. Locke just wants to know if everyone's okay, and Charlie says they are. Then he talks about dragging Eko out, and he points to where Eko was, but now there's no Eko. All right, who took Eko? Seriously, guys, this isn't funny. Look, Charlie just wants Eko returned, so he'll turn his back, count to 10, and when he turns around again, if Eko's back up against the tree, no one will get in trouble. Okay?
Over to the Others' compound now, where Dr. Showoff is doing pull-ups on the rafters in his cell. Ben walks in, escorted by an armed guard, wearing a white nightshirt-looking kind of thing, and he's carrying one for Jack. Here to invite Jack to the big Others' sleepover? Or just out for a walk, apparently. He invites Jack to go for a walk with him. Jack snort-laughs and crabs about how if he says no, Ben's just going to throw a bag over his head and take him anyway. "Then don't say no," says Henry, sounding almost sensible. He puts the shirt down on the table, tells Jack to put it on, and says he'll be waiting outside. Ben starts to leave, but Jack asks him if his neck hurts. Ben's all big-eyed as Jack asks if Ben's got any numbness in his fingers and toes, like when your foot falls asleep, but permanent. Ben, as nonchalantly as he can, wants to know why Jack's asking. "Because, Ben, you've got a tumour on your spine. An aggressive tumour that is going to kill you." Ben watches in stunned silence as Jack changes into the night shirt and tells him that unless those are really recent X-rays he saw, Ben ain't got many more walks in his future.
"I have no idea what you're talking about," chuckles Ben. Jack's all "my bad!" in a I-know-I'm-right and furthermore-I-know-you-know-I'm-right kind of way. "I'm ready when you are!" says Jack, all ready for his evening walk, but not before he and Ben stare at each other for about five hours.
Some Other with a torch leads the way as Jack and Ben make their way to a beach-side ceremony with a bunch of Others, all dressed in the same shirt, like the Craphole Island Club Monaco must have had a sale on. They're gathered around Danny, who's kneeling by the shroud-covered body of his wife Colleen, who's been laid on some kind of handmade boat. Ben tells Jack to wait by the trees, and then Ben walks over to mutter a few words about Colleen. Juliet strolls up to announce that she hates funerals. Especially since she practically died in your arms, hey? But these two knuckleheads joke about Jack being let out and getting a new shirt, and then Juliet is all awkwardly "Bye, Jack," and then goes down to join the Others lifting the floating pyre into the wire. Over one of the ubiquitous loudspeakers, a Brenda Lee song starts playing. Brenda Lee? Hey, maybe someone tried to grab the Funeral Songs CD, but the Brenda Lee CD was in the wrong case. When I die, I want "Shine a Light" by the Stones played.
The mourners light the Death Canoe on fire, and Ben asks Juliet why she showed Jack his X-rays. "I didn't tell him they were yours," she says, and seeing Ben's surprised look, she surmises that Ben blew that secret on his own. She looks over at Jack. Who's your messiah now, Juliet?
Daylight now, back on Lostaway Beach, and Locke tells Desmond and Sayid that he thinks he knows how to find Jack, Kate and Sawyer. Sayid wants to know why Desmond's being included in the conversation. "Tell him what you told me," Locke says to Desmond, who tells Sayid that he's pretty sure the computer in the hatch, in addition to preventing the apocalypse, could also be used to contact computers in other stations. Yeah, fascinating, says Sayid, if it weren't for the fact that Swan station just BLEW UP. Then they brilliantly talk about how there are other stations, and then Abbott and Costello, a.k.a. Charlie and Hurley, stroll up and say there's no sign of Eko anywhere, no trail or anything. Not that they know what a trail looks like, points out Hurley. Locke asks if Eko said anything when they pulled him out of the burning tent. Charlie says he was mumbling about his brother. You can practically see the light bulb go off over Locke's head. He tells Sayid to pack his gear; they're going after that computer. Charlie's all, what about Eko? "We'll catch up to him. We're all going to the same place," says Locke, without bothering to explain any further to a confused Charlie.
In the jungle, Eko stumbles along, half-delirious. In his defense, in the last few days, he was blown up, almost eaten by a polar bear, and suffered the indignity of having his life saved by Charlie. Apparently, this all proves too much for him, and he collapses on the ground. Unconsciousness is more conducive to flashbacks anyway.
We're presumably minutes after Eko's botched smuggling plan got his brother killed, as Eko's riding in the back of a truck with the soldiers who think he's a real priest. "You're home, father," says a soldier, and a dusty, weary Eko gets off the truck and walks into his dead brother's empty church. He approaches the altar, and gazes at the crucified Christ. He bows his head, looking like he's about to cry, and then notices a Bible sitting on the confessional bench. He walks over, picks it up, and opens it. Inside is a worn photograph of Eko and Yemi as brothers. Okay, now he's really going to start bawling, just as soon as he can muster up the tears, and -- wait, he's interrupted by a woman with a child. "Father?" she says brightly, and then looks surprised when Eko turns around. She says she was expecting Father Yemi. Really? Eko's, like, twice his size. Get your eyes checked, lady. Eko, fighting back tears, says Yemi was called away on an emergency at a refugee camp down south. The woman steps forward, introduces herself as "Amina," and gives a little curtsy, saying she works at the clinic, and introduces her son Daniel, who she says is the altar boy there. Awesome. Now we have a Danny and a Daniel! I don't know if the show's trying to tell me something. I figured they introduced Danny so they could kill off Danny and SEND ME A MESSAGE. But introducing Daniel and making him a cute innocent altar boy? Probably not a shout-out. Nuts.
Amina wants to know if Eko is taking Yemi's place, and Eko says he is. "Will Father Yemi still go to London?" Eko has no idea what she's talking about, and she says Yemi was going to London to continue his study. Eko says that yes, he will be taking Yemi's place there too. Amina looks a little perplexed at that, maybe because that really doesn't make any sense.
Back on Craphole Island, Eko comes to, clutching his stomach as he struggles to his feet. In the background, the black smoke whisks through the trees. Eko finds himself a walking stick, having lost the Bible Thumper, and resumes his journey.
Only from out of nowhere, some guy whips a machete at Eko's head, and it thwacks into the tree beside him. And there's another thug, and another -- only they're all already injured. One's even missing an arm. Eko figures he can probably kick a ghost's ass as well as a corporeal one and yanks the machete from the tree. He's about to bring it down on one thug with a bloody head wound when Daniel the altar boy is standing there in full, um... man, I forget what they call the robe altar boys wear. My main memory of being an altar boy is being the cross-bearer for the first time for a Thanksgiving service, and totally motoring with it up the side and then down the aisle toward the altar, leaving everyone else far behind. And then I stood there at the altar forever waiting for everyone to catch up. Daniel puts a finger to his lips. "Shhh. Confess." A frightened Eko drops the machete -- or maybe it was never actually there! And then Daniel's gone too, as are the bloody ghosts from Eko's past. Is anyone else tired of the island hallucinations of the Ghosts of Plotlines Past?
Now we get this preposterous scene where Locke wanders among the denizens of Lostaway Beach, explaining what exactly it is they're setting out to do and extending an invitation for anyone who wants to come along. Hurley acts all surprised by this. "If you'd like to join us, it's a free island," says Locke. Hurley, who I think has gone on his fair share of adventures and was even bitched out by Arzt about being in the adventurer's clique, says Jack would usually do things on his own or take Sayid or Kate. "Yeah, well, I'm not Jack," says Locke, who I seem to recall keeping the hatch a secret, conking Sayid on the head to prevent him from figuring out where Rousseau's transmission was coming from, and lying to everyone about what happened to Boone to keep the plane a secret, so whatever, John "Open Book" Locke. Anyway, Locke shoulders his pack and says, "The more the merrier," and then there are noted screentime hogs Nikki and Paulo, preparing food or something, and Nikki is all chirpy, "I'm in!" surprising Paulo, and Nikki reminds him that he's always whining about not being included, so here's his chance! Paulo follows.
Locke's filling water bottles in a stream. Desmond asks him to clarify if they're going to "poke at a computer" or if they're going after Eko. "Two birds, one stone," says Locke, explaining that he figures Eko's going after the plane that crashed on top of Pearl station. "Well, that's quite a coincidence," says Desmond, who better get used to coincidences, conveniences, and contrivances when you're hangin' with the Lostaway crew. "Don't mistake coincidence for fate," says Locke, continuing on.
Elsewhere, an exhausted Eko stumbles up to either another stream, or an area farther down from where Desmond and Locke were, I'm not sure. He collapses at the water's edge and thirstily gulps some of the water down.
Flashback to "Father" Eko washing his hands in the holy water in the church, and Daniel, clad in his altar-boy robe, tells him he's not supposed to do that. "I'm washing away my sins," offers Eko. Daniel starts to say that Father Yemi would never, but Eko interrupts him with "I'm not Father Yemi."
Gunfire outside the church ends the conversation; Eko tells Daniel to wait there and hurries outside, where a truck full of gun-toting militia men is driving around, shooting off their guns. Hey, it's small-town Alberta on a Friday night! Awesome! The truck stops, and the apparent leader asks where Father Yemi is. "Who wants to know?" says Eko, staring at the thug defiantly. The thug looks at him a moment, steps forward, and takes his sunglasses off. "Perhaps you did not hear me. I said, where is Father Yemi?" Before Eko can answer, Amina rushes forward to say that the shipment is late, but will arrive Friday. Eko's all, what shipment? and Amina explains that they get shipments of vaccines from the Red Cross. They're allowed to keep twenty per cent, and the rest goes to Emeka and his men. "For protection," explains Emeka, somewhat unnecessarily and certainly facetiously. He then talks about how everybody's happy, but if I'm being honest, the only one who looks happy about it is him. "So I hope you will continue to honour our arrangement," he says to Eko. "I am not afraid of you," says Eko, who turns and walks back towards the church doors.
Emeka simply pulls his gun from his waistband and shoots a nearby woman in the chest, to everyone's horror. Eko turns back, aghast. Emeka says he'll be back for the vaccines on Friday. "You don't want more lives on your conscience," he adds. No, that conscience is getting awfully heavy, I imagine. Emeka puts his sunglasses back on and drives off. Oh, and don't forget: Fridays are casual-dress days, Emeka!
Back on Craphole Island, Eko rips off the sleeve of his shirt to wrap around his bloody hand. Then he rubs handfuls of mud into his chest bandage. To cool it off? I guess? Then he goes back for more water, and we hear that vaguely cricket-on-steroids noise of an impending Lostzilla appearance, and in the water's reflection, Eko sees the black smoke gather over his head. He quickly turns around and stands up, brandishing his stick, and the smoke suddenly pulls back into the trees. He stares for a moment, and then Locke steps out of the trees on the other side of the stream, followed by Sayid, Desmond, Nikki, and Paulo. "Hello, Eko," says Locke. Eko just looks at him.
The door to Jack's cell opens, and Juliet walks in, carrying a plate with a full on fancy food lid on top of it. She says he'll never guess what's for lunch. "I'm not big on mysteries," says Jack, killjoy as usual. She pulls off the lid, and it's a cheeseburger. Jack's amazed that they have cheeseburgers, which is a little less amazing to me than the fact they have Fox Sports. And now the flirting portion of tonight's episode can begin, with Juliet clambering up on the table so she can sit coquettishly cross-legged while she explains what she went through to get a cheeseburger for Jack: killing the cow, processing the meat, baking the bun, and rendering animal fat for the fries. "No ketchup?" jokes Jack, and Juliet smiles, but before they can rip each others' clothes off and start doing it right there, Ben walks in. Juliet should have put a sock on the doorknob.
Ben briefly looks surprised at the chumminess of the scene but recovers to say that he needs to talk to Jack. "So talk to him," says Juliet, not moving. Ben says, "Alone." Jack says he's fine with Juliet being there. "And I'm thrilled that your fine, Jack," says Ben sarcastically, "but it's private. Doctor-patient confidentiality?" Juliet's all "sure, of course," but she looks kind of pissed as she walks out. Jack says, "Mind if I eat?" and starts stuffing his face with the cheeseburger.
No small talk for Ben this time; he opens with, "We had such a wonderful plan to break you, Jack," and explains that they wanted to wear him down, make him think they were not his enemies. "And then of course we'd lead you to believe that you were choosing to do whatever we asked you to do. All of this, of course, assumed that you would get invested." Invested in what, Jack wants to know. Ben asks if hadn't occurred to Jack that Juliet bears a striking resemblance to his ex-wife. Jack's looking like, "Yeah, now that he mentions it, she is a hot blonde babe," but he asks why Ben's telling him this. "Because my wonderful plan got shot to sunshine when you saw my damned X-rays and figured out I was dying." "Shot to sunshine"? The leader of the Others is Ned Flanders? Jack says, like he can't believe it, that Ben brought him here so he can save Ben's life, even though I thought Jack had already FIGURED THAT OUT, but whatever. Ben says, "No, I want you to WANT to save my life, But we're beyond that now, so... all I can ask is that you think about it." Yeah, and try to forget about the beatings and the shootings and the captive hostages, etc. Ben nods and starts to walk out, then turns back and asks if Jack believes in God. "Do you?" asks Jack. "Two days after I found out I had a fatal tumour on my spine, a spinal surgeon fell out of the sky. And if that's not proof of God, I don't know what is." Guess he hasn't heard of Angelina Jolie on this island. But seriously, what a megalomaniac! Yeah, Ben -- God killed a bunch of people to bring you a spinal surgeon. I say if you're going to thank God for the good stuff -- like bringing you a spinal surgeon -- you have to blame him for the bad stuff. Like GIVING YOU A TUMOUR. Or Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Finals.
Locke and Eko trudge through the jungle, Eko struggling. Locke asks if he's all right and says they can stop for a while if Eko needs to. Eko grunts that he's fine. So Locke asks if Eko's headed for the plane wreckage, since Charlie heard Eko call out for his brother. "Is that what you're doing out here? Looking for Yemi?" Eko suddenly turns and, with his walking stick, pins Locke against a tree. "Do not speak my brother's name again," he growls. Locke doesn't look terribly afraid, though. Good thing, too, as no one else seems to be interested in stepping in. Locke just asks what Eko's so afraid of.
Flashback to Father Eko asking Amina how often they get in shipments of vaccines. "Every six months, if we are lucky," she says, and she asks why he's so interested in the vaccines. Well, they just got an innocent woman killed, for one thing, Amina. But Eko doesn't answer that question. He just asks, "And you agreed to give most of it to the militia?" Well, uh, 'agreed,' Eko? Did you not see the guns? Amina says the vaccines fetch a high price on the black market. Eko considers this, so Amina warns him: "Whatever you are thinking, do not cross these men. Before Father Yemi, we got nothing. We owe whatever vaccines we have to his work." Eko smiles and starts to get up, but Amina says he reminds her of Yemi. "You're a good man, too," she says. Wow, what a terrible judge of character!
Speaking of which, here's Eko pulling up to some dusty "Disco Bar," dressed like Shaquille O' Neal on an off-day. He sits down at a table with some dreadlocked dude who says, "I hear you have some vaccine to sell." Eko says he does, but it has to happen by Sunday, because he's leaving the country. Way to honour your brother's memory, Eko.
Back on Craphole Island, the new Lostaway A-Team has arrived at the plane wreckage. Eko stands there staring at it for a moment before heading towards it, while Locke directs the others to the Pearl station hatch. He suggests Sayid take everyone down and says he'll be down in a moment. Nikki and Paulo demonstrate why they're along: to provide backstory to the audience! Paulo asks what Eko's looking for, and Nikki says his brother's body is in the plane.
Eko and Locke walk over to the plane door, blocked by a pile of rocks, while Sayid and Desmond open the Pearl station hatch.
Locke helps Eko remove the stones, but he's really interested in finding out what Eko saw back at the stream. "I saw it once, you know," says Locke. Eko asks what Locke saw. "I saw a very bright light. It was beautiful." Is that including the time it grabbed you and tried to drag you underground? "That was not what I saw," says Eko. That's all he says about it, as he and Locke get down to the business of pushing aside the huge rock blocking the door.
Inside the plane, Eko surveys the wreckage -- but there's no sign of Yemi. He stumbles back out into the light. "My brother's gone," he says.
Back from commercial, Locke's offering up a bunch of possible explanations, none of which really jibes with the complete absence of even any sign of Yemi. Eko burned the plane, animals could have eaten the body, that sort of thing. Eko doesn't respond; he just takes out the folded picture of him and his brother when they were children. The photo's looking a little worse for wear. Eko sits down to look at it, and Locke's all, "I'm going down the hatch... you don't wanna come with?" and Eko says he'll wait here. Locke starts to go, but then remembers he's got Eko's crucifix, and he hands it over, saying he found it when he was looking for him. Eko stares at it in his hand for a moment, then stands up and looks around.
Flashback to Father Eko standing in the church, looking at the crucifix behind the altar again.
Emeka and his men walk in. Emeka says he hears Eko has some vaccine for sale. "If you thought you could do this without me knowing, you don't know who I am." He walks forward, and holds his machete to Eko's neck and says Eko's lucky he's a superstitious man. "I don't relish taking the life of a holy man. That is why today... I'm only going to cut off your hands." Sure, God would have no problem with that. Emeka's men grab Eko, bind his wrists, and hold his arms down on the lectern or whatever with the Bible on it. Emeka swings his machete down, but Eko jerks aside and knock down Emeka's men as the machete comes down and lodges itself in the lectern. Eko grabs it, and one thug gets a swipe across the face while the other loses what looks to be a good section of his arm. Eko knocks Emeka down, and brings the machete up above his head with both hands, ready to bring it down, but Emeka turns out to be a big puss and starts begging for Eko to stop. Eko smiles. "You do not know who I am," he says, and swings it down. Man, in just the last 30 seconds, Eko's put himself in contention for the title Worst Priest Ever.
He walks out the church doors, and I don't know, he might have made some effort to clean himself up. Or at least put the machete down. Daniel's playing soccer with his friends but stops when he sees Father Eko. Amina's nearby too, because everybody is always hanging around outside this damn church, and she puts her hand to her mouth when she sees a bloodied Eko holding a bloody machete. He looks around, glaring, and then lets the machete slip from his hand. I think that, from now on, when Father Eko gives you your penance? You do your penance. Even if it's eight million Hail Marys. On the other hand... I mean, Eko, no one's expecting you to memorize the Bible. But you should have at least a working knowledge of the Commandments. And if you want to rank them, "Thou shalt not kill" is kind of a biggie.
In Pearl station, Nikki's enjoying the orientation video (the one where Dr. Marvin Candle calls himself Mark Wickman), while Desmond, Locke, and Sayid poke around the wiring behind the bank of televisions. Paulo's nowhere to be seen. Sayid says the wiring is only one way, that it's a closed system. Nikki asks what the other televisions are for and rewinds the orientation video so she can replay the part where Candle/Wickman talks about monitoring the other stations' projects. "Projects. More than one. So maybe some of these TVs are connected to the other hatches," says Nikki. Locke says he's suddenly feeling very stupid. Yeah, especially considering he already turned on a television and discovered he could observe Swan station, no? I guess he's forgotten that. Sayid says he could try to "patch in one of the other feeds," to see if they can get another picture. So what did his "closed system," "one-way wiring" explanation mean? I have no idea. I think Sayid makes up his electronic blah-blah as he goes along, depending on how best it suits the plot.
Anyway, we hear a toilet flush, and Paulo comes out of what appears to be a bathroom. "The toilet works," he says. See what your open call for adventurers gets you, Locke? Paulo Bundy over here.
Sayid futzes with the wires a bit more, and one of the monitors comes on, showing a small room with banks of electronic equipment. "Those are computers! Great. That's what you're looking for! Now we can get out of here," says Paulo, munching on some fruit. I really hope Paulo won't be allowed to inflict his uselessness on any future expeditions. I also really hope he gets E.coli since no one ever taught him to wash his hands after going to the bathroom.
Just then, a face enters the screen, a man wearing an eyepatch looking directly at the camera. Nikki gasps. I might have too, had the ABC idiots not blown it by showing it in the previews last week. Everyone watches, rapt, as the man tilts his head quizzically, then reaches towards the camera, and turns something. The monitor reverts to static. Locke's really enjoying this. "I guess he'll be expecting us," he says, smiling.
Juliet enters the room across from Jack's cell, while he's pacing the floor. He turns towards her. "What, you don't trust me anymore?" he says. She says she trusts him just fine, but she's going to put a movie on. She's got a cassette she pops into the VCR even as Jack is all, "I'll pass on the movie." She insists that he'll like it. "It's To Kill a Mockingbird. It's a classic," she says. He insists he doesn't want to watch a movie with her, even though that'd TOTALLY be the perfect time to make a move on her. She says she'll turn the sound down, and he walks up to the glass. She says she wanted to apologize for him being brought here, for what's been done to him and his friends. She sounds sincere. "You have to know, we were desperate. It was all so we could save his life." Meanwhile, she's pushed play on the VCR, and Gregory Peck is looking really hot, and he's holding a cue card and looking directly at the camera. And the card says, "Ignore everything I'm saying." And I have to say I don't remember this part from the book, but I never did see the movie. Although, come to think of it, I don't remember Gregory Peck being blond. Come to that, I'm pretty sure To Kill a Mockingbird is in black & white. Or wait! That's Juliet! And she's seen Dylan perform "Subterranean Homesick Blues," or Love, Actually or some INXS video or something, depending on your frame of reference. Juliet continues. "Ben. He's a great man." Card reads: "Ben is a liar." Juliet: "I know you find that hard to believe, but he is." Jack glances up at the security camera behind Juliet's back. Card reads: "And he is very dangerous." At this point, Jack wheels in a television of his own and plays a video in which he holds up a cue card that reads, "Tell me something I don't know." Juliet says, "You probably feel like you don't have a choice. But you do, Jack. Free will is all we've really got, right?" Cards read: "Some of us want a change. But it has to look like an accident." Juliet: "Anyway, just wanted to put in my two cents." Cards: "It has to look like we tried to save him. And that's up to you, Jack." Juliet: "I told you before you can trust me. I want you to trust me now, when I tell you that doing the surgery is absolutely the right thing for you to do." Video Juliet is holding a card that says, "It's a complicated surgery. No one would ever know." For some reason, this cracked me up. She's really selling it on those cards! Juliet says, "It's the right thing, because he deserves to live." Card: "And I would protect you." The card reads, "Now tell me to turn the movie off." Jack obliges, and even sounds annoyed. ["A hell of a stretch for our boy, there." -- Joe R] Juliet pretends to protest, and isn't there one more card? "Do you like me? Check one: Yes __ No __" She shuts off the video and walks to the door. "Think about what I said. Please," she says, and walks out.
Inside the church, Daniel's sweeping up when Eko walks up the aisle, carrying a suitcase. Daniel asks where he's going. "London," says Eko. Daniel asks if Eko's a bad man. "My mom says you are a bad man," he adds. "Only God knows," says Eko. Well, I think the villagers might have some idea, Eko.
Outside is Amina, because she never goes home. "I see you got your vaccine," says Eko, and Amina busts him for thinking she's supposed to be grateful for what Eko did, especially as she knows what he had been planning to do. "Those men will be replaced by other men," she says. Guess you'll have to kill those ones yourself, then, because Eko's leaving. But he notices workers putting plywood up over the church windows and wants to know what they're doing. Amina tells him they're boarding up the church; they can't use it anymore, since it is no longer sacred. "This is Yemi's church!" protests Eko. Should have thought of that when you were lopping off people's body parts inside it, then. She starts in with the "you will be judged for what you did," while Eko tries to leave, and she tells him to go to London and repent, since he owes God for every life he took. Oh, and if you truly believe this was Yemi's church? "You owe him one church." Joke's on you, Amina. Yemi's dead.
Back on Craphole Island, Eko's still just sitting there, looking at Yemi's crucifix. And there's Yemi, standing in front of him. Eko says Yemi's name, but Yemi turns and walks into the jungle. Eko follows but can't find him, and he starts yelling for him: "You say you want to hear my confession. Why now?" Eko eventually comes out into a clearing, where Yemi is standing. His suit's looking much the worse for wear. Two words: Tide Pen.
"Are you ready, Eko?" asks Yemi. Eko says he is, and he pulls out Yemi's crucifix from his pocket. Yemi reaches forward to touch it. "I ask for no forgiveness, Father, for I have not sinned. I have only done what I needed to do to survive." That... doesn't seem strictly true, does it? But Eko's not done with the rationalizing: he says a young boy once asked him if he was a bad man. "If I could answer him now, I would tell him that when I was a young boy, I killed a man to save my brother's life." Oh, so now it's Yemi's fault, is it? Eko says he's not sorry for this. "I am proud of this." Pride's a sin too, Eko.
Eko kneels in front of Yemi. "I did not ask for the life I was given. But it was given nonetheless. And with it, I did my best." Yes, you were the best drug lord you could be, Eko. Yemi looks pissed: "You speak to me as if I were your brother," he snaps. "Who are you?" says a confused Eko. Don't worry, dude. It'll all be over soon. Yemi turns and walks away, Eko following after a moment, yelling "Who are you?"
In the jungle, Yemi's disappeared, and as Eko looks for him, we can hear the cricket noise and -- there it is: the smoke darting through the trees. Eko turns, startled, thinking he heard something. As he turns back to continue looking, the black smoke billows and gathers in front of him. We hear the metallic noises, the clanking chain sound. And Eko starts reciting Psalm 23 -- the "Lord is my shepherd" prayer -- but the smoke suddenly coalesces into the shape of a fist or -- swear to god -- an elephant's trunk that shoots out and grabs Eko by the waist and starts shaking him like a child's rattle. It's inexplicable, it's perplexing, and maybe just a little amusing, as much as I like Eko. It's certainly tough to figure out how this is going to fit in to the whole "everything has a plausible explanation" thing, but that's not really my problem. I haven't had a speeding ticket in years.
Down in Pearl station, the roaring and the rattling and the shaking is so bad that they all come running out. Locke is, of course, the first to arrive at Eko's body, lying on the ground after being slammed there by the Big Black Smokezilla. Sayid, carrying a rifle, and Desmond come up as Locke rolls Eko over onto his back. His face is bloody, but he's alive. And now here come Paulo and Nikki. And now we know why Nikki's been added: the powers that be must have felt that island adventures needed a little more jiggling.
Eko's trying to say something, so Locke leans in close, then looks back at Eko, shocked. We quickly flashback to a happy young Yemi and Eko, playing with a soccer ball, and then back to Eko's lifeless eyes. Locke does that pass-the-palm-over-the-face thing to close Eko's eyes, still looking stunned, while the rest of the crew look on, horrified. Sayid finally asks it: "What did he say, John?" Locke looks up. "He said we're ." Assuming we're going to be dealing primarily with Jack, Kate and Sawyer in the so-called "fall season finale" week, "we're " means "see you in February!"