Mr. Eko enlists Locke to help find a secret location he believes houses answers to the island’s mysteries. Meanwhile, Jack and the other survivors struggle to cope with the horrific situation in the hatch. Comment here, via e-mail to lost@hawaiiup.com, or by calling the LostLine at (808) 356-0127, by Friday, Dec. 19.
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Meta
the backstory in this episode is interesting because it’s more than just a backstory; it runs parallel to the events in the episode involving locke and eko. there are the themes of belief vs. unbelief. eko protested to the priest about investigating the “miracle” because he didn’t think he could investigate something he didn’t believe in. locke didn’t believe in eko’s dream, or the map, or the question mark, so he didn’t want to investigate them. in the end, locke is still skeptical, as is eko, but they have reversed places. eko used to be the skeptical one, but no longer. john used to have faith, but has lost it.
what does everyone think about eko, malkin, and malkin’s daughter? did the daughter, like eko accused her of, just use information her dad found out to manipulate him? or did she really go to someplace seemingly between life and death where yemi appeared to her? it seems out of sync with the normal dreams of the island. if the island had been trying to use the girl’s vision to get eko on flight 815 and therefore to the island, wouldn’t it have happened a lot sooner? he is already set to get on the plane when the girl approaches him, so his path (destiny) is not going to change. but usually, the dreams come when not enough information is known, to make changes in the direction someone is heading. maybe eko ends up believing it, but if so, then i think his faith would be misplaced. and as we know john ends up in a coffin, will his faith end up being misplaced?
Usually I like the episodes that Damon and Carleton write but I find this one confusing given what we know now. I just have to wonder if they were going down a certain road with Eko being a major character and then had to redirect based on the actor leaving the show. Specifically the relationship between Malkin and Eko. Malkin seems to play a critical role in getting Claire and Eko to the island. Has he been there before? Why is it so important that Eko be on the island. I suspect it had something to do with aaron but we will probably never know.
Dr. Mark Wickmund? What is that all about? And those dreams. I can’t say that I can make heads or tails out of all those visions. All and all, not my favorite episode because I think that it is disconnected from what evolved after the actor left. I do miss Mr. Eko though and wish that his story could have played out until the end.
I thought this was one of the great episodes of the season because it combine a mix of everything of drama with the suspense of them trying to save libby wondering if michael will get away with it or not and the other part of eko and locke discovering a new station diving into more of the mythology of the island and the dharma iniative.
Eko was a interesting person to bring at the moment for that season because before it was locke who had faith so easily into the island and he had to convince jack who had no faith where when eko came into the group he was the person who had faith so easily into the island and locke became the person who had to be convince and had some doubts. As you can see by the end of this episode it is locke who loss faith and now eko plays the role he use to who now has total faith in the island the purpose of pushing the numbers in the hatch.
The back story had some moments but the part with the psychic I think the only reason they put him in there was to give you a moment to go what the heck because in the beginning of the show a lot of the people thought he knew that the plane was going to crash and he wanted Claire on board but in this back story he states he’s a fraud so you go what going on did he do it just to get money or does he know something. And I don’t think they will ever go back to resolve the issue of the psychic.
The station part was good step to start Locke on his direction of losing faith in his purpose on the island which they did a good job of wrapping it up in the finale of that season so you could find out what the true purpose of that station. My only question is that in the season finale where you see where the air duct ends with the pile of notebooks everywhere. I was wondering geez if I was the losties wouldn’t I want to go back and read all those notebooks to get a picture of what the heck was going on in the hatch all those years and who knows that back then the people in there were also observing the other hatches because the season after Macgyver also known as sayid who seems he could make anything work work for a split second was able to connect one of the tv’s to the flame hatch. So maybe that station they were observing all the hatches and made observations on all of them. That would be a boat load of data for the losties especially Locke and Sayid who wants to know what the Dharma Iniative was. I’m guessing after the purge all the connections of the video feed to the stations were disconnected for security of the others and the only one left active was the swan hatch for the purpose of ben and the others to keep track of making sure that who ever was there like Desmond was pushing the button.
Love your podcast and can’t wait for the next season to come especially the episode with [spoiler removed].
i think the psychic really saw something when claire went to him, when he gave her money back. if it had been a normal scam, he wouldn’t have been so scared; he would have taken her money and given her all the phony info she wanted. the question is, was eko’s visit before or after claire’s? i would say before. didn’t claire visit him the day before the flight? we know that eko was planning to leave australia soon, but it seems that a couple days may have passed before his flight was leaving, while he wrapped up the whole priest thing. i think malkin saw something with claire and that it was the first time he had ever actually gotten a real reading on someone, and that’s why he freaked out about it.
All in all, I thought this was a pretty strong episode, though I do view it with a sense of sadness now knowing what I do about the fate of Eko. It’s really too bad that AAA didn’t enjoy living in Hawaii. I thought this episode was a great showcase for the Eko character, showing his journey to faith. I still feel there was a lot left to tell with his story at the time of his death in season 3, and he certainly provided a valuable counterbalance of faith to locke’s temporary doubt. I think these 2 would have been a great duo had eko’s story arc been extended. Am I correct in remembering reading that Damon & Carlton had bigger plan’s for Eko’s character, had AAA stuck around? One can only hope we’ll see more of Eko in the future…or the past : )
Thankyou Ryan and Jen, for taking the time to record your podcast! It is easily my favorite and the one I always have to listen to right away after downloading it. Keep up the great work! We all appreciate it!
Hi guys,
I surely appreciate Jen’s resolve to get through the second season before
Jan 21st. Know that you have an audience 🙂
S4 DVDs just came out in the States? It is funny because I bought mine as
a BD version from the UK a month ago, hmm…. it was a pleasure to be able
to watch Lost in hi-def it is a different experience.
Well, originally this was an episode I liked a lot. I welcomed the
addition of the tailies and I like Mr. Eko in particular, of course in
hindsight the episode felt a bit out of place. It definetely had these
tear-jerking moments when Libby was dying. It also was one of the creepiest episodes, listening to that tape makes my hair stand.
The part with the psychic has confused me a bit ever since. He said he was a fraud which means that he was not as important as we thought he was when he met Claire. On the other side as Nate, above, has mentioned why did he return the money? He genuinely seemed scared/confused when he tried to read Claire. I do not think that he was pretending to, this can all be some “course correcting” by the Damon and Carlton. As we all know the universe has a way to self correct :).
As I rewatched this episode this week though, it felt hollow somehow. Eko who seemed to take Locke’s position in the big scheme of things but then was killed off a few episodes later is what makes it feel hollow. I totally agree with you that S2 was still very enjoyable but I believe that it would have been more imprtant had Michelle and Adewale stayed on (I still do not understand how one would want to leave Hawaii for London, trade the sun and the beach with rain and the Thames!).
We of course have to give the writer’s of teh show the benefit of the doubt that Locke somehow on his previous visits to the site of the Nigerian plane did not see that there was a metalic door on the ground. Also, who would put salt on the ground to make ? like shape?
Take care and thanks for all the effort.
Ilias
In response to Ilias:
“We of course have to give the writer’s of teh show the benefit of the doubt that Locke somehow on his previous visits to the site of the Nigerian plane did not see that there was a metalic door on the ground. Also, who would put salt on the ground to make ? like shape?”
Actually, the plane was on top of the door ever since it fell. Also, the salt on the ground made a ring around the door. The ? symbol as seen from above was the partial ring plus the plane, which together looked like a ?.
Regarding Malkin, the psyhic. There was a deleted scene from this episode that was an easter egg on the season 2 dvd set. It show Malkin saying how he scammed a pregnant girl. A couple from LA had paid him big money to get her to go to LA or something like that.
Anyway, a great episode, especially leading up to the finale of that season. It would be interesting to know what the plans originally were for Eko, had the actor not wanted to leave the show.
While there have been good episodes and not so good episodes, I feel like “?” is just another example of what makes the show great.
To quote the Matrix “It’s the question that drives us.”
I love your podcast. Thanks for all the hard work you put into it.
Great episode. Geez, I miss Eko. And the Swan station with all those clicks and beeps.
123 questions were asked in this episode. And not a whole lot of answers.
Here are my favorites [with comments]:
ANA LUCIA: What are you building? [that darn island sure asks a lot of ?s. A church, of course.]
JACK: What were you thinking, John? [alternative title to this epi., Locke was thinking Ana Lucia could get answer’s from Ben that he couldn’t]
SAWYER: Who’s going to take care of Libby while you’re off playing Daniel Boone?
EKO: How long has it been since your last confession? [just a thought . . . how many confessions does fake Father Tunde hear. Yikes!]]
JOYCE: Don’t you understand? It’s a miracle — a confirmation of faith.
EKO: Where is the question mark?
LOCKE: Here, you want to find your damn question mark? Here, this is it right here. Here take it. Take it because it’s nothing. It’s a memory. It’s 10 seconds of nothing.
EKO [pointing on the map]: This is your hatch, yes? LOCKE: It’s not my hatch.
EKO: “Tell me John, haven’t you ever followed a dream?”
The opening dream sequence where Eko gets his instructions to help John from ‘good’ Yemi, sets up my favorite ‘revisited’ scene at the Pearl hatch door. Eko and Locke change places [literally and figuratively] from sinner to saver, from believer to skeptic.
EKO: John! Will you help me with this? LOCKE: Eko, may I?
MICHAEL: She say anything? Libby? [the creep. from this point forward stopped caring about Michael. Walt, better off with granny]
KATE: How did Ana Lucia get your gun? [The ever inquisitive Kate. Even when the rival is dead. Bad form, writers.]
SAWYER: Fooled you, didn’t I?
HURLEY: Hey guys, you seen Libby around? [so sad]
MARK WICKMAN: What is the nature of the experiment, you might ask? What do these subjects believe they are accomplishing as they struggle to fulfill their tasks?
The theme of observer vs. the observed plays out on may levels – the Others watching/infiltrating the Fusies and Tallies, DI watching DI (Pearl Station), and smokey watching for the ‘security’ breaches. When Locke and Eko enter the Pearl from the ‘exit’ hatch (we will have to assume that there is a main entrance like the Swan), John turns on the power. The center monitor has been left powered on. This is the monitor that plays back the orientation film. So, if the last observer sees the purge happening a) do they write down what they see and send up the notebook, finish their 8 hour shift, leave as per instructed and die? [that would make for some good reading], or b) seeing everyone dead, put in the orientation film, look for instructions about what to do in the event of a gasing by Hostiles, finding none, turn off the power and run outside to their death? or, c) the last person in the Pearl station is, in fact, a Hostile avec gas mask! The connection to the Swan is never disconnected, which leaves us with the ‘smoking’ clue in the ashtray. I’m thinking Danielle, the ‘mother’ of all observers.
EKO: Would you like to watch that again?
LOCKE: Important? I’m sorry, weren’t you just watching the same thing I was?
And, I agree with djchau that the notebooks being totally ignored seems odd. But I’ll leave that discussion for “Live Together . . .”
In the airport Eko is confronted by Charlotte Malkin just before he boards 815.
EKO: Why are you doing this to me? What do you want from me? Why are you doing this to me?!
Things get heated and up pops Libby to see if ‘everything is alright?.” She has ‘popped’ into many of our Losties backstories, so I will go out on a limb and say that she is like Ms. Hawking going around making sure the ‘timeline’ is correct.
EKO: And I took this cross from around Yemi’s neck and put it back on mine, just as it was on the day I first took another man’s life. So let me ask you — how can you say this is meaningless? [Eko, come back. please!!!!!!!! Such a powerful actor. One more epi with you. I think that Eko’s cross that he gives Yemi and then finds again on the island is the constant that give Eko peace. It is not meaningless. More on this next episode.]
Jen – loved your energy in the last podcast. We will make it to the end! Hope things are drying out on the island (DON’T GO OUT IN THE RAIN. BAD THINGS HAPPEN). The snows are upon us again here in the Midwest forecasting upto 12″. Also, I noticed that you are not ‘covering your ears” when the forward cabin segments are covered. Have you crossed over to the dark side? Welcome.
Just an aside. Dharma Dummies are running their own ARG. I managed to answer the first quip, but failed in the second one. So, if anyone can help me out . . .
Ryan, the answer is “Kelvin Joe Inman.” Bet you got some feedback on that. “Mother of Pearl! Fire on the poop deck!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!” And, then you hit the high note for Season 5. You had me rolling on the floor.
Hear ya later.
@brermike
Sure I understand that but Locke had visited the site before the plane fell on the door and looked around. If there was a door on the ground he should be able to have picked up on it. I mean he could make out in th emiddle of the night in the jungle that they were not following Ben’s trail so…. anyway, no biggie here.
Although the salt on the ground is still intriguing, who is leaving these signs behind?
I agree with MJ on Eko, I would love to see him again although I believe that the chances are very slim…
Take care,
Ilias
but when locke was at the plane site before, he was injured and limping, right? (which was why boone had to climb up to the plane.) he probably wasn’t looking around on the ground too carefully since he was focused upward on the plane and also distracted by the pain in his leg. also, the hatch door was covered in dirt.
After listening to your podcast (which is fantastic, by the way), two things sprung to mind with regards to “?””
1) Candle/Wickmund and the two methods of recording the Orientation videos: Good call on not having magnetic videotape in a magnetic station (duh. of course!). However, can you also consider that the 1st film is older, and “Candle”s arm doesn’t work, and later, the Island’s healing properties have fixed his arm in time to film “Wickmund”s tape?
2) Salting the ground also keeps things from growing – it poisons the earth, essentially. Perhaps the question is “what are they keeping from growing there”?
Anyway, thanks for a great podcast. Can’t wait until January!