Lost: The Cost of Living

Flashback opening!

Lil' Eko breaks into a storage shed to steal food for his little brother Yemi. They get caught by a nun, and she drags them into church and tells Eko he must confess. He argues that his brother was hungry, but the nun says stealing is still a sin, and to confess.

Back on the Island, Sayid checks out a still-unconscious Eko. Hurley says he's been that way for a couple of days. Sayid wants to know what happened, and Charlie explains -- implosion, magic polar bears -- it's been a busy week.

The three leave to find Locke. Hurley, who's been reduced to the "dude" and "whoa" guy, says "Stay alive, dude," to Eko.

Eko dreams a bunch of flashbacks we've seen before -- Eko forcing Yemi to sign forged priesthood documents for Eko so he can smuggle drugs out of Nigeria. Yemi getting shot and dragged on the plane, and Eko being mistaken as a real priest.

Eko hears someone telling him to wake up. It's Yemi, holding a small flame. Yemi says it's time for Eko to confess, and that he will be waiting.

Sayid, Hurley and Charley are maybe twenty steps from Eko's shelter when Hurley says he smells smoke. They turn around and the entire structure is on fire. They pull Eko out, and Charlie hears Eko say "my brother, my brother."

Locke shows up and wants to know if anyone's hurt. Charlie says they rescued Eko, but when they look to where he was lying on the beach, he's gone.

Ben, in hippie wear, visits Jack in the fishbowl, and suggests they go for a walk. He's got a white hippie shirt for Jack, too. Jack points out that even if he doesn't want to go for a walk, Ben will just toss a bag over his head and make him do it anyway.

Jack asks Ben if his neck hurts, or if his fingers and toes are numb. Ben wants to know why, and Jack says that he's seen the X-rays, and that Ben has an aggressive tumor on his spine and that it's going to kill him. Ben says he doesn't know what Jack's talking about.

Jack and Ben walk to the beach in their matching hippie shirts. It's Colleen's funeral, and hey -- all the Others have white hippie shirts! It's quite the fashion trend!

Juliet stops to compliment Jack on his stylin' new shirt. Ben wants to know why Juliet showed Jack his X-rays. Um, Ben? Weren't you the one who left Jack in the room with them for an hour? It's not like you gave him a book to read or anything -- he was gonna look around.

Locke's on the beach with Desmond. He tells Sayid he thinks he knows how to save the Wonder Trio. Sayid isn't sure they should be having this conversation in front of the crazy guy, but Locke says it was Desmond's idea.

The computer in the hatch could communicate with the other hatches. It could be used to contact the others. Unfortunately, the hatch went boom, but it wasn't the only one on the Island.

Charlie and Hurley can't find Eko. "You know what, dudes? We looked everywhere. Eko's gone. Not that we know what a trail, like, looks like." Poor Hurley -- someone give him some decent dialogue!

Locke tells Sayid to get his stuff, because they're going to find a computer. Charlie thinks they should look for Eko, but Locke says it's OK, because he knows where Eko is going.

Eko stumbles through the jungle like a guy who was just mauled by a magic polar bear.

Flashback!

The soldiers take Eko back to Yemi's church, where he finds a picture of the two of them as kids in Yemi's bible. A clinic worker comes in with her kid looking for Yemi, and Eko lies and says he's been called away for an emergency in a refugee camp. The woman wants to know if Yemi will still be going to London next week, and Eko says he's going to take Yemi's place there too.

Eko wakes up in the jungle. There's a puff of black smoke behind him. He breaks off a branch to use as a walking stick, and a guy attacks him with a knife. Eko dodges the throw, yanks the knife out of a tree and goes to kill another man covered in blood, who is on his knees. Eko raises the knife, but before he brings it down, the man turns into young Daniel, the alter boy from Yemi's church.

Daniel tells Eko it's time to confess, and then disappears.

Locke heads to the kitchen on the beach, and says he and Sayid are going to look for a computer, and that anyone who wants to can come. Hurley's confused, because Super Jack would go alone, or he'd only take Sayid or Kate. Locke says it's a free island, and he's not Jack.

Nikki the n00b volunteers to go. Paolo thinks she's nuts. Nikki says he's always whining about wanting to be included, and now is his chance. Of course, we wouldn't know that he's always whining, because these two first appeared on camera two episodes ago!

Desmond wants to know if they're looking for the computer, or looking for Eko. Locke says both, because Eko is headed to the plane that crashed on top of the door to the Pearl hatch. Des thinks that's quite a coincidence, but Locke tells him not to confuse coincidence with fate.

Ahh, there's the old Locke -- the man with the plan, the man connected to the Island. How I've missed you.

Eko practically falls into a stream. You're not looking too sharp, buddy.

Flashback!

Eko washes his hands with holy water. Daniel tells him he's doing the service wrong, but Eko says he's washing his sins away.

There's shooting outside, and Eko goes out to see a group of thugs. The leader is one of the guys who attacked him in the jungle. They've come for the vaccines the Red Cross sends the clinic -- they take 80 percent to sell on the black market, and in return, the clinic is "protected." Eko says he's not afraid of them, and the leader pulls out a gun and shoots a random woman. He says he'll be back on Friday, and that if Eko doesn't want more lives on his conscience, he'll cooperate.

Back on the Island, Eko tends his wounds as best he can. He hears the monster sounds and sees the reflection of the black smoke monster behind him. He turns to face it, and it retreats. Across the stream, Locke emerges from the bushes.

Juliet brings Jack a cheeseburger, and they have their weekly banter about food. Get a sammich show on Food Network already! Ben cuts in and wants to talk to Jack, alone. Jack says she can stay, but Ben says it's private, and to get out. She gets out.

Ben says the Others had a great plan to break Jack, to wear him down and get him to trust them. Then they would make him think that he was *choosing* to do whatever they asked him to. This hinged on him getting "invested" in Juliet, who makes sammiches and looks a lot like Jack's ex-wife.

I, of course, think this entire little scene, cheeseburger and all, is still part of the Others plan to do just that, and I think Ben coming right out and telling Jack what they are doing is fargin' brilliant. But Jack ain't that smart, so he asks why Ben's giving the big confession.

Ben says his groovy plan got shot to shit when Jack saw the X-rays. Jack's all "Ah-ha! So you want me to save your life!" Ben says he wants Jack to *want* to save his life, but now all he can do is ask Jack to think about it.

Ben asks Jack if he believes in God. Jack asks why, and Ben says that two days after he found out he had a spinal tumor, a spinal surgeon fell out of the sky. So yeah, he's a believer.

Locke tells Eko to take a break, but he keeps going. Locke says he knows Eko is going to the plane wreckage, and asks if he's looking for Yemi. Eko gets all pissed and tells him never to say his brother's name again.

Flashback!

Eko quizzes the clinic worker about the vaccine shipments. She tells him not to get involved, and says he reminds her of Yemi, because he's a good man too.

Later, Eko, dressed in his pimp gear, meets his fence and says he has a shipment of vaccines to sell, but it has to be done quick, because he's leaving the country.

The merry band reaches the wreckage of the drug plane. Most of them go down into the Pearl, but Locke asks Eko what he saw in the stream. He says he saw "it" once, and that it was a beautiful white light. Eko says that's not what he saw.

Yemi's body isn't in the plane. Locke says it might have been burned. Eko pulls the picture of him and his brother from his pocket, and Locke gives him Yemi's cross, which he found in the jungle on the march to the cave of the magic polar bears. Locke goes into the hatch.

Flashback!

The thugs come back to the church. The leader says he knows Eko was trying to sell the vaccines, but because he's a superstitious man, he won't kill a priest. He'll just cut off Eko's hands.

Two of the thugs hold Eko down. Since he's twice their size, this is pretty much a joke. So Eko takes the leader's knife away and goes Rambo on them all. The leader ends up on his knees, begging for his life. Eko kills him anyway.

Eko walks out of the church covered in gore, which pretty much horrifies all the villagers.

Inside the Pearl, Nikki watches the orientation video while Locke and Sayid work on the computer's wiring. Sayid says no one paid the AOL bill, and they can't dial out. Nikki points out that the Pearl was an observation station, so what about all these TV monitors? Locke feels dumb. Paolo finds out the potty still works.

Sayid fiddles with the wires and they get a view of another station with a bunch of computers. Success! A scary-looking guy with an eyepatch comes into view, looks cranky and turns the camera off. Locke says Patch will be expecting them.

Juliet shows up with a movie for Jack, but Jack ain't in the mood for TV. Juliet puts the tape in the VCR anyway. She says she's sorry for what's been done to him and his friends, but that the Others were desperate.

On the TV screen, Jack sees a video of Juliet holding a card that says: "Ignore everything I'm saying."

Juliet says Ben is a great guy. On the TV, the next sign says "Ben is a liar." Duh!!!

Jack looks up at the camera that is behind Juliet.

The next sign she holds on the TV says: "And he is very dangerous." Double duh!

Juliet says that even if Jack doesn't think so, that he has a choice, because everyone has free will.

The cards on the TV say: "Some of us want a change. But it has to look like an accident. It has to look like you tried to save him. And that's up to you, Jack."

Juliet says that Jack can trust her, and that doing the surgery is the right thing to do. Because Ben is cool, yo!

On the cards: "It's a complicated surgery. No one would ever know. And I would protect you."

Juliet takes the tape and leaves.

Flashback!

Eko walks through the church with a suitcase. He tells Daniel he's going to London. Daniel asks if Eko is a bad man, because Daniel's mother says he is.

Outside, the vaccine is being unloaded. Eko talks to the clinic worker, who tells him she's not grateful, because someone will just take over where the dead thugs left off.

Other men are boarding up the church. Eko protests that it's Yemi's church, but the worker says its not sacred anymore -- killing a whole bunch of guys in front of the alter will do that. She tells him to go to London and repent, because he will have to pay for every life he has taken. Oh and by the way -- you owe Yemi a new church.

On the Island, Eko sees Yemi, and follows him out to a beautiful clearing with red flowers and the mountains in the background. Yemi asks if he's ready to confess his sins.

Eko says he's not sorry for anything he's done and doesn't need forgiveness, because he hasn't sinned. He just did the best he could with the life he had. He says a boy once asked him if he was a bad man, and he couldn't answer, but now Eko would tell the boy that as a child, he killed a man to save his brother's life. And he's proud of that.

Yemi says that Eko's talking like he's his brother. Eko looks horrified, and asks as Yemi walks away "who are you?"

Black smoke flies behind Eko. When he turns around, it's not there. When he turns back, the smoke monster is in front of him. He starts reciting the 23rd Psalm.

The smoke monster picks him up and beats him silly, banging Eko off the ground and a couple of trees. Inside the Pearl, the crew hears the commotion and hurries above ground.

Locke gets to Eko first. Eko whispers a few words to Locke, remembers being happy with his brother as a child, and then dies.

Sayid asks what Eko said. Locke says he said "we're next."

And damn you, "Lost!!!" Why did we have an entire "rescue Eko" episode, if he was just going to die two episodes later? Why did we spend almost all of last season on the Tailies, since the vast majority of them are now dead!!!!

I swear if I ever meet the guy responsible for "Lost," I'm gonna kick him in the shin.