Kick It's ass!
This week's episode of LOST was probably one of the best one's I've seen all season. Yeah yeah, they didn't do much with the island folks, but Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje pulled off one of the best performances I've seen on a network show in a long time. If he doesn't get nominated for something for this show I'm gonna have some sort of protest or something. His background, inner turmoil, and basic evolution into the person he is on the island was just amazing. He rivals Jack Bauer with the whole, "Who do I want to be with when bad sh*t goes down".
The show starts out in a small African town. Boys are playing in the street when a truck full of gun toting men show up. They gather the children together and the leader pulls an older man from the town out of the group. He makes him get on his knees. Two children are huddled together, the larger one protecting the smaller one. The gunman pulls the smaller child away and hands him a gun, instructing him to shoot the man. He can't do it, and so he doesn't have to, because the larger one grabs the gun and shoots the man instead. The gunmen are impressed and take the larger child with them, but not before giving him a name, Mr. Eko. He sees the gold cross around Eko's neck and snatches it off, throwing it on the ground. They put Eko into their truck and drive away, as the smaller boy, his brother, Yemi, looks on. Yemi picks up the gold cross.
Uh oh, Charlie's in trouble
On the island Claire sits down with Eko and they chat. He asks her why she chose the name Aaron for her son. She says she just likes the name, but Eko points out that Aaron was Moses' brother in the Bible, and that Moses wasn't good at speaking, so Aaron would speak for him. She comments to him about the scripture on his walking stick and mentions Charlie's Virgin Mary statue. This registers with Eko and he demands to see the statue. Claire brings him to it and he smashes it open and reveals the heroine inside. Claire is surprised to see it. Eko finds Charlie on the shore fishing with Jin and demands he take him into the jungle to the place he found the statue. Charlie tries to weasle his way out of it but Eko demands they go immediately. Charlie approaches Claire who is obviously upset at the drugs. Charlie swears he's not doing them, and that he didn't even know they were in there (which we know is a lie).
Flashback to Eko as an adult. He's got some badass braids in his hair as he visits some kind of drug lord, still in Nigeria. They talk about the drugs and how the drug lord needs to move the drugs, but can't logistically get them out of the country, due to the military presence at the boarders. He says that he only way they can fly out by private plane is if it's UN aid workers, or the church. He offers the man money to buy the drugs off of him and says he'll handle getting them out of the country. The man is hesitant, so Eko kills him and his companion with one fell swoop of his machete. There's a boy in the room, probably about the same age Eko was when they took him from the village. Eko's friends point a gun at him, but Eko stops them from shooting him. He tells the boy to tell everyone that Eko spared his life.
Meanwhile, Locke is changing the lock (har har) on the armory in the hatch. He tells Michael that since people are coming in and out of the hatch he's concerned about someone getting their hands on the guns. He assumes that's what Michael's there for. Later he takes Michael out to practice some shooting with a rifle. He's pretty good too.
Shirtless!
Kate is giving Sawyer a haircut. He needs it that's for sure. She tells him that everyone is glad that he's okay, and that they all now like him. He doesn’t believe her until Hurley comes up and says he's glad he's feeling better. Sawyer calls him Pilsbury, you know, after the Doughboy. He's so clever with his nicknames. (The best is calling Jin "Chewy". You know like Chewbacca, cause you can't understand what he's saying. Get it? Get it?!) Michael also approaches him, wanting to take Kate's shift pushing the button in the hatch. She agrees to it and he tells Sawyer he's happy he's okay. I'm just glad Sawyer's not wearing a shirt. Michael goes into hatch duty and immediately goes to the computer. Remember last time he was at the computer he started IMing who he believes is Walt. He types on the computer and "Walt" comes on. They chat for a minute and right as "Walt" is gonna say where he is, Jack walks in. We don't know whether or not Michael saw his location, but he chats with Jack a bit. Jack says that everyone is sorry for what happened, and that they haven't forgotten about Walt. He tells him that when the time is right they'll go out to look for him. Michael nods and as Jack comes around to the computer the screen is blank. Jack leaves.
Charlie and Eko are still walking through the jungle when Charlie points out a spot next to a tree where he says he found the statue. Eko throws him against the tree and says to take him to the plane. At some point Eko sees that mysterious black smoke in the trees which quickly dissipates. And how does Eko know it's a plane you may ask...
Back in Nigeria Eko is in front of a church. A woman is selling Virgin Mary statues, much like the ones we saw on the island. She says that the profits will help buy medicine for the village. The priest walks out and says hi to Eko. We realize that this is the younger boy, his brother, Yemi. Eko tells Yemi that he needs to put something on one of the church's aid planes. Yemi's no dummy and figures out that it's drugs. He refuses. Eko points to the gold cross around his neck, referring to the day he saved his life.
Tasty
In the jungle Charlie and Eko come across a parachute and on the ground is a decomposed man, dressed like a priest. Eko pulls open his shirt, looking for the cross presumably, not finding it. He then looks in his mouth and sees a gold tooth. Charlie realizes that Eko knows him. Eko says that this man saved his life. Eko prays over his friend's body. Later, Charlie says he's lost. Eko tells him to get up in the tree and see whether or not he can see the plane. Charlie gets up into the tree just as they hear a loud BOOM. This is the invisible monster that's blowing up the ground, moving towards Eko. Charlie tells him to run, but Eko stands his ground. The smoke comes right up to his face, and they have a showdown of sorts. The smoke flashes while it hangs there, and if you pause, rewind, and stand with your nose close to the television you'll see flashes of images. Looked to be images from Eko's life. The smoke backs down and disappears. Charlie hops down from the tree and is amazed. At some point Charlie puts two and two together and realizes between the whole praying thing and the walking stick with scripture on it, that Eko is a priest.
Back in Nigeria Eko and two of his men storm into the church where Yemi is and interrupt him as he's taking confession. He ushers the women out and Eko asks him if he's reconsidered. He says no, he hasn't, and that they won't use the plane to transport drugs. Eko says he has a solution, if Yemi signs the papers he's holding, he can make the three of them priests, that way allowing them to fly. Yemi won't do it and Eko says that he will not hurt him, but the men he's with will certainly burn the church down. Eko gives Yemi money for the 300 or so Virgin Mary statues and Yemi signs the papers. He tells him that this does not make him a priest. Eko and the men storm out.
Finally, since Charlie spotted the plane while he was in the tree, they make it to the plane. Eko remembers loading that exact plane in Nigeria. He's dressed as a priest with his two friends. Yemi pulls up to them and quickly tells Eko to get into the car with him because they have to leave. Eko refuses and before we know it, a truck full of military men comes storming up. The men accuse Yemi of turning them in and he says that he did, but he didn't give them their names. He begs Eko to go with him. Unfortunately, Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dumb have other plans. They whip out their guns and start shooting. The military shoot one of Eko's friends. Yemi jumps in front of them and yells for them not to shoot. Of course, they shoot, and Yemi is hit. Eko is truly beside himself. The only thing he can think to do is load Yemi into the plane. He does, and is about to get on when the man with the gold tooth pushes him out of the plane closing the door (saving his life). Eko watches as the drugs and his wounded brother fly away. The military come up to Eko and assume he's a priest. Eko doesn't correct him.
Eko discovering his brother
Eko goes into the cabin of the plane and finds a body. He opens the shirt and there hangs the gold cross. He cries over the body of his brother. Eventually, Charlie comes in and asks him who it was, he admits that it was his brother. He rips out the fuel line and burns the plane down. Eko picks up another Virgin Mary statue and hands it to Charlie saying that it's for the one he broke. They watch the burning plane and Eko puts on the gold cross.
Charlie and his stash
The two of them make it back to the camp where everything seems to be running smoothly. Jack approaches Sawyer and Kate, giving Sawyer his dose of medicine. Libby is trying to put up a shelter but it keeps falling. Hurley hurries over and helps her out. Looked like a bit of a love connection there. I love Hurley. We finally get a glimpse at Ana-Lucia, by herself. Jin and Sun approach her and give her a fish. Claire, on the other hand, isn't as forgiving. She's basically kicked Charlie out of her love nest. She says she doesn't want him around Aaron. He admits to her that he lied about knowing what's inside, but that he's not using. She doesn't believe him. And she might have reason to doubt because we see him later at a hiding place he's created in between some rocks. He removes a bunch of leaves and inside the nook are about 6 or so Virgin Mary statues. Somethin' tells me he's not planning to sell them for medicine for the village.
