"Lost" Diary: The Cost of Living

Ok, I'm fine now. Anyway, we only have one more new episode after tonight, so let's gobble up all the island goodness we can. As always, I watch Lost with a group of friends, and I write down what I see. This week I am joined by Ari, Lauren and April. On with the show ...

9:01 -- Eko flashback time. Seems that the themes of tonight's episode will be confession and sin -- and boy does Eko have his fair share of that.

9:03 -- And Eko's brother's ghost just confirms that. This has to be the only show on TV where getting killed off doesn't mean you're out of the show, except for All My Children.

9:05 -- Lauren has already proclaimed, "I don't know if I'm going to like this episode." That's the attitude. And a delusional Eko has just run off into the jungle. I'm sure he'll be fine.

9:09 -- Jack has decided to use his captivity time to get in shape. Henry Gale, on other hand, is now dressing like a cult leader -- oh wait, that kinda makes sense. And, oh by the way, the fact that Jack is asking Henry about the tumor just confirms my theory that the x-rays we saw last week belong to Locke. Or, at the least, Henry doesn't know he has a tumor.

9:10 -- Colleen funeral time. The whole "everyone dressed in white thing" isn't creepy at all. By the way, if Juliet walked into this room right now, Lauren would stab her in the neck with a pen. I wonder if she stirs up those feelings in every female viewer.

9:12 -- "Why did you show him my X-rays?" -- Henry Gale. Well, there goes my cool new X-ray theory. Man, I was feeling kinda smart there for awhile.

9:13 -- Locke, Sayid and Desmond are discussing strategy. Charlie said that Eko just kept saying "my brother" over and over again -- did it occur to anyone he could just be doing an impression of Desmond? And if I were missing, I wouldn't want Charlie and Hurley to be the search party looking for me.

9:14 -- Eko is adjusting to life as a priest. If he's in his brother's church, shouldn't someone in the village recognize him, considering he grew up there?

9:16 -- Guess what's is back? That's right, it's creepy black smoke time.

9:20 -- Locke has invited people to join his crew headed to the Pearl and the new guys are going to come along. These two do not fit in AT ALL. I am trying to be open-minded, but they stand out like a sore thumb -- I can't put my finger on why.

9:22 -- All of Eko's flashbacks today are leading up to him confessing his sins. If the island itself had a theme, it would be redemption and second chances. Will Eko get his?

9:24 -- So is the black smoke afraid of Eko? He stood up to it twice, and both times the smoke took off.

9:29 -- Ok, everytime we get an extended scene between Henry Gale and Jack, I get a little giddy. Some people complain about this season, but one thing that hasn't been lacking AT ALL is the writing. Instead of summing up this exchange, I am just going to give you three Henry Gale quotes that I immediately had to write down:

"We had such a wonderful plan to break you Jack."
"I want you to want to save my life."
"Two days after I found out I had a fatal tumor on my spine, a spinal surgeon fell out of the sky."

It's now official: There is no better character on TV right now.

9:34 -- My favorite thing about Eko flashbacks: the accents. If a book on tape were read by Eko, I would definitely buy it.

9:37 -- Eko's brother's body has disappeared. Of course it has.

9:42 -- I am not a religious man, but I think slaughtering people in a church is probably the kind of thing you need to go to confession for.

9:44 -- Hey, new girl has a theory about the monitors! OK, now the sound of her voice is starting to irk me. Everyone else on the island, and maybe I'm crazy here, actually SOUNDS like they have been on the island for 70 days. The new guys sound like they just walked out of their trailer. And yes, I noticed the guy with the eye patch -- I just have no idea what to make of him.

9:46 -- I was literally typing in "Juliet's apology is bullshit" when she started to play her version of the INXS video "Mediate" (Sorry for the random reference). OK, I'll get into Juliet more later, but I don't believe A WORD that comes out of her mouth... or anything she writes cue cards. Great scene though.

9:53 -- Eko's actions haven't gone over well in the village. But now we know why Eko built a church on the island -- he "owed" his brother one.

9:55 -- Eko's confession didn't go over well with his brother's ghost -- and yes, I feel silly typing sentences like that but with this show, you get used to it. Oh and again, Eko's confession: incredibly well-written. I forgive Eko, even if his brother's ghost doesn't...

9:57 -- ...which it sure doesn't look like he did. Whatever ABC paid for the black smoke special effects, they got gypped.

9:59 -- RIP Mr. Eko.

10:00 -- "He said, 'We're next.'" -- Locke.

Mildly reeling here, but time to figure out what we learned...

The new people suck... when the ghost of your brother asks you to confess, maybe you should... If the actors who play Michael and Walt got paid for the first five episodes, everyone should hire their agents.

Alright, we have two things to talk about here: Eko's death and Juliet's attempts to get Jack to kill Henry. Let's start with Eko -- I think we all saw this coming (man I hate ABC commercials). Here's the reason why I can totally understand Eko's death: he asked for it. As I said before, the theme of the island is redemption. When Eko's brother (aka the island) gave Eko the chance to confess his sins, and he turned them down, he basically gave the island the finger. So the island killed him. In the universe of "Lost," I totally get that.

There was actually debate in the room after the Juliet and Jack scene about whether or not Juliet is evil. For me, it's a no-brainer. I have said all along that I believe Henry Gale when he says he's the good guy. He's the guy with all the answers, so I believe every word he says. Juliet, on the other hand, as Sawyer was able to decipher in about two seconds, is not to be trusted. I don't even want to entertain the notion of Henry Gale getting killed. I think I would wear all black to work the next day.

This episode violated a few major rules for me (no revelations and bad flashbacks being the main offenders) but I absolutely loved it nonetheless. I give it a B+.

Here's my question of the week: Imagine you're Jack and you can kill either Henry Gale or Juliet, whom do you choose? You know my answer.