Episode 3.5, "The Cost of Living"
Original Airdate: November 1st, 2006

One of the early leading theories about the story behind Lost--the big answer to the big question that has haunted viewers and writers alike since the show's debut--was that the castaways were actually dead, and this island was some form of limbo or purgatory, where they had to atone for past sins before moving on to...heaven, I guess? Care-A-Lot? Eternia?

Who knows. Not the greatest of theories, and it was quickly shot down by the writers. But it resonates in the sense that these ARE damaged souls, these random folks brought together on this inexplicable island by the crash of Oceanic Flight 815.

Each character has some dark secret in their past, some sin or sins that hang heavy upon their souls. Jack was a terrible son and an even worse husband. Kate was a criminal on the run from the law, and a murderess. Sawyer bilked gullible saps out of their money and their dignity with his con jobs.

And worst among them must be Mr. Eko, the last remaining "Tailie" in our main cast, a stoic and pained mountain of a man who committed any number of unspeakable criminal atrocities as a hardcore crime lord in his native Africa--only to return to his village and impersonate a priest after being directly responsible for the death of his brother.

Not only did the dear departed Eko have the most terrible past of any castaway on the island, he also suffered the most for his sins. This was a haunted man, truly troubled on a daily basis by the atrocities he had committed. Yet there was a thin undercurrent of hope beneath his atonement, as though he really believed if he finished that wacky church he was building and prayed enough prayers and saved enough souls, he could make up for the terrible things he'd done.

We now know that he couldn't make up for those crimes; the island would not let him. The big black cloud of smoke came along and killed him. Which was brutal, and sad, and unnerving, all at once.

Which is EXACTLY what I want from Lost.

This is by far the best episode of season three so far, and one that hearkens back to the classic episodes of season one, installments like "Walkabout," where the twists and turns and impact of these characters' pasts came fully to bear on their behavior on the island. The inevitability of the cold, hard hand of fate--the force of nature that insures that Eko cannot escape his past, no matter how hard he tries--weighs heavy on every minute of this episode, the flashbacks AND the island material.

My mind just keeps reaching back to a brief moment in the episode, something that you may even have missed, and an image I had to confirm by rewinding my DVR and rewatching the scene a second time. It's a relatively throwaway shot, where Eko is staggering through the jungle, but for a brief second, we see the black smoke form behind Eko, and then evaporate. The viewer barely notices and Eko doesn't see it, but those who catch it realize the truth--that Eko is running from the evil he has done and the evil he is capable of doing, and he CANNOT ESCAPE IT.

Lost is consistently one of the best-directed shows on television, a series where the individual style of the director is allowed to flourish, unlike other shows where personal style is subsumed inside the visual and editing style of the series as a whole. With last night's installment, director Jack Bender delivered a tour de force of television directing, supported fully by the instincts of Lost's editing staff. Those sequences of Eko stumbling through the jungle, in anguish and in pain, are some of the most affecting moments in the show's history.

What's amazing to me, too, is that the WHY of the black smoke monster becomes completely uninteresting once you realize it's acting as this unstoppable force of vengeance on the island. Who built it? How did they build it? Does it answer to someone someplace?

Who cares?! It's cool and it's relentless. End of story.

In other words, give us better story, deeper characters, and compelling conflict, and we won't CARE about these endless unanswered questions.

And if I could tattoo that on Damon Lindelof's forehead, maybe this show would be just this awesome every week.

iTunes Links:

Lost Series
Lost Season 3
"The Cost of Living" (Not yet posted on iTunes)