The Tail Section

The episode kicks off with a flashback to a dusty village where a group of children are interrupted by a carload of armed guerilla types. They bring out an old man from a church and select a child at random, placing a gun in his hand and ordering him to shoot the old man. The kid freezes and another kid, possibly his brother, steps forward, grabs the gun, and executes the old man. Turns out, yeah you guessed it, this kid is Mr. Eko. The baddies, in so many words, draft young Eko and he leaves locking eyes with the young boy he ’saved’.

Great start to an episode that just keeps getting better. Already, we have a conflicted moral background for Eko. It is clear he did what he did to protect the child, not because he was the ‘cold blooded killer’ the thugs identified him as. None-the-less he goes on to become just that. Remember the mysterious heroin on the Beechcraft? It gets it’s own flashback here as well, in a scene that surely punctuates Mr. Eko’s status as island bad-ass.

But before that, back on the island Mr. Eko learns of Charlie’s prized possession from Claire who is stunned by the secret that it holds. She is all too aware of Charlie’s troubled past and the implications of his knick knack. Eko, however, does not give Charlie much time to explain as he demands an incredulous charlie take him to where he found the statue.

In flash-back we see how Eko made a deal to export some heroin out of Nigeria. When the dealer got a little too mouthy Eko whipped out his rather large knife and killed the guy and his bodyguard in one brutal stroke, sparing their young charge and sending him out to tell the tale.

Locke begins to teach Michael the finer points of marksmenship, while stressing to him that going after the others is not such a great idea.

As Eko and Charlie make their way through the jungle we get a flashback to Eko’s meeting with his brother who had become a Catholic priest. He does not approve of Eko’s path in life, but Eko is quick to remind him that he saved his life. He asks his brother to assist in smuggeling the heroin out of the country in exchange for the funds needed to purchase the much need polio vaccine for the village.

Back in present time the willow-the-wisp monster makes a fly-by, no doubt a harbinger! Eko and Charlie come upon the remains of what we presume to be Eko’s brother. In flashback we see how Eko’s brother was being strong armed into denoting Eko as a priest so he could smuggle the heroin out of the Nigeria. It is clear that Eko is an indimidating and respected force, but his brother does not bend easily. He finally does sign the paper making Eko a priest.

Back in the jungle, Charlie climbs a tree to get the lay of the land and a long LOST character makes a rather noisy reapperance: yes folks, THE MONSTER IS BACK.

This is a great scene because Eko does not back down at all from the monster. It goes smoke to face with him. Interestingly enough, during this scene the camera pans inside the smoke. While we are inside the smoke, we see flashes from Eko’s past, as if it is reading his mind, or perhaps showing Eko things. Either way, after a few moments of download the smoke retreats into the forest without touching a hair on his head.

Is the monster the device by which the "good" are separated from the "bad"? If so, does this mean that Eko is not worthy? But Locke was? (Remember in the season one finale the smoke tried to drag Locke underground.) Too soon to tell, for sure. But interestingly enough, Matthew Fox said in a recent interview that it would be necessary in the larger plot for some characters we have come to know and love to go away for a while.

Back at the Hatch, Michael waits anxiously for Walt to make contact. And he does. He says he is okay, and asks if Michael is alone. He cannot talk long, they are coming soon. Jack interrupts before we can see the last sentence finish but it starts out "You need to come…". By the time we see the screen again, it is empty.

More flashback, Eko’s brother shows up at the runway and trys to persuade Eko to leave. Soon the military shows up, Eko’s brother has ratted him out. Eko’s brother is wounded and one of Eko’s henchmen drags him onto the plane and kicks Eko out. Eko is left to face the military alone!

In island realtime, Eko finds his brothers corpse in the Beechcraft. In flashback we see that when the military got to Eko, they mistook him as the real priest.

Eko and Charlie torch the Beechcraft and the cargo as Eko as recites the 23rd psalm. There are a few glimspes of beach life as Jin introduces Sun to Ana, and Hurley helps out Libby’s tent building efforts.

When they arrive back, Claire is in the process of kicking Charlie out of their camp. She no longer trusts him around the baby. The big reveal for charlie at the end of the episode is that he had a lot more than that one statue, more like half a dozen.