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Date Posted: 06:27:28 01/12/06 Thu
Author: Rufus
Subject: A Penitent Heart spoilers for Lost 2.10 "The 23rd Psalm"

I think tonight has my favorite character backstory yet. After waiting since November, we got to see more about the quiet Mr. Eko. Things are never as they seem and we can only guess from what we see on the surface, and what they do while we have known them, about the true character of a person. Mr. Eko spent many days silent. He killed two others and stopped talking and started carving. Tonight we started with the clip of Sayid telling Charlie about the drug plane. Tonight we got to see the journey of two men to the truth of the plane we saw first last season.

We start with a first flashback.

We are in Africa, in a small villiage were Children are playing soccer as a vehicle full of soldier types pulls up and begins to try to take some children.

Priest: Stop! Don't take anymore of the children.

Man: Get the little one. Yes! The little one.

A man puts a gun in the hands of a small boy and commands him to kill or be killed. The child cannot shoot the innocent old man who was pushed before him. A larger child wearing a cross runs forward and takes the gun from the smaller child and shoots the old man.

Man: What's your name boy? What's your name boy!

Boy: (small voice) Eko.

Man: Look at Mr. Eko. No hesitation, A born killer! Come!

He leads Eko away, first taking the cross from his neck and tossing it to the ground.

Man: You won't need that anymore.


The flashback ends with the small boy taking the fallen cross and putting it around his neck. Eko has saved a life and lost his way as the price.

Present time

Claire approaches as Eko is carving his stick.

Claire: What are you writing?

Eko: Things I need to remember.

Claire: So, you're Eko, huh?

Eko: Yes.

Claire: Claire, and this is Aaron.

Eko: Aaron, the brother of Moses.

Claire: Yeah, that must have been tough to live up to right? Pressure of everyone saying - why can't you be more like your brother Moses.

Eko: Yes. I'm sure it was, why did you choose it? Aaron?

Claire: I just liked it.

Eko: Aaron was a great man. Moses had great difficulty speaking. So, it was Aaron who spoke for him.

2nd Flashback:

A car pulls up to a shack and two men get out, then a third. The third man is large wearing a long leather vest. We finally see the face of the grown up Eko. Inside Eko speaks to some men who have arrived with a problem.

Eko: Where did you find this?

Man: What does it matter?

Eko inspects the package and brings out a large knife to cut and draw out some product to sample.

Eko: Fifty.

Man: Fifty what?

Eko: Fifty is what I will pay you in exchange for the favor you are asking me to do.

Man: A favor?

Eko: You have a large quantity of heroin in a country that has no poppies, and no market for its sale. Your drugs are of no value here so you must get them out. The borders are all guarded by the military. So you must fly. But as I am sure you are aware, the only private planes currently allowed into the air are either UN aid or the Catholic missionaries. And so you have come to me for a favor. I will buy your heroin...for fifty.

The men consult each other in Arabic.

Man: It is true what they say about you.

Eko: And what is that?

Man: You have no soul

Eko chuckles then lashes out with his blade, slicing the man in the throat. His men aim their guns at another man that is left alive.

Eko: No, go. Go. And tell your friends I let you live. That Mr. Eko let you live.

We can see that Eko has become the worst of his kind. The kind that take boys from their families and make them into killing machines to fight battles that make no sense. The book I thought of was "Beasts of No Nation" by Uzodinma Iweala.

Amazon.com review
"I am not bad boy. I am not bad boy. I am soldier and soldier is not bad if he is killing." Set in an unnamed West African country, Iweala's first novel shows civil war from a child's viewpoint. After his mother and sister escape and his father is killed, the traumatized young narrator is discovered by guerrilla fighters. Frightened and alone, he joins the men, becoming a soldier in an impoverished army of terror headed by a charismatic and treacherous leader who tells his young followers that killing "is like falling in love. You cannot be thinking about it." Writing in the boy's West African English, Iweala distills his story to the most urgent and visceral atrocities, and the scenes of bloodshed and rape are made more excruciating by the lyrical, rhythmic language. In the narrator's memories of village life, biblical stories, and creation myths, Iweala explores the mutable separation between human and beast and a child's struggle to rediscover his own humanity after war: "I am some sort of beast or devil," the boy says, "But I am also having mother once, and she is loving me." Readers will come away feeling shattered by this haunting, original story. Gillian Engberg
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Eko doesn't exactly mirror the characters life but circumstances are similar in a world where children are forced into a war they never started. Eko is on the island and we are not quite sure what his connection to the plane it. Once he finds out about the statue he forces Charlie to take him to where he found it. Could this be only about drugs?

Eko: You found it here?
Charlie: Yeah, found it her.
Eko: You're lying.
Charlie: Know what? I don't even know you. You asked to see where I found it. This is where I found it. We're done, have a nice hike.
Eko forces Charlie against a tree.
Eko: You did not find the statue here. Take me to the plane.

Charlie is now onto the fact that Eko knows more about the statues than he first thought. Being Charlie, he has to ask, and prod, and be a pain in the ass. Lucky for him, Eko only had that stick. In a 3rd flashback, we see Eko coming up to a church.

A lady, propped up by a crutch, is selling Virgin Mary statues for the church.

Woman: Sir! Sir! If you buy a statue, the money will buy polio vaccine for the villiage.

A man calls out to Eko: What are you doing here? (we see a young priest)

Eko: I have come to give my confession.

The Priest laughs.

Priest: Hello Eko.

Eko smiles: Hello brother. So, I've come to visit you for the first time in three years and you won't hear my confession. You know Monsignor would have said he failed to raise a proper Catholic boy.
Priest: Well, why waste your time confessing. It won't help you.
Eko: It won't.
Priest: No, for confession to mean something, you must have a penitent heart.
Eko: You and your guilt, Yemi. I've only done what I needed to do to survive, how is that a sin?
Yemi: You may live far from here, but that doesn't mean I haven't heard of who you are, and what you have done.
Eko reaches to touch his cross, now around his brother's neck.
Eko: Have you forgotten how you got that cross, brother? The day they took me, is what I did a sin? Or is it forgiven because it was you that was saved?
Yemi: Why are you here Eko?
Eko: I have come to help you. I have some merchandise that I need to get out of the country. I would like to use one of your church relief flights to transport it.
Yemi: 'Merchandise' you mean drugs.
Eko: It is not my normal business Yemi. We are moving the drugs out of Nigeria so they cannot be used by our people. And the money you have all the money to buy your vaccine. God has given us this opportunity. We should not turn our back on it.
Yemi: God did not bring you here Eko, your own greed did. Now I will always love you but I will not help you. It's good to see you again brother.
Yemi walks out on Eko.

Eko and his brother, and Charlie and his. Brothers. Family relationships can run the spectrum from happy to murderous, all in one afternoon. That comment Claire made about Aaron and Moses somehow seems to fit into what has happened. Two sets of brothers. Two brothers have a happy life and somehow it's the involvment with their brothers that send them in that right direction. But there is resentment and guilt in all. Guilt for the brothers who are happy in their lives, and resentment from the brothers who gave something up. Eko became a "warlord" and Charlie and addict. Both in some ways blame their brothers. The brothers who are happy have their own resentment over the guilt they feel. At the same time all the parties love each other and I doubt would change much of what they have done for the benefit of the other.
Charlie: I'm not what you think I am.
Eko: And what do I think you are?
Charlie: It was my brothers fault!
Eko: Sorry?

Charlie: It was his fault I became an addict. He started with the heroin. I tried to make him stop. You don't know me man. I was a good person. I was an alter boy. All right, I knew what was in that statue, doesn't mean I needed what was inside it. So, don't judge me man.
Eko looks beyond Charlie.
Charlie: What?
Eko can see something in a tree.
Charlie: What's that? It's a parachute.
Eko finds a body of a priest. He checks the priests shirt but then can see by the teeth, the gold tooth, that we have got the wrong person. This is not what he is looking for.
Charlie: You know that guy?
Eko: Yes, this man saved my life.
Charlie: Saved your life, huh? Sure, that makes sense. He takes off in a plane in Nigeria. We're out in the middle of the South Pacific, that makes all the sense in the world.
Eko simply continues to pray. Charlie then picks up the carved stick.
Charlie: This is scripture written here. You're a priest, you're a priest, right? He's a priest and you're a priest too - right.

Charlie is doing the talking and Eko the remembering. This brings us to the 4th flashback:

Eko bursts into the church with his men, he means to get what he wants and if that takes force, so be it. He flips open the curtin of the confessional booth.
Eko: I need to talk to you.
Yami: I'm in the middle of a confession.
Eko: It cannot wait.
Yami shows the congregation out telling them to return tomorrow.
Eko: Have you reconsidered?
Yemi: What?
Eko: My request.
Yemi: Flying drugs under the cover of the Church. How is that something I could ever reconsider? (to the other men in the church) Look, hey, don't touch those!
Eko: I'm going to make this easy for you. You will make us priests and we will fly the drugs out ourselves.
Yemi: Make you priests?
Eko: Just sign these ordination documents, and I will give you the money for the vaccine.
Yemi: Leave this church now Eko...go now!!
Eko: Yemi, I understand that you live in a world where righteousness and evil seem very far apart. But that is not the real world. I am your brother and I would never do anything to hurt you. But my friends, if you do not do what I ask, they will burn this church to the ground.
One of Eko's men goes to light a candle to punctuate Eko's point.

Eko: Is that worth less than the price of your name on a piece of paper? Think of the lives you will save.
Yemi signs the paper.
Yemi: My signature does not make you a priest Eko. You could never be a priest.
Eko: How many of the statues dow you have left? The Virgin Mary statues, how many?
Yemi: 300
Eko: I will take all of them. (Eko places a stack of money by his brother) I guess we are both sinners now.
Yemi: Perhaps we are. But god will forgive me Eko.


Eko may think he is right about the real world, but he is no different than any other person trying to cover up a bad deed with a donation to the church. Eko, if he didn't want his people doing drugs, could simply have destroyed them. Yemi is right, he's greedy. He's been around evil men for too long. What he once was is symbolized by the cross his brother wears. No one is a born killer. No one starts with murder in their hearts. But choices they make in their lives can point them in that direction. As Charlie and Eko continue, Charlie has to wonder what the heck kind of priest Eko is. They stop and Eko insists Charlie climb a tree. That is when the black smoke appears. It hovers in front of Eko, and as they seem to inspect each other, the smoke turns away.

Eko: Did you see it?
Charlie: Yeah I saw it. What the bloody hell did you do?
Eko: I did nothing.
Charlie: Most people, when they see a creature made of swirling black smoke, they run.
Eko: I was not afraid of it.
Charlie: I can see that. That thing kills people.
Eko (no longer interested in the smoke): Did you see the plane?
Charlie directs Eko to the plane. Eko gets ready to enter the plane and we go to a final flashback.
On an airstrip we see Eko and his men dressed as priests. They are loading the plane with the statues. One of the men can see a vehicle approach and warns Eko.
It's Yemi.
Eko: What are you doing here Yemi?
Yemi: I came to stop you.
Eko: Go back to your church.
Yemi: Do not ge on that plane, Eko. You saved my life once, now I'm here to save yours.
Eko: Save my life?
Yemi: Look, you get on that plane, you do this.
Eko: If I do what Yemi, are you a prophet now?
Yemi: Please Eko, let me take your confession. Anything I can do I will do. But, please, don't go.

The military arrive.
Eko's man: He told the military.
Eko: You did this?
Yemi: I did not tell them who was involved. Just leave the drugs and come back with me.
Eko's men start a gunfight. One of the men gets shot and Yemi runs out trying to stop the fight.
Yemi: No! Stop! No more!
Yemi is shot.
Eko: Yemi! Yemi! Yemi! No no no!!!
Eko gets the men to help him get Yemmi on the plane.
The military continues to shoot. As Eko prepares to board the plane, the man with the gold tooth is at the door. He looks at Eko and kicks him off the plane onto the pavement. Eko watches while the plane lifts off with his brother. On the ground Eko is confronted by a concerned soldier
Soldier: Father. Are you okay, Father?

A penitent heart. A heart that understands what the person has done and wants to atone for it. Yemi had rejected his brothers confession because he knew that Eko felt no guilt. In the end he hoped that if he started with listening to his brother, he could finally change the future for Eko. And that guy with the gold tooth did save Eko, not intentionally.
In the plane we see Eko, the Virgin Mary statues, then a body. Eko checks the shirt of this final priest and we see the cross from the begining. It is Yemi. Eko begins to sob and holds his brother close.
Charlie: Eko? Who's that?
Eko: He is my brother.
Eko pulls down a fuel line and covers his brother and the interior of the plane with gas. He gives Charlie a statue.
Eko: For the one I broke.
Charlie: So, are you a priest or aren't you?
Eko slowly places Yemi's, his own, cross over his head.
Eko: Yes, I am.

Eko begins to pray.

Eko: The lord is my Shepherd. I shall not want. He maketh me to lie down in green pastures. He leadeth me beside the still waters. He restoreth my soul. He leadeth me in paths of righteousness for his names sake. Yea though I walk throught the shadow of the Valley of Death (Charlie joins in) I will fear no evil, for thou art with me. Thy rod and thy staff, they comfort me.
We now see the integration of the two sections of the plane as Eko continues.
Thou preparest a table before me. In the presence of thine enemies. (Jin and Sun walk up to Ana-Lucia and bring her a gift of food)
Thou annointest my head with oil. (Jin formally introduces his wife to Ana) My cup runneth over. (Ana shakes hands with Sun) Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life. And I will dwell in the house of the Lord--forever. Amen
Libby is trying to build a shelter and it's a two person job. The tarp falls. Hurley runs up and helps her.

At the beginning, Eko told Claire that he carved into the stick things he needed to remember. I have to ask when this process of becoming a priest for real started, on the airstrip in Africa, or after he killed the Others? One thing, I don't think he cared about those statues anymore. He was searching for his brother. As I said before, people don't start life bad. We all make choices to be who we are. For Eko, it was a bit harder. He was a child taught to kill. He was trying to survive. But once and adult he was lost, and it was his brothers actions that finally saved him. The words on that stick, did they come from memory? If so, that was always a part of the man. Yemi told Eko he could never be a priest, but I think he changed his mind or he would never have tried to stop his brother. Each person on that island has a story, started out just like Aaron. In a way Locke is right, this is a second chance.

Then we have Charlie. He has an uncertain future. Claire kicked him out of her life. As the episode ends we see him with a torch, go to a place and reveal a stash of statues.

I didn't say much about the other things that happened tonight but had a few observations:
Sawyer seemed horrified that just like Kate said so, everyone loved him now.
Is that Walt at the other end of that computer? Did Michael get some directions to where Walt could be?
Did I hear right on the teaser for next week where a whisper says "This is our Island"?

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