The Cost of Living (Lost)
Encyclopedia
"The Cost of Living" is the 5th episode of the third season of Lost
, and the 54th episode overall. It aired on November 1, 2006 in the US and on December 17, 2006 in the UK. The episode was written by Monica Breen
and Alison Schapker
and directed by Jack Bender
. The character of Mr. Eko
(Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje
) is featured in the episode's flashbacks.
, Eko is driven back to the village and enters the church. Inside, Eko meets the altar boy Daniel and his mother Amina, who works at the clinic. Eko says that he will be taking Yemi's place at the church. When Amina also inquires about Yemi's upcoming trip to London, a surprised Eko states that he would take Yemi's place there, too.
Some time later, after Eko has become established in his new role as priest, he is confronted by militiamen, who as Amina reveals, had a deal with Yemi to get 80% of the clinic's vaccines. Eko soon develops a plan to sell the vaccine on the black market before he leaves the country that coming weekend.
As the militiamen learn of Eko's deal, they attack him inside the church, but end up getting killed by Eko. The villagers respond by closing the church as they felt it was desecrated
. Amina calls out Eko, saying she had been aware of the vaccine deal, and advises him to repent and make his peace with God, telling Eko that he "owes" Yemi one church.
(Dominic Monaghan
) and Hugo "Hurley" Reyes (Jorge Garcia
). As John Locke
(Terry O'Quinn
) arrives to ask what happened, Eko has vanished.
The next morning, Locke suggests Desmond Hume
(Henry Ian Cusick
) to visit the Pearl station. Joined by Charlie, Sayid, Nikki and Paulo
(Kiele Sanchez
and Rodrigo Santoro
), the group finds Eko on their way to the Pearl. Upon arrival, Eko does not find Yemi's body on the airplane atop the entrance, and decides to remain outside while Locke and the others climb into the hatch. Inside the hatch, Sayid tinkers first with the communication lines, and following a suggestion from Nikki, the monitors. Then one of the screens gets a live video feed of what appears to be another hatch, revealing a man with an eyepatch (Andrew Divoff
) who then turns off the camera.
Meanwhile, outside the Pearl, Eko sees Yemi and follows him into an opening in the jungle, where Yemi tells it is time for Eko to confess his sins. Eko says he has not sinned, having not chosen the life he was given and that Eko had only done what he needed to do to survive. An angry-looking Yemi replies, "You speak to me as if I were your brother!" as he retreats into the jungle. Eko follows him asking "Who are you?!", and then finds the smoke monster. An arm of smoke reaches out, grabs Eko, and smashes him into the trees before slamming him into the ground.
Locke and the others rush out, to find a bloodied Eko lying motionless on the ground. Eko breathes his dying words in Locke's ear, and when Sayid asks what Eko said, Locke replies, "He said...'we're next.'"
) to attend a memorial service being held for Colleen. On the way, Jack asks about the symptoms of Ben's spinal tumor, particularly pointing out that it will kill him. Ben professes not to know what Jack is talking about. Privately, Ben asks Juliet Burke
(Elizabeth Mitchell
) why she showed his X-rays to Jack. Juliet replies that she never told Jack whose X-rays they were, and remarks that Ben must have inadvertently confirmed Jack's guess.
The following day, Ben tells Jack that they had a perfect plan to convince Jack to operate on Ben's spine, but it failed when Jack saw the X-rays. Afterwards, Juliet brings to Jack's cell a movie - which consists of Juliet speaking through cue card
s. As Juliet discusses on how the surgery will proceed, on the tape she tells Jack that Ben is a liar and very dangerous, and thus the surgery should be intentionally botched to kill Ben, and that she will protect Jack if he does so.
's list of Top 10 'Lost' Deaths.
Lost (TV series)
Lost is an American television series that originally aired on ABC from September 22, 2004 to May 23, 2010, consisting of six seasons. Lost is a drama series that follows the survivors of the crash of a commercial passenger jet flying between Sydney and Los Angeles, on a mysterious tropical island...
, and the 54th episode overall. It aired on November 1, 2006 in the US and on December 17, 2006 in the UK. The episode was written by Monica Breen
Monica Breen
Monica Owusu-Breen is an American television and film producer and screenwriter. She is best known for her work on such shows as: Charmed, Alias, Brothers & Sisters, Lost, and currently Fringe. She often collaborates with screenwriter Alison Schapker...
and Alison Schapker
Alison Schapker
Alison Schapker is an American television writer and producer. She was a staff writer on the hit ABC series Alias and wrote several of its episodes along with her writing partner, Monica Owusu-Breen. She has also worked on the shows: Charmed, Lost, Brothers & Sisters, and currently Fringe...
and directed by Jack Bender
Jack Bender
Jack Bender is an American television and film director, actor, television producer and also a screenwriter. Bender was an executive producer and lead director on the ABC television series, Lost. He directed the series finale of Lost. Bender has also directed on other popular shows such as The...
. The character of Mr. Eko
Mr. Eko
Mr. Eko Tunde is a fictional character, played by Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje on the ABC television series Lost. He is introduced in the second season episode "Adrift" as one of the plane-crash survivors from the plane's tail section. Flashbacks reveal that he became the leader of a gang of guerrillas...
(Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje
Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje
Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje is a British actor, and former fashion model best known for his roles as Mr. Eko on Lost, Simon Adebisi on Oz and Nykwana Wombosi in The Bourne Identity.-Early life and career:...
) is featured in the episode's flashbacks.
Flashbacks
Shortly after the death of his brother YemiThe 23rd Psalm
"The 23rd Psalm" is the tenth episode of the second season of Lost, and the 35th episode overall. The episode was directed by Matt Earl Beesley, and written by Carlton Cuse and Damon Lindelof. It first aired on January 11, 2006 on ABC, and was watched by an average of 20.56 million American...
, Eko is driven back to the village and enters the church. Inside, Eko meets the altar boy Daniel and his mother Amina, who works at the clinic. Eko says that he will be taking Yemi's place at the church. When Amina also inquires about Yemi's upcoming trip to London, a surprised Eko states that he would take Yemi's place there, too.
Some time later, after Eko has become established in his new role as priest, he is confronted by militiamen, who as Amina reveals, had a deal with Yemi to get 80% of the clinic's vaccines. Eko soon develops a plan to sell the vaccine on the black market before he leaves the country that coming weekend.
As the militiamen learn of Eko's deal, they attack him inside the church, but end up getting killed by Eko. The villagers respond by closing the church as they felt it was desecrated
Desecration
Desecration is the act of depriving something of its sacred character, or the disrespectful or contemptuous treatment of that which is held to be sacred or holy by a group or individual.-Detail:...
. Amina calls out Eko, saying she had been aware of the vaccine deal, and advises him to repent and make his peace with God, telling Eko that he "owes" Yemi one church.
On the Island
A delirious Eko has a vision of his brother Yemi (Adetokumboh M'Cormack) holding a cigarette lighter, who tells that if Eko is ready to confess, he knows where to find Yemi. Afterwards, Eko's shelter catches fire, and Eko is rescued by Charlie PaceCharlie Pace
Charlie Hieronymus Pace is a fictional character on ABC's Lost, a television series chronicling the lives of plane crash survivors on a mysterious tropical island...
(Dominic Monaghan
Dominic Monaghan
Dominic Bernard Patrick Luke Monaghan is an English actor. He has received international attention from playing Merry in Peter Jackson's adaptation of J. R. R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings and for his role as Charlie Pace on the television show Lost....
) and Hugo "Hurley" Reyes (Jorge Garcia
Jorge Garcia
Jorge García is a U.S. actor and comedian. He first came to public attention with his performance as Hector Lopez on the television show Becker and later for his portrayal of Hugo "Hurley" Reyes in the television series Lost. Garcia also performs as a stand-up comedian.-Early life:García was born...
). As John Locke
John Locke (Lost)
John Locke is a fictional character played by Terry O'Quinn on the ABC television series Lost. He is named after English philosopher John Locke...
(Terry O'Quinn
Terry O'Quinn
Terry O'Quinn is an American actor, most famous for playing John Locke on the TV series Lost. He made his debut in a 1980 television movie called F.D.R.: The Last Year. Since then, O'Quinn has had minor supporting roles in films and TV movies such as Young Guns, All the Right Moves, Silver Bullet,...
) arrives to ask what happened, Eko has vanished.
The next morning, Locke suggests Desmond Hume
Desmond Hume
Desmond David Hume is a fictional character on the ABC television series Lost portrayed by Henry Ian Cusick. Desmond's name is a tribute to David Hume, the famous empiricist author and philosopher. Desmond was not a passenger of Flight 815. He had been stranded on the island three years prior to...
(Henry Ian Cusick
Henry Ian Cusick
Henry Ian Cusick is a Scottish-Peruvian actor of stage, television, and film. He is well-known for his role as Desmond Hume on the United States television series Lost, for which he received a Primetime Emmy Award nomination....
) to visit the Pearl station. Joined by Charlie, Sayid, Nikki and Paulo
Nikki and Paulo
Nikki Fernandez and Paulo are fictional characters on the ABC drama television series Lost, which chronicles the lives of over forty people after their plane crashes on a remote island somewhere in the south Pacific...
(Kiele Sanchez
Kiele Sanchez
Kiele Michelle Sanchez is an American actress who stars in the A&E Network drama The Glades. Previously she starred as the second-eldest Sorelli sister, Anne, a therapist in her mid-twenties, in The WB's comedic ensemble drama, Related. She was cast as a co-star in the third season of the ABC...
and Rodrigo Santoro
Rodrigo Santoro
Rodrigo Junqueira dos Reis Santoro is a Brazilian actor.-Life and career:Santoro was born in Petrópolis, Rio de Janeiro. He is of half Brazilian and half Italian descent. In 1993, as Santoro was studying Journalism at PUC-Rio, he entered the Actor's Workshop of Rede Globo...
), the group finds Eko on their way to the Pearl. Upon arrival, Eko does not find Yemi's body on the airplane atop the entrance, and decides to remain outside while Locke and the others climb into the hatch. Inside the hatch, Sayid tinkers first with the communication lines, and following a suggestion from Nikki, the monitors. Then one of the screens gets a live video feed of what appears to be another hatch, revealing a man with an eyepatch (Andrew Divoff
Andrew Divoff
Andrew Daniel Divoff is a Venezuelan film and television actor, best known for playing the evil Djinn in the two first Wishmaster films and the villains Cherry Ganz in Another 48 Hrs., Boris Bazylev in Air Force One, Ivan Sarnoff in CSI: Miami and Mikhail Bakunin in Lost.- Early life :Divoff was...
) who then turns off the camera.
Meanwhile, outside the Pearl, Eko sees Yemi and follows him into an opening in the jungle, where Yemi tells it is time for Eko to confess his sins. Eko says he has not sinned, having not chosen the life he was given and that Eko had only done what he needed to do to survive. An angry-looking Yemi replies, "You speak to me as if I were your brother!" as he retreats into the jungle. Eko follows him asking "Who are you?!", and then finds the smoke monster. An arm of smoke reaches out, grabs Eko, and smashes him into the trees before slamming him into the ground.
Locke and the others rush out, to find a bloodied Eko lying motionless on the ground. Eko breathes his dying words in Locke's ear, and when Sayid asks what Eko said, Locke replies, "He said...'we're next.'"
On Hydra Island
At The Hydra, Jack is invited by Ben Linus (Michael EmersonMichael Emerson
Michael Emerson is an American actor who is perhaps best known for his roles as Benjamin Linus on Lost and fictional serial killer William Hinks in The Practice.-Early life:...
) to attend a memorial service being held for Colleen. On the way, Jack asks about the symptoms of Ben's spinal tumor, particularly pointing out that it will kill him. Ben professes not to know what Jack is talking about. Privately, Ben asks Juliet Burke
Juliet Burke
Dr. Juliet Burke is a fictional character on the ABC television series Lost played by Elizabeth Mitchell. Her character was introduced in the third season premiere.- Prior to arrival on the island :...
(Elizabeth Mitchell
Elizabeth Mitchell
Elizabeth Mitchell , is an American actress/modelwho is known for her roles as Dr. Juliet Burke on ABC's TV series Lost and as FBI agent Erica Evans on V. She has starred in such films as The Santa Clause 2, The Santa Clause 3: The Escape Clause, and Gia.-Early life:Mitchell was born Elizabeth...
) why she showed his X-rays to Jack. Juliet replies that she never told Jack whose X-rays they were, and remarks that Ben must have inadvertently confirmed Jack's guess.
The following day, Ben tells Jack that they had a perfect plan to convince Jack to operate on Ben's spine, but it failed when Jack saw the X-rays. Afterwards, Juliet brings to Jack's cell a movie - which consists of Juliet speaking through cue card
Cue card
Cue cards, also known as note cards or idiot cards, are cards with words written on them that help actors and speakers remember what they have to say. They are typically used in television productions where they can be held off-camera and are unseen by the audience...
s. As Juliet discusses on how the surgery will proceed, on the tape she tells Jack that Ben is a liar and very dangerous, and thus the surgery should be intentionally botched to kill Ben, and that she will protect Jack if he does so.
Reception
This episode attracted 16.07 million American viewers. Eko's death was ranked #1 in IGNIGN
IGN is an entertainment website that focuses on video games, films, music and other media. IGN's main website comprises several specialty sites or "channels", each occupying a subdomain and covering a specific area of entertainment...
's list of Top 10 'Lost' Deaths.