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Lost :: The 23rd Psalm (02x10)
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Episode Information |
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| Title: | The 23rd Psalm |
| Episode #: | 02x10 |
| Production Number: | 210 |
| Original Airdate: | Wednesday January 11th, 2006 |
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 Horseman_Dude
Total Reviews: 3
Not Useful
Useful
| One of the second season's stronger offerings thus far...
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!!!!!! This review contains spoilers !!!!!!
The 23rd Psalm focuses on the complex and mysterious Mr. Eko, who is easily the most interesting survivor from the tail section. Eko’s mysterious connection to the island and the running themes presented throughout juxtaposed against one another give the season and the series as a whole one of its strongest episodes thus far.
The most important part of the episode is easily Eko’s connection to the island. We learn that Eko was supposed to be one of the smugglers on the plane that Boone and Locke found earlier in the first season. This is interesting in that, circumstances of the smuggling plane crash unknown, Eko might have ended up on the island even if he hadn’t been on Oceanic 815. This seems to give Eko, like Locke, an intimate connection to the island itself.
This is not the only similarity between the two men, either. Both seem to have a running tendency (Eko much more than Locke, however) to corrupt innocence. The corruption of innocence is in my opinion, the dominant theme of the episode. Eko corrupts his brother by convincing him to lend him the plane to smuggle the drugs. Eko himself is corrupted as a young child when he is forced to kill the old man. And Locke, in the first season, arguably corrupted Boone, and certainly was one of the large factors in his death.
Even more interesting is that Eko himself was a factor in Boone’s death. Boone would’ve never explored the plane if it hadn’t been there in the first place, and since Eko is largely responsible for the plane ending up on the island, one could say that he played an indirect part in Boone’s death. However, that said, would Boone not have died in another way even if the plane hadn’t been there? Locke justified Boone’s death as a “sacrifice that the island demanded”, so is it safe to say that Boone would have died in another way as a result of Locke’s corruption? Unfortunately, we’ll never know.
One could also argue that Eko corrupts Charlie at the end of the episode. Eko gives Charlie another statue of heroin. Although he is giving Charlie a choice, it is easy to see that with Claire’s rejection of Charlie, he will no doubt be using again soon. However, both Eko’s action and the line that accompanies it: “For the one I broke”, are symbolic of the other main and equally important theme of the episode: the atonement for one’s sins.
Eko atones for his sins and begins the journey towards redemption at the end of the episode. Even the wonderfully intense and brilliantly executed scene near the climax with Eko staring down the smoke monster was centered around him facing his demons and beginning to atone for them. As he burns the drug smugglers’ plane and his brother’s body, he puts on the cross necklace that had originally been his, and makes it his goal to become a priest, which would symbolically lead him down the road to redemption.
However, what is far more interesting about the scene with the smoke monster is that it revealed more about the monster itself. While Eko and the monster were engaged in the staring contest of the century, the monster not only appeared to be retrieving information about Eko's past simply by looking through his eyes, it also, oddly, spared his life. Seeing as the smoke monster has never appeared to be merciful before, this is certainly significant, and only lends credence to the theory that Eko has a deeper overarching connection from his past life to the island.
Overall, although the second season has been sluggish, it’s easy to see that this episode, far stronger than most of the season, is a step in the right direction. I find the character of Mr. Eko compelling, and highly anticipate more episodes centered around him in the future.
Final Score: 9/10.
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| Review posted on Sunday, February 15th 2009 9:39 pm |
1 member didn't find this review useful
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