LOST- Episode 34: The 23rd Psalm

  Previously on LOST: Charlie did drugs, gave them up, and then got tempted.  Also, Michael may have gotten an instant message from Walt.

  We open on some boys playing soccer in a poor African village.  The festivities are interrupted when men with guns pull up in a jeep.  One gives orders to take the children as all the adults are chased away except for one old man.  One of the bad guys hands a gun to a small, frightened boy and orders him to kill the old man.  The boy can not bring himself to do it so his older brother steps in to do it for him.  The lack of hesitation impresses the bad guys so they decide to take the older boy instead- the older boy whose name is Eko.  Eko's cross is ripped from around his neck and thrown to the ground.  His little brother picks it up and watches his brother being taken away.

  In the present, Claire and Aaron find Mr. Eko carving bible verses into his walking stick.  Eko is intrigued by Aaron's name since that was the name of Moses' brother, but Claire only picked the name because she liked it, not for its biblical significance.  The topic gets Claire onto Charlie and she mentions that he is religious and carries around a statue of Mary.  Eko is very interested in the statue and asks to see it.  They return to camp, where Eko's mood turns a little darker.  He demands to know where the statue was found, but Claire doesn't know.  He smashes it open with his stick and shows Claire its sinister contents.  Eko wants to know where Charlie is, like NOW.  Cue the creepy LOST title screen.

  In the hatch, Locke is tinkering with a combination lock on the room that holds all the guns while he and Michael discuss Locke's love of silent films.  Locke wants the gun room locked so people can't just help themselves to deadly weapons.  You lock that lock, Locke.  Lock it good...  Locke.

  Over at the beach, Jin is getting some unwanted fishing help from Charlie when they see Eko stalking toward them.  Eko doesn't waste any time and demands to be taken to the place where Charlie found the statue.  Eko then flashes back to his life as an adult when he made a deal with some sleazeballs to run some heroin out of Nigeria.  He charges a hefty price since only UN aid planes and missionaries can fly out of the country, therefore making things complicated.  The sleazeballs reluctantly make the deal and say that Eko has no soul.  Eko answers this by slashing all their throats in one deadly motion.  Hope for his sake that they paid up front.  He tells one surviving boy to go and tell his friends that Mr. Eko let him live. 

  Charlie and Eko stop by Claire's hut first.  She is pretty upset and doesn't believe that Charlie had no idea what was inside the statue.  He tears up the heroin and throws it away, but she doesn't seem convinced that he is not using. 

  In the jungle, Locke trains Michael on how to use a gun and suggests that going out after Walt is not a good idea.  Michael agrees but doesn't say that he is not going to do exactly that. 

  Meanwhile, Eko and Charlie have begun their hike, presumably to the site of the downed prop plane.  Well, actually not, as Charlie stops in the middle of nowhere and claims that they have arrived at the spot.  Eko somehow knows that he is lying.  When Charlie suggests that he doesn't have to answer to him, Eko grabs him by the throat and says, "Take me to the plane."

  As the hike continues, Eko asks why Charlie lied to Claire.  He has deduced that Charlie really knew what was in the statue because when he first approached the rocker, he said he didn't want Claire to get the wrong idea.  Got it?  Charlie does not react well to being called out but before the argument can get too heated, Eko sees a bit of ominous monster smoke nearby and says that they should keep moving.

  Eko is a little spooked now and flashes back to his return to his hometown where his brother is now a priest.  Eko offers up his confession but Brother will not hear it.  Eko asks for help- he wants his brother to fly the drugs out of the country on a missionary flight.  He even tries to play it off as doing a good thing- the drugs will not be used by their people and all proceeds go to charity.  Brother is appalled at Eko's suggestion and refuses to help.

  At the beach, Kate is giving a reluctant Sawyer a much needed haircut.  Just she gets done telling him that everyone loves him now, Hurley and Michael walk by to tell him that they are glad he is okay.  Kate enjoyed having her point made- Sawyer, of course, did not.  Also of potential importance- Michael switched hatch shifts with Kate.

  Back in the jungle, Charlie insists on taking a break and tells Eko that becoming an addict was not his fault.  His brother made him do it.  Charlie used to be a good, God-fearin' boy.  Eko, however, is not really listening because he sees something.  He takes a few steps and finds a parachute and a skeleton dressed like a priest.  He runs his hand over the skull's gold tooth and answers yes when Charlie asks if he knew the guy.  "This man saved my life," Eko tells him.

  Charlie, taking Hurley's place this week as the voice of the people, sarcastically says that it makes perfect sense for a Nigerian plane to crash in the South Pacific.  Eko is too busy praying to care.  Charlie picks up Eko's stick, sees the scripture carvings and deduces that Eko knew the skeleton because they were both priests.  Eko is too busy having a flashback to answer.

  This time Eko has returned to his brother's church with back up.  Eko tells his brother to sign some documents that will make him and his associates priests.  Even though Eko would never harm his brother, If Brother does not do what is asked of him, he would not be able to stop his friends from burning the church down.  Brother angrily signs the papers but says that his signature does not make them priests.  Eko ignores the spite and buys every last one of the Virgin Mary statues that the church is selling to raise money for polio vaccines.

  In the present, Eko and Charlie are moving again, But Charlie has lost his way.  Eko tells him to climb a tree to get his bearings.  As Charlie slowly climbs, Eko keeps a wary eye on their surroundings.  His instincts prove correct, as a tree is uprooted right in front of him and he is soon joined by a super-sized Smoke Monster.  Smoke Monster roars and creaks and gets right in Eko's face, seemingly sizing him up.  As it "stares", it crackles with flashes of light that reveal ghostly images of people within.  It hovers in the air for a moment or two before leaving as abruptly as it came.  Eko and Charlie exchange a stunned look.

  Charlie climbs down and expresses his amazement that Eko did not run for his life.  Eko answers that he was not afraid and re-focuses Charlie on finding the plane.  Charlie saw the plane from the tree and they head off again. 

  In the hatch, Michael makes sure heis alone and sits down at the computer.  He tries to type, but nothing happens on the blank screen.  Then he gets what he is looking for:

Specialboy815: Dad?

Mikethebuilder: Are you O.K.?

Specialboy815: Yes.  Are you alone?

Mikethebuilder: Yes.

Specialboy815: Can't talk long.  They're coming back soon.

Mikethebuilder: Where are you?

Specialboy815: You need to com- 

  The rest of that sentence is off-camera, but Michael seems a little stunned by it.  Or maybe it's the fact that Jack just walked in unannounced.  Jack tells him that they all feel for him and they haven't forgotten about Walt.  They just need to figure out a plan.  He takes a step around to see the screen, but it has gone blank again. 

  Back in the jungle, Eko and Charlie have also found what they were looking for.  Seeing the plane reminds Eko of when he saw it last- on a Nigerian runway being loaded with drug-stuffed Mary statues by him and other guys dressed as priests.  Brother shows up to try and stop him just ahead of a military troop.  The bad guys open fire on the soldiers which starts a shoot-out.  Brother tries to wave it off but gets shot in the chest.  Eko and his friend, Goldtooth, load Brother onto the plane.  Then Goldtooth literally kicks Eko off the plane and leaves without him. 

  Present day Eko looks inside the downed plane and finds his brother's decaying body.  He hugs the skeleton close to him and begins to cry.  Back in Nigeria, a soldier mistakes Eko for a priest and asks, "Are you okay, Father?"  Back in the plane, Eko takes back his cross and tells Charlie that this body was his brother.  Eko lights the plane on fire and as they watch it burn, Charlie asks Eko again if he is a priest.  This time Eko puts the cross he lost so long ago back on and answers, "Yes."

  As Eko recites a bible verse (I can't be sure, but I assume it is the 23rd Psalm), a montage begins.  Jin and Sun offer Ana-Lucia a fish.  Hurley helps Libby put up a shelter.  Jack reminds Sawyer to take his pills as Kate fusses over the haircut. 

  Charlie returns to the beach to find that Claire has packed his stuff for him and is kicking him out of their love nest.  He sulks away, but don't feel too bad for him- he'll always have the dozen or so Mary statues he has stashed away in the jungle.  The End. 

  Next week on LOST: Michael goes nuts and goes after Walt, while everyone else goes after Michael.  Then the Others inform them that this is their island.