Lost Discussion: "Revelation" and "The 23rd Psalm"

The abc.com preview has this to say: Mr. Eko interrogates Charlie about the Virgin Mary statue, Claire begins to lose faith in Charlie when she discovers his secret, and Jack is an interested observer when Kate gives the recovering Sawyer a much-needed haircut..

9 replies on “Lost Discussion: "Revelation" and "The 23rd Psalm"”

  1. highs, lows, and confusion
    If you’re on a desert island, and have gone weeks without much more than coconuts and fish, would you really be using a giant jar of Ranch dressing for target practice?

    I think the highlight of the episode was finally seeing that the monster and the black cloud are one and the same. I thought the effects were very well done.

    Jack is an interested observer when Kate gives the recovering Sawyer a much-needed haircut.

    I don’t quite understand this last part. "Interested observer"?

    • Re: highs, lows, and confusion

      If you’re on a desert island, and have gone weeks without much more than coconuts and fish, would you really be using a giant jar of Ranch dressing for target practice?

      If you -really- hate ranch dressing…

  2. any thoughts on the cloud?
    well we’ve finally seen the cloud up close. any thoughts as to why it didn’t attack mr. eko? he said he wasn’t afraid of it, perhaps it only attacks the fearful? or maybe it ‘looks into your soul’ or somesuch? thoughts?

    btw, what sort of direction do you think they are taking charlie with the ending of the ep the way it was?

    • Re: any thoughts on the cloud?

      well we’ve finally seen the cloud up close. any thoughts as to why it didn’t attack mr. eko? he said he wasn’t afraid of it, perhaps it only attacks the fearful? or maybe it ‘looks into your soul’ or somesuch? thoughts?

      btw, what sort of direction do you think they are taking charlie with the ending of the ep the way it was?

      Remember that Locke has come face to face with it once (early in season 1) and it didn’t attack him (at least we were led to believe it didn’t, he was looking up at it but he seemed fine later). Then later was pulled into a hole (almost). A friend of mine thought the monster looked cheesy. I thought it looked great. Have no clue what it is though.

    • Re: any thoughts on the cloud?

      well we’ve finally seen the cloud up close. any thoughts as to why it didn’t attack mr. eko? he said he wasn’t afraid of it, perhaps it only attacks the fearful? or maybe it ‘looks into your soul’ or somesuch? thoughts?

      btw, what sort of direction do you think they are taking charlie with the ending of the ep the way it was?

      I think its clear he will fall off the wagon. I was hoping he would throw the statue that Eko gave him into the plane on fire, but he didn’t. I do find it weird that Eko gave him a statue. How reformed from his old ways is Eko. He does appear to be very religious himself, but he doesn’t really _preach_ to anyone.

      • Re: any thoughts on the cloud?

        I do find it weird that Eko gave him a statue. How reformed from his old ways is Eko. He does appear to be very religious himself, but he doesn’t really _preach_ to anyone.

        Eko is perhaps the most fascinating character on the island. In my opinion, I don’t think it’s fair to say he’s "reformed." I would say that at no point in his life has he ever been "evil."

        Obviously, on the surface, he has committed a number of violent acts, but look at the circumstances surrounding thos e acts.

        As a child, when he shoots the old man without hesitation, he is clearly doing what is necessary to protect his younger brother, ensuring that the warlord doesn’t take the brother, or harm him for failing to shoot the old man.

        Later in life, when he coldly executes the drug dealers, they are, after all, drug dealers. Later, when he tries to get the drugs out of the country and approaches his brother for assistance, it seems very clear that he wants to ensure that the drugs are not made available to "his people." If he can get them out of the country, and use the proceeds to provide medicines, so much the better.

        His character (actually, most of the show’s characters… How is his story any different from Kate’s?) is a case study in situational ethics.

        Obviously, Eko is now a righteous man. I would contend that he’s always been a righteous man, but due to the circumstances of his birth, and the environment he was raised in, he has had to make a series of very difficult decisions, choosing the lesser of evils thoughout his entire life.

    • Re: any thoughts on the cloud?

      well we’ve finally seen the cloud up close. any thoughts as to why it didn’t attack mr. eko?

      I was disucussing this with another fan. Referring to the title, the psalm is the one that includes "though I walk in the valley of the shadow of death I will fear no evil for tho art with me…". The creature can be seen as evil and Eko does not fear it because he has reformed, become spiritual, God is with him. It could also be thought of as a shadow.

      he said he wasn’t afraid of it, perhaps it only attacks the fearful?

      A rewritten ending of the psalm I have seen goes: "… I will fear no evil..for I am the baddest mother#%*& in the valley."
      Eko, both the old and the new version definitely qualifies as the baddest or toughest s.o.b. on the island. As such he was not afraid. He may also have been so obsessed with finding the plane and his brother that he did not think of being afraid.

      or maybe it ‘looks into your soul’ or somesuch? thoughts?

      I do think it looks into the soul, thoughts or memory of the person. When the camera was doing a 360 around the stand-off between Eko and the creature we saw inside the creature. Amid the little flashes that were going off, I think I saw some images flashing also. I did not catch exactly what the image(s) were but one was a person which I assume was Eko’s brother. Eko was obsessed with finding the plane and his brother . He had no time to think of anything else or be afraid.

      I think the creature is tuned to the psychological or spiritual attainment of the people it encounters. Locke and Eko both have some spiritual element about them and the creature leaves them alone.

      The other fan I was talking to thinks that both Eko and Locke are crazy killers and possibly evil or dangerous and the creature is leaving them alone because they are dangerous to the other people of the island. The creature likes having them around to help punish the other islanders.

      • Re: any thoughts on the cloud?

        I do think it looks into the soul, thoughts or memory of the person. When the camera was doing a 360 around the stand-off between Eko and the creature we saw inside the creature. Amid the little flashes that were going off, I think I saw some images flashing also. I did not catch exactly what the image(s) were but one was a person which I assume was Eko’s brother. Eko was obsessed with finding the plane and his brother . He had no time to think of anything else or be afraid.

        We had Tivo’d the episode, and re-ran and paused that part – I saw two distinct images – one looked like an older woman – I’m assuming it might be Eko’s mother, and the other was definitely a crucifix. So, I strongly suspect you are correct in thinking the creature (or artifact?) is tuned to the spiritual side of it’s "victims".

        Locke mentioned in one conversation that he was a "man of faith" (whereas Jack was a "man of science"). Perhaps that ties into why he survived his encounter (evidently, the pilot the monster actually killed was not a man of faith).

        Another possibility is that the black smoke entity somehow judges each person it encounters according to some unknown set of rules (morals?).

        One unrelated thing I didn’t see mentioned that I’ll spoiler hide:
        I think it’s now obvious that Walt is being held by "The Others" in one of the other bases on the island, but is allowed to roam somewhat freely (enough to use the computer undetected for short periods, anyway). I suspect Walt and his ‘abilities’ may be the key to the entire show somehow.

        Lots to chew on, as always :-).

        Btw – long time lurker, first time poster here. I’ve been a fan of this site for a while now – keep up the good work!

        • Re: any thoughts on the cloud?

          We had Tivo’d the episode, and re-ran and paused that part – I saw two distinct images – one looked like an older woman – I’m assuming it might be Eko’s mother, and the other was definitely a crucifix. So, I strongly suspect you are correct in thinking the creature (or artifact?) is tuned to the spiritual side of it’s "victims".

          Take a look at this blog post for stills of the images:

          http://www.tvsquad.com/2006/01/11/lost-the-23rd-psalm/

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