LOST: The Cost of Living - Live!

Rather than recap tonight's episode of LOST on Thursday morning, I've decided to do a live, running analysis tonight at 9PM, as it happens.

Tune back in at 9, "pre-game" is after the video clip of a preview of tonight's episode.  Your thoughts will be more than welcome in the comments section.

Pre-game:

- Some questions to ponder heading into the episode... Why are the Others so interested in hanging on to Kate, Sawyer, and Jack, when earlier, in season 2, they were intent on getting rid of them.  Remember the whole, "This is not your island, this is our island, and the only reason you're living on it is because we let you live on it." by Bearded Tom? ... Was he just saying that to intimidate the Losties from poking around? But also, remember, he already had Kate captured for a moment.  Hmph.

- Here's an interesting article about the writing of an episode of LOST.

- Did you know there are LOST action figures?

The main event:

8:59 - Could there be two more different television shows back to back than "Dancing with the Stars" and LOST?

9:00 - A young Ryan Howard breaks into a shed...

9:06 - How do you lose a guy as big as Mr. Eko?

9:09 - Back from commercial, Jack is working out like Rocky Balboa in Russia in Rocky IV.

9:12 - Those were Ben's X-Rays!  It is a toomah!

9:16 - Paraphrasing Bill Cosby in Himself, "Smoke! Smoke!"

9:17 - Oh hey, finally, a commercial.

9:22 - "Don't mistake coincidence for fate."  Looks like Svengali Locke is back, gone is Whiny Locke of season 2.

9:25 - Another commercial.  Great, that's once every eight minutes, or, approximately how long it takes the Eagles D to allow a the Jaguars and Bucs and Saints to run up and down the field.

9:31 - Ben invokes his HIPAA rights.

9:32 - Sorry, Ben, but outside of blond hair and blue eyes, "Juliet" looks nothing like Julia Bowen.

9:33 - Ben is confusing coincidence for fate.

9:35 - Shaft!

9:37 - Very Biblical.  Locke and Eko roll the stone aside, and... Yemi's body is gone...

9:47 - Juliet, channeling Boby Dylan and INXS with cue cards on a videotape, tries to get Jack to join her in revolucion against Ben!

9:58 - Because Eko will not repent for the sins of his past life, the Black Smoke beats the living snot out of him.

10:00 - No more Mr. Eko...  What did he mean that Locke et al are next?

Post-game/Upon Further Review:

- Bernard is the only character from the tail section still alive.

- The two new Losties -- I can't even remember their names -- are doing nothing for me.  I really hope they are killed off soon.  They can't get Smoked soon enough.

- An interview with Matthew Fox where he talks about LOST and two movies he is working on, one of which is football related.

- Upon further review, maybe Juliet does look like Jack's ex, Ed's on-again/off-again girl, Julia Bowen.

- BTD Greg has some interesting, and I think spot-on, observations about The Smoke.

- Overall, a very good episode.  I wish Mr. Eko had not been killed, but, isn't that the point?