"The Cost Of Living" is notable for managing to juggle, and keep fairly equally gripping, no fewer than FOUR different story lines: Eko's visions and search for his dead brother, Eko's past after the death of his brother, Locke's plan to use one of the DHARMA station computers to communicate with the Others, and Jack's realization of the reasons he was brought to their camp. All parts have at least one great moment: Eko "meeting" his brother in a heaven-like field, Eko turning the tables on his attackers, a man with an eyepatch "looking" at Locke and company through a computer screen, and (the highlight IMO) Juliet communicating with Jack in two ways simultaneously, giving new meaning to the term "mixed signals". Perhaps the best episode of Season 3 up to this point, though they're all pretty close, apart from "The Glass Ballerina", which is the weakest. *** out of 4.
10 Reviews
One step forward, two steps back
endarochford6 November 2006
Warning: Spoilers
Mr.Eko is bound to be a favorite character of many losties. Regardless of what he did in the real world the island has seemed to be a fresh start for many of the survivors. He is haunted by a vision of his dead brother the priest and still suffering the effects of the bear attack along with the hatch explosion he takes off into the jungle heading for the plane where he left his brothers body. This ties in with Locke and his group of explorers who decide to head back to the station known as "The Pearl" to try and find an active computer or to see if there is anyway of communicating with other stations on the island. In the pearl we catch a glimpse of a one eyed man in another station but realising that he is being watched he shuts off the camera. Surely more to come from that story. If I am to have one gripe about lost it is the loose ends that really need to be tied up at some stage. We have seen characters being killed in the past who seem to have pivotal roles such as Libby and Anna Maria, cut down before they need to be. It does add to the suspense as no one is safe but why bother with the back story at all. And here's the spoiler. Why kill Eko? If there is a character on the island who was willing to follow his faith and give everyone else hope I would have thought it would be Eko. Locke is going to take this role back again I'm sure but could Locke fight off four or five of the others with his bare hands? Eko had so much more story left in Him! The maze that lost has created contains so many dead ends. I'm not going to lose faith just yet but I'm reminded of the series the X-Files. The truth was out there, or so they tole us for eight or nine years. But in the end it wasn't and we were left feeling let down.
powerful episode- ps major death spoiler, don't read if don't wanna know
louissebastienbax2 November 2006
Warning: Spoilers
or to be known is the one where Eko dies, and the entire tailies plot line is made redundant,But nonetheless it has its moments. Eko is a very strong character, and his departure is moving. Agbaje carries the story well, and nails his final monologue evoking sympathy for a man who is essentially a murderer. Also well executed was the subplot with Elizebeth Mitchell's wonderfully chilling Juliet, who propositions a sinister deal with Jack. But the main gripe is with the two new characters, Paulo and Nikki, who are not only badly acted but seem to get more screen time every episode. They're bland and annoying please make them go away. But on the whole a memorable episode
Superb character examination, appropriately climactic
ametaphysicalshark2 December 2008
Warning: Spoilers
In the wasteland of mediocrity that is the mini-season which opened season three of "Lost", "The Cost of Living" shines as a perfect example of what makes "Lost" the superb show it is and always has been. Monica Owusu-Breen and Alison Schapker's debut script (and to date their only script for the show, although Owusu-Breen has been announced as a staff writer for season five) is a stunning character piece and a beautiful and fitting climax to Eko's emotional journey on the show.
The flashback is not as iconic as "The 23rd Psalm" but is actually quite a bit more substantial in character development- Eko is no longer an enigma, and it's not held back by the burden of having to introduce us to his past, it merely expands on the strength of that episode and "?" also and delivers a flashback which says pretty much everything about Eko's character arc. Similarly the island scenes are packed with intrigue and mythology but are always meaningful to the characters. Eko's confrontation with the smoke monster has bizarrely been criticized by some, but it's a stunningly well-executed scene brimming with intensity and a lingering sadness. It is possibly the best send-off for any character on "Lost".
What I like so much about "The Cost of Living" is that it proves that you can both achieve goals plot-wise AND write a multi-faceted character-driven story at the same time, something that "Lost" occasionally forgets to do, focusing on one or the other to varying success. The general reception for this episode is positive, I suppose, but it deserves more recognition and when "Lost" is discussed many years from now like other genre greats are this one should and probably will end up being more appreciated. A really great episode this.
Plus, it's got Eko brutally getting rid of several bad guys in the space of around ten seconds.
The flashback is not as iconic as "The 23rd Psalm" but is actually quite a bit more substantial in character development- Eko is no longer an enigma, and it's not held back by the burden of having to introduce us to his past, it merely expands on the strength of that episode and "?" also and delivers a flashback which says pretty much everything about Eko's character arc. Similarly the island scenes are packed with intrigue and mythology but are always meaningful to the characters. Eko's confrontation with the smoke monster has bizarrely been criticized by some, but it's a stunningly well-executed scene brimming with intensity and a lingering sadness. It is possibly the best send-off for any character on "Lost".
What I like so much about "The Cost of Living" is that it proves that you can both achieve goals plot-wise AND write a multi-faceted character-driven story at the same time, something that "Lost" occasionally forgets to do, focusing on one or the other to varying success. The general reception for this episode is positive, I suppose, but it deserves more recognition and when "Lost" is discussed many years from now like other genre greats are this one should and probably will end up being more appreciated. A really great episode this.
Plus, it's got Eko brutally getting rid of several bad guys in the space of around ten seconds.
We Are Next
claudio_carvalho3 November 2006
Warning: Spoilers
Eko is completely disturbed, haunted by his past, in Nigeria and leaves the tent looking for his brother Yemi in the woods. Locke organizes an expedition with Sayid, Desmond, Paulo and Nikki to chase Eko and to go the Pearl hatch, expecting also to find a computer and locate Jack, Kate and Sawyer. Meanwhile, Jack discloses that Ben Linus has a tumor in his spine, finding the real intention of his abduction. Juliet plots and proposes a plan to Jack to eliminate Ben. Eko is attacked and killed by a dark fog.
"The Cost of Living" is another great episode of the third season of "Lost". I regret the death of Eko, one of my favorite characters of this show. I am also curious about the honesty of Juliet with her plan: does she really intend to kill Ben, or is she only testing Jack? My vote is ten.
Title (Brazil): Not Available
Note: On 6 April 2013, I saw this episode again on DVD.
"The Cost of Living" is another great episode of the third season of "Lost". I regret the death of Eko, one of my favorite characters of this show. I am also curious about the honesty of Juliet with her plan: does she really intend to kill Ben, or is she only testing Jack? My vote is ten.
Title (Brazil): Not Available
Note: On 6 April 2013, I saw this episode again on DVD.
Living coming at a cost
TheLittleSongbird30 March 2018
Warning: Spoilers
When 'Lost' was in its prime, it was must-watch television. Remember first watching it, found it remarkably easy to get into, was hooked from the start and was on Season 3 by the end of one week. The general consensus is that the final season is a disappointment and cannot disagree.
Personally on the most part like three of the previous four episodes, the exception being "Further Instructions". "The Cost of Living" is Season 3 at its best up to this point for many reasons and definitely for me one of the best of the season's early half. It may not be 'Lost' at its best, a not easy thing to manage for a show with a lot of very good to classic episodes, but it nearly is.
My only drawback for "The Cost of Living" is the characters of Nikki and Paulo, to me they feel shoehorned in and useless, with personalities that grate and don't interest at all.
"The Cost of Living" is terrific everywhere else though. Eko will be sorely missed, one of the show's best and most interesting characters that left too soon. A great job is done with him though and it is a final episode that does him justice. Of the five episodes of Season 3 up to this point, this episode has the best flashbacks. Ones that are illuminating and add a lot to Eko, are relevant to what he goes through in the present and pretty refreshing, instead of being ones that just reinforce what is already known, not engaging or pointless. There is a lot of emotional impact as well.
On top of that, the island goings on are never less than riveting. The Smoke Monster confrontation is one of the season's most shocking moments, certainly the most shocking one of the five episodes up to this point, while Juliet and her subplot provide a lot of chills. There is a good deal of momentum and things feel like they're moving forward.
All the acting is very good, with especially powerful acting from Elizabeth Mitchell and Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje.
Can't fault the stylishness and atmosphere of the visuals, nor the effective use of music, taut writing and the tightly controlled direction.
Altogether, terrific. 9/10 Bethany Cox.
Personally on the most part like three of the previous four episodes, the exception being "Further Instructions". "The Cost of Living" is Season 3 at its best up to this point for many reasons and definitely for me one of the best of the season's early half. It may not be 'Lost' at its best, a not easy thing to manage for a show with a lot of very good to classic episodes, but it nearly is.
My only drawback for "The Cost of Living" is the characters of Nikki and Paulo, to me they feel shoehorned in and useless, with personalities that grate and don't interest at all.
"The Cost of Living" is terrific everywhere else though. Eko will be sorely missed, one of the show's best and most interesting characters that left too soon. A great job is done with him though and it is a final episode that does him justice. Of the five episodes of Season 3 up to this point, this episode has the best flashbacks. Ones that are illuminating and add a lot to Eko, are relevant to what he goes through in the present and pretty refreshing, instead of being ones that just reinforce what is already known, not engaging or pointless. There is a lot of emotional impact as well.
On top of that, the island goings on are never less than riveting. The Smoke Monster confrontation is one of the season's most shocking moments, certainly the most shocking one of the five episodes up to this point, while Juliet and her subplot provide a lot of chills. There is a good deal of momentum and things feel like they're moving forward.
All the acting is very good, with especially powerful acting from Elizabeth Mitchell and Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje.
Can't fault the stylishness and atmosphere of the visuals, nor the effective use of music, taut writing and the tightly controlled direction.
Altogether, terrific. 9/10 Bethany Cox.
My least favorite episode of the show so far, but still solid
thefoochie14 September 2022
Warning: Spoilers
A lot of lost fans say that this six episode arc is disappointing, but I personally disagree. I've really enjoyed every episode so far this season, and I'd even call the season premiere "a tale of two cities" great, it was probably my favorite season premiere so far. However, I was very disappointed with this episode. Still good, but by far the worst episode in the show.
My problem with Eko's death is that it wasn't set up well. The smoke monster came out of nowhere and there was no buildup (yes, I saw the flash of smoke at the beginning, that doesn't mean it was good "foreshadowing"). So far, every character's death has made sense and was essential to the story. Boone died after reaching the plane, which is a key part of the plot. Shannon was killed by Ana Lucia, which was essential to bringing tension between her and sayid. Michael killed Ana Lucia and Libby, which was important to his character arc and the overall story. Eko's death just came out of nowhere.
Another problem with his death is that this same death could have happened for any character, at any time. "Oh, should we kill off jack? Alright let's just have the smoke monster get him!" It's just lazy writing tbh. If a character's death could have happened to anyone at any time, then that shows the death isn't important to the story. The smoke monster just served as a plot device to kill a random character.
On to the actual episode itself, it was nothing special. Eko's flashback was pretty good. In summary, eko replaces his brother as the town priest, and in an effort to do the right thing, he brutally kills some criminals who were threatening the townspeople. Because he killed them in his brother's church, the church gets shut down and the townspeople turn on eko. This was a good flashback showing that eko inherently believes that killing people to protect the innocent is the right thing to do, even if it makes your own people afraid of you.
Jack's scenes were by far the best. It's revealed that Ben has a spinal tumor and jack is the only one who can save him. However, juliet secretly conveys to jack that she wants him to kill Ben. Because this show is so old, I'm already aware that Ben survives the tumor, but I'm still excited to see how this plays out.
Overall, a pretty good episode with a very disappointing ending. Do better lost!
My problem with Eko's death is that it wasn't set up well. The smoke monster came out of nowhere and there was no buildup (yes, I saw the flash of smoke at the beginning, that doesn't mean it was good "foreshadowing"). So far, every character's death has made sense and was essential to the story. Boone died after reaching the plane, which is a key part of the plot. Shannon was killed by Ana Lucia, which was essential to bringing tension between her and sayid. Michael killed Ana Lucia and Libby, which was important to his character arc and the overall story. Eko's death just came out of nowhere.
Another problem with his death is that this same death could have happened for any character, at any time. "Oh, should we kill off jack? Alright let's just have the smoke monster get him!" It's just lazy writing tbh. If a character's death could have happened to anyone at any time, then that shows the death isn't important to the story. The smoke monster just served as a plot device to kill a random character.
On to the actual episode itself, it was nothing special. Eko's flashback was pretty good. In summary, eko replaces his brother as the town priest, and in an effort to do the right thing, he brutally kills some criminals who were threatening the townspeople. Because he killed them in his brother's church, the church gets shut down and the townspeople turn on eko. This was a good flashback showing that eko inherently believes that killing people to protect the innocent is the right thing to do, even if it makes your own people afraid of you.
Jack's scenes were by far the best. It's revealed that Ben has a spinal tumor and jack is the only one who can save him. However, juliet secretly conveys to jack that she wants him to kill Ben. Because this show is so old, I'm already aware that Ben survives the tumor, but I'm still excited to see how this plays out.
Overall, a pretty good episode with a very disappointing ending. Do better lost!
I am awfully disappointed with "LOST" lately!
katiacgf4 November 2006
Warning: Spoilers
I have been watching "LOST" with my family since the first episode, it used to be great. The last season it was very disappointing, it seems as if they (writers)don't know what to do with the show, so, they keep trying to make it up for it by stretching one story line in a whole episode. The present season, which by the way I decided to keep watching only to see Rodrigo Santoro, and also with a tiny little hope that things would get better; has been one disappointment after another; my husband and son even stopped watching. First of all, he (Santoro) only appears for 30 seconds in each episode. But the real problem is with the story line, THERE IS NOTHING REALLY HAPPENING, each episode could be shown in 15 minutes. We watch each episode waiting for something that never happens; I am not asking that every secret be revealed at once, but how about some variation in the story lines? In the first and second seasons, we had different story lines, we saw the characters history, a little action, a little romance, now is like one big event that takes the whole episode to unveil. It is almost tiring to watch it, when it finishes you have a feeling that you lost your time. Now, it is important to note that the actors still great.I can't believe they killed Mr. Eko(Adelawale...)he was great, Jack(Mathew Fox)is still incredible, the perfect hero, so kind, magnanimous, brave. Sawyer(Josh Holloway), the "bad boy" is kind of mellowing because of Kate(Evangeline Lylli), but that's cool. I miss Sayid(Naveen Andrews), Sun and Jin(Yoon-jin Kim & Daniel Dae Kim), they are all an important part of the plot (or should be), but we barely see them. I hope Paulo(Rodrigo Santoro) will have a big part on the show; if not, why did you make such a big deal of him joining the show (Access Hollywood, etc)? Sorry if I've been rumbling for too long, but I feel cheated by this show. When I started watching it was great, I got used to it, and now it is very disappointing to see the way it is going. I'll be here, hoping for the improvements!!! Katia
First episode I fast forwarded through
clownwrangler2 January 2009
Warning: Spoilers
I've enjoyed watching Lost from the beginning and endured a few bad actors in poorly written episodes because when Lost is good, it's really good! But this episode that features Mr Echos demise had so many drawn out scenes with lingering closeups of bad acting that I found myself tapping the fast forward button. This episode stood out so far as by far the worst. In fact, the variation in quality of Lost has been so inconsistent, I find myself often wondering how many writers they are using.
I will continue to watch but hope things get better and hope I stop secretly wishing for the sub-par actors in the series to die off.
I will continue to watch but hope things get better and hope I stop secretly wishing for the sub-par actors in the series to die off.
Goodbye Eko
mpenny23 May 2010
Warning: Spoilers
Island Plot: Eko faces judgment for his past. Jack finds out the purpose behind his kidnapping.
Flashback: Eko begins his life as a priest.
Eko remains one of my all time favorite Lost characters so this episode is bittersweet for me. It was one of the better episodes from early season 3 but that's not saying much. I was happy to finally find out what Ben wanted Jack for though the whole kidnapping scheme still seems to be as bit contrived. Juliet's surprise request at the end of the episode was a nice twist and made her character even more compelling.
The main story with Eko seemed rushed and pointless but that was due to some behind the scenes problems so I can't really blame the writers for this one. What I can blame the writers for is the continued poor development of new characters Nikki and Paulo. These two remained one of the worst mistakes the producers made. The flashbacks weren't bad but, like may from season 3, was unnecessary.
All in all it was not a bad episode but it continued the string of mediocre episodes from early season 3.
Favorite scene: The return of the smoke monster is always a treat even if it led to a tragic outcome.
Flashback: Eko begins his life as a priest.
Eko remains one of my all time favorite Lost characters so this episode is bittersweet for me. It was one of the better episodes from early season 3 but that's not saying much. I was happy to finally find out what Ben wanted Jack for though the whole kidnapping scheme still seems to be as bit contrived. Juliet's surprise request at the end of the episode was a nice twist and made her character even more compelling.
The main story with Eko seemed rushed and pointless but that was due to some behind the scenes problems so I can't really blame the writers for this one. What I can blame the writers for is the continued poor development of new characters Nikki and Paulo. These two remained one of the worst mistakes the producers made. The flashbacks weren't bad but, like may from season 3, was unnecessary.
All in all it was not a bad episode but it continued the string of mediocre episodes from early season 3.
Favorite scene: The return of the smoke monster is always a treat even if it led to a tragic outcome.
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