Lost: Season 2, Episode 10 "The 23rd Psalm" Review

"You gonna beat me with your Jesus-stick?"
-Charlie Pace




The 10th episode of season 2 of Lost follows Mr. Eko (Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje).  In flashbacks, a group of guerrilla soldiers arrive in Eko's village.  They try to force his little brother, Yemi (Adetokumboh M'Cormack), to shoot an old man, but Eko does it for him and the guerrillas take Eko with them.  Eko grows up to be a warlord and approaches Yemi, who is now a priest, for help getting drugs out of the country.  Yemi refuses until Eko's friends threaten to burn Yemi's church to the ground.  Yemi is forced to make Eko a priest.  In return, Eko pays for polio vaccines for the village.

As Eko prepares to fly the drugs out, Yemi arrives at the airfield and begs him not to go.  The military arrives and Yemi is injured in the shootout.  Eko and his partner, Goldie (Ronald Revels), get Yemi on the plane, but Goldie tosses Eko out and flies away.

On the island, Eko and Claire (Emilie de Ravin) talk for the first time and she reveals Charlie (Dominic Monaghan) has a statue of the Virgin Mary.  Mr. Eko smashes it showing Claire the heroin inside.  Eko forces Charlie to take him to where he found the statue and reveals he knows about the plane.  The monster appears, but Eko stares down the creature and it goes away.  The two make it to the plane where Eko reveals that the body inside the plane is Yemi's.  He and Charlie burn the plane and pray.

After returning to camp, Claire kicks Charlie out of her shelter for lying to her.  Michael (Harold Perrineau) convinces Locke (Terry O'Quinn) to teach him how to shoot.  He then has another conversation on the computer with someone he believes to be Walt (Malcolm David Kelley) and is nearly caught by Jack (Matthew Fox).  It's revealed that Charlie has a stockpile of Virgin Mary statues full of heroin.


What Works:

Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje is just so good.  It's a shame he wasn't on Lost for longer.  He's a magnificent actor and showcases a massive range in this episode.  I can't give his portrayal of Mr. Eko enough praise.

The flashbacks are pretty spectacular.  The relationship between Eko and Yemi is fascinating I just wanted to know more about their lives.  Eko has a dark past and seeing what he has become on the island is really interesting.  It might be my favorite flashback story of the season.

Paring Mr. Eko and Charlie together was a stroke of genius.  The two have a lot in common.  Heroin is an important part of their backstory as is their relationships with their brothers.  They have a really interesting dynamic and it sets up nicely for their bromance for the rest of the season.

Our first really good look at the monster is positively thrilling.  It's an iconic image for a reason.  They milk those shots and really give us a good look at the monster, and somehow we just get even more questions than answers, as is tradition when it comes to Lost.


What Sucks:

My only complaint in this episode is Charlie.  He can be pretty grating at times.  I don't know why he lies to Eko so much.  Just show him the plane.  It's not that big a deal.  The softer moments between the two work fine, but when Charlie gets all self-righteous, he's annoying.


Platinum Polar Bear:

The Platinum Polar Bear goes to the most useful character in an episode.  For "The 23rd Psalm", the award goes to Mr. Eko for getting Charlie to take him to the plane, facing down the monster, and exposing Charlie's lies to Claire.  This is his 4th time winning the award, which is crazy impressive since he's only been on the show for 9 episodes.


Verdict:

"The 23rd Psalm is one of the strongest episodes of season 2.  Mr. Eko is fantastic, his flashbacks are some of the best, his paring with Charlie is great, and the scene with the monster is iconic.  I wish Charlie would mellow out a bit, but this episode has absolutely got it going on.

 9/10: Great  

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