# Lost 3.5: The Cost of Living **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [November 1, 2006, 7:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lost-3-5-the-cost-of-living/378769 "2006-11-01T19:20:24Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Antigen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/848f3c/32.png) [@Antigen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Antigen)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2006, 5:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lost-3-5-the-cost-of-living/378769/61 "2006-11-02T05:35:50Z")
[QUOTE=OpalCat] What does TCM stand for? [/QUOTE] Tree Crushing Monster. ---
**Author:** ![Monstre](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e274bd/32.png) [@Monstre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monstre)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2006, 5:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lost-3-5-the-cost-of-living/378769/62 "2006-11-02T05:38:56Z")
Just watching it now (taped earlier tonight). Random comments as I go… Hah – an Others Funeral. They look like the Koo-Koo Klan. Woohoo, the smoke monster is back! Jack: “I’m not big on mysteries” Juliet: “Of course you’re not.” Now there’s the understatement of the year. Heh – that look from Benry when he came into cheeseburger lunch. Didn’t seem too happy that his lady was getting flirty with Jack. Cool – so Juliet looking like Jack’s ex is no coincidence. 'course, she kind of looks like Penny, too – so maybe Ben can use his grand plan on Desmond instead, as soon as he needs something from him. 😉 Interesting Ben talking about proof of God (dropping Jack out of the sky), because last season I remember him saying something like, “God doesn’t know where we are.” Oooh – dissent among the Others! And they want him to make it a hypocritic oath, it seems… Crap! The smoke monster killed Eko… I liked him. I guess Bernard is the only remaining Tailie. (unless any of the captured tailies show up later). I’m not particularly impressed with the new guy – Raoul? – yet. He doesn’t seem to have much personality. He’s kind of uninteresting. ---
**Author:** ![Monstre](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e274bd/32.png) [@Monstre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monstre)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2006, 5:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lost-3-5-the-cost-of-living/378769/63 "2006-11-02T05:59:03Z")
[QUOTE=AttackOfTheSmurf] All I’m saying is that the sounds that were going on while it was slapping Eko all over the place sounded pretty odd and mechanical to me. Obviously you disagree. [/QUOTE] Visually, it didn’t look mechanical. But it certainly _sounded_ mechanical. As it has before. In fact, when Eko was getting slammed into trees, it was producing the same sound as it did when it was dragging Locke along the ground to the hole, back in the season 1 finale. Sounded like chains being wound or unwound by a winch, or something. And the usual louder grinding crashing metal sounds. Guess we know the answer to Charlie’s question when he saw the pilot back in the Pilot (pun intended) up in the tree – “What could do that?” “Hello, this is your captain speaking. I’m personally experiencing a little turbulence, and I just wanted to let everybody know… you’re next!” ---
**Author:** ![Oslo\_Ostragoth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/a9a28c/32.png) [@Oslo\_Ostragoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oslo_Ostragoth)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2006, 6:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lost-3-5-the-cost-of-living/378769/64 "2006-11-02T06:07:27Z")
[QUOTE=Antigen] Ok. What changed about Locke between the two encounters? Did he veer towards evil? _Why_ was it beautiful the first time he saw it and then murderous the next? He rescued Eko from the polar bear cave to make up for getting Boone killed - but Eko died anyway. What does this mean for Locke? This is going to drive me nuts. [/QUOTE] Rank speculation on my part: At Locke’s first encounter, he had just regained the use of his legs, and had been granted the opportunity for the Ultimate Walkabout. He had to be in a sublimely happy mental state. His second encounter? Maybe his mental state changed because of Karma (this was just after Boone died, right?), or maybe it still appeared beautiful to him and dark and dangerous to others, including the audience. ---
**Author:** ![Monstre](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e274bd/32.png) [@Monstre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monstre)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2006, 6:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lost-3-5-the-cost-of-living/378769/65 "2006-11-02T06:08:01Z")
[QUOTE=Monstre] I’m not particularly impressed with the new guy – Raoul? – yet. He doesn’t seem to have much personality. He’s kind of uninteresting. [/QUOTE] Whoops… Paulo. See? He’s so boring I forgot his name. Looks like the new characters are there to be the new Pretty Airheads, now that Boone and Shannon are pushing up the daisies. Lets hope the newbies follow in their footsteps. ---
**Author:** ![Foldup\_Rabbit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/df788c/32.png) [@Foldup\_Rabbit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Foldup_Rabbit)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2006, 6:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lost-3-5-the-cost-of-living/378769/66 "2006-11-02T06:12:04Z")
[QUOTE=Antigen] Tree Crushing Monster. [/QUOTE] Weird. I always assumed it stood for The Cloud Monster. I have learned something. ---
**Author:** ![lachesis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/848f3c/32.png) [@lachesis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lachesis)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2006, 6:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lost-3-5-the-cost-of-living/378769/67 "2006-11-02T06:16:54Z")
personally, i’m giving a great big **WTF??** over the smoke monster killing Eko _this_ time. what changed between encounters 1 and 2??? (other than us getting more flashbacks on Eko’s past, of course.) he hasn’t been any different in real (island) time than he had been when they first came eyeball-to-uhhhh-telepathic nebulousness. so why NOW does it decide to play rugbeater with him? the number of people he’s killed hasn’t changed. (his past is immutably his past–regardless of whether or not we’ve been made aware of it yet.) he hasn’t hurt anyone on the island since Encounter #1. and i seriously doubt that his attitude towards his past has had any radical change. so what the hell…? seriously, i’m starting to sense sharks beginning a slow circle. ---
**Author:** ![Blue\_Willow\_Plate](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/c2a13f/32.png) [@Blue\_Willow\_Plate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blue_Willow_Plate)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2006, 6:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lost-3-5-the-cost-of-living/378769/68 "2006-11-02T06:39:04Z")
I love the show but pay little attention to net discussions. For what it’s worth, here’s what I saw tonight: 1. Eko had regrets and the smoke killed him. 2. We have absolutely no information about the pilot (remember the pilot?) AT ALL. Perhaps the smoke killed the pilot first because he was not only the easiest target but also the person with the most/biggest regrets. Lots of people on this show have done dumb things but, IIRC, Eko is the only one who “caused” (and I’m advisedly using quote marks) a death. Perhaps the pilot was former military and killed people. 3. The Others have been there a long time. Perhaps they have figured out a way to get stuff to and from the island while avoiding the smoke (Force?) that runs things. 3a. The Others know the danger of the smoke but don’t know exactly how to deal with it. 3b. The Others, using that knowledge, get kids off the island(s) as they know it’s unhealthy for them. In my random net readings I’ve picked up on the idea that some viewers are impatient with the slow exposition of this series. Is that sentiment common here? I, personally, am tired of programs that are neatly wrapped up within 30/60 minutes and it’s refreshing to watch a program that paralells real life: Not black and white but lots of greys; no real answers until days or months or years after the event; information that comes out in dribs and drabs rather than an extensive, exhaustive, and utterly boring PowerPoint presentation played out on a screen (while you have the entire script in front of you!). Which isn’t to say that I don’t have my complaints, of course, and tonight’s episode not only showed it but fixed it. My largest complaint is that the flashbacks often just pop up. Tonight they not only showed Eko’s flashback; they also flashed back to the flashbacks: They showed what happened before to remind me so I would understand what’s happening now. I often get lost in the flashbacks because they are so sporadic I’ve forgotten about the last one, but tonight they did it all. ---
**Author:** ![Monstre](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e274bd/32.png) [@Monstre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monstre)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2006, 7:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lost-3-5-the-cost-of-living/378769/69 "2006-11-02T07:00:55Z")
[QUOTE=Blue Willow Plate] Lots of people on this show have done dumb things but, IIRC, Eko is the only one who “caused” (and I’m advisedly using quote marks) a death. [/QUOTE] Eko’s definitely not the only one to have “caused” a death. Kate blew up her real father (thinking at the time he was her stepfather, I think – but still, he was a drunk and a wife-beater, I believe. I think Kate did it to protect Mom). Kate also got her old schoolgirl crush Tom killed when she was escaping authorities yet again – although she technically didn’t pull the trigger on that one. Sawyer shot and killed the guy that he thought was the real “Sawyer” – which turned out to be the wrong guy, just a guy that owed Hibbs money. Of course, Ana Lucia killed the guy who had wounded her (and killed her unborn child) – took him out in an alley so that she wouldn’t have to arrest him and have the justice system give him a lesser penalty than she thought appropriate. She also killed Shannon. Although as she’s now dead, maybe she doesn’t count. ---
**Author:** ![Blue\_Willow\_Plate](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/c2a13f/32.png) [@Blue\_Willow\_Plate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blue_Willow_Plate)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2006, 7:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lost-3-5-the-cost-of-living/378769/70 "2006-11-02T07:15:43Z")
[QUOTE=Monstre] Eko’s definitely not the only one to have “caused” a death. Kate blew up her real father (thinking at the time he was her stepfather, I think – but still, he was a drunk and a wife-beater, I believe. I think Kate did it to protect Mom). Kate also got her old schoolgirl crush Tom killed when she was escaping authorities yet again – although she technically didn’t pull the trigger on that one. Sawyer shot and killed the guy that he thought was the real “Sawyer” – which turned out to be the wrong guy, just a guy that owed Hibbs money. Of course, Ana Lucia killed the guy who had wounded her (and killed her unborn child) – took him out in an alley so that she wouldn’t have to arrest him and have the justice system give him a lesser penalty than she thought appropriate. She also killed Shannon. Although as she’s now dead, maybe she doesn’t count. [/QUOTE] None of which is the same thing as “regret”, is it? Eko obviously felt really bad about what happened. Kate doesn’t apparently give a shit about what happened; she’s just scared about what might happen to her. Ditto Sawyer. Regardless, I am seriously not interested in a serious debate and am simply tossing some more hats into the SDMB’s ring. To me this show is an onion and the layers are intriguing. I still trust that the writers and the network will reveal all in their own time and not be cheesy about the end. OR I WILL HUNT THEM DOWN AND KILL THEM! Ok not really. ---
**Author:** ![Frylock](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ce7236/32.png) [@Frylock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frylock)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2006, 7:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lost-3-5-the-cost-of-living/378769/71 "2006-11-02T07:17:59Z")
[QUOTE=Monstre] Kate blew up her real father (thinking at the time he was her stepfather, I think – but still, he was a drunk and a wife-beater, I believe. I think Kate did it to protect Mom). [/QUOTE] Woa, wait, what? When and how was it revealed that that was her real dad? -FrL- ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2006, 7:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lost-3-5-the-cost-of-living/378769/72 "2006-11-02T07:24:03Z")
OK, that was weird. Very disjointed. I didn’t like the TCM slamming Eko against the tree stuff. That’s cartoonish. Eko’s backstory seemed to consumre more air time than the “real” story. I don’t trust anything The Others say. Not Benry, not Juliet, not no one. For all I know, they’ll have Jack operate on who he thinks is Benry, and it’ll be someone else. BTW, I wondering if next week we’ll see Benry’s backstory. Now, that could change everything we know abotu the Island! Anyone notice the vaccine drops in Eko’s village-- every 6 months. Kinda like the Dharma drops on The Island…? I loved Sayid’s psuedo-enngineering: This wiring only goes one way. WTF? One-eyed guy knows when his observation camera is on. We know of 4 of the bunkers, so he must be in one of the other 2. ---
**Author:** ![Foldup\_Rabbit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/df788c/32.png) [@Foldup\_Rabbit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Foldup_Rabbit)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2006, 7:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lost-3-5-the-cost-of-living/378769/73 "2006-11-02T07:34:56Z")
[QUOTE=Frylock] Woa, wait, what? When and how was it revealed that that was her real dad? -FrL- [/QUOTE] That was _why_ Kate exploded him, IIRC. She found some photo of the man she thought was her real father that clearly showed him on duty overseas and was clearly dated around the time she would have been conceived, proving that the jerky stepdad was actually her real father. ---
**Author:** ![Rilchiam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/2bfe46/32.png) [@Rilchiam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rilchiam)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2006, 7:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lost-3-5-the-cost-of-living/378769/74 "2006-11-02T07:48:44Z")
[QUOTE=lachesis] personally, i’m giving a great big **WTF??** over the smoke monster killing Eko _this_ time. what changed between encounters 1 and 2??? (other than us getting more flashbacks on Eko’s past, of course.) he hasn’t been any different in real (island) time than he had been when they first came eyeball-to-uhhhh-telepathic nebulousness. so why NOW does it decide to play rugbeater with him? [/QUOTE] WAG: During the first encounter, it gathered information from him about his past. Based on that, it knew how to assume the form of Eko’s brother, and how to manipulate him in general. It wants to take out the two leaders (Jack is the human Others’ headache), so when Eko said “You’re next,” he meant Locke and only Locke. ---
**Author:** ![MaxTheVool](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9fc29f/32.png) [@MaxTheVool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MaxTheVool)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2006, 7:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lost-3-5-the-cost-of-living/378769/75 "2006-11-02T07:55:26Z")
Am I the only one who suspects that Ben has no tumor at all, and the whole thing is a big setup? And if he does, why doesn’t the Magic Healing Power of the Island cure it? I agree that Benry flashbacks would be AWESOME, and a serious shot in the arm for the show. ---
**Author:** ![BlackKnight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/eb8c5e/32.png) [@BlackKnight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BlackKnight)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2006, 11:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lost-3-5-the-cost-of-living/378769/76 "2006-11-02T11:32:16Z")
[QUOTE=Blue Willow Plate] We have absolutely no information about the pilot (remember the pilot?) AT ALL. Perhaps the smoke killed the pilot first because he was not only the easiest target but also the person with the most/biggest regrets. [/QUOTE] Perhaps he was full of regret because he deliberately flew the plane 1000 miles off-course (for as yet unknown reasons) - which inadvertantly led to the crash. WAG: The smoke monster appears to be some sort of psychic entity. (Appears. That may not mean much.) It scans people’s minds and judges them. I think something along those lines would make a brilliant security system. It can tell if someone has evil intent, or is a “bad” person for some definition of “bad”. Of course, no security system works perfectly all the time. Especially not if it’s been around without maintenance for a long, long time. Even Wilder WAG: So let’s say there’s this island which is some kind of Atlantis. Four-toed beings live there with psychic powers and advanced technology. They create a security system to protect the place. Something happens. Time passes. The security system goes haywire. (Or, given that it may be sentient, let’s say it “goes mad”.) Left alone, it uses its immense powers to achieve its goals, which may or may not be rational. At times it can project its energy at a distance, causing subtle influences in the world. It arranges for things to happen, things which might otherwise appear to be very odd coincidences. However, they are all planned meticulously and are leading up to the culmination of some grand scheme. (Perhaps the scheme is to end its own psychotic misery. Perhaps it cannot die in ordinary ways, and requires a powerful psychic WAAAAAAAAAALT, an Iraqi McGuyver, a Korean fisherman, and a spinal surgeon to commit the smoke-monster equivalent of harikari. Or something.) Too cheesy? Too outlandish even for LOST? How about both? 😃 ---
**Author:** ![running\_piglet\_cheese](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/22d042/32.png) [@running\_piglet\_cheese](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_piglet_cheese)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2006, 11:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lost-3-5-the-cost-of-living/378769/77 "2006-11-02T11:46:52Z")
This whole seeing things that aren’t there, can’t be halucinations. Sawyer saw Kate’s horse and more than one person saw Walt. Was Eko’s brother the only “dead” apparition that spoke? On how the Others know so much about the Losties if they didn’t cause the crash: Spies gathered names and flight info. This was sent to contacts outside and these contacts provided additional info, arrest reports, etc. I think the TCM doesn’t affect the Others because it’s based on the Crash Island, not on the Suburb Island. I liked that Eko refused to be manipulated by the guilt trip Pseudo Bro via the TCM laid on him. He stood by his actions as the best he could under the circumstances and because he didn’t back down he was killed. I guess the picture of the two boys walking off together was supposed to represent the reuniting with real brother after death. ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Some\_Guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ad7895/32.png) [@Just\_Some\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Some_Guy)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2006, 11:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lost-3-5-the-cost-of-living/378769/78 "2006-11-02T11:59:40Z")
Given that we’ve already been told that the island removes fatal tumors it’s safe to say that this is yet more head games by the Others. Even if we hadn’t been told that it would still be reasonably safe to say that since its safe to assume that anything the Others do is just head games. ---
**Author:** ![running\_piglet\_cheese](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/22d042/32.png) [@running\_piglet\_cheese](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_piglet_cheese)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2006, 12:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lost-3-5-the-cost-of-living/378769/79 "2006-11-02T12:11:42Z")
[QUOTE=Just Some Guy] Given that we’ve already been told that the island removes fatal tumors it’s safe to say that this is yet more head games by the Others. Even if we hadn’t been told that it would still be reasonably safe to say that since its safe to assume that anything the Others do is just head games. [/QUOTE] But the Others aren’t on \*\*The Island[/B . And perhaps they don’t know about the healing qualities if they aren’t over there all that much. ---
**Author:** ![PunditLisa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/4af34b/32.png) [@PunditLisa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PunditLisa)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2006, 12:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lost-3-5-the-cost-of-living/378769/80 "2006-11-02T12:24:21Z")
[QUOTE=Monstre] Visually, it didn’t look mechanical. But it certainly _sounded_ mechanical. As it has before. In fact, when Eko was getting slammed into trees, it was producing the same sound as it did when it was dragging Locke along the ground to the hole, back in the season 1 finale. Sounded like chains being wound or unwound by a winch, or something. And the usual louder grinding crashing metal sounds. [/QUOTE] I’ve always thought that it sounded like a wooden roller coaster. You know, the sound it makes as you’re climbing up the huge hill before going, “AAAAAAAAAAAH!” [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lost-3-5-the-cost-of-living/378769.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lost-3-5-the-cost-of-living/378769.md?page=5)