The 23rd Psalm (11 Jan. 2006)

When Claire comments to Mr. Eko about the Virgin Mary statue which belongs to Charlie, he asks to see it, breaks it open, and exposes Charlie's secret to Claire. Mr. Eko makes Charlie show ... See full summary »

Director:

Matt Earl Beesley

Writers:

Jeffrey Lieber (creator), J.J. Abrams (creator),

Stars:

Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje, Naveen Andrews, Emilie de Ravin

Cast

Episode cast overview, first billed only:
Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje	...	Mr. Eko
Naveen Andrews	...	Sayid Jarrah (credit only)
Emilie de Ravin	...	Claire Littleton
Matthew Fox	...	Jack Shephard
Jorge Garcia	...	Hugo 'Hurley' Reyes
Josh Holloway	...	James 'Sawyer' Ford
Daniel Dae Kim	...	Jin Kwon
Yunjin Kim	...	Sun Kwon
Evangeline Lilly	...	Kate Austen
Dominic Monaghan	...	Charlie Pace
Terry O'Quinn	...	John Locke
Harold Perrineau	...	Michael Dawson
Michelle Rodriguez	...	Ana Lucia Cortez
Cynthia Watros	...	Elizabeth 'Libby' Smith
Adetokumboh M'Cormack	...	Yemi

Storyline

When Claire comments to Mr. Eko about the Virgin Mary statue which belongs to Charlie, he asks to see it, breaks it open, and exposes Charlie's secret to Claire. Mr. Eko makes Charlie show him the place where he found the crashed plane, while his past in Nigeria is presented in flashback. John Locke teaches Michael how to shoot a rifle, and Michael uses the computer to contact someone he believes to be Walt. Claire does not want Charlie to live close to her and her son any longer.

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Plot Keywords:

plane | church | criminal | cross | christianity | 

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Genres:

Adventure | Drama | Fantasy | Mystery | Sci-Fi | Thriller

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Certificate:

TV-14

Details

Language:

English Hausa

Release Date:

11 January 2006 (USA)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Bad Robot, Touchstone Television

Technical Specs

Runtime:

43 min

Sound Mix:

Stereo

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.78 : 1

Did You Know?

Goofs

When Eko smashes the Virgin Mary statue, you can see the bag of heroine fall off the table in a short clip, but in the next clip, it is centered on the table.

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Quotes

Mr. Eko: Climb that tree and perhaps we'll be able to get your bearings or see the plane.
Charlie: You climb it! What if I don't? You gonna beat me with your Jesus-stick?

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Soundtracks

"Main Title"
Written by J.J. Abrams

User Reviews

Eko time

Due to his cryptic behavior, as well as the fact that Oz veteran Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje plays him, Mr. Eko was, from the start, the most interesting addition to the castaway group in the second season of Lost. And now, thanks to Lindelof and Cuse, he finally gets his own episode, the religiously themed The 23rd Psalm.

Religion plays a significant role in the present day events, since Claire notices Eko's Biblical leanings and mentions the Virgin Mary statue Charlie retrieved in the previous season. Upon hearing of this, Eko takes the statue and reveals that it contains heroin, thus deteriorating Charlie's relationship with Claire. He then asks the former rock star to take him to the plane, of which he appears to have intimate knowledge. Meanwhile, Michael, unaware of the warning about misuse of the hatch computer, asks if he can take Kate's shift, allowing him to continue communicating in secret with Walt.

The plane's origin is explained in the flashbacks, which are set in guerrilla-torn Nigeria. Eko, having shown a predisposition for violence since childhood (similarly to the actor's Oz character, Simon Adebisi), has become a powerful warlord, a position that puts him at odds with his brother, a priest. The latter is selling Virgin Mary statues to raise money for polio vaccines, but Eko thinks they would be better used to smuggle drugs out of the country. And thus begins a series of events that will end with a crashed plane and two dead bodies, as established in Season One.

The episode, which takes its title from a piece of scripture that has been used many times in movies and television (the one about the Valley of the Shadow of Death), sheds some necessary light on Eko, giving him a back-story that also paves the way for some social commentary (much like Sayid's past as a Saddam-employed torturer), and defines him as a person already deeply tied to the series' mythology (case in point: his encounter with the Smoke Monster). Also notable, in terms of ongoing arcs, the Michael/Walt subplot which keeps suggesting a dark payoff, and a reminder of Charlie's troubled past, with one revelatory scene in particular serving as a warm-up for future installments. Good thing he didn't want anyone to get the wrong idea of the situation...