Complete Episode Guide: Episode 3x5, The Cost of Living Guide
The Cost of Living Clues
- When Eko sees the thugs in the jungle, one of them is missing an arm. Later, we see in his flashbacks that he cuts the arm off of one of them. Missing arms is a recurring theme (Dr. Marvin Candle had a prosthetic, Kate's farmer had a prosthetic). Missing an arm has something to do with the island's mysteries.
- Ben must not really be able to get off of the island as he told Jack, otherwise, he could go to a medical facility to get his tumor removed.
Questions Raised by The Cost of Living
- How did the fire start in Eko's shelter? Was there someone else in there that Eko thought was Yemi? Was it the smoke monster making itself look like Yemi?
- Is Colleen really dead? Why did Ben bring Jack to the funeral? (see: The Cost of Living Theories)
- John Fischer brings up some really good questions about Ben's tumor in the comments section of the blog post The Cost of Living - First Impressions:
- Why didn’t the island heal it? (I think because the island doesn't heal all diseases with all people. The energies are different in different places, and this isn't the right place for Ben.)
- Why such an elaborate scheme to kidnap Jack just to brainwash him into operating on Ben? Why not just grab Jack early on by himself or when they had him with Locke, Kate and Sawyer?
- Why does Juliet feel the need for such an elaborate plot to kill Ben? Why not just let him die?
- If Ben is so ill, why did he let himself become a prisoner of the Losties? (Ep: 2x14, One of Them)
- Where did Yemi's body go?
- Locke said that Eko whispered just before he died, "You're next." Is that really what Eko said? If so, was that all he said? And did he mean just Locke, Locke and Sayid, or all of the Losties?
