Episode 14 - Exposé
2 January 2009
Review
Present: Nikki stumbles out of the jungle and falls down dead in front of Sawyer and Hurley. They find Paulo dead too in the jungle. They find one of the Others’ walkie-talkie’s in their possessions and some diamonds buried near Paulo’s body. Suspicion falls on the monster and then on Sawyer. Charlie admits to Sun what he and Sawyer did to her (in 213). The camp bury Nikki and Paulo alive.
Flashback: Nikki is a guest star on the TV show Exposé. She is sleeping with the director and she and Paulo poison him in order to steal some diamonds. On the island Nikki is desperate to find them but Paulo begins to worry that she won’t need him once she finds them. They ask Ethan and Arzt for help and discover the Pearl station. Paulo finds the diamonds in the lake where Sawyer and Kate found the guns (112) and hides them in the Pearl. There he overhears Ben and Juliet planning to use Michael to get to Jack. Nikki discovers Paulo’s deception and uses one of Arzt’s spiders to paralyse Paulo. She is then bitten as well and they are both still alive when buried.
The Good: This is yet another inventive and outside the box effort from the producers of Lost. It would seem that Nikki and Paulo were introduced to answer one of those long standing complaints, about why we never got to know any of the other survivors from the plane crash. The producers clearly realised the limits which the flashback formula placed on them and decided to introduce new characters to give them something to play with. Owing to fan backlash against them and perhaps running out of episodes to spend on them, the producers decided to kill Nikki and Paulo off in one episode.
And this is about as entertaining and as comprehensive a way to accomplish that. The episode works really well as a mystery, a detective story where only the audience get to find out the truth. The strange shots of Nikki and Paulo, seemingly undamaged, with their eyes open is a nice hook to keep viewers interested in finding out what is really going on. The final scene where the beloved Hurley and Sawyer bury them alive is pretty shocking. It’s typically clever but unexpectedly brutal stuff.
That brutality is well justified in punishing Nikki and Paulo for their sins. Throughout the episode their greed, lies and jealousy make them clearly deserving of a bad fate. But within that we also see how human they are which was much needed. The story of Paulo’s growing insecurity and paranoia about Nikki’s true feelings is well told and his paralysed crying is a sad and effective way to draw the final sympathy from the audience as Nikki desperately runs to try and find help. The smoke monster is clearly involved again which fits the theme of judgement that it meted out to Eko (in 305). But whether it is the smoke monster or Paulo’s tearful explanation we have enough of an excuse to understand why Nikki stands transfixed as the spiders (which Arzt warned her about) begin to approach.
The episode is also full of little fun twists and lines as the writers decide to make full use of this opportunity. The use of a scene from Exposé as Nikki’s opening flashback is a nice little twist as is Paulo’s seemingly innocent appearance as Zuckerman’s chef. Then we get cameo’s from Boone, Shannon, Ethan and Arzt which is a nice touch for long time fans. Arzt makes the most of his return playing the comedy well as ever. We get to see old wise Locke once more as he gives sage advice to Paulo. Then we get fan theories being dismissed as Nikki rubbishes talk of dinosaur’s, they don’t turn out to be working for the Others and Paulo’s trip to the Pearl bathroom (305) is explained. Amongst these the most telling seems to be Nikki asking Paulo to promise that they will never end up like Boone and Shannon. The irony being that Boone and Shannon are now dead and buried on the island too. Although Nikki’s comment that “we all know what happens to guest stars” is up there.
Finally we have Sawyer and Charlie’s abduction of Sun (213) wrapped up for good. Her reaction is suitably sensible and restrained and it is good to see Charlie, now rehabilitated, seeking redemption.
The Bad: I am not happy with Sawyer constantly asking who Nikki and Paulo are. The joke seems to be that to wink at casual viewers the writers decide to have Sawyer say what people may be thinking. But that seems ridiculous considering we then see them as part of the camp for the entire eighty odd days they have been there. It’s a joke too far for my liking.
You won’t be shocked to find me complaining about Nikki and Paulo discovering the plane and the Pearl station either. Again, despite their greed, these two would have been just as keen as anyone else to escape the island. So to find evidence of human civilisation on the island like this should have driven them to tell the survivors what they found. It just seems too ridiculous for them not to.
When they steal Zuckerman’s diamonds Nikki warns Paulo of leaving evidence, yet she is touching his private safe with her bare hands. Ben telling Juliet he is going to exploit whatever Jack is emotionally invested in seems a bit on the nose. Everyone seems to be of the opinion that he is a master manipulator so why have him admit this so brazenly? Particularly to Juliet who he is keeping on the island against her will.
The Unknown: Vincent uncovers the bodies of Nikki and Paulo. This seems to add further evidence that he is no ordinary dog.
Best Moment: The final shots and the realisation of how creepy their burial really is.
The Bottom Line: I give Lost huge credit for doing something so different and doing it so well. If the deciding factor really was the fan backlash though, I think the producers should have gone ahead with what they had planned. Once you start caving in to fan pressure you can ruin a good thing. However the writers seem to have learnt from their mistakes. When they killed off Arzt (124) I was shocked by the callous and flippant manner in which this “guest star” was treated. However the writers find a much more interesting and appropriate way to get rid of Nikki and Paulo.
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