'Lost': Who the hell are you?
I double-checked, and tonight's episode of Lost was not directed by George Lucas. It just felt that way a few times, with its "special edition"-like splicing in of newbies Nikki and Paolo into old footage.
While that was a nice piece of editing, particularly in the crash scene, it has to be asked: Is this a dirty trick on the part of the show's producers? We all knew that the actors playing Nikki and Paolo, Kiele Sanchez and Rodrigo Santoro, weren't really there the first two seasons. Did the episode have to be structured in such a way that makes it appear they were?
Or, to put it another way, does the stuff we learned -- about them and about the island -- justify monkeying with the show's history?
I'll let you all debate the answer to those questions down there in the comments. Me? The intercutting frankly made me cringe. For about half the episode it felt like the show was using the fancy editing to justify the existence of two characters (three, really: Daniel Roebuck's Arzt figured prominently in some of those scenes -- and was it really necessary to bring Boone and Shannon back just for that?) that have been unpopular this season.
On the other hand, I enjoyed the way the episode played with the flashback structure a little bit (plus, Billy Dee Williams!). It was a smart move not to give Nikki and Paolo a deep, years-ago flashback; we're just not invested in either of them like that. But by focusing mostly on the time after the crash, we got to see things from a slightly different angle, a la "The Other 48 Days" last season.
And, thanks to Paolo's sneakiness, we now know what was on Ben's mind when he got himself captured and hauled off to the hatch. We see him and Juliet in the Pearl station, talking about how to get Jack to perform surgery on him. Juliet quite reasonably wonders how the hell he'll accomplish that. His reply: "Same thing I always do -- find out what he's emotionally invested in and exploit that." And in about 60 seconds, we have an explanation for Walt's kidnapping, the luring of Michael to the other side of the island, and why they also grabbed Sawyer and Kate. Plausible? Not especially. But I'm sure it made sense to Ben in his head.
Conveniently, Paolo was in the bathroom hiding the diamonds at the time, so we got to hear the whole thing.
Nikki and Paolo's situation also gave rise to the revelation that it wasn't the Others who abducted Sun, but Charlie (at Sawyer's behest). Which is fine, I guess, although aside from Sun giving Sawyer a slap, it just sort of laid there. Hopefully we'll get to explore it more somewhere down the line.
Once again, ABC's promo department made sure we weren't surprised by the deaths of Nikki and Paolo -- and I do think it's safe to assume they won't dig out of the sand. They pretty much brought their demise on themselves, too, which I imagine suits the better part of Lost fandom just fine.
So we're back to the original question: Does what we found out through Nikki and Paolo make their creation and two-thirds-of-a-season of presence on Lost worthwhile?
Let us know what you think.
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I am a devoted LOST fan, and didn't enjoy tonight's episode.
Why must they continue the one good episode and then one bad??
Are you sure you're watching the same show? The audience has always know it was Charlie and Sawyer who "kidnapped" Sun. Am I right or do I have Desmond like powers as well?!!
I've always enjoyed LOST. The best way to enjoy it, avoid the the promos. Us in Canada do not get promos an I enjoyed this episode ALOT. And I'm glad they brought back the "siblings" it makes it more plausible in the storyline, since they were a major part of beginning. BRING BACK ROSE
I wasn't nearly as bothered by the recutting of old material as I was by the super meta-references in the first couple scenes. It's bad enough to have a guest character who gets killed off talk about being a guest character who gets killed off, but then, to have "the Tom Cruise of Brazil" play a chef who's "The wolfgang Puck Of Brazil". BLggh.
I wish they'd made Arzt a season regular instead of blowing him up, cause I'm suddenly reminded that Arzt was awesome.
While Nikki and Paulo really did nothing for the show, I have to give credit to their respective agents. They were in a handful of episodes, but instead of being listed as recurring characters, they got opening credits. Sucks for Mira Furlan, Sam Anderson, M.C. Gainey and the other recurring stars that aren't giving that luxury. I'm sure they got paid for all the eps also, unlike the aforementioned guest stars - who by the way add a hell of a lot more to the story than Kiele Sanchez and Rodrigo Santoro ever could have hoped to do.
It was a filler episode, which is fine. Every series needs them, and thanks to some forethought by the creative team it wasn't dropped in out of nowhere. It didn't really mess with the history of the show, because they didn't do anything to change anything. We knew other people were there for the crash, Jack's speech, etc. Now we got to see it from a different camera angle. It wasn't heavy. It wasn't serious. It was filler and parts of it were even fun. I'm still waiting for Vincent the Dog's flashback though.
Well I liked the episode. It wasn't, as I said last week's was, the Best. Ever. but it was pretty good. Some really funny moments mixed in with the drama. Especially Shannon, accusing Boone of flirting with Paulo and calling Kate on "her two boyfriends."
Poor Boone. If only he knew when he was asking for that pen that he'd need a trache himself in about 40 days.
Nice also to see Yunjin's story explode out of the gate tonight. Sun is one of the more intriguing characters on the show, so I'm anxious to see what happens next, espcially since her husband and Sawyer are buddy-buddy since the raft.
I liked how the whole episode had an '80s vibe to it. The show she was on, the gotcha ending, Billy Dee Williams.
At least the show is self aware enough to point out once again how much easier things would be if everyone shared information. "Hey, we found a plane and a hatch." "Uh, I overheard these two people talking about emotionally blackmailing Jack into performing some sort of surgery."
Yes, exactly. That's a theme on the show that isn't really ever talked about in all the media, that if people were a lot more honest and open, less bad things would happen. The use of Jack's "live together, die alone" speech was perfectly timed, given that is what happened to Nikki and Paulo.
I did love finally getting some answers as to who was behind the cig butts in the Pearl (it was Tom), a return to the gun case waterfall, and getting to actually see what Arzt was up to.
And I NEVER get tired of Sawyer asking who the hell Nikki is.
My only gripe is simple: I really was hoping Nikki and Pauolo would have died together in the caves, with them replacing the "adam and eve", while their sack o' diamonds replaced the black & white stones. The good and evil duality gives out to the clarity of gl***ish gems.
For the record, next week, things get more tense for Sawyer, thanks at least in part to the revelation to Sun.
I thought it made a good episode for an anthology show like the Twilight Zone or the Outer Limits or something, but I felt it was totally out of place on Lost. What was the point of their characters in the first place, if only to be killed? I LOVE Lost, but this wasn't one of it's better episodes.