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'Lost': Exposé
In the years and decades to come, how will Kiele Sanchez and Rodrigo Santoro be treated at Lost-Cons? Heck, will they even bother to show up? Tough to say, although time heals most wounds. Needless to say, were there a Lost convention today, with each Lost actor at an individual table, not many would be lining up to get the autographs of Nikki and Paulo. (They'd be fighting for Shortest Line Duty with Michelle Rodriguez, I fear.) But hey, I'm not here to posit the crowd psychology at a fictional geek-fest: I'm here to talk about the life and death of two of Lost's most infamous characters.
(Read my original thoughts on this episode here.)
Exposé
4) In Short
"DIE! DIE! DIE!"
8) Now
Nikki runs through the jungle rapidly. She buries something in the dirt, then continues onward. On the beach, Sawyer still can't beat Hurley at ping pong. The game gets interrupted when Nikki pops out of the jungle and promptly collapses. Before they can get help, Hurley tells Sawyer that Nikki's dead. "Who the hell's Nikki?" asks Sawyer. Amen, brother.
Several Lostaways examine Nikki's dead body. Sawyer and Hurley try to figure out Nikki's last words: something like "power lines" or "Paulo lies" (when he cries). Hurley, Sawyer, and Jin soon find Paulo in the jungle, as dead as Nikki. His pants are undone and his shoes are in a nearby tree. Jin and Hurley think this is the Monster's doing, thanks to Eko's last words. Sawyer's skeptical, and thinks they should investigate them. After all, barely anyone knows their names, never mind their backgrounds. In their tent, Hurley finds a script for "Exposé," and Sawyer finds a walkie talkie that exactly matches those used by the Others over on Hydra Island.
Paranoia sweeps camp as they try to figure out the Others' relationship to Nikki and Paulo. Sawyer thinks they could be right around the corner; Hurley's not so sure, noting the distance between themselves and the Pala Ferry. Sun reminds us all that an "Other" kidnapped her during Season 2, which prompts a lot of "ruh row" looks from Charlie and Sawyer. Anxious to leave, Sawyer pulls out a gun and offers to do a perimeter sweep. The presence of a gun alarms Hurley. The presence of this episode alarms me even more.
Hurley asks Desmond if his "superpowers" lend him any insight into Nikki and Paulo's death. Des explains it doesn't quite work that way, though he did see Sawyer arguing with her earlier in the morning. This confuses Detective Reyes, hot on the trail of a killer!
Back on the beach, Vincent pulls the tarp off the dead bodies. Vincent rules all. Hurley explains his Sawyer theory, which doesn't make sense to Sun at all. She's still hooked on the "Others" theory. When Hurley fetches Desmond to corroborate his theory, Charlie confesses to Sun that he helped kidnap her. It's a painful, painful scene, and almost justifies this episode's existence. Almost.
When Sawyer returns to the makeshift graveyard, Hurley demands that he give back the gun. When confronted, Sawyer denies killing them, and tells them what "sweeping the perimeter" really means. After seeing the dirt under her nails, Sawyer figured she buried something before dying. That something? A small black bag filled with diamonds, which he tosses to Sun.
While Sawyer digs the grave for the unlucky pair, Sun confronts Sawyer about the kidnapping plot. He wants to know if she'll tell Jin; she says she's not interested in digging another grave. She hands back the diamonds, slaps him across the face, and leaves him alone with his diamonds and his shame. Hurley once again takes the role of MC at an Island funeral. Just before burying them, Sawyer sprinkles them with the diamonds. Dirt soon follows, as Nikki's suddenly alert eyes see their last image.
15) Then
Nikki comes onstage in an adult establishment and performs a strip tease. She sees Creepy Pony Tail Man walk past her, which leads her back to an office. Inside the office? The Cobra, naturally, played by Billy Dee Williams. He's stolen the money intended for the orphanage! Lando, noooo! Nikki shouts, "Razzle dazzle!” and disarms Creepy Pony Tail Man, only to be plugged a half dozen times by The Cobra. Just when you're ready to ask when Lost completely went off the deep end, we realize we've been watching an episode of a television program. Inside a television program. Get it? Yea, I know.
As Nikki leaves the set, her director Howard says she can always stay on the show, even though Lando just totally killed her. We learn that she's merely a guest star on the show, and oh, she's sleeping with the director. You stay classy, Nikki!
84 Days Ago: Nikki and Howard are enjoying a meal cooked by Captain Toilet himself, Paulo. Howard gives her a diamond bracelet, but suddenly keels over dead. Rather than mourn his death, Nikki instantly rips open his shirt to find a key attached to his necklace. Looks like Nikki's been chowing down on more than Paulo's truffles recently. The two go to his closet. Inside? A russian doll. Inside the doll? Something purty.
80 Days Ago: Nikki and Paulo read Howard's obituary while waiting to board Oceanic 815. They celebrate their successful murder with champagne in the airport lounge, with the Russian doll safely ensconced in Paulo's travel bag. They cheer their new life together while watching Shannon and Boone fight their way through the lounge. Nikki asks Paulo to promise they'll never end up like them. You mean "dead on the Island?" Aaah, the irony.
Hard cut to Shannon screaming on the beach. It's Day One on the Island, and we're watching the carnage through the eyes of Nikki and Paulo this time. Think Forrest Gump with more explosions. While looking for Paulo, she runs into Arzt and Boone (who's looking for a pen, in a clever touch). When she finds Paulo, she's less interested in the state of her boyfriend than the state of his bag.
75 Days Ago: Nikki and Paulo are arguing about the identity of the monster in the jungle. Nikki's still upset that they can't find their bag, when who should come by and offer help by Ethan Rom. He's menacingly dorky, if that's remotely possible. He suggests that Paulo's bag might be inland, due to the trajectory of the crash. We then witness Jack's "live together, die alone" speech through their eyes.
57 Days Ago: Nikki asks Dr. Arzt why he's collecting so many samples of wildlife. He tells her he's discovered twenty new species since arriving, and figures he'll be the next Darwin upon rescue. He shows her one in particular: a Medusa spider, which may or may not be way important to the plot of this episode. He agrees to draw a map for her of possible trajectories in that he's happy any female at all is talking to him.
As Paulo walks with Nikki towards the bag, we detect dissension among the ranks. They come across the Beechcraft on their way, in addition to the door to the Pearl. How fortuitous! Paulo wants to explore; Nikki just wants her bag.
48 Days Ago: Shannon and Arzt are arguing with Kate about the recently found stash of guns. Arzt hilariously declares, "The pigs are walking!" in a nice reference to Animal Farm. Nikki's curious about where Kate found the case, which leads the pair to the same pool of water from "Whatever the Case May Be." Paulo's starting to wonder if she would even be with him were it not for the contents of that bag. (Short answer: hell no.) Paulo actually finds the bag, but lies about it to Nikki.
32 Days Ago: Paulo hastily chews what looks like the end of his nicotine gum at night on the beach. He starts to dig a hole for the Russian doll, when Locke surprises him. He has some advice for Paulo: "Things don't stay buried on this Island." He suggests that he find a location less prone to erosion. This leads Paulo back to the Pearl station, where he stashes the doll in the bathroom. While there, he hears voices.
Through the crack in the door, he spies Ben and Juliet watching the action inside the Swan. They are not wearing New Otherton clothes, but rather the hillbilly rags from Season 2. Ben explains the plan: use Michael to draw out the three they need for Ben's surgery to happen. After they leave, Paulo picks up a walkie talkie left behind.
9 Days Ago: We see the scene from "The Cost of Living" in which Nikki volunteers to go to the Pearl, prompting everyone to pull a Sawyer and say, "Who the hell is this?" Paulo's confusion over her volunteering to go makes a touch more sense this time, as does the reason Paulo went to the bathroom while there: he was after the contents of the doll.
12 Hours Ago: Nikki's convinced that they will never be rescued. Paulo insists that they will; after all, not finding the bag might have saved them as a couple, right? So always look on the bright side, says the lying SOB. After he leaves her, she finds some of his nicotine gum on the beach. She angrily goes over to Sawyer and asks for a gun, which he denies her. Can I have one, Sawyer? Pretty please?
8 Hours Ago: Nikki leads Paulo into the jungle, where she confronts him about his lies. She wants those diamonds! And to prove her point, she throws a Medusa spider on him. Turns out, this spider induces instant paralysis for eight hours. She takes off his shoe, and throws it into a nearby tree. She then finds them inside his pants. Sadly, she forgot the part about its ability to attract every male spider in the area, which causes her to also get bitten, thus paralysis for her as well. Thus, both were actually buried alive, with her last word actually not "Paulo lies" but "paralyzed." Awesome. Good riddance.
16) The Mythology
Aside from the "Nikki and Paulo discovered almost everything first and didn't tell anyone because they were too busy looking for worthless diamonds," nearly nothing. This was an episode more about "what happened when no one was looking" than any real insight into the mysteries of the overarching Lost mythology.
23) The Moment
They gave Nikki and Paulo the coldest death in Lost history, all but making us the audience confront our bloodlust. It's as if the showed pulled a Maximus and screamed, "ARE YOU NOT ENTERTAINED?"
42) In Retrospect
I come not to praise Nikki and Paulo, nor bury them. After all, Hurley and Sawyer have that covered. But just as Shakespeare purportedly had to kill Mercutio to save Romeo and Juliet, Lost had to kill these two. Mercutio was too darn funny for a tragedy; Nikki and Paulo were too ill-conceived for a show struggling to find its way again. This was a sacrifice the audience, not the Island, demanded.
108) In Summary
Is this in and of itself a bad episode? Not especially, but context is everything. After a false start to Season 3, Lost had really found a strong narrative rhythm starting with "Not in Portland," only to have to essentially halt all forward momentum in order to publicly execute their worst creative idea of the year. Kudos to them for recognizing a potential Achilles heel, but it still produces an ep that stands out for all the wrong reasons.
Leave your thoughts about this episode below!
Ryan also posts every 108 minutes over at Boob Tube Dude, then peruses Zap2It's Guide to Lost Facebook group. He also encourages you to join the all-new Zap2It's Guide to Lost Twitter feed. Pretty soon he'll have as many platforms as Ben has pieces of leftover chicken.
I was waiting for this one. After this episode I did some serious soul searching about whether or not I was going to continue watching the show. I had watched from since the pilot and had not missed one episode. But after Expose, when the episode didn't lead us anywhere, I felt like Lost was stuck in quicksand.
Boy, am I glad I stayed along for the ride! Now I am counting down the days to Season 5, and am proud to say that I have added 4 new people to the Lost obsession.
Patti | Nov 20, 2008 7:33:27 PM | #My boyfriend and I had beenn't been dating very long when this first aired and I suggested he watch an episode of lost with me... THIS was the very first episode of lost he ever saw....I was pretty embaressed. Luckily after that I made him watch all the DVD's with me and he loves it now but what a bad first taste of lost!
SOMETHING I find pretty interesting though, I don't think this is spoliery but maybe... WELL on lostpedia if I am remembering correctly under the section for the monster it lists nikki as one of its victims. It said something along the lines of the spiders being a manifestation of the monsters and you can hear monster like noises "the receipt printing sounding noise" just before she gets bitten. I believe the folks who buried her alive are the ones who killed her, obviously.... But adding the monster into the mix makes everything more bearable for me because I have such a weird obsessive fascination with smokey.. :)
cerberus vent | Nov 20, 2008 7:53:58 PM | #I almost had a coronary during that opening scene of Nikki as the secret agent in the strip club until I realized she was acting on a TV show. Before that, I was shouting "Razzle Dazzle?!? Have the writers lost their minds?!?"
I thought the idea of Nikki and Paulo was interesting, just executed badly. I think this episode might have been cool if we had never seen Nikki and Paulo before. And also if the writers had come up with something better than stolen diamonds.
Still, I don't hate this episode. I know it's not good, but I see what the producers were going for.
It was clever of the producers to have a Lost's most hated characters reunion in an episode for the ultimate hated Lost characters. We had Arzt, Shannon, Boone (who maybe wasn't hated, but he wasn't beloved either)...if only they could've gotten Ana Lucia back for it.
Natalie | Nov 20, 2008 8:14:09 PM | #I continue to love this episode.
Not Nikki and Paulo. But this episode.
Sorry. But I do.
Sara | Nov 20, 2008 8:14:13 PM | #I kinda agree with Sara. Yes, it interrupted the flow after a frustrating start to the season, but I found it a *very* entertaining way to dispose of a problem. I totally laughed when I realized they'd been buried alive. So very appropriate. Buh Buh N&P. Not a necessary episode by any stretch of the imagination, but lots of hat tippin' to the annoyed fan base.
And Sawyer did seem a bit ashamed for what he did to Sun. Love how she handled him directly.
I always liked this episode. Of course, I am a big Billy Dee fan.
I also liked the "behind-the-scenes" aspect of much of N&P's actions. I thought the episode was a very clever way to deal with a problem.
Bryan | Nov 21, 2008 12:26:29 AM | #More on this later, but check out abc.com, y'all. Three minute Lost ad is up, and while there's a lot of recycled footage, there's some really, really interesting things.
Like flaming arrows.
Like Sayid choking Jack.
Like "Workman" jumpsuits.
Like Ajira Airways (possible Sun/Widmore endeavor?): http://www.ajiraairways.com/. Ajira is Hindi for "Island." Insert "squee" here.
Will have full analysis this weekend.
Ryan | Nov 21, 2008 10:00:13 AM | #I always thought this episode was fun. I would rather watch it again than to watch Stanger in a Strange Land again.
Speaking of fun, watch the new Lost trailer.
kat | Nov 21, 2008 10:22:21 AM | #@ kat
Amen, sister. SIASL was painful. This at least was amusing.
Are you guys talking about the trailer with the annoying Grey's Anatomy-esque song in the background? That ruined it.
Natalie | Nov 21, 2008 10:35:15 AM | #Can't WAIT to dive into the new footage analysis.
I don't think those are "workman" jumpsuits. I think those are WWII-era uniforms.
JeffC | Nov 21, 2008 11:43:59 AM | #as a stand-alone episode, where we not all frustrated with how the season had been going - this would have been a great episode. like back in season 1 before all the mythology was introduced and such.
just a classic lost bait and switch with a twist ending like walkabout. i thought this episode was just fun, and since it eliminated them, that just made it even more fun!
Regarding the new Lost ad, I thought that was Sayid and Jack fighting, but it goes so fast I wasn't positive. It also looks like Sayid lying on the ground while Hurley looks out the window. He could be sleeping or not.
Ryan, I can't wait for your write up on it.
Patti | Nov 21, 2008 12:23:17 PM | #Like a few others here, I actually liked this episode. While it didn't really add anything to the overall storyline, we have all of season 4 for that. I loved that they were paralyzed, not dead, and the way they left the show. For me, this is where season 3 started to get on a roll towards the great finale. Also, now we can see Expose episodes in all the flashforwards.
A-Rob | Nov 21, 2008 1:24:02 PM | #Jeff: The "WOR" on the guy's uni threw me, but yea, those are more green than grey, and keep in with the notion that Hanso was a former arms dealer. Given that he donated a frakkin' sub to the DI, makes sense that he would have donated ex-solider clothing and/or ex-soldiers to the endeavor as well.
Nat: Agreed on the music. I'd welcome suggestions for better tunage: I'm thinking Megadeath's "Symphony of Destruction" or Deep Purple's "Smoke on the Water," after the land mine that explodes in a most, most peculiar way.
Ryan | Nov 21, 2008 1:45:02 PM | #Wow, Billy Dee, diamonds, and people being buried alive?! No wonder I checked out of season 3 at episode 3. I remember back then that I thought I'd check back in for a second later on and was greeted with SIASL. So yeah, after that I was done with the rest of season 3 until Spring.
And it must be some kind of mental block too, because I also checked out of reading the recaps right after season 2. I don't know, maybe I was never meant to meet Nikki and Paulo personally. I'll have to take you guy's word for it that they and their s/l truly sucked. But buried alive seems so brutal for Lost. But maybe I'm just to delicate, all gooey brthwrth inside or something.
Tee | Nov 21, 2008 2:03:20 PM | #I saw Rodrigo Santoro (Paulo) in "Love, Actually" and I really liked him. I remember looking him up and he is quite popular in Brazil. I can't remember exactly but he is called (something like) the "Brad Pitt of Brazil". So then, when Nikki called him the "Wolfgang Puck of Brazil", I thought it was a take on his nickname. There was lots of cute "one-liners" in this episode ("who's Nikki") and I thought parts of it were very good (seeing Boone and Shannon in the airport). The ending was great (paralyed, not Paulo lies!). I am on the side of those who think that its not such a bad episode as many say!
Debra | Nov 21, 2008 2:26:31 PM | #I think this falls under the same category as crashing into a large pine tree on skis: at the time, while you're in full traction and have to be fed through a straw, you think the world totally sucks; but after a full recovery, you think, "Hey, at least I'm still walking." Such is the case with Nikki and Paulo. They're like a skiing accident that happened ten years ago. :P
Thorny | Nov 21, 2008 3:23:10 PM | #Well, no matter what you thought of Nikki and Paulo, the near-perfect melding of old and new footage in this episode is amazing work and that alone sets it above SIASL and Eggtown for me.
JeffC | Nov 21, 2008 7:49:24 PM | #What I find funny is, this episode aired not long after "300" hit theaters in March of that year. I remember Rodrigo Santoro giving interviews on the "300" press junket and he started talking about how great it was to be a part of Lost, how fun the work environment was and what a good time he was having.
Now that's the kind of irony even Leonidas could hit with a spear...
Other Sean | Nov 22, 2008 2:17:26 AM | #Eh...I liked the episode. I was fun to see how the red shirts view the Losties. And see Ben talk of his plan with Juliet.
This was wayyy better than Stranger in a Strange Land, anyhow.
Nice analogy, Thorny. Never been skiing myself, but I can imagine the pain (stepped on a nail, had two kidney stones, that sort of thing). Thing is, I don't remember those times fondly. :P
Kara Mel Apples | Nov 22, 2008 10:22:25 AM | #i was one post behind in catching up, and posted this comment one back in speaking about the poster, but worth repeating here i think:
i didn't notice it in the commercial they played during grey's, but in one during life on mars they showed desmond running out of a room and penny yelling "where are you going". i had to rewind my dvr and rewatch out of shear excitement that desmond will play a seemingly major part and hopefully return to the island with the rest.
Morgan | Nov 22, 2008 6:28:33 PM | #Thanks, Kara. Glad somebody read the damn thing. :P
Thorny | Nov 22, 2008 6:35:58 PM | #As LOST season 3 resumed after the 6 episode stallwart, i found this episode both satisfying and tongue-in-cheek. The producers realized their collective mistake in introducing them and provided the depth that was absent during there non-existent island antics. This was a centerpiece to gratify grumpy fans and like LOST deaths do give a final appreciation to the completely unaccepted. (i.e.: shannon/ana lucia)
If only they had been as camera hungry as they were for those diamonds this show could still have one or the other breathing.
The final boo-yah with Nikki's word becoming relevant and her opening her eyes as the dirt covered them was a LOST ode to the Twilight Zone once again.
They did give being buried alive some relevance.
And it only gets better and better from here...
Jiminy Cricket | Nov 23, 2008 1:53:44 AM | #
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