3.14 - Exposé

Title’s significance: “Exposé” is the name of Nikki’s TV show, but the episode’s title puns on the fact that this episode is the big reveal of Nikki & Paulo’s backstory.

Recap: The sordid truth about Nikki and Paulo is revealed – though at first it looks like Nikki was a stripper, then a superspy, the truth is that she was an actress on an “Alias”-style show stealing the producer’s diamonds with the help of her lover Paulo. Though they got away with the crime, their flight – 815 – crashes, and they lose track of their diamonds, instead getting enmeshed in the island’s big mysteries – the monster, Ethan on camp, and The Pearl. In search of their diamonds, Paulo realizes that Nikki is only still with him because of the diamonds, so he hides the diamonds in The Pearl bathroom to stay with her; while hiding, he overhears Ben and Juliet discuss their plan to abduct Jack using Michael. When Nikki staggers out of the jungle and mutters something before collapsing, a mystery develops around her final words. Meanwhile, Charlie comes clean to Sun about her staged abduction but she keeps quiet about it because she knows how Jin would react. Sawyer reveals that he and Nikki were fighting about her request for a gun, and he tosses the diamonds in with Nikki and Paulo since they’re worthless on the island. A quick flashback lets us know that the two were bitten by Medusa spiders, paralyzing them and simulating death. The survivors never decipher Nikki’s final words – “paralyzed” – before burying her and Paulo... alive.

Thoughts: This episode actually makes me feel bad that Nikki and Paulo got killed, because they’d just gotten interesting. This episode is also as funny – if not more so – as “Tricia Tanaka Is Dead,” with everything from “Animal Farm” references to metafictional critiques of LOST’s uber-theorists. This episode might also be the best of LOST’s “standalone episodes,” which usually suck, but “Exposé” marks a solid example of a special standalone; it does a great job of weaving the characters into key events in the island’s history, giving closer to the staged abduction of Sun (which I’d honestly forgotten about) and even explaining away the now-infamous “Paulo uses the toilet” scene. And as much as we didn’t like Nikki and Paulo, that’s still a pretty awful way to go.

Favorite moment: Aside from the fact that Kiele Sanchez wears almost nothing in this episode? (Kidding.) Nikki’s prescient “I’m just a guest star, and we all know what happens to guest stars.” That, or Sawyer’s “Who the hell’s Nikki?” and Hurley’s persistent theory – “Dude, monster” – about what killed Nikki and Paulo.

Characters introduced (in order):

• BILLY DEE WILLIAMS, actor playing LaShade (The Cobra) on “Exposé”
• HOWIE ZUCKERMAN, Nikki’s producer and conned lover

What we learned:

• Nikki was a TV actress in Sydney who helped kill her producer.
• Nikki and Paulo discovered the Nigerian plane and The Pearl before the other survivors.
• Tom has been in The Pearl, and Ben and Juliet came in after him.
• Paulo got a walkie from The Pearl.
• The survivors missed Thanksgiving.

Questions:

• Most of the questions this episode raises are answered within the episode.
• Is there a forensics hatch Sawyer doesn’t know about?
• Was the monster involved in Nikki and Paulo’s death?
• Is this it? Is this the end for Nikki and Paulo?

Things that are going to be important in Season Six:

• A mostly self-contained episode with little of far-reaching consequence.
• Locke tells Paulo, “Things don’t stay buried on this island.” Interesting words for a man who comes back from the dead – or does he?