A Shocking End

Wow, that's all I have to say. It's the first time since last season's finale that an episode of Lost left me with my mouth wide open at the end.

The Nikki-and-Paulo-centric "Exposé" did stray from the storyline a bit, especially after last week, which was one of the best whole episodes of Lost ever. I guess the producers did this to put an end to Nikki and Paolo, considering they were far from being fan favorites. I know there's a lot of animosity out there toward Nikki and Paulo. I have to admit I was one of those haters. The producers have been keenly aware of how viewers feel about Nikki and Paulo, and "Exposé" was both a coy acknowledgment of that frustration and a rejoinder to it. To me, the episode was an ode to all those easily disposable "guest stars" who help keep a show running — not to mention help allow the stars of the show to slack off for a week. The story was about anyone who dreams of living a sexy A-list life but instead finds himself eking out a modest, mediocre existence as a supporting actor or day player in someone else's show — and what they're willing to do to reverse their fortunes.

And so it was that we learned that prior to the crash, Nikki was an aspiring actress who had scored something of a break — a guest spot on a campy Aaron Spelling-esque jiggle drama with a guilty-pleasure cult following called Exposé, about crime-fighting strippers who work for a mysterious, pimped-up boss named Mr. LaShade, played by Billy Dee Williams. It's the kind of show where characters say things like "Razzle-dazzle!" right before they karate-chop bad guys in the neck. After her character got blown away by Mr. LaShade (turns out he's actually the show's shadowy villain, code-named the Cobra), Nikki accepted her sudden unemployment with a journeyman actor's stoic resignation, even turning down an offer to have her character resurrected next season. Nikki pretty much stands in for any wannabe starlet willing to flash her boobs and say stupid things for the sake of a SAG card and a paycheck. God bless you all.

The sly humor continued when we were introduced to Paulo, who was working as the personal chef to Howard Zukerman, Exposé's moneybags producer and Nikki's sugar daddy. When Zukerman told her that Paulo was "the Wolfgang Puck of Brazil," I couldn't help immediately recalling how Rodrigo Santoro, the actor who plays Paulo, has been called "the Tom Cruise of Brazil" in more than a few press clippings I've come across. In these early scenes, "Exposé"' crackled with an impish wit, and I found myself hopeful that Nikki and Paulo were on their way to earning their redemption as characters. But then the twists kicked in, and it all slipped away from them.

It turns out that Nikki and Paulo were partners in crime and love, working a scam that involved poisoning Zukerman and stealing his diamonds. Whether they're professional swindlers or just a pair of desperate kids looking to exploit their good fortune to score an even bigger fortune wasn't made clear. After killing and stealing, they hopped aboard Oceanic 815 with dreams of living happily ever after in the United States. Oh, well.

We learned that while they'd been on the Island, Nikki and Paulo had kept mostly to themselves as they searched for the lost bag that held their diamonds. They intersected with many Lostaways, including an ironic encounter with the late Boone and Shannon. Props to Maggie Grace and Ian Somerhalder to return for some scenes that helped flesh out the whole "Nikki and Paulo were always there" conceit. They even came across some Others, most notably when Paulo eavesdropped on Ben and Juliet inside the Pearl Station and overheard them plotting to kidnap Jack, Kate, and Sawyer. In other words, Paulo basically knew that the the Others were plotting an attack but sat on the knowledge and did nothing to stop it.

Paulo and Nikki began their tragic descent when Paulo found the jewels and, for complicated personal reasons, decided to hide them from Nikki. From there, the relationship between the two imploded in a Treasure of the Sierra Madre-meets-Romeo and Juliet kind of way. I really loved how things progressed from there. Nikki figured out what was going on and got back at him by throwing at him the Medusa spider, whose poison induces a paralysis that resembles death. Nikki snatched the diamonds out of Paulo's crotch, then got bit by a Medusa spider, herself. I guess you could call it rather poetic in a way. Their bodies were found, mistaken for corpses, and buried, and just as the first pile of dirt splashed across Nikki's face, yes, her eyes blinked open. But the castaways failed to see it, and so they buried Nikki and Paulo alive!

And so, rest in peace, Nikki and Paulo. Ultimately, their arc on the show was revealed to be part morality tale, part elaborate inside joke, one that finally answered a question that really didn't need to be answered: How come we never see any of the other castaways on the beach? Whether this was the intention or not, I did appreciate the episode as a playful, ironic, and affectionate nod of respect to the actors who toil on behalf on Lost, especially those who labor and wait for a moment to shine and then recede again into background, if not disappear altogether. Nikki and Paulo were destined to be, for better or worse, merely Nikki and Paulo. What we saw was what we got. They were useful yet unlovable.

Some things I came up with:

1. I suspect that scene from Exposé that we saw — in which Mr. LaShade is revealed to be the villainous, murderous Cobra — is actually foreshadowing a similar betrayal in Lost.

2. Did Ben and/or Juliet really leave that walkie-talkie behind in the Pearl by accident — or did they leave it behind to be found?

Well, next week looks amazing! I can't wait!