For an episode that was (unjustly) hyped as revealing answers to the "mythological" questions on the Island, "Expose" ended up being the exact opposite. Rather than progressing any of the existing Island storylines or opening up new mysteries, it simply explained the strange actions of Paulo and Nikki thus far, and cleanly (albeit shockingly disturbingly) wrapped up their storyline.
But damned if I wasn't grinning like an idiot throughout the episode. Entertaining indeed.
Just a few things to discuss:
- I loved the continued "who are you?" comments from Sawyer to Nikki and Paulo. Ironically, maybe if our core group of Survivors took the time to talk to them, they would have discovered things like the Beechcraft Plane, the Pearl Hatch, and even prevented Ben's scheme to kidnap Kate, Jack, and Sawyer.
- Finally our confirmation that there was no greater reason to kidnap Kate and Sawyer than to get Jack to do the surgery! Leave your crazy theories about "Ben's List" at the door!
- Paulo and Nikki's weird behaviors suddenly make sense (going to the Pearl, going to the bathroom, etc.). It's almost as if this episode existed to justify these characters being on the show for the first half of the season. Ironically, since they didn't end up adding too much to the story, it might have been just as easy to not have them exist at all.
- Did Ben say "we should cover the hatch with the plane?" to Juliet? But the plane crashed over the Hatch entrance due to Boone climbing into the Beechcraft, right?
- Did Smokey cause the spiders to attack Nikki, sealing her fate? I definitely heard the "chatter" of Smokey prior to the swarm of spiders appearing.
- In the end, Charlie's confession to Sun about the kidnapping came off a bit forced for me. It was a little rushed and didn't have much impact other than Sun slapping Sawyer. I guess it "wraps up" a dangling storyline - but didn't really have as much resonance as it could have.
- Nikki was hot.
- That was maybe one of the more shocking endings of Lost yet. It wasn't some huge twist, but it definitely left my jaw dropped. I really can't believe they just buried two people alive. Don't you feel bad for hating Nikki and Paulo now? Yikes.
As I said, this ended up being a surprisingly "light", almost "filler" episode - but it was well done, creatively done, and a satisfying story for me - so I'll take it. It should be a pretty brief "Analysis", but I'm sure I'll find some things to over-analyze and write about. For now, the Comments Section is yours...
96 comments:
Well, I definitely have a theory about THAT episode.
My theory is: Cuse & Lindelof know that ABC won't let them get away with ending Lost after just 100 episodes. So they've started to pad.
It was kinda like an old episode of "Night Gallery".
Clever, creepy...but no good info there. Brian, you shoulda been in Europe for *that* one.
At least we won't have Paulo & Nikki to kick around any more...
Brian L.
I do think it was Smokey who conjured up the spiders that bit Nikki. I like the idea of Smokey as Island justice, cuz Nikki was not a nice girl. And while I think their ending is horrible, the two of them together were pretty annoying and shallow -- making Boone and Shannon look deep is not an easy thing to do!
Plus--- Billy Dee!!!!
is it a possibility that they may come back? remember locke: things on this island don't stay buried...
hey, wtf, buried alive?? that episode was like one of edgar allen poes short stories, one of those horror stories wit a moral to it....had very little to do with Lost in general, but i agree, it was entertaining.
oh, and the spiders came because the female spider releases hormones after she stings/bites that draws all the male spiders...or something like that, artz was talking about it when he was hitting on nikki...
I think it is possible they are not gone forever.. But I was a little disappointed. No real mystery revealed here.
one more thing...was that Lando on lost?? is the final rescue for our survivors coming from the millenium falcon??
We did get a bit of new info. We now know that Ben was watching our losties in the hatch, and we have a pretty good idea that the Others did get around by a tunnel system. I liked the episode, and I think that we are being warned to remember that we only know one perspective on all of our characters, they may all have other sides and often bad ones.
Two words:
RAZZLE DAZZLE!!!!!!!
but seriously....I definitely heard smokey in the background before all those spiders came scurrying from the ground.
That Nikki was one bad, bad chica. And here I was thinking that she was the better human being of the two. I definitely ended up feeling very badly for Paulo.
About the spiders.
Nikki was talking to the Jr. High School teacher about that spider when she was asking about trajectories. He remarked that if this female bits, her scent would attrack 100's of nearby spiders almost instantly.
Brian La.
Ben said, "have him cover it up with the plane". now, i can think of two theories:
1. could the plane have fallen straight down the cliff... but not exactly over the pearl hatch, and tom later somehow moved it over the pearl hatch doors.
or
2. could the plane falling have been in some way the result of ben requesting it be done. maybe tom used the "monster" or the "island powers" to make it fall in just the right place.
I thought to myself about Smokey in the end as well, but remember what Artz said about if the female was exposed all the males would come crawling. Of course its not like Smokey couldn't have added to it. Little upset that Boone and Shannon didn't have more to do with the story, hoping that somehow they would have offered more since they came back for the episode.
Loved the ending, and I am was so expecting, with a bit dread, for the Romero shot of a hand coming out of the mound grave, AND THE WRITERS HAD THE GOODS TO NOT GO THERE AND JUST LEAVE THEM BURIED!
And Billy Dee Williams playing himself? What more could you ask for a filler episode?
oh yeah, earlier in that conversation juliet said, "Tom came down here a couple of days ago". that's my paraphrasing of the closed captioning.
Smokey did not conjure the spiders. Artz told her that the spider in the bottle(female) had a very powerful pheromone that.. if the bottle were opened, would attracts every male spider for... well... a great distance. It was releasing the spider that attracted the other spiders. To me, it was so obvious.. I was waiting for it. I didn't get a smokey vibe at all(and neither did Sawyer.)
"It might have been just as easy to not have them exist at all."
Agreed.. usless.. other than setting up this episode. It DID give our crash survivors a walkie talkie.. with a battery that still works.
"Did Ben say "we should cover the hatch with the plane?" to Juliet? "
I didn't notice this, but if he did say it, could they have been responsible for boones death(BTW, Boone was the gay character. I don't think this was planned, I think they added it due to the question on the podcast. If you missed it... shannon accused him of hitting on every guy at the airport)
"Charlie's confession to Sun about the kidnapping came off a bit forced for me."
Yes, but I'm sure it will play in the coming episodes.
"That was maybe one of the more shocking endings of Lost yet."
Yes.. disturbing...
Still, I thought there were some interesting tidbits. I did question if the Peal encounter with Juliet and Ben was before they found the hatch. I had sort of hoped that Paulo would have found and smoked cigarettes found in the pearl in episode "?".
Of the reveals to mythology.. other than what Brian stated.
- Ben and Juliet were working rather closley together.
- The others knew of the Hatch, and who was in it, though they may not have known where it was at.
- Those walkie talkies have one hell of a battery life.
- The toilet is probably still filling, with all those shards in the back.
- People now know about Sawyer and Charlie... and we're going to see this play out over the next few episodes.
- Did you notice that Juliet was barefoot? or looked to be in HD.
I know the answer to the plane mystery!
If Jack was in the hatch... then it was season 2.. and the plane fell in season 1(right?). So the plane had already fallen.. they moved it to hide the enterance... probably before Eko discovered the plane.
Kudos to the writers for having all this stuff planned out so far in advance.
Remember the first time Locke and Eko went into the pearl hatch and there was that stuff on the table. Turns out it was Pablo s gum (and cigarettes?). And the whole going to the bathroom scene.
Great writing. Gives me faith they have good answers for other questions.
When it was announced the Billy Dee would be on Lost, the rumor mill had him as appearing in several episodes, and ON the island. I'm actually releaved to find out that he played himself, and was not 'Jacob', or some other Island inhabitant.
What this episode needed was the Crypt-Keeper at the end!
Paolo and Nikki - the "jungle noir" versions of Walter Neff and Phyllis Diedrichsen of "Double Indemnity".
So now we also know that John Locke was watching "Expose" on his tv last week when the kid came to ask him about his father. The scene that was playing had Autumn and Crystal chasing the Cobra at the Louvre.
So "The most awesome hour of Television ever" plays out on an international stage - that's one hell of a budget!
this episode was solid to me. although i didnt expect too much other than more depth into seasons past, which was exactly what happened.
the most important thing to me was that this episode freakin restored my confidence in these Lost creator boys and girls ten fold. I mean seriously having different angles on older scenes must mean they planned it and filmed at the time always having this episode in mind right?
brilliant. Also, maybe stupidly and other people figured it all out before i got a clearer understanding of why Ben got captured. it was sweet to see them planning.
Also it was cool that Arnzt and Others wernt just A team's side kicks but actually had independent lives during the other two seasons.
and as for the burying alive. FUCKING AWESOME. Lost has guts and im glad it does boldly go where no other show will go. I was half expecting a cheesy last minute recovery and rescuing. but nope it was awesomely evil.
i know u expect things brian when u read into the title and description and tend to over/under hype episodes and then get dissapointed when they dont go where u were hoping they would. But dont let that cloud ur mind of the goodness/importance of the episode. it provided the story width as opposed to length if u know wat i mean. Anyway despite this still thanks a lot. i always appreciate (and run straight from tivo to here to read instant reactions)
oh and along with my width vs length thing it also gave me signs that the writers havn't forgotten things that have happened in the past. small details that made sense to us. like the bathroom etc etc. so hopefully they will answer everything... here i go over hyping. lol.
On the subject of whether it was worth it for the writers to introduce Nikki and Paulo—I’d hate to think that the writers set this all up for no real purpose. I’d also hate to think that they introduced some characters that did stupid things and then cleverly, after the fact, devised this episode to explain all the little stupidities, like going to the bathroom.
One thing that the episode did was to get Sawyer to renounce his pursuit of money to some extent—he threw away the diamonds. That’s different for him, he’s been hoarding anything that could be valuable, although maybe, like Sun said, he realizes that diamonds aren’t valuable on the island.
Also, we got to see Jack’s famous “live together or die alone” speech again. That’s one of the central messages of Lost, I think.
Finally, the example of Nikki and Paulo goes against the theory that you get to die on the Island once you resolve your issues, like Shannon and Ana Lucia. Seems like Shannon was trotted out so that we could be reminded what a b-tch she had been and how she had changed for the better before she died. Paulo and Nikki clearly DIDN’T resolve their issues, Paulo remained insecure, and Nikki was still greedy, and they died for it. Because they couldn’t "live together," they died. But of course, they didn’t really die at first, although it seems likely that they did after getting buried.
Has anyone looked up the spider to see if it exists? Kind of unbelievable that there's a venom that produces that kind of paralysis. Maybe one of the "new species" he discovered.
As far as I'm concerned, another Great Episode of LOST... Entertaining for sure. I want to go back to the first episode to see if I could catch Paulo and Nikki in the scenes.
My hubby's opinion is it was lame. He's so hard to please.
I wanted to add... Nikki looked like a blonde Kate in some scenes. I'm surprised they killed her off.
I think that Nikki was super-imposed into old scenes, the green screen lines were visible. They must have redone the scenes with the other survivors interacting with Nikki. They weren't originally done. And it's pretty obvious that Shannon was wearing a wig in the airport. The actress must have different hair these days.
before I go through and read ALL comments (as I usually do BEFORE I make my own remarks) I will now post THEN read yours...
FIRST, the spiders...no NOT smokey! Arntz (is that how yo spell it?) explained this in the flaskback...or whatever it was going backwards...he said a whif of this spider will bring the others running. Something like that, dealing with pheramones...
Anyway, I thought it was a GREAT episode in that it explaine dthe importnace of these two, or at least their possible importance, if they were REAL characters in the show. Basically, don't discount the couple desperately searching for THEIR bag. I loved it when she wants him to go into the plane and he is saying NO! It will fall...imagine if Boone were only that bright!
I believe Ben said cover it with the PLANK, but I may be wrong....however I believe that flashback, or whatever it is, took place AFTER Boone fell with plane.
I think it is odd to have these two brought to us this season just for THIS episode...but at the same time, it says a lot for this show. Think about this...we saw some interesting things from the point of view from someone other than MAIN SURVIVORS, or OTHERS...we see what is like to be on this island and feel like you are just waiting to be saved. It was great to see the school teacher have a play again. I felt happy to see him!
The preview was lame for this episode...they lie so bad!
Next week looks good, according to my hubby anyway...anytime two gals roll around duking it out...he can't wait to see it!
Now, I will read what you all said!
I'm sure Brian didn't forget about the pheramones thing - and there definitely WAS a Smokey-noise in the background - so maybe the spiders came because of the Medusa-scent and THEN Smokey made one of them bite Nikki because she's evil?
@everybody out there: it´s ARZT! look up lostpedia if you don´t believe me...i guess it´s a joke from the writers to call him dr. arzt, for "arzt" is the german word for "doctor!
I thought he said "plank" not "plane" as well
Why would they cover the Pearl hatch with a plank? That would sort of stand out in the jungle. "Hey look, a board. Weird." When Ben and Julliet entered the Pearl hatch, it was definitely season 2. Jack was on the monitor in the Swan station. So by that time Boone was dead and the plane was already on the ground. They moved it over the hatch after Boone died and before Eko arrived and burned it.
Anonymous Guy #15
I didn't get that as a smokey noise as well, it was more of a typical "spiders moving everywhere" sound effect.. or that's how I took it. Smokey didn't even enter my mind.
Best line of the show" "He's the Wolfgang Puck of Brazil!"
After enduring weeks of reading how Paulo is the "Tom Cruise of Brazil," that was a very funny twist.
I guess I missed Arzt's bit about the pheromones, but we did definitely hear the clicky Smokey noise as those male spiders came out.
I need to take a look at the scene again, but when Ben and Juliet entered into the Pearl Hatch, did it look like they were dressed normally (J. Crew prep) or like their shabby woodspeople wear like they wore when they captured the 4 at the end of Season 2? I think those costume changes have to indicate something about their strategy and if they're pretending to inhabit the fake Hatch village Sayid found....
Spiders Spiders Everywhere!
Remember Artz said that the scent of pheremones (sp?) from the female spider will send all the males running? Well, that spider was squashed by Paulo, thus releasing the scent causing the spiders to come a-runnin dooming that smoking hot babe...even though she's an "elderly sausage handler!"
About the spiders...Does anyone remember Artz telling Nikki about them? That just a hint of the female's pheremones would attract any male within a certatin radius (or something to that effect). I don't think it was Smokey, I think the male spiders were just lookin' for some lovin' ;)
woops. I posted that about the spiders before i realized that 3420320 other people did. my bad!
Am I crazy, or do I remember that airport scene from season 1 with some couple saying "promise me we won't end up like that"? Was it Nikki and Paulo??? Could the writers really have been that prescient? Does anyone else remember that? Or was it a different couple in season 1? Or am I just making this all up?
Anyhow, I thought this episode was a brilliant bit of fluff. I LOVED that the writers had the balls to bury N & P alive! I'm thinking that they had this tragic end for them in mind all along.
Writer 1: "Let's introduce two really annoying characters, really arbitrarily."
Writer 2: "Yeah -- then the audience will get really pissed off. The water cooler talk will be great!"
Writer 1: "And then we kill them off, mercilessly!"
Writer 2: "Yes! And the audience will love us even more than before!"
[EVIL LAUGHTER CASCADES THROUGH THE WRITING ROOM...]
Sad that if Nikki had not run back to camp, they'd both still be alive. No one would have found them out in the woods, they'd have woken up 8 hours later and just strolled back into camp.
I also found it interesting the way that Shannon and Boone seemed to be compared to Nikki and Paulo. Both obviously bitchy women and spineless men, but then in the end, Shannon had a good heart and Nikki did not. Shannon was screaming for Boone after the crash, while Nikki was simply looking for her suitcase.
I don't think the cigarettes in the hatch were Paulo's...they were on the table when he took the walkie-talkie.
Whose cigs were they? Patchy's? Tom's?
Note to self:
"If ever stuck on mysterious island with a group of people....please communicate with them and share information."
It was clear that the images of Paulo and Nikki at the plane crash scene were digitally done. Technically, I think the producers do an excellent job w/FX especially considering it's a TV show and not a feature-high budget movie.
On another note, if one watches LOST purely to see reveals, Exposé may not have been a terribly interesting episode. On the other hand, if one equates viewing LOST to reading a full length novel, these peripheral stories, with no substantial arch, are part of the entertainment of watching the show.
Was well written....i like Nikki saying she's "paralyzed"....and Sawyer heard something like "power line" and Hurley heard "Paulo lied"...very well done.
Sodfather... I didn't get your Romero reference (probably the only one who didn't), but I was thinking of the ending of "Carrie" where her hand popped up from the ground and made everyone in the theater (yes, I'm that old) gasp and wet their pants.
I was half-waiting for that to happen, but hoping it wouldn't. That would have been a little too hokey for LOST.
Also, I can't remember what comments were made, but I do remember chuckling inside at the beginning of the show when Nikki was talking with Lando... err... Billy D. They said something about it not being real or something. It made me think the writers were throwing in a little laugh about the show. Maybe someone else can remember exactly what was said.
Looking forward to next week (as always).
One more thing... this episode also added a bit more compassion to the Others, as well, in my opinion. They may be single-minded and weird and extreme, but showing Ethan reminded me that they seemed genuinely concerned for the general welfare of the survivors (offering them clothes "that fit"), even if they were not going to choose all of them to join the Others.
Why was Boone and Shannon brought back here? What was the significance? Brian? Heathers' Brain? Someone?
I believe there are spiders like that but probably very rare and african. The spiders used in this episode are all over Hawaii and quite harmless. On my honeymoon, my wife and I specifically asked about them because they do look scary.
Oh and BTW, it's "ARZT", I know a bunch of ninth graders who pronounce it just fine.
I don't understand why Lost is the only show on television where viewers demand major pieces of mythology every episode. Most episodes of The X-Files contained no mythology, and that show still ended up being too convoluted. Please accept that this show is, in the end, about people, and take the tidbits of the big picture as they come.
Nikki and Paolo served their purposes: 1) to fill out the cast of island survivors and remind us that their lives are just as complex as those of the main characters and 2) to take us through the history of the show by another course, tying some loose ends along the way. This show has always resisted the idea of "heroes," the kinds of people who are in some way better than the rest of us; this show is about everyday people trying to get by, and the stories of the survivors we know are not inherently more meaningful than those of the survivors we don't.
Of course Nikki and Paolo's presence in the Pearl station was a setup for this episode, rather than this episode being an explanation for that appearance.
I'd take this episode over another "omg, Sawyer isn't very nice" flashback any day. It was campy and fun and really good television.
I am an avid reader of this blog and my Lost experience wouldn't be complete without it. Thank you Brian for your excellent comments and ideas. This is however my first post. I have been bothered for a while about the following conflict. The writers of the show keep on insisting that Lost is based in reality and NOT is science fiction or fantasy, yet we have monsters, smokeys and other weird things never seen in reality.
So here goes my theory: How about the show being about a strange Island with remarquable properties (magnetic field and unknown plants with hallucinogenic properties) and two companies (Darma and Mittelos) fighting over control of these treasures? That would be real. If murders were committed for control of potentially great wealth that is not sci-fi. However Mittelos is using other methods than murder to scare of potential competition, i.e making people such as our survivors believe in monsters and magic. We see that some do (Locke and Eko -or is it Echo as in Locke's echo?) and some don't (Jack). There are many unexplained mysteries, without which the show wouldn't be interesting, but a few of these can already be explained. For instance the bears. They obviously come from the zoo where they must have had a reason whether useful or recreational, but their presence on the island is now clearly set in reality. The tracks made by a huge monster in the very beginning of the show where we could see trees falling down in it's footsteps could easily be explained by one of those undergroung tunnels we now know about, collapsing.
Now as for this episode, this is the reason why I decided to post. I believe that Paulo and Nikki are a metaphor for Darma and Mittelos and the diamonds a metaphor for the island's treasures. That is why the episode exists and why it is important. The episode also shows that Ben does not have all knowing psychic powers but does his homework and then uses his very real manipulative skills to make people believe in magic and act accordingly.
I know all this leaves a lot of holes but maybe in due time they will be filled with explanations. When a plane crashes a lot of information is available on the victims. With lots of money and dedication it is not impossible to find Locke's dad for instance. Whether is truly is his father or not doesn't matter because he truly is the man Locke has a problem with and therefor the man Ben can use to manipulate Locke. Locke who is after all the best candidate for manipulation with his propensity to believe ... in magic.
Voilà . By the way, I don't know how to sign in other than anonymous but my name is Gisele from Canada
Interesting about Vincent...he knew Paolo and Nikki weren't dead! He kept pulling the sheet off of them when they were lying on the beach.
You think Vincent might dig them up? He seems to enjoy finding dead people's limbs! :o)
Locke's comment when Paola was trying to bury the Russian nesting dolls was "nothing stays buried on the island."
Entertaining episode!
One thing that I think is overlooked is the parallel the writers continually draw between the characters of Nikki and Paulo and how they're thought of in "the real world," ie the fan backlash.
They were introduced in a stilted, awkward manner. From that moment, fans were annoyed and made it known. Lines like Sawyer's continual "who are you?" and even one of Nikki first ever lines "come on, you said yourself we never get included in anything" are subtle shots at that, I think.
Combine that with seeing Nikki killed off twice in one episode (her Exposé character foreshadowing her own death, of course), and it looks like the writers are maybe listening a little too much to the fans. :)
I thought at the time it was strange to show Vincent was pulling off the blanket - now we know it was because he knew they weren't really dead!
I also caught Hugo saying (while reading the Expose script) saying "we didn't find out who the bad guy was until season 4". Do you think that is a nod/foreshadowing to season 4 of Lost??
Your forgot an item on your list:
9. Nikki was hot.
Gisele - I like your Paulo/Nikki metephor for the island theory...If you look at it that way, then perhaps the writers WERE trying to explain an island mystery...
And to not post anonymously, there should be an option to select "other" under the comment box and then a section will come up where you can type in your name...
Greg...you are right! Vincent pulled the covers off them knowing they were alive....didn't catch that originally.
I'd just like to say Hell Yes to Nikki's half naked dancing scenes. :)
Wooo wooo!
Some more great 'in on it' quotes people are referring to. The writers are speaking to or for the fans big time on this ep I reckon:
Nikki: "I'm just a guest star, and we all know what happens to guest stars"
Sawyer: "Who the hell's Nikki?"
and my new catch phrase:
Nikki: "Razzle freakin' Dazzle!" on finding the diamonds in the safe.
Kudos to Anon and Claire for picking up the Locke comment about nothing staying buried and how they might get dug up by Vincent! We might not be rid of them just yet. ;-) joke!
Plus, dont think anyone mentioned yet that Paolo was obviously looking out to sea at something just after the crash, then him and Nikki talk later on about "there is no such thing as monsters" - "maybe it was a dinosaur"..."you saw the trees move". So they'd already had a CE with Smokey, and yes while there was an explanation based in science re the spiders apearing later on, the Smokey sound was noticeable to me too. So why have it there?
Which leads me to a worrying next post that hopefully someone will counter PDQ...
... does anyone have any quotes from the writers re their comments that the show can be explained in 'scientific terms'?
What if they are playing a wicked trick of semantics on us, hinted at by Paolo and the spider incident, in which such events are actually caused by Smokey and its magic, but done so in a 'pseudo-scientific' way:
i.e. they could be shown to follow scientific principles, they may even look that way, but actually they aren't - smokey/The island just plays its game that way!?
So if you believe Ben's take on it in a more literal sense - i.e. the island makes dreams come true sort of - then the sorts of things Smokey does are done that way because we have a mostly rational or at least physically-based model of the world and the island is manifesting those sorts of thoughts?
Nah! Right?
Ok is it just me or does yelling Razzle Dazzle before you attack somebody kind of give it away that you're gonna hit them?
Paolo and Nikki can now be added to the list of people who have killed someone
Paolo killed of the old guy by poisoning him and Nikki effectively killed Paolo and herself with that whole jealous girl, spider stunt she pulled.
I could be wrong but they sure were not buried deeper than a couple feet which when you're under the dirt can seem a lot but it wouldn't be impossible for them to dig their way out assuming they regained use of their limbs before losing the air in their lungs. Paolo since he got bit first should have been the one to wake up and I think that it would be justifable for him to dig his way out or be dug out by vincent and to let her die for being such a selfish money grubbing harpy.
I watched the scene with the spiders roughly ten times and the only sounds I heard were the scuttling of spiders it reminded me of the sounds from the movie Arachnopohbia. So I doubt it was smokey.
Oh and one last thing Paolo and Nikki had to be seated near Kate and the Marshall on the plane since their carry on bag ended up in the same spot as the Marshall's guns. All in all a very enjoyable episode
I really enjoyed this episode. Not too deep or revealing, but a lot of fun. Some good laugh out loud lines too -- Sawyer saying, "What, is there a forensics hatch I don't know about?!" Nikki saying, "I'm just a guest star, and you know what always happens to guest stars." I also loved the chance to revisit our now-dead former survivors, Arzt, Boone & Shannon, however briefly. And LOVED the jaw-dropping end, realizing that yes, N&P really were going to be buried alive! We also got Sawyer looking particularly hot while digging the grave -- a decent balance to those near-naked Nikki scenes, no?
Entertaining, definitely!
Everyone keeps asking with lost, why none of the survivors have explored the island? I think this episode answers this question. It seems that the survivors have explored and found plenty of the island secrets, they just all have their own agendas and keep their secrets to themselves. I think it ties in well with the theory that "our" survivors are really the bad guys. They all have killed or terribly hurt people in their pasts, and even when they have the chance to save themselves, they would rather keep their secrets, in case it might be an advantage just for them then help out their community.
did anybody catch the title of the book sawyer was reading? maybe some HD folks can tell me. just curious
Smokey was DEFINITELY heard right before Nikki was bitten by the spider. Go back and listen again. That noise has been heard a couple of times right before Smokey has been visible. Remember in The Cost Of Living when Eko is scooping up water into his mouth at the creek? That same noise is heard, then Eko sees Smokey...Smokey then takes off right before Locke comes out and says, "Hello, Eko".
The book Sawyer was reading was Agatha Christie's Evil Under the Sun. I think there were people buried alive in that book, if I remember correctly!!
there were definitely enough clues in this episode to justify some kind of Paulo and Nikki return (Locke saying nothing stays buried, and the dog Vincent seems to know that they are still alive). But even when considering that I think those characters are / will stay dead because it would cheapen the shock value of this episode if they survived being buried alive, it would be kind of like cheating in the agreement with the audience.
Last week's episode with Locke was outstanding but this episode definitely delivered as well, sure it was a FILLER episode, but so what, I like some filler and we got to see all these dead characters again like Shannon, Boone, Arzt, and Ethan Rom. I will take any filler episode as great as this one.
Anyways I dont think the spiders showing up had anything to do with the monster, it had to do with the pheromes.
Also they handled the flashbacks pretty well, you could kind of tell that new footage (of nikki and paulo) was being intercut with old footage of Jack giving his speech and rescuing people afte the crash but they pulled it off well.
It would have been really awesome if you could go back and look at episode one and see nikki and paulo just in the background, now that would be well planned.
anyways it was a good episode, and guess next week we get to travel over to the other side of the island.
Definitely a Creep Show-esk episode. The whole buried alive thing very disturbing.
Whether the location of the spider bites played a factor of Nikki waking up first, I don't know. But regardless I think she simply didn't have enough time to regain control of her limbs or vocal chords for that matter. So even a couple feet of dirt is enough to keep you down epecially considering your arms are pinned and your face is buried.
As for N&P coming across the Pearl. I can see why Paulo didn't say anything about it to anyone. But I really don't get why Nikki didn't say anything about it when the Swan was first revealed (as in "hey when exploring, Paulo and I came across another subterrain hatch a while ago with a ladder but never explored it") or even when the Locke/Sayid/Des expidition to the Pearl (as in "OMG Hey Paulo we've been here before"). I know it's more of a story telling logistics thing in not making it too convoluted at the time but it does seem like a character continuity error.
Another thing I don't get is Paulo. Other than needing a place to hide the diamonds and being afraid of getting caught. I don't get why Paulo (since I think they had only been on the island a week) wouldn't have been relieved to see Ben and Juliette as a potential source of being rescued. Granted he would have been wrong but asking for help for a bunch a plane crash survivors from a seemingly "nice" couple seems to me a more likely reaction.
How's the contest going Brian?
The book Sawyer was reading, Evil Under the Sun, is about how a millionaire wound up with a phony diamond at an exclusive island resort frequented by the rich and famous. When a murder is committed, everyone has an alibi.
I have seen the episode once, but in one time I defintely know that the sound before the spiders came was the same sound as smokey from other episodes. And I don't care if there are 1,000 spiders, unless one of them is the size of a dog you are not going to justify the noise being the spiders, you can't hear spiders walking.
On the spider bite thing -- we know Nikki was only bitten once, because she immediately ran off. But Paolo could have been bitten many more times, since he was just lying there on the ground with spiders crawling all over. It's conceivable that if one bite will paralyze a person for 8 hours, multiple bites could flat-out kill, so maybe Paolo really *was* dead, and it was only Nikki who was buried alive.
Wouldn't it be ironic if there were some purpose for the diamonds on the island?
I know the diamonds are worthless on the island, but isn't throwing them into the grave also like giving up hope? Like admitting, "I don't think I'll ever be rescued so I might as well ditch these potentially invaluable gems..." If he gets rescued, Sawyer is going to be kicking himself. Unless, of course, he has given up his money hungry ways. Other than providing a fitting end for N&P to be buried with the gems they coveted, I saw no reason to throw the diamonds in!
BTW... The creators have chosen the name "Artz" because of its German roots, but I believe it is because you can say that in the end, the poor man got his artz blown off. LOL.
Did anyone consider that someone will go back for the diamonds, and discover that Nikki and Paulo are still alive. It seems the writers made this very open ended as whether they lived or died.
Doesn't anyone on this island know how to check a freaking pulse?
That was just what I was thinking earlier today!! Wouldn't they check the pulse, and what about breathing, and body warmth?? This episode just doesn't work.
Also, I think Nikki said "Paolo's Alive" not "Paolo Lies."
Greg said...
I also caught Hugo saying (while reading the Expose script) "we didn't find out who the bad guy was until season 4". Do you think that is a nod/foreshadowing to season 4 of Lost??
8:54 AM
Yep, that sure is a shout out to Lost being renewed for Season 4! Woo hoo!
Did you also notice that Nikki and Howard walk past a sign reading "Expose Season 4" right after Howard said "bullet proof breast" and Nikki said "we all know what happens to guest stars" (two great lines)?
"Also, I think Nikki said "Paolo's Alive" not "Paolo Lies."
NO....Nikki said "paralyzed". I think this show was well written and well done. Sure, it did not drive or advance the overall story line...but so what? Brian's comment of it being "entertaining" is spot on. Isn't entertaining what a good TV show is intended to be? The only shame is how the ABC promo dept hypes an episode and builds unjust expectation. Don't they watch the series too?
I don't thinkt he Pearl hatch discovery was planned long(back to season 2). They seemed to go out of their way to explain 'moving the plane' over the entrance. Nikki and Paulo found it so easily.. why not Eko? The island obviously didn't guide them, and the way they didn't explore made no sense. If I had found a plane and a hatch, I think I would have checked it out, and told someone. If you thought that there might be a radio in the plane, why would you not go back? Even having Ben and Juliet enter the pearl to spy on Jack seems forced. Why show her the picture on the screen. If they can get his background, they can surely get photos.
I also think this kills a lot of the fun/mystery of the blast door map, and Yemi, Eko and "?"... an episode that I really liked. That mythology has been damaged by what I feel is poor writing!
My first response was that I enjoyed this eposide, but the more I think about it, for me, it damages the mythology with clunky writing. There is nothing they couldn't have been delivered in another way... the Walkie Talkie could have been dicovered, Sawyer/Charlie could have been exposed, etc without Niki and Paulo ever existing.
If one of them digs themselves out, THAT would be a jump the shark moment. As I said, there better be something that I missed in this episode that plays out big later on, because I the whole Eko/Yemi/Locke/Blast Door mythology has been mucked with.
After the revelation of them being buried alive, I thought that someone may go back for the diamonds and notice Nikki with some sign of struggle (i.e., mouth-full of sand, etc...) and realize what they had done. Was there a non-murderer part of the burial group that can now join the club of killers?
Overall, I thought the episode was entertaining and I liked the re-cap of previous episodes through "other's" eyes.
oh, and btw, I agree about Paolo's chances of being bitten multiple times having to do with his either being dead, or "waking up" much later than Nikki.
Also, didn't they check Paolo's pulse and not Nikki's ... just assuming the same demise for her?
They did indeed check for a pulse on them. However like Artzt told Nikki when he was flirting with her, the venom will Paralyze a person slowing down thier heatbeat and breathing till even a doctor would have a hard time verifying the person was alive. Nikki also told that to Paolo when she threw the spider on him.
Nobody who buried the "bodies" could really be considered a killer since they were believed to be dead already.
There actually is a tetro toxin in puffer fish that has this same venum effect. It has been used historically to "create" slaves. People are given the toxin, family and friends believe they died, they are buried and several days later and dug up by the poisoners. The toxin is very strong, and can lead to some brain damage, which is why the poisoned make good slaves...it was used on Jamaica, I believe, and is the source of lots of zombie mystic.
yeah, the scene with Ben and Juliette in the hatch was obviously forced....as someone posted here earlier. Also, why wouldn't Paulo make his commrades aware of the existence of them? I guess the writters try to establish that everyone has their own agenda on the island!
Paolo probably did not show himself to Ben and Juliet becvause by that time Ethan had already kidnapped Charlie and Claire and been shot. They knew the others were out there but he sure wasn't going to become the next victim, I know I wouldn't have said anything.
As for why he didn't tell anyone at the camp he saw them, he would have had to explain what he was doing there thus making Nikki suspicious of him being alone out in the dark hole in the ground.
This whole episode seemed to be a waste of time. Nikki and Paulo and their back story was a waste of time.
"Another thing I don't get is Paulo. Other than needing a place to hide the diamonds and being afraid of getting caught. I don't get why Paulo (since I think they had only been on the island a week) wouldn't have been relieved to see Ben and Juliette as a potential source of being rescued. Granted he would have been wrong but asking for help for a bunch a plane crash survivors from a seemingly "nice" couple seems to me a more likely reaction."
Ok, at this point we're into season 2 - remember, those cameras are in the Swan, not on the beach - at this point we're aware of the Others, and that they've kidnapped a bunch of survivors for unknown purposes. Would you reveal yourself? Altho I do find myself wondering why he held onto the diamonds for so long before going to the Pearl... maybe he just couldn't get away from Nikki before then.
I'm not sure if this was such a bad episode. I mean heck are we suppose to ignore the fact that outside of the A-Team the other 30 people on the island are not doing anything? We learned from this episode that Arzt probably spent most of his days look for new spieces trying to become the next Darwin. Plus it Verifies that the other 30 people are going about life on their own and see discovering things. Sure maybe Paolo and Nikki didn't mention the Pearl Station but locke didn't tell about the swan till right before the blew opent he hatch. Rose never told about Hurley wanting to blow up the food. So it's not that far fetched that many of the other survivors have seen things and to think sooner or later we're going to learn about them too.
anyone catch the Animal Farm reference? "The Pigs are walking!"
it's interesting to see the similarities between lost and the book
SHE SAID 'PARALYSED'
I don't know if there is any merit to this theory, but I saw it on the ABC board & it sounded interesting. What if the whole point of this episode was to tell us of a way someone could APPEAR to be dead, even to a doctor. Christian Shephard, anyone??
Wow! Nice one Amber. A very intriguing thought.
... makes ya go hmmmmm?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0xpekrElVfk
Jorge Garcia on Russian Roulette Game Show
Just thought I'd share.
The idea that we now have a way for a person to appear dead without being dead would explain Christian Shephard's missing body. But--his body was very likely embalmed before being placed in the casket for transport. Didn't Jack wear a suit because the funeral was going to happen as soon as he got the body back and he didn't want to have to change?
Of course, if he appeared, BOTH Jack and Claire could say "Dad?" and then they'd realize their relationship.
Now that it has been a day or two, I must comment once more...
I feel now the under lying story here goes back to the famous 'live together/die alone' speech. I suspect this is a shout out to the underlying theme of the show (my opinion here) that community, no mater how bizarre it may seem is far more needed than our world seems to realize. In a world where war and political battles and so on seem to drown out all forms of civility, we are faced with this question... Do you know your neighbor? In this show (particularly this episode) we learn how valuable one person's contribution COULD HAVE BEEN. Imagine a community where the good of ALL over rides the good of ONE. For example, I think in the case of John Locke he is seriously out for HIMself. Niki and Paulo also out for one's self. Just about each survivor has had a reason to look out for #1, and it has cost them DEARLY!!!! Look at the others on the 'other' hand. You have a community that come to major decisions by trial, fight to the death to keep secrets, stand together in every chance. I am not trying to shed LOVE light on them, but they do seem more civilized in this aspect.
Boy, I need sleep, I sound so theoretical that I may get ill!
As for the signifigance of Shannon and Boone, I think it was truely to shed some AWE moments in the episode. Make us like N & P a little more and bring us to the moments we all used to love about LOST, our old friends if you will. I do not think any certain significance other than that. BY THE WAY, the number 4 appeared out of respect for the numbers...I bet you will find more in EVERY episode if you look for it. They will never give those numbers up!
Good nite, now...I am RAMBLING!
I liked the comment by Juliette re seeing Jack on the monitor - "He's cute" - then shoots a quick glance over to Ben looking for a rise, or any sort of reaction. But gets none of course.
A nice nod to their 'history'.
I'm not sure why everyone seems to like this episode so much...I don't mind fillers, but some of the writing and editing in this episode was awful. The first few minutes started too abruptly, the flashbacks were cheesy, misplaced and bared little if any relevance to the scene on the island e.g. the flashback to the TV show whilst Nikki was running. I know it was placed here because it was the only real 'flashback', but still that is awful writing!
Sorry if this was already said, but Smokey didn't conjure the spiders. Remember when Ernst was in the bug hut (for lack of better words), and Nikki was in their looking at the bugs? When she picked up the spider, he said not to open it because it (the spider) puts off a scent, and all the other spiders would flock to it. Also, I'm not convinced that Nikki and Paulo are dead quite yet. It seems pointless to waste an hour of primetime television explaining the life story of two characters we've never met and then kill them off. Besides, if Nikki woke up (which she did), wouldn't she be able to crawl right out? Even if its like that movie with Harrison Ford and Michelle Pfeiffer (sorry, blanking on the name) where it took 20 minutes to be completely revived from the paralysis, couldn't Nikki easily dig herself out? Plus, I think it would have been much more entertaining (speaking of an entertaining episode) if she dug her way out while everyone was still there, and have Hurley flip out and scream like a girl.
I dont think its that simple. The writers may be letting us have it either way - they gave a nice logical explanation re the spiders being attracted by the scent, however I just watched it again and I KNOW what Smokey sounds like, he was around!
And Nikki hears it too, she hears something and looks around too. And she isnt hearing spiders!
Is it the island giving Nikki her comeuppance, or is it bringing Paolo's wish to reality?
Heather's Brain....Excellent post!!
BRIAN....I vote for Heather's Brain to take over the blog while you are out of the country. That's assuming, of course, that she wants to. I think that she would do an awesome job. She's smart and a person that seems to really thinks things out...much like you do.
Have these two theories been discussed?
1. They are all in an institution going through some kind of physichological treatment? I mean, if so, the writers can explain ANYTHING.
2. Like in TOTAL RECALL, they are all rich and have paid for some kind of "adventure"? And this is it?
Post a Comment