Oh, you ALL know I’ve been waiting the entire rewatch to post on this episode! But first, let’s stop and look at one of the best images on Lost… ever.
No wait, it’s beat out by one more:
HAAAAAAAHAHAHAHAHAHA. Oops, didja get a little sand in your eye, Niks? Oh, this episode is delicious. This was one of those episodes for the diehards, full of in-jokes and acting as one giant, vicious mea culpa on behalf of the writers. The more casual fans (i.e. those out there who didn’t understand our hatred of these two idiots nor did they care) mostly hated this episode, and I’ve had people email me saying it was the low point of season 3. For me… THE comic high point. While I don’t have much new to say that I didn’t RELISH saying already in my book, here are a few thoughts.
Fun things I noticed:
• Nikki and Paulo DIE!!!
• Nikki looks at Shannon and Boone and says, “Promise me we’ll never end up like them.” And then… they both end up like them. DEAD.
• Some of the past dead characters return in this one to remind us of their deaths, and that Paulo and Nikki will soon ALSO BE DEAD.
• In case you DIDN’T already think Nikki and Paulo were complete d-bags, this episode shows how much they knew and how much they COULD have helped everyone else, but were so caught up in their own greed they never bothered.
• The bodies at the bottom of the lagoon were in the same state of decomposition as they’d been when Sawyer dived down there months earlier. Does water preserve bodies?
Things that have new meaning:
• Not much has new meaning, other than two seasons later, I still LOOOOVE this episode!!
Now, for me, this episode is just missing one thing: reaction shots from some other people. First Kate got the good news:
Then Juliet:
Then the reality of what had happened finally set in and Sawyer got the joke:
This is Hurley recounting the story on Conan after he'd been rescued from the island:
And Jack hearing about it:
(No really, Jack is laughing REALLY hard in that shot.)
And it wasn't just the island folks! Here's Buffy's reaction:
And Giles's:
And finally... Tom Cruise:
OK, calm down, Tom. Even *I* didn't think it was that funny...
But enough reveling in their deaths. NO! Wait!! More reveling! It’s time for Hitler to weigh in and tell us what HE thinks of Nikki and Paulo. Enjoy!
37 comments:
I love this episode! It was written by a couple of guys from my homestate of Wisconsin. (They even put Ethan in a Wisconsin shirt, although that makes him look extra creepy to me.)
I must admit that the first time around, I knew nothing of the fan backlash and fully expected Nikki and Paulo to be discovered to be alive by the Losties seconds after the end of this episode in another episode some weeks later. Oh well. It was fun watching the episode knowing how much you all hate them, too!
It's also just a great episode as a look back at Lost through other eyes. And hey, we all love Arzt.
Nikki, take a bow! (“And the crowd are LOVING it!”) What a hilarious post!
If you’ve watched some of our recent blockbuster movies, you’ve been at least exposed to the brilliant musical scores of Michael Giacchino. (He did the music for “Mission Impossible 3”, “Ratatouille”, “The Incredibles”, and this summer’s “Star Trek” and “Up”.) Have you noticed how he can do any style, underscore any mood? Well, he got to have some fun with this episode of “Lost”. At the beginning, he wrote some real “Charlie’s Angels”- sounding music, which was wonderfully cheesy. (More bongos!) And at the end, when they’re shoveling dirt over Nikki and Paolo, the music went all horror-movie, as in “Psycho”. What fun for a composer, to get to do radically different stuff once in awhile. And I was laughing out loud, having a great time.
This is a really funny episode, which one can appreciate if one can get over feeling irritated (probably too weak a word) at Nikki and Paolo for taking up valuable story time (except for JW, who is on the record here as being a Nikki and Paolo fan, not that there’s anything wrong with that). Some of the more hilarious lines:
Sawyer: “Plywood.”
Hurley: “Power lines.”
Hurley to Desmond: “As far as super-powers go, yours is kinda lame.”
Edward Kitsis and Adam Horowitz packed a lot of cool story elements into this episode, including a bunch of memorable dialogue loaded with wink-wink references. And Nikki, you already pointed out some of the DEAD references. She Who Must Not Be Named said to Howie the director, “We all know what happens to guest stars.” (Yeah, they often end up DEAD.) And when they saw Boone and Shannon bickering in the airport, Nikki said to Paolo, “Promise me we’ll never end up like them.” (What, you mean DEAD?)
Back when it was announced that Rodrigo Santoro had been cast as Paolo, I read in TV Guide that he was known as “The Tom Cruise of Brazil”. So I thought it was very funny when Howie the director introduced Paolo the chef to Nikki over breakfast: “He’s the Wolfgang Puck of Brazil.” Those guys!
I’ve noticed that, whenever filmmakers want an establishing shot for Australia, they somehow work the Sydney Opera House into it. To me, it has become overused and clichéd, bordering on ridiculous. And I wonder if Aussies find it irritating that the vastness and richness of their island continent is so often reduced to this one iconic image. Shorthand is often useful in storytelling, but there are many ways to hip the audience to the location of a scene.
When Locke said to Paolo, “Things don’t stay buried on this island”, I had hopes that this line would bear delicious fruit later on. But so far it hasn’t. I guess it still could, in S6.
I would like to add my kudos to the heaps of praise for how well they worked Nikki, Paolo, and Arzt into the first segment from the Pilot, and the other S1 scenes.
Are the Medusa spiders CGI? It seems to me that I read that once, but I don’t remember for sure. Anyway, just before Nikki got spider-bit on the ankle, as she was looking wildly all around, we faintly heard the chattery Smokey sound (the one that’s sort of like cicadas) off in the distance. Smokey’s presence nearby – just passing through – ratchets up the creepiness factor just a bit.
Oh Nikki, I'm a little bit in love with you. Love the Buffy and Giles shots. And Tom Cruise. And that Jack is laughing so hard on the inside.
I do agree with you completely--one of the funniest episodes of the series. For me, the Nikki/Paulo debacle was worth it for this.
Nikki: I am in a quandary. So far, I've always like Vincent, thought of him as "the good dog." But there he was trying to pull the blanket off Paulo to show he was still alive!! Oh, no, no, no. Now I think Vincent is bad. Bad things always happen when Vincent is around. Maybe I've had it all wrong from the start. If the spiders were the smoke monster, then that makes smokie good. So follow along here. If Smokie is good, and Vincent bad, then Locke must be good because he saw the smoke monster and lived. Ah, but then, poor Mister Eko must be bad, because smokie killed him. And what does that make Walt?? Vincent semed to be protecting him, except when he ran away when a polar bear attacked. Wait, wait, does that mean the polar bears are the good guys? After all Charlie called them the Einsteins of the bear world. Anyway, I'm so confused--oh, why did the writers introduce us to Paulo and Nikki? Was I supposed to like Paulo and Nikki? Did they have any redeming qualities. Paulo was trying to quit smoking, and he could cook a killer omelete. And Hurley did say at the funeral about Nikki, "You were always nice to me." (But I attribute that to Hurley's short term memory loss-like problem). And don't forget the hours Hurley loved to watch Expose. Of course, Sawyer didn't know who anybody was, which is how I wish I felt right now.
Did you notice one of the cast in Expose was Rich Lapidus. So Lapidus's name comes up in the story, and then as the pilot. Another one was Steve somebody. Again another Steve /Scott joke? And Billy Dee Williams as Mr. La Shade, rings a bell with Sawyer as La Fleur--a man who is not whom he seems to be. Anyway, that's about it, except for the key around Howard Zukermann's neck, reminding me of Jack's key.
Freaking hilarious post! Very clever! I didn't have a strong like or dislike of N&P from my first time around watching. I was trying so hard to just catch up before the fourth season started that I really just tried to grasp the big picture and find some meaning, which I didn't!! But this time around I was struck, as all of you, by their vapidness and self-absorbedness (a word?), to the point that they would find a secret hatch and then that Paulo would go into the secret hatch and hear a threat against Jack and nothing would be shared with anyone else! But yall have to admit it is fun to hate them and rag on their every word and movement! And it was cool to see familiar stories from a different angle and to see the Losties 'solving' the crime. So like JW, I actually didn't hate this episode! And I think it had to have helped Kiele's and Rodrigo's careers cuz it's got to be one of the top 10 talked-about episodes!
Hate to be the lone dissenter here, but my favorite scene was not when the Evil Duo got buried, but when Sun unexpectedly bitch-slapped Sawyer. LOVED that. (You go, girl!) And it was nice of her not to physically assault Charlie as well, since he was truly remorseful.
LMAO! Nikki, that pic of Jack "laughing" made my week!
What a hilarious episode! I think "Expose" is a perfect example of how Lost is so unique when compared to any other show that has ever been on television. This ep is gutsy, self-referential, chock full of dark comedy, and probably one of the best writer-to-fan connections ever made.
Nikki, you were spot on in FL: S3 about this episode being to "LOST" what the play "Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead" is to "Hamlet"; that sums it up perfectly. In fact, a more suitable title for this episode would be simply, "Nikki & Paulo Are Dead". Die-hard fans would've loved it, and more casual fans would've uttered the now-famous catch phrase, "Who the hell is Nikki?" But I guess we've already heard about Tricia Tanaka being dead, so such a similar title may have been redundant.
I love how short-sighted Hurley can be, accusing Sawyer of murdering Nikki & Paulo when Sawyer was with Hurley playing ping-pong the entire time!
One little cool thing I noticed, for all you Smokey fans out there! You know how sometimes the monster's "head" seems to split into 3 parts, giving more credence to the nickname "Cerebrus"? Well, when Paulo hears the monster and then glances to his right, he sees 3 spiders crawling towards Nikki...
(Ms. Hawking, cue the Twilight Zone music, please)
Oooh, Question Mark! Love your Smokey/Cerberus/3 spiders connection. You've been really paying attention!
Jack laughing. Brilliant.
Oh ya. And Tom Cruise's reaction?! Also Brilliant. Capital B.
The scene where they bury N&P and they open their eyes scared me the first time I saw it. It reminded me of an Alfred Hitchcock or Vincent Price movie (although I've never seen any of their movies). I LOVE all the pictures that you have of the characters "finding out" about their death.
When I started watching this one, the only thing that got me through it being a Nikki and Paulo centered episode was knowing how it was pan out. And I knew what I would post here: Best. Ending. Ever. :)
One word: Lando Freaking Calrissian! The only way this episode could have been better is if Lando was the one who killed Nikki and Paulo with the Millenium Falcon. And then Chewie ate them. And maybe if they killed a few Ewoks as well (hate Ewoks). And then that co-pilot guy with the weird fish lips says something in alien gibberish and they all laugh. At Nikki and Paulo. Dead.
OK, I'm done now. Thanks for the laughs, Nik! (I bet that Jack was not only laughing on the inside, but dancing too. Break dancing.)
Nikki, you evil, hilarious Canadian! Love the post and pics. I always want to know what Tom Cruise thinks.
This episode was a lot of fun, and they managed to move the story along as well in the non-Nikki and Paulo centric scenes, i.e. Sun finding out about the real kidnappers.
marebabe said - When Locke said to Paolo, “Things don’t stay buried on this island”, I had hopes that this line would bear delicious fruit later on. But so far it hasn’t. I guess it still could, in S6.
I also thought the "things don't stay buried on this island" line indicated bigger things to come, especially considering that only the unburied bodies get used. Is everyone who has been buried eventually going pop up, so to speak? S6 will have all the answers we desire.
Oh yeah, and everyone knows Ewoks suck, dude.
@marebabe: establishing shot for Australia, they somehow work the Sydney Opera House into it
Totally off Lost topic, but this is SO true for any locale. America is often reduced to the Statue of Liberty, London to Big Ben, etc.
@Fred: Hurley did say at the funeral about Nikki, "You were always nice to me." (But I attribute that to Hurley's short term memory loss-like problem).
Hahahahaha! I was SO going to post something on that, but you beat me to it :D
The first time I watched this episode I was merely flying through the series and hadn't really started paying attention to everything so I literally didn't remember it except that it was so weird and had nothing to do with the regular story line.
The second time was rewatching it with my parents. This time I had come to fully despise the Dastardly Duo. My Mom was horrified with the ending, my Dad asked when the spiders came in again while my sister and I sat in our chairs grinning like Cheshire Cats.
Did anyone catch that moment of Sawyer staring into the jungle like he saw something? I thought it was odd and immediately tried to remember if they flashed back to this moment at any point.
Question: Is there a second entrance to the Pearl? Because I would think that Ben might notice a little detail like the HATCH being OPEN.
AHAHAHAHAAH!
Razzle freakin' Dazzle!
@Nikki-the picture of Jack-"Oh look, here comes Dr. Giggles"!
The first time I saw this ep, I didn't have much of an opinion about N&P. I was in the Sawyer camp, "Who are you??". I wasn't even that interested in watching it. But when I saw how it ended, I was so shocked, I had to laugh out loud! Now everytime I see it, even knowing how it ends, I still jump when her eyes open.
Love how they throw past losties into the flashbacks. Especially Arzt! My second favorite Missing Pieces episode (after "Jin Throws A Tantrum On The Golf Course"), is the one where Arzt spills his heart out to Michael, and you hear the ukelele music playing in the background (which is the same music they play in the next episode "Left Behind" during the luau, which is the same rift they play in "Everybody Hates Hugo", but in that one it was a guitar, not a ukelele).
Anyway, where was I?
@Nikki-Do you think N&P saw B&S as a couple, ergo, their comment. I remember another Missing Pieces where Jin makes a comment about B&S being a couple, and Sun says no, and Jin can't figure out why Sun wouldn't think so.
Sorry, I degress...
So, is Paulo's accent real?
I knew to listen for Smokey with the spiders, but I still couldn't here anything. I must not have a good sound system (was watching it on line and the boom box that is connected is over 20 yrs old!) So I guess I just answered my own question.
Love the Sawyer/Hurley interactions. See it even more in next ep.
@SonsineMusic 'Totally off Lost topic, but this is SO true for any locale. America is often reduced to the Statue of Liberty, London to Big Ben, etc.'
..and the whole of the UK is reduced to London (and thus Big Ben)...sorry, one of my bug bears. (what a very weird phrase 'bug bear' is - I've just looked it up and I appear to be using it incorrectly as it means 'a thing that causes obsessive fear or anxiety')
Unless, of course, people reducing entire countries to one icon creates obsessive fear in you :)
Re: Reducing entire nations to one iconic image: Try a Mountie and an igloo... because that's typically what we get here in Canada. Despite having large cosmopolitan cities that boast populations in the millions, many Americans believe Canada is one giant forest that suddenly turns into ice floes. ;) (I remember going to Georgia once and hooking up with some college people and we were talking about Canada and they were shocked -- SHOCKED -- that we actually had towns. Hahaha!!
That said, I completely agree about the overuse of the Sydney Opera House and was going to say that earlier... like, how is it that EVERY person who spent time in Sydney, be it in a house or apartment or hotel, all just HAPPENED to get some wicked spot on the water with a view of the opera house?!
crazyinlost: @Nikki-Do you think N&P saw B&S as a couple, ergo, their comment.
Actually, until I rewatched the episode this time around, that's exactly what I think is happening. For some reason it took until now, probably my 8th time watching this episode, to realize that not only is she mistaking them for a couple, but she's eerily correct in that, just like Boone and Shannon, they will end up dead.
And yes, Paulo's accent is 100% real. ;) I was pretty excited when they'd originally announced Rodrigo as a new cast member on Lost. I'd seen this movie he'd done where he played a drag queen in a prison, and he was BRILLIANT. And gorgeous. I couldn't wait to see him in there. And then after about 2 scenes with Paulo, I no longer thought he was hot. ;)
Brilliant post, those pictures are hilarious, I was expecting something special for this episode and you definitely delivered!
To be honest when this first aired i wasn't really bothered by N&P, but now rewatching it really annoys me how Paulo doesn't say anthing about Bens's threat and how the fist thing Nikki thinks about after the crash is the diamonds.
I do have one nitpick though, if Arzt discovered these spiders and actually caught one, you would have thought he would have warned everyone or told jack, especially as they tramp through the jungle so often. But then if the knew about them, I suppose we would't have had the brilliant last minute of this episode.
Aside from the ending I love this episode anyway as it brings togther loose ends, brings back old characters and gives us a wait to find out what happens after the brilliant end of the last episode. I also showed this episode to a friend who shockingly hates Lost and she enjoyed it, so it must be good!
That, Nikki, was comedy gold. Especially the Jack pic.
Bravo!
@Marebabe, I agree: Giacchino is a phenomenal composer.
Lando freakin' Calrissan! Boo yah!
I'm with you, Batcabbage. Oh, and that co-pilot guy with the weird fish lips was Nien Nunb, a Sullustan. Yes, I am that big a nerd.
Despite having large cosmopolitan cities that boast populations in the millions, many Americans believe Canada is one giant forest that suddenly turns into ice floes.
I live in Minnesota, which often seems like it may as well be called Canada Jr. based on people from other states' understanding of it. People have been shocked when I tell them we often get highs into the 90s during the summer. Heck, I've known people who are shocked to find out we have SUMMER. Yes, people, it gets very cold here in the winter, but we DO have four seasons, and it's only terribly cold during one of them...
SoneshineMusic / Ali : With u all the way on the location thing.
Note to ALL American producers - we no longer have red phone boxes in the UK, the Eiffel Tower is not visable from everywhere in France and The White Cliffs Of Dover are along way from Sherwood Forest!
OK (holds breath). I too was looking forward to see Rodrigo in Lost, after seeing him in a film I haven't seen anyone mention - Walter Salles is brilliant Behind The Sun. He gives a fantastic performance and his is character is everything Paulo is not. Well worth watching if you want to erase the memory of N&P.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0291003/
Dear Everyone: I just want to weigh in on the cultural ignorance discussion. Being from Kansas, I am occasionally met with surprise and incredulity when certain Big City Folks learn that we are no longer riding around in covered wagons and wearing sunbonnets! People are funny, no matter where you go.
Despite having large cosmopolitan cities that boast populations in the millions, many Americans believe Canada is one giant forest that suddenly turns into ice floes.
I could say the same thing about Wisconsin, if we had cosmopolitan areas.
The internet is truly a wonderful thing - that we can get together from so many diverse places and moan about our respective bug bears! (and also that no matter where in the world we are from, we are all pretty similar)
Obviously feeling philosophical this morning
@Teebore-what part of Minnisota are you from? My husband is from Aiken/Brainerd (hope I spelled those right, I'm at work so he's not around to ask) area. We now live in Washington state, about 20-30 miles south of the B.C. boarder
(but more about that on the next rewatch blog!)
@crazyinlost: I'm in a Burnsville, a southern 'burb of Minneapolis, but I know the Brainerd area pretty well: my father-in-law has a cabin on Pelican Lake, so I spend a fair amount of time in that neighborhood during the summer.
A@Ali Bags: I hear ya!
@Teebore-my husband remembers Pelican Lake as being the only "swimmable" lake in the area.
Concerning the stereotypes on geographical areas, I live in New York and when we were moving here from Virginia a number of people asked how on earth we were going to handle living in a city.
I was like, there are cows in our backyard. People couldn't believe that New York was anything but city.
@Batcabbage: One word: Lando Freaking Calrissian! ...
Who taught you to count, dude?
... The only way this episode could have been better is if Lando was the one who killed Nikki and Paulo with the Millenium Falcon.
Actually, I think he'd have used a Colt 45. (Google it, kids!)
Actually, I think he'd have used a Colt 45
Ha! Too true.
(And I didn't have to google it. :) )
I never understood the hatred towards Nikki and Paolo. In fact, I'm still wondering why so many fans hated a pair of characters that were barely seen throughout the first half of Season 3. What was the big deal?
Nevertheless, I must say that I enjoyed this episode very much. It is one of those unusual episodes that not only struck me as well done, but also a much needed break from the show's usual over-the-top melodrama. I think the show runners had a wicked sense of humor when they created this episode.
To be honest when this first aired i wasn't really bothered by N&P, but now rewatching it really annoys me how Paulo doesn't say anthing about Bens's threat and how the fist thing Nikki thinks about after the crash is the diamonds.
He was hiding the diamonds at the time he overheard Ben and Juliet's conversation.
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