Last week it was Locke, and this week, "Lost" turned our attention to Nikki and Paulo. Though I cannot begin to express my frustration at the complete disregard for last week's nuances, I have to admit that I found this episode to be intriguing, even if it didn't answer nearly as many question as it raised. Then again, that does seem to be trademark of "Lost" these days. Here are my thoughts.

In the first five minutes, we learn through flashbacks that Nikki was an actress in Sydney, guest-starring on a cheesy "Charlie's Angels"-type TV series called "Exposé." She's also dating the producer, who (ahem) appears way too old for her. For the non-flashback Nikki details (spoilers ahead, of course) 

Back on the beach, Sawyer and Hurley's ping pong game is interrupted when Nikki comes running out of the jungle and falls to the ground. She tries to say something, and then appears to drop dead with her eyes wide open.

Sawyer and Hurley try to decipher her last words, which sound like "power line" or "Paulo lies." They set off to find Paulo, who also appears to have dropped dead (in the exact same fashion as Nikki, naturally) in the middle of the jungle after a bizarre struggle. Jin suspects the monster.

The episode unravels in "real time" as the Losties attempt to figure out the bizarre deaths, but also in flashback time, which begins days before the crash and quickly catches up to "real time."

Who Are Nikki & Paulo?
We learn that days before the plane crash, Nikki and Paulo poisoned the wealthy Australian producer and conned him out of $8 million in diamonds. They seem to love each other, but their relationship is severely compromised by the stress from all that criminal activity. When the plane crashes, they lose track of their luggage, which only puts further strain on their relationship.

We see many flashbacks from the first days on the island — interactions between Nikki and Paulo with Locke, Jack, Kate, etc., are revealed for seemingly no reason other than to prove that they've been there all along. Boone and Shannon also make appearances, which I enjoyed but found mostly unnecessary.

Nikki is very concerned about their lost diamonds, even more so than she is about the mysterious "monster" that Paulo claims to have seen in the jungle. She makes friends with Arzt (the teacher who accidentally blew himself up with TNT), who gives her a map that leads Nikki and Paulo to the plane that eventually killed Boone, and they stumble upon the Pearl hatch. Nikki is too consumed with her obsession with the diamonds to care about either of these things. (Um, what?) Paulo finds the diamonds, but doesn't tell Nikki.

Later, Paulo heads into the Pearl hatch and hides the diamonds in a toilet. He also overhears Ben and Juliet discussing how they will manipulate Jack into performing surgery on Ben. Paulo doesn't seem to care about any of this, which just adds to my "Seriously, Paulo?" list. At least he has the common sense to steal the walkie talkie that Juliet and Ben leave behind.

Paulo returns to the hatch at a later date and flushes the evidence. Back on the beach, he tells Nikki that he's glad they couldn't find the diamonds because the money won't come between them. When he gets up, he leaves behind a pack of nicotine gum, which had been in his luggage with the diamonds.

Nikki is infuriated and lets loose a medusa spider. While telling Paulo that he will be paralyzed for 8 hours, she finds the diamonds in his pants. In a moment of weakness (and sheer stupidity), Nikki forgets about the spiders and gets bitten. She runs to the jungle, where she mumbles "paralyzed" to Hurley and Sawyer, who cannot understand her.

Back In "Real Time"

  • Charlie confesses to Sun that he is responsible for her kidnapping and that Sawyer put him up to it. Sun confronts Sawyer and promises to keep his secret from Jin, but still gives him a nice smack in the face.
  • The Losties assume that Paulo and/or Nikki were in cahoots with the Others, because they find the walkie talkie on Paulo. While this is a rational assessment, their detective skills totally suck. Where is Sayid when you need him?
  • Unable to figure out that Nikki and Paulo are only paralyzed, the Losties perform a funeral service and bury them. They scatter the diamonds over the bodies before piling enough dirt to suffocate them when they finally awake from their comas. Ouch. I have to say — assuming Nikki & Paulo don't make a miraculous escape - the Losties are a little too good at accidentally killing each other.

For another fun recap by "Lost" junkie Whiplashgirlchild, click here.

Photos copyright 2007 ABC Inc.

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