3x14: 'Exposé' Discussion Thread

[D-Roc]

Episode Review for Exposé (3x14)

So finally we came to understand the relevance of P*ulo and Nikki. We had waited long enough, endured P*ulos toilet humour, tolerated Nikki's sweet yet pointless smiles..heck I had even got to thinking that they were a low budget Shannon and Boone..call it the Z-Team

Lets just say the producers had alot to answer for.

Thoughts of Nikki & P*ulo being secret agents of Dharma or the Others gave me hope that there would be light at the end of a dim and dismal tunnel. Heck, I had even begun to yearn for the crazy idea that they were brought to the island due to Desmonds hot-skipping through time causing a tear in the time and space continuim and replacing our ever dear Rosie and whatshisface with two new fellows

I needed something..anything to restore my faith in the redshirt..

and then there was 'Expose'..

The episode i like to refer to as the Curveball episode..the silver lining to an awful cloud..the reason why Lost is quite frankly brilliant.

I did not know where I was for much of this episode, i was immediately befuddled with the first couple of minutes..actually, the first 10 minutes (though i did guess that the opening flashback was that of a tv show Nikki was starring in)..in a word i was utterly LOST..and it was fricken great!! The idea that P*ulo and Nikki are master criminals, well..who would've guessed - i certianly didnt hear that theory!

The episode was supreme..it was like a good old murder mystery..it took LOST to places where the show has not been before and made it, well, fresh again. Oh how i smiled when i saw old buddies Arzt, Boone, Shannon and Ethan..oh how i was open mouthed when i realised that P*ulo..yes..P*ulo had known about Ben and Jules and the Others and the Pearl before any of the other beach goons

Wait..did someone say they wanted a pen..or were the writers watching mine and Abbotts old Boone/Pen comedy stories back in the day on C4 - I want my cut mr Lindeloff!

anyhoo..

I didnt think they could do it..i really had my doubts, but y'know i have to give the writers their dues..they made me believe..no, they made me 'want' to believe in the P*ulo and Nikki story..heck by the end of 'Expose' i was invested..and let me tell ya, i dont have alot of investment to go around right now what with Ben and Locke tearing me in either direction But in the crazy-surreal-adventure that played out before me, i discovered something in those two former goons which i really found quite endearing..the idea that a person can become lost and found all at the same time..that they are so scared of losing the one thing that they love most, that they would do anything to protect what they have gained. People arent perfect, but what i saw in P*ulo was the reason for his clingyness, the reason for his insecurity..yes, none of this is 'good'..but at least now we can see why he was the way he was..he loved Nikki (i believe)..and he had begun to believe that she loved him back - perhaps for the first time? In essence, they had to become Lost before they could be found..that, i think, is slightly beautiful. Just a pity that diamonds are forever, huh

This was a clever episode..an extremly clever episode..how they managed to keep it all together and contain it with such precision is beyond me..did they recreate all those S1 scenes?!? It was an amazing 42 minutes of my life - I gotta tell ya, i dont think i will forget the look on P*ulos face when Nikki found him after the 'crash'..fantastic acting by Mr Santoro..and i do not say that often..not in LOST at least.

This was a rare episode where the flashbacks were almost as interesting as the island events..i mean, how good was it to see Leslie (Arzt) again..the way they reminded us that the redshirts had a whole other community existence going on whislt John and Jack where fighting Polar Bears and and tears - i suppose Nikki and P*ulo were supposed to be representative of this other existence..thats all really..no big conspiracy afterall. Ahhhh..

I know that the nay-sayers wont be happy..but i for one enjoyed this episode 10 times more than i did the vastly overated Trisha Tanaka is Dead - both odd episodes, but this..this was high order..this was writing/acting/directing of a high order.

Dont get me wrong, i havent forgiven P*ulo for all of the toilet roll he used..i also havent forgiven Nikki for being so beautiful yet so inate..or for making John look like a dipstick back in 3x05..but this episode has gone a long way to helping me to make peace with these two set-pieces.

And so as the truth behind P*ulo and Nikki is exposed..i would define this as an episode which gave P*ulo & Nikki context, but which left their presence with merely subtext in the grand scheme of things. Yes, still pretty and pointless..nothing as important as a Dharma conspiracy or a rip in time and space..but simply a story and hey, everyones got a story..even P*ulo and Nikki, it would seem

Ive agonised over what rating this episode deserves..i mean, it's totally isolated from the bigger picture..but at the same time it was clever and beautiful and fun and sad and shocking and satisfying..this was the creators reaching into their bag of tricks and pulling out a white rabbit..and you know what....im still chasing it

9/10

..and out of respect..and new found appreciation, i will actually call him by his actual name without the asterix replacing the 'a'.

Goodbye Paulo..goodbye lovely Nikki. Godspeed..

[Murgatroyd]

Didn't like it much at all, sorry. Posted this elsewhere, but I thought it quite rubbish and was only really content with the fact that Charlie came clean to Sun. Nikki and Paulo got buried alive, a horrid thing, and I find I don't much care. If you want me to care much about characters being buried alive, best not to introduce them randomly and pointlessly and then excuse that random pointlessness with in-jokes about having introduced them randomly and pointlessly. And in-jokes about every other fannish quibble ever raised over the course of this programme. The A-team. All that fuss over getting into a hatch. A scene dedicated to a character's using a toilet. The question about how Shannon knew where Jack kept the key to the guns. Lost is very meta sometimes, but in a really irritating way.

I just thought that was a massively self-indulgent episode, full of references of interest only to people who sigh nostalgically at the days when Boone stole all the drinking water and looked for pens among the crash survivors and totally irrelevant to anyone who saw season 1, like, two years ago and doesn't retain the sort of information you don't actually need to retain. Naturally I did quite like looking at the crash site again, but I don't think there was a vast amount of point in revisiting all these events I have on DVD anyway just in order for the writers to tipp-ex out all the little mistakes they left in the first time 'round. Specially seeing as there was no truly significant new light cast on any of the revisited events. Confirmation of why Jack and co were kidnapped but that could've been revealed at any time. And now we know who left a cigarette in the Pearl. Whoop-de-doo.

Also, correct me if I'm wrong but I'm sure Abrams or Lindelhof or Cuse or someone said something along the lines of 'I know you all hate Nikki and Paulo right now, but after their flashback you'll love them'. And I so don't. Why will I love them? Because it transpires they murdered a man for his diamonds and then spent the entire duration of the series caring about nothing but those diamonds and then eventually Nikki poisoned Paulo with a spider? Is that supposed to be making me like people?

So yeah. Buried alive. Nasty business of course. But I still don't much care. It'll be better for the series if everyone continues pretty much not to care. The best thing that episode did was to cut short a couple of very pointless storylines.

[Easily confused]

What a disappointing episode

It was nice to see Shannon, Boone and Artz again and
Sawyer and Hurley were both pretty good in this episode but it wasn’t enough really

I thought the going back to initial plane crash was poorly done (I think they tried to make a joke of it and it didn’t work for me)

Then at the end I was just left thinking what a lot of fuss over some diamonds that aren’t worth anything unless they get saved and I would have thought even after 80 days Nikki and Paulo would have started to care less themselves and Nikki could have just given Paulo a slapped wrist for lying to her and leave it at that

So what now is she going to suddenly reappear next season after conveniently digging herself out of the grave unnoticed (and most probably still with all the diamonds) I really hope not

I think as far as this episode is concerned the writers have been watching far too much Scooby-doo

They should have saved this episode for the DVD extras imo

Originally Posted by KOR

..fantastic acting by Mr Santoro..

I must have missed that part

and Murg I’m with you I don’t love them either even after seeing their flashback

[-x-madegurl-x-]

I gotta say, I wasn't too happy with how they seemed to ruch everything into the episode but it made me understand them both better.
And at least it makes sense about Paulo and the toilet now

I know this episode may not have changed many peoplesviews on both of them but it's made me like them even more. Even though they don't come across as 'good' people, everyone's done something bad but we still like them!
Now I haven't seen episode 3x15 yet but IF they are ever to return then i'd be more than happy to explore more of them.

However, they did seem a bit like a low-budget Boone and Shannon

[keeno_82uk]

it was funny how paulo and Nikki found everything before locke, charlie and boone found them. The hatch, the plane, the pearl. Got what was coming to them at the end.

I'm an aracnophobic though so i hated this episode.... wonder if the spiders strike again in season 4. They're on the loose now

[D-Roc]

Originally Posted by keeno_82uk

it was funny how paulo and Nikki found everything before locke, charlie and boone found them. The hatch, the plane, the pearl.

Yeah, I really appreciated how cleverly that was done.
Shame 'Darlton' caved in to the fans though (even though I didn't like Paulo).

[Lost Lewis]

Now I don't normally rip it out of Nikki and Paulo as much as some people do and I quite enjoy this episode but I found this trivia pretty funny! 'The only dialogue that Nikki and Paulo have in this episode is in their flashbacks, even though it is their centric-episode'. I guess they really were a bit...pointless.

[The_abbott]

Not exactly true Lewis.

Nikki says two words "Power Lines" or "Paulo lies" which of course we now know as "paralysed"

[Magnovey Phoenix]

Well guys I like it. I liked the episode very much. It's brilliant how everything is connected and revealed. Good story though but annoying characters especially Nikki. Have you noticed them in 2nd season??? There are few scene when Paulo is in the back. Or is that Scott, no...

[freckles08]

[quote=keeno_82uk;225508]it was funny how paulo and Nikki found everything before locke, charlie and boone found them. The hatch, the plane, the pearl. Got what was coming to them at the end.

Init especially as Nikki and Paulo are not exaclty the smartest tools in the shed!!

I thought they were Brother and Sister at first as well Roco

Hurley and Sawyer were great in this episode and that Slap was great but i still think it was one of the worst Episodes

[JB Sawyer]

Still the worst episode of Lost ever.