Ding dong! Nikki and Paolo are gone!
And buried alive, no less!!
I wanted to jump up and dance around when I realized they were being buried alive! Unfortunately, my husband was sitting right next to me rolling his eyes. Being buried alive is not something I’d wish on anyone in real life, but in television land it seems perfectly acceptable.
I’m sure I’m among the hordes of fans who simply did not see the point of those two. Sure, bring some of the background characters up to the front – they did that with Artz, giving Hurley one of the best lines ever: “Dude, you got some… Artz on you.” Really, they could find some of the background actors or actresses are pretty good at acting and not just standing around eating coconut. Sceve anyone? What ever happened to Steve or Scott – whichever one didn’t get beaten to death by Ethan or another other? Maybe some of these folks really are good – they just haven’t had a big break yet – this could be it. Bring someone up for more than just someone to blow up or kill off – like the red shirts on Star Trek.
But back to Nikki and Paolo. Their introduction was off, they added nothing to the show, and no one really saw the point of them. Sawyer did have a couple great lines – one at the Ping Pong table and then again in Expose – who the hell are they? That’s exactly what all the fans had been thinking.
This wasn’t one of the episodes with great answers, like last week’s how Locke ended up in the wheelchair answer, but it definitely was a nice break from intense, submarine exploding, Other oriented episodes.
It was nice to see Artz again – even though we knew he was going to blow his top. Same with Shannon and Boone. As upset as she was at the airport in previous flashbacks, I still thought their part of that scene was overdone. I miss them too. Michael can stay gone, but Shannon and Boone could come back. There was no Libby or Ana Lucia or Eko or any of the other tailies in the background at the airport. I wonder if that means anything – since everything else on “Lost” seems to mean something.
The spider thing was a bit predicable. As soon as Artz started telling Nikki about them, I knew that was how they’d met their demise. The paralyzed part caught me a bit off guard but I knew the monster wasn’t a viable option. My first thought when I realized it was that she’d said “Paolo’s alive” rather than “Paolo lies” like Hurley thought or “paralyzed” like she actually said. For all Nikki remembered about Dr. Artz’s lecture about the Medusa spider, I’m surprised she forgot the little part about the pheromone attracting all the males of the species.
You know, Sawyer is pretty smart – much smarter than we realized I think. The “forensic hatch” thing was pretty funny, but he figured out the secret – that there was dirt under her nails and that she must have been digging. Maybe he’s a CSI fan?
I loved Charlie coming clean with Sun. I’m glad she’s not going to tell Jin because there would be another grave – or two – and despite Desmond’s warnings that Charlie is going to die, death by Jin for Sawyer and Charlie wouldn’t be a good thing. Sawyer deserved that slap. I get the feeling that he’s feeling friendly towards Jin – more so than he has just about anybody except Kate. Back in the real world, Sawyer was able to insulate himself from others, never getting too close to anyone. On the island things are different. He and Jin came through the whole raft blowing up thing, trekking across the island with the tailies [even though Sawyer was unconscious for most of it], and I’m sure he knows that Jin was part of the attempted sailboat rescue. And who can forget the drunk VW escapade? There’s something about riding around a big field on a supposedly deserted island in a beat up VW bug that will bond guys.
Overall, this wasn’t the best episode of the season, and while it may technically qualify as the worst, I still enjoyed it.
6 out of 10 stars.
