There have been a lot of people saying that Expose, the Nikki and Paulo episode was useless. Most of those fans are biased from not wanting new characters to come onto the show and the others I believe don’t look deeper than what’s on the on the surface. The writers have always said that Nikki and Paulo were there from the beginning. Many fans didn’t believe them and started to wonder whether this episode had Nikki and Paulo superimposed over the initial plane crash. Well I actually watched the episode really closely and I was looking to see if they re-shot scenes during the plane crash or they superimposed them. As far as I could tell, they didn’t. All of that stuff was shot with them. I believe the creators decided not to show it until now and I believe it was a strategic move to do that.
Otherwise, fans would have to believe that every scene except for the first few episodes including Nikki and Paulo was re-shot as well. I mean, when they went on their adventure to the hatch with Locke and the other losties, Paulo did go to the bathroom, which is where he ended up hiding his fortune in the end. We all remember that. We all remember them being there when Jack gave his speech after nearly a week on the island too. We wondered who they were then. We saw them when they asked for food from Sawyer and Hurley. They just didn’t happen to be one of the main 10 stars at the time.
I think Nikki and Paulo were there Wednesday night to show us that there are other losties on the island that we don’t see but that they are there. They have lives and adventures on the island too and we shouldn’t forget about them. On the “island” it is as if Jack and his friends are the “main characters” and the other losties are just “extras”. And I think that’s exactly what the other losties feel like. So showing that the other losties have stories and lives gives us an insight into the other people who were also on that plane. Paulo finding the hatch was just another way to show us that a different person like Paulo or Nikki doesn’ really connect to the island like Jack or Locke and their only agenda is to get off the island. And maybe it’s safer not to stay involved with Jack and his troupe.
Also, I disagree that it was out of character to show Ben telling his plans to Juliet while Paulo watched. I think Ben does tell Juliet his plans. That’s all he does! We just never see it. That was the first time we saw Ben really talk to Juliet away from the losties. Everything is from Jack’s and the others’ points of view. It was good to see that Ben and Juliet are regular people trying to protect themselves and maybe it’s their other personas that are fake, not what you saw Wednesday night.
What we learned about Locke from his interaction with Paulo when he was burying his treasure was spectacular. Locke’s reminder “Nothing stays buried on this island” was such a foreshadowing moment. And the scene between Sun and Charlie was great. We got to see Charlie be a stand-up guy and release Sun’s irrational fears that the others were coming to kidnap and kill her. I also loved the fact that Sun slapped Sawyer when she found out about his little suggestion. It reminded me of Claire slapping Charlie when he took the baby long ago. It was justified and says more about Sawyer and Charlie from their expressions afterwards than it does about the slappers.
And lastly, contrary to popular belief, I believe Locke’s character has been evolving from episode one. This season he has been muted because he felt guilty about what happened to the hatch and what happened to Eko because of him. He thought the hatch was his destiny and when he inadvertently blew it up . . .I mean how would that make you feel? But I think after that, very much like Pharoah, Locke’s heart hardened. He became distant, but again, I think that was him all along.
Locke has an agenda that no one else has. He wants to be able to connect to something. Nothing else in his life is worth anything so he cares about nothing else, not even the losties. And now he’s become so arrogant as to decide the outcomes of everyone else’s lives on the island, that he’s more selfish than anyone else, excluding Michael. That’s a bad personal quality but a great character quality. All of the characters on this show are flawed. And there’s nothing wrong with a person you like on the show going down the path of darkness. Locke is on a destructive journey, literally. And I love that he is giving a great energy and mystery to the show while still being insecure about himself.
