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Exposé (Lost)
Encyclopedia
"Exposé" is the 14th episode of the 3rd season and 63rd episode overall of the American Broadcasting Company
(ABC)'s serial drama
television series Lost
. It was aired as on ABC in the United States and on CTV
in Canada on March 28, 2007. The episode was written by Edward Kitsis
and Adam Horowitz and directed by Stephen Williams
.
The episode's story focuses on couple Nikki Fernandez
(Kiele Sanchez
) and Paulo
(Rodrigo Santoro
). The flashbacks reveal their lives before arriving on the island, and what they have been doing between day one
and day eighty-one. The episode marks the first appearance of Shannon Rutherford
(Maggie Grace
) since her on-screen death early in the second season
. Boone Carlyle
(Ian Somerhalder
) returned for the fifth time since his death late in the first season
. Furthermore, Ethan (William Mapother
) and Dr. Arzt (Daniel Roebuck
) reprised their guest roles in flashbacks. The episode got a mixed response from critics and fans, with positive reception considering it an entertaining send-off to two unpopular characters, but negative reviews deeming it unnecessary.
(Kiele Sanchez
) acting in a popular, Charlie's Angels
-like TV show Exposé filmed in Sydney, in which she is a guest star. She is also having an affair with the septuagenarian executive producer, Howard L. Zuckerman, who is very wealthy, while Paulo
(Rodrigo Santoro
) works as his chef. Paulo kills Zuckerman by poisoning his food, and the couple steals his diamonds, which are worth $8 million. The couple plan on returning to the United States on Oceanic Flight 815, encountering Boone Carlyle
(Ian Somerhalder
) and Shannon Rutherford
(Maggie Grace
) at the airport. Upon surviving the plane crash, Nikki and Paulo realize that they have lost the bag with the diamonds. Nikki consults Dr. Leslie Arzt (Daniel Roebuck
), who tells her of a spider with the ability to paralyze people. He also gives her a trajectory map which leads them to The Pearl and the Nigerian plane; they explore neither. When Kate Austen
(Evangeline Lilly
) mentions that she found luggage from the plane in a lake, Paulo finds the diamonds, but does not tell Nikki. Instead, he hides them in the toilet at The Pearl and overhears a conversation between Juliet Burke
(Elizabeth Mitchell
) and Ben Linus (Michael Emerson
). The two accidentally leave behind a walkie-talkie that Paulo takes. Later, when Sayid Jarrah
(Naveen Andrews
), John Locke
(Terry O'Quinn
), Desmond Hume
(Henry Ian Cusick
), Nikki and Paulo visit The Pearl
, Paulo retrieves the diamonds by pretending to use the bathroom. Nikki figures out that Paulo has found the diamonds without telling her and decides to lure him into a trap. When he denies that he has the diamonds she unleashes one of the paralyzing spiders on him. She finds the diamonds and Paulo apologizes, claiming that he did it so that she would not end their relationship. As Nikki stands in a state of regret, the faint sounds of "The Monster" can be heard, and the pheromones of the female spider attract a group of the male spiders of the same species and she is bitten on her leg. She buries the diamonds and sprints to the beach.
) and James "Sawyer" Ford (Josh Holloway
) are playing ping pong. As Hurley and Sawyer rush to her, she says something barely audible. She is soon pronounced dead. Hurley and Sawyer try to recount what Nikki said before she died and come to the conclusion that she said, "Paulo lies", although she actually said "paralyzed". Sawyer and Hurley begin an investigation and find Paulo lying lifeless in the jungle. Sawyer finds a walkie talkie in Nikki and Paulo's tent, and concludes they were working with the Others, due to the similarity. Hurley does not think the Others are near their camp, but Sun-Hwa Kwon (Yunjin Kim) reminds them that she was abducted nearby (unaware that it was Charlie who grabbed her). Sawyer tries to calm them down and says he will do a perimeter sweep. Meanwhile, Charlie Pace
(Dominic Monaghan
), who feels guilty, confesses to Sun that it was he who attempted to kidnap her. Sawyer returns, having found the diamonds, and the other survivors accuse him of being the killer because Desmond saw him arguing with Nikki just that morning. He gives the diamonds to Sun, but she later confronts him about kidnapping her and returns the diamonds because "they're worthless here." The survivors then hold a funeral for Nikki and Paulo, where Sawyer pours the pouch of diamonds into the grave. Nikki's eyelids open just as Hurley and Sawyer are filling the grave, burying her and Paulo alive.
"Exposé" was the fourteenth episode of the series directed by Stephen Williams
, and the ninth written by the screenwriting duo Edward Kitsis
and Adam Horowitz. Kitsis and Horowitz intended to make the episode an homage to film noir
, with two con artists who did the "perfect crime", that eventually goes wrong due to them getting stranded on the island. A reference to the genre was added by having Sawyer read Agatha Christie
's Evil Under the Sun
. A recurring theme is Nikki and Paulo's selfishness, which eventually leads to their deaths due to them being greedy and "too focused on their own petty needs to really care about anyone else".
The flashbacks of "Exposé" would show how Nikki and Paulo were always on the island by make them appear in important previous events. The scene set after the crash mixes actual scenes and unused footage of the pilot episode
, along with new footage shot in the original location of Mokulēʻia beach. Since not all pieces of the wreckage were found, a few were added with greenscreen effects. The scene with Jack's speech interperses new scenes with footage from "White Rabbit
". Other continuity nods were considered, such as Paulo finding Shannon's inhaler from "Confidence Man
", Nikki seeing Boone and Locke carrying shovels to excavate the hatch, and a filmed, but deleted scene where Nikki sees the sky turning purple
.
During season one, the writers had the idea of introducing a character who was an actress and also created the outline of the fictional show where she would work Exposé. The "long, daunting hours" on the writer's room would sometimes lead to the creation episodes of the fictional show, with ten being done when the Nikki-centered episode was written. Originally, there was going to be an entire flashback episode in which Nikki was going to be a crime-fighting stripper
, only to have it revealed that she was actually an actress. The idea was shortened to just one flashback spot. The role of Mr. LaShade was written with Billy Dee Williams
in mind, and when he was cast an homage of his famous role as Lando Calrissian
was added on the color scheme of LaShade's hat.
Nikki and Paulo were killed off due to being disliked by much of Lost' s fan base. Show runner
Damon Lindelof
admitted that the couple were "universally despised" by fans. Lindelof explained that "back when we (the producers) had more good faith with the audience, we could have gotten away with these shenanigans. Given the backlash against them, we had to clean up the mess." The decision to kill them off in one flashback episode was decided by the producers in December 2006. It was also stated by Lindelof and fellow show runner
s Carlton Cuse
that despite Nikki and Paulo's bad reception, they felt the episode was necessary to explain their original plan of introducing former background characters to the main cast. Lindelof suggested the rest of the writing team to bury the characters alive. Although actress Kiele Sanchez
said that she wasn't bothered by the general dislike of her character, she was very nervous during the burial scene, because she has claustrophobia
. Speculation about the duo's deaths began months before the actual episode aired, Santoro said in an interview with the Brazilian Rolling Stone
magazine that his character was going to die in the middle of the third season. Another clue about the deaths came when it was announced that Sanchez was signed on to film a fall 2007 pilot for the ABC show, Football Wives
.
– and placing Lost at the eighteenth spot on the overall weekly ranking. It also attracted 1.089 million viewers in Canada, being the fourth most watched show of the night, and 961,000 viewers in the United Kingdom, being Sky One
's most watched show of the week.
"Exposé" received mixed reviews. Lindelof admitted that the episode "created a varying degree of fan reaction", with some fans even describing it as "filler
". But Cuse defended "Exposé", saying it was "a little bit more of an anthology episode for the show", and that he felt that "it's unrealistic, in a show that is now 72 episodes in, that every episode is gonna be, you know, chock full of plot momentum. I think it's entirely reasonable, and we sort of by necessity have to have episodes that aren't super-narratively, you know, propelled." Daniel of TMZ.com
said that the episode "was a complete waste of time", and that although he "wanted Nikki and Paulo to die", he did not think their deaths warranted an entire episode. Entertainment Weekly
' s Jeff Jensen wrote that although he liked the cameo appearance of Billy Dee Williams
, he did not think "Exposé" "will do much to change anyone's minds" about Nikki and Paulo, who were already unpopular characters. Brooke Tarnoff, a writer for UGO.com, wrote that she was "embarrassed" for Lost. New York Magazine put "Exposé" at the top of its list of "Twenty Most Pointless Lost Episodes". However, TV Guide
s Matt Roush very much praised the episode for "weaving flashbacks that appeared to be posthumous but really weren't while providing clever new angles on classic Lost moments from previous seasons", Roush went on to say that "Exposé" was "a welcome reminder that sometimes these producers really do seem to know what they're doing after all." Chris Carabott of IGN
also gave a positive review, stating that while Nikki and Paulo had no real impact on the overall storyline, "their ultimate end made for an entertaining hour of television". The IGN staff later ranked "Exposé" 58th out of the 113 Lost episodes, describing it as "one of the series' darkest and most fun episodes".
American Broadcasting Company
The American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...
(ABC)'s serial drama
Dramatic programming
Dramatic programming in the UK, or television drama and television drama series in the US, is television program content that is scripted and fictional along the lines of √a traditional drama. This excludes, for example, sports television, television news, reality show and game shows, stand-up...
television series Lost
Lost (TV series)
Lost is an American television series that originally aired on ABC from September 22, 2004 to May 23, 2010, consisting of six seasons. Lost is a drama series that follows the survivors of the crash of a commercial passenger jet flying between Sydney and Los Angeles, on a mysterious tropical island...
. It was aired as on ABC in the United States and on CTV
CTV television network
CTV Television Network is a Canadian English language television network and is owned by Bell Media. It is Canada's largest privately-owned network, and has consistently placed as Canada's top-rated network in total viewers and in key demographics since 2002, after several years trailing the rival...
in Canada on March 28, 2007. The episode was written by Edward Kitsis
Edward Kitsis
Edward Lawrence Kitsis, also sometimes credited as Eddy Kitsis, is an American screenwriter and producer, best known for his work on the popular American television series, Lost and Once Upon a Time.-Life and career:...
and Adam Horowitz and directed by Stephen Williams
Stephen Williams (director)
Stephen Williams is a Canadian film and television director. Williams has directed several modern day television programs including work as a regular director on the ABC drama series Lost, where he was also a co-executive producer...
.
The episode's story focuses on couple Nikki Fernandez
Nikki and Paulo
Nikki Fernandez and Paulo are fictional characters on the ABC drama television series Lost, which chronicles the lives of over forty people after their plane crashes on a remote island somewhere in the south Pacific...
(Kiele Sanchez
Kiele Sanchez
Kiele Michelle Sanchez is an American actress who stars in the A&E Network drama The Glades. Previously she starred as the second-eldest Sorelli sister, Anne, a therapist in her mid-twenties, in The WB's comedic ensemble drama, Related. She was cast as a co-star in the third season of the ABC...
) and Paulo
Nikki and Paulo
Nikki Fernandez and Paulo are fictional characters on the ABC drama television series Lost, which chronicles the lives of over forty people after their plane crashes on a remote island somewhere in the south Pacific...
(Rodrigo Santoro
Rodrigo Santoro
Rodrigo Junqueira dos Reis Santoro is a Brazilian actor.-Life and career:Santoro was born in Petrópolis, Rio de Janeiro. He is of half Brazilian and half Italian descent. In 1993, as Santoro was studying Journalism at PUC-Rio, he entered the Actor's Workshop of Rede Globo...
). The flashbacks reveal their lives before arriving on the island, and what they have been doing between day one
Pilot (Lost)
"Pilot" constitutes the first and second episodes of the first season of ABC television series Lost, with "Part 1" premiering on September 22, 2004 and Part 2 on September 29, 2004. The episodes were directed by J.J. Abrams, and written by him along with Damon Lindelof, based on a story by them and...
and day eighty-one. The episode marks the first appearance of Shannon Rutherford
Shannon Rutherford
Shannon Rutherford is a fictional character played by Maggie Grace on the ABC drama television series Lost, which chronicles the lives of the survivors of a plane crash in the South Pacific. Shannon is introduced in the pilot episode as the stepsister of fellow crash survivor Boone Carlyle . She is...
(Maggie Grace
Maggie Grace
Margaret Grace Denig , best known as Maggie Grace, is an American actress. Originally from Worthington, Ohio, she dropped out of high school to move to Los Angeles with her mother after her parents' divorce. While struggling financially, she landed her first role as the title character in the...
) since her on-screen death early in the second season
Abandoned (Lost)
"Abandoned" is the 31st episode of the television series Lost, and is the sixth episode of the second season. The episode was directed by Adam Davidson and written by Elizabeth Sarnoff. It first aired on November 9, 2005 on ABC. The character of Shannon Rutherford is featured in the episode's...
. Boone Carlyle
Boone Carlyle
Boone Carlyle is a fictional character played by Ian Somerhalder on the ABC drama television series Lost, which chronicles the lives of the survivors of a plane crash in the south Pacific. Boone is introduced in the pilot episode as the stepbrother of fellow crash survivor Shannon Rutherford...
(Ian Somerhalder
Ian Somerhalder
Ian Joseph Somerhalder is an American model, actor and producer, best known for playing Boone Carlyle in the TV drama Lost and Damon Salvatore in the TV drama The Vampire Diaries.-Early life:...
) returned for the fifth time since his death late in the first season
Do No Harm (Lost)
"Do No Harm" is the twentieth episode of the first season of Lost. The episode was directed by Stephen Williams and written by Janet Tamaro. It first aired on April 6, 2005 on ABC....
. Furthermore, Ethan (William Mapother
William Mapother
William Reibert Mapother, Jr. is an American actor and former teacher, perhaps best known for his role as Ethan Rom on the television series Lost.-Personal life:...
) and Dr. Arzt (Daniel Roebuck
Daniel Roebuck
Daniel James Roebuck is an American television film actor, writer and producer, primarily in films, soap operas and television.-Life and career:...
) reprised their guest roles in flashbacks. The episode got a mixed response from critics and fans, with positive reception considering it an entertaining send-off to two unpopular characters, but negative reviews deeming it unnecessary.
Flashbacks
The flashbacks begin with Nikki FernandezNikki and Paulo
Nikki Fernandez and Paulo are fictional characters on the ABC drama television series Lost, which chronicles the lives of over forty people after their plane crashes on a remote island somewhere in the south Pacific...
(Kiele Sanchez
Kiele Sanchez
Kiele Michelle Sanchez is an American actress who stars in the A&E Network drama The Glades. Previously she starred as the second-eldest Sorelli sister, Anne, a therapist in her mid-twenties, in The WB's comedic ensemble drama, Related. She was cast as a co-star in the third season of the ABC...
) acting in a popular, Charlie's Angels
Charlie's Angels
Charlie's Angels is a television series about three women who work for a private investigation agency, and is one of the first shows to showcase women in roles traditionally reserved for men...
-like TV show Exposé filmed in Sydney, in which she is a guest star. She is also having an affair with the septuagenarian executive producer, Howard L. Zuckerman, who is very wealthy, while Paulo
Nikki and Paulo
Nikki Fernandez and Paulo are fictional characters on the ABC drama television series Lost, which chronicles the lives of over forty people after their plane crashes on a remote island somewhere in the south Pacific...
(Rodrigo Santoro
Rodrigo Santoro
Rodrigo Junqueira dos Reis Santoro is a Brazilian actor.-Life and career:Santoro was born in Petrópolis, Rio de Janeiro. He is of half Brazilian and half Italian descent. In 1993, as Santoro was studying Journalism at PUC-Rio, he entered the Actor's Workshop of Rede Globo...
) works as his chef. Paulo kills Zuckerman by poisoning his food, and the couple steals his diamonds, which are worth $8 million. The couple plan on returning to the United States on Oceanic Flight 815, encountering Boone Carlyle
Boone Carlyle
Boone Carlyle is a fictional character played by Ian Somerhalder on the ABC drama television series Lost, which chronicles the lives of the survivors of a plane crash in the south Pacific. Boone is introduced in the pilot episode as the stepbrother of fellow crash survivor Shannon Rutherford...
(Ian Somerhalder
Ian Somerhalder
Ian Joseph Somerhalder is an American model, actor and producer, best known for playing Boone Carlyle in the TV drama Lost and Damon Salvatore in the TV drama The Vampire Diaries.-Early life:...
) and Shannon Rutherford
Shannon Rutherford
Shannon Rutherford is a fictional character played by Maggie Grace on the ABC drama television series Lost, which chronicles the lives of the survivors of a plane crash in the South Pacific. Shannon is introduced in the pilot episode as the stepsister of fellow crash survivor Boone Carlyle . She is...
(Maggie Grace
Maggie Grace
Margaret Grace Denig , best known as Maggie Grace, is an American actress. Originally from Worthington, Ohio, she dropped out of high school to move to Los Angeles with her mother after her parents' divorce. While struggling financially, she landed her first role as the title character in the...
) at the airport. Upon surviving the plane crash, Nikki and Paulo realize that they have lost the bag with the diamonds. Nikki consults Dr. Leslie Arzt (Daniel Roebuck
Daniel Roebuck
Daniel James Roebuck is an American television film actor, writer and producer, primarily in films, soap operas and television.-Life and career:...
), who tells her of a spider with the ability to paralyze people. He also gives her a trajectory map which leads them to The Pearl and the Nigerian plane; they explore neither. When Kate Austen
Kate Austen
Katherine Anne "Kate" Austen is a fictional character on the ABC television series Lost, played by Canadian actress Evangeline Lilly. She is the de facto female lead...
(Evangeline Lilly
Evangeline Lilly
Evangeline Lilly is a Canadian actress, best known for her role as Kate Austen in the ABC drama, Lost.-Early life:...
) mentions that she found luggage from the plane in a lake, Paulo finds the diamonds, but does not tell Nikki. Instead, he hides them in the toilet at The Pearl and overhears a conversation between Juliet Burke
Juliet Burke
Dr. Juliet Burke is a fictional character on the ABC television series Lost played by Elizabeth Mitchell. Her character was introduced in the third season premiere.- Prior to arrival on the island :...
(Elizabeth Mitchell
Elizabeth Mitchell
Elizabeth Mitchell , is an American actress/modelwho is known for her roles as Dr. Juliet Burke on ABC's TV series Lost and as FBI agent Erica Evans on V. She has starred in such films as The Santa Clause 2, The Santa Clause 3: The Escape Clause, and Gia.-Early life:Mitchell was born Elizabeth...
) and Ben Linus (Michael Emerson
Michael Emerson
Michael Emerson is an American actor who is perhaps best known for his roles as Benjamin Linus on Lost and fictional serial killer William Hinks in The Practice.-Early life:...
). The two accidentally leave behind a walkie-talkie that Paulo takes. Later, when Sayid Jarrah
Sayid Jarrah
Sayid Hassan Jarrah is a character from the ABC show Lost portrayed by Naveen Andrews.-Season 1:Sayid fixes the transceiver recovered from the cockpit, and leads a group into the jungle in order to send out a distress signal. Instead, he picks up a looping message . He tries to locate the...
(Naveen Andrews
Naveen Andrews
Naveen William Sidney Andrews is a British American actor. He is best known for portraying Kip in the movie The English Patient and Sayid Jarrah on the American television series Lost.-Early life:...
), John Locke
John Locke (Lost)
John Locke is a fictional character played by Terry O'Quinn on the ABC television series Lost. He is named after English philosopher John Locke...
(Terry O'Quinn
Terry O'Quinn
Terry O'Quinn is an American actor, most famous for playing John Locke on the TV series Lost. He made his debut in a 1980 television movie called F.D.R.: The Last Year. Since then, O'Quinn has had minor supporting roles in films and TV movies such as Young Guns, All the Right Moves, Silver Bullet,...
), Desmond Hume
Desmond Hume
Desmond David Hume is a fictional character on the ABC television series Lost portrayed by Henry Ian Cusick. Desmond's name is a tribute to David Hume, the famous empiricist author and philosopher. Desmond was not a passenger of Flight 815. He had been stranded on the island three years prior to...
(Henry Ian Cusick
Henry Ian Cusick
Henry Ian Cusick is a Scottish-Peruvian actor of stage, television, and film. He is well-known for his role as Desmond Hume on the United States television series Lost, for which he received a Primetime Emmy Award nomination....
), Nikki and Paulo visit The Pearl
The Cost of Living (Lost)
"The Cost of Living" is the 5th episode of the third season of Lost, and the 54th episode overall. It aired on November 1, 2006 in the US and on December 17, 2006 in the UK. The episode was written by Monica Breen and Alison Schapker and directed by Jack Bender. The character of Mr...
, Paulo retrieves the diamonds by pretending to use the bathroom. Nikki figures out that Paulo has found the diamonds without telling her and decides to lure him into a trap. When he denies that he has the diamonds she unleashes one of the paralyzing spiders on him. She finds the diamonds and Paulo apologizes, claiming that he did it so that she would not end their relationship. As Nikki stands in a state of regret, the faint sounds of "The Monster" can be heard, and the pheromones of the female spider attract a group of the male spiders of the same species and she is bitten on her leg. She buries the diamonds and sprints to the beach.
On the beach
Nikki then runs onto the beach, before collapsing where Hugo "Hurley" Reyes (Jorge GarciaJorge Garcia
Jorge García is a U.S. actor and comedian. He first came to public attention with his performance as Hector Lopez on the television show Becker and later for his portrayal of Hugo "Hurley" Reyes in the television series Lost. Garcia also performs as a stand-up comedian.-Early life:García was born...
) and James "Sawyer" Ford (Josh Holloway
Josh Holloway
Joshua Lee "Josh" Holloway is an American actor and model from Free Home, Georgia. He is best known for his role as James "Sawyer" Ford on the American television show Lost.-Early life:...
) are playing ping pong. As Hurley and Sawyer rush to her, she says something barely audible. She is soon pronounced dead. Hurley and Sawyer try to recount what Nikki said before she died and come to the conclusion that she said, "Paulo lies", although she actually said "paralyzed". Sawyer and Hurley begin an investigation and find Paulo lying lifeless in the jungle. Sawyer finds a walkie talkie in Nikki and Paulo's tent, and concludes they were working with the Others, due to the similarity. Hurley does not think the Others are near their camp, but Sun-Hwa Kwon (Yunjin Kim) reminds them that she was abducted nearby (unaware that it was Charlie who grabbed her). Sawyer tries to calm them down and says he will do a perimeter sweep. Meanwhile, Charlie Pace
Charlie Pace
Charlie Hieronymus Pace is a fictional character on ABC's Lost, a television series chronicling the lives of plane crash survivors on a mysterious tropical island...
(Dominic Monaghan
Dominic Monaghan
Dominic Bernard Patrick Luke Monaghan is an English actor. He has received international attention from playing Merry in Peter Jackson's adaptation of J. R. R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings and for his role as Charlie Pace on the television show Lost....
), who feels guilty, confesses to Sun that it was he who attempted to kidnap her. Sawyer returns, having found the diamonds, and the other survivors accuse him of being the killer because Desmond saw him arguing with Nikki just that morning. He gives the diamonds to Sun, but she later confronts him about kidnapping her and returns the diamonds because "they're worthless here." The survivors then hold a funeral for Nikki and Paulo, where Sawyer pours the pouch of diamonds into the grave. Nikki's eyelids open just as Hurley and Sawyer are filling the grave, burying her and Paulo alive.
Production
Stephen Williams (director)
Stephen Williams is a Canadian film and television director. Williams has directed several modern day television programs including work as a regular director on the ABC drama series Lost, where he was also a co-executive producer...
, and the ninth written by the screenwriting duo Edward Kitsis
Edward Kitsis
Edward Lawrence Kitsis, also sometimes credited as Eddy Kitsis, is an American screenwriter and producer, best known for his work on the popular American television series, Lost and Once Upon a Time.-Life and career:...
and Adam Horowitz. Kitsis and Horowitz intended to make the episode an homage to film noir
Film noir
Film noir is a cinematic term used primarily to describe stylish Hollywood crime dramas, particularly those that emphasize cynical attitudes and sexual motivations. Hollywood's classic film noir period is generally regarded as extending from the early 1940s to the late 1950s...
, with two con artists who did the "perfect crime", that eventually goes wrong due to them getting stranded on the island. A reference to the genre was added by having Sawyer read Agatha Christie
Agatha Christie
Dame Agatha Christie DBE was a British crime writer of novels, short stories, and plays. She also wrote romances under the name Mary Westmacott, but she is best remembered for her 66 detective novels and 14 short story collections , and her successful West End plays.According to...
's Evil Under the Sun
Evil Under the Sun
Evil Under the Sun is a work of detective fiction by Agatha Christie and first published in the UK by the Collins Crime Club in June 1941 and in the US by Dodd, Mead and Company in October of the same year...
. A recurring theme is Nikki and Paulo's selfishness, which eventually leads to their deaths due to them being greedy and "too focused on their own petty needs to really care about anyone else".
The flashbacks of "Exposé" would show how Nikki and Paulo were always on the island by make them appear in important previous events. The scene set after the crash mixes actual scenes and unused footage of the pilot episode
Pilot (Lost)
"Pilot" constitutes the first and second episodes of the first season of ABC television series Lost, with "Part 1" premiering on September 22, 2004 and Part 2 on September 29, 2004. The episodes were directed by J.J. Abrams, and written by him along with Damon Lindelof, based on a story by them and...
, along with new footage shot in the original location of Mokulēʻia beach. Since not all pieces of the wreckage were found, a few were added with greenscreen effects. The scene with Jack's speech interperses new scenes with footage from "White Rabbit
White Rabbit (Lost)
"White Rabbit" is the fifth episode of the first season of Lost. The episode was directed by Kevin Hooks and written by Christian Taylor. It first aired on October 20, 2004 on ABC. The character of Jack Shephard is featured in the episode's flashback.-Flashbacks:A young Jack and a friend are...
". Other continuity nods were considered, such as Paulo finding Shannon's inhaler from "Confidence Man
Confidence Man (Lost)
"Confidence Man" is the eighth episode of the first season of Lost. The episode was directed by Tucker Gates and written by Damon Lindelof. It first aired on November 10, 2004 on ABC. The character of James "Sawyer" Ford is featured in the episode's flashback.-Flashbacks:Sawyer is in bed with a...
", Nikki seeing Boone and Locke carrying shovels to excavate the hatch, and a filmed, but deleted scene where Nikki sees the sky turning purple
Live Together, Die Alone
"Live Together, Die Alone" is the second season finale of the ABC television series Lost, consisting of the 23rd and 24th episodes of the second season. It is also the 48th and 49th episodes overall. The episode was written by Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse, and directed by Jack Bender. It first...
.
During season one, the writers had the idea of introducing a character who was an actress and also created the outline of the fictional show where she would work Exposé. The "long, daunting hours" on the writer's room would sometimes lead to the creation episodes of the fictional show, with ten being done when the Nikki-centered episode was written. Originally, there was going to be an entire flashback episode in which Nikki was going to be a crime-fighting stripper
Stripper
A stripper is a professional erotic dancer who performs a contemporary form of striptease at strip club establishments, public exhibitions, and private engagements. Unlike in burlesque, the performer in the modern Americanized form of stripping minimizes the interaction of customer and dancer,...
, only to have it revealed that she was actually an actress. The idea was shortened to just one flashback spot. The role of Mr. LaShade was written with Billy Dee Williams
Billy Dee Williams
William December "Billy Dee" Williams, Jr. is an American actor, artist, singer, and writer.-Early life:Williams was born in New York City, New York, the son of Loretta...
in mind, and when he was cast an homage of his famous role as Lando Calrissian
Lando Calrissian
Lando Calrissian is a fictional character in the Star Wars universe. He is portrayed by Billy Dee Williams in Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back and Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi...
was added on the color scheme of LaShade's hat.
Nikki and Paulo were killed off due to being disliked by much of Lost
Show runner
Showrunner is a term of art originating in the United States and Canadian television industry referring to the person who is responsible for the day-to-day operation of a television seriesalthough such persons generally are credited as an executive producer...
Damon Lindelof
Damon Lindelof
Damon Laurence Lindelof is an American television writer and executive, most recently noted as the co-creator and executive producer for the television series Lost. He has written for and produced Crossing Jordan, and wrote for Nash Bridges, Wasteland, and the MTV anthology series Undressed...
admitted that the couple were "universally despised" by fans. Lindelof explained that "back when we (the producers) had more good faith with the audience, we could have gotten away with these shenanigans. Given the backlash against them, we had to clean up the mess." The decision to kill them off in one flashback episode was decided by the producers in December 2006. It was also stated by Lindelof and fellow show runner
Show runner
Showrunner is a term of art originating in the United States and Canadian television industry referring to the person who is responsible for the day-to-day operation of a television seriesalthough such persons generally are credited as an executive producer...
s Carlton Cuse
Carlton Cuse
Carlton Cuse is an AmericanEmmy Award winning screenwriter and producer, most famous as executive producer andscreenwriter for the American television series Lost for...
that despite Nikki and Paulo's bad reception, they felt the episode was necessary to explain their original plan of introducing former background characters to the main cast. Lindelof suggested the rest of the writing team to bury the characters alive. Although actress Kiele Sanchez
Kiele Sanchez
Kiele Michelle Sanchez is an American actress who stars in the A&E Network drama The Glades. Previously she starred as the second-eldest Sorelli sister, Anne, a therapist in her mid-twenties, in The WB's comedic ensemble drama, Related. She was cast as a co-star in the third season of the ABC...
said that she wasn't bothered by the general dislike of her character, she was very nervous during the burial scene, because she has claustrophobia
Claustrophobia
Claustrophobia is the fear of having no escape and being closed in small spaces or rooms...
. Speculation about the duo's deaths began months before the actual episode aired, Santoro said in an interview with the Brazilian Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone is a US-based magazine devoted to music, liberal politics, and popular culture that is published every two weeks. Rolling Stone was founded in San Francisco in 1967 by Jann Wenner and music critic Ralph J...
magazine that his character was going to die in the middle of the third season. Another clue about the deaths came when it was announced that Sanchez was signed on to film a fall 2007 pilot for the ABC show, Football Wives
Football Wives
Football Wives is a television pilot developed for U.S. television network ABC, which would have aired in the fall 2007 season had it been picked up for a series order...
.
Reception
"Exposé" had 11.25 million viewers upon its first US broadcast, being ABC's third most watched show of the week – behind the performance show and results of Dancing with the StarsDancing with the Stars (U.S. season 4)
The fourth season of the American edition of Dancing with the Stars premiered on March 19, 2007 and aired until May 22, 2007.To avoid direct competition with Fox Broadcasting Company's American Idol, Dancing with the Stars changed time slots from the previous season. In the fourth season, the...
– and placing Lost at the eighteenth spot on the overall weekly ranking. It also attracted 1.089 million viewers in Canada, being the fourth most watched show of the night, and 961,000 viewers in the United Kingdom, being Sky One
Sky One
Sky1 is the flagship BSkyB entertainment channel available in the United Kingdom and Ireland.The channel first launched on 26 April 1982 as Satellite Television, and is the fourth-oldest TV channel in the United Kingdom, behind BBC One , ITV and BBC Two...
's most watched show of the week.
"Exposé" received mixed reviews. Lindelof admitted that the episode "created a varying degree of fan reaction", with some fans even describing it as "filler
Filler (media)
In media, filler is material that is combined with material of greater relevance or quality to "fill out" a certain volume.-Early television:...
". But Cuse defended "Exposé", saying it was "a little bit more of an anthology episode for the show", and that he felt that "it's unrealistic, in a show that is now 72 episodes in, that every episode is gonna be, you know, chock full of plot momentum. I think it's entirely reasonable, and we sort of by necessity have to have episodes that aren't super-narratively, you know, propelled." Daniel of TMZ.com
TMZ.com
TMZ.com is a celebrity news website that debuted on November 8, 2005. It was a collaboration between America Online and Telepictures Productions, a division of Warner Bros., until Time Warner divested AOL in 2009. However, it is still affiliated with AOL News and has the AOL News logo affixed in...
said that the episode "was a complete waste of time", and that although he "wanted Nikki and Paulo to die", he did not think their deaths warranted an entire episode. Entertainment Weekly
Entertainment Weekly
Entertainment Weekly is an American magazine, published by the Time division of Time Warner, that covers film, television, music, broadway theatre, books and popular culture...
Billy Dee Williams
William December "Billy Dee" Williams, Jr. is an American actor, artist, singer, and writer.-Early life:Williams was born in New York City, New York, the son of Loretta...
, he did not think "Exposé" "will do much to change anyone's minds" about Nikki and Paulo, who were already unpopular characters. Brooke Tarnoff, a writer for UGO.com, wrote that she was "embarrassed" for Lost. New York Magazine put "Exposé" at the top of its list of "Twenty Most Pointless Lost Episodes". However, TV Guide
TV Guide
TV Guide is a weekly American magazine with listings of TV shows.In addition to TV listings, the publication features television-related news, celebrity interviews, gossip and film reviews and crossword puzzles...
s Matt Roush very much praised the episode for "weaving flashbacks that appeared to be posthumous but really weren't while providing clever new angles on classic Lost moments from previous seasons", Roush went on to say that "Exposé" was "a welcome reminder that sometimes these producers really do seem to know what they're doing after all." Chris Carabott of IGN
IGN
IGN is an entertainment website that focuses on video games, films, music and other media. IGN's main website comprises several specialty sites or "channels", each occupying a subdomain and covering a specific area of entertainment...
also gave a positive review, stating that while Nikki and Paulo had no real impact on the overall storyline, "their ultimate end made for an entertaining hour of television". The IGN staff later ranked "Exposé" 58th out of the 113 Lost episodes, describing it as "one of the series' darkest and most fun episodes".
External links
- Episode guide and photos at ABC.com
- Overview at TV.comTV.comTV.com is a website owned by CBS Interactive. The site covers television and focuses on English-language shows made or broadcast in the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Ireland and Japan...