As FRANK suggested in the comments (great line by the way), I was not kidnapped by THE OTHERS. GoDaddy decided to stop hosting the site for an hour and half. Needless to say, they suck and will be hearing an earful from an angry TV addict tomorrow. Thanks to everyone who took part in the lamest live blog ever (considering I was only blogging for 8 minutes). I apologize, and promise to make it up to you next week. That said, here are my thoughts on tonight’s bizarre yet brilliant. Please post away with yours.
In their recent official LOST podcast, showrunners Damon Lindeloff and Carlton Cuse pleaded for patience from their frustrated fan-base. Promising that the seemingly useless Nikki and Paulo had a purpose on the island, and their March 28 flashback episode would explain everything. In fact they went as far to say that after tonight’s episode, Nikki and Paulo would become iconic characters in the LOST canon. Having just finished watching tonight’s episode, I’m inclined to agree with Lindeloff and Cuse. Nikki and Paulo won’t soon be forgotten, but not in a positive way. Nikki and Paulo will forever be known as the most useless castaways in the history of television.
Was this some kind of sick joke perpetrated by the LOST writing staff? Did they ever have a plan for Nikki and Paulo or were they always going to be characters on the periphery? Was Nikki’s line three minutes into the episode a mea-culpa on behalf of the writers, “I’m just a guest-star… and we all know what happens to guest stars.” Seriously folks, what am I not getting here?
After weeks of waiting to learn something, anything about Nikki and Paulo, viewers were denied the opportunity to watch them interact in ‘real time’ with their fellow castaways. From the moment the episode started, Nikki and Paulo were immobilized (thanks to a killer spider) leaving us to learn everything we could from their flashbacks. Don’t get me wrong, I loved the flashbacks — thrilled to see the return of Shannon, Boone, Ethan and Dr. Artz. I was simply hoping for something more.
What did we really learn about this mysterious couple? They were con artists (there’s a trend!). Nikki seemed to be in charge. Again a trend in the world of LOST (see: Sun/Jim, Penny/Desmond) And finally, that Paulo was a pretty awful guy (deciding to not warn Jack, Kate and Sawyer about Benry Gale’s plan to kidnap them, not cool!). Other than that, they pretty much kept to themselves, spending most of their time ignoring the mystery around them and focusing on their missing luggage.
Which of course I don’t blame them for. If I had eight million dollars worth of diamonds hidden in my luggage, I’d be pretty intent on finding it as well. After-all, they’re marooned on an island — do they really have anything better to do? But to survive a horrific plane crash, hunger, starvation, those pesky others AND a black smoke monster — all to be killed (presumably) by your own greed. it’s so awful it’s almost funny.
I said almost funny, because in the end, the jokes on us viewers. Lindeloff and Cuse fooled us again! How much more did you expect from this episode? Here’s hoping that Nikki and Paulo weren’t buried alive, because let’s face it — they’ve got a lot of explaining to do. 
