Lost/Exposé

Exposé
Season 3, Episode 14
Airdate	March 28, 2007
Production Number	314
Written by	Edward Kitsis Adam Horowitz
Directed by	Stephen Williams
← 3x13 The Man from Tallahassee	3x15 → Left Behind
Lost — Season Three

Exposé is the fourteenth episode of the third season of Lost, and the sixty-third episode overall.

Hurley begins to suspect that Sawyer may be involved in an island mystery surrounding two fellow survivors, and Sun learns the truth about her past kidnapping attempt by "The Others."

Starring: Naveen Andrews (Sayid), Henry Ian Cusick (Desmond), Emilie de Ravin (Claire), Michael Emerson (Ben), Matthew Fox (Jack), Jorge Garcia (Hurley), Josh Holloway (Sawyer), Daniel Dae Kim (Jin), Yunjin Kim (Sun), Evangeline Lilly (Kate), Elizabeth Mitchell (Juliet), Dominic Monaghan (Charlie), Terry O'Quinn (Locke), Kiele Sanchez (Nikki), Rodrigo Santoro (Paulo).

Special Guest Stars: Maggie Grace (Shannon), Ian Somerhalder (Boone).

Guest Starring: Billy Dee Williams (Himself), William Mapother (Ethan Rom), Daniel Roebuck (Leslie Arzt), Jacob Witkin (Howard L. Zukerman).

Plot Overview

The Island

• Racing through the jungle, Nikki stops to dig a hole in the ground with her bare hands, burying something in the hole and then taking off running again. She stumbles out of the jungle in front of Sawyer and Hurley, muttering something before dying. Charlie, Jin and Sun arrive and try to determine Nikki's cause of death, finding no knife wound or gunshot wound. Sun and Charlie suggest it was something she ate or she was poisoned, respectively, and Charlie points out she has gunk underneath her fingernails. Hurley believes her last words were "Paulo lies", and Sawyer suggests Paulo would be a good place to start.

  Following a trail, Sawyer, Jin and Hurley find Paulo's body in the jungle, his body just like Nikki's. Jin retrieves a water bottle from Paulo's pack, but Sawyer grabs it away and empties it, believing it might be poisoned. Hurley yells at him for tampering with evidence, resulting in Sawyer sarcastically asking him if there's a forensics hatch he doesn't know about. Jin tells the two to stop and suggests the monster might be culprit.

  Sawyer, Hurley and Jin bring Paulo's body to Nikki's at the beach grave site. Hurley agrees with Jin's assessment, believing the monster was responsible for Nikki and Paulo's deaths because they were with Eko when he was killed by the monster, and Eko's last words were "you're next." Sawyer disagrees, telling Hurley that Eko must've meant they were all next. The two go through Nikki and Paulo's shelter when Charlie arrives, informing them that Sun checked up on everyone who ate the same food and no one else is sick or dead. Hurley spots a bunch of jarred bugs in the shelter, which Charlie believes belonged to Arzt. Charlie finds a script for Exposé, resulting in Hurley snatching it from him. He tells the two that it's a show like Baywatch, only better, about two strippers who fight crime with the help of their suave, smooth talking club owner named Mr. LaShade. Thumbing through the script, he discovers Nikki was in the episode, and that Mr. LaShade was The Cobra, the big bad guy who's identity has been hidden for four seasons. Sawyer discovers a walkie talkie, an exact model that the Others had while he was held prisoner at the Hydra, leading him to believe the two were working with the Others.

  At the cemetery, Hurley wonders how Nikki and Paulo could've worked with the Others, but Sawyer tells him they must've worked with the Others like how Michael did and that the Others could be waiting to get them in the jungle. Hurley, however, believes the Others aren't nearby but on the other side of the island. Sun points out that the Others tried to kidnap her, but failed. Sawyer tells them that he's going to sweep the perimeter for Others and leaves. Hurley approaches Desmond to find out if his psychic powers would be helpful in the investigation, but Desmond tells him he only gets flashes. However, he did see Nikki arguing with Sawyer earlier in the day.

  At the cemetery, Vincent runs off with the blanket covering Nikki and Paulo's bodies while Hurley tells Charlie and Sun about what Desmond saw. Sun believes Sawyer isn't a murderer, that it was the Others, but Hurley goes off to get Desmond. Alone with Sun, Charlie reveals to her that he was responsible for her kidnapping attempt, that it was all part of a plan Sawyer came up with. Charlie apologizes, but Sun simply walks off without saying a word.

  With Desmond, Hurley, Sun, Jin and Charlie digging a grave, Sawyer eventually returns and Hurley tells him to stop lying. He realizes that they think he killed the two, but he proclaims his innocence. Nikki came to him for a gun earlier, and that was why Desmond saw them arguing. He didn't say anything because Nikki had dirt underneath her fingernails and to bury something when you're dying it must have been important. Sun asks him what she was hiding and Sawyer tosses her a black bag full of diamonds, telling her she can keep it. The group eventually leaves and Sawyer works on digging the grave on his own. Sun approaches him and reveals to him that Charlie told her about the kidnapping attempt, but she isn't going to tell Jin because she knows he would kill Sawyer. She returns the diamonds to Sawyer, telling him they're worthless on the island, and then slaps him before he can get a word in.

  With the grave finished, Nikki and Paulo are placed inside and a small group of survivors gather for the funeral. Hurley gives a brief eulogy and Sawyer spreads the diamonds across their bodies. The two then start filling in the grave. Nikki opens her eyes, but Hurley and Sawyer have finished filling in the grave.

The Flashback

• Flashback: Nikki/Paulo

At a strip club, Nikki, under the name Corvette, is dancing at a pole when she sees a man enter the club and head into a back room. Following the man inside, she discovers the money for an orphanage and that Mr. LaShade is actually The Cobra. LaShade motions to the man, but Nikki disarms him of his weapon, but is subsequently shot several times by LaShade. Two girls burst into the room, but LaShade tells the two Corvette was working for The Cobra and he will pay. The scene is cut and LaShade, played by Billy Dee Williams, helps Nikki up. The director of the show Exposé, Howard Zukerman, pulls Nikki aside and tells her that she doesn't need to die and could come back next season, but Nikki nixes the idea. Zukerman asks her if she'll be leaving Sydney for Los Angeles, but Nikki tells him she loves him and isn't leaving.

84 Days Ago
Having lunch with Zukerman, Nikki remarks that the frittatas are amazing. He tells her it's thanks to his new chef, Paulo, who just arrived in Sydney and came by his office every day until he gave Paulo the job. Zukerman insists Nikki take a roll and she discovers a bracelet in the basket. He tells her it's not a ring, yet, but is unable to finish his sentence as he experiences a heart attack. Paulo comes in, checking Zukerman's pulse and telling Nikki that the man is dead. Nikki removes a key around Zukerman's neck and tells Paulo that she wished he came up with another idea that wouldn't have forced her to eat the same food as Zukerman. The two head into Zukerman's closet and Nikki uses the key to open a hidden safe. Paulo goes to light up a cigarette, but Nikki stops him, telling him they poisoned Zukerman and don't need Paulo cigarette ashes as evidence against them. Inside the safe, Nikki pulls out a Russian nesting doll.

80 Days Ago
At Sydney International Airport, Paulo reads a news article on Zukerman's heart attack to Nikki. Relieved that their plan went off without a hitch, the two kiss. Nikki notices Paulo is chewing gum, and Paulo pulls out a box of nicotine gum from his bag with the Russian nesting doll and tells her he quit smoking. The two toast their new life together, but notice another young couple arguing - Shannon and Boone. Boone asks Paulo if he could borrow a chair from their table, but Shannon yells at him to just go and leaves. Boone thanks Paulo anyway and takes off after his step-sister. Nikki makes Paulo promise that they'll never end up like them.

With wreckage strewn across the beach from the crash, Nikki stumbles around the wreckage in search of Paulo. She thinks she found him, but only finds Leslie Arzt and continues her search. Boone rushes up to her, asking if she has a pen, but runs off in search of one when she doesn't give him an answer. She spots finally spots Paulo and gets to him, asking him if he's okay but then demands to know where the bag is.

75 Days Ago
Nikki and Paulo are searching through the luggage while discussing what the monster in the jungle might be, but Nikki tells Paulo to focus on looking for the bag. They've been on the island for six days and she thinks, when the Coast Guard arrives at any day now, the Coast Guard aren't going to let them stay on the island on the excuse that they're looking for one bag. Ethan Rom approaches the two, telling them he also lost his luggage and offers to help them out. He believes they might have better luck searching inland, as the plane broke apart over the island. Arzt passes the group, yelling that Boone took the water. As the survivors begin to gang up on Boone, Jack appears and tells them to stop. He found a source of fresh water up in the valley and is going to take a group there in the morning. As Nikki and Paulo watch on, Jack tells the assembled survivors that they need to work together, or they're going to die alone.

57 Days Ago
Nikki approaches Arzt at his shelter, finding him engrossed in studying insects. He tells her that he's found twenty new species and believes he's going to be the next Charles Darwin. She picks up a jar containing a spider, but Arzt quickly takes it away, telling her it contains Latrodectus regina or the Medusa spider. It is very dangerous and one whiff of her pheromones would cause every male around to arrive in seconds. Nikki asks Arzt if he knows anything about trajectories, seeing as how she's looking for her luggage and the plane broke apart over the island, spilling luggage across the island. Arzt agrees.

In the jungle, Nikki and Paulo follow Arzt's map, although Paulo has reservations about its accuracy. Nikki thinks Paulo is jealous of her speaking with Arzt, and she sarcastically tells him that Arzt's spiders turned her on so much she had to sleep with Arzt to get the map. In response, Paulo tells her he wouldn't be surprised seeing as how she slept with Zukerman. Continuing on, Paulo apologizes to Nikki, but tells her he doesn't trust Arzt and that they should have asked Ethan for help. But the two come across the crashed Beechcraft perched halfway off a cliff. Nikki tells Paulo to go up into the Beechcraft, but Paulo refuses, telling her she's insane and that the plane would fall. Moving on, Nikki notices Paulo walking over a half-buried metal hatch in the ground. The two open it and discover a ladder descending into the Pearl. Paulo wants to explore what's inside, but Nikki nixes the idea, telling him he has to focus on finding the lost carry-on bag and leaves.

48 Days Ago
At the beach, Nikki and Paulo find Shannon and Arzt arguing with Kate. Shannon tells Nikki that Kate, Sawyer and Jack found a case full of guns and neglected to tell the rest of the survivors. Kate tells them that the case is locked and Jack has the only key around his neck, so the guns are safe. Arzt references their actions to those of the pigs in Animal Farm and walks off, leaving Nikki to ask Kate where she found the case.

The two head to the small lake with the waterfall where the case was found. Nikki tells Paulo to stop being a wuss and to dive into the water, since she had to sleep with Zukerman and the least Paulo could do is dive in and find the case. Paulo asks her if they would be still be together if she didn't need him to find the bag, but Nikki tells him to just dive in. Going into the water, Paulo discovers their missing carry-on bag, but surfaces without it. Upon finding out that it's not in there, Nikki walks off without Paulo. Alone, Paulo dives back under to retrieve the bag.

32 Days Ago
At night on the beach, Paulo opens the carry-on bag and retrieves some of the nicotine gum. He starts digging a hole for the Russian nesting doll when Locke appears, asking him what he's doing. Locke tells him that every man is entitled to his secrets, but he should put the shovel away and save himself the trouble. Things don't stay buried on this island. Winter's coming and so high tide is going to erode the beach, so he should pick a spot that isn't going to wash away.

Descending into the Pearl, Paulo hides the Russian nesting doll inside the toilet's tank. After he's finished, Paulo hears to voices outside the bathroom. Ben wonders who left the hatch to the Pearl open, and Juliet tells him Tom came in a few days earlier. In response, Ben tells her to have them use the plane to cover the hatch. Ben uses the monitor controls to select a channel from inside the Swan, showing Jack. Juliet tells Ben that Jack would never agree to do the surgery, but Ben tells her he can convince him to do it by finding out what he's emotionally invested in and exploit it. They'll use Michael to get Jack, Kate and Sawyer. The two leave the station, but Paulo finds a walkie talkie one of them accidentally left behind.

9 Days Ago
Locke announces to the group that they're heading to the Pearl station and asks if anyone wants to tag along. Nikki, not wanting to be left out, agrees to come along. Paulo, worried about the Russian nesting doll he hid inside the Pearl's toilet, accompanies her. Inside the station, Paulo removes the doll from the toilet tank but is forced to crack open the doll to get to the contents inside. He places the black bag in his pants and puts the doll pieces back inside the tank. He flushes the toilet and tells the group that the toilet still works.

12 Hours Ago
Paulo finds Nikki sitting alone on the beach. She tells him that Thanksgiving was two weeks ago, that they missed it just like they're going to miss everything else. Paulo insists that they're going to be rescued, making Nikki wonder where his new-found optimism came from. He tells her it's just how you look at things, like how not finding the bag may have been good for them. That bag might have torn their relationship apart. Paulo tells her he's going to get them some breakfast, and leaves. Nikki notices a packet of nicotine gum that fell out of his pocket, and realizes that Paulo must have the bag. Upset, Nikki approaches Sawyer and demands he give her a gun. Sawyer tells her that Locke, Kate and Sayid took them all and, even if he did have one, he wouldn't give it to her.

8 Hours Ago
Nikki brings Paulo into the jungle for a surprise. She tells him she found the diamonds and, showing him the nicotine gum, demands that he give the diamonds to her. She unscrews a jar and tosses the contents - a Medusa spider - at Paulo. The spider bites Paulo before he can get it off, and Nikki tells him that the spider's venom can paralyze a human being for about eight hours. It won't kill a person, but will slow his or her heart beat so much that even a doctor would have a hard time finding a pulse. With Paulo paralyzed, Nikki searches his person and finds the bag of diamonds. Paulo apologizes, telling her he was afraid of losing her if she found the diamonds. The chattering noise of the monster can be heard in the distance, but dozens of male Medusa spiders appear and one bites Nikki. She runs a short distance away, buries the diamonds, and takes off to the beach. She collapses in front of Hurley and Sawyer and tries to tell them that she's paralyzed.

Notes

Mysteries

• Was Paulo ever in contact with the Others through the walkie talkie?

The Cursed Numbers

• Nikki was shooting an episode for season 4 of Exposé.
• The diamonds Nikki and Paulo stole are worth $8,000,000.
• The Medusa spider paralyzes a human being for 8 hours.

Scrutiny

• Continuity: During Nikki and Paulo's burial, Sawyer spreads the diamonds across their bodies. A close-up shows diamonds hitting Nikki's leg with her arm at her side, but the next shot shows her arms resting across her waist.

Arc Advancement

Happenings

• Fighting over stolen diamonds, Nikki and Paulo are paralyzed from spider bites. They're subsequently killed by being buried alive after the survivors mistakenly believe they're dead.
• Charlie tells Sun the truth about her attempted kidnapping.

Characters

• Nikki and Paulo are buried alive and die.

Referbacks

• 1x01 - Pilot, Part 1: Events of Pilot, Part 1 are seen through Nikki and Paulo's perspective. In the flashback, Boone asks a disoriented Nikki for a pen. In Pilot, Part 1, Boone volunteered to find a pen so Jack could use it as a tracheotomy tube on Rose.
• 1x05 - White Rabbit: In the flashback, Nikki and Paulo are talking with Ethan when Arzt rushes by, yelling that Boone took the water. In White Rabbit, Boone stole the survivors limited supply of water on the pretext of making sure it was rationed properly.
• 1x12 - Whatever the Case May Be: In the flashback, Nikki and Paulo watch Kate tell Shannon and Arzt about the Marshal's gun case. They eventually head to the waterfall where it was found in search of their lost carry-on. In Whatever the Case May Be, Kate and Sawyer found the gun case at the bottom of the small lake.
• 1x23 - Exodus, Part 1: In the flashback, Nikki and Paulo watch as Shannon berates Boone for screwing them out of seats in first class. In a flashback in Exodus, Part 1, Boone tells Shannon he couldn't get them into first class because she yelled at the gate agent.
• 1x24 - Exodus, Part 2: Hurley notices a bunch of jarred insects in Nikki and Paulo's shelter. Charlie tells him they belonged to Arzt before he exploded. In Exodus, Part 2, Arzt was killed by improperly holding dynamite while at the Black Rock.
• 2x13 - The Long Con: Sun refers to her kidnapping at the hands of "the Others", but Charlie eventually reveals to her that he was responsible. In The Long Con, Charlie staged a failed kidnapping attempt on Sun and made it look like the Others were responsible. The attempt was part of a plan put together by Sawyer to get the guns from the Swan for himself.
• 2x20 - Two for the Road: Sawyer initially believes Nikki and Paulo were working with the Others like Michael. In Two for the Road, Michael killed Ana-Lucia and Libby in order to free one of the Others.
• 2x23 - Live Together, Die Alone: Sawyer believes the Others could be out in the jungle waiting to get them, but Hurley tells him he was with them all the way on the other side of the island. In Live Together, Die Alone, Hurley was brought to the Pala Ferry and told to return to the survivor's beach camp and inform them not to come after Jack, Kate and Sawyer, but to stay on their side of the island.
• 3x01 - A Tale of Two Cities: In the flashback, Ethan tells Nikki and Paulo that the plane split apart overhead. Ethan witnessed this, personally, at the Others' barracks.
• 3x05 - The Cost of Living: Hurley tells Sawyer that he thinks the monster killed Nikki and Paulo because when Eko died his last words were "you're next", and Nikki and Paulo were with him. This event occurred in The Cost of Living. In this episode's flashback, we see Nikki and Paulo tagging along on the trip to the Pearl station.

Trivia

The Show

• Exposé: In Nikki and Paulo's flashback, Nikki guest stars in an episode of Exposé in which LaShade is revealed to be The Cobra. In "The Man from Tallahassee", Locke is seen eating a TV dinner while watching TV. The television program he is watching is Exposé, as a voice in the program references "The Cobra".
• Vincent, P.I.: Vincent is seen removing the blanket from Nikki and Paulo's bodies. He knew that the two weren't actually dead.

Behind the Scenes

• Cut Scenes: Promotional images from this episode show a cut flashback from the episode. The flashback took place during the events of "Live Together, Die Alone", notably the activation of the Swan's fail-safe device. The pictures show the cast reacting to the loud noise of the fail-safe device and the quarantine hatch landing in the beach camp.

Allusions and References

• Episode Title: "Exposé" is French and can mean "exposed", "abandoned", "lost", or (as a noun) "presentation", "first draft", "explanation".
• Of Brazil: Zukerman remarks that Paulo is known as "the Wolfgang Puck of Brazil." Rodrigo Santoro, who plays Paulo, is known as "the Tom Cruise of Brazil."
• Jurassic Park: In the flashback, Nikki and Paulo discuss the monster in the jungle. Paulo suggests it might be a dinosaur, but Nikki tells him they're on an island in the south Pacific, not Jurassic Park. Jurassic Park was a location in the novel Jurassic Park by Michael Crichton and the Jurassic Park movie. The park was located on Isla Nublar, a fictional island 120 miles off the coast of Costa Rica, and was home to genetically engineered dinosaurs.
• Jabroni: Sawyer refers to Nikki and Paulo as "jabronis". A jabroni is a phrase made popular by The Rock, a World Wrestling Entertainment wrestler and actor, referring to a loser or someone who is worthless. The phrase is a pop culture equivalent of the professional wrestling term "jobber". In wrestling, the act of losing is called jobbing and a frequent loser is called a jobber.
• Charles Darwin: Finding new species of insect on the island, Arzt remarks that he's going to be the new Charles Darwin. Charles Darwin was a 19^th century English naturalist who persuaded the scientific community that species develop over time from a common origin, proposing evolutionary change could occur by natural selection. His book, On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection, or the Preservation of Favoured Races in the Struggle for Life (1859), introduced the theory.
• Latrodectus Regina: Arzt tells Nikki about Medusa spider (Latrodectus regina), a fictional spider. Latrodectus is a spider genus of which widow spiders are members of. It includes 31 recognized venomous species with the black widow spider being the best known member of the group. "Regina" is Latin for "queen".
• Animal Farm: Kate attempts to defuse Shannon and Arzt's anger at not being told about the gun case, telling them that the case is locked and Jack has the only key. In response, Arzt yells that the "pigs are walking" and leaves. In George Orwell's Animal Farm: A Fairy Story (1945), a farm's prize-winning pig calls a meeting of all the farm's animals and tells them of his dream in which mankind is gone and animals are free to live in peace and harmony. After his death, two young boars named Snowball and Napoleon assume command and lead a revolt against the farmer, driving him and his wife away, and renaming the farm "Animal Farm." Seven Commandments are posted, including "Whatever goes upon two legs is an enemy" and "All animals are equal", and the animals are taught how to read and write. However, Napoleon eventually makes a grab for more power and drives Snowball out, declaring himself leader and that a committee of pigs alone would decide what happens on the farm. The pigs impose more and more controls on the other animals, rewriting history to glorify Napoleon who begins to live more and more like a human. Many years pass and the pigs learn to walk upright and wear clothes. The Seven Commandments are reduced to "All animals are equal, but some are more equal than others." Napoleon allies himself with the humans, and the other animals notice the faces of the ruling pigs now look almost exactly like the faces of humans. Arzt's comment alludes to how Jack talked about how the survivors need to work together, yet he and his small group have apparently been making decisions about the survivors on their own, much like the pigs in Animal Farm.
• 24: Sawyer tells the group that he's going to do a "perimeter sweep", eliciting a response from Hurley about what a "perimeter sweep" means. "Perimeter sweep" is a term used often in FOX's 24.

Quotes

• [Sawyer empties a water bottle]
  Hurley: Dude, what are you doing!?
  Sawyer: Two people are dead. You ever think they might've been poisoned?
  Hurley: That's evidence! You're messing up the crime scene!
  Sawyer: Crime scene? There a forensics hatch I don't know about?

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