I did not write the following, but it sums up my thoughts on the episode very well, and is more comprehensive than something I might have written. Credit to whoever wrote it, and thanks for such a fine piece of writing:
The episode Exposé and its spotlight on Nikki and Paulo may be read as the creators' commentary on the television industry in general and perhaps ABC in particular with its narrow focus on profits and big surprises revealed (as the ABC promotional team keep over-promising this season to the dismay of the creators).
There are at least two overlapping shows within LOST. Let's call them mysteryLOST and characterLOST. Many only understand LOST as mysteryLOST. Yet, LOST is not truly about "razzle frickin' dazzle". It's not about spectacle, the writers seem to be saying, like the kind delivered by shows like the one that Nikki guest-stars on, "Exposé"--scantily clad women named after flashy cars stripping on stage, shootouts, characters revealed to be snakes. And referencing the song from the musical Chicago, it's not about razzle dazzle distracting a jury at the expense of crimes committed going unpunished. Within LOST, these crimes are not murders, kidnappings, and violence, as they would be in a traditional mystery TV show. Rather they are crimes of the heart; LOST is ultimately about its characters. And you can almost "hear" the notes that ABC passes to the creators/producers of LOST--Why can't LOST have some big-name guest stars, like Billy Dee Williams? Why can't LOST have more explosions and gunfire? (Note the explosions and gunfire on LOST are never gleeful moments of triumph, à la the A-Team.) Why can't LOST have more sex? (Kate is forced to change clothes and demands privacy; her lovemaking with Sawyer was laden with foreboding for it to be pure escapist eroticism; Jack has sex with Achara but it ends in violence and betrayal. These are not the romps in the on-call rooms of Grey's Anatomy!) Instead of razzle dazzle, the creators and writers of Exposé want to return attention to characters, and the mysteries that lie within. Each character has a hatch that is to be opened.
The creators seem to want to keep LOST its own beast, to keep the show as form-less as a smoke monster, and not try to pigeonhole it into a prescribed genre-action-adventure, mystery, or character-driven drama-with their built-in expectations about what should happen and when it should happen. Note the intrusive attention to what happened on what day in Exposé. That is, Nikki and Paulo inhabit an almost parallel show--really, they are on a different show than our regular LOST characters. They are on the show that some viewers and ABC brass perhaps wish that LOST was--a show that places profit (diamonds) and big reveals above all else.
In a neat reversal, Paulo starts to leave mysteryLOST and starts to enter characterLOST. He starts to leave behind the concern for gaining monetary rewards for gaining more intrinsic rewards, knowledge about oneself and how we all interconnect. His rejection of profit is signalled to us early on when he holds up the nicotine gum in the airport--this would have been a perfect chance for product placement (shows and movies regularly have characters use brand products to obtain additional profits or to keep production costs lower). But the creators do not place a name-brand product in Paulo's hand, almost flaunting the fact that they are not concerned with profit. This symbol of anti-profit tellingly gives him away at the end, when the profit-driven Nikki discovers the gum and realizes Paulo must have the diamonds. She doesn't realize Paulo has chosen to get rid of the diamonds in order to save their relationship. Nikki proves her motivation is (seemingly) more powerful than his and she gets the diamonds back. Profit wins over anti-profit, yet this does her in at the end.
They are looking at LOST, and in the end only Nikki is looking at LOST, like others are probably looking at LOST: through the lens of profit, the "gotcha" moment of the big reveal (think CSI or Law &Order). It's no surprise that by the end they end up staring vacantly, seeing nothing, in their very own "gotcha" moment as we realize they are paralyzed. Ironically, this big revelation is not revealed to the regulars of LOST--it's literally and figuratively buried. N/P end up as victims of their own con--it's a morality tale: if you only stare at profit, like Medusa (spider), it will freeze you into a semblance of death. Stop watching if all you care about is razzle frickin' dazzle. As Sun says at the end, the diamonds are worthless here.
The episode Exposé and its spotlight on Nikki and Paulo may be read as the creators' commentary on the television industry in general and perhaps ABC in particular with its narrow focus on profits and big surprises revealed (as the ABC promotional team keep over-promising this season to the dismay of the creators).
There are at least two overlapping shows within LOST. Let's call them mysteryLOST and characterLOST. Many only understand LOST as mysteryLOST. Yet, LOST is not truly about "razzle frickin' dazzle". It's not about spectacle, the writers seem to be saying, like the kind delivered by shows like the one that Nikki guest-stars on, "Exposé"--scantily clad women named after flashy cars stripping on stage, shootouts, characters revealed to be snakes. And referencing the song from the musical Chicago, it's not about razzle dazzle distracting a jury at the expense of crimes committed going unpunished. Within LOST, these crimes are not murders, kidnappings, and violence, as they would be in a traditional mystery TV show. Rather they are crimes of the heart; LOST is ultimately about its characters. And you can almost "hear" the notes that ABC passes to the creators/producers of LOST--Why can't LOST have some big-name guest stars, like Billy Dee Williams? Why can't LOST have more explosions and gunfire? (Note the explosions and gunfire on LOST are never gleeful moments of triumph, à la the A-Team.) Why can't LOST have more sex? (Kate is forced to change clothes and demands privacy; her lovemaking with Sawyer was laden with foreboding for it to be pure escapist eroticism; Jack has sex with Achara but it ends in violence and betrayal. These are not the romps in the on-call rooms of Grey's Anatomy!) Instead of razzle dazzle, the creators and writers of Exposé want to return attention to characters, and the mysteries that lie within. Each character has a hatch that is to be opened.
The creators seem to want to keep LOST its own beast, to keep the show as form-less as a smoke monster, and not try to pigeonhole it into a prescribed genre-action-adventure, mystery, or character-driven drama-with their built-in expectations about what should happen and when it should happen. Note the intrusive attention to what happened on what day in Exposé. That is, Nikki and Paulo inhabit an almost parallel show--really, they are on a different show than our regular LOST characters. They are on the show that some viewers and ABC brass perhaps wish that LOST was--a show that places profit (diamonds) and big reveals above all else.
In a neat reversal, Paulo starts to leave mysteryLOST and starts to enter characterLOST. He starts to leave behind the concern for gaining monetary rewards for gaining more intrinsic rewards, knowledge about oneself and how we all interconnect. His rejection of profit is signalled to us early on when he holds up the nicotine gum in the airport--this would have been a perfect chance for product placement (shows and movies regularly have characters use brand products to obtain additional profits or to keep production costs lower). But the creators do not place a name-brand product in Paulo's hand, almost flaunting the fact that they are not concerned with profit. This symbol of anti-profit tellingly gives him away at the end, when the profit-driven Nikki discovers the gum and realizes Paulo must have the diamonds. She doesn't realize Paulo has chosen to get rid of the diamonds in order to save their relationship. Nikki proves her motivation is (seemingly) more powerful than his and she gets the diamonds back. Profit wins over anti-profit, yet this does her in at the end.
They are looking at LOST, and in the end only Nikki is looking at LOST, like others are probably looking at LOST: through the lens of profit, the "gotcha" moment of the big reveal (think CSI or Law &Order). It's no surprise that by the end they end up staring vacantly, seeing nothing, in their very own "gotcha" moment as we realize they are paralyzed. Ironically, this big revelation is not revealed to the regulars of LOST--it's literally and figuratively buried. N/P end up as victims of their own con--it's a morality tale: if you only stare at profit, like Medusa (spider), it will freeze you into a semblance of death. Stop watching if all you care about is razzle frickin' dazzle. As Sun says at the end, the diamonds are worthless here.