This is really the only episode in which Nikki and Paolo are at all the focus. It is strange to recall how much fans spoke about them and were annoyed by the alleged prominence given to them. They actually feature very little, and are no more of a focus than Artz and other characters who are introduced, remain a few episodes, and then feature before being killed.
The episode is actually a comical one, in which Nikki is an actress, who works with Paolo to kill her rich boyfriend and steal diamonds from him. It is interesting that we get flashbacks from their life before the island, but also on the island. We see scenes from earlier in the season, but with Nikki and Paolo written in. The cameos from Boone, Shannon, and Artz are great.
In one of the flashbacks, Doc Artz has been collecting insects, new species, saying he will be the next Charles Darwin.
When Sawyer finds a walkie talkie like the Others have in Nikki and Paolo’s things, he says they must have been working with the Others.
Paolo finds the diamonds, but doesn’t tell Nikki, and hides them in the Pearl station bathroom. That is where he gets the walkie talkie that was left behind there, after overhearing Ben and Juliette talking about how to persuade Jack to perform surgery. Paolo later suggests to Nikki that maybe it is better that they didn’t find the bag. But he drops his nicotine gum, and she realizes he was lying. Nikki uses the medusa soider to paralyse Paolo. He says that he lied because he was afraid that if she had the diamonds, she would not need him any more. She gets bitten too.
Sun learns that Charlie and Sawyer were the ones who kidnapped her, not the Others.
At their funeral, Hurley says that even though they killed each other for diamonds, there were good parts to them, too. Sawyer tosses the diamonds into the grave with Nikki.
This episode is actually a clever device for adding additional details to stories already told. And a fun mystery as well – how did Nikki and Paolo die? – with a fun if disturbing twist at the end. And the karmic message is articulated well by John Locke at one point: “things don’t stay buried on this island.” Nikki and Paolo kill for gain, then betray each other, only to meet a horrific end, buried alive. But that doesn’t mean that they can be simply categorized as “evil.” There is good and evil in all of us. And that message more than any other is the heart of LOST, which doesn’t let us easily pigeonhole even the two opposing forces on the island.
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