s3e14: Exposé

I managed to get my eyes shut just in time to miss all the spiders, in case you were wondering.

As usual, when characters die we have to suddenly have a flashback for them, so basically Nikki and Paulo are given backstory only to be killed off. It's essentially a mini-morality play within the show; the plot isn't advanced at all, the ending (in which Nikki and Paulo are buried alive because, thanks to spider bite paralysis, they appear dead) is pretty twisted, and the whole thing is a total dead end (no pun intended). They basically just chose the two most expendable characters who had been given names before this point and whacked them for no real reason other than it probably seemed cool when they thought of it. But with the tedious "what goes around comes around" lesson, it was like this episode was written by the Others. Nikki and Paulo are not good people; Nikki and Paulo go bye-bye. But really, who gives a shit? Not me. I guess it was an interesting mystery but it was one wholly invented for this episode. If the writers are going to solve mysteries, maybe they should work on ones that anyone actually cares about.

Now I'm kind of mad. And I didn't hate the episode while I was watching it (even if it was a contrived excuse to get Daniel Roebuck another paycheck), but the entire principle behind it is kind of pissing me off. Next time, solve a real mystery. Jeez.