Lost Episode 3.14 Expose

Skimpy outfits...heavy, pounding music...a crowd of excited men waving money in the air...It can only mean one thing: there's a stripper on Lost, and it's Nikki! She works the stage with abandon, then notices a man sneaking into a back room. She runs off the stage, confronts the man and is shot! Nikki dies...and then we hear, "Cut!" Turns out Nikki's not a stripper she's an actress on the TV show Exposé that films in Sydney. She's also having an affair with the septuagenarian executive producer, Howard L. Zuckerman, who of course is very married and very wealthy.

On the island, Nikki runs like mad through the jungle, stops, digs a hole, and buries something. Then she runs to the beach camp, where Sawyer and Hurley are playing ping pong, and collapses right in front of them. She struggles to eke out one unintelligible word and then dies!

Sawyer and Hurley begin an investigation and find Paulo's body in the jungle. He's dead, too. They search Nikki and Paulo's tent for clues and find a bug collection. Charlie says they were Dr. Arzt's collection. Sawyer finds a walkie talkie. He says the Others had similar walkie talkies, which means they were working with the Others. Hurley doesn't think the Others are near their camp, but Sun vehemently reminds them that she was abducted. If she hadn't gotten away, they would've killed her. Charlie knows that isn't true he was the one who grabbed her. Sawyer tries to calm them down and says he'll do a perimeter sweep. But when he shows off his gun, Hurley becomes suspicious.

Hurley asks Desmond to use his psychic powers to see who killed Nikki and Paulo. Desmond says it doesn't work that way, but offers that he saw Nikki arguing with Sawyer earlier this morning right before she died. Hurley tells Charlie and Sun his theory. Sun says Sawyer's not a murderer she's convinced it's the Others. Feeling guilty, Charlie confesses to Sun that it was him who took her. Sun is stunned. He explains why he did it, and as the horror of it washes over her, Sun simply walks away.

Sawyer says he argued with Nikki because she wanted a gun. He didn't give it to her, and she was mad. He didn't tell them earlier because he noticed dirt under Nikki's fingernails and realized she was burying something. He hands Sun a pouch filled with diamonds.

While Sawyer is digging the graves, Sun tells him she knows it was his idea to kidnap her. It's a tense moment. He asks if she's going to tell Jin, and she says no. If she does, they'll have to dig another grave then she slaps him, hard, and leaves.

WHOOSH BACK 84 days ago when Nikki eats breakfast with Zuckerman. He introduces his new chef, Paulo, to her. It seems like the first time they have met, but then Zuckerman falls over, dead. Paulo poisoned him. Paulo and Nikki are lovers, and it was their plan to kill Zuckerman and steal the stash of diamonds he had hidden in his safe.

80 days ago: waiting for their flight, Paulo has hidden the diamonds in an Exposé bag. They see Shannon and Boone looking for a table. Shannon is rude and snotty while Boone apologizes for her behavior. Nikki makes Paulo promise they'll never end up like them.

The crash: Nikki frantically searches for Paulo. She finds him and asks about the diamonds, expressing no concern for him. Paulo doesn't know where the bag is.75 days ago: Nikki and Paulo root through the scavenged luggage looking for the diamonds. They meet Ethan, who tells them they might find their bag further inland. They then listen as Jack gives his "live together, die alone" speech.

57 days ago: Dr. Arzt shows Nikki his latest acquisition: latrodectus regina, the dangerous Medusa spider. Nikki flirts with him, and he draws a map to help her find her luggage. Using Arzt's map, Nikki and Paulo search in the jungle for the bag. They find the Nigerian plane nestled in the tree top and the Pearl station hatch in the ground.

48 days ago: Nikki learns that Sawyer and Kate found the case of guns, and drags Paulo out to the waterfall. He dives in, finds the bag with the diamonds but lies to Nikki about it.

31 days ago: Paulo hides the diamonds inside the Pearl station bathroom toilet. As he's about to leave, Ben and Juliet climb down into the station. Paulo hides and watches Ben use the monitors to show Juliet who Jack is. He'll convince Jack to do the surgery by finding out what he's emotionally invested in and exploit it.

9 days ago: Locke, Desmond, Nikki and Paulo at the Pearl station. Paulo pretends to use the bathroom and recovers the diamonds.

This morning: Nikki realizes Paulo has the diamonds, and the cold, calculating, murdering side of Nikki emerges. She demands a gun from Sawyer, but he won't give her one. She then lures Paulo out into the jungle and throws Arzt's Medusa spider on him. It bites him and paralyzes him. The poison won't kill him but it makes him seem dead. Then she hears the strange sounds of the smoke monster. She looks around but doesn't see it. Paulo signals for her to look down, and she sees another spider on her ankle. It bites her! Her fate is sealed. She immediately runs off, hiding the diamonds for herself later when the paralysis wears off. She stumbles up to Hurley and Sawyer and tries to explain what happened but falls over, seemingly dead.

WHOOSH to their funeral. Sawyer dumps the diamonds over Nikki and Paulo while he and Hurley grimly shovel dirt onto their bodies. But then Nikki's eye pops open! Surely somebody will notice and stop. But nobody does. They continue shoveling dirt until finally the grave is full. Rest in peace, Nikki and Paulo. Rest in peace.