Lost - Nikki and Paulo, We Hardley Knew Ye

Lost premiered on the ABC network on September 22, 2004 and became an instant hit, gaining both massive ratings as well as critical praise. The show followed the crash of a commercial aircraft, which stranded the survivors on a mysterious island. So far, they’ve discovered a serious of work stations that were part of an experiment, a group of “others” with unclear motives, and a mysterious monster that lives in the jungle.

Earlier this season, we were introduced to two new castaways: Paulo and Nikki. Their initial reception with the fans was not a welcome one. Fans didn’t like the way that the writers took these two unknown characters and immediately forced them into the spotlight. It also didn’t help that the characters themselves seemed boring and flat.

Now, not half a season later, after they were introduced, the writers have apparently killed off Paulo and Nikki. Not only that, but they did so in a rather excellent episode that established the characters and made them much more enjoyable.

Now, why would the writers bring in these two unwanted characters, go through the trouble of fleshing them out, just to randomly kill them off over a reason that has nothing to do with the overall plot?

Some have speculated that this was in response to the fans’ initial dislike of the characters. If that’s the case, it’s disappointing to see the writing affected in such a dramatic way by viewer response. And if you were going to get rid of them, why not just have them fade into obscurity instead of devoting an entire episode to them?

However, this is Lost, and nothing is ever what it seems. Hopefully Paulo and Nikki’s fate will come into play further on in the series. Who knows? Maybe they’re not even dead.