Huh. I assumed this episode was universally hated. I didn't think I'd be in the minority (at least the minority of the comments here) by thinking this episode is stupid, but it's stupid. Everything about Nikki and Paulo is terrible. They get shoehorned into the show, and Sawyer's routine "who the hell are you?" bit is just lampshading the issue. The fact that they find the drug runner beechcraft and the Pearl station way before anyone else is incredibly dumb. The scene with Paulo watching on as Ben and Juliet come into the Pearl was completely pointless - they traveled all the way out there just to look at Jack for 10 seconds, and then left? Makes no sense. And, the ending is way darker than what this show normally is. It's kind of fucked up. I mean, I hate the characters, so I don't mind they're gone. But, boy, that is a bad way to go.
Like, yeah, it is kind of funny when regarded against other typical Lost episodes. But unlike a Hurley episode, I think the show would be better without it. These two characters are among the biggest missteps Lost takes. Reading up on the original intention, they would've been on the show even more, with a more elaborate story and more fourth wall jokes. It's a damn good thing they ended up caving to audience pressure on this one by killing them off before more time was spent on it. A rare instance of audience outcry being an actually good thing.
