Spoilers for "Exposé"

I apologize for the late post this week. I had hoped to get a short podcast up before this week's episode, but at this point I wouldn't be able to make that happen until tonight, and by then this week's episode will already be airing on the east coast.

If it's any consolation, my podcast feed contains my guest cohosting appearance on Curt Yanko's Black Rock Podcast from this past Saturday, and I talked with Curt about most of the things I was going to say in my own blog and podcast this week. I'll post detailed show notes later for those who would rather not listen to the full 1.5-hour show.

If you really need your spoiler fix before tonight's show airs, here are some juicy morsels to chew on:

(The remainder of this post contains SPOILERS, some potentially major.)

• This week's episode, Exposé, will contain Nikki and Paulo flashbacks. At least one flashback will be pre-island while they were in Australia, but the remainder of the flashbacks will take place on the island.
  
  
• The executive producers seem fairly confident that we'll be more satisfied with Nikki and Paulo's characters after this episode. However, they also state that many fans may claim that the writers have finally "jumped the shark" after this episode airs. Wikipedia explains what "jumping the shark" means: "Jump-the-shark moments are typically scenes that finally convince viewers that the show has fundamentally and permanently strayed from its original premise. In these cases, they are viewed as a desperate and futile attempt to keep a series fresh in the face of a decline in ratings. In other cases, the departure or replacement of a main cast member or character or a significant change in setting changes a critical dynamic of the show." That doesn't sound good, but so far I think the writers have (for the most part) proven that they can be trusted to move the show along in a direction that will be pleasing to the audience.
  
  
• Boone Carlyle, Shannon Rutherford, Ethan Rom, and Dr. Leslie Arzt will make guest appearances in Nikki and Paulo's flashbacks.
  
  
• Sun will finally find out that Charlie was the one who pretended to be an Other and attempted to kidnap her.
  
  
• This week's episode of LOST will not revisit the plot line about Anthony Cooper or "the box."
  
  
• At least one person will apparently die in tonight's episode. My speculation based on last week's preview is that it will be Nikki.
  
  
• In last week's preview, Sawyer said something like "they were Others"—could he have been referring to Nikki and Paulo? That would be an interesting plot twist. Perhaps when Nikki dies, they'll find a list or something in her pocket. Another bit of supporting evidence is that Ethan is one of the people in their flashback, and yet another is that the revelation would certainly seem to fit with the episode title. It's just speculation, but if it's true that Nikki and Paulo are Others, it sure would help fans appreciate their characters a lot more. (To give credit where it's due, my wife's the one who started putting the pieces together on this one.)