In a way, this was an episode that worked well on a meta-level. It commented on the process of making a television series, the role of guest stars and of course the fact that people don't necessarily stay dead or can be brought back in other ways.
It was also a kind of exercise or "How to manual" for the use of foreshadowing, red herrings, misleads and dramatic irony. It wasn't too difficult to work out some of the twists, because there was this knowing wink with which some of the elements were introduced. You just knew that the nicotine gum, the spiders etc. would become important later on. You know, if you show a gun in the first act, it has to go off by the end of the play. This could all very well have been tedious and self-referential, but there was enough besides that to keep me entertained. Also, I think the episode worked, because it used very real fears, like spiders, being paralysed and being buried alive.
I also liked the new perspective offered in the flashbacks and it became clear that Nikki and Paolo were islands themselves on this island. The didn't interact much with the others, because they were so preoccupied with finding the diamonds. At the beginning they shared their little island, but later on the moved to separate islands so to speak, which proved their downfall.
Oh and thanks for clearing up the "Paralyzed" line for me. I'm dense that way.
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branchandroot
no subject
Date: 2007-04-05 11:17 am (UTC)First, I agree, I enjoyed the episode a lot.
In a way, this was an episode that worked well on a meta-level. It commented on the process of making a television series, the role of guest stars and of course the fact that people don't necessarily stay dead or can be brought back in other ways.
It was also a kind of exercise or "How to manual" for the use of foreshadowing, red herrings, misleads and dramatic irony. It wasn't too difficult to work out some of the twists, because there was this knowing wink with which some of the elements were introduced. You just knew that the nicotine gum, the spiders etc. would become important later on. You know, if you show a gun in the first act, it has to go off by the end of the play.
This could all very well have been tedious and self-referential, but there was enough besides that to keep me entertained. Also, I think the episode worked, because it used very real fears, like spiders, being paralysed and being buried alive.
I also liked the new perspective offered in the flashbacks and it became clear that Nikki and Paolo were islands themselves on this island. The didn't interact much with the others, because they were so preoccupied with finding the diamonds. At the beginning they shared their little island, but later on the moved to separate islands so to speak, which proved their downfall.
Oh and thanks for clearing up the "Paralyzed" line for me. I'm dense that way.