Perhaps they are catering to the viewers taste a bit... I'm not sure Ana Lucia was really meant to be killed off, for instance, but in this particular case I admit I don't really care because I was just so glad to see her go!

I loved Exposé as well. Sure, it was filler but it was excellent filler! A lot of people disliked that episode precisely because it contributed nothing to the overall arc... but I believe the diamonds, or Nikki and Paolo will have some importance in future episodes, much like the foot statue we saw, surely it must tie into something! There would be no point in introducing it otherwise. Or perhaps I have too much faith in the writers!

I'm a lot more interested in the characters as well but I get the feeling we may be in a minority - on a certain message board I frequent it often seems like every character is more or less disliked and everyone is just watching to get answers, which isn't the right motivation to keep watching, IMO.