Omniscient narrator?
Paulo paralyzed?
Nikki paralyzed?
Both paralyzed?

During the episode I was really confused, because it was the first time we ever flat-out had memories of events that weren't tied to one person (at least 48 Days was tied to Ana Lucia and Eko, and 3 Minutes was tied to Michael, and Maternity Leave was Claire's memories).

But then after the reveal of the paralysis I thought that maybe they were actually having those memories? Thoughts? :confused:

My first thought was that we never had a flashback of a dead person.

Of course we find they are not dead. At least Nikki was not.

well neither was dead right? in fact they were conscious, it's just that every muscle was completely paralyzed. at least that's how i took it. so they were in fact having the fb's.

jeez...creepiest ending ever?

vincent was having the flashback ;)

Seriously from the view - I would say that when they showed her then a flashback it was hers then when they showed his eyes and a flashback they were his - going back and forth!

Oh, I think you're right care_and_jim.

Ugh, creepy.

I wondered that while watching, and realized they had to be alive because we were getting a two-sided flashback. Pretty cool.

Creepy ending for sure... There was an old Tales from the Crypt like this - being completely paralyzed then... oh I can't even talk about it.. :eek2: I *will* have nightmares tonight.

Right. Whichever character the camera focused on prior to an FB, that was the character having the FB.

Both. For example. when we saw paulo going back to the pearl to hide the diamonds, it is obvious it was him having the flashback. It is interesting that the clue that they weren't dead was given to us from the start thru the flashbacks. Like somebody else said: dead characters don't have flashbacks.

During the episode I was really confused, because it was the first time we ever flat-out had memories of events that weren't tied to one person (at least 48 Days was tied to Ana Lucia and Eko, and 3 Minutes was tied to Michael, and Maternity Leave was Claire's memories).

- "Special" was mostly Michael flashbacks, but one flashback was definitely Walt-centric.
- "Dave" was mostly Hurley-centric, but the last flashback was Libby's.
- I don't remember offhand if there was a flashback scene in "S.O.S." that only had Bernard in it, but not Rose.
- Both "...And Found" and "The Glass Ballerina" featured flashbacks both from Jin's and Sun's perspectives.

For a while I thought we had the first episode with a dead person, so that we'd finally get an answer that the flashbacks are not actually occuring in the head of the respective person. But, turns out we have no answer. But if they are in the head of one person, they had to be each. Because Paulo couldn't have a flashback of Nikki finding the nic gum, and Nikki couldn't have a flashback of Paulo in the bathroom of the pearl. I'm still hoping that these are not in anyone's head. Because they would be more reliable if an omniscient narrator were just relating things that had happened. But, only time will tell.

I've never thought the "flashbacks" were pauses in the action where the character were themselves THINKING about the past. I have always assumed they were more "back stories," meant to enlighten US as to the past of the characters.

Yea. Me too. But, the other view is certainly possible. You can't say for sure and Expose does not, given the end, provide any new insight.