Nikki Fernandez
From Lostpedia
- "Nikki" redirects here. For other uses see: Nikki (disambiguation)
Portrayed by Kiele Sanchez
Nikki Fernandez was one of the middle section survivors from Flight 815 and is first introduced in "Further Instructions". She had spent most of her time on the island isolated from the other survivors, along with Paulo. She was trying to recover the $8 million diamonds that she and Paulo had stolen from Zukerman, her staged lover, before the crash. After her greed and anger encouraged her to throw a female Medusa spider onto her lover Paulo, she received a spider bite from a male Medusa that induced a deathlike paralysis, which caused death-like appearance. She died after being buried alive alongside Paulo, as the other survivors were unaware they were both still alive.
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Before the Island
Nikki, the american actress from LA, was in Australia to play the guest starring role of Corvette ("The pride of St. Paul") on Sydney's finest show Exposé. Her character discovered that the strip club owner LaShade was in fact the shows antagonist, but was shot in the final episode of the fourth series, before Corvette could inform her colleagues about her information. A voice yells "Cut", and then Billy Dee Williams (who is playing the part of the villain, LaShade) helps Nikki up and the director announces that it is a series wrap for Nikki, and the other members of the cast and crew applaud her. Zukerman then walks her outside and he tries to think of some way for Nikki to be brought back on to the show ( one of the ideas is by claiming that she could have been wearing a bullet proof vest - with Nikki then showing him that all Corvette was wearing was her faux diamond bikini underneath). He then asks her if she is planning on returning to LA now that she has been written off the show, but she replies that she is in love - and she wants to stay with him in Sydney. ("Exposé")
Later, Nikki and Howard are sat eating an intimate dinner in his home. Howard introduces Nikki to his new chef Paulo, and Nikki compliments Paulo's food, also saying that he deserves a raise. Howard recalls to her that Paulo came to his office everyday until he got the job, and he then offers her a roll of bread behind which she finds a diamond bracelet. He then says that it will soon be a ring (implying he is intending to marry her) but that his wife will be an obstacle... but before he can continue he clutches his chest and falls limp. Nikki calls for Paulo who checks Howard's pulse and he declares him dead. Nikki pulls off a chain with a key from around Howard's neck and tells Paulo she would have loved if they could have figured out a way where she didn't have to eat the same food as him. We then learn that Nikki and Paulo had been working together, and have just murdered Howard L. Zukerman. ("Exposé")
The pair then make their way to Howard's safe which they open with the key from Howard's neck (Nikki stopping momentarily to stop Paulo from smoking.) In the safe they find a matryoshka doll. Upon opening the last doll Nikki remarks "razzle freaking dazzle". ("Exposé")
The day of the crash Nikki and Paulo sit in an airport cafe. Paulo reads a newspaper article about Howard L. Zukerman's death. The pair laugh, and kiss. Paulo then announces that he has quit smoking, and he is now chewing nicotine gum for Nikki. They toast to each other, but are interrupted by Shannon, who is loudly complaining to Boone about the lack of seating on the plane, claiming that it is his fault they aren't in first class. Nikki watches cynically as Boone asks Paulo for their spare chair. Paulo accepts, but Shannon pulls Boone back, stating that his "flirting with random guys" is delaying them from getting on the plane. Nikki asks Paulo to promise her that they won't end up like Shannon and Boone, mistakenly taking them to be a couple, and Paulo agrees. He kisses Nikki passionately before the pair board the doomed flight. ("Exposé")
On the Island
Immediately after the crash Nikki scrambles around searching for someone. She is seen running behind Shannon screaming. She searches, yelling "Paulo" turning over a survivor, Arzt, who asks her "are we alive?". She carries on her search momentarily and is then interrupted by Boone asking her for a pen (to, as he thinks, save Rose). She finally finds Paulo who is staring out at the ocean in shock. She tries to attract his attention and concerned she asks him where the bag is. He is in shock, but also partly surprised that Nikki seems more concerned over the bag than the survivors' welfare. He doesn't give her an answer.
Six days later Nikki and Paulo scramble around the luggage for their bags. They begin talking about the nature of the Monster (who was heard the night of the crash). It is then that they meet Ethan, who offers them some clothes after introducing himself. Nikki however just says they are looking for Paulo's nicotine gum. He then suggests they look further inland for their bags. Arzt then runs past telling them Boone had taken all the water. The group, including Nikki, Paulo and Ethan, are distracted from the drama by Jack, who gives his live together, die alone speech.
Nikki and Arzt examine the collection of new species he has found on the island. He introduces her to the medusa spider who has very strong pheromones. Nikki asks for help finding her luggage, and Arzt draws her a map showing the possible trajectory of the debris that fell from the plan as it crashed. Nikki and Paulo then follow the map and Paulo seems somewhat jealous of Nikki asking Arzt for help (suggesting Ethan would have been more help). Nikki then jokes that she had to sleep with Arzt for the map. Following the map Nikki and Paulo find the Pearl station and the drug smuggler's plane but choose not to explore them.
Nikki and Paulo later hear Arzt and Shannon arguing with Kate because the guns from the Marshal's case were kept secret. Nikki then asks Kate where she found the case. Nikki and Paulo head to the waterfall where she makes Paulo dive in to try and find the bag. He resurfaces telling her he can only see dead bodies (even though he is lying to her). She leaves, unaware Paulo has dived back in to retrieve the bag.
Season 3 (Days 69-81)
When Locke announced he was planning a trek to the Pearl station, the opportunity arose for Nikki and Paulo to step into the limelight. She was quick to join up, but had to persuade Paulo to join herself, Locke, Sayid and Desmond. She persuades him by saying that he always complains that they are not included in things, but he seems reluctant about the idea, coming around in the end. Once inside the station she watches the Pearl orientation video and is the one to notice that the man on the video mentions other DHARMA stations. Sayid then tried to patch into the streaming from other feeds, revealing a man wearing an eye patch. This shocked Nikki, but her attention was drawn elsewhere when the Monster was heard outside. She, along with the others who had been in the station, ran out to see Eko after being killed by the monster. She watches sadly as Eko slips away, Locke then telling them Eko's last words were "we're next" ("The Cost of Living")
Locke tells his companions that Eko was killed by an animal, and he then decides they will bury Eko were he died (so as not to bring more grief to the camp). Locke and Sayid then leave Nikki, Paulo and Desmond with Eko's body. She is present when Eko is buried, and returns back to the beach camp ("I Do")
Nikki and Paulo are preparing food when Hurley returns back to the beach camp with news of his discovery of the Dharma van. Nikki seems somewhat interested in the idea, but is pulled back by Paulo by the loop of her shorts. She is later seen hugging Kate on her arrival back to the camp. ("Tricia Tanaka Is Dead")
Nikki is amongst the people who help Jin bring the ping-pong table out of the jungle. When Sawyer demands his belongings back she comments that the stuff in the stash was never his to start with. He responds that it is his now, and asking "who the hell are you?" She later watches the ping-pong match between Sawyer and Hurley, supporting Hurley who eventually wins. ("Enter 77")
A few days later Nikki and Paulo sit on the beach together, and she confesses to him that she is sad that Thanksgiving passed a few weeks back, and they didn't even remember celebrate it. She begins to worry that they will never be rescued from the island, but Paulo comforts her. He says he is glad that they didn't find the diamonds (even though he was in possession of them at the time) because it was beginning to tear them apart as a couple. He leaves Nikki to go get them both some breakfast, and accidentally leaves his nicotine gum in the sand, which fell out of his pocket. Nikki picks the nicotine gum up, and realizes that he must have found their bags if he has found the gum, because they were stored together when on the plane.
Later, Desmond sees Nikki arguing with Sawyer. She is demanding that Sawyer let her borrow one of the guns he has in his possessin, but he refuses, saying she is too agitated, and it wouldn't do any good if he gave her one. He comments he doesn't have the guns anymore anyway, yelling "who the hell are you?" as she storms away from him in anger and frustration.
Nikki then confronts Paulo in the jungle. He says he doesn't have the diamonds, but Nikki shows him the gum. She produces one of the jars from Arzt's specimen jars and throws the medusa spider from the jar at Paulo. She describes to him that it is called the medusa spider because it slows the heart rate of the victim down to a point where it is almost undetectable for around eight hours. Paulo collapses and Nikki begins to search for the diamonds, first throwing off his shoe and then realizing he hid them in his underwear. He tells her he hid them because he thought if she had the diamonds she wouldn't need him anymore. She realizes what she has done and stares at Paulo. However the monster is heard and Nikki is too distracted to realize that a large group of medusa spiders have arrived following the pheromones of the original spider. The spiders, a personification of the monster itself, bite Nikki on the ankle. When she realizes this, she panics and kicks the spiders off her leg, before dashing through the jungle, stopping in a clearing, and burying the diamonds. Nikki then runs back to the beach to contact her fellow survivors.
She arrives on the beach where Sawyer and Hurley are playing ping-pong. Nikki stumbles out of the jungle, looking dazed and confused. Hurley asks if she's okay but she falls to the sand, mumbling "paralyzed", which is warped because of the paralysis taking effect in her body. Nikki falls down in the sand, completely immobile, and Hurley adds "Dude, Nikki's dead", to which Sawyer responds, rather inconsiderately with, "Who the hell is Nikki?"
Due to her unclear last words, Sawyer, Hurley, Charlie, Jin, Desmond and Sun attempt to unravel the mystery about what happened to the little-known couple, who are both paralyzed and presumed dead after Paulo is also found in the jungle. The group ransack the couple's tent, finding Paulo's walkie (causing suspicions that the pair were in league with the Others) and the Exposé script, which Hurley comments he was a big fan of. Hurley begins to suspect Sawyer played a part in their 'deaths' due to Desmond seeing him arguing with Nikki hours earlier, however Sawyer stands by his innocence, and the group continue to bury Nikki and Paulo. With the graves dug, and Nikki and Paulo in them, Sawyer scatters the diamonds over their bodies. Hurley then gives a eulogy and says even thought they appear to have killed each other over the diamonds they were nice to him, and he likes Exposé and the two begin to fill the graves.
Slowly the sand begins to cover their bodies, and just as it covers their faces the poison begins to wear off, and Nikki opens her eyes to see sand hitting her face. Unable to move and warn the survivors of their real state Nikki, alongside her boyfriend Paulo, are buried alive. ("Exposé")
Post-Death
The day after their tragic demise, the deaths of both Nikki and Paulo were one of the reasons used by Hurley in persuading Sawyer to take a leadership role in the group by Hurley ("Left Behind")
In the summer of 2005, After the rescue of the Oceanic Six, the season four finale of Exposé airs on Korean TV. Moments before Sun goes to labour with her baby, the Korean dub of Nikki's character, Corvette's death at the hands of Mr. LaShade is playing on Sun's TV, until she turns it off. However, Sun doesn't seem to acknowledge, or even realize, Nikki's presence on-screen most as she begins to give birth to her child. ("Ji Yeon")
Trivia
- According to a rough translation in the Whisper Transcripts, Nikki's name is mentioned in one of the whispers during the time Hurley spots Jacob's Cabin in "The Beginning of the End".
- Nikki was the twenty-second character to ever have a flashback.
- As of "Ji Yeon", Nikki's episode count, (including non-speaking appearances) is 7.
- Nikki and Paulo were noted by the producers to be the most universally despised characters due to their sudden appearance.
- A deleted scene introduced Nikki and Paulo in another way: Claire is taking care of Aaron when she hears some weird noises coming from Jack's tent. She starts to call Jack's name, and when she opens the tent she sees Nikki and Paulo having sex there. This scene was deleted from "Further Instructions", however pre-broadcast summaries of the episode seem to reference this particular scene, implying that it was removed at the last minute. Some fans on YouTube expressed that if the producers had introduced them in this way, they would still be alive.
- In a deleted scene during the Discharge, Nikki went haywire, and became hysterical, so that Paulo had to calm her down. As a result of her breakdown, she began to question her past behavior towards her fellow survivors, and decided that herself and Paulo needed to take a more active role in the events, being more part of a team. ("Exposé")
- Nikki along with Paulo were the sixth and seventh main characters to be killed.
- Nikki and Paulo are buried in a different way from any of the other characters that have died on the Island; Boone, Shannon, Ana-Lucia, Libby and Scott were buried in individual graves, while Nikki and Paulo shared a large one.
- According to an Entertainment Weekly article, Nikki and Paulo were originally supposed to be part of a longer storyarc, with one episode having its flashbacks devoted to Nikki's fictional TV show, Exposé, to end with a surprise twist (presumably revealing that those "flashbacks" were merely part of a TV show Nikki was acting in). Faced with the negative fan backlash to the two characters' abrupt introduction, however, the producers, already facing declining ratings for the show, decided back in December 2006 to trim down the storyarc and kill off the two characters in a single episode.
- The Monster was heard, but not seen, moments before Nikki receives the spider bite.
- Because of Rose and Bernard's absence from much of Season 3, it was speculated that the fail-safe had altered the timeline so that they were never aboard the plane, and Nikki and Paulo had been seated in their place. This was disproven when both Rose and Bernard returned in "Through the Looking Glass".
Cultural references
- Nikki mentions to Zukerman about her character's death in Exposé that death is just what happens to guest stars on the show. Similarly, guest characters in Lost, have been or are potentially subject to death.
Reference to Alias
- Exposé tips its hat to J.J. Abrams' Alias. Nikki guest stars in a one-word titled TV show playing a female agent posing as a stripper to track down criminals.
Unanswered questions
| Unanswered questions |
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- For fan theories about these unanswered questions, see: Nikki Fernandez/Theories
- What other crimes did Nikki and Paulo commit?
- How did she and Paulo meet?
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|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Aaron • Ana Lucia • Bernard • Boone • Charlie • Claire • Desmond • Eko • Hurley • Jack • Jin Kate • Libby • Locke • Michael • Nikki • Paulo • Rose • Sawyer • Sayid • Shannon • Sun • Walt | ||||||
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|---|---|---|---|---|
| Flashback episode | "Exposé" | |||
| Flashback characters | Leslie Arzt • Kate Austen • Autumn • Juliet Burke • Boone Carlyle • Corvette • Crystal • James "Sawyer" Ford • Desmond Hume • Sayid Jarrah • Jin-Soo Kwon • Sun-Hwa Kwon • Mr. LaShade • Benjamin Linus • Claire Littleton • John Locke • Rose Nadler • Charlie Pace • Hugo "Hurley" Reyes • Ethan Rom • Shannon Rutherford • Jack Shephard • Gary Troup • Billy Dee Williams • Howard L. Zukerman | |||
| Items | Diamonds • Matryoshka doll • Map • Medusa spider • Exposé script | |||
| See also: Main Characters | ||||
