I loved the bit about Nikki and Paulo!!!!!!!!!
One of my friends, whenever we talk about Lost, always complains that "the writers introduce things and then drop them" -- and his favorite example is "Nikki and Paulo."
But now it seems like N & P were added deliberately for this episode.
My spec is that the writers knew that they were going to introduce a character who could hear the dead, and who had a well-established streak of mercenary greed. Eventually he would be faced with A BIG TEMPTATION -- but would be able to ignore it because he knew there were some diamonds buried right below him.
My hat is off to the storytellers!