“Exposé” was a strange episode, frustrating millions of fans who just wanted “Lost” to address their dozens of other, more pressing plotlines, but it was also brilliant stuff. Did you retroactively condemn every Nikki/Paulo scene in light filler material? Yes. But he still gave that filler story a big sendoff. It’s also a delightfully mean-spirited episode, one that would bode ill for Crystal 16 years later, who exists on a show that’s basically “Lost” but much darker. From the moment she was introduced, the question arose: would Crystal get her own “Exposé”-inspired episode? it wasn’t clear. All we knew was that the current Misty had no friends, and a current Crystal had never been mentioned. We didn’t know how or when, but Crystal’s tragic fate still seemed sealed.
In the end, Crystal didn’t get an entire episode dedicated to her backstory. “Yellowjackets” has always been a much longer show than “Lost,” stretching out quite a bit with at least four or five different major storylines going on at once. In Crystal’s goodbye episode, we only get a handful of scenes with her, and they’re all from Misty’s perspective. That may sound disappointing, but at least “Yellowjackets” made the most of what little time he had with her. (And, of course, considering the amount of backlash she originally garnered for “Exposé,” denying Crystal a featured episode is probably the smart move.)
