 This episode is also a take on a play called Rosencrantz and  Guildenstern are Dead, which chronicles the lives of two characters  played out against the backdrop of events from Shakespeares Hamlet.  In Hamlet, the two characters are charged with determining Hamlets  motives, and plans. Instead they, themselves are killed. The  characters are thrust into the universe of Hamlet in much the same  way that Paulo and Nikki were thrust into ours, by the will of the  writer. Inasmuch, they seem to serve no valid purpose and are  generally mocked throughout for being the extraneous folk they are.  In "Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead", however, much like  Expose is Nikki and Paulo, the playing field is reversed and they  are the major characters with Hamlet seeming to be the character  with misappropriated importance.