Essentials
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The DHARMA Initiative & Stations
In Season 2, we were introduced to the DHARMA Initiative. Jack and Locke watch an Orientation Film that explains some of DHARMA's intentions and purposes. The film is presented by Dr. Marvin Candle who describes the DHARMA Initiative as "a large-scale communal research compound where scientists and free-thinkers from around the globe could pursue research in meteorology, psychology, parapsychology, zoology, electromagnetism, and utopian [society]". Dharma was founded in 1970 by Gerald and Karen DeGroot with the financial backing of Alvar Hanso. The symbol or logo for the DHARMA Initiative is a Bagua, which represents some of the Eastern thinking that seems to have inspired some of Dharma's characteristics. Different research areas or stations within the DHARMA Initiative are represented by different symbols inside the Bagua.
The film also explains that the station our losties inhabit, The Swan Station, is associated with some strange magnetic properties unique to a specific area on the island. Apparently, some time ago, there was an "incident". What the incident was is never fully explained, but something went wrong and caused a leak allowing the magnetic properties of the island to build up to cataclysmic levels. In order to address this problem, a procedure was created which consists of two people living in the Swan Station taking shifts entering the Numbers (4, 8, 15, 16, 23, 42) into a computer and pressing the button every 108 minutes. These apparently discharges the magnet, and resets the timer. There is also a fail-safe which will "blow up" everything, but using it could present some unknown dangers.
As the season progresses, we learn a little more about DHARMA, and we learn there are several other stations on the island. The tailies found part of a station known as The Arrow. In Claire's flashback, we see that she was taken to a medical station known as The Staff. Locke and Eko later find a central monitoring station on the island known as The Pearl. We also see several other stations on a map of the island, which includes a station called The Flame.
In The Pearl Station, Locke and Eko watch another Orientation Video. This video is presented by the same man as the Swan Orientation video, but he is now calling himself Mark Wickmund. In the video, the occupants of The Pearl are instructed to watch inhabitants of another station and record everything they do. The video implies that those in the Swan Station are unwillingly participating in a psychological experiment. This revelation causes John Locke to lose his faith in "the island", but gives Eko a new-found motivation to press the button.
We also met Desmond, the mysterious man who lived in the Swan, beneath the hatch. In Desmond's flashback, that he was rescued when he crashed on the island by a DHARMA volunteer named Kelvin. Kelvin joined the DHARMA Initiative sometime after the first Gulf War, and was assigned to work in the Swan Station with a man named Radzinsky. The two men were supposed to be relieved by replacements, but apparently, something went wrong. Fearing that leaving their posts would put the earth in jeopardy, the two continued to press the button together. Eventually, Radzinsky killed himself, leaving Kelvin alone in the station. When Kelvin rescued Desmond, he realized it was his chance to escape. He trained Desmond how to execute the procedure while secretly repairing Desmond's sailboat and plotting his escape. Desmond followed Kelvin and confronted him about his plans to escape. A fight ensued, and Desmond ended up apparently killing Kelvin. This left Desmond alone in the station pressing the button every 108 minutes.
At the end of season 2, Locke destroys the computer to prove that everything about the Swan Station has no purpose. However, when the timer runs out, the magnet begins to grow stronger, and begins tearing the station apart. Desmond uses the fail-safe shut-off to stop the magnet, unsure what the results will be. There is loud noise, and the sky turns violet all over the island, and we see that the door to the hatch is blown high into the air.
The Others are using DHARMA facilities and possess items that have the DHARMA Bagua symbol on them. At the end of season 2, it is not yet clear what their official connection with DHARMA is, or what their motivations are. The food and supply drop items also have the DHARMA symbol.
Item Last Updated: October 04, 2006, 06:37:15 PM by sledgeweb
