Essentials
Have a correction or addition for this page? Let me know!
The Crash of Flight 815
In the second season of LOST, we were provided with more information concerning the crash of Oceanic Flight 815. At the beginning of the season, Locke met a man named Desmond inside the hatch. He quickly explains that someone must enter The Numbers into a computer, and directs them to learn more by watching the orientation film (which merely explains that The Incident may result if the 'button' is not pressed every 108 minutes). However, Desmond runs off without filling in many details as to the purpose and connection of the task, only to return in the last episode of the season. It turns out that he tried to escape in a sailboat, but somehow got pulled back to the island despite his attempt to sail away.
In the season finale, Locke is determined to let the timer run out to prove to himself and others that everything about the Swan Station is a joke - merely part of an elaborate psychological experiment. At first, Desmond goes along with Locke's plan - but as the timer begins to run low, Desmond starts to question Locke's beliefs about the station. Desmond asks Locke if there was anything else they found in the Pearl Station (where Locke became convinced that the Swan Station was only a psychological experiment). Locke gives Desmond a printout recovered at The Pearl Station. As Desmond looks through the printout, he becomes agitated and asks Locke when the plane crashed. Locke tells Desmond the plane crashed on September 22nd, 2004.
Desmond looks at the log again and sees a SYSTEM FAILURE entry on the log for the same date. He tells Locke that he thinks he may have crashed the plane. In a flashback, we see that Desmond followed Kelvin (his ex-hatch-mate) out of the Swan Station and caught him making plans to escape. A short fight follows, and Desmond seemingly kills Kelvin. Desmond runs back to the hatch, but he is late. The timer has run out, and the magnet has started to grow more powerful. The computer screen is full of text reading "SYSTEM FAILURE". Fortunately, Desmond is able to enter the numbers into the computer and discharge the magnet, but it may have been too late for Flight 815.
Exactly how the magnet could have caused the crash of Flight 815 is yet unexplained. It also isn't yet clear why so many survived the crash. Although we now know more about the crash of Flight 815, we don't yet have a full explanation as to why it went down and how so many people survived such a tremendous crash.
Item Last Updated: October 04, 2006, 06:50:35 PM by sledgeweb
