Lost/Recap/Entire Series: Difference between revisions

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Despite, or [[Cosmic Chess Game|perhaps because of]], Jacob's efforts, more people began to discover the Island during the 20th century. U.S. Army soldiers came to the Island in the 1950s and, thinking it was an ordinary, uninhabited island, planned to test a hydrogen bomb. The DHARMA Initiative, a scientific expedition, arrived in the 1970s and began establishing scientific research stations in order to understand the "electromagnetism" and "exotic matter" present on the Island; during their multi-decade stay on the Island, DHARMA personnel were responsible for "the Incident", which necessitated the building of a Hatch, inside which was a button that had to be pushed every 108 minutes in order to prevent a catastrophic, world-threatening release of "electromagnetic energy" (i.e. the Light). In the case of both the Army and the DHARMA Initiative, the Others intervened and wiped out these newcomers in order to prevent them from interfering with the Light, although both groups left behind technology that ended up being instrumental to Jacob's endgame. There was also internal strife within the ranks of the Others as particular individuals, notably longtime Island resident Charles Widmore and former DHARMA workman Ben Linus, struggled for control of the group in order to increase their own powerbase. And all parties were manipulated by the Man in Black, whose true nature was unknown to even the Others, who simply thought he was a Smoke Monster and another strange facet of the Island. When Ben became leader of the Others, he believed the Smoke Monster was a kind of wild animal he could summon to do his bidding.

Jacob touches the people who will eventually become protagonists of the show, such as Jack, Kate, Sawyer, Locke, Hurley, Sun, Jin, etc. He selects people with deep-seated emotional problems, whose lives have reached a dead end and who will find a genuinely better life on the Island. He also finds a man named Desmond and, as a fail-safe in case the Man in Black comes close to triumphing, imbues Desmond with a kind of [[Anti Magic|"anti-magic" ability]] that allows him to withstand exposure to the Light in levels that would kill an ordinary person. Desmond arrives on the Island in 2001 and winds up pushing the button in the Hatch, until one day in 2004 when he fails to push it in time: the resulting electromagnetic event release drags Oceanic Flight 815, the plane on which Jacob's Candidates are flying, out of the air and causes it to crash on the Island, as documented in the [[Pilot]] episode.

Jacob touches the people who will eventually become protagonists of the show, such as Jack, Kate, Sawyer, Locke, Hurley, Sun, Jin, etc. He selects people with deep-seated emotional problems, whose lives have reached a dead end and who will find a genuinely better life on the Island. He also finds a man named Desmond and, as a fail-safe in case the Man in Black comes close to triumphing, imbues Desmond with a kind of [[Anti-Magic|"anti-magic" ability]] that allows him to withstand exposure to the Light in levels that would kill an ordinary person. Desmond arrives on the Island in 2001 and winds up pushing the button in the Hatch, until one day in 2004 when he fails to push it in time: the resulting electromagnetic event release drags Oceanic Flight 815, the plane on which Jacob's Candidates are flying, out of the air and causes it to crash on the Island, as documented in the [[Pilot]] episode.

[[Kudzu Plot|It's that kind of show]].

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At this point, the time-traveling survivors returned to the present and the Man in Black set up a complicated ruse in order to kill the remaining Candidates, since "the rules" made him unable to hurt them directly any more than he could hurt Jacob. He tricked the Candidates into boarding a submarine with a bomb and tampering with it, destroying the submarine and killing most of the remaining Candidates. As the Man in Black searched for Desmond in order to use him to destroy the Island, the remaining Candidates were contacted by Jacob's ghost, who explained what was happening and asked one of them to take up Guardianship of the Island. Jack volunteered, a culmination of his steadily-growing belief in the Island's power and his own purpose.

The Candidates met the Man in Black and Desmond at the same cave where the Man in Black had been transformed into a monster all those millennia ago. Desmond, who'd had a glimpse of what he thought was an alternate universe where everyone lived out their lives in peace <ref>actually the Flash-Sideways universe, a non-denominational purgatory where the Candidates and survivors would have a chance, after their death, to deal with their issues before "moving on".</ref>, was willing to be lowered into the cave and remove the "cork" from the Light, thereby releasing its power, and his [[Anti Magic]] meant he was the only person capable of doing so. The Man in Black wanted Desmond to do this because it would destroy the Island and allow him to escape. Jack wanted Desmond to do this because he believed it would allow him to destroy the Man in Black. When Desmond removed the "cork", this caused all the things being powered by the Light -- from the Man in Black's immortality to the Island's ability to ''stay afloat on the ocean'' -- to go away. With the Man in Black made mortal, Jack and the other Candidates were able to kill him, though Jack was mortally wounded in the process. The Island began to crumble into the ocean and the only way to save it was to replace the cork, but Desmond was unable to do so, meaning that whoever did would almost certainly die in the attempt. Jack volunteered, believing this was his destiny, and passed Guardianship of the Island on to Hurley before descending into the cave and replacing the cork. As the Island crumbles, the rest of the Candidates and survivors leave in the nick of time on an abandoned plane. With the cork safely replaced and the Island stabilized, Hurley asked Ben to stay and atone for his actions by helping to run the Island. And in his final moments, Jack was able to see his friends leave the Island before he passed away.

The Candidates met the Man in Black and Desmond at the same cave where the Man in Black had been transformed into a monster all those millennia ago. Desmond, who'd had a glimpse of what he thought was an alternate universe where everyone lived out their lives in peace <ref>actually the Flash-Sideways universe, a non-denominational purgatory where the Candidates and survivors would have a chance, after their death, to deal with their issues before "moving on".</ref>, was willing to be lowered into the cave and remove the "cork" from the Light, thereby releasing its power, and his [[Anti-Magic]] meant he was the only person capable of doing so. The Man in Black wanted Desmond to do this because it would destroy the Island and allow him to escape. Jack wanted Desmond to do this because he believed it would allow him to destroy the Man in Black. When Desmond removed the "cork", this caused all the things being powered by the Light -- from the Man in Black's immortality to the Island's ability to ''stay afloat on the ocean'' -- to go away. With the Man in Black made mortal, Jack and the other Candidates were able to kill him, though Jack was mortally wounded in the process. The Island began to crumble into the ocean and the only way to save it was to replace the cork, but Desmond was unable to do so, meaning that whoever did would almost certainly die in the attempt. Jack volunteered, believing this was his destiny, and passed Guardianship of the Island on to Hurley before descending into the cave and replacing the cork. As the Island crumbles, the rest of the Candidates and survivors leave in the nick of time on an abandoned plane. With the cork safely replaced and the Island stabilized, Hurley asked Ben to stay and atone for his actions by helping to run the Island. And in his final moments, Jack was able to see his friends leave the Island before he passed away.

Afterwards ([[Anachronic Order|although it's shown before the last scene]]), in the flash-sideways universe, the survivors meet in a church, where they are consumed by an all-encompassing light, which may possibly be ''the'' Light in the Heart of the Island. [[Ambiguous Situation|Make of that what you will]].