Episode 203 - Secret Clue

So this week, we finally learnt the true purpose of the hatch – to save the world, or so DHARMA would have you believe. The mysterious logo in the hatch and on the shark that was revealed last week now serves a purpose – it is the logo for the people behind the bunker. Desmond points Locke and Jack to a projector and suggests they watch the Orientation film.

Made in 1980, the Orientation film is hosted by Dr. Marvin Candle, a scientist from the Dharma Initiative. The Dharma Initiative was founded in 1970 by Gerald and Karen DeGroot, a pair of scientists intent on studying various forms of experimental sciences. Funded by former munitions millionaire Alvar Hanso, they constructed a “large scale communal research compound” on which to study meteorology, psychology, parapsychology, zoology, electromagnetism and utopian societies.

The film, the third of six, explains the purpose of Station Three, the hatch Locke and Jack now occupy. Dr. Candle explains that the hatch, codenamed Cyan (or Swan) was originally built to study the strange electromagnetic energies on this section of the island, but that an “incident” changed the mission parameters. Now, a code must be entered every 108 minutes after the alarm sounds into the computer by a two-man crew, to be replaced every 540 days. The video is missing segments and heavily damaged, but he clearly states that the computer is not to be used in an attempt to contact the outside world, but not why. The fact that this is the third of six films implies there may be other bunkers elsewhere, and if you look carefully you’ll notice Dr. Candle possesses both a prosthetic left arm and glass eye.

Locke’s faith means that his interest is already piqued by the hatch and he accepts the film at face value. Jack, on the other hand, isn’t interested in the idle threats on the video, stating that it’s all just a mind game. It is interesting that the film mentions that the DeGroot’s were influenced by B.F.Skinner, the inventor of the Skinner box, a scientific study where test subjects are rewarded for correctly performing a repetitive task…