He’s anti-DHARMA in the 80’s when he apparently recruits Ben and overthrows DHARMA, but what about in 1954? At that time it seems like there are only 2 power brokers on the island, the Army and Richard’s people (under Jacob?), and the uniforms that Richard’s people are wearing look like they are very DHARMA-esque with the name tags and stuff. No DHARMA logo yet, but maybe they are the ones that get DHARMA rolling. Maybe they are the ones that uncover many of the island’s powers when the bomb is introduced.
Do we know when DHARMA gets started? When those Orientation videos were shot and when Dr. Marvin Candle gets those stations built?
My theory is that Widmore was the leader of the Others. But, destiny being a fickle bitch and all, Jacob decides that it’s time for Ben to take over. It seems that once you lose your spot as the leader, you’re forced to leave the island and never come back. But Widmore doesn’t like the way he lost control and has spent the rest of his life trying to figure out how to get back. This is probably why he recruited Faraday, to hopefully figure out the way back the same way his mother is doing for Ben.
According to Lostpedia, the Swan Station orientation film, which we saw at the beginning of season 2, says that the DHARMA Initiative was founded in 1970.
Richard’s people/The Others/The Hostiles are not the origin of Dharma, because they are frequently shown in flashbacks as attacking and eventually destroying the Dharma Initiative. It’s made clear in this episode that The Others have stolen the uniforms that they are wearing when Richard refers to the soldier with the nametag “Jones” as “Widmore,” and Richard explains that they have taken over the Army camp.
Young Mr. Widmore did rather haughtily say “What you think he tracked me? You think he knows this island better than me?” (When Richard asked him how he escaped)
That sure sounds like the bragging of someone who grew up on the island.
Just a quibble on the names…I can see naming Charlie Hume after Charlie the Hobbit, but to have Charles Widmore and Charlotte as well? Too much similarity.
Hey, I missed the bit from last week where Wickman/Candle’s real name was revealed. What was it?
Frustratingly, here in Ontario, the episode cut off before it ended.
We only saw it up to the point when Locke and Richard were sitting together; the last lines were Locke asking what year it was and Richard saying, “1954.”
Hadn’t thought of that. I think it’s just part of the repetition that’s a running theme with the show.
Also, her name is Charlotte Staples Lewis; they apparently wanted their cutesy name games to include a C.S. Lewis.
Will there be a character named Heisenberg? That’s my guess; in fact, I can tell you either where you’ll first see him, or how fast he’ll be going, but not both.
I’m trying to make sense of that damned bomb. Even if, in 1954, the US military wasn’t curious about the large island that didn’t appear on charts – they didn’t blow up islands like that. (Whatever else it is, the Island is a largish volcanic island, big enough to have mountains, creeks and a variety of terrain and plant and animal life.) They detonated bombs on coral atolls mostly in the Marshall Islands, not on large, lush beautiful islands.
I had assumed that they had stolen the uniforms from the Army group.
Also, is it not possible that some of the army guys were “recruited” (or found to be “good”) like a small number of tailies that were taken in by the others.
If the Army guys had come with children (of course not likely due to the nature of their mission), I would also assume that the others would have kidnapped the children.
