What is the Island?

Since season one of the show the only thing on everybody's mind was the island. What the bloody hell was it? For a while people thought the whole show was Hurley's dream and the island was just a figment of his imagination. Other people thought the island was purgatory and that everybody died when the plane crashed (they weren't too far off with this guess). The island is something a little more complicated than that.

The man in black examines the bottle and cork metaphor

            The island contains strong electromagnetic forces contained within it, like a bottle containing fluid (the comparison they make in season 6). When the cork comes off the bottle, fluid comes out. The island has a "cork" that contains the electromagnetism. A chink in the armor. If the cork comes off, the radiation is uncontained and all hell breaks loose. This is why Desmond was put in the hatch, to push the button every  108 minutes to contain the radiation.

            The reason the radiation is bad is because it contains the smoke monster on the island. If the radiation is let loose then the smoke monster can leave the island and do bad things elsewhere, I don't know (this is where the story got a little farfetched).

The physical cork as seen in the finale that keeps the
electromagnetism from leaving the island. (Who'd have
 thought they were actually talking about a REAL cork?)  

The smoke monster in his human form (left) and
his brother, Jacob (right), leader of the island.

            Like any epic saga (which is what I guess you could call Lost) there is a good to every bad side. As the smoke monster is evil, the white knight is Jacob, the savior of the island. He keeps the smoke monster from leaving the island. The feud between them started hundreds of years earlier and comes to an end in the finale.

            In addition to all of this other mumbo jumbo, the island can move! It can relocate itself as long as someone turns a giant wheel. The only rule is the person who turns the wheel is not allowed back on the island.

            So that's all the island really is. It's a container for electromagnetism. This is just in its physical state. The island has a much larger, spiritual purpose in the lives of the characters which is explained in the finale.

Man of Science, Man of Faith, Man of Lost

Jack Shepard,
 Man of Science

          The main themes of Lost can pretty much be summarized in one single episode. The episode titled Man of Science, Man of Faith is the first episode in season 2. The show's main conflict comes from the two main characters Jack Shephard and John Locke. Jack, the doctor, is a man of science and always has been. In contrast, Locke is a man of faith. Locke believes that there is more to the island than meets the eye. He sees the island as a second chance, or a re-birth with a new spiritual beginning. Jack is not as optimistic. He believes that there is always a rational explanation to an unexplained phenomenon.

John Locke,
Man of Faith

            The second season opens with the hatch that has just been blown open, of which John wants to explore and Jack wants to avoid. Because of Jack's inability to view the hatch as a half full glass of water, the shows displays an intimate flashback oh his that will help him throughout the episode.

            Before the island crash, Jack had a female patient who was paralyzed from the waist down. Having terrible bedside manner, Jack tells her that, even after surgery, there is a very slim chance she will ever walk again. Jack's father pulls him aside and tells him to give more hope, even when there is none. With slim expectations that the surgery will be successful, Jack performs it, goes jogging in a stadium and meets a stranger to whom he explains his disbelief in hope and miracles. After a discussion, the stranger leaves Jack with a phrase that will be heard multiple times throughout the show, "See you in another life, brother."

            When Jack returns to his patient, he discovers that a miracle has in fact happened. She can move her toes, meaning that the surgery worked and a miracle has happened. What happens on the island in this episode is irrelevant because the real transformation of Jack happened in that flashback, and it made him who he is today. What Jack should have learned is that faith can be as effective as science. Without faith, Jack would have lost hope.
             This episode is important to me because it set the tone for the new season, it introduces a pivotal character, and because it showed me how far hope can take you. This is a show where anything can happen, miracles included.