Season 6, Epilogue:
The New Man in Charge
"I think we're gonna need to see that again."
Written by Melinda Hsu Taylor, Graham Roland and Jim Galasso.
Directed by Paul Edwards.
Ben: My name is Benjamin Linus. I'm from the Home Office.
Hector: Nobody from the Home Office has ever come out here.
Ben: There's a new man in charge. He sent me.
Glenn: Sent you to do what?
For the benefit of people who nitpick or don't pay attention, Benjamin Linus is here to explain some things to you a couple of guys working in a warehouse:
- The polar bears were brought to the Island by the DHARMA Initiative as subjects for science experiments and kept in the bear cages on Hydra Island.
- The DHARMA pallet drops were a mostly automated process. The Lamp Post automatically generated co-ordinates for the drops and sent them to a DHARMA warehouse on the mainland, where the couple of guys had been working for twenty years to package everything and ship it out, unaware that the DHARMA Initiative had been disbanded and many of its resources and assets co-opted by the Others.
- The “Hurley” Bird was the result of a DHARMA genetic experiment being conducted in the Hydra Station.
- The polar bears were brought to the Island by the DHARMA Initiative as subjects for science experiments and kept in the bear cages on Hydra Island. Please stop asking.
- The polar bears in Tunisia were also from DHARMA. When the bears proved their natural intelligence and adaptability at the Hydra Station, they'd be taken to the Orchid and made to turn the frozen donkey wheel.
- The problem with pregnancies was a result of the Incident: the electromagnetic properties found at the Orchid and the Swan sites were harmful to fetuses, and the Incident caused the entire Island to be saturated in said properties.
- The polar bears were brought to the Island by the DHARMA Initiative as subjects for science experiments and kept in the bear cages on Hydra Island. We've explained this.
- Room 23 was used by the DHARMA security forces to interrogate captured Others (particularly for information about Jacob, their "Island deity") and then erase their memories of being captured, ensuring the continuation of the Truce.
- The polar bears were brought to the Island by the DHARMA Initiative as subjects for science experiments and kept in the bear cages on Hydra Island. Quit complaining about it.
After dismissing the warehouse guys with a nice severance package, Ben only has one more loose end to tie up: he goes to the Santa Rosa Mental Health Institute, where Walt Lloyd has been institutionalised. Walt has been having more and more trouble adjusting to life away from the Island, but Ben assures him that it's because of his specialness. Ben takes Walt to a DHARMA van in the parking lot where Hurley is waiting. He offers Walt a job on the Island, helping the trapped spirits of the deceased — including his father — to move on and find peace.
Walt: I kept hoping one day somebody would come back for me. They said I was crazy.
Hurley: You're not crazy, dude. Not even close. You just need to get back to the Island, that's all. It's where you belong. It's where you've always belonged.
Ben starts the van and the trio leave Santa Rosa, ready to go home.
Tropes
- And the Adventure Continues: The Epilogue ends with Hurley, Ben and Walt heading back to the Island with a new mission, with the implication that they will find a way to help Michael's spirit "move on".
- Artistic License: The DHARMA printout gives the launch window, and the date this epilogue takes place, as "Wednesday, August 24, 2010." That date, the same day this epilogue was released as part of the Season 6 DVD set, was actually a Tuesday.
- Audience Surrogate: The two DHARMA workers, who demand to have their questions about the Island answered, are utterly confused by the video that Ben shows them and say that they think they're going to need to watch it again after they've seen it.
- Call-Back:
- After watching the Hydra orientation video, one of the DHARMA workers says "we're gonna need to watch that again", the same thing Locke said to Jack after watching the Swan orientation video in "Orientation".
- Walt uses the fake name "Keith Johnson" during his stay at Santa Rosa, referencing how Michael used the name "Kevin Johnson" during his time on Widmore's freighter.
- Info Dump: The DHARMA introduction video for the Hydra Station explains the nature of the experiments the Initiative conducted there, the purpose of Room 23, and the origins of the "Hurley bird".
- Irony: In the video, Dr. Chang introduces himself using his real name and tells the viewer to not divulge his name to anyone. The last thing he wants to do is use an alias.
- Leaning on the Fourth Wall: The entire first half of the Epilogue, with Ben promising to "tie up a few loose ends" and the two DHARMA workers as Audience Surrogates demanding answers to the Island's mysteries, which are revealed in an Info Dump video.
- Musical Nod: Jacob's Leitmotif plays when Hurley appears, representing his ascension to Big Good status.
- The Remnant: The two employees at the warehouse are seemingly the last members of the DHARMA Initiative, having been loading pallets of food and supplies onto drone aircraft for twenty years after the organization ceased to exist due to being wiped out by the Others.
The polar bears were brought to the Island by the DHARMA Initiative as subjects for science experiments and kept in the bear cages on Hydra Island. For the love of Jacob, shut the hell up about it.
