THE NEW DHARMA

Ben Linus is the ruthless CEO of Dharma. He obtained his power by leading a coup against the former chief executive, Horace, who struggled in finding the magic life force energy, and Juliet's former lover that Ben killed in "a bus accident."

Ben's focus in recruiting Juliet to Dharma was her research in infertility problems. Ben wanted to use her knowledge in order to understand why in a petrie dish filled with the same elements of a human womb, life could not be created and sustained to term. The missing component was the life force found in all living things. Ben wanted to find out how the life force created or sparked new life.

Ben's other problem was the failed fertility experiments where he had dozens of women dying in their third trimester. It was becoming a disposal problem. As a result, Ben would lock down the Dharma facilities and become the tyrant he was on the island. This was his reaction to his rival's alleged advancements in "life source research" coming from spies Ben planted in Widmore's facilities.

Ben would recruit a down and out surgeon who ratted out his own father in a medical malpractice case to be head of his research department. As a result of his own initial cover-up, Jack lost his hospital privileges and started his downward spiral toward drug and alcohol abuse. But Ben took advantage of Jack's personal misfortune and gave him a job, a purpose, and a leadership role in something bigger than what Jack was told. But Ben would also use Jack's own weaknesses to control him. Over time, Jack and Juliet would find a common bond in realizing that they were trapped in a madman's plan. They would begin their own escape plan to leave Dharma (which they realized the only past escape for Dharma people was death.)

Just as Jack and Juliet were about to launch their escape plan, Ben throws them a curve: human test subjects. Juliet had been wrapped up in her own life's work of saving pregnant women. Now she is rocked with guilt if Ben was going to forge ahead with more deadly experiments on innocent women. So she has a conflict with Jack, who needs her help in order to escape. So Jack seeks an alternative avenue, and starts to align himself with new assets: Kate and Sawyer, the new test subjects.

Here is where some of the island romantic friction begins to assert itself between Jack, Kate, Sawyer and Juliet.  As the heat is turned up, Ben suddenly becomes jealous and threatens them all with severe sanctions. Kate and Sawyer are then clued in on what a mad house Dharma was becoming, so they agree to work with Juliet and Jack in order to escape. In exchange, Juliet and Jack hold off on actually experimenting on Kate or Sawyer, faking data or giving fake injections to keep Ben at bay.

As Kate is prone to run away from problems and authority, Sawyer begins to revel in the concept that overthrowing Ben and taking his position is worthy prize for a lowly con man. He begins his own alternative path to wealth and power within Dharma's own ranks, using his charm to entangle other scientists in his revolutionary thinking.

Things get complicated when the Dharma Widmore rivalry gets personal. Instead of raiding talent, the companies begin to actually physically attacking each other's facilities. A bitter turf battle begins, and it pits highly placed researchers like Jack and Juliet as targets  in the cross fire. But just as things get real nasty and dangerous, Jack's group encounters a new, low level janitor and former monk named Locke, who has some crazy ideas of his own. Locke is a plant from the guardians of the life force order. His mission is to gather information, assess the situation, and sabotage Dharma's ultimate research and path to the life force spring which could include eliminating any people in his way.

With another faction inside Dharma, office politics will turn into open warfare over the destiny of the research and the lives of the researchers. Ben will become more paranoid and cruel. He will hire paramilitary assistants to keep his people in line. He will have a siege mentality that Jack and the others will try to exploit to their advantage.

But the best plans derail when Locke, being Locke, stumbles across underground tunnels that lead him to a frozen chamber containing hieroglyphs. Inside, he finds a wooden donkey wheel implanted into the stone wall, with an green light flickering inside. He does not know what it means, but not thinking logically (but believing  he is destined to be a super hero), he turns the wheel. His action leads to a cascade of terrible events as the universe itself become unbalanced.