LOSTBLOG -- "Some Like it Hoth"

The Numbers: A Partially Speculative Timeline
(We'll see how accurate this turns out to be in the next few episodes, methinks. Props to lostpedia.com for being my virtual fact-checker.)

1977: The DHARMA Initiative begins construction of a facility meant to study and harness the electromagnetic properties of the island it inhabits. Workers emboss a serial number on an entry hatch: 4 8 15 16 23 42.

Between 1977 and 1980: "The Incident" occurs at the Swan Station, as the facility is now called, which leads to a protocol in which a code must be entered into a computer every 108 minutes to prevent another electromagnetic disaster. The serial number is an obvious choice, and so it becomes the code that "saves the world."

After "The Incident": Hugo Reyes speaks the numbers into a DHARMA radio transmitter, and the resulting broadcast repeats until at least 1988. (This can be inferred from Episode 5x04, in which the young Danielle Rousseau and her team hear a voice that sounds an awful lot like Hurley's saying the numbers over a walkie.) Why Hugo made the transmission is unclear, as is his fate, post-"Incident."

1988: Before Rousseau replaces the transmission with her distress call, Leonard Simms picks up Hugo's transmission from a Naval base in the South Pacific. The numbers become imprinted in his mind, and begin to slowly drive him insane.

Between 2000 and 2004: The younger Hugo Reyes is admitted to the Santa Rosa Mental Health Institute after two people die in a deck collapse he believes he is responsible for. One of the people in his ward is Leonard Simms, who keeps repeating a series of six numbers over and over again: 4 8 15 16 23 42.

Early 2004: Hugo checks out of Santa Rosa and uses the numbers in the California lottery. He wins, and a series of horrible things happen to him.

Nov. 4, 2004: After crashing on the island, Hugo arrives with John Locke, Jack Shephard and Kate Austen at the hatch of the Swan Station, which Locke discovered two weeks earlier. Hugo sees the serial number embossed on the hatch's exterior, and pleads with Locke to stop trying to blast the hatch open. His pleas are ignored.

Nov. 5, 2004: Hugo and his friends learn from Desmond Hume that the numbers are the code which must be entered into the Swan Station computer.

Nov. 26, 2004: Desmond checks logs in the Pearl Station and discovers that he inadvertently caused the crash of Oceanic 815 by not entering the Swan code in time. Later that day, John Locke lets the 108 minutes expire without entering the code. The resulting electromagnetic surge is stopped when Desmond turns a fail-safe key under the Swan Station, resulting in the discharge. The code will never be used again.

2005: After leaving the island, Hugo Reyes refuses a gift from his father: His classic Camaro displays the numbers in its odometer and trip counter.

2008: Hugo Reyes disappears from his seat on Ajira Airways Flight 316. He reappears in ...

(Insert flashback swooping noise here)

1977: Hugo Reyes watches DHARMA construction workers emboss the numbers on the entry hatch to the Swan Station. Later that day, Miles Straume discovers Hugo is writing an improved version of the yet-to-be-produced "The Empire Strikes Back" with an ending that will render the next film's Ewoks unnecessary.

Unfortunately for Hugo, whatever happened, happened.