(Wo)man of Science, Man of Faith by EmilyG

In the endless 'Man of Science, Man of Faith' argument between Locke and Jack, I think we've missed the two people those terms actually apply to: Juliet and Desmond.

The similarities between them are striking: they arrived on the Island at approximately the same time. They each have ties to the three main 'power groups' that we've seen on the Island: Juliet was a member of the Others, the Dharma Initiative, and the Losties; Desmond was a Lostie, has ties to the Others by virtue of being ex-Island King Charles Widmore's son in law, and spent three years in a Dharma hatch doing the work Dharma left behind.

They each had a long-term, disasterous relationship before meeting their soulmate (Desmond with Ruth, Juliet with Edmond Burke). Each was imprisoned: Desmond in a military jail (and later, essentially, in the Hatch), Juliet by Ben on the Island. Juliet's bashing in of Jughead directly mirrors Desmond turning the failsafe key. Each was manipulated onto the Island by a leader (or former leader, in the case of Widmore) of the Others. Heck, Desmond was once a set designer for the Royal Shakespeare Company, and Juliet is . . . Juliet.

Juliet is the woman of science. She's a doctor, first and foremost, with the ability 'to create life where no life should be'. Desmond, a former monk, is the man of faith; moreover, he has faith that one day he'll be reunited with Penelope.

Desmond represents fate: he couldn't prevent Charlie from dying, he couldn't alter the sequence of events that led him to the Island. Juliet represents free will: her choices lead to the detonation of Jughead and, presumably, an alteration of the time line.

I think the key toward reconciling faith and free will lies in these two characters. Or rather, it lies in the fact that the Losties absorbed these two people into their inner circle. In the past, there's always been a battle between science and faith, jungle and civilization, destiny and free will. That's the 'corruption' the MIB referred to; the people on the Island never 'had it all'---you were either in the Jungle or in the Barracks, never both. But the Losties have been everywhere---on the beach, in the barracks, with Dharma and with the Others. Juliet and Desmond represent the Losties' ability to transcend the 'game' and essentially embrace both Jacob AND the MIB. And that's how the cycle of 'destruction and corruption' will end.