I wrote just a few days ago about the difficulty of separating certain characters from the mystery that surrounds them. If that’s true of Richard Alpert, it’s doubly true of Christian Shepherd. At least Richard, in all his ageless wonderment, is always Richard—well, with one possible exception. When we see Christian, we do not know if seeing him, his ghost or the smoke monster/Jacob’s adversary in disguise. We only know for sure that we’re seeing the real, human Christian during his flashback appearances. We see him as Claire’s biological father, Sawyer’s drinking buddy and Ana Lucia’s employer, but he is primarily Jack’s Dad.
Christian may be the worst father on the show and we all know that’s no mean feat. He earns that title in his first appearance. A young, maybe 12-year-old Jack has just gotten beat up because he tried to stop his friend from getting beaten up. Christian responds to this act by telling Jack he’s a loser and should give up because he “doesn’t have what it takes.”[1] What does that even mean? Not surprisingly, their relationship remains strained. When Christian leaves for Australia on his last bender, it has been two months since they spoke.[2] Jack’s mother sends him after his father. Jack is reluctant to go but his mother insists Jack owes it to his father “after what [he] did”.[3] We assume she means Jack’s informing the hospital authorities that Christian performed surgery while drunk.[4] Christian is a pretty big dick then too. He kills a woman and then pressures Jack to lie about it. Christian says he sacrificed part of their father-son relationship to make Jack a better surgeon for “the greater good”.[5] Christian next appears with Sawyer at a bar in Australia.[6] Christian says he is proud of what his son did. But he also convinces Sawyer to do what he came to Australia to do, namely kill the innocent Frank Duckett. It turns out listening to Christian Shepherd is a bad idea.
But then as soon as we’ve really learned that lesson, the redemption of Christian starts. In all of Jack’s flashbacks, Christian is a nice guy. He shows up to Jack’s wedding all fatherly.[7] They share a drink and Christian assures Jack that he’s committed. He tells Jack to give Sarah, the apparently paralyzed future Mrs. Shepherd, hope before what turns out to be a successful spine surgery.[8] Christian does contradict himself. As they treat a wealthy Italian cancer patient, Christian warns he cannot provide miracles while Jack is full of hope.[9] Christian does warn the now married Jack about getting too close with the Italian man’s daughter and jeopardizing his marriage.[10] Christian does everything he can to keep them apart, but it’s too. Sarah is already leaving Jack because he is too career obsessed. Jack’s failed marriage is the catalyst that turns him into the show’s worst son. Jack suspects Christian of having an affair with Sarah just because his number is in Sarah’s cellphone.[11] Jack then follows Christian to a hotel room that turns out to be an AA meeting, yells at Christian for being a drunk in front of whole room, and then tackles him.[12] I believe that’s the event Jack’s mother referred to back when she sent Jack to Australia. Because that event causes Christian to fall off the wagon and eventually leads to his final disgrace and suicidal Australian trip. So then a season later, when Christian shows up on the island seemingly returned to life, we are all ready to listen to him.
[1]“White Rabbit”
[2] Id.
[3] Id.
[4] “All the Best Cowboys Have Daddy Issues”
[5] Id.
[6] “Outlaws”
[7] “Do No Harm”
[8] “Man of Scien
[9] “The Hunting Party”
[10] “The Hunting Party”
[11] “A Tale of Two Cities”
[12] Id.
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