The Characters: Jack (still a leader)

For Lost to make sense in the big picture, it isn’t enough for the producers to offer a solution for the mechanics of all the weird happenings on the island. It is just as important that the show’s characters behave in a way that is consistent with their known personalities and not just in a way that is convenient for the plot. In this post, I discuss Jack’s possible motivations for trying to get all the survivors off the island, then lying about what happened there, and then leading the Oceanic 6 back to the island. While doing so, I’m also going to address those complaints that Jack has sucked the last two seasons.

I say Jack has been on his game the whole time. The reason people think he’s sucked is because they fixate on the image of bearded Jack. We first see Jack with a beard, and as a near complete drunk, in the 3rd season finale.[1] That episode aired on May 23, 2007. We see Jack shave his beard in the 5th season premiere.[2] That episode aired on January 21, 2009. Almost two years in real time. But it’s only supposed to be about a month in the show’s time. Of course, a month can be an eternity in Lost time. Yet, really, how much do we really see of Jack at rock bottom? Not as much as some people think.

Jack spends most of the 4th season on the island leading the efforts to get the survivors rescued. There is one choice he makes, though, that I do not understand. Jack has just beat Ben to bloody pulp and has him tied up. He apparently backed away from his plan to execute Ben when he discovered that Jin, Sayid, and Bernard really hadn’t been killed on Ben’s orders. Still, Jack says that he does not trust Ben with anyone but Jack.[3] But then by the end of the episode he hands Ben over to Locke. Why would he unite his two greatest enemies on the island, one of whom he knows to be unstable and the other he knows to be a great manipulator of people? The only answer is that he wants to be rid of them both. Jack then does spend his efforts helping his group of survivors contact the freighter for rescue. He befriends Daniel, gets Sayid and Desmond on the freighter, helps Juliet reach the Tempest Station, defends Daniel and Charlotte from the frustrated castaways, rescues Hurley, and gets Sawyer, Kate, Hurley, Sayid and Frank on the rescue helicopter. Granted, that chain of events has mixed results. But it wasn’t from lack of trying and some good did come from it, most notably Aaron and Ji Yeon getting off the island.

What doesn’t make sense to me is why Jack decides the Oceanic 6 have to lie about their time on the island. Why doesn’t Jack want to go back to save their friends left behind? The freighter wasn’t Jack’s first chance to leave the island. After saving Ben’s life, Jack thought he would take the Others’ submarine back to the mainland. Saying goodbye to Kate, he promised twice that he would return with help.[4] It is not Jack’s fault that only Kate, Sayid, Sun, Hurley, Aaron, Desmond and Frank get off the island. When they boarded the helicopter, the plan was to shuttle the rest of the survivors onto the freighter. Jack promises Hurley that they will return to look for the missing Claire.[5] After the freighter blows up, Jack tells Frank to take them back to the island. Then the island disappears and they are forced to crash land in the ocean. Still, it is not until Penny’s boat shows up to rescue them that Jack decides they have to lie.[6] It happens so suddenly it seems supernatural. Just before Jack left the island, Locke had begged him not to leave, but also to lie if he did. As Penny’s boat appears out of the dark, Jack decides Locke was right, they have to lie to protect themselves and the people left behind from the man for sent the freighter in the first place.[7] I understand the logic. If they told the Oceanic 6 told the truth upon their return, the only people who would probably believe them would be the bad guys. But Jack never let logic get in his way before when it came to saving people.

Jack’s critics may rightfully point out I have ignored the 4th season flash forwards. Even though they occur after the events discussed above, those scenes are a significant part of season four. However, Jack isn’t as much of a loser in those scenes as people think. It’s just because we know the beard is eventually coming, and its appearance is frequently teased, that we judge Jack so harshly throughout his time off the island.

As the Oceanic 6 return to real life, Jack is still their leader. On the military transport ship to Hawaii, he reminds them of their story.[8] Even if you don’t agree with that decision, he is still leading. Jack actually keeps his shit together much better than some of the rest and he continues to help them. This is all after he learns at his father’s much delayed funeral that Claire was his half sister and therefore Aaron is his nephew.[9] Jack sticks to their lie while testifying at Kate’s trial, helping her avoid jail even though it denies his early heroics.[10] He also visits Hurley in the mental hospital.[11] Jack even gets over his survivor’s guilt long enough to move in with Kate, getting her all turned on with his fatherly ways with Aaron.[12] Then Hurley is the jerk. During one of Jack’s visits to the hospital, Hurley tells him that Jack isn’t supposed to raise Aaron.[13] Dude, would you like it if Jack came all the way out just to say you’re fat and crazy?Yes, then Jack freaks out, gets all jealous that Kate is doing something for Sawyer and yells that she is not even related to Aaron while Aaron is standing in the doorway. Still, I respect that when Locke gets off the island and visits Jack, Jack calls him out on being a lonely old man and tells him to leave the rest of the Oceanic 6 alone.[14] Jack’s still trying to protect his friends.

Of course, that is when Jack grows the beard and goes off the deep end, deciding they have to return to the island. That is what we see in the 3rd season’s extended flash forward.[15] He flies around drunk on Oceanic Flights hoping one will crash. He almost kills himself. For the record, does anyone else think his ex-wife is a jerk for not driving him home from the hospital? Anyways, worst of all, Jack works with Ben to persuade the Oceanic 6 to return to the island. More accurately, he works for Ben in that endeavor.

So, we have a few legitimate complaints against Jack in the 4th season flash forwards. Again, though, I disagree who those who say he sucked last season. The main complaint is that he refuses to help Kate and Juliet save young Ben after Ben’s shot by Sayid. When Juliet confronts him about it, Jack says he’s back on the island to do something but he’s not sure what.[16] I don’t think Jack’s being fair to himself. He came back to save Sawyer, Juliet and the rest of the remaining survivors.[17] He didn’t know they didn’t need saving. Everyone told him that “very bad things happened on the island” after he left.[18] Locke, Ben and Hurley all told him they had to go back. He does accept Sawyer’s leadership in Dharmaville[19], but also asserts his own will. He challenges Dharma leader Horace after the fire that young Ben used to free Sayid[20] and he threatens Roger into backing off his suspicions about Kate.[21] Most importantly, he convinces Eloise, the Others’ leader, to help him set off the bomb to change the past.[22] Again, one might not agree with that decision. But then everyone wants Jack to be a leader until he makes a decision they don’t like.

I believe the series has to end with Jack. He has kept the survivors alive, from each other and from the Others. On individual decisions, Locke has been right at times, but he has never backed it up with the right actions. While he wants to be a leader; Jack leads. Jack might not win the coming war, but I think he will end it and will save a lot lives doing so.

[1] “Through the Looking Glass”
[2] “Because You Left”
[3] “Beginning of the End”
[4] “The Man From Tallahassee”
[5] “There’s No Place Like Home”
[6] Id.
[7] Id.
[8] “There’s No Place Like Home”
[9] “There’s no Place Like Home”
[10] “Eggtown”
[11] “The Beginning of the End”
[12] “Something Nice Back Home”
[13] Id.
[14] “Life and Death of Jeremy Bentham”
[15] “Through the Looking Glass”
[16] “Whatever Happened, Happened”
[17] Id.
[18] “There’s No Place Like Home”
[19] “Namaste”
[20] “Whatever Happened, Happened”
[21] “Some Like it Hoth”
[22] “Follow the Leader”