Daddy Issues: Jack & Dr. Christian Shephard
Jack has had a strained past with his now dearly departed father. It's indicated in early flashbacks when we see a young Jack getting in a fight to help his buddy Mark Silverman. He was beat up pretty badly and his father lectured him about being a hero and failing, telling him he "can't save everyone because if you fail, you just don't have what it takes". You can already see the differences in their morals and ethics
even then.
Later, in another flashback we see Jack in the operating room at St. Sebastian hospital. With his father looking on, he tries to save a woman injured in a car crash but she flatlines. He quickly finishes repair to her hepatic artery and then uses the paddles in an attempt to restart her heart, but fails to resucitate her. His dad finally tells him to call it, but Jack refuses and tells him to call it, which he did.
Jack later confronts his father as to how many drinks he had at lunch before he was called in to operate. Jack's dad convinces him that if he tells the board what really happened he could lose his license and be finished as a doctor. He asks Jack to sign a report that states the patient was in a very severe condition and that they did all they could to save her to no avail. Jack gives in after more stroking from his father about how Jack is the most gifted surgeon in the city and how he had to sacrifice certain
aspects of their relationship so that people (hundreds of thousands) would be alive because of Jack's extraordinary skills.
However, during the board review of the surgery and subsequent death of the patient, Jack discovers that she was pregnant. He is visibly shaken and decides to speak up. He wants to change his version of what happened so he spills the beans.
This is now a thorn between Jack and his dad. Christian takes off (he's done this kind of thing before mom says) and Mrs. Shephard begs Jack to bring his father back from Australia. In Sydney, Jack is informed that his father was found dead in an alley in King's Cross. He apparently had a severe
heart attack brought on by too much alcohol...Jack was on his way back to the States with Christian's body when the fated plane crashed. -White Rabbit, All the Best Cowboys Have Daddy Issues
With the death of his father weighing heavily on his mind, Jack tries to do everything he can to help the survivors of the plane crash. He becomes emotionally and physically exhausted. Then he starts hallucinating that he is seeing his father on the island. After seeing the vision a few times, he finally chases it into the jungle and nearly loses his life falling off a cliff.
Locke pulls him to safety just in time. Confessing his fear of failure to lead the group, Locke urges him to continue searching for whatever he's looking for, "because a leader can't lead until he knows where he's going." Jack once again follows his hallucination which leads him to the necessary water that everyone needs. In that water he also found a doll, reminding him of his
failure to save Joanna from drowning. He also discovers a coffin, which he opens and finds it empty. It's ironic that in one instance his father leads him to the water so he could be the hero to others and at the same time reminds him that he can't always be the hero. - White
Rabbit
In another flashback, we see Christian Shephard drinking in a bar in Sydney with his new-found buddy Sawyer. They strike up a conversation and Christian tells him of his problems with his son:
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CHRISTIAN: "Don't let the air conditioning fool you, son. You are here, too. You are suffering. But don't beat yourself up about it. It's fate. Some people are just supposed to suffer. That's why the Red Sox will never win the damn series. I have a son who's about your age. He's not like me, he does what's in his heart. He's a good man, maybe a great one. Right now, he thinks that
I hate him. He thinks I feel betrayed by him. But what I really feel is gratitude, and pride because of what he did to me. What he did for me. It took more courage than I have. There's a pay phone over there. I could pick it up and I could call my son. I could tell him all about this. I could tell him that I love him. One simple phone call and I could fix everything."
SAWYER: "Why don't you."
CHRISTIAN: "Because I am weak." |
So it seems Christian Shephard was also hurting. Hurting because his weakness prevented him from telling his son Jack that he was proud of him, that he is a better man than him and always had been. - Outlaws
Back on the island, Sawyer and Jack continue their battle of words and wits when Sawyer finally gives Jack back the gun, insinuating that Kate made a deal with him, which Jack didn't like. When Jack says "That's why the Sox will never win the series", Sawyer picks up on it and asks a few questions about the familiar phrase he heard Christian use.
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JACK: "Just something my father used to say. Went through life knowing that people hated him. Instead of taking responsibility for it, he just put it on fate. Said he was made that way."
SAWYER: "Your daddy, he a doctor, too?"
JACK: "He was. He's dead. Why do you want to know about my father?"
SAWYER: "No reason."
Excerpt from Outlaws, written by Drew Goddard
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Sawyer made the connection between Christian and Jack, but kept silent about it until it was time to say goodbye. Knowing that he may never come back, Sawyer suddenly felt it was time he said something to Jack about his father.
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SAWYER: "About a week before we all got on the plane...I got to talking with this man in a bar in Sydney. He was an American too..a doctor." "I've been on some benders in my time, but this guy -- he was going for an all-time record. It turns out this guy has a son. The son's a doctor, too." (He has Jack's complete attention now) "And they'd had some kind of big-time
falling out. The guy knew it was his fault, even though his son was back in the States thinking the same damn thing. See, kids are like dogs -- if you knock them around enough, they'll think they did something to deserve it. (Jack listens silently) "Anyway..there's a pay phone in this bar, and this guy...Christian...tells me he wishes he had the stones to pick up the phone and call his kid. Tell him he's sorry, that he's a better doctor than he'll ever be." (Jack struggles with emotion as Sawyer watches
him) "He's proud. He loves him. I had to take off, but...something tells me he never got around to making that call. Small world, huh?"
Excerpt from Exodus 1, written by Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse |
It's ironic that of all the people in the world, Jack gets his closure through Sawyer.
While married to Sarah, Jack is asked by a beautiful woman - Gabriella - to operate on her ailing father and preform a miracle like he did on Sarah. When Gabriella's father passes away on the table, Jack wants to tell her. But Christian has beaten him to it and told her himself. It seems he felt Jack was getting too close to Gabriella and wanted to "save"him from making a mistake. - The Hunting Party
Devestated that Sarah has left him, Jack takes Sarah's cell phone list and calls every number on it hoping to get to the guys she is seeing. When one of the numbers he calls is his fathers' cell phone, Jack looses control and believes it is his father she has been seeing. This prompts him to follow his father to an AA meeting and attack him. He is arrested and Sarah comes to bail him out. Sarah tells Jack that his father called her to
come get him out, and that he was drunker then she had ever heard him before. - A Tale of Two Cities
Marriage Issues
Jack was married to Sarah sometime before the review board incident and his father's subsequent departure to Australia. They seemed quite happy with each other, but Jack struggled to write his marriage vows. He was anxiously awaiting the arrival of his father before the ceremony, and finally he did show up with some words of encouragement for his son.
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JACK: "What if I can't be the husband, or the father, that I want to be? What if I asked her because I saved her life? Should I marry her, dad?"
CHRISTIAN: "Commitment is what makes you tick, Jack. The problem is you're just not good at letting go."
Excerpt from Do No Harm, written by Janet Tamaro |
Once again, Jack is afraid of failure, something his Dad instilled in him long ago. But being a man that thrives on commitment, it leaves one to wonder what happened in his marriage. Sarah may have died, but it's possible something happened and the marriage failed.
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ANA LUCIA: "No ring 'cause you're single or because you don't like wearing one?"
JACK: "Are you asking me if I'm married?"
ANA LUCIA: "Are you married?"
JACK: (shakes his head) "No. No, not anymore."
Excerpt from Exodus 1, written by Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse |
Sarah was engaged to Kevin, they obviously broke up as she married Jack. Kevin was very disturbed by the extent and implications of her severe injury. - Man of Scince, Man of Faith
Jack has kissed Gabriella (Jack operated on her father and he died) and has told Sarah. He wants to now work on getting his marriage back the way it was. He wants to work less hours and be home more with her. She in turn tells him what she wants. To leave Jack. She has been seeing someone else.
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SARAH: How did the daughter take it? What's her name, Gabriela?
JACK: She kissed me. Yeah, she kissed me and I kissed her back. I, I don't know. I don't know how it happened. I made a mistake. I made a mistake and this is my fault. It's my fault that you and me -- I haven't been here. Sarah, I mean, we don't even talk anymore. I hate what's happening to us and I promise you that things are going to be different. I'm going to, I'm going to work less. I'm going to be here for you. Okay? I'm going to fix this. We're going to go back to the way things were. I'm going to fix
this. I'm going to fix this.
[Jack hugs Sarah. She cries, but doesn't hug him back. She breaks away after a moment.]
SARAH: Jack. Jack, I'm leaving you.
JACK: What?
SARAH: I was already leaving you. That's why my mother was here. She was helping me pack. I've been seeing someone -- someone else. I have to -- I can't stay.
JACK: Sarah.
SARAH: You, you will always need something to fix. Goodbye.
Exerpt from The Hunting Party written by Elizabeth Sarnoff & Christina M. Kim
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Now that Sarah has left him, Jack is seen stalking Sarah at her school. He's trying to catch her with her new guy. He goes to the lawyer's office when she is expecting his lawyer and not Jack to show up, she calls him on it. He is still wearing his wedding ring but she is not. Jack insists on knowing the guys name. He takes Sarah's cell phone list and calls every number on it hoping to get to him. When one of the numbers
he calls is his fathers' cell phone, Jack looses control and believes it is his father she has been seeing. This prompts him to follow his father to an AA meeting and attack him. He is arrested and Sarah comes to bail him out. But in the end, when Jack sees the other guy picking her up outside, he asks, "Who is he?" Sarah replies, "It's not who he is anymore, it's who your not."
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