Jack, the counterproductive, irrational, selfish leader
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By parker9817
- Jack, the counterproductive, irrational, selfish leader
- Created: May 30, 2007
- Last updated: Aug 13, 2008
- After episode: 3.22: Through The Looking Glass
- Status: Current
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At this point, it is clear that Jack is not quite the leader we thought he was. He has led everyone off the island even though he was told by John “you’re not supposed to do this.” Not obeying Ben’s advice to not use the phone was certainly understandable, as Ben consistently lies. However, he let his emotions and personal quarrels in the past with John allow him to make an ill-conceived decision: to use the phone and get everyone off the island. The visions into the future in the seasons’ finale present precisely Jack’s error, as it appears everyone starts dying in the real world when they leave the island. Jack’s folly, throughout every season, is his inability to separate emotion from reason.
Ben has been the only person I believe to develop a fatal illness while living on the island. Everyone else has either been healed of their illness by the island, or died quick deaths only after being seriously injured or the like (think Ethan getting shot, Annalucia getting shot and the other girl, Echo being killed by the monster, the list goes on). I believe Ben was supposed to die, and by a freak accident Jack landed on the island with the ability to save Ben. However, Jack wasn’t going to “fix” Ben at first. He held strong while in the cell. Yet, when he saw Kate and Sawyer together, his emotions trumped his reason, and he decided to fix Ben – bad move Jack. Yes, he did eventually use his position of power while Ben was on the operating table to free Kate – but he lucked out as he erred once again not knowing that the island was not the main island.
His entire failed marriage suggests his inability to separate emotion from reason. He marries a girl that reminds him of his ability to fix people. Jack is selfish; he didn’t love that girl, he simply wanted to have a constant reminder of how great he is at playing doctor. His marriage fails, as the initial passion and excitement of healing this woman with no hope of recovering eventually wares off. Jack is not a philanthropist, humanitarian, or a leader; he does what makes him feel good. He’s no more selfish than the next guy who does only what makes him feel good, as great or destructive as that action may be.
It is interesting to note how similar Ben and Jack are. They do what seems right for some sort of greater good, uninterested in what happens to the people they hurt along the way. This is reinforced by Ben’s killing of the participants of the dharma initiative, who most likely were not all bad people like his father. Ben’s emotion trumped his reason. Jack in the last episode states that he could care less if everyone on the flights that he is taking back and forth between the pacific lose their lives – men, women, and children – as long as he can get back to the island and do what makes him feel good.
It is now clear that John is to be trusted above all else. Jack screws up time and again due to his inability, as previously mentioned, to separate emotion from reason. He was a far better person it seems before he got to the island compared to when he returns, popping pills and drinking, driving around like a maniac blaring his music with his aviator sunglasses when he returns. Jack, unfortunately, appears to have begun a gradual decline, and has lost his integrity, his love – Kate, and it seems he may be in danger of losing his job permanently.
And lastly, just remember, that his emotions let him bring Juliette back to the camp. He again lucks out as she decides to switch sides and turn on Ben and the people who are coming to take the pregnant women. Jack makes a surprising number of mistakes while on the island, and this last one, by bringing everyone off the island, may just be his last. The only issue here, of course, is that Jack does luck out – consistently – and somehow things don’t turn out as bad as they should. Juliette switches sides when she goes to the survivors camp, Juliette helps Kate and Sawyer escape off the other island to get back to the main island. Maybe Jack’s intentions, as irrational and selfish as they are, are in fact good enough. I’d like to hear anyone’s thoughts on this.
Key characters
| Short Name | Full Name | Episodes | Theories |
|---|---|---|---|
| Jack | Jack Shephard | 1.1, 1.5, 2.11, 1.11, 1.16, 1.20, 3.9, 3.22, 3.1, 4.10, 4.12, & 3” href=”/episodes/theres-no-place-home-parts-2-3/”>4.13 | 1505 |
Key episodes
| # | Title | Aired | Central character | Theories |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3.22 | Through The Looking Glass | 5-23-2007 | Jack | 1265 |
Similar theories
| Title | Author | Cmnts | Votes | Rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| that Stephen King again!! | magpie | 9 | 5 | −3 |
Guessing from my name I am sure that you can see my opinion on Jack. Jack has showed signs of how irrational he can become why trying to save people ever since he tried to conduct a bloodtransfusion using a sea urcin, and performing it on himself. But in the Season Finalie he is out of control. But in every season finalie on lost, it ends with people begging someone not to do something, them doing it anyway, and something bad happened.
Season 1 Locke opens hatch while hurley runs screaming telling him not to
Season 2 Locke locks himself in hatch and demands that the button stop being pushed
Season 3 Locke goes up to Jack as the voice of reason and Jack refuses to listen.
What I want to know is if this is a theme. Because all of these things could have been prevented if they stopped and talked about it for 5 minutes.
It hasn’t been established that Jack got anyone off of “the island”. It could have been a premonition, as was the case with Desmond. We still don’t know if anyone will be rescued as a result of Jack making contact with Naomi’s ship or whether these newcomers too, will become trapped on “the island”. Ben and Locke are still likely candidates to throw a monkey wrench into Jack’s plans, so we’ll have to see what happens before making too many assumptions.
I wouldn’t say that John is to be trusted above everyone else. It seems to me that he, along with Jack, are doing things that they think will help everyone in the long run. Yes, I agree that Jack lets his emotions get the better of him, but I think Locke does the same with his talk of fate and destiny. I don’t think it’s an ill-concieved decision to use the phone either, as anyone would’ve called so they could get off the island. I think Jack did the right thing in not listening to him, as he just did what he thought would be best, as did Locke telling him not to use it.
I also don’t think it’s an ill conceived decision to use the phone from Jack’s POV. He just wants to get everyone off the island. And it’s alright saying that Jack can’t separate emotion from reason, but what reasoning has he been given not to call the boat? None really. Like you say, he can’t really trust Ben and I think Locke is ridiculously vague. He just stabs Naomi and blandly says don’t do it. That’s not reason. To Jack, that’s just craziness.