Posts of support for Jack

[monster-eats-pilot]

That's all from me in this thread for a long time.

Although Jack did save Desmond's life, I'll give him credit for that.

[Reed]

Originally Posted by Miss Austen

Excellent post Reed! I agree that Jack isn't perfect. None of the characters on LOST are perfect. Even Hurley (who has few faults) has been guilty of hoarding food.

People say Jack is stubborn. Yes he is! But that stubborness can be a good quality. Personally if my heart had stopped beating and I needed CPR, I would LOVE to have a doctor who didn't give up too easily as Jack never gave up on Charlie. OK! You could argue that Charlie was meant to die; but Jack was and is unaware of that. Jack has saved many people on and off the island including Desmond. In the Karma stakes Jack must be on the + rather than the - side.

Jack is also accused of being emotional and cries a lot. Yes he does! But I think this happens because he bottles up his emotions and then they either come out with him yelling his head off or crying!

If Jack was a wuss in other ways, I would probably find the crying off-putting - but he isn't a wuss. Besides, I like a bit of vulnerability in a man (but not too much). Anyone who goes around trying his best to save people and fixing things is OK with me. Jack has always wanted to escape from the island but he has also wanted to help everyone else escape too.

Jack has also been accused of being over-bearing and domineering. I think that goes with the territory of being a doctor. In life and death situations, you can't have someone saying: "Pass me those clamps if you wouldn't mind"! He can't afford to be dithery or wishy washy when he has someone's life in his hands.

My only criticism of Jack is that perhaps he was a little over dedicated to his work, which I feel caused his marriage to fail; BUT that can be said of a lot of people - not just Jack. At least Jack is aware that he caused that problem.

Jack hasn't bought into the magical properties of the island as much as Locke and as someone said on another thread, why would he believe Ben who even with the best will in the world has shown himself to be a liar and manipulative. Ben may have been like that for good reasons; but Jack is not privy to that information. So why should he have trusted Ben in the past? Jack does now seem prepared to play it Ben's way for the time being - but they may clash again!

Jack has known for some time that Sawyer is his rival for Kate's affections but is he horrible to Sawyer? No! He sticks up for him (much to Kate's surprise). He plays table tennis with him. Sawyer mocks Jack occasionally (in a blokey way) but deep down I think Sawyer does respect Jack and I think Jack is tickled by Sawyer's humour more than he cares to admit. I think Jack enjoyed getting his own back on Sawyer with the spectacles (but not in a bad way) just a blokey way.

Jack has had to put up with a father who sowed seeds of doubt in his mind that he wasn't up to the job from a young age. Some of that will take root in his mind even though he was (when he left for Australia) a respected and talented spinal surgeon. Christian Shepherd himself admits he made mistakes when bringing Jack up (see Lost Missing Pieces).

Jack always wants to do the best for everyone and yes, sometimes he has made mistakes; but so has every other character on Lost.

None of the Losties are perfect but they all have likeable characteristics. Of course everyone has their favourite characters and I can understand that. I like all the characters on LOST and the only two I never liked was Nikki and Paolo - but it seems I wasn't the only one!

All the characters bring something to LOST and I miss all of the characters when they leave the show.

LOST wouldn't be the same without Jack as it wouldn't be the same without Sawyer, Locke, Ben, Sayid etc. I think the only reason that Sawyer isn't the hate man now is that Ben has taken his place!

I really can't understand the continual level of spleen directed at Jack. Especially as he hasn't killed anyone and isn't particularly manipulative. I don't recall him lying either. I can only assume it is because they want their character to be the hero character of the show. However most of the characters have been heroes in their own way. Remember Charlie and the Looking Glass Station? Remember Hurley with the car?

I suppose 'nice and heroic' isn't cool! I've never worried what's cool.

I'm a person who can see good and bad in people and not just the bad. Try it some time Jack haters!

I think people have a simple dislike for him and even if other characters act in a similiar way, these characters are not hated as much for some reason.

Many Doctors would have not tried so hard with Charlie, you are right there. He is a brilliant Doctor and a caring one, even if at times he has 'refused' [or 'threatened'] to not treat people - which was THEIR own fault. Although I did feel tremendously sorry for Locke when Jack walked away after Shannon 'grazed' Locke's head with a bullet.

Well Jack has been put in MANY very emotional situations, while nearly every character on Lost has cried. Jack is involved in more plots so of course the 'window of opportunity' for crying is greater with him.

Jack is a man "through and through", regardless of his crying. He has shown MANY attrirbutes to support this. Where would they have been without his Leadership in S1?

With great power comes great responsibility and with that comes tough decisions [and of course mistakes and bad decisions], of which will make him somewhat of a Villain and disliked.

People with such demanding jobs can find it hard to balance their lives, while I feel he and Sarah broke up because of relationship strain, which cannot be solely blamed on his job. If only other Doctors were as dedicated to their jobs.

The 'faith in the Island' issue regarding Jack is something that annoys me, because 'faith-orientated' or NOT, surely anyone can see this Island is special and un-normal. To be honest, perhaps he simply did not care - he JUST wanted to go home. Perhaps he saw nothing to gain from the Island, even if it was special.

Though perhaps he was a little ignorant to Locke regarding the whole matter. Interesting that Jack and Ben will finally work together - after ALL that has happened.

I agree that Jack and Sawyer came to become friends. The respect is there. I think this example shows how Jack is NOT stubborn because he has gone out of his way to help Sawyer, in spite of Sawyer's troublesome and problematic ways.

I liked Paolo for a while, before I realised I was terribly mistaken. I liked Nikki however. Well I think Sawyer is 'far beyond' being hated these days.

I asked myself this question and even asked Kiowa, to which she briefly explained WHY she hates Jack - and I could respect her views because they were justified and well thought out.

[Miss Austen]

I think you hit the nail on the head Reed when you said that Jack didn't care about the island. I think his main concern was always getting home while realising at the same time that this might not be achieved quickly.

To be honest, if I was separated from my loved ones or my normal way of life was disrupted, I too would want to get back to my life as quickly as possible - unless the alternative was better.

The presence of smoke monsters, polar bears, child snatchers, people who demanded I didn't cross lines and people pushing buttons in order to save the world, wouldn't be my idea of a better alternative! I can see why Jack wanted to leave and didn't care about the mysteries of the island.

But as for this TV watcher sitting in the comfort of my warm lounge and lying on my snug couch, I LOVE solving the mysteries of the island - but not in person thank you very much!

[Reed]

Originally Posted by Miss Austen

I think you hit the nail on the head Reed when you said that Jack didn't care about the island. I think his main concern was always getting home while realising at the same time that this might not be achieved quickly.

To be honest, if I was separated from my loved ones or my normal way of life was disrupted, I too would want to get back to my life as quickly as possible - unless the alternative was better.

The presence of smoke monsters, polar bears, child snatchers, people who demanded I didn't cross lines and people pushing buttons in order to save the world, wouldn't be my idea of a better alternative! I can see why Jack wanted to leave and didn't care about the mysteries of the island.

But as for this TV watcher sitting in the comfort of my warm lounge and lying on my snug couch, I LOVE solving the mysteries of the island - but not in person thank you very much!

I think he KNEW the Island was not normal, citing the visions of Christian as an example; immediately upon crashing strange things happened.

I agree, I think Locke and Rose are the exceptions; whom have reasons to NOT to want to go home. Otherwise, why on Earth should ANY of them want to stay? As a viewer it is frustrating that Jack refused to "believe" in the Island but even if he did, what would it really change?

Ultimately he is always going to want to go home because what is he supposed to do with this belief? Locke on the other hand had something TO DO with his faith - he felt he had a "purpose".

I purely wish Jack would just admit the Island was unique. "It's just an Island" - which he was still saying in S4. His stubborness in some instances REALLY annoys me. But fair dues that he did not want to stay and investigate the Island.

I agree, unless of course I was like Locke and was surrounded by his very unique 'circumstances'.