Jack’s Problem Is Our Problem Too
“The terror was just so…
…crazy, so real…
…and I knew I had to deal with it.
So I just made a choice.
I’d let the fear in.”
Jack first monologues for Kate after his heroic effort that save many of the surviving passengers of Oceanic flight 815. It’s a quiet moment where he reflects upon an incident during the first operation of his residency. This is how Lost first acquaints us with Jack.
As Kate stitches his wound with a sewing kit he’s recovered from the crash, Jack explains how he deals with fear. He lets fear take control, but only for a few seconds. After that the fear is gone. It’s how he saved his patient in the operating room years ago.
Kate doubts she could do the same, but Jack believes everyone is like himself: a problem solver who’ll help people when it’s within his capability. This trait contributes dramatic elements and conflict later in the story of Lost, and its explored with this nice scene during the first 15 minutes of the series.
Although, it isn’t the problem I’m talking about.
Ultimately, Jack has a bigger problem that encompasses all of his actions we witnessed on the show. It’s not his parents. Everyone on Lost has parental issues. He’s a realist, but that’s more of a philosophy than a problem. No, Jack’s problem isn’t a point-of-view, it’s a way of life. His problem is this:
Jack is an emo bitch.
Emo is an abbreviation for emotional, or rather a modern description of what we used to call “angst.” It also describes the genre of “nerdy music” done by the likes of Weezer. Emo describes Jack perfectly.
Allll the more credit for Matthew Fox for his acting chops. The man can cry on cue, and it’s a necessary skill because Jack cries a lot. You might think the first time Jack cries is when he discovers his father in Australia. Now go back and watch those first 15 minutes of the series.
Watch that fat, juicy tear roll down Jack’s face when he talks about almost losing his first patient in the operating room. Follow Jack as he pouts and mopes through the jungle. See Jack’s reaction after he finds the coffin in the “rape cave.”
Jack throws tantrums when he fails or doesn’t get his way as seen at the airport and when he does fail in the operating room. Mention his ex-wife, as Desmond does, and the water works start flowing. Life is a non-stop guilt-fest for Jack, and we all know people who are the same way, or are that way ourselves. It seems simplistic, but it makes for a compelling character that an audience can empathize with.
How he deals with his guilt, versus how everyone else deals with their own, makes for a whole ‘nother post, soon…
