Eureka!

Well, lookee here...evidence that not all Jaters are irrational Bubbleheads who are blind to the fact that Jack's no frakking saint and has caused some real damage in relationships in his time (with his dad and his wife/potential girlfriends). I think I may die of shock and awe.

You gotta admit that finding well thought out rational pro-jate posts about the show have been an exercise in futility on most boards. Usually it's just more "JIF, JIF, JIF!!!" inanity; gushing fantasizing about "Jex in the Jain next season for sure!"; plagiarized verses of famous literature being given a disrespectful Jate bastardization (even the Bible isn't sacred to these whackos); or my personal fave: the latest "Lalalala Skate is so dead/over/never existed and Kate's gonna be pregnant with Jack's clandestine test-tube miracle baby! Because that's real romance. None of that icky bumping uglies stuff!" rationalizations. Wonderful examples of mental contortionism being taken to great lengths.

But still, now and then a tiny nugget of truth and clarity does shine through the roiling muck of the midden heap.

And here it is:

"Well, as long as we're holding people responsible for their behavior -- like Christian, for example, let's hold Jack responsible for his. Christian and Sarah are not to blame for Jack's behavior. Jack, and only Jack, is.

There are external triggers (there always are) -- Jack's assault of his father is clearly the precipitating incident in Christian's relapse, just as Christian's manipulations and Sarah's general horrid personality and lack of compassion are triggers of Jack. But as a big, grown-up man, Jack is the sole person responsible for his generally unbalanced, anti-social (stalking) behavior and violent (assault) in ATOTC. Otherwise, the episode's themes and dramatic breakthroughs have no lasting meaning for the character at all!

If Jack is simply some poor mistreated baby, some helpless sap/victim, then what's the big deal for him to "let it go" at the end of the episode -- it was never in his control in the first place? It means nothing to make the gesture he makes. If he was the one responsible, though, and his actions were his own choice, then it means a hell of a lot and making the gesture to let go constitutes a fundamental redefinition of his character (which is what I think it was).

Quote:
I can see the other perpective as well because I think of it in terms of who I think about Boone being a jerk in WR. He's wrong and my first instict is to him. Hard. But I know why he acts that way and I know who he is and where he's coming from. I treat Jack the same way. I treated Sarah the same way for a long time after THP actually because I wanted to see her side (ATOTC kinda killed that).


You mean treat him with sympathy and compassion? Hell yeah. I've got plenty of that. As you know, I'm feel both for Sawyer, and yes, even a little dollop for Sarah, even at this stage. So it goes without saying that I'm up to my eyeballs in sympathy for Jack, always. But in our discussions of his ATOTC antics, I always here, "Well, Christian did this to him and Sarah did that." Yeah, OK, true. He's been batted about emotionally...so? My heart breaks for him on that account. He deserves so much more from the people around him (on and off the island), in the present and in the "future." Everywhere, all the time. But this is no earthly excuse for his behavior, which is horrible throughout the episode.

And yeah, I love Boone, and think he's a brat there, but sympathizing with his being made to feel inadequate yet again, and his fear and shame at failing in his rescue attempt is not remotely in the same ballpark as what Jack pulls in ATOTC. So there's a little more for Jack to account for, and since his was behaving so disturbingly, and we know he's capable of infinitely better, he deserves harder scrutiny."

I commend you The Sacrifice The Island Demanded, for writing something that didn't make me want to vomit into my mouth a little. Well done! And please ma'am, can we have some more?