Changes: Jack Shephard

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JacksShirtSeason1 — Jack's shirt from Season 1. Picture taken by Circeus in the ABC Commissary at Disney's MGM Studios

WhiteRabbitChinaDoll — The China Doll Jack finds in White Rabbit with script page.. Picture taken by Circeus in the ABC Commissary at Disney's MGM Studios

WhiteRabbitChinaDollScriptPage — Script page from White Rabbit where Jack finds both the China Doll, and his Father's coffin. Picture taken by Circeus in the ABC Commissary at Disney's MGM Studios

Jack Shephard is a doctor and leader of The Middle Section. He has control issues and trouble dealing with situations that he cannot fix. However, these are also attributes that lend him the ability to function well in a crisis.

Before the crash

Jack is the son of Christian and Margo Shephard. When he was young, he was beaten up because he wanted to help his friend, Marc Silverman. His father later told him that he 'doesn't have what it takes'.
Worked with his father at St. Sebastian Hospital.
A little more than 3 years before the crash Jack operated on a car crash victim named Sarah, who's spine had been damaged in the accident as she was on her way to pick out a wedding dress for her marriage. Jack was convinced that surgery would not alleviate her paralysis and told her truthfully about it, despite his father's warnings that he should try giving hope to his patients once in a while.
Works out by running up and down the steps in a stadium the night before the operation, where he meets Desmond Hume and the two have a brief conversation.
After the operation the next day, Jack is sure that it was a failure, but he learns that Sarah can miraculously move her toes and regains feeling in her legs.
Jack and Sarah married a little over two years later, but it is strained under the pressure of the different work schedule that Jack and Sarah have, which causes them to see little of each other.
Jack and his father later work on a patient named Angelo. His daughter, Gabriela, says she came to Jack to help because she had heard of the miracle he had 'performed' on Sarah. He tells Gabriela that the situation was different, but agrees to help her father.
Angelo dies a few months later on the operating table, and on the way back to his car, Jack meets Gabriela. They end up kissing, but Jack tells her it is not the right thing to do.
Jack confesses to his wife what happened and she, in turn, tells him that she has been cheating on him because of his workaholic tendencies and his need to always fix things. She then leaves him.
Two months before the crash, Jack's father operates on a pregnant woman while under the influence of alcohol, and when a nurse tells Jack of this, he relieves his father and takes over the surgery. He is unable to repair the damage, however, and the woman dies.
Christian pressures Jack to sign a report saying the woman was beyond medical assistance, but Jack later learns that the woman was pregnant at the time of her death and reveals that his father had caused the fatal damage by severing the woman's hepatic artery.
His father flees to Australia when his medical career is shattered. Jack's mother eventually tells Jack to go after him, since him running away was his fault, and Jack reluctantly agrees.
Jack searches the hotel where he was staying and eventually found his father in the morgue, after he had died from a massive heart attack brought on by alcohol poisoning.
Jack decides to take his father back to the United States, though he has trouble getting the casket on the plane.
Just prior to the flight, he has a conversation with Ana-Lucia Cortez, who is also on the same flight, and they promise to have another drink on the plane, which never happens.
On the plane, Jack is sat next to Rose, and speaks with her whilst her husband is in the bathroom. When the turbulence starts, Jack loses consciousness before the tail section breaks off.
Apparently has a half-sister in Australia, of whom he appears to be unaware of, though in 'The Hunting Party', it is implied that he knew his father had been cheating on his mother.

Interests/Trivia

Learned to play poker, and spot cheating and sleight-of-hand, in Phuket (Thailand).
Has taken some flying lessons.
Has a tattoo on his left shoulder that translates to: "Hawk in the expansive sky" or "Eagles high up cleaving the sky" and another tattoo on his left forearm that appears to be a large number 5 with a compass dial around it. Jack did not have the tattoos at time of his separation from Sarah; it has not yet been indicated when he got them.

On the island

Overall

Has a very hard time letting things go and relying only on faith alone.
Tries to solve disputes with reason, but not afraid to use guns or torture if necessary.
Has the most socialist viewpoint amongst the losties, in economic terms.
Sanctioned Sawyer's torture but was opposed to Henry Gale's torture.

Season 1

Saved Rose via CPR, when her heart stopped.
Reluctantly accepted the role of leader on the island.
Made the decision to burn the fuselage, thus cremating the passengers who didn't survive when the bodies were attracting wild boars.
Euthanized Edward Mars after a botched 'mercy-killing' attempt by Sawyer.
Sees his father on the Island in Walkabout and White Rabbit, although it is not known whether this vision was real or hallucinatory.
Saved Boone from drowning after Boone failed to rescue a drowning woman, Joanna. After returning Boone to the beach, Jack swam back out to save the woman but failed to get to her in time. Later Jack derided himself in front of Kate for being unable to rescue her.
Found his father's coffin in the caves, but not the body.
- Saw his father walking around or standing in the distance on several occasions but not since he found the coffin.
Is saved by Locke from almost falling down a cliff.
Discovered caves with fresh water supply for shelter.
Succeeded in moving a large group of the survivors from the beach to the caves.
Trapped by cave-in, rescued by Charlie.
Saved Charlie after it seemed too late to save him when he was hanged by Ethan.
Tried but failed to save Boone's life in Do No Harm.
He wanted to amputate Boone's leg, but had a last-minute change of heart when Boone awoke and told him not to. Prior to that, Sun had tried to stop him. Jack replied with "Don't Tell Me What I Can't Do."
Has trouble trusting Locke, ever since Boone's death.
Held Locke responsible for Boone's death. Even after Locke explained what actually happened, this (combined with the fact that Locke was keeping the hatch a secret) caused Jack to distrust Locke.
Along with Kate, kept Locke from being pulled down into a hole by the Monster.

Season 2

Competes with Sawyer for Kate's attention, and shared a passionate kiss with her in the jungle in What Kate Did.
Led an expedition to find Michael after he ran off.
Let the Countdown Timer run out to pressure Locke into giving him the combination to the arsenal so he could stop Sayid from torturing Henry Gale, but doesn't know what happened when it ran out because he was opening the arsenal door at the time.
In an ever increasing game of one-upmanship with Locke.
Plays a similar game with Sawyer, but for different stakes.
Threatened to withhold antibiotics from Sawyer, mere days after he'd been shot by Mr. Friendly and was recovering from an infection.
Won his medical supplies back from Sawyer in a poker game.
Offered the faux Henry Gale to the Others in a trade for Walt; they did not accept, but rather devised a plan of their own.
Found Michael after he ran out of the jungle, and brought him back to the hatch. He and Kate tended to Michael's wounds.* Went with Locke and Kate to retrieve the rest of the guns from Sawyer after Michael announced a plan to take on the Others. Pulled a gun on Sawyer and burned the manuscript he'd been reading, in an attempt to get him to comply.
While working to treat the mortally wounded Libby, he sent a reluctant Kate to go with Sawyer so she could find out where the stash of guns and heroin were located. (In other words, killing two birds with one stone.)
Is one of the four people Ms. Klugh orders Michael to bring to the Others.
Sawyer revealed to him how Ana-Lucia Cortez got his gun. Sawyer also confessed to Jack that he is the closest thing that Sawyer has to a friend.
Was warned by Sayid that Michael has been compromised but is uncertain whether or not to believe him. Devises a plan with him anyway.
Heads off with Michael, Hurley, Sawyer, and Kate to "confront the Others" in Live Together, Die Alone
Confronts Michael about his betrayal in front of Hurley, Sawyer, and Kate, revealing that he kept that from them.
Is captured by the Others.

Theories

Jack's last name, Shephard, tells us that he's 'leading the herd'. Jesus is also called 'The Good Shepherd'.
Jack's father may still be alive and part of the "Others".
Jack's wife really was pregnant, but she didn't tell him. She still loved him, but knew his devotion was to his work.
- Jack may have a son or daughter out there.

Episode 14:

(after noticing Michael can't find Walt)

Hurley: He seems to hate it, doesn't he?

Jack: What?

Hurley: Being a dad.

Jack: No, it's just a lot of hard work.

Episode 41:

(Sun is hiding the fact that she's pregnant from Jin)

Jack: Sun, my advice -- and it's just that because I'm the last person to ask about this, but -- you should tell him.

Jack represents the benevolence and brutality of socialism.
Jack's half-sister from Australia is possibly Claire.
According to [1] Jack is the one that The Others find easiest to cooperate with because he will recognize one of them from the real world. Jack may decide to join the others and will have to do an initiation task to get in, which could possibly include killing Sayid, the man who tortured "Henry Gale"
Jack has obviously had a change of heart since the beginning, as he didn't want to be a leader, and now he does when Locke wants to as well, the possibly reason for this could be he now feels threatened, or the power has gone to his head. He has been far more ruder.
Jack's wife will appear on the island in Season 3 as a member of the "others", as the new character he knows from outside of island life.

Trivia

The character of Jack as the de facto leader of the survivors was intended to be killed off in Pilot, Part 1 by Cerberus/The Security System, with Kate taking over as leader. However, ABC executives convinced the writers and producers to keep him alive. They reasoned that killing him off, while a novel idea, generated feelings of betrayal, bewilderment, and anger in the audience. Instead, The Pilot was written in and killed in Jack's place. Fox's portrayal of Jack as such a like able, relate able, and noble character only helped solidify his survival and importance on the show.
- Michael Keaton was originally cast to play the Jack who dies.

Gallery

@@ Line 6: / Line 6: @@
  First= [[Pilot|Pilot, Part 1]]|
  Last=N/A|
- Flashback1= [[Pilot, Part 1]],  [[White Rabbit]],  [[All the Best Cowboys Have Daddy Issues]],  [[Do No Harm]],  [[Exodus: Part 1]],  [[Man of Science, Man of Faith]],  [[The Hunting Party]], [[A Tale of Two Cities]]|
+ Flashback1= [[Pilot, Part 1]],  [[White Rabbit]],  [[All the Best Cowboys Have Daddy Issues]],  [[Do No Harm]],  [[Exodus: Part 1]],  [[Man of Science, Man of Faith]],  [[The Hunting Party]]|
  Lastflash=[[Live Together, Die Alone]]|
  Name=Jack Shephard|