Shephard, Dr. Jack
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Resided in: Los Angeles
Occupation: Spinal Surgeon at St. Sebastian Hospital
Reason for Travel: Returning to LA with father's body
Flight Seat #: 23B
Jack is a spinal surgeon at St. Sebastian Hospital which appears to have ties to Los Angeles as well as Boston.
Jack has a tattoo on his left upper arm that contains the number 5 and Chinese characters. This is actually a tattoo the actor (Matthew Fox) has in the real world. The tattoo reads "Eagles high up, cleaving the space" in Chinese, from a famous poem by Mao Zhedong. However, in the storyline, the tattoo has been defined in a different manner.
Jack met Sarah when she was brought in for emergent surgery on a broken back, following a car accident with Adam Rutherford (Jack triaged her injuries first). After the surgery, he met Desmond as he ran in the stadium, who was training for a race. Jack confided in this stranger frustration that he would not be able to help Sarah walk again, and Desmond tried to uplift his spirits; the surgery was later found to be a miraculous success.
He later fell in love with this former patient and proposed to her, sometime after her fiancé (Kevin) broke up with her. At their wedding, childhood friend Marc Silverman was Jack's best man.
Jack tried unsuccessfully to perform a second miracle surgery on Angelo Busoni, a man who came from Italy to have his spinal tumor operated on. After Angelo's death, his daughter (Gabriela) kissed Jack. Jack revealed this to Sarah, in a moment of guilt. Sarah revealed that she wanted a divorce because of irreconcilable differences and neglect, and that she was having an affair herself. Jack attempted to contest the divorce, but Sarah was set on staying with her lover.
Sometime later, Jack spent visited Phuket, Thailand; where, as he tells Sawyer, he learned to play cards. While he was in Thailand, he met and carried on an affair with Achara. When he became suspicious of Achara’s nighttime activities, Jack followed her to what seemed to be a tattoo parlor where she plied what she calls her “gift.” She stated that she has the ability to read people and then use that reading to “mark” them. Jack forces her to use her gift on him and she does after telling him that there will be consequences. When Achara’s brother, Chet, learns what Jack did, he and a group of other Thai men beat Jack severely and tell him to leave the island.
Jack's father, Christian, was a Chief of Neurosurgery at St. Sebastian's and Jack's superior during his residency. He also struggled with alcoholism and father-son issues, and Jack at one time even suspected he was Sarah's secret lover. Christian lost his job after Jack informed a medical board that his father was under the influence of alcohol during surgery, which resulted in the death of a patient. Christian left the country afterwards, and flew to Australia. On his mother’s, Margo, urging, Jack traveled to Sydney to find Christian.
In Sydney, Jack learned his father had died of a heart attack. He later had to argue with the airport attendants to get the coffin on board. Jack was in the airport ready to board Flight 815, when he met Ana-Lucia, and they flirted in a bar.
After the crash, people begin to respect and follow Jack because of his medical skills and air of leadership, but Jack himself is conflicted. He begins seeing images of his father on the island, which lead him into the jungle. Jack finds the coffin he checked onto the plane, but it has no body inside. The image has also led him to inland caves with fresh water.
Jack emerges as the initially reluctant leader amongst the survivors after his water discovery, and Jack convinces many of the survivors to move into the caves. Others decide to stay at the beach, splitting the survivors into two groups. These groups later recombine.
After the hatch was opened, Jack spends a large amount of time in the Swan Station with Locke, who he has begun having some ideological conflicts with over the "pushing of the button." Jack remains a skeptic, a grounded man of science.
He still continues to serve the others with his medical knowledge, and took care of Claire during her pregnancy/birth, Sawyer during his infection and Locke after his leg gets crushed; though he could do little for Edward Mars, Boone, or Libby after they are mortally injured. Sun also amazes him with her knowledge of herbal medicine when he is shown her garden.
The other survivors frequently look up to him to make group decisions, and to speak at funerals when one of them dies (though Jack appears uncomfortable with the latter). Before the hatch was opened, he was the only one who had access to the guns, and hung the key to opening the Halliburton case around his neck.
He is romantically linked with Kate, who kissed him, but neither pursues a serious relationship.
He has been involved in the survivors' contacts with the Others. He met Tom once at "the line" and is forced to disarm in exchange for Kate's safe return. He also made many decisions involving Ben, and initially opposed Sayid's idea to torture him.
Jack goes with Kate, Sawyer, Hurley and Michael to get their revenge, and retrieve Walt. However, the group is betrayed by Michael, and they are ambushed and captured by the Others. Jack is one of the 4 on their list.
Jack is imprisoned in the Hydra, but in the below-sea-level tanks, where he is isolated from Kate and Sawyer, captive aboveground. Here, Jack meets Juliet, who shows him that they have a detailed file on every aspect of his past. She makes attempts to break his mental resistance to the Others. After Colleen is shot by Sun on the sailboat, Juliet gets Jack into the Hydra's operating room in an attempt to save her. The crash cart is not working, and Colleen dies on the table.
After that, Jack learns that Ben has a tumor on his spine. He gets conflicting requests, with Ben asking that he perform the surgery on his back to save his life, and Juliet publicly supporting him, but privately asking Jack to kill Ben and make it look like an accident. Jack ends up agreeing to do the surgery, but mid-way through, cuts a kidney vessel intentionally, in order to get Ben to hemorrhage slowly and hold him hostage. This buys enough time for Kate and Sawyer to escape the island, but Jack completes the surgery and fixes his injury before Ben dies (but not before publicly revealing Juliet's betrayal).
Jack demands that Juliet tell him what Ben said to her that changed her mind and led her to help Kate and Sawyer escape. Juliet tells Jack that she has been on the island for 3 years, 2 months and 28 days. She tells Jack that Ben promised her that if she helped Kate and Sawyer escape she could finally go home.
Afterwards, Juliet is held in the underwater cell where Jack had been while Jack was moved to the outdoor cages. Later Juliet comes to ask Jack for his help because Ben’s stitches are showing signs of infection but he refuses. That night, Isabel comes to Jack’s cage and takes him to a room for questioning. Jack lies when she asks him if it is true that Juliet wanted Ben dead.
Alex visits Jack and tells him of Juliet’s pending execution. She takes Jack to see Ben where Jack tells Ben that he will treat Ben’s infection if Ben allows Juliet to live. Ben accepts his offer. Jack and Alex take a message to Isabel from Ben that Juliet is not to be executed, but she is to be “marked”. Afterwards, Jack is back in the cage when Juliet comes to talk to him. Jack uses Aloe Vera to treat her wound. Jack is taken with Ben to a small boat which is to be taken to a much bigger yacht. As they are leaving Isabel tells Jack that his tattoo is ironic and translates it as “He walks among us but is not one of us.” Jack tells her that it what is says, but not what it means. On the yacht, he and Juliet share some time on the bow on the ship.
Six days later, Jack is seen at the Barracks by Kate, Sayid, Locke and Rousseau running toward them, but they are surprised to find that his is just playing football with Tom. That night, Kate sneaks into the house in which Jack is living. He tells her to leave and that he is being watched, but the doors burst open and she is thrown to the floor and taken captive. Later Jack comes to see Kate where she is being held in the recreation room. He tells her that he has made a deal with Ben and that he is leaving the island, but will come back for her. However, he is unable to leave the island after Locke apparently destroys the submarine.
The Others knock Kate, Jack and possibly Sayid out with CS gas. After making her way back to the Barracks with Juliet, Kate finds Jack unconscious on the floor of his house. She tearfully apologizes and is noticeably upset when he asks about Juliet. Jack tells Kate they are going to go back to the beach. When Juliet and Sayid meet up with Kate and Jack Sayid tells Jack that Juliet can’t come with them. However, Jack says that she is coming back with them as she was left behind too. Jack and Juliet walk away side by side leaving Kate walking with Sayid.
On the way to the beach camp, Jack stops Sayid from interrogating Juliet by telling him that she is under his protection. When they get back to the beach camp, Jack accepts Juliet's help to apparently cure Claire. After she gains the survivors trust, Jack provides Juliet with blankets and a tarp and allow her to become part of the camp.
