Jack is starting to piss me off. Looking back on the first four episodes, my hope for the character was based on potential. Matthew Fox, when unleashed, is a sparky and dangerous actor, with an edge of real insanity in his eyes. There are flashes of that actor in this episode, particularly when screaming at the unfortunate airline employee and going all Hulk-Smash on a coffin. But the rest is just so boring. Jack is exactly who he appears to be, and whatever horrific thing he did to his father, it'll be revealed as one of those tough-but-nessecary choices that only a true man who "has what it takes" could make. Que swelling strings and redemptive (probably hallucinatory) hug with daddy's ghost aaaaand….. Cut.
Any continued optimism has to be based on the potential for a clash between Jack's doctory non-religous science, and Locke's (newfound?) belief in miracles. And yeah, if my paralyzed legs were somehow restored by a fucking plane crash, I might drop to my knees and pray to the almighty. I appreciate that the show isn't making Locke into some starry-eyed proselytizer (although I'd love to see what O'Quinn could do as a fanatic. He's so compelling that it might actually work.). Watch the conversation in the forest carefully. Locke is pretty sure Jack simply hallucinated the well-dressed man. Pretty sure, but not knowing it as once would have. Doubt has crept in and wo't be leaving anytime soon.
Speaking of doubt, Jack has some of his assuaged in that crap-fest of a redemptive return to the group. Like, really guys? This is the one you want to have as a leader? Yes, his medical skills are invaluable, but having Hurley and the various pretty little idiots unable to make a desicion without Jack undermines them as characters and gives him a weight he hasn't earned. Quick thought experiment; Wouldn't this all be more fun if, I dunno, the other survivors took Locke's side in the science vs faith debate? I mean, these peeps survived (allow me to emphasize) a fucking plane crash. Forty-seven people and one dog. A fucking plane crash. Oh, and there are polar-bears and oversized somethings with a serious distaste for the indigenous flora.
The point being; There's a serious clash of titans being set up here. Actually, one titan and one boring-ass doctor. And there's a serious possibility that the doctor might lose. Wouldn't he be inherently more interesting as a bit of an outcast, someone marginalized? It's a tricky route, especially given that Terry O'Quinn blows poor Matthew Fox off the screen at every opportunity, but it can be done. And I think it should be. The one thing we haven't really seen from the good doctor is a genuine struggle. The bullshit c-plot involving pretty-boy's swim escapades and subsequent survivor's guilt is actively annoying because anyone with a functioning frontal cortex can see that Jack made the best, and in fact only choice possible. This is the show artificially and pointlessly creating conflict. How much better to let it evolve from an intelligently deployed clash of strong personalities.
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