Get to know the good doctor

[Sydney]

Name: Dr Jack Shepard


Actual profession: Spinal surgeon

Now he is: The reluctant leader of a motley bunch of survivors on a mysterious island somewhere in the South Pacific. According to actor Matthew Fox, his character came to terms with his role as leader throughout the first season. In the second season, Jack is still not comfortable with the role thrust upon him but he begins to slowly own that position a little more. And, wouldn’t you know it, that’s when some of the group start to question his ability.



What was he doing in Australia: His mother asked him to go to Sydney to find his father (John Terry). It was only there that Jack learned his father had passed away after having consumed too much alcohol.

Why he was on the ill-fated Oceanic Flight 815: He was taking his father’s body back to the United States. And though the casket was found, the body is still missing.

How has Jack changed the most? Fox says: “He’s had to become more open to this new environment that he’s living in, he’s had to stay a strong leader, he’s got to do that. That’s a natural progression for him.

I think he’s also had to become a little bit harder and little bit more street wise. I mean he’s dealing with some characters and having to negotiate situations with people, I don’t think he has run into those types of people before.

He’s having to wise up a bit, he’s having to play dirty at times, he’s not always playing above the board. They’re all elements to what’s going on with him.”

Jack and Kate (Evangeline Lilly): Soon after the crash, Jack gets Kate to sew the injuries on his back. Kate’s experience of sewing is limited to making curtains, but with Jack's assurance she does quite a good job with needle and thread.

There’s obviously an attraction between these two very strong and attractive people. Kate, however, views Jack as a very good person in all the ways she is not. She also tends to both question and respect Jack’s authority.

Jack and Sawyer (Josh Holloway): The two are at loggerheads all the time; at one point the two refused to even acknowledge one another.

No mere coincidence, Sawyer bumped into Jack’s father at one of the bars in Australia where Dr Shephard senior told Sawyer that he’s proud of his son but had never told Jack so. Just before Sawyer went away on the raft, he and Jack made peace and Sawyer revealed the fact that he met his father and shared what he had said with Jack.

Jack and Locke (Terry O’Quinn): The man of science and the man of faith – a metaphor for the ways of the world surely. Jack and Locke are unable to see eye to eye and this situation only worsens after Boone’s death.

Now with the hatch opened, Locke is convinced that everything happens for a reason and the island has a plan for them all. Jack, however, is not so sure.

Courtesy of The Star Online