Jack Shepard

Jack Shepard
Jack Shephard was aboard Oceanic Flight 815 because he was returning his father's body to the United States to be buried. Jack is a Spinal surgeon at St. Sebastian Hospital in Los Angeles, CA, USA.

Life Before Flight 815
When Jack was a child, he was severely beaten at the hands of a bully when he attempted to intervene and halt the beating of his friend Marc. When he returned to see his father that night, he was instilled with words of wisdom from his father, Christian. Jack was told that he didn’t want to be the person who had to make decisions, who had to choose, and that he shouldn’t want to be a hero, that he shouldn’t try and save everyone because when he fails; he just won’t have what it takes.

Early in his medical career, he operates on a car crash victim named Sarah whose spine was damaged in the accident. He is convinced that surgery will not alleviate her paralysis, and he is characteristically cold and direct with her about her chances. Convinced the operation was a failure, both are startled to find that she can "miraculously" move her toes and has regained feeling in her legs. They eventually marry, despite Jack's apprehension in the days preceding the ceremony. Eventually their marriage falls apart under the pressure of his work; by the time of the flight, Jack is unmarried and does not wear a wedding ring. He admits it is currently 'knocking around in his sock drawer'.

Some time later, Jack and his father are working on a tumor patient named Angelo. Angelo's daughter Gabriela is his translator. Jack and his father think that the operation will not work like his miracle operation on Sarah. He gets home to Sarah; she says that her pregnancy test was negative, and Jack is relieved. Christian, Jack's father, sees that Jack is attracted to Gabriela and tells him not to cheat. Jack performs the operation on Angelo and thinks that he did succeed in removing the tumor, but Angelo's illness has weakened him, and he dies on the operating table of a heart attack. On his way to his car, Jack sees Gabriela, whom he tries to console. Gabriela ends up kissing Jack, but Jack tells her that it is not the right thing to do. When he gets home, Jack confesses to his wife about what happened. She, in turn, tells him that she had been cheating on him and that she is leaving him, with her final words to him being, "You will always need something to fix." Jack, being a workaholic, feels he caused the failure of the marriage.

Jack soon becomes obsessed about the man that Sarah left him for, as she refuses to reveal his identity, even during their divorce proceedings. Jack stalks Sarah from afar, even stealing her cell phone and calling every number in it in hopes of discovering the man. When one number turns out to be Christian's phone, Jack believes that his father is the man seeing Sarah. He follows Christian to an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting, where his suspicion boils over and he ends up attacking him. Jack is jailed but released on bail, thanks to Sarah, who was asked to post Jack's bail by a drunk Christian, who has relapsed thanks to the incident at the meeting. Sarah tells Jack that she was on Christian's phone because they were both concerned about Jack's mental state after the marriage ended. Jack sees an unidentified man waiting for Sarah, and she tells Jack that he finally has something new to fix: his relationship with his father.

To escape from his troubled life, Jack stays in Phuket, Thailand for several months. There he meets a mysterious woman named Achara and has a relationship with her. However Achara refuses to divulge much about herself to Jack, although she is often paid by numerous people for her "talent." Jack secretly follows her one night to her place of business: a tattoo parlor. Achara says her talent is that she can see who a person really is, but she refuses to do that for Jack because he is an outsider, but eventually relents after Jack demands it. Achara sees a great and selfless leader, but because he is a leader, he is lonely and angry. Jack asks for a tattoo representing that on his arm. The next morning, Jack is no longer welcomed by the people he has come to know. A group of people see his tattoo and become enraged, beating him on the beach. They tell Jack to leave the country and never return, while a saddened Achara looks on.

Later on, Christian operates on a woman while under the influence of alcohol; when a nurse tells Jack about 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 during the inquiry Jack discovers that the woman was pregnant and reveals that his father had caused fatal damage by severing her hepatic artery. His father flees with his medical career shattered, eventually ending up in Sydney. Christian Shephard later dies of a massive heart attack brought on by alcohol poisoning. When Jack leaves the United States, he knows only that his father is missing. Eventually he finds him in a Sydney morgue. Jack has trouble getting the casket onto the plane but is eventually successful.

Prior to the flight, Jack has a conversation in the airport bar with Ana-Lucia Cortez, who will also be on the same flight. The two flirt and promise to meet each other later during the flight, though they are seated in different sections of the plane.

On the plane, he is seated next to Rose. When the turbulence strikes, Rose's husband is in the bathroom and Jack promises to take care of her until he returns. Before the plane's tail section broke off, Jack loses consciousness.

On-Island Life
At the beginning of "Pilot - Part 1", we see that Jack was thrown into the woods and had multiple gashes, including a large one on his back. Upon finding the plane's wreckage on the beach, he tends to many survivors but is unable to save all of them. He enlists Kate to sew the gash on his back, marking the beginning of their relationship. He leads an expedition with Kate and Charlie to find the cockpit and the plane's transceiver. Together they find it but also witness the pilot's death at the hands of the "monster".

Jack is quickly thrust into a leadership role by the other survivors because of his medical training and take-charge attitude. He quickly develops a rivalry with Sawyer, mainly over Kate and her feelings towards them. Starting in "Walkabout" and continuing in "White Rabbit", Jack begins glimpsing his father distantly. He chases the image, which eventually leads him to a cave shelter and source of fresh water. He also finds his father's casket, empty, and subsequently destroys it. The whereabouts of his father's body is still unknown. Jack gets some of the survivors to join him in the caves, while others refuse to leave the beach, hoping to spot a rescue ship.

Until "All the Best Cowboys Have Daddy Issues", Jack is mainly seen performing medical duties, such as trying to help Shannon with her asthma, or Claire with her false labor pains. In that episode, he hastily tries to find Ethan after he abducts Charlie and Claire. When they find Charlie, Jack attempts to save him with CPR, but to little avail at first. Even when Kate tells him to give up, Jack continues until he resuscitates Charlie.

When Kate tries to get a case that belonged to the U.S. Marshal, she gets Jack to help exhume the Marshal's body to find the key. After Jack finds the guns in the case, he takes it and the key and hides it. He first takes them out when he, Sawyer, Charlie and Sayid decide to trap Ethan. In "Deus Ex Machina" and "Do No Harm", Jack works furiously to save Boone, who had suffered fatal injuries in the previous episode. However, he finds himself still having trouble letting go, as evidenced when he reveals that he is O-negative and gives Boone some of his blood. This problem with letting go was foreshadowed in most of his flashbacks. Boone eventually tells Jack to let him go, to which Jack agrees. Since then, Jack's distrust of Locke has grown due to Locke not telling Jack everything that's going on.

In "Exodus", Jack is part of the team that retrieves the dynamite at the "Black Rock" and that plans to open the mysterious hatch. Before he leaves, he and Sawyer make up when Sawyer tells him about the encounter he had with his father. Jack and Locke put aside their differences in order to open it, although Locke says that the reason they don't get along is because Jack is a "man of science," while Locke is a "man of faith."

In "Man of Science, Man of Faith" and "Adrift" it is Jack who descends into the hatch after Kate and Locke. He explores the rooms underground and is surprised by Locke and his kidnapper. Jack discovers that the man who has taken them prisoner is a man named Desmond who he met the night he operated on his ex-wife Sarah.

In "Collision" Jack is surprised to hear that Ana-Lucia survived the crash along with other members of the tail section of the plane, and that she accidentally shot and killed fellow castaway Shannon Rutherford.

In "What Kate Did" Jack struggles with his unresolved feelings for Kate. The situation is complicated when an injured and delirious Sawyer declares his love for her in front of Jack, and when Kate suddenly kisses Jack in the jungle. At the end of the episode Jack reaches out to Ana-Lucia, who has distanced herself from the other survivors. He offers her tequila, the drink she had with him in the bar so many weeks before, and the two reconnect.

In "The Hunting Party", he and Locke search for Michael, who had locked them both in the arms locker and gone in search of Walt. Even though he asked Kate not to come, she follows them anyway, and is taken hostage by Tom. After a brief standoff, the flight survivors drop their weapons, and Kate apologizes for following the group. Later, Jack asks Ana-Lucia how long she thinks it would take to "train an army."

In "The Long Con", After Locke moves the guns, he argues with Locke about them trusting each other.

In "One of Them", As the interrogation in the armory get out of control, Jack holds Locke against the wall and demands him to unlock the armory. The timer goes off and with few seconds to spare, Locke complies with Jack and lets him in to stop the interrogation.

In "Lockdown", Jack takes care of Aaron, who is running a fever, and is approached by Libby, who was stung by a sea urchin. He comments to Libby that some Neosporin should help, to which she replies the going rate of exchange for Neosporin is 10 loads of laundry, alluding to Sawyer, who stole all the medical supplies from the hatch. Sawyer is playing poker with Hurley and Kate for mangoes. Jack shows some knowledge of poker when he advises Hurley to fold, implying he can read in Hurley's face that he doesn't have anything good. Sawyer goads Jack into playing a few hands with them, figuring Jack was someone who just played poker online. Jack agrees to play a few hands and ends up winning all the mangoes and fruit. As he gets up to leave, Sawyer raises the stakes, offering one final hand where Jack names the stakes of the game. After thinking for a second, Jack asks for the medical supplies from the hatch, and beats Sawyer with a pair of nines. As Jack goes to leave, Sawyer asks why he didn't ask for the guns at the stakes, to which Jack replies "When I need the guns, I'll get the guns."

In "S.O.S.", Jack, fed up of Henry's unwillingness to co-operate, decides to go into the jungle to propose a trade with the Others; Henry for Walt. Jack heads to the beach looking for Kate and ask her to go with him into the jungle to find the Others. Kate, surprised says yes. Sawyer (who was with Kate at the time) wonders about the gun that Jack is carrying, and asks him where he got the gun, to which Jack replies "Does it really matter?". While in the jungle, Kate finds a small play doll lying on the ground. Jack senses that it's a trap and tries to stop her from picking it up, but Kate picks it up and they both get caught in one of Rousseau's traps. They eventually make their way out of the trap by shooting the rope holding them up and continue into the jungle. They eventually get to the line that Tom marked out. Jack starts to call the Others out. By nightfall the Others still haven't appeared. Kate thinks that the Others can't hear Jack, but Jack thinks otherwise. Kate apologizes for kissing Jack, but he says he's not sorry. The sound of a twig snapping gets Kate's and Jack's attention. Jack readies his gun as they both watch a torch move through the distant jungle. The figure gets closer and closer and falls over at their makeshift camp. Jack and Kate both help the person up. It's Michael.

In "Two for the Road", Jack is taking care of Michael. After Michael explains the situation with The Others, Jack confronts Sawyer, telling him to give up the guns. After he doesn't get them, Locke tells Jack why Sawyer doesn't have his gun and what happened to Ana-Lucia earlier that day. Jack sets off along with Kate, Sawyer, and Locke back to the Hatch.

In "?", Jack is going back and forth taking care of a wounded Libby and Michael. Jack is unaware that Michael is the shooter, but he tells Sawyer to give him some heroin, so as to put Libby in a more peaceful state. Jack and Hurley are there to hear Libby's last word: "Michael..."

During "Three Minutes", Jack and Sawyer's friendship becomes slightly more visible as they begin talking a little more. Sawyer asks Jack about his trek into the jungle with Kate, to which he replies, "We were caught in a net." Later on, Sawyer finally tells Jack that he had sex with Ana-Lucia and that that was how she got his gun, and confides that Jack is the closest thing he has to a friend. Jack and Sawyer both go to the funeral for Ana-Lucia and Libby; Jack speaks for Ana-Lucia and Hurley speaks for Libby. Jack is later confronted by Sayid, who tells him that he believes Michael has been "compromised." Jack is one of the people Michael says has to go with him, otherwise, "it won't work."

In "Live Together, Die Alone", Sayid tells Jack that he will sail around the island and ambush the Others when they arrive. Jack does not put any bullets in Michael's gun to be safe, and when the group kills an Other following them, Jack reveals to everyone that Michael is a traitor, which Michael admits. Jack reveals Sayid's plan, but it does not work - Sayid sets off a signal fire from the Others camp, but it is miles away; Michael has not led the group there. Jack and the rest are suddenly ambushed, bound and gagged, and taken to a long dock.

Jack, Sawyer, and Kate watch as Michael leaves the island with Walt via boat. Hurley is let go. The fate of the three is unknown, although "Henry Gale" states that they will not be harmed and that they will live with the Others.

In "A Tale of Two Cities", Jack is now imprisoned in the DHARMA Hydra Installation, in what initially appears to be a jail cell--later revealed to be an emptied aquarium--for questioning by Juliet, one of the Others. After initially refusing to cooperate with her in exchange for food, he gives in after trying to escape and finding out that the cell is underwater. He then finds out that the Others seemingly have medical records, employment papers, and other documents relating to his life and his family. Upon asking about their origin, he is simply told, "We got them."

Later, "Henry" sits down with Jack in "The Glass Ballerina," revealing his real name: Benjamin Linus. He tells Jack that he can take him off the island, just as he did with Michael and Walt, but he wants Jack to see where the Others are coming from so he won't think of them as enemies. He proves to Jack that they all have access to the outside world, using examples of events after the crash (up until November 2004), such as the reelection of George W. Bush, the death of Christopher Reeve, and the Boston Red Sox winning the World Series. Jack refuses to believe it, but Ben shows him taped footage of the Red Sox winning the final game. Jack is speechless.

In "Every Man for Himself", Jack refuses to answer Juliet's questions and only wants to answer to Ben. This looks like to be a sore spot with Juliet. Soon after, Jack hears Sawyer's muffled screams over the intercom in his cell. Juliet then enters with blood-stained scrubs, asking for Jack's help. Jack refuses, believing the Others are torturing Sawyer, but is told that someone is seriously wounded and they need Jack to save her. Jack has a bag placed over his head and is marched to an old operating room, where an Other named Colleen is on the operating table, suffering from a gunshot wound to the abdomen. As he scrubs up, Jack notices an X-Ray of a spine with a large tumor on it. The bullet in Colleen was already removed by Juliet, but she lacks any surgical experience and is more confused than helpful when assisting Jack. When Colleen's vital signs fail, Jack asks for a defibrillator, but the only one available is broken. Colleen dies. Jack is handcuffed to the operating table while the Others leave. He tells a sad Juliet that Colleen was already too far gone before she arrived. He then asks Juliet about the X-Ray, believing the Others want him - a professional spinal surgeon - to remove the tumor from that person's spine. This person is revealed to be Ben, who discovered this tumor two days before the crash.

Ben confides in Jack that everything that the Others have been doing to Jack during his captivity was to gain his trust so that he would agree to operate on Ben, and not view him as an enemy during such a delicate procedure. Juliet later puts on a movie for Jack, but to his surprise, the movie is of Juliet holding various cue cards, warning Jack not to trust Ben and asking him to "accidentally" kill Ben on the operating table.

In "I Do", Jack refuses to even operate on Ben at all. Juliet brings Kate - who has been locked in a cage above ground with Sawyer - to Jack. Kate says that if Jack does not operate, the Others will kill Sawyer. An angry Jack tells Kate not to trust what the Others say and tells her to leave. Later on, a mysterious voice over the broken intercom in Jack's cell tells him that his door is unlocked. Jack leaves the cell and finds a room full of monitors. He sees Kate and Sawyer post-coitus via one monitor. Ben suddenly appears commenting that he thought that Kate would end up with Jack rather than Sawyer, and an extremely upset Jack agrees to the surgery only if the Others give him a way off the island. Ben agrees.

During surgery, Jack purposely cuts an incision in Ben's kidney sack. He has an hour to live, and since Jack is the only one who can repair it, the Others must obey his demands. Jack tells Tom to contact Kate via walkie-talkie. He tells Kate to run, since he just gave her an hour's head start. When she reaches safety, she is to contact Jack again and tell him the story he told her when they first met so he knows that she has not been re-captured. Kate refuses because she doesn't want to leave without Jack. Jack again tells her to run.

Juliet attempts to call Jack's bluff, but also reveals that Kate and Sawyer won't escape because the Hydra is located on a smaller island off the main one (which Kate confirms soon after via walkie-talkie). Jack counters by revealing to Tom about Juliet's plan to kill Ben. Ben amazingly wakes up from his anesthesia, having heard everything. He asks Jack to leave the room so he could speak to Juliet. As Jack watches from above, he sees a short conversation between the two that makes Juliet cry. She then tells Jack that Ben has given permission for Sawyer and Kate to leave, so she leaves to find them. Jack returns to surgery to restitch Ben's kidney sack, but he accidentally cuts an artery. During his panic, Kate radios in, telling him they have a boat. She starts to re-tell Jack's story, which was how he once made a huge mistake during surgery, so he counted to five and calmed down. Jack manages to sew up Ben's artery and kidney sack. He then asks Kate not to come back for him. After removing the tumor, he asks Juliet what Ben said to her, which was that she is allowed to leave the island if he survives the surgery.

In "Stranger in a Strange Land," Jack is confronted by Tom, upon completing the surgery, who moves him from his cell in the Hydra station. On the way out, he sees Juliet, handcuffed, being led into the cell he came from. Jack finds himself outside in the cages, the same cage that Sawyer was held in. Tom visits him and explains that Juliet is in trouble. Later that night, Jack is visited by Juliet. She explains that she was allowed out to check up on Ben, and asks Jack to examine him with her, to which he refuses. He is soon visited by the 'sheriff', Isabel, who comments on his tattoos. She takes him away to be questioned. Jack is questioned about Juliet's intentions to kill Ben. Jack denies being asked to kill him, and instead says that he planned on turning the Others against each other to help Kate and Sawyer escape. When Isabel suspects him of lying, Jack defiantly requests to be returned to his cage.

Jack finds himself being watched the next morning by a group of people, one of which happens to be Cindy. He quizzes Cindy, but becomes angry when she asks about Ana-Lucia. Shortly after, Alex arrives, smashing the surveillance camera, and asks him why he helped Ben. During this conversation, Jack learns of Juliet's predicament, and he eventually decides to examine Ben. Jack bargains with him to free Juliet in exchange for his services, to which he obliges. Ben writes a note for Jack and Alex to give to Isabel, but his presence at the trial causes a stir in Tom. When Isabel reads Ben's note, she calls off the execution, but prepares to 'mark' her for her crime. After this, Jack tends to Juliet's mark. Soon after, they meet up with Ben and the rest of the Others, and sail back to their village.

When Kate, Sayid, Locke, and Rousseau approach the village, they see Jack playing football with Tom, showing he has adapted to his surroundings. ("Par Avion")

However, he claims that he has made a deal with the others, and that they will let him escape on the submarine along with Juliet. Before leaving, he tells Kate that he will come back for her. However, Locke destroys the submarine with C-4 right before Jack can leave ("The Man from Tallahassee"). The next day, in "Left Behind", Kate discovers Jack lying unconscious in a hallway in one of the houses. She breaks down and apologizes for ruining his chance of escape. As they leave, Jack decides to take Juliet back to the beach with them, to the dismay of Kate and Sayid. On their way back, in "One of Us", Jack protects Juliet from interrogation when Sayid begins questioning her. The four of them return to camp the next day, but everyone doesn't take to Juliet too well. That night, Jack tells everyone about his ordeal, but is interrupted when Claire falls critically ill. Juliet reveals that she is responsible for this, and can also help her. Jack allows her to retrieve medicine, and the next day he and Juliet administrate it to Claire, much to Charlie's resentment. Jack explains to Juliet that the rest of the camp are willing to forgive and forget, but will need to know some answers eventually. The two appear to have bonded deeply over time when they smile at each other.

Jack has dinner with Juliet in "Catch-22", much to Kate's despair. The next morning, Sawyer interrupts a conversation with Juliet to challenge Jack to a game of ping pong. At this point, many of the survivors are questioning whether Jack has joined the Others. Sun and Desmond each voice their suspicions of Jack on separate occasions (D.O.C., The Brig). In "The Brig", Jack is speaking with Juliet on the beach when he is approached by Kate, who informs him about the parachutist. When asked why no one told him sooner, she reveals that he is no longer trusted by most of the camp. Jack and Juliet then argue whether or not to tell her something, and they leave soon after.

In "The Man Behind the Curtain", Jack and Juliet return to camp at nightfall, just in time to hear the recorder play Juliet's message to Ben. Sayid and Sawyer immediately question Jack why he didn't tell them sooner. Jack says that he wasn't sure what to do at the time, but tells the camp that they have some catching up to do. He and Juliet take them into the jungle, where Jack signals for Rousseau to demonstrate their destructive method to rid them of the Others. Upon returning to camp, Jack has some of the tents rigged with the dynamite while Sayid tells him about replacing Rousseau's distress call. After Juliet explains that all external signals are being jammed, Jack examines the map of the underwater hatch, the Looking Glass. He refuses to let anyone attempt the mission, however after Karl arrives and warns them about the Others' change of plan, Jack allows Charlie to swim down. Later, Jack convinces Rose to leave Bernard with Sayid while he takes everyone else to the radio tower ("Greatest Hits").

In "Through the Looking Glass", as Jack leads the survivors to the radio tower, they witness in the distance only two of the three explosives go off from the camp. This concerns everyone, but Jack refuses to let anyone go back until they finish their mission. Eventually Sawyer and Juliet (and eventually Hurley) leave to check if the plan went alright. Juliet kisses Jack as she leaves, however, Jack tells Kate later on that he loves her. Eventually, the survivors encounter Ben and Alex, who were waiting for them. Ben tells Jack that Naomi is not who she says she is. She works for "the bad guys" and if they find the island, they will kill everyone. He asks Jack to relinquish Naomi's satellite phone, but Jack refuses because he made it his duty to get everyone off the island. Ben then radios Tom, who has captured Sayid, Bernard and Jin. He tells Tom to kill them if he does not hear Ben's voice in one minute. Jack still refuses to give up the phone and Tom seemingly shoots all three. Infuriated, Jack viciously beats Ben and drags him along for the rest of trek to the radio tower, wanting Ben to see how he failed before being killed.

To Jack's surprise, Hurley radios Ben to taunt him, having taken a walkie-talkie off an Other. Jack, having Ben's walkie-talkie, answers back. It turns out Sayid, Bernard and Jin are alive. Hurley, Sawyer and Juliet rescued everyone, raising everyone's morale. Charlie, however, is still not back on the beach, but he was successful in his mission because Naomi's phone is no longer jammed. The survivors make it to the radio tower and Danielle turns off her rescue signal. Naomi gets a signal on her phone, but Locke appears and throws a knife into her back, killing her. Jack takes the phone and prepares to make the call to her ship, but Locke points a gun at him and tells him not to. Jack again refuses to back down and makes the call. Locke, dissapointed, lowers his gun and remarks that Jack is not supposed to have done that. Someone presumably from Naomi's ship answers the call and pinpoints their location. Everyone celebrates, hoping that they will be rescued. On The Beginning of the End Jack and Locke meet each other at the 815's cockpit and Jack shoves Locke to the ground takes his gun and pulls the trigger. Finding out it was not loaded because Locke had no intention of killing Jack the day before. And on that day Naomi's crew came on the island as they see Daniel jumping off an helicopter. and agree to help him find the rest of his crew, along the way the meet Miles who demands to see Naomi's body. And they tell him that Locke killed her. And soon after they see a flare fired up in the sky. Leading Jack and the group to find Frank the helicopter pilot. Frank tells the group that he was able to land the helicopter intact. After Miles figures out that Juliet is one of the Other's he demands to see Ben. Thus leading to Jack and Miles to argue about what to do with Ben and Miles other colleague Charlotte both taken prisoner by Locke. Which concludes into Sayid and Miles to bring back Charlotte without bloodshed. Jack returns to the beach camp with Juliet, Daniel, and Charlotte but soon grow uneasy after their failed attempts to contact the freighter by satellite phone. Jack and Juliet ask Charlotte if there is another phone number they can try. Charlotte dials an emergency number and speaks to Regina, who reports that the helicopter had never arrived. Later Sayid contacts Jack (knowing now they have arrived on the freighter) telling him that Desmond has amnesia. Daniel then ask Jack if Desmond has been exposed to any radiation or electromagnetism. Jack is unsure, making Daniel ask Desmond himself. The next day Juliet and Jack realize Charlotte and Daniel's absence from the shore, making the two follow them. On their way they come across an unconscious Kate, which makes the two split up letting Jack mend to Kate. Later, Jack catches up to Juliet after the neutralize the gas. Then, Juliet telling Jack she fear's for his safety because Ben believes Juliet belongs to him. But jack shows no worry and kisses her. 3 day's later Jack is having stomach problems and faints. Juliet diagnoses him with appendicitis, which will need surgery soon. Jack convinces Juliet to keep him awake during the surgery, with Kate holding a mirror so he can see the surgery. As Juliet operates, Jack's conscious proves to be detriment. Later Bernard come and knock him out with chloroform. The operation was successful. Afterwards Juliet tells Kate that Jack still loves her. Jack and Kate follow the tracking signal on the phone given to them by Frank Lapidus, who dropped it onto the survivors' beach from a helicopter. They encounter James "Sawyer" Ford, Aaron and Miles Straume; Kate returns to the beach with Miles and Aaron. Jack and Sawyer meet up with Lapidus at the helicopter, but decide to rescue Hurley, who is with Ben, the mercenaries' target, before leaving for the freighter. On the island, Jack and Sawyer meet up with Hurley and Locke at the Orchid station. Jack and Locke once more argue about the nature of the island. Jack, Kate, Sayid, Sawyer, Hurley, and Frank Lapidus leave the island on the helicopter, but discover a fuel leak on board. In order to lighten the helicopter, Sawyer jumps out after whispering something in Kate's ear and kissing her. The helicopter makes it to the Kahana in the nick of time; they refuel it, fix the leak, pick up Desmond Hume, Sun and Aaron and leave seconds before the C4 detonates. Kate convinces Jack that once returning home that they should claim that Aaron is Kate's biological son, while in fact his mother is Claire Littleton. Season 5 After Jack, Kate, and Hurley found their way back to the island they are found by Jin. In 1977, following the events of the previous episode "LaFleur", James "Sawyer" Ford explains to Jack, Kate and Hurley the situation regarding Dharma and the shift in time. James arranges for the three of them to join the Dharma Initiative as new recruits (Jack is assigned janitorial work and Hurley is a chef and Kate works in the motor pool) with help from Juliet Burke, who forges the necessary documentation. Later in the evening, Jack visits James and Juliet's house to discuss the situation. James tells Jack that he is in charge and has a different approach to leadership than Jack had with the survivors of Oceanic 815: James prefers to carefully plan out his actions, as opposed to Jack's more impulsive style of command. Juliet is unable to perform the necessary surgery on Ben and sends James "Sawyer" Ford to retrieve Jack Shephard, a neurosurgeon. Jack, knowing what Ben does in the future, refuses to help. Ben's father, Roger, arrives and notices that Ben has gone missing. He later tells Jack Shephard of his suspicions, leading Jack to tell Sawyer and Juliet. Later they decide to leave to the beach. But Kate, Jack and Daniel decide to visit the island's native population, the "Others", and get help to prevent the impending disaster. They arouse suspicion from Dharma's head of research, Radzinsky, while trying to steal weapons and a gun fight ensues. The survivors are able to escape; however, Radzinsky brings his team to Sawyer and Juliet's house, where they find Dharma member Phil tied up. Jack and Kate witness Eloise Hawking kill her sonDaniel Faraday in the Others' camp. As Jack and Kate debate whether they should follow through with Faraday's plan to detonate a hydrogen bomb in order to change future events, they are attacked and captured by Charles Widmore. Eloise believes their claim of being from the future and decides to take Jack's advice to detonate the bomb. They travel with Richard Alpert to a pond, which has an underwater entry to a series of tunnels in which the bomb is stored. The tunnels lie beneath the site of the Dharma Initiative's barracks. Kate does not want to take part in Jack's plan and leaves; however, an Other refuses to let her go, prompting an unseen Sayid Jarrah to shoot the Other. Sayid agrees to Jack's plan, but Kate still does not and compares Jack to John Locke, whom Jack once regarded as crazy. She leaves for the barracks and the others enter the tunnels. Richard Alpert and Eloise Hawking assist Jack and Sayid in entering the barracks via the basement of one of the houses. Richard knocks out Eloise to prevent her traveling with them to detonate the bomb because she is pregnant. Sayid dons a Dharma jumpsuit in order to fit in at the barracks; they almost escape when Roger Linus recognizes him and shoots him. Jack and Sayid escape in a van driven by Hugo "Hurley" Reyes, along with Jin-Soo Kwon and Miles Straume. Hurley drives to the construction site of the Swan station, while Jack treats Sayid's wounds; however, they are stopped by Juliet, Sawyer and Kate. Jack and Sawyer discuss the situation away from the other survivors, with Sawyer expressing his opinion that "what's done is done" and that they shouldn't try to change the past. Jack claims that it is his destiny to change the past and that John Locke has always been right about the island. Jack and Sawyer get into a fist fight, which is broken up by Juliet, who now agrees with Jack that they must detonate the bomb. She tells Sawyer that although they love each other, they are not meant to be together (echoing her parents), and that if they never meet then she will never have to lose him. Jack enters the construction site at the same time that security officer Phil arrives with a team of armed men. A massive gunfight ensues, wherein the survivors gain the upper hand, allowing Jack to drop the bomb into the pit at the same time that the drill hits the energy source. The nuke fails to go off, and the pocket is breached, attracting every metal object in the area. In the ensuing chaos, Dr. Chang's arm is crushed by part of the drill mounting, Phil is stabbed by a rebar, and Juliet is dragged into the chasm by a metal chain. Sawyer attempts to pull her up in vain, and Juliet professes her love for him before falling. She manages to survive the fall, albeit severely injured, and hits the nuclear core with a rock repeatedly until it detonates.

After the Island
In the future, Jack has become a drug-addicted alcoholic and is contemplating suicide. Just before he can jump off a bridge, a car crashes and he rescues a woman and her son from the wreckage. Back in the hospital, he encounters his pregnant ex-wife, since her name was still listed as his Emergency Contact. The next day, Jack wants to perform back surgery on the woman from the car accident, but the Chief of Surgery rejects his offer.

Jack then goes to a funeral of an unidentified person and is the only person to show up. Later he attempts to fill a prescription for Oxycodone; however the prescription is out of refills, and he is unable to persuade the pharmacist that he is filling a prescription for his father. Outraged, he then returns to the hospital and steals several small packages of Oxycodone, where he is confronted by the chief, who says the patient has awoken and told him Jack distracted her, causing the crash. Jack tells the Chief to bring his father down and see which Shephard is drunker.

Jack leaves angrily and returns to his apartment, a mess with dozens of maps of what appears to be the Pacific Ocean and many items that are marked "Oceanic". Here he calls Kate, asking her to meet him at the airport. He tells her about the funeral and that he has been flying across the Pacific Ocean every week (using a "Gold Pass" provided by Oceanic Airlines), hoping that the plane will crash. Distraught, Jack tells her that it was a mistake to leave the island, that they "weren't meant" to do it and that they have to go back. She disagrees, gets back into her car and drives off into the night. A passenger jet soars off overhead as Jack yells after her "We have to go back!"

Later, Jack returns to the funeral parlour where he attended the funeral earlier and breaks in by smashing the window with a brick. Once inside, he is startled by Ben Linus, who tells him that if they are to return to the island, all who left must go back, even John Locke who is revealed to be the body in the coffin. Jack and Ben then attempt to round up the rest of the Oceanic Six, but are only able to get Sun and Desmond to come with them to the church, however Desmond refuses to go back to the island and storms out. Eloise tells Jack that in order to return to the island, they must recreate as best they can the conditions of their arrival in the first place, and also gives him Locke's suicide note, which he refuses to read. Jack then visits his grandfather and gets a pair of his father's shoes, which he puts on Locke's dead body. Upon returning to his hotel room, he finds Kate already inside, who makes him promise not to ask her what happened to Aaron, and they kiss. Jack, Ben, Kate and Sun then head to the airport where they are surprised to see that Sayid and Hurley are on the same flight as them, Ajirah Flight 316. They board the plane, and Ben convinces Jack to read John Locke's suicide note which reads 'If Only You Had Believed Me.' Jack asks to see the pilot who turns out to be none other than Frank Lapidus, who had also left the island. The plane soon encounters turbulence and there is a blinding flash, which transports Jack, Kate, Hurley and Sayid back to the island in 1977.

Season 6
Jack is terrified when he sees the ruins of the hatch and belives that nothing changed after the explotion, James screams Julliet's name trying to enter the hole, the group manages to get him in, eventually coming out of it with her corpse and a furious look at Jack, to which himself aknowledges is true.

When the group is caught by the people of the temple, Jack tries to prevent Ogen henchmen from taking Sayid to the water, where apparently he dies, Jack eventually meets Ogen and demands an explanation but to no avail and is later ashamed when he meets James being brought to the temple, and amazed later on when he sees Sayid coming back to life.

With the resurrection of Sayid, he is tortured by Ogen and his men, and when Jack asks for an answer he offers him a pill that will kill him, because the man Sayid once was is bound to dissapear and the darkness to take over, however Jack's trust in Sayid tells him the truth so he doesn't takes the pill.

Days later after the dissapearance of Kate and James, Hugo asks for Jack to join him look for Jacobs lighthouse, the two go and Jack explains that ever since he go Julliet killed he has choosen to move along the others and not to lead the way because he thinks he must let thing go.

On the lighthouse the two see a mirror wich reflects the world and Jack sees the house where he grew up, and names of the rest of the group on a large panel, but without an answer from Hugo (or Jacob) about the meaning of it, he destroyed the device.

On their way to the temple Hugo and Jack meet Richard who is about to kill himself blowing up the Black Rock with him, to wich jack states that all those who set a foot on the Island is because they have a destiny, and a prove of it is that the dynamite Richard uses doesn't blows up.

Back to the beach, Hugo, Jack and Richard meet Ilana, Sun, Miles and Lapidus. Later Jack lets Hugo go after Richard and chooses to go with Hugo, Sun and Lapidus when the group splits to find Locke. In Locke's camp Jack asks him if it was him who took the shape of his father after the dissapearance of the corpse, to wich Locke states its true but never on detail and leaves Jack to speak with his sister Claire.

When Locke asks James to go find Elizabeth's boat in a rendervous point, the group splits from the rest of Locke's people and intend to escape on Widmore's submarine, on the boat Jack states that hi is not going to leave the island because he belives they are brought there for a reason, James enraged for that, orders him to leave the boat and trows him over board. Leaving him Jack manages to get back on the beach where he meets Locke and his men who are killed by a weapon of Widmore, Jack is wounded but Locke saves him and with Sayid take him to the Hydra Island.

Jack is forced to go with Locke and Sayid and they are reunited with James and the others when he saves them from the polar bear cells, then they are headed for the plane where Locke takes out a pack of C4 and takes the whole group to the submarine, the group enters and Jack stays behind with Locke just by the time when Widmore's men arrive shooting at Kate, Jack then rushes to save her and takes her into the sub, James desperate closes the hatch and abandons Claire with Locke.

On the sub, Jack intends to save Kate but realises that he has the C4 planted on his backpack by Locke, Sayid explains a way to disarm the bomb, to wich James offer to do, but is stoped by Jack who explains that Locke cannot kill them directly unless he makes them they kill each other, because they are special and they are on the island for a reason, Jack begs to James to trust him but because of Julliet accident James refuses and disconnects the bomb wich in turn is ready to blow up, then Sayid tells Jack where Desmond is and that he knows Jack is the definitive candidate, just before running away to keep everyone away from the bombs reach and creating a fissure on the submarine.

When the submarine starts to flood, Jack asks for Hugo to leave with Kate while he and James try to help Jin release Sun who was traped by a large desk, the trio manage to take it out of the way just as its revealed that Sun is traped by a deformed structure of the sub, the trio start to move the large metal piece when something hits James rendering him unconsious, Jack trying to keep James from drowning tries to hel Jin but he asks him to leave, Jack has nothing to do but to take James to the surface where they meet Hugo and Kate and begin to cry for their lost friends. While Jack is patching Kate's bullet wound received from one of the Widmore "others", Kate goes on to grieve for the loss of Sun Kwon and Jin Kwon in the submarine, realizing that Jin had never been able to see his daughter, Ji Yeon, before he died. Jack then informs the group that they must find Desmond, reasoning that since the Man in Black wanted Desmond dead, they would need him in the events to follow. Jack, Kate, Hurley, and Sawyer make it to the campfire, where Jacob (who they can all see for the first time) tells them that they were brought to the island to take his place as protector of the island, and they were chosen above others because they were like him. They, throughout their lives, had nothing to cling to, and felt alone in the world, so he brought them here because they needed to fill that empty hole with the island. Jacob explains that the light, the "heart" of the island (seen in "Across the Sea"), needs to be protected from the Man in Black. He then tells them that one of them needs to choose who will be the next guardian. Jack steps forward, stating that it was why he was brought there. Jacob then gives Jack a cup of water, and Jack takes the drink, accepting his responsibility. Jacob then tells Jack that he is now like him. Jack later leads the group to the heart of the island where Desmond removes the covering, shutting it off. As a side-effect, both Jack and the Man in Black are made mortal again and they end up in a fight to the death on a cliffside. Jack is mortally wounded, but after Kate shoots the Man in Black in the form of John Locke, Jack finally kills him by throwing him off the cliff. Jack and Kate share a tearful goodbye, sharing a kiss and professing their love to each other. Jack passes on his role as protector of the island to Hurley and saves the island by restoring the light. Jack saves Desmond, but is unable to save himself. The Source teleports Jack to the bamboo thicket where he first woke up and there, in the exact place he regained conciousness after the crash, he dies with Vincent at his side.