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Twitter'Light vs. Dark' in 'Lost': Sarah's surgery
We're heading into Season 2 in one of my favorite off-season series here on the "Lost" blog: "Light vs. Dark." In this series, we're looking back at seminal moments in the show's history in which either Jacob or The Man in Black, figures only recently cast into view, may have had an invisible but palpable impact.Today? We're looking at the "miraculous" recovery of Sarah Shephard, Jack's ex-wife. I put "miraculous" in "quotes" because you could, of course, argue that her recovery is due to nothing more than a skilled surgery with low self-esteem. But this series is all about "What If?": what if there was more to it than mere skill?
The Episode: "Man of Science, Man of Faith"
The Sequence: In 2001, surgeon Jack Shephard is presented with two victims of a car crash. He chooses to focus his efforts on Sarah, the younger woman, ignoring the older man (the father of Shannon and stepfather of Boone) in the process. While he saves her life, he informs her that she'll never walk again. However, through a combination of Christian Shephard's counsel and Sarah's boyfriend's callousness, he vows to fix her. He soon regrets this vow, fearing that the risky surgery did not work. He confesses his fears to Desmond in a nearby stadium, although Des' attitude is more optimistic than Jack's. But Sarah indeed recovers, much to Jack's surprise.
The Case for Jacob: Well before Sarah entered Jack's life, Jacob had already visited him. In fact, he visited him at the very moment that Jack relates to Kate during their first conversation on the Island (nicking a patient's dural sac and counting to five to cure the fear, a technique suggested by Christian). During that visit, Jacob spoke of the lodged Apollo Bar in the hospital's vending machine as needing "a little push." Maybe Sarah's recovery was another form of that push, in this case pushing Jack past science into the realm of faith.
The Case for The Man in Black: Ah, but what's a better way to stave off any belief in things beyond your eyes than to offer the appearance of a miracle, only to return it slowly towards mundanity? Better to give a glimpse of hope and crush it, no? Jack's marriage to Sarah was, quite frankly, a disaster, and only served to reinforce his hard-line, practical approach to life. In his eyes, how could Sarah's recovery be a miracle if their lives together were hell?
The Zap2it Opinion: We're feeling positive this week, people, and so we're picking Jacob this time out. Jack's destructive emotions derived from his time with Sarah only dissipated on the Island, deep in the heart of the Hydra's shark observatory in "A Tale of Two Cities." It's a strong case for The Island being the only place on earth in which these characters could truly come to terms with their past and finally find a piece of peace.
What do YOU think?
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Come on, only good forces could bring Julie Bowen into the Lost framework. A good question would be if by Jack resetting everything, they wind up in a place where he and Sarah are still married. Alright, that probably won't happen but I kinda want to see more of her in S6 (and what she was really up to with Christian).
Also, I think I heard Julie Bowen say she came up with the idea for Sarah. She was a fan of the show and called up Darlton saying Jack needed a wife. So I guess they didn't want to find Jack's wife, they wanted Julie to want to be Jack's wife?
Ryan & A-Rob: Reading these posts gave me a thought about the season premiere's episode title - what if the "X" in "LA X" actually refers to Sarah? The Oceanic 6 disappear AGAIN on a trans-Pacific flight, and Sarah's reaction to events is featured for a few scenes.
As for who is really responsible the success of her surgery, I'd say TMIB - though possibly for different reasons than Ryan stated.
I strongly suspect that when Jacob went looking for Jack, Kate, Sawyer, etc., TMIB secretly followed. Why? To manipulate Jacob's "chosen one's" in an effort to taint them, and foil Jacob's plans for them. This implies that TMIB had to continue his manipulations to ensure that Jack & Sarah didn't work out as a couple...perhaps by (somehow) maneuvering Christian and Sarah together?
hmm let's see.
jack saved sarah. jack married sarah. sarah leaves jack. jack goes crazy and alcohol ridden and blames his father for everything wrong in his life.
jack is always trying to find something to fight against. the guy does not know the meaning of the word content.
maybe jacob is trying to push him in the right direction, but i can't help but wonder if mib has contributed to the root of jack's issues somehow somewhere in the past that we haven't seen yet.
I think Jacob is nudging him, but he's too stubborn to be content like snot said. Even though he tries. He had the chance to see who Sarah ended up with but only wanted to know if she was happy. He's trying, but failing miserably.
I'd love to see a bit more of Sarah, but she's SO awesome on Modern Family!!!!
Definately Jacob...he gave Jack the "push" into becoming a man of faith and in turn started his obsessiveness to "fix " everything, but he also gave Sarah a "push" as well. Remember Jacob is always preaching for people do do whatever they want....that they have free will to choose and she of course chose to live and to walk again.
I'm really reluctant to give the responsibility to TMIB on this one, because as of now, we still don't have any proof that he has the same off-island influence as Jacob. You could definetly make the case for it, but I think Jacob is the only one we have reasons to believe had influence on this particular event.
Maybe Jacob gave Jack the 'push' to use his tendency to 'fix' things to save Sarah (important tendency for Doctors), but MIB exploited this tendency, and 'pushed' it full throttle, making it Jack's dominant personality trait. This helped end Jack's marriage, and set him down his current path.
Anyone see Jacob on The Mentalist last week?
Yes saw him on The Mentalist...much different character than Jacob.
I am glad Obama's public option got many votes but I would say all Jacob.
Jacob spoke of needing a push while Christian said wait and count to 5. (mirror images)
Not until Jack literally took a leap of faith in the lagoon in 316 did he heed Jacob's advice.