Writing About Jack

Jack is a VERY popular name right now. Driving home tonight, I was pondering random patterns as I'm wont to do, and the fact that four hour-long dramas I watch regularly feature a character named Jack(and none of those shows is Jack and Bobby either). I guess when Kristine listed Jack Stiles, it got me thinking about how common a name it is. There's something about a one syllable name ending in “ck” that's tough and masculine. Nick Fury. Dick Grayson. Chuck Woolery? Okay, maybe it's not a perfect theory, but there are some pretty cool Jacks on the small screen right now. This post is more than likely to contain spoilers for the shows being discussed, so read on with caution.

For four years, it's been a solid fact that everyone is incompetent in law enforcement, and only one man knows the right way to get the job done, even if it means going to extremes. On 24, Jack Bauer has tortured suspects, driven the wrong way on the freeway, taken heroin to “fit in” with drug lords while undercover, beheaded a guy, flown a plane with a nuclear bomb out in to the desert, and dealt with having a kidnapping-prone daughter. Those are just some highlights from four days of this character's life and since each season is set a few years apart, who knows what goes on that we don't see. If you want ruthless terrorists stopped by any means necessary, set Jack loose and stay out of his way. If you're a bad guy and you value life, limb, and your family's apparent well-being, don't mess with Jack.

If there's another Jack on the air that bad guys would do well to avoid, it's Alias' Jack Bristow. Like Bauer, he too has a daughter, but she's a formidable fighter, spy, and master of disguise. The apple doesn't fall far from the tree, but she'll break down and cry every now and then. Not Jack. A loving father and a focused CIA agent, he rarely cracks a smile and he's always all-business. You never know when he's going to shoot someone he's interrogating, garrote an old friend, kill his wife, or laugh off massive doses of radiation and continue doing paperwork back at the office like nothing happened. Jack's tough like that.

On Lost, Jack Shepard is a different sort of hero than the first two. He's a doctor, not a member of an elite antiterrorist unit or a spy. All he really has in common with Jack Bauer is occasionally being in the vicinity of Daniel Dae Kim. The only trait he shares with Bristow is a passionate need to save those he cares about. Actually, it goes beyond that, and his hero complex is both his greatest strength and weakness. Within minutes of surviving a massive plane crash on a desert island, he was running down a beach from survivor to survivor, tending to the wounded. He's pounded furiously on the chest of a seemingly dead man. He managed to transfuse his own blood into another badly injured castaway. Once focused, he has a hard time letting go. He's never personally tortured anyone like Bauer or Bristow, but he did authorize someone else to do so when another's life was at stake. It haunted him later, but when caught in the grip of rage fueled by a patient's well-being, Jack Shepard is not someone you'd want as an enemy.

The last Jack I'll write about isn't a hero, though he'd tell you otherwise. Every week on Tru Calling, Jack Harper does his best to prevent the title character from doing her job. Someone dies, and the day rewinds. Only these two remember the events that transpired. She uses what she knows to save the victim. He tries to insure they stay dead, and insists that SHE'S the villain for messing with the natural order of things. He goes about his business cold and unemotionally, occasionally taunting her. In a twist in tonight's episode, the victim asks HIM for help instead of Tru, and when the day rewinds he struggles to make the right decision. He spends the day with the woman who may die again, and without exactly telling her what his job is, does admit that sometimes he hates it, but he isn't strong enough to quit. If he saves her, he's altered the natural course of things and by his own definition, committed an act of villainy. But after getting to know her and starting to care for her, how would he react if she died all over again? How would he handle that? I'm not going to spoil which scenario played out tonight, but I'm even more upset that there are only two episodes remaining.

I don't know why the name is so popular right now, but this is definitely a formidable foursome. Whatever shows you watch, it’s safe to say that most people know Jack...