Contents 1 Before the crash 1.1 Childhood 1.2 Professional Education 1.3 Saving Sarah 1.4 Marriage To Sarah 1.5 Divorce and Aftermath 1.6 Betraying His Father 1.7 Oceanic Flight 815

Before the crash

Childhood

Jack Shephard is the son of Dr. Christian and Margo Shephard. He was also, through his father, the half-brother of fellow Oceanic Flight 815 survivor Claire Littleton. As an adolescent, Jack was beaten by a teenage bully after attempting to rescue his friend Marc Silverman. Jack later explained the cause of his injuries to his intoxicated father, who informed him over a glass of whiskey of his own ability to cope with the consequences of difficult life and death decisions. He advised Jack not to attempt to be a hero because he didn't have what it took to cope with failing. ("White Rabbit")

At some point during his lifetime, Jack took a small number of flying lessons, but chose not to continue with them because "it wasn't for me." ("Pilot, Part 1")

Professional Education

Jack attended Columbia University and then graduated from UCLA medical school a year faster than anyone else. ("A Tale of Two Cities") Following this, Jack began working with his father at St. Sebastian Hospital as a spinal surgeon. ("All the Best Cowboys Have Daddy Issues")

Saving Sarah

At around 8:15 AM on an unknown date in 2002, Jack was presented with two victims of a head-on collision involving two SUVs. Jack chose to save the woman, Sarah, whose spine was severely damaged, at the older man's expense. ("Man of Science, Man of Faith") Afterwards, he passed the man's daughter. ("Abandoned") Upon Sarah's inquiries regarding her condition, Jack told her she would never walk again. Christian overheard this and advised his son to be more optimistic in his dealings with patients. Jack informed Sarah's fiance Kevin of the extent of her injuries and became annoyed when Kevin appeared to question whether he wanted to continue his relationship with Sarah. While preparing for surgery, Jack overstepped his professional relationship with Sarah, promising to fix her.

After what he felt was an unsuccessful surgery, Jack left the hospital for a nearby stadium, where he began a tour de stade. Another man was there doing the same thing, and as Jack tried to outrun him, he fell and hurt his ankle. The stranger came to Jack's aid and introduced himself as Desmond. He intuitively guessed Jack was worried about a woman and hypothetically questioned whether Jack had really failed to fix her. Desmond also explained that he too was once "almost a doctor." He gave Jack the advice to "lift it up," ostensibly referring to the injured ankle, though the phrase may have had a more philosophical meaning. Desmond left, promising to see Jack "in another life." Jack went back to the hospital and tearfully informed Sarah of his failure to reverse the damage to her spine. She accused him of "yanking her chain," claiming she could wiggle her toes. Jack examined her legs and concluded he had indeed fixed her as he had promised. ("Man of Science, Man of Faith")

Marriage To Sarah

Some time later, likely in 2003, Jack's childhood friend Marc Silverman expressed his fears about giving a toast at Jack's upcoming rehearsal dinner.

Jack tried to allay those fears, telling his friend there was still time to back out. Silverman planned to drink heavily beforehand, claiming eight beers should be enough to calm his nerves. Following Marc's speech at the rehearsal, Sarah gave a toast to Jack. She cited him as heroic and highly committed, and said because of him she would be able to dance at their wedding. Jack and Sarah spoke later while playing a duet on a piano in the hotel in which the wedding was to be held. During this conversation, Sarah attempted to calm Jack's nerves about the vows they had promised to write. Jack's father arrived later that night and found Jack dangling his feet in the hotel pool. Christian joined him and listened as Jack told him he was having difficulty writing his vows and feared he was only marrying Sarah because he had saved her life two years before. Christian complimented his son on his ability to remain absolutely committed, but thought it made him "not good at letting go." Some hours before the wedding, Christian joined Jack as he stood on the beach throwing rocks into the ocean and presented him with the watch his own father had given him on his wedding day. Christian explained that he had never worn the watch because his father had disapproved of his marrying Margo. Christian gave the watch to Jack, asking him to be a better father than himself. Later, at the wedding, Jack improvised his vows, telling Sarah of his belief that rather than his having fixed her, she had fixed him, and of his resulting unconditional love for her. ("Do No Harm"), ("The Watch")

In early December of 2003, Jack and his father were approached by a wealthy Italian man named Angelo Busoni who had, after being diagnosed with a spinal tumor, chosen to be treated at St. Sebastian Hospital because of the miracle Jack had performed on Sarah. Christian, who was at that time Chief of Surgery, believed the elderly man's tumor was inoperable and, although Jack shared Christian's opinion and was aware of the differences between his current patient's condition and that of his wife, he nonetheless agreed to operate. Jack's subsequent dedication to his patient and a dangerous level of association with his daughter Gabriela, put a strain on his marriage. After Angelo's death as a result of heart failure on the operating table, Jack and Gabriela shared a kiss, after which Jack resolved to fix his marriage. When he confessed the kiss to his wife, Sarah told him she was going to leave him for another man, citing Jack's compulsive obsession with fixing things as the major catalyst for her desire for divorce. ("The Hunting Party")

Divorce and Aftermath

In February 2004, Jack stalked his estranged wife, waiting outside the kindergarten at which she taught. Enraged with jealousy, Jack bitterly contested the divorce and became obsessed with discovering the identity of Sarah's lover. At one point, he fired his lawyer and offered Sarah all his possessions in exchange for the man's name, a demand she ignored. Later, having somehow acquired her cell phone, Jack began calling all of Sarah's contacts, convinced that one of them was her new lover. He dialed a number in his father's presence and Christian's phone began to ring, causing Jack to believe it was Christian who had stolen his wife. Upon being asked why Sarah would be calling him, Christian demanded that his son let her go. Ignoring this, Jack repeated his question and Christian told him Sarah was concerned about Jack's obsession. Jack replied that, despite being "a drunk," his father would not know what it meant to be obsessive.

Later, while discussing a patient's treatment with a nurse Jack overheard Christian laughing into his phone. Jack assumed that Christian was talking to Sarah. He followed his father to the Lynford Hotel and into an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting. After a brief confrontation in which Jack demanded to see his father's cell phone and mocked his achievement of staying sober for fifty days, Jack outright accused Christian of sleeping with his wife. Shortly after, Jack physically attacked his father, an action which resulted in his arrest and subsequent jailing. Jack was bailed out by his former wife, who had been informed of Jack's incarceration by an extremely drunk Christian Shephard over the phone. Jack again probed Sarah for information regarding her new boyfriend, but she refused to answer, and left the building. Jack chased after Sarah outside and, seeing a man standing by a car across the street, asked Sarah if that was he (her lover). Sarah said it didn't matter, but that Jack should be happy he once again had something to fix. ("A Tale of Two Cities")

Following the collapse of his marriage, Jack took a trip to Thailand to relax. While there, he met a mysterious woman named Achara. They became friends and occasionally slept together. Jack tried to find out what she did for a living, but she was very secretive about her work. Jack followed her one night. When he confronted her, Achara told him she saw into people and translated what she saw into tattoos. Jack grew strangely forceful and demanded to know what she saw in him. Achara became very emotional and told Jack she saw him as a leader who, although strong, could also be unhappy. Jack insisted she tattoo him. Achara warned there would be consequences, but gave in. The tattoo that Achara designed on Jack's arm translates to "He walks among us, but is not one of us." The next day, when Jack emerged from his tent on the beach, the people he had befriended earlier attacked him violently. They screamed at him, telling him to leave and never return. As Jack struggled to get up he saw Achara watching sadly from a short distance away. ("Stranger in a Strange Land")

Betraying His Father

In July of 2004, Jack was called into surgery by one of the operating nurses, who had observed his intoxicated father mistakenly cut the hepatic artery of a patient. Taking over his father's role as surgeon-of-record, Jack attempted to rectify the error; however, despite resealing the woman's artery, her rapid blood loss and resulting cardiac arrest caused her death. After the surgery, a confrontation ensued between the two Shephards, during which Christian said his son had no right barging into his surgery. Jack contended that his actions were justified, given his father's impaired state at the time of the surgery. A short time later, Jack was called into his father's office and asked to sign a falsified report of the woman's death, which stated that Jack had accompanied his father during the surgery, but in spite of their "most valiant efforts," the woman had died of massive blood loss caused by her severe internal injuries. Although Jack initially refused to sign the document, stating that his father deserved to face the consequences of his actions - including the revocation of his license - his father ultimately goaded him into it. Following this meeting, Jack witnessed his father consoling the deceased woman's husband, who was threatening legal action against the hospital for his wife's death. This, in addition to Jack's discovery of the

woman's pregnancy at the time of the surgery, caused Jack to revise his statement to the panel responsible for determining whether any action should be taken regarding her death. Rather than agreeing with what had been written in Christian's falsified report, Jack revealed the truth about what had occurred during the surgery, concluding with his belief that his intoxicated father's actions, rather than the woman's injuries, were the direct cause of her death. ("All the Best Cowboys Have Daddy Issues")

In mid-September of 2004, at the behest of his frantically worried mother Margo, Jack traveled to Sydney, Australia in search of his missing father, despite their lack of communication in the previous few months. Jack searched his father's hotel room and found his wallet, some alcohol, and a collection of pills. He later learned his father had died due to an alcohol-induced heart attack. He attempted to load his father's body onto the same plane on which he was to return to America, but had trouble getting the casket on the plane because he had not made the proper arrangements. ("White Rabbit")

Oceanic Flight 815

However, after a heartfelt plea to an Oceanic Airlines ticket agent named Chrissy, in which Jack stated his need for closure regarding his father's death, he was able to have the coffin loaded onto the plane.("White Rabbit")

Just prior to boarding Oceanic Flight 815, after his conversation with Chrissy, Jack met Ana Lucia Cortez in an airport bar. Ana Lucia was assigned to seat 42F on the same flight. Jack mentioned his father's death, as well as the fact that he had once been married. Ana Lucia stated her opinion that children should not work with their parents. When Ana Lucia received a phone call, she left, but promised to have another drink with Jack on the plane. ("Exodus, Part 1")

Jack sat in seat 23B, and had a conversation with Australian flight attendant Cindy Chandler, who handed him two airline bottles of vodka, one of which he consumed immediately. A short time after this, while rising from his seat, Jack was nearly knocked down by a man hurrying up the aisle. This prompted a conversation with nearby passenger Rose Nadler, whose husband Bernard was in the bathroom. After Rose's reaction to some light turbulence, Jack attempted to allay her fears. Very soon, however, the plane began to shake more violently before making a sharp, uncontrolled descent. Due to the loss of cabin pressure, oxygen masks fell from the ceiling of the plane. Despite putting his mask on, Jack blacked out before the plane's tail separated from the mid-section. ("Pilot, Part 1")