All the Best Cowboys Have Daddy Issues (8 Dec. 2004)

Jack, Kate, Locke and Boone go after Ethan, Claire and Charlie. They separate, and while Jack and Kate confront Ethan, Locke and Boon find another mystery at the jungle. Flashbacks reveal more about Jack's past with his dad.

Director:

Stephen Williams

Writers:

Jeffrey Lieber (creator), J.J. Abrams (creator),

Stars:

Naveen Andrews, Matthew Fox, Jorge Garcia

Cast

Episode cast overview, first billed only:
Naveen Andrews	...	Sayid Jarrah
Matthew Fox	...	Jack Shephard
Jorge Garcia	...	Hugo 'Hurley' Reyes
Maggie Grace	...	Shannon Rutherford
Josh Holloway	...	James 'Sawyer' Ford
Malcolm David Kelley	...	Walt Lloyd
Daniel Dae Kim	...	Jin Kwon (credit only)
Yunjin Kim	...	Sun Kwon (credit only)
Evangeline Lilly	...	Kate Austen
Dominic Monaghan	...	Charlie Pace
Terry O'Quinn	...	John Locke
Harold Perrineau	...	Michael Dawson
Ian Somerhalder	...	Boone Carlyle
William Mapother	...	Ethan Rom
John Terry	...	Christian Shephard

Storyline

Claire Littleton and Charlie Pace are abducted by the mysterious Ethan Rom, and Dr. Jack Shephard, Kate Austen, John Locke and Boone Carlyle go after them. When the leads divide, the group split in two. Jack follows with Kate and recalls his sad past with his father. He struggles against Ethan who reveals himself not an ordinary man revealing to have super speed, agility, and near-superhuman strength. Kate and Jack later they find a near-death Charlie hanged in a tree. Things take another mysterious turn when Locke and Boone find a mysterious hatch in the jungle. Meanwhile, the nasty Sawyer confronts Sayid about torturing him, and is skeptic to Sayid's claim about other people hiding on the island.

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Plot Keywords:

labrador retriever | mysterious island

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Genres:

Adventure | Drama | Fantasy | Mystery | Sci-Fi | Thriller

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Certificate:

TV-14

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English Korean

Release Date:

8 December 2004 (USA)

Filming Locations:

O'ahu, Hawaii, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

Bad Robot, Touchstone Television

Technical Specs

Runtime:

42 min

Sound Mix:

Stereo

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.78 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

This episode marks the survivors' first discovery of the hatch.

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Goofs

While Jack is speaking with his dad, you hear the pen his dad hands him click, yet it is clearly a pen that needs to be twisted and you then see Jack twist it to sign the document.

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Quotes

Boone: It's about fifteen minutes since we've seen any sign. What are we following?
Locke: My gut.

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Connections

References Fantasy Island (1977)

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Soundtracks

"End Title"
Written by Michael Giacchino
Performed by Hollywood Studio Symphony Orchestra

User Reviews

Morally at odds with one: an Other

"I know I have been hard on you, but that is how you make a soft metal into steel. That is why you are the most gifted young surgeon in this city. And this, this is a career that is all about the greater good. I've had to sacrifice certain aspects of my relationship with you so that hundreds and thousands of patients will live because of your extraordinary skills. I know it's a long time coming. What happened yesterday, I promise you, will never happen again. And after all, what I've given -- this is not just about my career, Jack. It's my life."

Since Jack Shephard has already been established as a leader and a protagonist, giving his character moral dilemmas in both the past and the present is a logical direction for his character. This is exactly what is done in "All The Best Cowboys Have Daddy Issues". In both instances though, Jack strives for the best results he can obtain, despite possible consequences. In his flashback, Christian lectures him about the greater good. However, Jack twists the meaning behind Christian's words, and ends up sacrificing his relationship with his father for his own "greater good": telling the truth about what happened at the procedure, and having Christian pay fair consequence since he may be unreliable on the table again.

Jack faced a similar dilemma on-island in this episode, which was just as much of a life-or-death situation. After Ethan caught on to the fact that Jack and Kate had been tracking him, Ethan fought Jack and won, warning him, "If you do not stop following me, I will kill one of them." Jack chose to strive for the best and continue following Ethan, but when Charlie was hung from a tree, Jack was eventually forced to give up, and was very lucky to save him. Jack came to realize after this that his lay-it-all-on-the-line mindset may not always be the best option, based upon how near Charlie came to death.

Morality and the choices that it complicates lace the entire episode. Michael, desperate to help and also jealous of his son's admiration for Locke, insists on taking his own trail, attempting to impress Walt, but he ends up going nowhere in terms of both geography and productivity. Sayid allows Sawyer an opportunity to strike him in revenge, but even the cold-hearted Sawyer passes up this opportunity, choosing instead to ask Sayid about his well-being and his recent discoveries.

The episode is thrilling and dramatic, incredibly well-written and especially well-shot. Roughly the same actors have prominent roles, important roles and well-acted roles as in Jack's first centric episode, "White Rabbit". Matthew Fox, Terry O'Quinn, John Terry, Evangeline Lilly and Ian Somerhalder lead the pack once again, but most of the cast has their two cents to add. Fox emotes Jack's mindless dedication in both flashback and real-time very effectively, and he bounces off O'Quinn, Lilly and Terry beautifully. In addition to his early scenes with Fox, O'Quinn also takes another opportunity to add to Locke's ever-growing mystique through his scenes with Boone. Despite O'Quinn's skill with dialogue, it is a non-verbal moment that is his most memorable achievement in the episode; O'Quinn's embrace of the rain he predicted a minute early, to Boone's suspicious bewilderment.

This episode is also historically important for the show in terms of character, plot and mythology alike. Locke and Boone are granted new character arcs in the final scene of the episode, in which the hatch that will line the rest of their scenes together is first introduced. Charlie's darker story begins when he is returned to camp, and begins worrying about Claire.

But we must come back to Jack, who is already beginning to emerge as the leader he once questioned he was capable of being. The setup of what longterm viewers know is a very important opposition between Jack and Locke is also beginning. Although it was at first Locke who egged Jack on to lead when he could, Locke here insists that Jack let him take the reins, but Jack quickly brushes his rival's words aside with a "Can we go now?" Nevertheless, Locke's analysis of the Ethan situation pushes forward his emerging conflict with Jack, while all the while addressing the only major plot line in this episode I didn't yet write about here: the emergence of the Others and the mystery surrounding them.

"I hunted with Ethan. I spent time with him. I never sensed anything off. But for everything that I know about hunting, tracking -- whoever he is, he knows more. If we catch up with him, I don't want anything to happen to the only trained physician on the island. So go back, be the doctor. Let me be the hunter."

Standout performances: Matthew Fox, Terry O'Quinn, John Terry.

Standout scene: Jack revives Charlie.