I both agree and disagree. I think they're both heavily flawed.
Now, I'm a firm member of Team James. I don't like Jack, never have. Jack is not a good guy. Yes, it is true that Sawyer has done more criminal acts than Jack has, and he built a career on it to boot. But Jack is not squeaky clean either, and that's one of the things that tends to annoy me about Team Jack - they don't acknowledge Jack's wrongdoings, and there's a laundry list of those (stalking his ex-wife, assaulting his father, assaulting Achara, as a start). Now I can't claim to speak for Team James as a whole, but from my experience, most of Team James acknowledges Sawyer's wrongdoings and James' flaws.
They both have their own personal demons, they just deal with them in different ways. Jack tends to deal with them by blaming other people. His father, his ex-wife, the Others, whoever was convenient. Sawyer blames himself. He always has. Which is why he was always such a bastard to everyone - he didn't think he deserved to be cared about by anyone, because he couldn't forgive himself for what he had become. And this all sprung out of revenge, and, at times, he does let it consume him. But I think this need for revenge ended with the end of season three, because this revenge was then accomplished. Which opened the door to Sawyer letting go of his personal demons and becoming a better person. While causing the deaths of two people is certainly a less than ideal way to go about becoming a better person, with the ethics of the Island in play, it was the only resolution at the time.
This essay barely mentions James in seasons four and five, which I think is a mistake, since they are extremely important to his character - perhaps the most important. There's also scant attention paid to the fact that the episodes up to/including 5x08 and the episodes after/including 5x08 take place three years apart. In this time, James has grown up and built a life for himself. Got the girl and lived in peace - something that he hasn't had since he was a child.
And then? Along comes Jack. Coming to "save" everyone again. Even before Faraday and the bomb came along, Jack and James were pitted against each other again over the issue of helping save a young Ben. Jack couldn't stand the new world he was in, and when Faraday came along spouting his crazy ideas, Jack found the perfect tool to "fix" everything. But fix what, exactly? I don't know why Jack thought Faraday's plan was a good plan. Sure, they were in the wrong time period. But other than that, things were pretty good (with a few problems, but these were caused by Jack and Sayid - I'll get to him in a moment). But Jack needed something to fix. Something to save. Just like always. Even though multiple people (namely Juliet and James) told him they didn't need saving. That they were happy.
Fastforward to the Swan. James has lost everything he had with the Dharma Initiative, except for one thing - Juliet. Then, a few minutes later, he loses her too. Everything that had turned him into an honest man disappears in the space of a few hours. He's consumed with anger, rage, depression and a desire to exact revenge (there it is again) on those responsible.
Wait a minute. That sounds familiar, doesn't it? Now, I'm not talking about James' early life, though there's the parallel there as well. I'm talking about Sayid. Sayid in season five (and flashforward season four) is where James is in season six. Both men who are overwhelmed with grief and the rage that springs from it, and this lead them making bad decisions, which are then made worse through the influence of others preying on their grief to use them for their own ends.
But I think this need for revenge ended with the end of season three, because this revenge was then accomplished. Which opened the door to Sawyer letting go of his personal demons and becoming a better person.
You didn't find this disturbing? I did. I was disgusted. That was the ONLY way for James to deal with his parents' deaths? Murder the man who had swindled them? All it did was blind him from the fact that his parents - especially his father - were just as responsible for what eventually happened to them, as Anthony Cooper.
His parents were responsible too, certainly. But they were dead. The only person left out of that carnage was the conman who swindled them.
And if it were in the real world, certainly, I'd agree that murdering the man who swindled his parents would be disgusting. But this isn't the real world. This is the island. Morals and ethics run a bit differently there. No need to look further than Jack. On the island, not only was he a willing partner in torture, but he condoned the use of poison to try and keep a lover from leaving, considered it morally acceptable to let a child die because he didn't like the man the child would grow up to become, and, perhaps most importantly, since this is what Jack was doing while Sawyer was murdering Cooper, made plans to blow up a large group of people.
Every single one of our main Losties, perhaps with the exception of Hurley, is morally reprehensible in some way. Are any of them people we would want as friends in the real world? I highly doubt it.
Now, I'm a firm member of Team James. I don't like Jack, never have. Jack is not a good guy. Yes, it is true that Sawyer has done more criminal acts than Jack has, and he built a career on it to boot. But Jack is not squeaky clean either, and that's one of the things that tends to annoy me about Team Jack - they don't acknowledge Jack's wrongdoings, and there's a laundry list of those (stalking his ex-wife, assaulting his father, assaulting Achara, as a start). Now I can't claim to speak for Team James as a whole, but from my experience, most of Team James acknowledges Sawyer's wrongdoings and James' flaws.
They both have their own personal demons, they just deal with them in different ways. Jack tends to deal with them by blaming other people. His father, his ex-wife, the Others, whoever was convenient. Sawyer blames himself. He always has. Which is why he was always such a bastard to everyone - he didn't think he deserved to be cared about by anyone, because he couldn't forgive himself for what he had become. And this all sprung out of revenge, and, at times, he does let it consume him. But I think this need for revenge ended with the end of season three, because this revenge was then accomplished. Which opened the door to Sawyer letting go of his personal demons and becoming a better person. While causing the deaths of two people is certainly a less than ideal way to go about becoming a better person, with the ethics of the Island in play, it was the only resolution at the time.
This essay barely mentions James in seasons four and five, which I think is a mistake, since they are extremely important to his character - perhaps the most important. There's also scant attention paid to the fact that the episodes up to/including 5x08 and the episodes after/including 5x08 take place three years apart. In this time, James has grown up and built a life for himself. Got the girl and lived in peace - something that he hasn't had since he was a child.
And then? Along comes Jack. Coming to "save" everyone again. Even before Faraday and the bomb came along, Jack and James were pitted against each other again over the issue of helping save a young Ben. Jack couldn't stand the new world he was in, and when Faraday came along spouting his crazy ideas, Jack found the perfect tool to "fix" everything. But fix what, exactly? I don't know why Jack thought Faraday's plan was a good plan. Sure, they were in the wrong time period. But other than that, things were pretty good (with a few problems, but these were caused by Jack and Sayid - I'll get to him in a moment). But Jack needed something to fix. Something to save. Just like always. Even though multiple people (namely Juliet and James) told him they didn't need saving. That they were happy.
Fastforward to the Swan. James has lost everything he had with the Dharma Initiative, except for one thing - Juliet. Then, a few minutes later, he loses her too. Everything that had turned him into an honest man disappears in the space of a few hours. He's consumed with anger, rage, depression and a desire to exact revenge (there it is again) on those responsible.
Wait a minute. That sounds familiar, doesn't it? Now, I'm not talking about James' early life, though there's the parallel there as well. I'm talking about Sayid. Sayid in season five (and flashforward season four) is where James is in season six. Both men who are overwhelmed with grief and the rage that springs from it, and this lead them making bad decisions, which are then made worse through the influence of others preying on their grief to use them for their own ends.
(continued)
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You didn't find this disturbing? I did. I was disgusted. That was the ONLY way for James to deal with his parents' deaths? Murder the man who had swindled them? All it did was blind him from the fact that his parents - especially his father - were just as responsible for what eventually happened to them, as Anthony Cooper.
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And if it were in the real world, certainly, I'd agree that murdering the man who swindled his parents would be disgusting. But this isn't the real world. This is the island. Morals and ethics run a bit differently there. No need to look further than Jack. On the island, not only was he a willing partner in torture, but he condoned the use of poison to try and keep a lover from leaving, considered it morally acceptable to let a child die because he didn't like the man the child would grow up to become, and, perhaps most importantly, since this is what Jack was doing while Sawyer was murdering Cooper, made plans to blow up a large group of people.
Every single one of our main Losties, perhaps with the exception of Hurley, is morally reprehensible in some way. Are any of them people we would want as friends in the real world? I highly doubt it.
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