The art of writing Jack/Boone
First thing, thanks so much for tellshannon815 for having me hosting this discussion and giving me the (probably ill-advised) chance to ramble about my favorite Lost ship! ♥
BOONE: That's exactly what I was doing. I'm a lifeguard. I'm licensed.
JACK: Yeah, well, you need to seriously think about giving that license back.
BOONE: Maybe we should do one of those hole things. You know, stick the pen in the throat?
JACK: Yeah, good idea. You go get me a pen.
--
BOONE: [walking up holding out a handful of pens] I didn't know which one would work best.
JACK: They're all good. Thanks.
Or, welcome to the world of yours truly’s OTP.
Okay, that was probably not what you care most about, so let’s just talk objectively, and let’s say, welcome to the very beginning of Jack/Boone. (Incidentally, that’s still my favorite scene in the whole run of the show.)
Now, Jack/Boone is a ship which probably was more of a S1/early S2 thing than else; understandable, since one half of it died at the end of S1 and there’s only so much material you can use. Also, I wasn’t sadly around when S1 aired, which means I missed most of the fun. (Dammit.) Which doesn’t mean that Jack/Boone isn’t a great ship and that hey, it still gets written. Must be something, right?
So, let’s have a small run-down: it starts with the pens, goes on with the whole water business, goes further on with the inhalers business, ends with a totally heartbreaking death. In the midst we have a case of obvious hero-worship, daddy/sister issues and quite the age difference, and let’s say that, it’s also quite hot. Because I mean, it is. Put like that, it isn’t exactly exciting. But, really, it actually kind of is. Why?
Well, if you ask me, their relationship is already summed up in the pens scene. Boone tries to do something useful (and utterly fails at it as sadly will happen until he dies), Jack comes into the picture and does the right thing, and being a jerk as he was in early S1 (joking, I love early S1 Jack) he sends the kid to get pens even if he knows he doesn’t need them. Anyone else would have quit there. Boone shows that he’s persevering, and actually brings Jack a bunch of pens, which makes Jack quite awkward, but after some quite intense staring, he takes the pens anyway, thus sort of validating Boone’s efforts and sort of metaphorically saving his ass. (Which happens for real in White Rabbit. Pity that it failed to happen again in Do No Harm, but that’s me.)
(Also: in the S6 premiere he actually wanted the pens. Eee, Jack, you learn, right?)
Which is a mirror of all the interaction they had throughout the season, from the water to the inhalers. And, if you don’t count Locke (who’s another case anyway), you’ll realize that Jack is pretty much the only one who actually does validate poor Boone’s effort. And you can say what you want, but early S1 Boone? Totally has a hero-worship crush on Jack of huge proportions. Just look at their interactions in Walkabout or Confidence Man or at the end of White Rabbit. And here we’re at canon, but let’s also talk theoretically. I always thought that, in spite of the age difference, they’d have made a good match for the following reasons. Number one, they both have thoroughly fucked up relationships with their close relatives (Shannon and Christian, mainly) and they got thoroughly equally screwed, which always made me think that they wouldn’t make the same mistakes and actually be healthy for each other. Number two, Boone always needed someone to validate him without asking anything else of him and Jack always needed to be looked upon but not burdened with it, and if you look at that, they fit the roles. (No, Locke never validated Boone without asking something in return, and, to say one, Jack/Kate imo is based on the fact that she expects too much of him and he had a false image of her.) Number three, they’re not clashing personalities but they aren’t exactly the same either, which makes an interesting combination; actually, given that Jack has his impulse to fix everything and is deeply committed, and that Boone is the one person everyone lets go of, is as committed and kind of really wants some attention… see? Nice match. Number four, they just compensate each other. Boone tries hard at everything and fails it most times thus failing to be the hero of the story, Jack is doomed to be the hero of the story and to get everything right. Come on, it’s at least an interesting dynamic, isn’t it?
And, last but not least, the entirety of Do No Harm. Because if their first scene sums up their canon relationship, their last scene sells the pairing. Look at it. Locke sort of gets Boone killed, lies to Jack and leaves him there. Everyone else starts telling Jack that he really should let it go at one point, and Boone’s relationship with Shannon was already strained. And Jack is the only person who just doesn’t accept it. You can say whatever you want, but in that episode Jack went crazy lengths to save the poor guy’s life, and he’s the only one who doesn’t give it up. And he’s the only one with Boone when he dies. And he freaking promises he’ll fix Boone and gives him his own blood and pretty much doesn’t let go until Boone tells him to. Not to mention Jack’s reaction when Locke shows up at the funeral. And I’ll stop here because this isn’t the place for me to write a shipper manifesto. And then, sadly, things were sort of over, except that as I could see, people still wrote the ship, people still write that ship and if there’s one thing I liked out of the whole alt-reset deal is that it gave it a fairly good chance of being half-resurrected even if sadly there haven’t been Jack/Boone interactions in the alt, until now. (Finale, don’t disappoint me on that, okay?)
Now, after this lovely trip down memory lane (and I really wish I had been around in the beginning), I’m pretty sure that we all just want to discuss. So, let’s discuss! These are a few questions for starters, but feel free to discuss anything else regarding the ship that comes to mind. Or to argue with my sort-of-essay up there. ;)
1) If you do ship them/used to ship them, what’s that you like most about the pairing? What’s the appeal? If you don’t see it, on the other side, why doesn’t it work for you? What do you think would make such a relationship work or what really would make it an ill-advised idea?
2) Do you find it hard or easy to write? And in each case, why?
3) What’s your favorite setting for them to explore? Early/mid S1 when they were both alive and kicking and without Locke ruining the party, late S1 with Locke ruining the party and Do No Harm in between, or maybe also post-S1 (hey, they’re dead but also here! Boone is around, more or less!)? And what about the alt?
4) The fact that Boone died most definitely puts a rock over any chance of fic happily-ever-after ending that isn’t in the alt, but what endings do you like for them in fic? Do you prefer the tragic to stay tragic? Or maybe going AU would be preferable? Or hey, why not some afterlife reunion? And is there any chance of actually pulling a not-totally-tragic ending for them?
5) As I mentioned before, they both share a background of thorough emotional fuck-up caused by close relatives. Do you take it into account when dealing with the ship? And since we’re there, how do you deal with Kate and Shannon being obviously their canon romantic interests? (Well, ‘I ignore that’ is totally legitimate, but if you don’t, share it with us!)
6) I’ve read quite a lot that, regardless of your feelings on the nature of their relationship, Boone’s death would be the one that affected Jack most in canon, at least until S3 or so. Do you think that it really had such a huge impact on the character, or maybe that’s a bit of an exaggeration?
7) Do you have any out-of-the-box opinion about their possible fanon relationship dynamic? (Meaning: by all appearances, Jack should be the top/stronger in the relationship, but for myself, I think the contrary is very much possible. Let’s discuss a bit? *wink*)
8) Which are your favorite Jack/Boone (or also Jack/Boone/third party, OT3s are always welcomed) fics and writers? Old stuff, new stuff, mid-time stuff, everything is welcome!
9) Even though the ship was pretty much canonically dead by the beginning of S2 (meaning that canon interaction was dead, not that it was canon… I wish *cough*), Jack/Boone still got written after and it’s still getting written today, though of course not in the quantities I backtracked while searching for fic in the beginning of my reading career. Do you think there’s a particular reason for that?
Discuss away!
BOONE: That's exactly what I was doing. I'm a lifeguard. I'm licensed.
JACK: Yeah, well, you need to seriously think about giving that license back.
BOONE: Maybe we should do one of those hole things. You know, stick the pen in the throat?
JACK: Yeah, good idea. You go get me a pen.
--
BOONE: [walking up holding out a handful of pens] I didn't know which one would work best.
JACK: They're all good. Thanks.
Or, welcome to the world of yours truly’s OTP.
Okay, that was probably not what you care most about, so let’s just talk objectively, and let’s say, welcome to the very beginning of Jack/Boone. (Incidentally, that’s still my favorite scene in the whole run of the show.)
Now, Jack/Boone is a ship which probably was more of a S1/early S2 thing than else; understandable, since one half of it died at the end of S1 and there’s only so much material you can use. Also, I wasn’t sadly around when S1 aired, which means I missed most of the fun. (Dammit.) Which doesn’t mean that Jack/Boone isn’t a great ship and that hey, it still gets written. Must be something, right?
So, let’s have a small run-down: it starts with the pens, goes on with the whole water business, goes further on with the inhalers business, ends with a totally heartbreaking death. In the midst we have a case of obvious hero-worship, daddy/sister issues and quite the age difference, and let’s say that, it’s also quite hot. Because I mean, it is. Put like that, it isn’t exactly exciting. But, really, it actually kind of is. Why?
Well, if you ask me, their relationship is already summed up in the pens scene. Boone tries to do something useful (and utterly fails at it as sadly will happen until he dies), Jack comes into the picture and does the right thing, and being a jerk as he was in early S1 (joking, I love early S1 Jack) he sends the kid to get pens even if he knows he doesn’t need them. Anyone else would have quit there. Boone shows that he’s persevering, and actually brings Jack a bunch of pens, which makes Jack quite awkward, but after some quite intense staring, he takes the pens anyway, thus sort of validating Boone’s efforts and sort of metaphorically saving his ass. (Which happens for real in White Rabbit. Pity that it failed to happen again in Do No Harm, but that’s me.)
(Also: in the S6 premiere he actually wanted the pens. Eee, Jack, you learn, right?)
Which is a mirror of all the interaction they had throughout the season, from the water to the inhalers. And, if you don’t count Locke (who’s another case anyway), you’ll realize that Jack is pretty much the only one who actually does validate poor Boone’s effort. And you can say what you want, but early S1 Boone? Totally has a hero-worship crush on Jack of huge proportions. Just look at their interactions in Walkabout or Confidence Man or at the end of White Rabbit. And here we’re at canon, but let’s also talk theoretically. I always thought that, in spite of the age difference, they’d have made a good match for the following reasons. Number one, they both have thoroughly fucked up relationships with their close relatives (Shannon and Christian, mainly) and they got thoroughly equally screwed, which always made me think that they wouldn’t make the same mistakes and actually be healthy for each other. Number two, Boone always needed someone to validate him without asking anything else of him and Jack always needed to be looked upon but not burdened with it, and if you look at that, they fit the roles. (No, Locke never validated Boone without asking something in return, and, to say one, Jack/Kate imo is based on the fact that she expects too much of him and he had a false image of her.) Number three, they’re not clashing personalities but they aren’t exactly the same either, which makes an interesting combination; actually, given that Jack has his impulse to fix everything and is deeply committed, and that Boone is the one person everyone lets go of, is as committed and kind of really wants some attention… see? Nice match. Number four, they just compensate each other. Boone tries hard at everything and fails it most times thus failing to be the hero of the story, Jack is doomed to be the hero of the story and to get everything right. Come on, it’s at least an interesting dynamic, isn’t it?
And, last but not least, the entirety of Do No Harm. Because if their first scene sums up their canon relationship, their last scene sells the pairing. Look at it. Locke sort of gets Boone killed, lies to Jack and leaves him there. Everyone else starts telling Jack that he really should let it go at one point, and Boone’s relationship with Shannon was already strained. And Jack is the only person who just doesn’t accept it. You can say whatever you want, but in that episode Jack went crazy lengths to save the poor guy’s life, and he’s the only one who doesn’t give it up. And he’s the only one with Boone when he dies. And he freaking promises he’ll fix Boone and gives him his own blood and pretty much doesn’t let go until Boone tells him to. Not to mention Jack’s reaction when Locke shows up at the funeral. And I’ll stop here because this isn’t the place for me to write a shipper manifesto. And then, sadly, things were sort of over, except that as I could see, people still wrote the ship, people still write that ship and if there’s one thing I liked out of the whole alt-reset deal is that it gave it a fairly good chance of being half-resurrected even if sadly there haven’t been Jack/Boone interactions in the alt, until now. (Finale, don’t disappoint me on that, okay?)
Now, after this lovely trip down memory lane (and I really wish I had been around in the beginning), I’m pretty sure that we all just want to discuss. So, let’s discuss! These are a few questions for starters, but feel free to discuss anything else regarding the ship that comes to mind. Or to argue with my sort-of-essay up there. ;)
1) If you do ship them/used to ship them, what’s that you like most about the pairing? What’s the appeal? If you don’t see it, on the other side, why doesn’t it work for you? What do you think would make such a relationship work or what really would make it an ill-advised idea?
2) Do you find it hard or easy to write? And in each case, why?
3) What’s your favorite setting for them to explore? Early/mid S1 when they were both alive and kicking and without Locke ruining the party, late S1 with Locke ruining the party and Do No Harm in between, or maybe also post-S1 (hey, they’re dead but also here! Boone is around, more or less!)? And what about the alt?
4) The fact that Boone died most definitely puts a rock over any chance of fic happily-ever-after ending that isn’t in the alt, but what endings do you like for them in fic? Do you prefer the tragic to stay tragic? Or maybe going AU would be preferable? Or hey, why not some afterlife reunion? And is there any chance of actually pulling a not-totally-tragic ending for them?
5) As I mentioned before, they both share a background of thorough emotional fuck-up caused by close relatives. Do you take it into account when dealing with the ship? And since we’re there, how do you deal with Kate and Shannon being obviously their canon romantic interests? (Well, ‘I ignore that’ is totally legitimate, but if you don’t, share it with us!)
6) I’ve read quite a lot that, regardless of your feelings on the nature of their relationship, Boone’s death would be the one that affected Jack most in canon, at least until S3 or so. Do you think that it really had such a huge impact on the character, or maybe that’s a bit of an exaggeration?
7) Do you have any out-of-the-box opinion about their possible fanon relationship dynamic? (Meaning: by all appearances, Jack should be the top/stronger in the relationship, but for myself, I think the contrary is very much possible. Let’s discuss a bit? *wink*)
8) Which are your favorite Jack/Boone (or also Jack/Boone/third party, OT3s are always welcomed) fics and writers? Old stuff, new stuff, mid-time stuff, everything is welcome!
9) Even though the ship was pretty much canonically dead by the beginning of S2 (meaning that canon interaction was dead, not that it was canon… I wish *cough*), Jack/Boone still got written after and it’s still getting written today, though of course not in the quantities I backtracked while searching for fic in the beginning of my reading career. Do you think there’s a particular reason for that?
Discuss away!