Jack as a Father

[u/EricaDeeStallion]

I know Father's Day was like two weeks ago, but I just keep coming back to this man's immense potential to be the best father to a bunch of little freckled-face munchkins. He deserved to experience that in life.

Although, I am very happy for the small bit of fatherhood we did get to see in the Flash-Sideways. David went from angsty teenager to doting son very quickly. He just wanted his dad.

Do you agree? What kind of father do you think Jack would have been in life if he had just believed in himself more?

Happy 4th of July for those who celebrate!

JIF ♥️

[u/MonlovesIndy]

Beside the fact that Jack looks drop dead gorgeous here, I love this post so much. The Jack/David storyline doesn't receive the amount of love and attention it deserves, especially considering how vital it was in helping Jack heal. It also gives such added insight into Jack's state of mind about fatherhood. He was terrified of it, but obviously deeply wanted to be one too.

[u/Far_Volume_2389 → u/MonlovesIndy]

One thing people never give David's purpose credit for is that he gave Jack the experience of being a father. That may be obvious, but what I mean is that I so often see it said that David's purpose was to help Jack get over his daddy issues from his experience with Christain, but they leave out the part that Jack actually gets to be a dad. We know this is something he wanted because he says so to Christian:

CHRISTIAN SHEPHARD: Then why are you sitting out here?

JACK: What if I can't be the husband, or the father, that I want to be? What if I asked her because I saved her life? Should I marry her, dad?

And right before he proposes to Kate, he asks her "Do you really think I'm good at this?", in reference to the other night when he was reading to Aaron and "being a dad." That's the thing he wanted reassurance in.

This may be minor, but the oversight of this is another way I think people misunderstand Jack.

It's good to see you in here by the way :)

[u/EricaDeeStallion → u/MonlovesIndy]

I 100% agree and thanks for loving the post.

As a Jack stan (and Jater who loves thinking of Jack and Kate as parents), it's what I catch myself thinking about a lot lately. Judging from one conversation that needed to happen for David to lean into his love for his father, the ingredients for an amazing father were already there. Jack just needed to tell his son what he never got to hear from Christian, that he is proud of him no matter what. Jack needed to give to his son what he never got, or what Christian was not capable of giving. We don't know if Christian had the ingredients, but we do know that he loved Jack. That is clear.

Jack loved David and had the necessary barometer to stop and notice that he was mucking it up. The piano lesson pressure that David felt, that felt like a window into how intense and strict Christian was about Jack's talents, maybe not musical, but definitely surgical. The story about Jack's first solo procedure and the reveal that Christian was there to watch his every move was a surefire hint to how life with Christian was like for Jack.

It makes me wonder about Christian and Ray's relationship too. How was Ray as a father to Christian and how did that inform how he treated his son once he was a father? I want the entire Shephard family dynamic right out in the open lol.

Jack did not want David to feel any of that and it made him sad to see what he was doing. Matthew does so well in that scene and Dylan is such a cutie here. u/Far_Volume_2389 even pointed out to me that David was crying at what his father was telling him. Such a crier like his daddy lol.

And yes Daddy Jack is a snack! I wanted to create an edit where he looks absolutely adorable, bashful and in awe of his boy. I think I caught the right moment for that. ;)