Top Ten Cases: Favorite Lost Finale Scenes - #3

3. Jack and Kate Kiss



C’mon, you had to know this would AT LEAST be in my top five, right?

One of the criticisms about Kate “picking” Jack – usually from those who had hoped she would end up with Sawyer – is that the two of them have been so distant over the past couple of seasons. And, quite honestly, that’s a fair observation. If you look at the first season of Lost, Kate wouldn’t sneeze without first checking with Jack. These two were attached at the hip, yet for the last few years, it seems like their island interactions have been limited to brief discussions before separating again (whether by choice or circumstance). However, I think this was a deliberate decision and was expressed greatly by the subtle tone and body language of this scene.

So, yes, Jack and Kate have had a wall between them over the past two or three seasons, but I think that should be expected. Consider the fact that when they returned to the island, they had gone through a pretty messy break up. It’s not even that they hate each other – clearly, they don’t – but they were both hurt and felt betrayed by the other. Jack because he felt she was hiding things from him (related to Sawyer, no less, which played into his insecurities), and Kate because she finally opened up her heart and allowed herself to fall in love with Jack, and as a result she ends up heartbroken, and her “son” is without a surrogate father. Imagine how difficult it is for Kate to forgive Jack for what he had done, and consider how tortured Jack must be as he comes to terms with the mistakes he made.

Hell, his break up with Kate motivated him to return to the island (otherwise his life had no meaning), risk all their lives by blowing up the hatch, and deciding to spend the rest of his life on the island as its keeper. He had so convinced himself that his future with Kate was such an impossibility that he was making decisions that would have infuriated the Jack we met in season one.

I think the distance created between them was meant to symbolize the protective wall they had built. They clearly cared for one another, but were afraid to be together. And this isn’t coming from a Jack/Kate fan – I honestly believe that several hints were dropped throughout seasons five and six. Consider Kate’s reluctance to go “all the way” with Jack. When trying to convince Jack into helping young Ben, she told him she doesn’t like the new Jack. When Jack responded that she didn’t like the old one either, she seemed taken aback and had no idea how to respond. When she wanted to talk Jack out of setting off the hydrogen bomb, she assured him that not all their time together was bad. When Jack said that enough of it was, she seemed hurt. But she didn’t press it. And finally, despite all of the efforts she put into stopping Jack, she relented and even aided him when he placed his cards on the table and asked if she’s with him. When push came to shove, she couldn’t bring herself to go against him.

And there are more examples. How about in the season premiere when she saw Jack and Sawyer lying there lifelessly and she immediately ran over to Jack? Or when Jack and Sawyer emerged from the submarine, and she ran to Jack with tears on her eyes, talking about how she couldn’t find “him.” Yes, their screen time together and heart-to-heart moments were severely minimized over the past couple of years, but make no mistake – her heart always belonged to him.

Was there a point to that long winded and likely completely unnecessary synopsis? YES! The reasons above are why I loved the scene so much. I think it was important for us to recognize how difficult it was for these two characters to express themselves in this way. It wasn’t until Kate realized that she would never see Jack again that she finally tore that wall down and said, “I love you.” And perhaps my favorite moment of the scene happened immediately afterwards. Jack releases this massive sigh of relief, his body loosens, and he says in contained elation, “I love you.” You can just sense how long he’s wanted to say those words, but that he needed to hear it from her first because of his past transgressions.

A few side notes (just to make this a little longer): Once again, this was a fantastic visual. Jack and Kate were more beaten and bruised than any of the other characters. You had Kate with a gunshot wound to the shoulder, and Jack with a stab wound in his gut. Perhaps it was symbolic of the rough journey their relationship endured to get to that climatic point? And also, this scene showed me why Jack understands Kate more than Sawyer ever did. Sawyer excluded Claire from the escape plan, and kept this information from Kate. Jack, on the other hand, knew how important it was for Kate to rescue Claire, and used that to motivate her to leave him. Just an observation.