Jack and Kate are, hands down, the best onscreen couple in television history. It isn’t just their chemistry that through the tv screen from a mere exchange of looks to the deep passion that draws in viewer who feels the heat of the exchange. Even during arguments, the flip side of the same coin, there’s this deep and burning connectedness. Mind. Body. Soul.
Sexual sizzle isn’t enough to sustain the fire six seasons and multiple character arcs later.
It’s the raw, emotional synergy between them, starting with Kate emerging from the jungle to heal the healer when Jack’s at his most vulnerable. The fixer can’t unable to fix himself, going much deeper than the gash on his left side. “That’s fantastic because I could use a little help here.”
It’s the push and pull between them, challenging each other to change, grow and learn from one another. Pushing one another to rise vs. Sawyer who wanted keep Kate mired in her mistakes. Neck deep in low, muddy past she wants to leave behind. The “I Never” ugly truth game and “A tiger don’t change its stripes” vs. Kate willingly offering to tell Jack her crimes. “I want tell you what I did.” “It doesn’t matter, Kate, who we were, what we did before this, before the crash. Three days ago we died. We should all be able to start over.”
It’s the inherent trust, already there between two people who shouldering heavy burdens, who serve others but feel alone in this world. Jack and Kate share the things that remain hidden hidden from everyone else from the moment Jack shared his “five minutes” story soon after meeting her. It became their story. “And you fixed her. You saved her.”
It’s the unfailing need to protect, rescue and make sure the other is okay. “Jack told me not to come back because he was trying to protect me.” “He was trying to protect you. That’s why I asked you not to come back for me.”
It’s the sameness bubbling below the surface, exposed layer after layer, season after season. Abuse and abandonment by their self-absorbed, emotionally distant parents. Independent, born leaders - not for the sake of power and control but for the greater good. Highly intelligent, highly skilled, highly attractive but low self-worth. Nurturing 815ers with food and medicine without being asked. Placing their shield over people, especially those less strong, leaving themselves open to taking a bullet. Both stubbornAn unrelenting need to bolster one another, bracing for the storm. “I need you to have my back.” “I got your back.”
Their ability to communicate in silence. In a gaze because words lead to be hurt in the past. They, Just. Knew. “I love you.” “Because I love you.”
Spending the day of the disaster together in nameless tandem, serving the hurt, the distressed as if stitched together by standard black threads. “I don’t even know your name. I’m Jack.” “I’m Kate,” she said without hesitation, dropping aliases under starlight, for the man she was destined to be with.
It’s all about Jack and Kate.