Top Ten Greatest Episodes Countdown - #4 “All the Best Cowboys Have Daddy Issues”
The eleventh episode of season one, “All the Best Cowboys Have Daddy Issues”, is a look into Jack’s past and his tumultuous relationship with his father. The episode begins with Jack attempting to save one of Christian’s patients on the operating table in the ER. Despite Jack’s borderline insane persistence in saving her, the woman on the table dies of overwhelming internal bleeding, most of which was caused by Christian’s severing of her hepatic artery while operating under the influence of alcohol. The rest of the episode deals with Jack’s struggle to decide whether to have his father’s license revoked for causing the death of a patient or to let it slide. Eventually, upon realizing that the woman was pregnant, Jack chooses to tell the board investigating the incident the legitimate cause of the patient’s death. This is the moment which sets the events in motion that would ultimately lead to Christian’s demise in Australia.
On the island, a search party is formed to track down Ethan who has abducted Charlie and Claire. Jack and Kate follow one trail while Locke and Boone follow another. As it turns out, Jack and Kate come across Ethan first. There is a very one sided altercation in which Ethan physically dominates Jack, threatening to murder him if he continues following his trail. Jack is knocked unconscious in the melee, and is eventually awoken by Kate when she catches up. They press on to find Charlie blindfolded and hanging from a tree limb.
What follows is one of the all time great Lost scenes. Kate manages to cut the noose, but Charlie seems to be done for. He is not breathing and his lifeless body lays slumped on the jungle floor. Jack repeatedly attempts to resuscitate him but he remains motionless and devoid of any signs of life. Evangeline Lilly’s acting drives the emotion incredibly in this scene. Kate is weeping uncontrollably throughout, and as Jack’s CPR turns into him simply smashing Charlie in the chest to attempt to bring him back, she breaks down completely. She pleads with Jack to accept what has happened to Charlie and stop the brutal attempts to get his heart pumping again. Jack has never been one to quit though, and finally, after a few tear-jerking moments, Charlie gasps for air and regains consciousness.
As if the prior scene wasn’t enough, “All the Best Cowboys Have Daddy Issues” concludes by checking in on Locke and Boone following the other trail. It is getting dark and Boone decides to turn back. Locke tosses him the flashlight, Boone fumbles it, and as it lands, a strange thud is heard. They do not know it yet, but they have just stumbled upon Desmond’s hatch. I always find it strange to think that throughout season one, with all these wild events transpiring, Desmond was hanging out down in the hatch pressing the button and shooting up with Dharma medicine the entire time.
“All the Best Cowboys Have Daddy Issues” aired early on in season one and still to this point in the series, it demonstrates the best coalescence of flashback/forward and on-island events. Jack’s refusal to quit on the woman in the ER is mirrored in his persistence in attempting to revive Charlie. His drive to make everything right is shown through the reporting of his father as well as his urge to save Charlie and Claire. Jack comes off as a hero in this episode but, at least for me, it is up in the air as to whether he should be considered one or not. It could easily be argued that Jack does these heroic things for himself and not for the one in need. Should the “why” come into play when assessing Jack’s heroism? Do you think he acts for himself or for the well-being of others?
What do you think of “All the Best Cowboys Have Daddy Issues”?
One of the best episodes of season 1… I’ve gone into it already. So anyone, picks for the Top 3? Mine are as follows:
3. Through the Looking Glass
2. Pilot (both parts as one)
1. The Constant
Positions 1 and 2 subject to being reversed, although I think you tail section lot will more than likely go with the popular choice. Then again, maybe none of those eps will be in the top 3. You know what would be really funny? If “The Constant” was overlooked completely in favour of an episode such as “Expose`”, that would be HA-larious. C’mon… It was a good episode. You had all those little insights to other things happening around the island during the days of season 1 that you didn’t see before, and then your two most hated characters died at the end. What more could you want? Wait! I know the answer to that question… A sub-conscious time travelling Desmond and a rodent, right?
Comment by JD — December 16, 2008 @ 3:30 am
Ok… I definitely don’t agree with this one… There are SOOOOOOO many better episodes than this one. It’s definitely a great episode, but then there aren’t many bad episodes of LOST. Just… nothing really happens in it. The point of the flashbacks it to show how Jack got his dad fired… which is interesting and everything… but not really anything that amazing or captivating until the last flashback. And the on-island stuff is pretty slow too… until the very end with the Ethan fight, and Charlie hanging… and then the discovery of the hatch. It’s a big moving forward episode… but I’m gonna be honest: I have gotten a LOT of people interested in LOST… and this is always the episode, where when I watch it with them, they fall asleep at the beginning… and I have to wake them up for the good ending.
Well… Whatever the Cast May Be is another one I have to keep them awake for.
But so anyway… that’s only my opinion. But then it’s hard to make a list of the top 10 episodes of LOST that can make everyone happy… My top ten list would be completely different from the list given so far. I just kind of wish a poll had been taken or… or a survey before a definitive list of the top 10 was decided… Or at least the top 10 rated episodes on IMDB or TV.com… not dividing episodes into parts, the top rated episodes of LOST on imdb are:
10: The Shape Of Things To Come
9. Numbers
8. Walkabout
7. The Man Behind The Curtain
6. Exodus
5. There’s No Place Like Home
4. Pilot
3. Live Together, Die Alone
2. The Constant
1. Through The Looking Glass
I don’t know… just interesting to look at that list… and compare…
Comment by Matt — December 16, 2008 @ 10:42 am
Isn’t this list just one persons top ten? So wishing a poll or survey had been taken is a pretty stupid thing to say. And why are you wasting your time introducing people to lost who fall asleep in the beginning of an episode?
Comment by Cody — December 16, 2008 @ 11:41 am
When’s the new content coming? I thought the site was being rejuvenated, and that there was going to be an effort to post actual content now and then.
Comment by Dervish — December 16, 2008 @ 12:36 pm
This was one of my favorite episodes. Two of the best were most definitely “Through the Looking Glass” and “The Constant”
I hope to see them in the top three[:
Comment by JohnnxQUACK — December 16, 2008 @ 2:04 pm
Well, Matt, you could ask ten different people for their own personal top ten, and you would probably get ten very different lists. I happen to agree with you on this in that ATBCHDI should not be this high on the list. I think that White Rabbit AND Do No Harm are better episodes than this one. Here is my personal top ten list:
10. The Brig
9. The 23rd Psalm
8. The Shape of Things to Come
7. There’s No Place Like Home
6. Pilot
5. The Constant
4. Walkabout
3. The Man Behind The Curtain
2. Live Together, Die Alone
1. Through the Looking Glass
Comment by Joe — December 16, 2008 @ 2:13 pm
Joe,
That looks like a much better list to me than the one they’ve got going so far. And yeah, I completely agree that “White Rabbit” and “Do No Harm” are better episodes… Hell… if we’re talking about only Jack episodes, I’d say even “The Hunting Party” is a much better episode in Season 2. But yeah, everyone has a different opinion. I just think if you’re going to reveal a new episode every week counting down to the top episode, it should be based on more than one person’s opinion… Because more people would agree on it if it were based on a general consensus…
But hey… I love all LOST episodes. I just think “All The Best Cowboys Have Daddy Issues” does not belong anywhere near spot number 4 on a top ten list. But that’s just my opinion.
Comment by Matt — December 16, 2008 @ 2:53 pm
I liked half of this episode, the island half of course, didn’t care much for the flashback portion. Then again I’m not really a fan of Jack flashbacks, and nothing too important or shocking happened in the flashbacks anyways. However, as B Rowe mentioned, the off island events in this episode did sort of get the ball rolling on Jacks eventually ending up on the island. If it weren’t for that one surgery Christian wouldn’t have been in Australia and neither would Jack, and neither of them would have been on the plane.
The highlight for me was the scene with Charlie hanging from the tree, that was extremely powerful stuff. Locke and Boone treking across the island and stumbling on the hatch was an excellent cliffhanger too. It’s interesting looking back on it and realizing that that was a moment that changed the entire course of the show and basically defined what season 2 would become.
As I already said, I thought half of this episode was good, GOOD not great. In my opinion there are so many better episodes more worthy of a spot this high on the list. I could see this as belonging in the top ten but definitely not #4, maybe like #10…or #11.
Most people would either put The Constant or Through the Looking Glass as #1. Obviously we all know that. My #1 would be The Shape of things to come hands down. It’s tough to figure out the top ten though, it’s almost like finales shouldn’t count, they’re always so good it’s hard to not put them all at the top.
This would be my top ten:
1- The Shape of things to come
2- Through the Looking Glass
3- The Man Behind the Curtain
4- Pilot
5- Exodus
6- The Constant
7- Live Together, Die Alone
8- Walkabout
9- The Brig
10- There’s No Place Like Home
Again, that’s just my opinion, I know most people wouldn’t agree with that order.
Comment by B*Locke — December 17, 2008 @ 12:48 am
I’m surprised by the amount of people who put “the Shape of Things to Come” in their top ten lists. I rate that as the best episode of season 4, but I dared not say until now for fear of being verbally raped by all those “Constant” fanatics.
I gave my thoughts for what episodes I think TTS will include in the final three postions of their Top 10 list, but since everyone else has given their complete lists above, for shits and giggles, here’s mine:
10.Collision
9. The Long Con
8. The Man from Tallahassee
7. The Constant
6. All the Best Cowboys Have Daddy Issues
5. The Shape of Things to Come
4. Walkabout
3. Exodus
2. Through the Looking Glass
1. Pilot
I know that’s basically saying that the show has gone downhill and never improved since the opening episode, but the main reason I rate it as the best LOST episode is purely because I feel it is honestly the best Pilot episode for serial drama ever made
Comment by JD — December 17, 2008 @ 2:54 am
I’m surprised by the amount of people who put “the Shape of Things to Come” in their top ten lists. I rate that as the best episode of season 4, but I dared not say until now for fear of being verbally raped by all those “Constant” fanatics.
I gave my thoughts for what episodes I think TTS will include in the final three postions of their Top 10 list, but since everyone else has given their complete lists above, for shits and giggles, here’s mine:
10.Collision
9. The Long Con
8. The Man from Tallahassee
7. The Constant
6. All the Best Cowboys Have Daddy Issues
5. The Shape of Things to Come
4. Walkabout
3. Exodus
2. Through the Looking Glass
1. Pilot
I know that’s basically saying that the show has gone downhill and never improved since the opening episode, but the main reason I rate it as the best LOST episode is purely because I feel it is honestly the best Pilot episode for a serial drama ever made drama, next to the The Sopranos. ‘Through the Looking Glass’ at 2 for being the best finale. It’s all so irrelavant really.
Comment by JD — December 17, 2008 @ 3:02 am
Matt,
I completely agree that this list should be based on a consensus rather than one opinion.
Comment by Joe — December 17, 2008 @ 4:55 am
10. The Man From Tallahassee
9. The Other 48 Days/Collision
8. Live Together, Die Alone
7. All the Best Cowboys Have Daddy Issues
6. Man of Science, Man of Faith
5. Flashes Before Your Eyes
4. The Constant
3. Walkabout
2. The Shape of Things to Come
1. Through the Looking Glass
Comment by mike — December 17, 2008 @ 12:35 pm