Yeah, yeah, he was really annoying there for a long, long time. But the "Lost" writers have taken Jack on a rather unusual journey, from seemingly predestined hero to chump who kept screwing everything up to the guy who learned to let go and let Island. It's rare that a show has its main character come into his own in its final season, but that's what "Lost" has done.

Best season: Season 6. Jack's constant need to be in charge finally took a backseat to his willingness to listen to friends (though, granted, that was a development that was already building in Season 5). And once he keyed in to his weird, mystical significance, he became kind of awesome, daring dynamite to blow him up.

Best flashback episode: Season 1's "Do No Harm" introduced us to Jack's ex-wife when she still loved him and showed the lengths early season Jack was willing to go to when he wanted to keep someone alive.

How we hope it all ends: Jack sticks around on the Island to take over Jacob's job, then gets a sitcom spinoff where he teaches 10 gifted and talented high schoolers who are all candidates to replace him.