What If Jack Had Gone With Alicia?
I’m not gonna lie: I’ve got a soft spot for the idea of Alicia and Jack being a couple. I don’t know, I just think they could have been good together. And, really, this idea is not that far-fetched, as, in “Captive”, Jack had offered to go with Alicia to find her family. I’m simply asking: What if he did?
First of all, as we learned when Alex and Jake tagged along, Strand was not happy to be trying to bring more people to Mexico than he already was. I imagine he would have been just as concerned having Jack now on board as he was having Alex and Jake. However, it may not have been that big of a concern; The Mexican naval officers would still have tried to kill Strand and Luis, regardless of whether Jack was with them or not.
However, one thing I think certainly would be different is the relationship between Alicia and Chris.
Since this would have been after Chris killed Reed, his downward spiral would have already begun. I believe adding Jack to the mix, between the fact he was one of the pirates, and ostensibly being in a relationship with Alicia, would have made him the focus of Chris’s rage, rather than Madison (Or, at least, would have put her on the back burner).
This means that, in the battle at the church, Chris may have been looking for opportunities to do away with Jack.
Does this mean that, had Madison still gotten tackled, that Chris would have helped her?
Possibly. Chris may have been so focused on Jack that he would have considered Madison’s “betrayal” minor, in comparison. This may have meant that Alicia’s suspicions about Chris would have been delayed, at least for a little while.
The tense confrontation we saw between Alicia and Chris may not have happened in this scenario, or, at least, not at the same point.
It’s possible that Chris may have tried to confront Jack about his relationship with Alicia, with Chris likely airing his distrust of Jack (For having been one of the pirates) and making it clear he would defend his “sister”, if it came to that.
This, of course, leads into an issue tickled at by Reed in “Blood In The Streets”, but, may have come more to the forefront in a Jack/Chris confrontation: The possibility of Chris being attracted to Alicia.
While holding Chris hostage, Reed made a crack that Chris was in some sort of relationship with Alicia, something which seemed to strike a nerve with Chris.
It’s possible that Jack (Though certainly not in the same douche-y manner) may have made a similar observation when confronted with an overprotective Chris. If he had, I can’t imagine this would have gone over well with Chris. I think Chris may have resorted to threatening Jack at this point, but, I don’t know if he would have felt so bold as to do that, and, instead, let it simmer.
Here is where things might really diverge. With Chris possibly thinking that fighting Jack straight-up might be out of the question, but still being concerned about whether Jack was trustworthy or not, we may have seen Chris use more underhanded tactics to deal with the situation.
This is likely where we have the scene of Chris sneaking into someone’s room to kill them, of course, in this scenario, it would be Jack, not Madison. Additionally, without a second person there to catch him in the act, Chris might have very well succeeded. Whether Chris would have just attacked Jack, killed him (But not in a way that would have prevented turning), or put him down completely, is up in the air. Regardless, I think this would have still resulted in Chris’s self exile from the hacienda.
Alicia likely would have been distraught, with her new companion having been either injured at best, or turned at worst. In the best case scenario, this may have driven Alicia and Jack closer, which would have played out after arriving at the Rosarito. In the worst case scenario, this might have depressed Alicia, thinking that whenever something good came along, circumstances would conspire to smash it.
Travis, meanwhile, would find a new wrinkle in trying to bring Chris back into the fold. It might be one thing had Chris only injured Jack, though he likely would have plead his case that Jack couldn’t be trusted. Travis would be forced to argue that Chris’s actions, even if justified, had only succeeded in making Jack more sympathetic, and thus, made his case that much harder to argue.
On the other hand, had Chris killed Jack, things would become far more difficult. Unlike with the Reed situation, Chris wouldn’t be able to argue Jack was turning, he would have just straight-up killed him.
While Chris might have been more stable following it (Believing he was justified in killing a potential threat to the family), Travis would have found it impossible for Chris to return.
On the bright side, this might have fostered a certain amount of xenophobia in Chris, meaning that he likely wouldn’t have trusted Brandon, Derek, and James when he and his father inevitably met the trio. This likely means Chris wouldn’t have killed Elias, and also wouldn’t have left his father to go with them, avoiding his death as they tried to make their way back to San Diego.
So, what does this all change? Well, for one, I believe it would drastically alter Chris’s course. With Jack to focus on instead of Madison, it changes the nature of what he does when the group approaches the Abigail home. This, in turn, changes Chris’s motivation for fleeing and changes how he views strangers, meaning that he might have, ultimately, made it to Season Three, which itself opens up a whole new can of worms if all else remains the same.
This also would mean Alicia would find herself in relationship we didn’t see in our timeline. The success or failure of it (Depending on whether Jack lived or not) would either leave Alicia depressed and pessimistic, or happy, but would jeopardize the relationship she now has with Jake at Broke Jaw Ranch, which could very well give the family a whole other set of problems that I can’t yet imagine.
All of this springing from one choice not made…
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