Sea. 1, Ep. 14: Special

For a number of reasons, I've been eager to review this episode ever since I began the Rewatch a couple of weeks ago. Firstly, I only remember having seen this episode once before. I had spun through each of the first season's installments at least twice, but for some reason I think I only watched this one during my initial introduction to the series. Maybe I passed it over because I had written Walt and Michael off for the most part, but that leads me to another reason why I've been looking forward to documenting "Special." I want to know why the writers created all the hype around Walt and his "special" qualities only to remove him from the show, for all intents and purposes, during the second season. I understand that Malcom David Kelley, who portrays Walt, was on the precipice of puberty and that his real-life growth wasn't going to mesh with the timeline established on the show. I'm sure the writers were cognizant of this, too. So why did they devote a whole episode to emphasizing how unique Walt is if they didn't plan to flesh it out further? Is there going to be some sort of payoff for Walt fans in the cataclysmic sixth season? And will the litany of questions about this show ever cease?

But what of the episode itself, you ask? Okay. Let me get to it.

On the island, Michael searches for Walt. He's furious to find that his son is once again hanging out with the mysterious John Locke. Walt's learning how to throw knives like a circus pro, but Michael ain't havin' it. Locke tries to stick up for the boy, telling Michael that he should treat his son like an adult because the plane crash and the subsequent survival has given him a whole host of life experience. He also stresses that Walt is "different" somehow, the episode's first reference to Walt's vague powers.

Stewing over his confrontation with Locke, Michael declares that he will build a raft and try to sail away from the island. He feels that everyone has become too complacent and that no one's attempting to get back to their regular lives. He baldly tells Walt that he wants to control their destiny. It's another mention of that oft repeated concept.

Troubles continue for Michael, though, as he gets Walt to help him assemble materials for a raft. Walt wanders off under the pretense of procuring water, but Michael later finds him chumming around again with Locke (even though Locke is admonishing the boy to respect his father's wishes and stay away from him). The ensuing fight causes Walt to storm off. Michael needs to search for his son, and Locke assists him. It's a good thing he does, because Walt has run afoul of another one of the island's polar bears, and Michael and Locke need to work together to rescue the lad. Ultimately, they do, and everything is peachy keen and hunky dory after that.

The flashbacks in "Special" shed light on the reasons for the turbulent relationship between Michael and Walt. Just when you think that Michael is somewhat of an obnoxious, overbearing father, you get to see his side of the story and realize that Walt's mother treated him very unfairly. The witch even intercepted all of Michael's correspondence to his son. Walt had been living with his lawyer mother and lawyer step-father in Australia when she suddenly took ill and passed away. With Walt's mother removed from the equation, Walt's step-father wanted nothing to do with the young boy. He laid it all on Michael and essentially said that Walt weirded him out. A livid and reluctant Michael did the noble thing and flew to Sydney to take custody of his biological son. And we all know what happened on their return flight over the Pacific.

Other notes:

• I had forgotten that Michael nearly suffered the same fate as Sayid's beloved Nadia. After learning on the phone half a world away that Susan was with another man, an angered Michael recklessly storms into the street and his hit by an oncoming car. Was this Jacob's will? Or Jacob's adversary's will? If it was Michael's destiny to end up on the island with Walt, then it makes sense that he would survive this accident. We also see in the fourth season that Michael couldn't even kill himself when he drove a speeding car into a wall because Tom tells him that he still has business with the island. This wouldn't be an earth-shattering revelation. I'm just noting the coincidence of two characters being hit by cars in busy streets.


• Walt's powers are further scene in a flashback episode involving his mother and step-father. Droning on about birds he's learning about in school and angered that Susan and Brian are ignoring what he's saying, he shouts at them. In the same moment, a bird crashes into one of the room's windows and plummets to the ground, apparently dead. As the camera switches from the dead bird to Walt's book and zooms in, we see that the bird featured on the open page is the same one that just pulled a kamikaze into the window. So this means that Walt can will creatures toward him if given the proper motivation? We don't know for certain. Again, it appears to be a vague power and one that still has yet to be addressed by the show.

The final scene of the episode neatly presents a segue to the succeeding one as a bewildered Claire stumbles out of the jungle and greets Locke and Boone. Boy, howdy. At this point in the first season, things're gettin' good.

So, as usual, we've recapped an entertaining episode. I still have that bone to pick with the writers and their emphasis of Walt's unique abilities, though. I'm hoping that I've forgotten some of Walt's more specific talents and that further progress into the Rewatch will jerk the rusty chain that's attached to the lightbulb in my head.

Pilot, Pt. 2

This capsule covers the second part of Lost’s pilot episode. To read the capsule about the first part, click here.

The second half of the pilot opens up on Jack, Kate and Charlie making their way back to the beach with the newfound transceiver. It appears that day has broken, and we can assume they spent the night out in the jungle. A brief flashback reveals Charlie’s heroin addiction, and at this point, seasoned viewers of Lost recall that the show is still introducing the different characters. It may seem slightly tedious as we review these, seeing as how we’ve been acquainted with the myriad personalities for several years now, but it also serves to remind us why Lost is such a great show. The character development that begins here does so much to drag us in so that we personally invest feelings with those whom we love and hate. Me? I love Charlie! And who doesn’t? Sure, as a strung-out rock star, he doesn’t make the greatest first impression on us. But our opinion of him rises precipitously from here.

In fact, as the second half of the pilot episode unfolds, we get a first impression of lots of the characters in addition to Charlie. We see a spoiled Shannon, the vigorous Boone, Jin’s domineering attitude toward his wife Sun, the rough-around-the-edges Sawyer, and the good-natured Hurley.

Out from all of these character introductions emerges the plot of the episode: Sayid and Kate—joined by Charlie, Shannon, Boone and Sawyer—ascend one of the island’s highest points in order to get the clearest signal possible for the transceiver they retrieved from the cockpit. But on the way up, the group runs afoul of a polar bear, which Sawyer dispatches with the handgun he recovered from the U.S. Marshall. Early on in the series, this scene delivered one of the first big head-scratchers: How the hell did a polar bear end up in such a tropical climate? Of course, we later learn about the Dharma Initiative’s research with a variety of wildlife on the island, and can safely assume that that explains the presence of a polar bear. My wife still takes issue with this scene, however, because she contends that the animal research was done on the adjacent island, which we find out about in the third season. It was there that Sawyer and Kate were imprisoned in the large bear cages. All I can say at this juncture is that I didn’t pay too much attention to this detail in the past, so I’m hoping to come up with something as the re-watch continues. If you feel you can confirm or deny the presence of polar bear research on the main island, then go ahead and shout me down in the comments section!

Meanwhile, Jack is busy at work trying to save the U.S. Marshall’s life. The Marshall—who was escorting Kate back to the United States—survived the crash, but was critically injured. Jack’s not doing so well at reviving the Marshall, but we see his devotion to fixing problems (even if they’re seemingly impossible). Oh, and Hurley passes out while trying to help Jack pull out the piece of shrapnel embedded in the Marshall’s torso. A classic example of Hurley functioning as comic relief.

Cutting back to the transceiver group, they make it to the top of the peak and finally get a signal. Just not the sort of signal they were hoping for. As we all know by now, it’s the voice of Danielle Rousseau, whose ship arrived at the island 16 years prior. Shannon translates the French and says that something “killed them all.” I’ll admit that this was an intriguing mystery, and I was quite excited when we finally saw what happened to her crew during a fifth season flashback. Smokey got the best of ‘em. I also love this scene because at the very end, Charlie delivers one of my favorite lines from the series: “Guys…where are we?”

Aside from the crises of the dying Marshall, the encounter with the polar bear, and the ominous French distress call, this episode features the immensely interesting scene involving John Locke and Walt. Walt comes upon Locke playing backgammon, and Locke explains the history and concept of the game to Walt, who has never played it. In his explanation, Locke emphasizes that backgammon is played between two people who are represented by either white or black pieces. Now, far be it from me to insult anyone’s intelligence, but the whole “black versus white” or “light versus dark” thing goes way back in recorded history/literature and is essentially a representation of opposing forces, or “good versus evil,” if you will. The exchange between Locke and Walt is short, but this scene turns out to be quite noteworthy, as it establishes the whole idea of opposing forces which are omnipresent throughout the Lost saga. Just off the top of my head, there’s: reason versus faith; Jack versus Locke; Jack versus Sawyer; the Dharma Initiative versus the Others. Suffice it to say that there are lots of examples. This whole concept of black and white actually comes together quite nicely when one thinks about the opening scene of the fifth season finale, the most recently aired episode. Although it’s unclear as to which one could possibly represent good or evil, Jacob—garbed in a white tunic—is approached by his presumed adversary, who wears (you guessed it) a black tunic. The two proceed to have what seems like a friendly conversation until the adversary in black asks Jacob, “do you have any idea how badly I want to kill you?” Opposing forces? You bet your bottom. Anyway, as we continue with these episode reviews, we’d do well to note the appearance of opposing forces, whether real or symbolic. The writers went out of their way to make it a theme from the beginning, so we should naturally pay attention to it.

Thus concludes the recap of the pilot episode. Next time we’ll be moving on to the first of the flashback episodes with the Kate-centric “Tabula Rasa.” As always, thanks for reading! And feel free to comment. All types of feedback are welcomed. Just try to keep it PG, everyone. :-P