Special (19 Jan. 2005)

John Locke is teaching Walt Lloyd to throw knives, and Michael Dawson feels jealous with the situation. He forbids Walt to meet Locke, and recalls his romance with Walt's mother Susan Lloyd... See full summary »

Director:

Greg Yaitanes

Writers:

Jeffrey Lieber (creator), J.J. Abrams (creator),

Stars:

Naveen Andrews, Emilie de Ravin, Matthew Fox

Cast

Episode cast overview, first billed only:
Naveen Andrews	...	Sayid Jarrah
Emilie de Ravin	...	Claire Littleton
Matthew Fox	...	Jack Shephard
Jorge Garcia	...	Hugo 'Hurley' Reyes
Maggie Grace	...	Shannon Rutherford
Josh Holloway	...	James 'Sawyer' Ford
Malcolm David Kelley	...	Walt Lloyd
Daniel Dae Kim	...	Jin Kwon (credit only)
Yunjin Kim	...	Sun Kwon
Evangeline Lilly	...	Kate Austen
Dominic Monaghan	...	Charlie Pace
Terry O'Quinn	...	John Locke
Harold Perrineau	...	Michael Dawson
Ian Somerhalder	...	Boone Carlyle
Tamara Taylor	...	Susan Lloyd

Storyline

John Locke is teaching Walt Lloyd to throw knives, and Michael Dawson feels jealous with the situation. He forbids Walt to meet Locke, and recalls his romance with Walt's mother Susan Lloyd (Tamara Taylor), an overachieving executive who took the infant Walt away, and having an awkward reunion 10 years later with the uncertain and spoiled Walt in Australia. Walt becomes upset with the situation and decides to hike with his dog Vincent into the woods. At the end, Locke and Boone Carlyle find Claire Littleton wandering in the forest.

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Plot Keywords:

mysterious island | hit by car | labrador retriever

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Genres:

Adventure | Drama | Fantasy | Mystery | Sci-Fi | Thriller

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Certificate:

TV-14

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

Korean English

Release Date:

19 January 2005 (USA)

Filming Locations:

O'ahu, Hawaii, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

Bad Robot, Touchstone Television

Technical Specs

Runtime:

43 min

Sound Mix:

Stereo

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.78 : 1

Did You Know?

Goofs

When Charlie is reading Claire's diary, the camera pans over one of the pages, which contains the word "realized". Claire is Australian, and all Australians spell the word as "realised".

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Quotes

Charlie: [to Sawyer] You hit like a ponce.

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Soundtracks

"Main Title"
Written by J.J. Abrams

User Reviews

An emotionally-laden thrill ride, with arguable thrills

"Sometimes when he's around things happen. He's different somehow."

"Special" is an appropriately-titled episode, because—although many elements of mythology had already been introduced in the series—it was the first episode to explicitly tell us that a certain character was "special". "Walkabout" did imply favouring treatment to Locke when the island healed his paralysis, but it may well be that the island would cure anyone's paralysis. Here, however, Walt is objectively portrayed as a special individual, and this development of a til-then rather underdeveloped character adds another layer to the mythology that was so beautifully laid out in Lost's first season. The tie between the bird appearing in Australia and the polar bear appearing on the island after Walt read about both animals is intriguing and mysterious, and both scenes were well-executed, the flashback's intentionally focusing on the mystery while the on-island scene kept the intrigue aside as action dominated the focus of the scenes. Michael is asked in the future if Walt ever appeared somewhere he wasn't supposed to be, and even after four seasons, the mysterious powers surrounding Walt that sparked the Others' interest in him remain as large of a mystery as ever.

But Walt is only one of two leads in the episode, and Michael's pre-established paternal struggles culminate in this episode, in which Michael's rivalry with Locke over raising Walt hits its greatest highs and lows. Both Michael and Locke come to put their animosity aside to help save Walt, and through this grow accepting of each other. While this does sound like the plot to a Chevy Chase/Dan Aykroyd movie, Perrineau and O'Quinn manage to make it dramatically believable, even if the plot does seem a little unnecessary.

Every subplot in the episode holds some relevance, but overall it's no exception in an underwhelming slump of episodes in the middle of the first season, at least compared to the rest of the season. Boone appears to have transformed into something of an obedient, protective watchdog to Locke, which seems appropriate knowing how the two end their relationship. Charlie's obsessive fixation on Claire's diary becomes suddenly relevant when she returns in the episode's final scene, leaving fans anxious for an explanation of the Others' treatment of her during her absence. The flashbacks also provide a necessary introduction to the pasts of Michael and Walt, but they are a tad slow and dull. Michael proves to be one of the most tragic characters in the series' run, and scenes such as his less-than-satisfying phone call to Susan followed by getting hit by a car prove that his luck can rival even Hurley's.

Technically the episode is brilliantly made. Greg Yaitanes, who also directed the almost-as-impressive Solitary, inexplicably never came back to direct for the show again. The brush in which Walt hides and Michael fights the polar bear is one of the most beautiful sets used to date on the show, and it is beyond me why they've not returned to it. "Special" is probably the weakest of David Fury's four scripts, but it is by no means a bad episode. Perrineau delivers an outstanding lead performance, and even Malcolm David Kelley establishes himself as a very competent young actor, in what is probably his best episode so far in the series.

This episode also has the honour of launching one of my favourite story lines in Lost's run thus far: the raft. The beauty of the execution of this choice was that it was Michael who decided to lead the project, which simply made perfect sense. He's a construction worker, he's an everyman, and not only does he want to save himself and his kid from being stranded, but he also wants to save them from spending too much time together to possibly get along. Until then, the shock from Walt running away from him appears to have smacked some sense into Michael, who makes his best efforts to get along with his son.

"I don't know. But she didn't throw them away, either, which means, you know, somewhere inside she wanted you to have them."

Standout performances: Harold Perrineau, Terry O'Quinn, Malcolm David Kelley

Standout scene: Michael meets Walt in Australia.