Television Review: Special (Lost, S1X14, 2005)

Special (S01E14)

Airdate: January 19th 2005

Written by: Daniel Fury
Directed by: Greg Yaitanes

Running Time: 43 minutes

As the economical narrative principle of early Season 1 Lost continued—methodically clearing checkmarks of character background through focused flashback episodes—the fourteenth instalment, Special, turned its lens on Michael Dawson and his son Walt. This left only Hurley with his origins still shrouded, a deliberate pacing choice that kept one major mystery in reserve while deepening another. Special is, however, far more than a simple backstory delivery mechanism. It is the episode that genuinely propels the general plot forward, offering a tangible third option to the survivors’ stagnant binary of passively awaiting rescue or reluctantly building a permanent life on the island. Driven by a father’s desperation, Michael’s plan to construct a raft and sail back to civilisation injects a new, active purpose into the camp, shifting the narrative from pure survival to determined escape.

Before this plan can take shape, Michael must confront a more immediate and personal crisis: Walt’s growing attachment to John Locke. Witnessing his son spending increasing amounts of time with Locke and Boone, learning knife-throwing and other outdoors skills, sparks a deep-seated anxiety in Michael. This culminates in a brief but charged confrontation. Locke, in a characteristically calm yet potent display, ultimately brushes it off and respectfully defers to Michael’s parental authority, telling Walt not to come to him anymore. This moment is crucial, as it establishes the episode’s core conflict not as a simple personality clash, but as a struggle rooted in Michael’s profound fear of losing his son—a fear vividly explained through the episode’s flashbacks.

We meet Michael in 1994 as a struggling artist, his girlfriend Susan Lloyd (Tamara Taylor) pregnant. Two years later, with Walt born, the dynamics shift brutally. Michael is forced into construction work, while Susan secures a lucrative job in international law and moves to Amsterdam, taking Walt with her. The tragedy deepens when Susan marries her boss, Brian Porter (David Starzyk), and the couple secures full custody of Walt from Michael. The emotional devastation of this loss is palpable. Later, when Susan dies suddenly from a blood disorder, Brian arrives on Michael’s doorstep with a shocking directive: go to Australia and take Walt. He reveals he only took custody to please his wife and ominously states that “things happen” around Walt. This cryptic admission, paired with the subsequent fateful flight from Sydney, reframes Michael’s present-day possessiveness as a tortured response to having his son wrested away once before. He is now gripped by the terror of history repeating itself, even in this bizarre context.

Back on the island, this fear manifests physically when Walt vanishes while walking Vincent. Michael, aided by Locke, finds him under attack by another polar bear. The rescue, achieved with Locke’s help, becomes a pivotal bonding moment. Surviving the ordeal together begins to mend the fissures between father and son. Meanwhile, another plot thread advances the overarching mystery. Sayid, studying Rousseau’s map, concludes that the location where Claire is being held might be the mysterious “Black Rock” and advocates a search. This subplot converges neatly at the episode’s climax when Locke and Boone, spending the night in the jungle, stumble upon a disoriented Claire—a discovery that promises to unravel further secrets.

Written by David Fury and directed by Greg Yaitanes, Special ranks among the stronger episodes of the season, a notable improvement over several more meandering predecessors. It adeptly blends action, adventure, and family drama, executing character exposition with precision while seeding just enough speculative red herrings to fuel audience theories. Chief among these is the idea that Walt is “special”. The episode masterfully hints at latent superhuman powers—an ability to manifest or attract objects and animals through will. A flashback shows him reading about birds just before one slams into the window; later, his reading of a comic featuring a polar bear is subtly linked to the creature’s real-life appearance. This intriguing supernatural element is woven seamlessly into the more mundane, but emotionally powerful, exploration of the father-son relationship, a dynamic elevated by excellent performances from Harold Perrineau and Malcolm David Kelley.

A deftly handled side plot involves Claire’s diary, obtained by Charlie after a brief, tense conflict with Sawyer. Charlie’s portrayal as devoted and morally conflicted is poignant. One of the episode’s most moving—and darkly funny—scenes shows him battling with his conscience, trying desperately not to read the diary before succumbing. His discovery of her dream descriptions, which he believes could lead to her rescue, adds a layer of tender urgency to his quest.

Unfortunately, the episode is somewhat let down by an all-too-convenient cliffhanger ending. Yaitanes directs Claire’s return in a manner that deliberately obscures whether she is still pregnant, or whether she escaped or was released. While this successfully builds suspense, it ultimately feels like a conventional television mystery-box tactic, a reminder that the series was still operating within traditional episodic structures rather than pushing the boundaries of form or content.

Nevertheless, Special succeeds precisely where it matters most: it gives Michael a compelling motivation and agency, recontextualises Walt as a potential key to the island’s mysteries, and meaningfully advances multiple character arcs and plotlines. It proves that Lost could balance its burgeoning mythology with solid, character-driven storytelling, making it a pivotal chapter in the first season’s evolution.

RATING: 7/10 (+++)

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