Lost - Special [Michael & Walt]

Michael was peering into a little wooden box in the previous episode (I’m already trying to fade that episode into the back of my mind), and while it was just a brief moment, this is still quite important in relation to “Special”. I think Special is a terrific rebound from probably my least favorite episode of the first season so far, Hearts and Minds, focusing on Michael and Walt’s back story. Their back story, unlike Shannon and Boone’s, I am interested in. Michael has badly wanted to bond with his son. But while on the island, Walt has been fascinated with Locke, much to Michael’s chagrin. In Special, Michael becomes so irate with his son’s ditching him for Locke, he shows an ugly side to him…there’s really no reason for Michael to tell Locke he’d kill him if he was ever around Walt again. Walt so badly wants to be like Locke, a survivalist with the ability to hunt. Locke considers Walt endearing and teaches him how to direct the sharp end of the knife at a specific spot into a tree. Michael is not happy with this at all, his son with a knife being so young. It is vital that we see the back story so it is understood just why Michael acts and behaves as he does. The time apart has soured Michael because he never wanted the mother of Walt to leave the United States, but international law was her desire, Amsterdam (and later, Australia) relocating her. She is hired by a man she’d marry, and Walt grows up not knowing his father. In the box are cards, with sketches drawn by Michael specifically for his son. For whatever reason, the mother never gave them to Walt. She did visit Michael after he was hit by a car after angrily walking into a moving car when she told him about her fiancé. So the mother dies, and the adoptive father wants Michael to take Walt. The episode hints that there is something peculiar about Walt, after a bird flies into the window of his adoptive father’s home in Australia (while reading through a book on bird species). Michael isn’t happy with the guy but always wanted to be in his son’s life. So on the island, when it looks like someone else would be replacing him, of course he responds in this frustrated, ill-mannered tone. He'll be damned if Locke is the next father to substitute in his place.

The episode features a big action sequence built specifically to build upon the desired bond Michael wants so badly. Is the island responsible for this? Does the island produce this monstrous polar bear, tearing into a splintered tree to get at Walt, just so that father and son will grow closer and realize they need each other? And can the island make Michael realize that John doesn't have anything but good intentions...for both of them.