LOST ? Episode 14
Special
?Stay away from my son.?
This was an excellent episode wherein we get to know all about Walt and Michael?s past. Therefore, as always, the first part of my review encompasses everything about these two survivors.
I?m going to start at the very beginning when Walt was in his mother?s womb. Michael and his girlfriend, Susan, are talking about the baby. They are shopping for furniture and its evident Michael really wants to be the father even though he and Susan are not married ? yet.
When Walt is a little baby, Susan decides to take a job in Amsterdam. Michael, of course, is devastated. He does not want to lose Walt, but Susan tells him their relationship is not working. She makes the money and he doesn?t. What judge wouldn?t give her custody of the child under those circumstances?
A few years later, Michael calls Susan from a public phone. He wants to know how his son is doing. He hears other people in the background. Susan tells him about Brian, her boss, and that she is seeing him. Michael, angry and devastated by the news, slams the phone down. He crosses the street without looking. He is hit by a car, and breaks his leg.
One day, he?s in rehab talking with a nurse about his son. She sees his sketchbook and tells him he should write to the boy.
?About what??
?Tell him a joke.? She answers. ?What?s black and white and red all over??
?A newspaper,? he responds.
?No?a penguin with a sunburn.?
Susan returns to the United States and visits Michael in the hospital. She tells him that she is marrying Brian and they are moving to Italy, where he is taking over the office there. Brian wants to adopt Walt. This irritates Michael, but he?s in the hospital and can do nothing, especially since Susan tells him she?s paying his expenses. Boy that was a chunk of change, even six years ago.
One day there is a knock on his door and Brian, Susan?s husband, is there. Susan, he reports is dead. She died of some blood disorder. He tells Michael that Susan wanted him to have his son back. Brian gives Michael airline tickets for him to go to Australia to pick up Walt. He tells Michael that there is something strange about Walt. He tells him of Walt?s cold unemotional reaction to the death of a bird who was killed flying into the plate glass window. We know Michael could care less. He just wants his son.
In Australia, Walt?s nanny hands Michael a box. In it are all the letters he wrote to Walt over the years. It?s evident that Walt never saw them. Michael confronts his nine-year old explaining that he is his real father, not Brian and he?s taking him home to the states. It was awkward and sad to see the strain on Michael?s face and the I-don?t-believe-it look on Walt?s. Michael doesn?t tell his son that Brian didn?t want him?that he had never wanted any children. He only wanted Susan. Walt was along for the ride. So they take Vincent whom Brian gave to Walt (said Michael) and leave on that fateful Oceanic flight to the States. As we all know, they didn?t make it.
Michael?s relationship with the boy is strained. He doesn?t find him one morning and goes looked for him. Walt is with Locke and Boone. Locke is teaching him to use a knife?throwing it into a tree. He masters the art just as Michael comes upon them. Michael is angry because deep down he feels Walt likes Locke better than him. ?Stay away from my son,? he warns. Locke wants Michael to take better stock of his son. Stop treating him like a child?give him a chance to expand his horizons and his potential?.or words to that effect.
They return to the cave and as Walt sleeps, Sun is told by Michael what happened. (They threw her in for one scene. By the way, I think she?s still wearing the same outfit she survived in?while Kate has been seen in a number of different outfits.)
Next, we see Walt reading the Spanish comic book and sounding out the words. Michael joins him with a paper in his hand. He is planning to build a raft to as he says, ?to take destiny in our own hands.? He had an argument with others about doing something to leave but they more or less think no one is coming for them. It has been over three weeks.
He knows there is no way Walt can reach his potential on the island nor expand his horizons if they stay. He makes the decision when he hears Jack, Shannon, and Sayid discuss the maps Sayid took from the Frenchwoman.
At the beach, Michael urges Walt help him gather material from the plane, i.e. seats that float and other materials they can use to build a raft. Walt sees Locke and Boone head off into the jungle. When he notices Michael didn?t see them, he says he?s thirsty and is going for water. Michael asks him to bring him some also.
Michael suddenly realizes Walt is gone with his dog, Vincent. He finds Locket with Boone and accuses him of luring Walt away from him. Locke tells Michael that he told Walt not to return and to respect the wishes of his father. Michael is at a loss. If Walt is not with Locke, where is he? Locke tells him they?ll hunt for the boy together.\
Meanwhile some distance away, Walt is looking for Locke when Vincent hears something in the underbrush. Walt loses control of the dog as the leash comes off. The dog roars down the trail barking his head off. Walt hears some strange noises coming from the underbrush. Then, as any nine-year soon to be ten would be, is scared.
Michael and Locke are looked down the trail. Michael finds the discarded leash. He is scared for his son. Then they both hear cries for help in the distance. As they get closer, they hear roars and Walt?s shrill panicky voice. We see a vicious bear-like creature pawing through heavy thick vines trying to get at the boy.
Locke stops Michael from rushing headlong into the creature. He looks up and sees that the tree will help them. The two men reach the spot where Walt is cowering. Michael drops the knife down for Walt to use. Using the vines, Locke gives it to Michael to take down to Walt. He will pull the boy up if Michael can get it tied around his son. As soon as the boy is on his way, Michael, using the knife, attacks the bear and sends it down the trail, roaring in pain.
Walt hugs his dad and Michael looks at Locke gratefully. His son is now truly his.
Later back at the caves, Michael gives Walt the box. ?You wrote to me?? He examines the cards and letters. Not wishing to cause Walt to wonder why his mother withheld them, he explains she kept them all for him. They laugh at the penguin joke Michael sent.
Meanwhile, in a little subplot, Charlie tells Kate that Clare had a diary. He was looking for it to put with the belongings she had. They confront Sawyer who tells Charlie that it was good reading. He talks about what she said about him and Charlie hits him. Sawyer strikes back, knocking him down. Kate shames Sawyer into giving Charles the diary.
Later, Charlie, sitting alone, fights the urge to read the diary. (It really is a funny scene?no dialogue either.) However later he does open the diary to find out exactly what Clare thought about him?a sweet, caring man. Suddenly he straightens and runs to Jack and Sayid to tell them that Clare had nightmares of a ?black rock? on the island. The same one that the Frenchwoman talked about to Sayid.
The final scene switches to the jungle where Locke and Boone are trying to find the dog, Vincent. They hear something approaching through the tangles of jungle undergrowth?bushes and ferns. Suddenly, a figure emerges?Clare, looking ghastly.
REMARKS AND DISCUSSION
I thought the episode was excellent. I just have to forget the irritation I have at the constant change of ?scenery.?
I think we have the entire back-story about Michael and Walt leading up to the airplane crash. No hanging thread here as we have with Kate, Jack, Locke and Sawyer.
The bear is back. It caused Walt to learn how much his dad loved and cared about him. He saw first hand that Michael would risk his life to save him. Sometimes I think children just don?t realize how much their parents do care about what happens to them. It takes years for it to sink in that most parents only want what is best for their children.
So is the bear an analogy about Fear? Is it real?
What about the trapdoor or entrance to a hiding place that Boone and Locke have found. Will they ever find a way through it?
The strange black rock in the legend of the Frenchwoman, now Clare writes about a nightmare she has had. What is it? Where is it on the island? Will Sayid look for it with someone from the group of survivors? Whom would you pick to go with you?
Do you think Michael is going to revise his desire to leave the island with Walt now that their relationship is on a firmer ground?
Now Clare is back. She didn?t look like she was carrying her child. Did the ?others? take the baby? Why?
:boat:
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