"Because I'M SPECIAL"
a.k.a. the problem with Walt.
(Yes, this is another Lost post. But not at all related to the finale, surprisingly!)
With all of the discussion surrounding the end of the series, I've also been seeing a lot of new talk about the early seasons and how the show changed priorities over time. In particular, Walt's dropped plotline. It's interesting to me how differently everyone views Walt's backstory episode, "Special." (It's especially interesting to see people trying to explain away this plot by arguing that Walt was never really shown to be that special or important, for one thing.)
Anyway, I was wondering if I'm remembering the episode properly, because it seemed clear to me that we were supposed to assume Walt conjured the polar bear somehow. (Obviously, this is before we get the Dharma explanation in what, Season 3?) The episode is set up so that Walt first reads the comic book with the polar bear in it, and Michael burns the comic book in front of Walt during an argument. Then we get the flashback to the strange incident in Australia (when the type of bird Walt is studying smashes into the window right after he gets angry at his parents.) THEN the polar bear shows up and attacks Walt. I'm pretty sure it comes right after the part of the flashback where Walt's nanny says that weird stuff happens around him all the time.
(...is it weird to be a little sad that this plot got dropped? I wonder where they had been planning on going with it.)
(Yes, this is another Lost post. But not at all related to the finale, surprisingly!)
With all of the discussion surrounding the end of the series, I've also been seeing a lot of new talk about the early seasons and how the show changed priorities over time. In particular, Walt's dropped plotline. It's interesting to me how differently everyone views Walt's backstory episode, "Special." (It's especially interesting to see people trying to explain away this plot by arguing that Walt was never really shown to be that special or important, for one thing.)
Anyway, I was wondering if I'm remembering the episode properly, because it seemed clear to me that we were supposed to assume Walt conjured the polar bear somehow. (Obviously, this is before we get the Dharma explanation in what, Season 3?) The episode is set up so that Walt first reads the comic book with the polar bear in it, and Michael burns the comic book in front of Walt during an argument. Then we get the flashback to the strange incident in Australia (when the type of bird Walt is studying smashes into the window right after he gets angry at his parents.) THEN the polar bear shows up and attacks Walt. I'm pretty sure it comes right after the part of the flashback where Walt's nanny says that weird stuff happens around him all the time.
(...is it weird to be a little sad that this plot got dropped? I wonder where they had been planning on going with it.)