"Special" was well received by critics. Chris Carabott of IGN called Michael's flashback "heart wrenching" and praised Perrineau's "brilliant performance" at "expressing the heartbreak that Michael is feeling."[13] He rated "Special" with a score of 7.8 out of 10, an indication of a "good" episode.[13] Kirthana Ramisetti from Entertainment Weekly called it the best episode since "Walkabout" because of Michael's character development.[14] She said that one of her favorite scenes of the entire season "was Michael and Walt bonding over the letters and the drawing of the sunburned penguin.