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Supernatural: Thin Lizzie

Given a choice, I'll always pick a shot of the boys.
"The Darkness is coming. It's so peaceful."

This one looked like it would be our standard Supernatural (tm) ghost hunt.

So of course, it wasn't.

I'm not really getting into the Amara thing. She's the Darkness that is coming to do something awful to the world and we don't know what that will be, but right now she's currently a twelve-year-old girl "stuffing her face with souls." She's even being all touristy and fangirl about famous killers, which was why she was in Fall River and why the boys ended up there. But little Amara isn't striking any fear or creepiness in me. Not yet, anyway. Maybe she's not supposed to.

At least they seem to be going somewhere interesting with the soulless thing. Apparently, being soulless isn't a standard experience at all; people react differently. If I remember correctly, soulless season six Sam had no conscience but stuck around with Dean because he enjoyed the violence and satisfaction of hunting. Sydney the blue-haired babysitter was killing everyone with an axe, but she was blissed out by Amara and taken completely out of the anger and misery she carried due to the prior extreme abuse she suffered at the hands of her parents.

Len, the geeky Lizzie Borden fan, went the other way. Instead of being blissed out like Sydney, he was freaked because he felt like a "robot puppet man" and upset because he had lost interest in fandom. But he also remembered what it was like to do the right thing, and he saved the Winchesters from Sydney. (Or maybe Amara made Len help Dean because she's bonded with Dean?) But then Len decided to turn himself in and confess to the ax murders so that he couldn't hurt anyone else. That couldn't be related to Amara's bond with Dean, and was more than "going through the motions." Maybe there's still a remnant of the real Len inside there, directing his actions.

I was actually a little disappointed that the Lizzie Borden murders were just a red herring. I've read two or three books about the murders and I've seen a movie or two. No one knows for sure if she did it, although it seems likely. I'm not sure what Supernatural could have done with the real thing, but it might have been fun. I thought that the "Lizzie Borden Bed and Breakfast Museum" had to be made up, but it's not: it exists. Honestly, who could sleep in Lizzie Borden's house? I'd possibly go for a tour if I were passing through, but stay there?

At least the boys are still themselves again, and it was fun to see Sam indulging in his serial killer "fetish" and Dean talking about the "new rules," as in, saving people as well as hunting things. They did save Len, sort of. And Sam was a little sensitive about his previous soullessness. Can't blame him.

Bits:

— The previously on "Then" was all ghost stories. Misdirection. So was Mason the desk clerk, who was very Norman Bates with his mother.

— The murder victim in the teaser mentioned the Ghostfacers, and I did a little woo hoo.

— I guess Baby spent some serious time at a body shop in between episodes?


— When Len lost his thumb, he experienced the pain but it didn't upset him, and he wasn't wigged out at all picking up his own thumb. At least he's comfortable licking any body part now.

— By the way, nice work by Jared Gertner, who played Len. He made me laugh, I liked him, and I wouldn't mind seeing him return.

— Oooh! I just remembered another blue-haired Sydney!

— This week: Fall River, Massachusetts. The Lizzie Borden Bed and Breakfast Museum had a penchant for rose wallpaper. I'm sort of sorry we didn't see Dean and Sam trying to sleep in that room, in only one bed.

— Sam was Agent Collins, and Dean, Agent Gabriel. I'm pretty sure they've done Phil Collins and Peter Gabriel before.

Quotes:

Dean: "What do you want to do about Cas?"
Sam: "Oh, he's knee-deep in binge-watching The Wire. Just started season two."
Dean: "Oh yeah. He's not coming out any time soon."

Dean: "I don't know where to put my eyes. I think I'm gonna throw up."
Sam: "We're surrounded by doilies. They're everywhere."

Dean: "Bottled toilet water? Why do you keep spraying it?"

Dean: "Yeah, but you're better with that whole sensitive verbal massage."
Sam: "There is no sensitive way to tell someone their soul's been sucked out by a prehistoric tween."

Sam: "That's kind of the way I felt the whole time I was soulless."
Dean: "Oh, yeah. You were one chilly droid."

A serviceable Supernatural episode that made me hope that there will be some complexity with what they're doing with Amara. Two and a half out of four doilies,

Billie
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Billie Doux has been reviewing Supernatural for so long that Dean and Sam Winchester feel like old friends. Courageous, adventurous, gorgeous old friends.

7 comments:

  1. I liked it, there was continuity, suspens, good guests.
    Me neither I am not into Amara yet, not evil enough, i don't see the emergency, it's not as if walking around she is going by herself to suck out all the soul of earth. I suppose we must wait and see when she will be adult.
    There is something that sticked with me during this episode and I have to ask what you think but please I don't read any spoilers, don't even watched the trailers (they show too much), so please don't spoil me: when Dean said "oh yes, new rule , saving people", it felt weird. And Dean is a little bit weird this season, we saw that people reacts differently when soulless so could Amara have taken his soul ? It could explain his connection with her, like Sydney.
    I know it was supposed to be a dream or visoin or was it and the scene is always cut right before a kiss or maybe a soul eating.
    Just a question here, what do you think ?

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  2. audrey L, that's an interesting theory. I sort of took it as fallout from the Mark of Cain.

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  3. I really liked this one. Great story, interesting guest actors, great banter between Sam and Dean. Loved the soulless conversations. Continuity, yes! Remember when Dean called Sam "T-1000" in season 6??? I love it when they actually bring up things from past seasons, they don't do that enough. Amara gradually becoming more of a threat slowly makes sense. The show can't just have her too powerful from the start, the boys need time to find a way to stop her, and it's a long season. It's also smart of the writers to give her a connection with Dean. Knowing your enemy is smarter than having something evil trying to kill you right away. Our heroes need an edge. That's why stunt demon number 2 always tries to slowly strangle Sam whilst Dean is creeping up behind him with a knife. Hello, the demon knew there was two brothers...turn around. Anyway, loving this season, I will watch to the bitter end. Happy ending to the series?? I can dream, can't I? Three and a half souls from me.

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  4. I was also disappointed when this turned out to not be a ghosty episode. I love their ghost hunts.

    Interesting theory about Dean not having a soul. I could see that being the case, maybe.

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  5. Hopefully there'll be an actual ghost story soon, as those are my favourites, but it was fun to see the emf meter and hear a reference to the Ghostfacers (presumably the presence of fake emf producers is their influence at work?!).

    Dean not having a soul could be interesting and would sort of make sense. It wouldn't seem to quite tie with his behaviour so far though, since he seemed to care about both Cas (ep 3) and Baby (ep 4) more than you're think he would without a soul, unless he's having a really different reaction to everyone else.

    I'm just so happy Cas finally gets to stay in the bunker and watch Netflix instead of being kicked out for no reason just to avoid having him in every episode!

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  6. So Sam talked about a possible lead that turned out to just be a bunch of people eating rabid-possum meat. Possums can't get rabies. As Sam said possums are marsupials so their body temperatures are too low for the rabies virus. Sam does get points for know it's a marsupial!

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  7. I think Dean still has his soul but all the Anger, fear, depression and anxiety were "diminished " by Amara. Kinda like he's under "spell" because he himself said he felt "calm" when she first met him. The MOC still connects them because of the idea of the lock/key business. Take from a high strung person, when your not constantly feeling the "fight or flight" reaction, your body feels almost fantastically light, freed, even. All with out feeling the emotions bogging you down...

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