Sam: "I have these nightmares."
Dean: "I've noticed."
Sam: "And sometimes they come true."
Dean: "Come again?"
Rehash of Poltergeist, with a touch of Amityville Horror and a Supernatural twist.
Single mother Jenny and her two children victimized in the same house where Mary died was a transparent parallel to Mary, Dean and Sam twenty-two years ago. I thought the end, with Mary as the flaming monster in the closet sacrificing herself for her sons, was moving. At least they got to see her one more time. Or in Sam's case, for the first time.
Going back to Lawrence was outright painful for Dean, but turned out to be more of a voyage of discovery for Sam. Sam never knew that Dean carried him out of the house that night, never saw the room where his mother died. And Sam was delighted with Missouri, the psychic. (Dean was less impressed.) At least Sam began taking his psychic gift seriously, and used it to help others. Maybe being around Missouri and her matter-of-fact acceptance of her gift had a beneficial effect on him.
John showed up at the end, and told Missouri that he couldn't see his sons until he knew the truth. The truth about what? Is John protecting them, somehow? I'm sort of losing patience with this whole "trying to find Dad" thing, because it just feels like a plot device to keep the boys on the road fighting evil. (Yes, I do want the boys on the road fighting evil, though, that's not the point.)
Bits and pieces:
— Sam getting thrown around by the poltergeist was convincing and scary, well done.
— Poltergeist, yes, I get it, but did they have to do the hand-in-the-garbage-disposal thing? I hate the hand-in-the-garbage-disposal thing.
— This week, the boys went home to Lawrence, Kansas. And they mostly didn't masquerade as anything, because Sam told Jenny the truth. The lack of subterfuge sort of went with the going home again plot.
— Well, they did masquerade as cops when asking questions at a local garage. That was where John worked, right?
— Note from later: While rewatching the series, something really struck me about the scene where Mary materialized and saw her two sons. She walked right up to Sam and said, "I'm sorry."
Quotes:
Dean: "First you tell me that you got the shining, and then you tell me I've got to go back home, especially when... when I swore to myself that I'd never go back there."
Missouri: "That an EMF?"
Dean: "Yeah."
Missouri: "Amateur."
Dean: "Missouri did her whole Zelda Rubenstein thing. The house should be clean."
Missouri even sounded like Zelda Rubenstein.
Sam: "'I went to Missouri and I learned the truth'."
Dean: "I always thought he meant the state."
Three stars,
Billie
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Billie Doux loves good television and spends way too much time writing about it.
Scary and moving, very moving. When Mary showed up, I actually cried. And she apologising to Sam will have relevance for season four.
ReplyDeleteHey Billie,
ReplyDeletewow, this was the first episode I actually enjoyed. It took me until these days to give supernatural another try and I just do it because u seem to totally love that show. I cant believe how boring it is to me...
There is no other show u love, that I dont love too xDDDD I think if I am not hooked after the first season I probably won´t watch more. It´s a really big time commitment, but that´s how much I trust ur judgement xD
Maybe if u read this u can give me a hint on when YOU thought the show really hit it off.
Anyway, a big hug from a usually quiet reader, I love ur page so much!!! <3 (still my only tagged as a favourite blog...for 5 years now *lol*)
Mona
Hi, Mona:
ReplyDeleteI'm so proud to be your bookmarked blog! Thanks so much for your comment. The two episodes that sold me on Supernatural are coming up soon; they're "Scarecrow" and "Faith," both of which match future episodes in story strength and intensity. Supernatural really takes off in season two. If you don't like "Scarecrow" and "Faith", then you probably won't like the rest. That's fine, you know. As I say probably way too often, your mileage may vary.
If it does end up hooking you, post a comment and let us know.
weehee, u answered my post ö.ö
ReplyDeleteI always feel so honored when u do that xD
I am hoping to get into it, I just cant believe otherwise, especially since u said stuff about the great mythology etc. Right now its all a bit lukewarm, there are to few characters for my opinion, or maybe I just don´t like the two there are >< I loved Missouri though ^^ and I just finished asylum and now getting to scarecrow *YAY*
thx again for the response <3 Ill keep watching now (btw. I have the flu, thats why I have so much time on my hands to watch right now xD)
I miss these kinds of expressive comments... gave me nostalgic whiplash to see all the emoticon usage. Really cute
DeleteMuch better! I was ready to bail on the series, but this one got my interest piqued again.
ReplyDeleteLooking forward to the two you mention..
ChrisB - You must be flying through this show b/c I see you are commenting on Season 4!! I am also watching this show for the 1st time (just finished Buffy and Angel and decided to give this one a shot).
ReplyDeleteSo far...just OK...but I'll stick with it only because everyone else on this site says how great it gets...so far it has more of a "horror movie" feel to it, but I am sure I'll like it better once the overarching stories and mythologies really kick in.
The arm in the disposal - gah - I walked away the second he unplugged it.
Sooze: I am flying through it. I'm stuck in bed, so have been using this to pass the time.
ReplyDeleteDon't give up now. The show is about to hit its stride and it just keeps getting better.
I, too, am watching this show because Billie loves it so much, and I respect her opinion highly. My husband and I like it, but I didn't really like it a lot or feel invested in it until I watched "Home." Even though a few parts of this episode felt off to me (the hand in the garbage disposal and dad's mysterious ways were candidates), I felt drawn to Missouri. I also began really caring about the brothers for the first time and now I feel like I want to learn more about them. I am really looking forward to getting to the two episodes that Billie mentioned above!
ReplyDeleteBesides the pilot, this episode is the one that shows how great Supernatural is going to be going forward. I do find it funny when people say the show is too scary. "The conjuring" was scary. Supernatural is horror lite, which is the way I like it. This episode did the poltergeist homage just right. The effects, guest acting and stunts were superb. Best scene was Dean saving Sam just as he was only semi-conscious. Great brotherly moment there. John thinks he has to hunt by himself because he is afraid of his boys getting hurt. He is chasing a big bad.
ReplyDeleteI am just now watching Supernatural for the first time, on the combined strengths of Billie Doux reviews and curiosity. I'm reading the episode reviews as I go along. I love the relationship between the brothers, and I see enough potential to be patient with the 1st season growing pains.
ReplyDeleteI read Firestarter at a rather young age, and Stephen King's description of the garbage disposal left such an impact that I still clean my own with a toilet brush, NOT my hand. I saw the workman and my hackles immediately raised. Gah!!! Worse still, the panic of not knowing where your young troublemaker is... That would be the only reason for keeping a kiddo of that age (who should really speak much better, unless there's a developmental difficulty), always in the play yard.
And poltergeists aside, how horrible it that a professional repairman would think Jenny should be financially liable under those circumstances?!?!?
"how horrible it that a professional repairman would think Jenny should be financially liable under those circumstances?!?!?"
DeleteYo absolutely. I knew he was a bad egg when he didn't smile at the little cymbals-monkey toy starting up.
I really liked the look of an invisible man on fire. I wonder if that's expensive to do or one of those surprisingly simple effects once they had the idea. And I felt a weird sense of humor about the poltergeist's shenanigans, after the hand thing obviously. Something about it ineptly luring the kid into the fridge was almost like G-rated hijinks in a kid's movie. Along with the electrical cord following Sam around.
ReplyDeleteIt made me a little uncomfortable to have their mom look as beautiful as the other designated 'chicks in trouble' lol. I don't remember taking special note of her this way my first time, but it almost ruined my immersion (which isn't a big deal, the foggy 'spiders' in the Bugs episode didn't make me sneer either even if they were so bad)