2006

I just have to say: I love this show. Even when they don’t quite hit the high mark they’re aiming for, I have to give them credit. This episode was drenched in atmosphere, and while the story was a little thin, it once again boiled down to the psychology of the two brothers. Specifically, in this instance, Dean’s emotions regarding Sam.

For all that Sam annoys Dean to no end, Dean also feels an incredible amount of responsibility for his welfare and survival. From my perspective, this ties back into “Scarecrow”. Dean has a lot of issues with Sam and his notions of duty and responsibility to family, but he’s not about to leave Sam to the dogs. It’s nothing particularly new, but I consider the depth of relationship between Dean and Sam to be similar to the nuanced and complex relationship between Mulder and Scully on “X-Files”.

Speaking of “X-Files”, a lot of buzz surrounded this episode, claiming that it was some kind of thematic follow-up on the “X-Files” episode “Home”. It may be an obvious correlation, but I’m not entirely convinced that it’s correct.

I wasn’t particularly thrilled with the previous episode, but the writers turned things around with a very compelling mythology episode with plenty of interesting implications. More to the point, they did it by focusing almost entirely on the two leads, instead of tossing in another “Babe of the Week” to hold the interests of the audience. The writers had confidence in the strength of their concept and story, and as such, that confidence was shining through in nearly every scene.

I still don’t think Jared is the best actor in the world, but I like where the character is going and how he’s tackling the challenge. The series started out with strict lines between the normal and paranormal, but now that the lines are blurring in a major way, Sam’s abilities could have come across as incredibly silly. Instead, there are shades of the issues that came up for Cordelia on “Angel”. Sam may have visions, but those visions are not a pleasant experience, and they don’t always give him a chance to change things.

The interesting part is the connection between the demonic entity that killed Sam’s mother and Jess and the abilities that he began exhibiting just before the start of the series itself.