January 2006

I’ve never been a fan of the whole “evil car” concept. I get the basic concept: stylish vehicle becomes weapon of mechanized death. It taps into the fear of the machine, the tool that turns on its creator. The thing is, it’s a little cheesy. It’s been done to death, and while the whole idea is that this series takes horror and urban legend staples and gives them a shiny new coat of paint, not every concept is going to work well.

Perhaps the writers were worried about the same thing, because the story is as much about Dean and his past as it is about the literal “monster truck”. I find it interesting and somewhat revealing that Dean would have little issue with a bi-racial relationship. It perfectly complements the fact that he perceives the true enemy as being the demonic entities that plague humans regardless of racial considerations.

Of course, that also allowed for some commentary on race relations over the years, which was a bit simplified for my tastes. If the area was so racially divided just a generation earlier, in that part of the country, the likelihood that bi-racial relationships would be tolerated is fairly low.

It’s amazing how this show can pull you into a relatively simple and straightforward story. I was very busy coming into this episode (the “24” premiere week is always nuts for me), so I started the episode while cleaning up. Roughly an hour later, I realized that I had made little progress. Believe it or not, it wasn’t my semi-obsession with Julie Benz, either!

No, this time, it was my fascination with Dean’s enormous feelings of guilt, and how much was running beneath the surface. Sam made a value judgment for his brother that speaks volumes, and I’m still not sure that I’ve considered all the possible interpretations of that decision. It’s rather clear what Dean’s interpretation is, however, and it just might make their relationship more complicated.

There’s some indication that the episodes are being aired out of the intended order, but I don’t think that it’s been as obvious or damaging as it could have been (in the sense of a series like “Firefly”, for instance). I see a fairly consistent progression of the character exploration. Sure, the rift between them in the previous episode might have evolved out of this series of events more naturally than out of “Asylum”, but it all hangs together very well.