This is a fairly simple episode, when it comes to the “paranormal” elements, but as usual, it all comes down to some complex and crushing psychological exploration. This is another episode covering Dean’s grieving process, and we finally get past some of those emotional walls. What lies beyond those walls is not pretty, but it’s entirely consistent with previous characterization and events depicted thus far.
The case, as I said, was simple. A hot young woman is killed in a car accident, a friend with deep unrequited love brings her back as the undead (with some disturbing intentions), and things get violent as a result. This is one of the few times I’ve seen a show deal with necrophilia, and the presentation had to make a lot of people uncomfortable. In this case, the dead woman was quite lively and very attractive, which only helps to sneak the implication past the radar.
This particular situation is designed to force Dean and Sam to consider reactions to sudden loss, and it hits Dean right between the eyes. Sam hasn’t been dealing with his father’s death very well either, but a lot of his time has been spent dealing with Dean. Dean is beginning to recognize how messed up he is, but he also has no idea how to heal. And he has a lot of reason to think that he bears a terrible burden on his soul.
I’m glad that Dean finally mentioned the obvious connection between John’s death and his miraculous recovery. I thought it was a little odd for the writers to pretend that the brothers wouldn’t work that out, and sure enough, it was all part of the story arc. Dean did come to the right conclusion, and it’s ripping him apart to imagine what kind of deal his father made. As he points out at the end of the episode, he was dead, and by the logic of this episode, bringing him back was wrong.
Of course, that goes against the emotional reaction of the audience and Sam’s gut instinct, so it’s incredibly hard to reconcile. Yet looking back at the season premiere, the writers set the stage for this psychological trauma from the beginning. Sam has no answer to the problem, because there is no good rebuttal. Dean is exactly right, and that engenders a level of self-loathing that has been evident in the past few episodes. That kind of character development and exploration is quite rare in television.
Another positive aspect of this episode, more present in this episode than any other this season, was the humor. It may have been an example of Dean’s defense mechanisms at work, but he was tossing out hilarious comments right up until his emotions got the better of him. More than that, the script itself included some amusing moments, like Dean walking in on Sam’s sampling of the hotel on-demand porn. The humor made the darker psychological material easier to digest for some in the audience, and so long as both ends of the spectrum are explored, the series will continue to excel.
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