By John Keegan
While the opportunity to see Agent Henricksen is greatly appreciated, it all comes down to how those opportunities are exploited. In this case, Henricksen has the advantage and enough support to keep the pressure on the Winchesters and their relatively inexperienced court-appointed representation. Knowing what he knows about Dean and Sam, it’s hard to believe that he wouldn’t take measures to keep anything and everything under surveillance until the brothers were safely behind bars. Add his unnecessary attitude with the prosecutor, and it’s a bit of a blow to Henricksen’s credibility.
It’s also possible that being a fan of “Prison Break” makes this a difficult episode to accept. In terms of the complications to the case itself, the prison settling is interesting and even fun. It certainly works for the character exploration side of things. But the prisoners seem to have too much latitude, especially when Sam manages to roam the old cell block and burn things without getting caught. And the escape, even accounting for Deacon’s assistance, felt far too easy.
All that said, this situation allows for some unusual character development. Dean finds himself rather comfortable in the prison element, which is not entirely shocking. Dean may not be as empathetic as Sam, but he does make a clear distinction between the guilty and the innocent when it comes to demonic attacks. In his mind, the prisoners are victims of the haunting, and they deserve to be saved. More than that, Dean has been a hunter all his life, and many of the people in that prison must seem familiar. More familiar, at least, than people in the “normal” world.
Sam, on the other hand, looks at the situation. As mentioned previously, Sam’s personal situation makes it difficult to draw a clear distinction between good and evil. So for him, it’s not about one’s species; it’s about intentions. And from that perspective, the vast majority of the inmates chose to commit violent crime. Thus his priority is deliverance from prison and escape from Henricksen.
That tension between Sam and Dean, based on their divergent philosophies, is the strength of the episode. The writers also manage to keep the episode from getting too dark by inserting some humorous moments, many of which work better than the “comedy” in “Hollywood Babylon”. Dean has some great lines and his usual swagger, and Sam’s expressions are often priceless. Considering the darkness to come for the rest of the season, this was a very nice touch.
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