2009年4月26日星期日

Supernatural: Jump the Shark

This week’s episode just gives the brothers Winchester more to cry about. It’s a long running joke that female fans love to see these two guys cry. So now if they weren't carrying enough emotional baggage, they have a brother to deal with, another reason for an emo breakdown. It is however always interesting when the creators of the show are able to work in themes and characters relating to Sam and Dean’s father. Their father is at the center of who both of these buys have become and his influence is on every decision they make. For a long time, it seemed that Dean was more like his father in the way he acted and in the decisions he made but now the tables have turned. The reality is that Dean has always tried to hard to be like his father but now after a little trip to hell, he’s not so keen on completely following his father’s path. Sam is different now too. He’s apparently embraced who his father was and now more than ever, he understands his father.

One of the better scenes in the episode comes when Dean confronts Sam over Sam’s desire to make their younger brother a hunter. Dean explains that he accepts the life they have but he believes that the kid still has a chance, a chance to go to college and have a life. It’s a shame Sam didn’t think that way back in season one. If he had, Sam would be leading a much different life himself. The scene ends with both of the brothers contemplating their jealousy over the kid. They are jealous of him for very different reasons. Easily the best scene comes when Dean is investigating the grave robberies and he’s asked if he’s ever thought about how he would like to spend eternity. His response is classic Dean, it’s meant to be a joke but it’s also probably true.

They discover their brother when their father’s cell phone rings and he’s on the other end of the line looking for help after his mother disappears. This episode deals with a couple of thematic elements; family and revenge. These elements are portrayed on both the side of Sam and Dean and on the side of the monsters of the week. Even ghouls can have families after all. In the small town of the week, not only has Sam and Dean’s newly discovered brother’s mom disappeared, but a local bar owner has also went missing. At the same time, bodies are disappearing from graves. Sam’s father came to this town twenty years ago to stop a grave robbing monster and now it appears the cycle has started again when Sam and Dean arrive in town.

The episode features a minimum of action and no classic rock blasting from the car. It does however feature some nice twists and turns and dramatic moments. The episode is a single story that doesn’t really play into the overall story arc but the discovery of a brother and the realization by Sam and Dean of who they’ve become will most likely be factors in some way over the next few episodes. It’s time to get serious about the bigger story though. Often this season’s episodes have felt like false starters. An episode appears to be the beginning of something important only to be followed by a few episodes that don’t really matter. I’m not talking about single story episodes I’m talking about episodes tied in some way to the bigger story but what happened in them doesn’t carry over in the story arc. By the end of this season, there’ll be many things that seemed important at the time they happened that won’t matter when it’s all said and done. This week’s episode isn’t as epic as most of this season’s installments have been but it was a nice way to ease back into the world of Supernatural after being away for a few weeks

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