| Don't forget to check the "supernatural rewatch" tag to see all the posts in this series! Finally, we're getting some better stories that tie into the overall plot rather than being standard stand alone stories where nothing really happens to change anything. Home:I was extremely happy that right around the time I was getting really bored with the lack of development the overall story was getting that we got this episode, perfectly timed on the part of the showrunners. It manages to delve into the real meat of the story, and gives Sam something new to talk about (his prophetic dreams) and Dean something new to have to process. Though I find it odd that he has a hard time believing in the dreams, I mean really Dean, look at your life. |
The actual poltergeist in the story is a little lame, since that isn't particularly the point of the episode. I enjoyed the psychic and really wished she would come back in a later episode, I thought her character was at least giving the brothers some snappy comebacks that they deserved.
The episode also finally starts really working on the angle with their dad, and the fact that he isn't missing so much as he's avoiding them. This is absolutely vital at this point in the series, because that story line was starting to lose it's power, so it punched it up enough to keep it relevant.
I'm saying that I can't count this as a beautiful girl needing the brother's help never to be seen again, even though the guest star was very pretty, just because they played her up quite a bit as a stand-in for their mom. Thank goodness. Maybe I'll get lucky and they'll get out of this pattern.
Asylum: Creepy abandoned mental hospitals are pretty much required for any show like this, at least once. But I did think they did a really good job with this one. The opening teaser was really intriguing and the art direction was really well done. I think the story was more than a little obvious (of COURSE the doctor was part of the problem from the beginning and the ghosts themselves were not trying to hurt people but warn them) but they did it well.
The episode also had the fun teenage couple, where the boyfriend was a completely useless blob (played by the actor who played the useless blob of a boyfriend in season two of Heroes, typecasting?) but the girl was actually efficient and useful. I read on a website that there's speculation that she later became a hunter. Good for her, I'd like to see her come back. I'm not putting her on the list of women who have to be saved since she gets a shotgun, but she came close!
Anyway, the episode actually shows a little bit of what I was talking about when I reviewed Bugs, it took the dynamic between Dean and Sam and took it to a new level. Bugs was just a rehash of the same fight, over and over again. But Asylum took a part of the main storyline and used it to actually enhance that argument and bring it something new, and help start to bring some closure to it (I hope anyway).
Overall, I really liked these two episodes a lot, which was good, because they needed some really good eps to keep me interested at that point.
