Okay, to start off... yeah, this episode gave me a lot of feelings. A lot and a lot and a lot of feelings. And I will spend part of this review squealing about them to you, but there are other things to discuss, such as story arc and acting of guest characters and other stuff of that nature. But don't worry. I'll be talking about all of the gushy emotions this episode incited within me. Because wow, really.
Let's go through the plot. Sam and Dean get a call from a man named Sonny, who Dean says he knows from his past. He then tells Sam the following story: when they were kids, Dean lost the food money John had left for them, and when he tried to steal food to feed Sam, he was caught and put in a boy's home. He stayed there for two months, while Sam stayed with Bobby, believing all the while that Dean was on a hunt. So, Sam and Dean go up to this boy's home to meet with Sonny and investigate the situation.
Now, the hunt of the week was basically just a good ol' ghost story. People were getting injured in creative ways, such as an old tractor suddenly roaring to life and impaling someone, or a lawnmower cutting someone's hands to ribbons. One woman gets suffocated with a shower curtain. Sam and Dean are on the case, and they encounter a couple of different people. One is a little boy named Timmy, who gets bullied by the other boys and is always alone with his action figure toy. Sam figures out due to some of Timmy's drawings that his mom died in a car fire, and he thus puts it together that the ghost must be Timmy's mom. Sam and Dean must get rid of the ghost while protecting Robin, Dean's old girlfriend. Eventually, they learn that the ghost isn't tied to any material object or deceased remains - she's tied to Timmy. Timmy has to let his mom go and tell her that he'll be okay without her. When the ghost hears this, she is finally at peace.
Along the way, we get flashbacks of Dean's time at the boy's home. The police officer who arrested him decided to let him stay in the boy's home, but when John found out what Dean had done, he told them to let him rot in jail. Dean stays for two months, becoming involved with the wrestling team, finding himself a girlfriend, getting his first kiss from Robin, bonding with Sonny, and genuinely enjoying his time. However, on the night of the school dance, John suddenly shows up and tells Dean that there's a job. Although Dean wants to stay, he looks out the window and sees little Sammy playing with a toy in the backseat of the impala. He simply can't bring himself to abandon his family, so he leaves Sonny and his good life behind. Back in the present, we see Sam give Dean sincere thanks for always being there for him, but Dean brushes him off.
Okay. Before I start my list of good things, I'm going to briefly mention a few of the problems that I had.
1. DISTRACTING MUSTACHE IS DISTRACTING! Sorry, but Sonny's mustache was really something else. I couldn't stop staring at it whenever he was on screen. I'm not sure if you can count that as a flaw in the episode, but it was a mark against it in my eyes.
2. Timmy. He was absolutely adorable, don't get me wrong. One of the cutest little kids I've ever seen. But that was actually part of the problem. He was just a bit too much of a "Tiny Tim" cliche, if you know what I mean. Even the name fits. While this kid did an okay job of acting, ultimately he was a bit too bland.
3. This is a really small thing, but since the kid they got to play Dean was so perfect, I was a little irked they didn't do anything about his eye color or eyebrows. Maybe I'm being picky, but it would have been so easy to make him a spitting image of Jensen, so I was a bit disappointed about that.
4. John Winchester. Now, I understand perfectly well why there was no John Winchester in this episode. Mostly it has to do with the actor's availability. But here's the problem - earlier portrayals of John Winchester have painted him as a truly irresponsible and bad father, sure, but as a slightly sympathetic character for all that. I know the fandom pretty much hates him across the board, but the narrative treats him as a character with some complexity. Now, if he had perhaps called Dean and checked with him, made sure the boy's home was safe, and then left him there for a few months while going on a hunt, I might put that on par with John's other canonical behavior. But to just abandon him without a word, to say "let him rot in jail..." and then to show up and pull him away with no real explanation? That seems like a whole 'nother level of bad parenting. I guess I just wish that John could be portrayed as a slightly more complex character, as we've seen in the past.
Now, onto the good stuff! And, there's a lot of it.
1. This is a salt and burn! I was getting a lot of first and second season vibes from this episode, and in the best possible way. It was just a monster of the week type of story, with creepy imagery, a few false turns and a satisfying resolution. I loved all of the callbacks to the earlier days of the show. Sometimes it's nice to calm down and do something basic.
2. The parallels between the ghost story and Dean's life. I sort of liked the fact that this ghost didn't need to be destroyed by violence. Instead, it was all about letting go and moving on from a loved one. The parallels between Dean's situation and what was happening with Timmy and his mom were unmistakable. On the one hand, Dean tells Timmy that sometimes you have to do what's best for you, even if it hurts the people you love. That's something that Dean failed to do during the flashbacks - even though staying would have been good for him, he couldn't abandon Sam and John. On the other hand, Dean was very similar to Timmy's mom. He's hurting himself and hurting others because he can't let go and stop protecting Sam. I think the episode did an excellent job of teasing out these different interpretations.
3. Robin. Good casting for her teenage version and then her adult version. In fact, good casting in general in terms of Dean and Robin both actually looking like they're sixteen, instead of 25 like in most TV versions of teenagers. But yeah, Robin was a good character. The scene where she pretended not to recognize Dean was pretty great, and then later when he learns that she did recognize him, I loved the accusatory yet relieved way Dean talked to her. I also love that she wasn't played up as some sort of epic romance. Instead, she was a simple summer romance, one that Dean remembers fondly through the years. They parted on amicable terms.
4. Sam learning about his brother. While this episode did primarily focus on Dean's character, it was fantastic to see the way Sam behaved as well. When he saw that Dean actually had a life here, you could tell he was happy, in a bewildered sort of way, but he was also so sad that Dean had given that up. And Sam knows exactly why - at the end of the episode, when he thanks Dean for all he's done, we see Sam acknowledge that Dean looking after him was a sacrifice. It's unbelievably sad and I could write a long rant about this, but Sam seems to genuinely think that people will be better off without him. He thinks that Dean chose to stay with Sam entirely selflessly - even still, Sam doesn't see that Dean needs him to be happy. It's one of those really messed up dynamics that the brothers are still deeply tied up in. This season seems to be a lot about unpacking their crazy co-dependency, and hopefully about moving forward as healthier people.
5. Dylan Everett as young Dean Winchester. Holy Hell. I saw online somewhere that Everett watched five seasons of Supernatural in rapid succession and then studied Jensen in order to get his mannerisms down. And Holy Hell. I know I already said that. But yeah, he was great. In my opinion, much stronger than the last guy they got to play young Dean, both because he was physically very close to him in appearance, and also because he just got the mannerisms down so well. I was absolutely blown away by this kid's performance.
6. Sonny. I did complain about the mustache, but other than that I did genuinely enjoy this character. At first, I thought he might be a bit too Bobby Singer-ish: a gruff older man with a dark side, who has a soft spot for Dean Winchester. However, ultimately I think the character worked well because it showed us an ignorant yet still concerned adult. It played with the idea that from the outside, the Winchester family appears very problematic. And Sonny showed us that even with a bad past, you can still be a good and compassionate person. Both Sam and Dean are obviously sympathetic characters, and yet they've done despicable things. Ultimately Sonny was a good character, and he illuminated a lot about Dean in particular.
As always with this show, I could keep going forever. I'll wrap it up, though. Despite the few problems I listed, this was a strong one. It was particularly strong in that it was just a basic C-plot episode, and yet it was still captivating and still felt relevant. I will say one thing, though... I hope this episode and the character development in it continues to be relevant throughout the season. Because, for all that I loved it, I will admit that this week's addition to the show didn't actually add anything. Nothing new was really revealed about our characters. Dean putting Sammy before his own happiness? Never seen that before, have we? While I thought this episode was strong as a contained unit, I do worry that it will be irrelevant to the rest of the season. I hope that Sam's realization of what Dean gave up will help him understand about Ezekiel later, or that Sam will see how much Dean has always wanted a home, and thus try harder to make the bunker his home as well. Looking forward to the next installment, as always.
8/10
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