Supernatural – Three bedrooms, two baths, and one homicide

(Season 4, Episode 11 – “Family Remains”)

I fired up the TV to watch the new Supernatural not knowing one thing about what the episode was to entail. If you were in a similar state, you may have shared my expectations for the story to pick up where “Heaven And Hell” left off. Those were some big doings, and the stage was certainly set for a big return. Yeah, not so much. Instead of getting us back to Castiel, Alastair, Anna, and the coming Armageddon, the team down at Supernatural HQ delivered a classic stand alone episode. It was unexpected, but the episode did have its moments.

I’m sure there are those amongst the Supernatural faithful that were really annoyed that this is the episode they came back from break with. And I get that. After everything that happened in “Heaven And Hell”, a month off for off-screen hunting does seem a little odd. I’m ok with it though. By now, the powers that be behind the show have earned my trust, and I’m sure that the big story will be paid off. In the meantime…

Why not sit back and enjoy some of the good, old fashioned, creepy? Because that, more than anything, is what sold this episode. Rebecca’s daughter, thanks to the lighting, the makeup, and the way she was edited, gave me the wiggins. She called to mind the little kid from The Grudge, in the good way. She also presented an unexpected challenge to the boys. “Humans man…”

I didn’t catch on that they were referencing the crazy Austrian guy until Dean dropped the hint. Very L&O, ‘ripped from the headlines’ of them. The human daughter, from the frightening circumstances, as the big bad worked really well. Hidden passages, animal protecting territory, I bought in to all that. Her brother kind of came out of left field. It made for a great reveal when Danny told Dean that he was coming back, but I thought the girl was strong enough to work on her own.

The story from the Carter family end wasn’t as engaging. They did a good job of hinting at the mystery of what it was that happened before they made the worst possible real estate decision they could have. But the pay off for that mystery, it was a little lacking. A car crash? Ok. It could have not even been there and it wouldn’t have made a difference. They still would have done their part getting us to Dean’s revelation.

And that was another bit of the classic Supernatural. The boys getting together at the end of the episode to tie it all back in to the big picture. I have to say, I didn’t see that coming. “I did it for the sheer pleasure. I enjoyed it Sam. They took me off the rack and I tortured souls, and I liked it.” We knew that Dean was troubled by what he had done, but this adds a whole other level to that. It also explains the month of non-stop hunting that we didn’t see.

Overall, I’m guessing this one will end up near the bottom of the stack when we look back on season four. That’s both good and bad. Bad that we could have been getting more info on the big battle this week. But good in the sense that if this is the worst episode, it’s going to be one heck of a season.  Next time, Barry frickin’ Bostwick! Until then, don’t forget that Jensen Ackles has a big movie opening this weekend. Have a look at the trailer.

Clacked by Brett Love
on Jan 16, 2009 @ 09:00 EST5EDT