SUPERNATURAL: Family Remains

This was an entertaining enough stand-alone episode but it’s not one that I think I’ll be watching much when I ultimately get the season four DVD set. As shocking/gross (in a good way) as it was, I didn’t really connect with it overall. I’ve been trying to put my finger on what my problem with it was, and I think it’s that we didn’t get much in the way of character development or a sense of moving the story forward at all. Not to say that every episode has to feature Castiel or epic revelations, but there wasn’t much interaction between the brothers – the focus was very much on the family at the center of the drama of the week. It sort of had that feeling you’d get when you’re watching your favourite sitcom and realize the whole episode is about the neighbour or coach and you realize you’re being acquainted with the new people because they are about to be spun off into their own show. Since I’m pretty sure we won’t be watching Family Remains: The Series next year, I’m not sure why the show took this turn.

That being said, they weren’t lazy with the twists and turns at all. Just when I thought my jaw had dropped as low as it could, another twist and/or disturbing visual would cause it to go down another notch. As deep as my love is for Supernatural, it doesn’t often have the intended effect of scaring the crap out of me, like a lot of people who watch the show. However, tonight they didn’t play fair – first they featured a scene with the urban legend that scared me most as a kid and then there was the ghost-that-wasn’t-a-ghost and her rat-eating, murderous ways.

This was a rare episode of Supernatural with zero supernatural elements. What we thought was the ghost of a young woman turned out to be that young woman’s daughter, who had been locked up in the house by her grandfather/father (yes, you read that right) for her whole life so that the neighbours wouldn’t discover her paternity. As acknowledged in the show, the story was very similar to that extremely disturbing real life story of the family in Austria that came to light about a year ago.

The scene in which the (new family’s) daughter was lying in bed while her dog licked her hand from his position on the floor is the one that really got me last night. I had chills before I even saw the real dog walk into the room, because I knew where it was headed. It was never the dog under the bed – the psycho killer was licking her hand!! I heard that story at a slumber party when I was about 8, and I tell you, it still has the power to freak me out (And why exactly was the captive girl licking the other girl’s hand? I felt that the girl in the wall did a lot of things that just seemed really strange for someone with no communication with the outside world).

Then, there were the animals. As mentioned, I’m not normally bothered by gore but I am particularly sensitive when it’s animal related, and yes that even applies to rats I learned last night. First the family dog gets taken as a meal for the girl, and then she offers to share a live, squirming and very large rat with the son of the new family after she kidnaps him. That scene was truly disgusting, which, when it comes to this show is not a complaint; it’s a compliment. Sometimes half the fun of watching the show is to see how much they were able to get away with in terms of gore or language because you know that the cast and crew must get a kick out trying to push the limits as much as possible (sometimes I think they’re having a competition to see how often they can use the word “dick” in an episode, which always cracks me up).

I think the main points that we are to take from the episode are that a) humans can be just as horrible as demons and other non-human baddies; b) Dean had to kill a real person – not a monster – in order to protect those people, and that can’t be easy to swallow; and c) well, this one deserves it’s own paragraph:

At the end of the episode, apropos of nothing, Dean shared with Sam the fact that he had enjoyed torturing all those souls in hell. This may come to serve a bigger purpose down the road, but I was a little put off by it last night because it was so out of character that Dean would feel that way. I know they explained it by saying that after thirty years of being on the torture rack himself, Dean found that he enjoyed getting retribution for all of his suffering, but come on. Would Dean Winchester ever take pleasure in the suffering of innocents because he himself had suffered? It doesn’t fit. Like I said, the reason behind this revelation may well be put to good use down the road but for now it just seems kind of gross and out of left field.

Finally, to end things on a happy note, Dean is Fonzie!! I may be alone but that line had me giggling like a kid tonight, which was very much appreciated in what was ultimately a somber and very creepy episode.

Now I turn my attention to next week’s episode, the one with the greatest title so far in Supernatural history, “Criss Angel is a Douchebag”. Come on – tell me that doesn’t get you all ramped up for next week. It involves magicians and Barry Bostwick from Spin City is guesting – looks like loads of fun. As always, come back here to discuss!

Nicole is a lawyer with an unhealthy t.v. obsession and many t.v. boyfriends. If she had a locker at her office it would be covered in photos of Zachary Levi, Jensen Ackles, Lee Pace and John Krasinski. She lives near Toronto and is spending the winter cursing that fact while trying to convince her friends to do a group move to a warmer climate. So far it’s not working.