Supernatural Station

In the Beginning

Supernatural Season 4, episode #3.
Airdate: Thursday October 2, 2008.  
Written by Jeremy Carver.
Directed By Steve Boyum.

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• Synopsis: Click here to read the episode summary.

  As the night gives way to daylight Dean wakes from a fitful sleep to find Castiel sitting beside him on the bed. Unbeknownst to Dean, Sam had crept out of the motel room in the dead of the night to meet Ruby. Castiel tells Dean, “you have to stop it” then touches Dean's forehead. A dazed Dean suddenly finds himself lying on a wooden sidewalk bench outside in the daylight.

  Forced to move by a beat cop, Dean walks to a nearby diner where he strikes up conversation with the dark haired young man sitting next to him. Dean learns that he is in Lawrence, Kansas and that the date is 1973. When someone calls out the name Winchester both Dean and the dark-haired man turn around. When the caller goes up to John, Dean becomes aware that the young man next to him is none other than John Winchester, his own father.

  John leaves the diner and Dean follows him to a car dealership where he convinces him to buy a 1967 impala instead of a VW bus. From there, Dean follows John to the home of Mary Campbell, Dean's own mother who John is currently dating. While spying on his soon-to-be parents during their date, Dean is confronted by Mary outside the diner. Mary engages Dean in physical combat and Dean is barely able to subdue her. In the struggle, he sees her bracelet of charms and realizes that his mother is a hunter like himself.

  After their date was over and John drives away, Mary introduces Dean “Van Halen” to her parents (his grandparents), Samuel and Deeanna Campbell, also hunters. Dean learns from Samuel that there are possible demonic omens in the area. Horning in on his grandfather's hunt, Dean discovers that the yellow-eyed demon is in Lawrence and making deals with young people. Using the colt which he “borrows” from Daniel Elkins, Dean attempts to kill the yellow-eyed demon now (in the past, that is) in order to save his mother from dying in the fire in the future. But the demon escapes by holding Mary hostage and Dean is unable to get off a shot. Later Dean confesses to his grandfather who he really is and why it is so important to kill the demon only to be laughed at by the yellow-eyed demon, himself, now occupying his grandfather's body. The demon kills Samuel Campbell and his wife, then goes looking for Mary who had run off to be with John Winchester after the hostage incident.

  When demon Samuel find Mary, he kills John and forces Mary to make a deal with him so she could have John back in exchange for an invitation into her home 10 years in the future. Dean arrives after the demon sealed the deal with a kiss. The demon escapes before Dean can fire the colt and Dean was unable to prevent the tragic future that his mother faces.

  Castiel appears and takes a devastated Dean back into the present. Back in the motel room, Castiel tells Dean he could not have changed the past. He sent him back to learn the truth about his brother Sam. Then he tells Dean that Sam is on “a dangerous path” and that Dean needs to stop him or they will.
  The end.

• Praises: Supernatural has been remarkably good this season and this third installment was no exception. In this mythology-heavy episode fans got a satisfactory wrap up of the mystery of Mary Winchester, Sam's big secret was finally revealed to his brother, and the yellow-eyed demon was back to add yet another layer to the story. Plus we got a few humorous moments, lots of Dean angst, a scary scene, and even some classic rock. What was missing was the much-loved Winchester brotherly moments. Surprisingly, this did not detract from the episode too much. Although Sam was AWOL, his story was front and center throughout.

  At first I was leery that the whole “time travel” thing behind this episode. Happily, it turned out very well because Kripke and Carver kept the “time travel” within the bounds of Supernatural's genre and didn't go all “scifi” on us. Viewers were left to interpret the “time travel” as either a purview of angels or as an angel-induced dream experience. The world of 1973 was executed beautifully with careful attention to such details as clothing, hairstyles, and icons like Tab and Sonny and Cher. I also enjoyed the little references to Back to the Future.

  The gem of this episode was none other than “Skinner” himself…uhm, I mean Mitch Pileggi. His depiction of Samuel Campbell, Dean's grandfather who is a suspicious hunter and a 20th century man who is clueless about the women in his family was excellently done. His defining moment was when he became the yellow-eyed demon. It was so unexpected that I jumped at the transformation and afterwards, I couldn't keep my eyes off of him. He was that good. I also appreciated the analogy of seeing him and Dean working together as a team. This Samuel was old and crotchety instead of young and pouty and he had a bald pate instead of a full head of long hair. But he stepped into Sam's role at Dean's side so well, that when he become the yellow-eyed demon, I wondered if Kripke was giving us a hint of what could happen to Sam in the future.

  As usual Jensen did excellent work. As a Dean fan, I am reluctant to see my hero change, but to my surprise I find that I like this more vulnerable, tear-shedding Dean. He is still as smart-mouthed as ever, but a little less cocky and more emotional. In the past Dean would have shrugged off Castiel's sympathetic hand on his shoulder, but this Dean not only accepts it, he seems to crave it. Also, seeing Dean seated at a family table again was particularly poignant. He has not done that since season two's “What Is and What Should Never Be”. This kind of family life is what Dean longs for and thinks he can never have, so it was heartbreaking to see him experience it so briefly and then lose it.

• Nags: The most noticeable problem with this episode was the overly Dean-centric nature of it. Sam was only briefly seen in the beginning and though he was mentioned throughout, the sparsity of scenes that he appeared in was unprecedented on Supernatural. This made the episode feel somewhat off…not quite Supernatural-like.

  The casting of the young actors playing John Winchester and Mary Campbell were dead on in likeness. The actress playing Mary did a fine job, though she was not outstanding. Young John Winchester however, was portrayed too stiltedly and nondescript. He seemed more like a cardboard cut-out of the original with no real personality. Even though John was not yet a hardened hunter, he was still a military-trained young man from a blue-collar background and should have been somewhat grittier. Perhaps Jeffrey Dean Morgan's shoes were just too big for the younger actor to fill. Fortunately, Dean Winchester and Samuel Campbell's characters were portrayed so brilliantly by Jensen and Mitch that they redeemed this episode completely, making it outstanding.

• My Rating: Great episode. 4 out of 5 stars.

This entry was posted on Saturday, October 18th, 2008 at 8:20 pm and is filed under Reviews. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.