Supernatural Station

Roadkill

Supernatural Season 2, episode #16.
Airdate: Thursday, March 15, 2007.
Written by Raelle Tucker.
Directed by Charles Beeson.

• Synopsis: Click here to see the episode summary

  An accident victim flags the Winchester brothers down on a remote stretch of highway. She is being chased by the ghost of man killed on that same highway exactly 15 years ago. Coming to her aid, the brothers search for the human remains of this ghost. Like always, they find the grave and destroy the ghost just in the nick of time. This time it was Sam who does the grave digging/body burning and Dean who stays behind to protect the girl- a role reversal that didn’t quite gel. Afterwards, the brothers drive Molly into town where, after looking at her husband, now 15 years older and remarried, she is forced to face the fact that she herself, is also a ghost. In fact, she is the ghost of the very person who killed the man on the highway in a car accident 15 years ago.

• Praises: I loved the way the story unfolded in this episode. It began from an outsider’s perspective and stayed there until the end. It was very interesting to see the brothers from this third-party viewpoint. I like that you had to piece together what was going on right along with Molly. At least, that was how it was supposed to be. The reality was that most viewers, like myself, knew exactly what was happening right away. Only someone new to the show would have been drawn into the mystery and been surprised by the ending. Despite this, the mini flashbacks to explain some of the questions after the big revelation, was well done and successfully created an “ah, so that’s what was happening” feeling. There was even a flashback to the typical Supernatural beginning that us fans have come to expect and love. The acting by guest star Trisha Helfner, of “Battlestar Galactica”, was top notch. She outshined the boys with her acting skills. I hope her appearance, like Linda Blair’s in “Usual Suspects”, means that Supernatural is getting noticed by the movie industry and attracting a higher quality of guest stars. It certainly would be a kick to see a show-linked famous face like Mark Hamill, David Duchovny, or Gillian Anderson, guest star (hint..hint).

• Nags: Now the bad news. Though the actors did a great job, there was something sorely lacking in the final outcome. Maybe it was a boring script, maybe it was how it was directed, I’m not sure. Anyway, there was lots of angst, but no scares and few real brotherly moments. Jensen’s oneliners all fell flat, leaving the show with no funny moments except for one– Dean’s reaction to Sam request for help with the “old lady”. The viewers were told about the time limit for this hunt, but no sense of urgency was actually portrayed on the screen. Possibly because the director was way too focused on emphasizing Tricia’s angst. Maybe the worst part though, was the music. There couldn’t have been a more dull song choice to foretell the appearance of an evil ghost. A tune that got your heart racing was what was needed, not one that made you want to fall asleep. That song would have made even “Jaws” not scary. Overall, this was one long, slow moving, rather depressing episode.
  And another thing, WTF was going on with Jared’s forehead? There was way too much movement there for the sympathy thing. Maybe he had an itch there that he was trying not to scratch.

• My Rating: Good, but not memorable. 3 out of 5 stars.

This entry was posted on Monday, March 19th, 2007 at 12:33 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.