Supernatural Station

Time Is On My Side

Supernatural Season 3, episode #15.
Airdate: Thursday May 8, 2008.
Written by Sera Gamble.
Directed By Charles Beeson.

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• Synopsis: Click here to read the episode summary.

  Dean has only 15 days left and no way out of the contract. The brothers attempt to force a captured demon to tell them who holds Dean's contract, fails. After Sam exorcises the demon, he mentions a case in Erie, Pennsylvania where a man was killed by something that took out his liver. Dean is puzzled by Sam's turnabout, but agrees to go on the hunt. In Erie, they learn that the killer is an old nemesis of their Dad's, Doc Benton, a 19th century physician, obsessed with immortality, who steals body parts to replace his own. About to close in on the doctor, the hunt is interrupted when Bobby calls and tells Dean that he knows where Bella is. Dean wants to drop everything and go. Sam refuses and admits that he wants to learn Doc Benton's secret. Sam thinks his immortality formula is a way out of the deal. An argument ensues. Dean goes off to find Bella and the colt. Sam stays behind to find the doc.

  In Erie, Pennsylanvia, Sam finds Doc Benton's backwoods cabin, steals the doc's journal, rescues a woman, and is confronted by Doc Benton. In Canaan, Vermont, Dean befriends Rufus, a former hunter and recluse, learns from him about Bella's past, then confronts Bella in her hotel room. In Erie, Sam fights off the doc and runs over him with his rented jeep. In Canaan, Dean searches Bella's belongings but doesn't find the colt, threatens to kill her, then changes his mind and exits. A phone call later and Sam tells Dean of his success in finding the doc's journal and Dean tells Sam of his failure to find the colt. This conversation is abruptly cut off when Sam is chloroformed and kidnapped by Doc Benton.

  Sam wakes up to find himself strapped to an operating table with his eyes taped wide open. Doc Benton is about to remove one of his eyes, when he is shot multiple times by Dean. Dean then stabs him through the heart with a knife dipped in chloroform, sedating the unkillable doc. With Sam's reluctant help, Dean buries the doctor and his journal in a refrigerator turned makeshift coffin that is chained shut.

  That night, Bella sneaks into the Winchester's motel room and shoots into their twin beds, but the brothers are long gone. The phone rings and Dean is on the other end. He tells Bella he knows she made a deal with a demon and that her 10 years were up, tonight. She begs for help. He says it's too late. Bella then reveals the name of the demon holding his contract. It is Lilith, Sam's nemesis. The call ends and we hear the sound of a baying hound while a teary-faced Bella stares out the motel room window.
  The end.

• Praises: Sera Gamble has written another great Supernatural episode. She knows how to combine just the right amount of humor, brotherly angst, and suspense to make an interesting story. And she was right on the money once again, with one exception…this episode was way grosser than usual. In fact, this was the most gross-out, gory Supernatural episode that I have ever seen. I real slasher show…COOL!!! Heh..Heh. I admit it. I am one of the fans who enjoy Supernatural because of the weekly scary story, not just the brothers' relationship, though that's a nice bonus. Hell, if I only wanted a family story, I'd be watching Brothers and Sisters (blagh), not Supernatural. There were two scenes that were particularly gross: the woman's bloody arm covered in maggot (real maggots!! ugh), and Doc Benton pulling the still beating heart out of the man's chest (sticking out ribs, bloody goo 'n all). They didn't show the doc actually opening the chest cavity, but the sound of it was enough to make my skin crawl. Kudos to the special effects team for these realistic add ons. Supernatural is pushing the envelope on what can be shown on primetime TV, horror wise. Since this is an area where the show can stand out and get noticed, I am all for it. OK people, lets stoop to the level that Gossip Girl did with teenage sex, and sell the hell out of Supernatural's “blood and gore” to attract new audiences.

  Doc Benton was a Frankenstein-like character that totally surprised me when he spoke politely, with a lyrical southern accent. The incongruity of that sweet voice coming from that grotesque face was creepy. As contrast, there was Rufus, the rude, antisocial former hunter who turned out to be a fountain of information for Dean. I actually liked this character a lot. He was quite amusing. And when he told Dean, “I’m what you have to look forward to in a few years”, I could see that…if Dean came back from hell with a seriously dark tan, that is.:)

  The appearance of Bella in this episode was actually a good one. Gone was the snarky and superior biatch that we've all grown to hate. Seeing her bravado drop and her face crumble as she begged for Dean's help was kind of painful to watch, especially after the big reveal about her history. I feel like a heel for being so hard on her before (as would Dean, if he knew). I am glad Kripke left her departure from the show open-ended and didn't actually show her getting mauled by a hellhound. Lauren Cohan did a great job and I wish her all the best. I would have preferred that Kripke axed Cassidy, not her, but I'm not a typical fan, so who listens to me, anyway.

  Both Jared and Jensen's acting was suburb. I particularly liked how Jared portrayed Sam's quiet and growing desperation. That Sam is willing to go over the line to save Dean, even to the point of turning both of them into the kind of thing that they hunt is alarming. Dean, thankfully, still sees the wrong in that. Then there was that ominous scene where Dean declares Doc Benton “a monster!” and the camera focused briefly on Sam, hidden in the shadows and looking quite creepy himself. Ohoooo. Makes me wonder what are we in for in SPN's future. Now that's a sign of a great episode…it leaves you wanting to see what's going to happen next.

• Nags: I could find few faults with this episode except perhaps, while the other characters were rich and interesting and played very well by recognizable actors, there was a little too much time spent focusing on them over our favorite duo. For example, the guy in the hospital bed who was so unhelpful to the brothers, that scene, though interesting, could have been shortened without any loss to the episode. Ditto for the jogger scene. Nonetheless, I was very impressed with high quality of the acting. Almost all the characters had such depth to them, that they felt real and believable. This episode was knocked out of the park, good.

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

This entry was posted on Saturday, May 10th, 2008 at 11:49 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.