Supernatural Review: "The Girl Next Door"
Last week ended on quite the cliffhanger with the "uncertainty" of whether or not Bobby is alive, and with the boys being left alone on their way to the Sioux Falls hospital where the Leviathans are held up led for us to believe that the boys would be in for a rough day. Scratch that, it was only a rough few minutes as Bobby comes in and saves the boys before any harm could fall upon them. It is a bit surprising to see how the Leviathans up to this point have been very organized and yet they let the Winchester slip right through their finger tips. Another disappointing fact about this episode is that it is mostly a monster of the week filler episode. Which considering how emotional and serialized the first two episodes was, it is understandable. It also marks the second episode that Jensen Ackles has directed. The other interesting aspect about the episode is the subtle references to other projects that Ackles has been involved in. For instance, there is a commerical on the television then Dean falls asleep watching of My Bloody Valentine which Ackles starred in a few years back. The other instance was that of a cashier wearing a shirt of Batman: Under the Red Hood, which Ackles voiced for.
Bobby helps escort the wounded Winchesters away to another outhouse, the place that his friend Rufus had held up at for years. Dean was held up to bed rest as his leg was broken and it forced him and Bobby to sit around watching Mexican soap operas. It was done in a very comedic way as Bobby came home, and Dean broke the news to him that the male lead character had died. Sam goes to the store to pick up a few things, and most importantly pie for Dean, and while there he notices a newspaper that mentions an Ice Pick Killer resurfacing.
Upon seeing the newspaper it unleashes a few flashbacks inside of Sam's head that bring back Colin Ford as a younger version of Sam doing research on a Kitsune, an incredibly rare monster that feeds on the pituitary glands in humans. On a side note, it is very impressive how much Colin Ford looks like Jared Padalecki now. Ford has down all the mannerisms of the character and makes the flashbacks that much more believable. In the flashbacks, after helping Dean and their father Sam asks Dean how to talk to girls as he sees a girl that interests him at the library that he was doing research on a Kitsune at.
Sam, being the nice kid that he is, saves the girl from some punk kids that looked to steal from her and with that heroic act he was inviting to her home. Throughout the episode, it goes back and forth in time revealing why Sam is pursuing this "Ice Pick Killer" and it is revealed through the flashbacks and in real time that the girl that Sam is pursuing is indeed a Kitsune. The two clearly have a past, and both feel that they are freaks and just want to be normal. This episode felt much like Metamorphosis from season four, and Free to Be You and Me from season five as it explored the aspect where Sam is an outsider and Dean's fear of him for it. While the episode is a bit to familiar in this regard, it seems a bit different. It may just be chalked up to the different style in directing this season, and the increased budget but it is certainly freshening up the show.
In the end, it is obvious that Sam let's the girl go as if he were to kill her for being what she is then it would be a double standard seeing how he is a freak just like himself. He explains his actions to Dean, and we are then led to believe that Dean is behind him on his actions but Dean conspires behind Sam's back and kills the Kitsune. It goes to show how Dean is completely losing it and losing all of his faith in everyone as he explains to her as he kills her that eventually that shoe will drop. He doesn't believe that she wouldn't give into her natural instincts to kill, and thus he also doesn't believe that Sam will be alright either.
