Supernatural Season 2 Episode 11: Playthings

Supernatural Season 2 Episode 11

a.k.a. Dolls: They’re Not Creepy At All

Synopsis:

In “Playthings”, Sam and Dean investigate a cursed inn run by a single mother named Susan with her young daughter Tyler, Tyler’s imaginary friend Maggie, and her mother Rose.  Susan is selling the inn and everyone associated with that ends up dying.  The realtor drowns in a bathtub and a man taking some old toys to Goodwill falls down the stairs and his head does a 180, you get the picture.  Sam and Dean check it out and they notice hoodoo markings throughout the hotel and believe Rose is the one causing these accidents with a curse.  Come to find out that Rose has had a stroke, making it impossible for her to perform hoodoo.  After more digging they find out that Maggie isn’t an imaginary friend but a spirit and Rose’s older sister who drowned in the inn’s pool when she was a little girl.  She wants Tyler to stay and play with her forever and tries to drown Tyler in the pool.  Luckily Sam saves her but Rose dies instead.

Review:

This review will focus on three things: how the main plot parallels with the subplot, the recurring theme of single parents and its effect on the show, and some good and not so good cinematography tricks used in this episode.

First, how the main plot parallels with the subplot. To clarify the main plot is getting revenge on Yellow Eyes and figuring out what his plan for Sam is (the overall plot of Season 2).  The subplot is the “monster of the week”-Maggie the spirit and dealing with her haunting the inn.  Now usually in Supernatural something, well, “supernatural” has always been considered bad or evil.  That’s the whole point of the show, fighting what goes bump in the night.  However in “Playthings” Sam and Dean bring up the point that Rose was using hoodoo to protect the inn, not curse it, like they originally thought.  It was an intriguing point because it shows that just because something is perceived to be evil doesn’t make it so. Hello, Sam Winchester!  At multiple points through this episode we get that Sam thinks he’s turning evil.  That whatever Yellow Eyes did to him or whatever his plan for him is, he’s going to turn into the very thing they were taught to hunt.  In this episode we see the hilarity that is Sammy getting drunk.  However the levity is short lived because he goes on to tell Dean that if he saves enough people that that may outweigh whatever bad thing he is going to do in the future when Yellow Eyes gets what he wants.  He even goes as far to make Dean promise him that if he turns evil he will kill him.  Something Dean obviously doesn’t want to do.  Sam then brings up that Dad told Dean he might have to kill him and Dean quickly shoots down that trail of thought.  “I-do-what-I-want-Dad” Sammy telling “Dad-is-always-right” Dean to do what Dad said and Dean rebelling against Dad’s final order.  Interesting.

In Supernatural, there are recurring themes that pop up again and again throughout the series.  For this episode I want to focus on single parents.  In “Playthings” we follow a single mother named Susan and of course we’re familiar with John Winchester-single parent extraordinaire.  In society there is a stigma that comes with being a single parent.  It’s not good for the child and the parent can’t do it by themselves.  There is also that stereotype that single parents are overworked and don’t have as much time for their kids as two parents would have.  With John Winchester we see the negative side of being a single parent.  Sure to an uncommon extreme but still a common enough occurrence.  Parents focus all their time on working and usually an older sibling fills in the space of the missing parent by taking care of the younger sibling(s).  However I feel this episode really captured being a single parent in a positive light.  We don’t see Susan as overworked or ignoring her child.  She even plays along with Tyler’s imaginary friend, something she has because she’s an only child, not because her mom doesn’t have time for her.  I feel this can also go with what I mentioned earlier that just because something is bad or doesn’t work for one doesn’t mean it’s not good or can’t work for someone else. 

Finally some good and not so good cinematography tricks that were used in this episode.  The two I want to focus on were used during the climax.  Pressed silence (only music and water sloshing was heard and yet the silence of what was being seen seemed really pressing and profound) and slow-motion.  I feel the pressed silence was well done and helped with adding tension to the situation.  It had a purpose.  I can’t say the same for the slow-motion.  It was tedious and completely unnecessary. Slow motion should be used to enunciate an important (or cool) action or detail.  However in this episode it was used to slow down running, to just add tension and extend the time it took for the audience to learn if the young girl lived or not.

Questions/Concerns:

One concern I did have with this episode was the major plot hole at the end when the boys just leave without getting rid of Maggie’s spirit.  She killed three people (technically four if you include Rose) and tried to kill Tyler.  Yes the family got out ok and the ending shot was really cute with Maggie and a young Rose playing together.  But Sam and Dean didn’t see that.  They had no idea that this spirit had changed her ways.  What happens when the company that bought the inn goes to demolish it?  I don’t see how Maggie would just sit around and let the inn (that she’s forever tied to) be destroyed.  It left a very unfinished feel to the episode that I didn’t enjoy.