Freaks and Geeks 8x18: A Supernatural Review

Summary

 

Sam and Dean investigate some strange murders when they discover Krissy Chambers, a hunter's daughter from their past, is killing vampires. Krissy and two other teens and joined together to be trained and mentored by another hunter after their families are murdered. The Winchesters soon discover that Victor is lying and is actually working with the vampire who killed their families, turning people into vampires so that the teens can carry out revenge killings. When confronted, Victor confesses his true purpose is to raise the next generation of elite hunters. The vampire is killed and Victor kills himself rather than face a lonely existence without the teens. With a promise from Krissy they won't go hunting but if something crosses their path they'll be ready, Sam and Dean leave the teens alone to live together. Supernatural "Freaks and Geeks" Promo

Review

 

Written by Adam Glass and directed by John F. Showalter. Krissy Chambers has popped up in the Winchesters’ lives again. First and last appearance since season seven “Adventures in Babysitting” also written by Adam Glass. It’s great to see previous guests return and this should be a character to love - a teenager with a hunter history, snarky, a bit too much bravado, dressed in flannel and a dark jacket…hmmmm, who does this sound like? 

Krissy channeling her inner Dean

Dean immediately wants to intervene because these kids are being trained to be hunters, and obviously this is a bad thing, so he must fix it.

Unfortunately, by the end of the episode Dean contradicts himself.

Dean: They're hunters now. You don't just walk away from that. There's only one way out of that, and you and I both know it ain't pretty.

Sam: Maybe they'll be different.

Dean: Or maybe if we shut that hell hole once and for and all, those three can have a real life.

Sam: Maybe they won't be the only ones.

Sam, the ever hopeful, starts out thinking the set up with Victor is good for the kids, but as usual, defers to Dean's will which, as it turns out, Dean was right not to trust Victor. By using revenge as motivation, he was training teenagers to hunt monsters. Hmmmm...who does that sound like? 

Dean logic: Never trust a guy who wears a sweater

John Winchester taught his sons credit card fraud, theft, and hustling in his quest for revenge. 

Getting Krissy's group to act out of revenge is a place that both Winchesters should understand and cannot preach to anyone about not killing the evil things that killed their families. They both got immense satisfaction from Azazel's death. 

Not that it excuses Victor's method of getting a vamp to turn innocent people into vampires and then lying to Krissy and crew about the new vamps being the ones who killed their families - especially when Victor is the one who scouted these kids and had their families killed. Not cool Victor! 

The sets and location home for this episode are, as usual, outstanding. The stained glass windows and Victorian home feel gave a homey feel which is exactly what it was supposed to do. Victor was giving those three orphan-turned-hunters a home. 

A crazy, wack-ado, "Become a serial killer, kid!" kind of home but at least it had walls and homemade waffles.
 

The direction and camera work are no-nonsense, as in, serviceable, simple and get the job done without doing anything spectacular or annoying. If you don’t notice the camera work, then chances are it was done seamlessly well.

There was a nice visual effect of deadman’s blood dart that Krissy shot into the eye of the vampire who killed her dad and the families of the other two teens.

Questions. Problems. Comments. Concerns.

First, I want to politely ask, what the hell was this episode? Because other than Sam & Dean being physically in it, this was NOT Supernatural. The music at the open, was a current song from 2012, “I’ll Surely Die” by The Rubens. I love the song, but it is not Supernatural. Was this a soft attempt at a spin-off aimed at a younger viewing audience? Because even the background atmosphere music sounded similar to The Rubens’ song. Where's the traditional classic rock and atmosphere we're accustomed to?

And why haven’t we seen deadman’s blood darts again? Seems like a good weapon to have around.

And who exactly thinks it’s a good idea to leave three teenagers alone in a house to raise themselves? And how exactly do they pay for stuff? And if Dean did succeed in taking Krissy to her aunt’s, what about the other two underage orphan teens? Was he just going to leave them there to fend for themselves? And Garth is a werewolf now. What happened to Krissy and the others Garth was supposed to be looking after? Granted they're likely adults now but we saw how well Garth looked after Kevin. Plot holes and loose ends.

There are so many things wrong with this story that it is difficult to get past them all to enjoy it.