“Love Hurts,” follows a woman desperate to win back her husband’s heart and unknowingly falls into a bit of dark magic. The spell, sealed with a kiss gets transferred to the baby sitter when Dan kisses her in secret before going on a date with his wife. A Qareen in the form of Dan then shows up to the house and tears Stacy’s heart from her chest. Later, when he stays late for work, Dan has his heart stolen as well. The wife finally owns up to the spell and Sam and Dean track down her hairdresser who calls herself a white witch. Dean takes on the curse to buy time and is faced with his deepest, darkest desire: Amara. The boys defeat the monster and save the day and return back to the hotel to talk about what happened. Sam assures Dean that he knows his true intentions when it comes to Amara and not to worry.
In “Safe House,” Sam and Dean grab a case for a house in Michigan only to find that Bobby and Rufus had been there before a handful of years ago. The viewpoint jumps back and forth between Bobby and the boys and shows that they have the same case: a kid in a coma, a mark on their ankle, cold spots and shut off lights, later on the parent is also taken and they come to the discovery that they’re dealing with a soul eater. After reading Bobby’s journal the Winchesters discover that he found a way to trap the soul eater in its outer-dimensional lair and that sigil had been broken by the new family, causing the events to repeat themselves. After further research, Sam and Dean discover that the Men of Letters had devised a way to kill the soul eater once and for all but one of them would have to be on the other side. Once Dean enters the soul eater’s nest he finds the little girl that was taken earlier on and discovers that many others were in the nest due to its existence outside of time and space. He even briefly sees Bobby, who had entered the nest all those years ago before everyone returns back to their time and place.
Review:
In terms of structure, both “Love Hurts” and “Safe House” seem to stray from some of the inlaid trope conventions that have permeated throughout the series. In “Love Hurts,” the axe murderer scenes are still plagued with bad acting and stereotypes but when Melissa is faced with the Qareen, she doesn’t just stand there and scream, she acts. Running away and stumbling, grabbing pepper spray to ward off her attacker and grabbing her purse and running for the nearest exit, exhibiting realistic reactions to a frightening situation.
In “Safe House,” Sam and Dean question the logic of a supernatural situation on their own, mirroring the audiences questions. When they read that Bobby had put up a symbol to trap the Soul Eater, they ponder why the existing souls were expelled from the nest once the symbol was completed. Though they don’t really find an answer, this inquisitiveness is a natural occurrence when dealing with things outside of the ordinary to understand and deal with them. The fact that it took them this long to show Sam and Dean asking the same questions the viewers have is surprising considering how far the show has come.
This leads to the assumption that Supernatural is trying to rectify its mistakes and inconsistencies in a way the writers can exhibit. They might not be perfect and they may not be the original writers for the show but these two episodes seem to be saying that they’re trying to make sense of the conundrum that is the Supernatural Universe for the betterment of the show.
Analysis aside, “Safe House,” was a beautifully crafted episode that felt like it returned to the old formula that worked so well with the series while bringing something new to the table. The montage composed primarily of rotating overhead shots going back and forth from Rufus and Bobby to Sam and Dean was perfectly executed. The show had just the right amount of fond memories and iterations of familial love to pull on the heartstrings while utilizing new technology to create a gorgeous monster and twilight zone for the Soul Eater’s nest. Right down to the parallels between Bobby and Dean’s dealings with the Soul Eater, both in nature and construction, this episode was brilliantly done. All I could say at the end of it was, “ow.”
No comments:
Post a Comment