To begin this week’s
review, I want to say a huge congratulations to both the cast, crew, and entire
production team of Supernatural for
an early ninth season pick up. Jeremy Carver has really re-freshed the show and
the CW announcing the pick up so early is a real vote of confidence.
This week’s episode of Supernatural, “Trial and Error” was
written by Andrew Dabb and directed by Kevin Parks. Parks has been with the
show since the first season as the 1st Assistant Director on all
odd-numbered episodes and has earned the name “Parksepedia” for his
encyclopedic knowledge of the show. His directorial debut put that knowledge to
excellent use. The episode had the look and feel that Supernatural fans have come to expect, but really harkened back for
me to the grittier, darker tones of Kim Manners. Leads Jensen Ackles (Dean) and
Jared Padalecki (Sam) delivered excellent performances in an emotionally
charged script, and I’m sure that those performances were only enhanced by
having a director they were comfortable with and had confidence in. I’m sure
that Parks will be filling the director’s chair a lot more in future.
A quick shout out to Jerry Wanek for
the great work on the sets. In particular, I was struck by the contrast between
Garth’s disgusting houseboat and the bunker. Anyone else notice that the door
to the bunker makes it look like a hobbit hole? Dean’s room is a nice
reflection of himself, but it is also a recurring theme: Dean’s quest for a
home.
There were lots of shout outs to Supernatural history. Kevin (Osric Chau)
remarks that “God works in mysterious ways” which is exactly what Layla (Julie
Benz) says to Dean in “Faith”. I was really happy to see them remember that
goofer dust is an important protection against demons and hellhounds which we
learned about in “Crossroad Blues”. Also like “Crossroad Blues”, the crossroads
demon – who delightfully, turns out to be Crowley, himself – didn’t settle for
just the soul who summoned him, but stuck around for as many as he could get. It
was an interesting twist that none of them knew they only had ten years or that
they were going to Hell. Seems like that could be a loophole in their
contracts. However, there are multiple hellhounds in town to collect multiple
souls. It might have been a nice touch if they had also remembered that Dean
had been killed by hellhounds and has looked nervous if not downright scared in
the encounters with them since.
The season seems to have built to
this point. This episode sees Sam stepping into a guardian-like position. He
seems to be the only one with a healthy perspective on what they are doing
while Dean is simply hunting without regard to his own or anyone’s (other than
Sam’s) safety in mind. Sam tries to get Kevin to slow down, while Dean provides
him with uppers and painkillers so he can keep going. Dean’s time in Purgatory
trained him to live very day like it’s his last, while Sam learned there was
more to life, a light at the end of the tunnel. I did think it was more than a
little inconsistent, however, that Sam is clearly identified as the Man of
Letters, the scholar, if you will, and he tells Dean that Dean’s the best
hunter he knows, yet Sam is the one “chosen” to do the trials because Dean
fails to kill the hellhound and fails the test.
Ackles delivers an amazing
performance as he tells Sam to stay in the house because Sam living to a ripe
old age is the only happy ending Dean can see for himself. It’s a lovely moment
as Dean once more falls back on the prime directive to keep his brother safe. However,
going forward, it does also seem like we’ve fallen into the familiar pattern of
Sam having a purpose and Dean’s purpose simply being to follow behind and make
sure his brother is safe.
One final shout out to Kevin Parks
for the final scene. The tight focus on the brothers really enhanced the
heightened emotions of the scene. This was Padalecki’s scene to shine in as he
pleads with Dean to try to fight to stay alive, to find the light at the end of
the tunnel with him, and for Dean to see his own worth. Good luck with that
Sam...
I would be remiss if I didn’t
mention the great work done yet again by the VFX team: Mark Meloche, Grant
Lindsay, Ryan Curtis, Christopher Richardson, Trevor Chong, Steve McLeod, Kevin
Genzel, Derek Rein, Werner ten Hoeve, Mladen Miholjcic, Jason Macza, Adam
Williams, and John Marshall. Highlights of tonight’s episode would be Sam’s arm
being infected, Dean demoning-out, and of course, the hellhounds themselves –
finally made visible through the use of super-charged Clark Kent glasses.
This episode was an interesting
blend of monster of the week – hellhound – and the overall mytharc of the
season as we seem to finally be moving toward closing the gates of hell
forever. I’m betting that going forward that half of the tablet the Crowley has
is going to prove a significant roadblock, however. What did you think of the
episode? Let me know in the comments below. I’m anticipating that there is
going to be a lot of discussion about the fact that only one brother is really
getting to do the trials. I know I have a strong opinion about it myself.
Please respect everyone’s right to their own opinion and try to keep responses
from becoming personal. Thanks in advance.
