Now that's what I'm talking about. Normally, episodes of Supernatural begin with an exposition of the big bad, and usually an introduction to the damsel in distress. Well, this time that Damsel is Dean. After battling some kind of monster, Dean is left with crippling, soon-to-be-fatal heart damage. Sam doesn't accept Dean's fate and searches all of their available resources for help. Help, it seems, is to be found at the hands of a faith healer whose power's aren't quite what they appear. I feel like I just wrote the synopsis description for the back of a DVD case... Anyway, the supernatural explanation and threat that comes from this preacher's powers stand out because of their originality and general unwillingness to fit into the usual Supernatural monster category. There's even a twist or two that, while not ground-shaking, still keep the story going, rather than simply plodding along the same formulaic path as most of the episodes thus far this season.
The episode also touches on some issues of morality that I foresaw back in the episode "Wendigo". When Sam and Dean discover that there may be a human cause behind all of the evil in the episode, they briefly debate as to whether or not they are able to kill human beings. Like Superman and Buffy before them, the Winchesters apparently signed off on the "no killing people" clause. But alas, the discussion lasts about a minute when they both agree, without further debate, that there's somehow a difference between slaughtering supernatural creatures and offing people.
Just like "Hook Man" was an example of all of the worst recurring elements of the show, "Faith," seems to be aware of the flaws of the past and simply choses to not employ them. Instead, we get legitimately sympathetic characters, ambiguous evil, and honest-to-gosh character development that doesn't seem like it was conceived out of cardboard and paste. The pilot episode may just have to nudge over a bit to make way for "Faith" as my favourite episode.
Rating: 3.5 stars
No comments:
Post a Comment