In the fourteenth episode of the third season of Supernatural, Dean faces heartbreak and disappointment when the case they investigate has disturbing implications for him. Intrigued? Then it’s time for Mark to watch Supernatural.
I knew it, I FUCKING KNEW THIS. I knew this was going to be a goddamn disaster for these characters, and it didn’t matter. Dean, with his big ol’ heart that he hides underneath layers of hyper-masculinity. Dean, with his growing fear of the inevitable. Dean, living every single one of these days with the knowledge that he’s got less than two months left before he turns into the very thing he’s hunted his whole life. Sam, who has come into his role of protecting his older brother. Sam, who is struggling with his own identity issues throughout all of this. Sam, who has to watch his brother foolishly dive head-first into this disaster all over the hope that it’s their father on the other end of the phone.
And in the end, it doesn’t save them. Who’s going to save Dean Winchester?
“Long-Distance Call” felt fairly typical, and I was reminded of both “Blood” and “Wetwired” in the second and third seasons of The X-Files, respectively. Messages urging people to kill through modern technology? It’s not a new theme in this genre, and truthfully, it’s only through the use of the crocotta that this feels any different from what I’ve seen before. Even then, I feel like the crocotta itself lacked the development to make it particularly memorable. We get a so-so villain monologue from the monster, and it touches something that might be awesome. On the surface, I’m kind of bored by arguments that people today aren’t really connected, despite that most of us are connected to other people online. Like, that’s just not my experience? Most of my friends I met online. (Which… god, I feel like ten years ago, I was still unsure if I could admit that the vast majority of my friends were due to a band’s message board. Look where we are now.) I met my boyfriend because of the Internet! And I get what the idea is behind this, that there is a possible superficiality to online interactions. There’s a lot of gross shit on the Internet. I’ve been a community manager for ELEVEN YEARS. You don’t need to tell me this. I know some hell, y’all. (I should publish a book about this. Hmmm.)
I think I also might have been able to buy this if it had explored Dean’s loneliness just a bit more. The crocotta feeds on this; it’s why he was able to find so many victims using the phone and the Internet. (And there is an idea worth exploring. People are more open to admitting their loneliness online, so that’s why the crocotta found so many people in recent years.) Of course, there’s an absolutely, completely, wholly, utterly, how-many-more-superlatives-can-I-use unfairness present in Dean’s journey this episode: He has lost hope. And god, it hurts so much to think about because it’s not like he doesn’t have faith in Sam. It’s the impossibility of the situation. Dean spends most of this episode chasing after his father – all because of a voice on the phone – knowing that Ruby already told him that there’s no escape. He operates under the delusion that this fool’s errand will get him out of the contract with Lilith, despite that there’s absolutely no evidence supporting this.
And really, I actually found that line from Sam about the lack of proof to be one of the most fascinating things about that. Seeing skepticism from either of these people when it comes to dealing with the supernatural is always going to be weird without context because DUDES. Y’all have seen some wild shit. But I didn’t take this as another example of oddly-timed skepticism. This was Sam doing his best to look out for Dean. Sam knew that Dean was operating solely on faith at this point, and it was shaky at best. (Can I just say that all of this was a subtle callback to “Faith” in season one? I’M FINE WITH THIS.) At best! Oh god, Sam just looks so defeated when he goes off to see Lanie, and I am so goddamn done with this episode. It’s too sad. TOO SAD.
There were two things I was not particularly pleased with here, though. The first South Asian/Indian character on the show is an IT specialist? Really. Did you even try? And then Dean’s really weird, creepy comment about “busty Asian beauties”? Oh, that’s not cute. Don’t. Don’t do that. Move away from that. Move towards #MistyEyedBoyTalk, despite how much it will hurt me, and away from fetishization. THANK YOU.
All things said, this is one of those Supernatural episodes that’s better because of the characters that are in it. I’m a big fan of emotional continuity, and this episode is full of it. Also, I can’t even comprehend how this is going to be resolved in just two episodes. I’M FRIGHTENED.
The video for “Long-Distance Call” can be downloaded here for $0.99.
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