In the fifteenth episode of the fifth season of Supernatural, it seems that all I’m meant to do is feel sad forever. Intrigued? Then it’s time for Mark to watch Supernatural.
Trigger Warning: For discussion of grief and blood/gore.
Seriously, this recent batch of episodes has been absolutely brutal on the emotions. WHO KNEW THAT ZOMBIES COULD BE THIS SAD?
I really think that this episode is about inevitability. The writers give us a town where the dead come back to life, their bodies whole and their memories intact, and then settle us in to wait for the inevitable. This is Supernatural, and the people in this world do not receive good things without strings attached. On top of that, there’s too much about the resurrection of these people that doesn’t even fit this fictional universe’s rules. How do people crawl out of their graves with their bodies unscathed? Who has the power to grant such a thing? Even if you go into “Dead Men Don’t Wear Plaid” believing that Death is behind all of this, you’re still left wondering what the twist is and what’ll happen.
It’s eventual. Chalk it up to the relentlessly sad nature of the show, sure, but it’s also the way that the tension is designed. Seeing one resurrected body was weird enough, but once it’s clear that Sheriff Mills is not only aware of the phenomenon, but housing her a zombie child of her own, there’s only one thing left to do:
Wait.
The waiting is made worse by Karen Singer. The Karen Singer. If this episode had focused on Sheriff Mills’s attachment to her son, it would have been sad enough. But no, Bobby finds that his wife has risen from the dead and returned to his life. I could see people claiming that of all the characters on this show, Bobby would be the least likely to succumb to this sort of illusion. And really, that’s kind of a big part of his role these five seasons, isn’t it? He’s quick to call the Winchesters out for being fools or falling for obvious traps. So why this? Why would Bobby welcome his wife back into his house when it’s impossible for her to be there? She was cremated. There isn’t even a body to resurrect!
I think that a lot of Bobby’s story this season was leading to this. After his injury and being confined to a wheelchair, he’s struggle with his own self-worth and his place in the world. He’s sad, he’s lonely, and he’s probably desperate to feel anything like he used to. And in walks the love of his life. After testing her for every possible ailment or trick, he comes up with nothing. She is Karen Singer, and she’s back. She’s baking pies. She’s humming while she cooks. And she is back. For the first time in months, something that feels good has happened. I don’t think Bobby deludes himself into believing that this was a permanent development. Oh, no, I’m certain that he spent those five days with his zombie wife dreading the day that it would all be revealed to be a trap.
It’s an agonizing thing to watch because we’re never allowed to forget that the reason she died in the first place was because Bobby had to shoot her. So once it’s apparent that this is the only way to prevent her from turning on him, we have to watch Bobby go through the loss of Karen ALL OVER AGAIN. To her face. Jim Beaver is simply phenomenal here, both when he’s talking with his wife and the Winchesters, and when he’s portraying Bobby as a man loss to grief after he kills Karen. It’s an unsettling thing to watch that transformation because Jim Beaver makes it seem like Bobby settling back into a familiar emotional zone, and then you realize THAT’S PRECISELY WHAT BOBBY IS DOING. He grieved the loss of his wife once, and then Death makes him go through it all over again as a warning: things will only get worse if he continues to help the Winchesters.
I actually found this to be a rather minimalist episode of Supernatural, and it works in favor of a stronger narrative. There aren’t multiple subplots intertwined in this. It’s just Bobby and the Winchesters awaiting the end that they know is coming. It’s also pretty damn terrifying once the zombies begin their attack. I loved that they kept Bobby in the fight against them while he was in a wheelchair, showing us that he’s not down for the count. He can still blast a zombie’s head off damn well. And the whole sequence in the hallway closet was pretty nail-biting!
I’m hoping that this isn’t the last time we’ve seen Sheriff Jody Mills, either. If this episode is a sign that Lucifer and his soldiers have an eye on Bobby Singer, then perhaps that means that Sioux Falls, South Dakota will feature in upcoming stories, too. Plus, something huge and supernatural just happened there! What happens to the rest of the townsfolk? PLEASE DEVELOP THIS, WRITERS, IT WOULD BE GREAT.
I think at this point I should just expect that season 5 is going to be the saddest thing in the universe.
The video for “Dead Men Don’t Wear Plaid” can be downloaded here for $0.99.
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