Supernatural: A Very Supernatural Christmas
By fred | December 14, 2007
(S03E08) Before leaving the year 2007 behind them, the Winchester brothers had to come back one more time for a Christmas special episode. Don’t worry, there should still be a few more episodes left, but they won’t be around this year. And to say goodbye we had, as it was announced, A Very Supernatural Christmas.
In the world of Supernatural, where monsters are legion and fighting for you life, and the sake of the Universe, Christmas day isn’t that different than any other day. There might be people dressing up as Santa, lights in the trees and all of that, but there’s also a dark side, living in the shadow hides evil bloody monsters killing people and feeding on their soul, or flesh.
None of it is very new, but that doesn’t mean it’s not good, of course.
In fact, if there was a little difference for the Christmas episode, it was that the forces of evil looked maybe a little more friendly than the usual. But it’s not like we haven’t seen some pretty hot demons in the past, and this couple had a very weird vibe coming out, like they were just trying too hard and had to be hiding some ugly secret in their basement. Had they not be the monsters they were, that basement would still have been filled with some nasty things, I think. By the way, great casting on their part.
Anyways, this was a very good episode and almost every time now it had some pretty hilarious lines here and there. If only one, I think I’ll have to go with the brothers visiting Santa Village :
“
- Can I escort your child to Santa ?
- No… But actually my brother here, it’s been a life-long dream of his.
- Uh… sorry. No kids over 12.
- No he’s just kidding. We only came here to watch.
- Eww!
- Oh I didn’t mean that we came here to…
”
That was for the fun part, so let’s look into the not so fun bits. As much as I love this show, a few things bothered me with this episode. Like the fact that when they were hostages meant to be killed, and maybe then eaten, still the brothers were not really harmed. I mean the cut to get blood were really little, like it was important to treat the future meal with respect or something, which doesn’t really fit with the way the first victims had been treated, where there was blood and foot were cut off brutally.
I know those guys are the heroes of the show and all, but if we’re supposed to believe that they could be in danger at some point, it’d be good to have them treated like they should, and in that situation if anything it was more violently, not less.
Also, I never had to experience this myself – Thank God – but I suspect that when one is just riping your fingernail out like that, it fudging hurts! But it doesn’t hurt when the fingernail is being pulled out, and that’s it. The pain doesn’t go away with the fingernail, not at all. It stays there for quite a while, and especially when it’s done in such a raw way, without drugs or nothing to help, you have to feel it deep, long after you lost that part of yourself.
Yet Sam looked pretty okay with it. Not just when fighting for his life, or later on when he only had a bandage on, but even right after, while still tied on to the chair, he didn’t look so hurt. Really, that wasn’t good. I wanted him to actually suffer, I also hoped for some acknowledgment of that pain while or after the fight. But we got none of that, and I was disappointed.
What really bugged me with this whole scene, was that Sam & Dean just killed two people. I know I know, they weren’t really “people”. You know that, I know that, they know that, but no one else knows that. For everybody else, those were a very nice and friendly couple, and they’ve been brutally murdered. And unlike other demons or vampires whose bodies just vanish or are sent back to Hell, they stayed right there, on the floor. And I see to remember that fingerprints of Sam and Dean might not be unknown to the authorities.
I realize this is a common matter on the show, but somehow this time it felt like extremely obvious that they needed to do some cleaning up, yet that wasn’t shown or even mentioned/referenced. And yes, it bugged me somewhat.
This was the Christmas episode, and so it’s no wonder that they pulled out the family card. And while I liked the revelation of where that thing Dean has always had around his neck came from, which totally fits the character and their relationship, I haven’t been too pleased with the whole flashbacks. I really didn’t liked those scenes, because I did not see a young Sam nor a young Dean in those two kids, and most of the time if felt like useless filler. We didn’t learn anything from this whole thing, and apart from the gift at the end, the little we learned was of no real interest.
But overall it was still a good episode. Some things I didn’t like and others bugged me, but overall I enjoyed it. Good story, strong characters, a nice creepy feeling to it, and also the humor we love from the show, it was a good Christmas episode. And best of all, there should be a few more episodes next year, so it’s all good !
Posted in Reviews
Shows: Supernatural
