Supernatural Review 7.11 - 'Adventures in Babysitting'
Posted by Joseph Lee on 01.07.2012
The Winchesters are at their lowest point when the show returns. Can things possibly get worse?
It's been a month since the midseason finale, but since there may be someone who hasn't caught up, I'll say MAJOR SPOILERS in this review as to the fate of Bobby.
The Road So Far: Bobby's dead, it's just a matter of how dead is he? After Dick Roman shoots him in the head, Bobby weaves through his own unconscious avoiding a reaper, using a memory of Rufus to help him. He has to overcome his own worst memory in order to finally get out to give the Winchesters one last message before he goes: numbers related to the Leviathans. The reaper offered Bobby a choice: stay and become a ghost, or go and never see his boys again.
Season Seven, Episode 11: Adventures In Babysitting Directed By: Jeannot Szwarc Written By: Adam Glass
Well this was certainly a let down. Not that I expected them to reveal Bobby's decision right away (although I believe we may have had a hint in this episode as to what he chose), but to go from a dark and dreary episode one month ago to a standard monster of the week episode is more than a little jarring. At least they tried to ease us into the standard format by keeping the story front and center for half of it.
The episode begins with a random hunter being attacked by two monsters. That becomes important later but for now it's just a typical open. Then we get into Sam and Dean mourning. I felt a lot more could be done with this, and maybe it will, but showing us glimpses of what they went through is not nearly as preferable as showing the entire grieving process. I get it, this show isn't really about the five stages of grief. But the fans have just lost a beloved character as well, and this is not quite the emotional resolution one would expect from that cliffhanger.
While they're busy not talking to each other, Sam gets a phone call on Bobby's old cell phone. It's a teenaged girl who says her dad is missing and she needs Bobby Singer. Sam, realizing it's a hunter's kid, decides someone should go find the missing dad. He's throwing himself into his work. Dean, meanwhile, wants revenge on Dick Roman (who the hell doesn't?) and goes off to see what nutcase Frank has found for them.
You may remember Frank from "Slash Fiction" when Sam and Dean were wanted by the law and the Leviathans. Frank helped them get off the grid. He's still as paranoid as ever, and even more so now that Dean's had him researching the Leviathans. I don't know why, but I feel like if Charles Nelson Reilly were around he'd be playing this role. Maybe it's because Kevin McNally's portrayal reminds me of Jose Chung.
I really enjoyed the Frank scenes, because we learn more about him and he gets developed into a three-dimension character, not just a stereotype. I would say that we're probably going to see a lot more of him, although I see him as more of Rufus surrogate than any kind of replacement for Bobby. He's that side character that helps out occasionally but has no real bond with the Winchesters. Anyway, they do figure out what Bobby's random numbers mean, and it doesn't look like anything good. Okay, it doesn't look bad either, but I have my own guesses about the Leviathans' master plan.
On the other side of things, Sam hunts down the generic random monsters and has to interact with Madison Mclaughlin, who plays the girl. Mclaughlin may be a good actress, I don't know. But she's horribly miscast here and is incredibly irritating in every scene she's in. Give Jensen Ackles some credit, when Dean has to interact with her he plays it perfect. But she's just not up to task and it really brought down every moment she was a part of.
And yes, that's my other big complaint with this episode. If we must go to monster of the week, can we go with monsters that seem the least big threatening? I would buy a demon as a threat over the two weak routine baddies we got. I guess since it's not really about them it doesn't matter, but then why even include that part of the story?
I've got my own theories about where the season ends up from here, and I'm sure you do too. There were hints here and there and while nothing was outright stated, enough was there for you to form your own conclusions. We're officially entering the second half of the season as we have eleven episodes left. Like most seasons of the show do, we're about to get hit hard and fast with revelations, action scenes and probably more bad stuff happening to Sam and Dean. I'm not sure what else they can be hit with, but something's bound to happen.
Then of course, there's next week, in which the X-Files nerd in me rejoices. I've been wanting Nicolas Lea to have a guest spot on this show for years, and it's finally happening!
The 411: This week's midseason return was merely okay, which is not what you want when coming off of an episode that featured a lot of emotional impact. But we did get some progression with the Leviathan story as well as some more of Jensen Ackles being pretty great at his acting job. The Winchesters are at their lowest point as we reach the halfway mark. My guess is that we're about to get some big episodes as we get closer to the season finale.
