Supernatural Review: Season 1 Episode 6 "Skin"

By: John Shiban

**Spoilers**
If you have not yet seen this episode, please go and do so before proceeding.


              You know...evil!Sammy is kind of hot in a really confusing way. Evil!Dean, on the other hand, is just straight-up TERRIFYING! I think it has something to do with the fact that Sam is just so darn cute while Dean always has that 'bad boy' edge to him. Evil!Sam is less realistic than evil!Dean because the latter seems much more likely to happen, given the boys' personalities. Like I said, Dean has always had an undercurrent of danger lurking beneath his smart-mouth remarks and cocky grin.

             Needless to say, I was very confused whenever this episode started off. I didn't want to believe that Dean had gone darkside (rationalizing that the girl must have been a monster or demon that he needed information from), but there was a little niggling seed of doubt in my mind about the validity of that idea. This is the episode that started the trend of using a confusing or misleading sequence from later on in the episode as a Batman Cold Open, just to grab people's attention and pique their curiosity. It worked on me. I just had to watch the rest of the episode and find out whether or not Dean was a psychopath in need of a jacket without detachable arms.

          This was a great episode. There were some problems with pacing in a couple of places (after Act II it felt a bit rushed) and I actually think it could have benefited greatly from being a two-parter. Supernatural: The Animation took this same basic premise and plot and expanded on it in a fashion that ended up working a lot better by explaining how Becky (or, in that case, the sheriff) ended up in the sewer. But the original episode still holds up very well. I love the concept of a shapeshifter...even though the transformation scenes are body horror, puke-in-your-mouth disgusting...and it's nice to see that the show hasn't just dropped all reference to things that happened in the pilot. The girl-of-the-week-to-be-saved is Becky, a friend of Sam's from Stanford.

      Another reason this episode is important is that it marks the beginning of the Winchesters: America's Most Wanted arc that will run through until Season 3. Poor Dean! He didn't even get to visit his own funeral!


Favorite Moments & Random Thoughts:

- Dean: "All right, I figure we’d hit Tucumcari by lunch, then head south, hit Bisbee by midnight." (Sam does not respond.) "Sam wears women’s underwear."
  Sam: "I’ve been listening, I’m just busy."

- It makes me laugh that Dean's first question, upon hearing about Becky, is to ask if she is hot or not. But, given what we saw in the pre-credits teaser, that's a bit sinister too...

- Why did Sam lie to Becky and tell her that Dean was a cop? Aside from the fact that this could get them into REAL trouble whenever she mentions it to the real authorities she's working with, there was no reason for it. They could have broken into the crime scene later and not implicated her in the event at all. Not to mention, I understand his lying to his Stanford friends about what his family does. Who would believe him? But lying to Becky about this served no purpose. He could still have asked all of the usual questions under the guise of a friend just trying to make sense of it all.

- The lens-flare thing that happens with the monster's eyes is pretty cool. And more than a little unsettling. More on that later...

- And of course, while this is going on, the creature goes after another innocent woman, in the guise of her husband. This time, though, the real husband's business trip is cancelled and he comes back home to find his wife beaten and bloody. The creature knocks him out and finishes the job, thus framing the husband for his wife's murder. Though why the police didn't question the bleeding gash on the back of his head is anyone's guess.

- "Every culture in the world has a shapeshifter lore. You know, legends of creatures who can transform themselves into animals or other men." Like werebeasts or skinwalkers. I love the moment whenever the boys figure out what the monster is and we get a little bit of lore dumped in our laps, usually courtesy of Sam or John's journal, though in this case it is Dean who makes the connection. And people say he's just the brawn...!

- I'm not entirely sure I buy the idea that the boys managed to pick up a trail that obvious when the cops did not, even if it was somewhat explained away by the idea that the cops thought the husband did it and so weren't looking for an escape trail...they still should have seen something screwy when they were securing the area.

- One thing I really like about this show is that there are always consequences to the things the Winchesters do...even if they do wrong for the right reason. Just because they're the heroes doesn't mean they are immune to the fallout of their actions. For instance; here Sam lied to Becky about Dean and forever tainted their friendship, nearly getting her killed in the process and bringing his brother (and the barely-legal lifestyle of a Hunter) to the attention of the law enforcement. Just one little lie and a whole big landslide of crap was set off for Sam and Dean.

- And Sam knows his brother so well that even after four years apart, he can still tell fake!Dean's mannerisms from real Dean. I knew the moment that other Dean ran up that he was fake...but, then again, I am aware that this story is a television show. At this point, Sam is not.




- It really trussed Sammy up good, didn't it? I wonder if the lack of sleep made it easier to get the drop on him...though, to be fair, both Winchester brothers spend a fair amount of time taking blows to the head, being strangled, or trussed up like turkeys. Occupational hazards, I suppose.

- There is just something very wrong about the creature looking out of Dean's eyes. Granted later on in the show we will see plenty of alternate!Deans...but this is the first and by far the most uncanny.

- "Maybe. Evolution is about mutation, right? So, maybe this thing was born human but was different. Hideous and hated. Until he learned to become someone else." So if you're ever sitting around having beer with some guy and he starts spouting off lines like this, my advice would be to go for the silver bullets?

- Poor Becky! It must have been awful to first be lied to and betrayed by someone you thought was a friend and then assaulted by who you thought was his brother. At least we finally get an explanation for the opening teaser. It wasn't Dean, after all...just some no-good monster with a sob story who decided to wear his face while going on a killing spree. Good times. (Note the sarcasm)

-  Sam and Dean have a little touching moment in the sewer together while attempting to escape from the dozen or so ropes the shifter tied them up with.

- There's also something interesting in this episode in that it is suggested that Dean wasn't all fine and hunky-dory with Sam leaving the family to go to college, no matter how much of a good big brother he's been about it. Of course, it was shifter!Dean talking, so let's not take that as gospel.

- Shifter!Dean may look kind of good without a shirt...but just wait until he starts peeling that skin off and shedding teeth to change his shape into a Becky lookalike. Can I say 'ICK'?

- The awesome music that plays over the transformation more than made up for the gross stuff, though. I want to shake Eric Kripke's hand for making the decision to use Classic Rock as the soundtrack. Somehow everything seems more badass when it's backed with Filter.

- Oh Dean...

- And now we cut to the part of the episode that really makes no sense...the part that should have been expanded more, even if it meant that Skin ended up having two parts. Rebecca. How did she end up in that sewer? I mean, seriously, how? They tell us...but I'm calling 'foul' on that explanation. Mere hours before she had been brutally assaulted in her own home. Yeah maybe the shifter didn't cut her up too badly (though, going by the amount of blood she was showing, I would contest that) but there was a bloody SWAT team at her house! Even if she was realized from the hospital that fast and even if she gave her statement and got away from the police this quickly, she still wouldn't have been walking home all by her lonesome. She wouldn't even have been walking home. Even aside from the security risks, concerning a homicidal fugitive who set his sights on her and never finished the job, her house is a crime scene. NO WAY could she just be popping back home for a beer and some TV!

- There just wasn't enough time to make that plot device work. This should have been a two-parter.

- Poor Sam's noggin has taken an awful lot of hits over the seasons. If he's not being strangled (which happens more to him than to any other character) then he's being bashed over the head with gun butts, rocks, fists, and - on this occasion - a beer bottle.

- There's probably something symbolic about shifter!Dean kicking the living daylights out of Sam and then Dean shooting 'himself' in the chest...I just can't quite put my finger on it.

- "How many chances am I gonna have to see my own funeral?" 

   
           I had forgotten how much I liked this episode! Though there are some definite issues with the timeline and I think it could have benefited from a longer running time, it still managed to deliver on some dark themes, tense situations, and furthered the brothers' story line. I really want to know if their Dad ever saw the news reports of this and what his reaction was. Heck...I really want a spin-off series detailing John's POV of all these things! But I digress...

           As an episode, Skin is definitely worth several re-watches. The atmosphere is fascinating, the special effects are great, and it really capitalizes on the human interaction and character relationships that make Supernatural such a good show. It's all about the chemistry and drama...and the gross, disgusting shapeshifting mutants from the sewers too. Skin is a 3/5.



What did you think? Do you agree with my rating? If not - what would you say differently?