By: David Ehrman
**Spoilers**
If you have not yet watched this episode, please go and do so before proceeding.
This episode is far more than just a romance story. If anything, the relationship between Sam and Sarah is a bit understated. And I'm glad for that because the episode manages to tell a sweet story while at the same time keeping the SPN dark wit and edge. There is also cursed paintings, decapitations, bizarrely-decorated motel rooms, and lots of Dean teasing Sammy to take in. And, after Route 666, Sam totally deserved it. We all know that Dean was just relieved to see him finally starting to move on from Jessica.
The twist on which occupant of the haunted painting it was doing the killings was interesting, though I'm not entirely certain whether or not I believe that a little girl of that age could actually decapitate someone with a straight razor. Who is she...Sweeny Todd?!
Still, the episode had good pacing and built up to a nice climax that was not undermined by Sweenella Jr. there. And the girl-of-the-week, Sarah Blake, is a delightful creation. She's just the right mix of strengths and weaknesses to make up a well-rounded, fascinating, human character.
Favorite Moments & Random Thoughts:
- I feel bad for that couple who were murdered in the prologue. Granted they did buy about the ugliest painting in the history of the universe (not including anything by Picasso), but they were just looking for a celebratory night in together. They didn't deserve that.
- That painting is creepy as all get out, though. Especially the way it is shot in the episode so that you're never quite sure if the characters are moving/blinking/breathing or not.- Sam and Dean start out the episode in another bar. Sam is doing research while Dean is hustling and buttering up the girls. Typical. How are they even related?!
- It's kind of sweet, though, the way Dean keeps trying to set Sam up with a girl (no matter how annoyed Sam gets) just because he's worried that Sam never bothers to look at a girl since Jessica.
- Did Dean seriously let Sam drive his car the whole way to New York? Wow! Bet he regretted it when Sam gave him a rude awakening via horn.
- I love the long, panning shot of all the cars at the art showing. There's all these posh, new editions...and then there's Baby, sporting a glorious detail of mud splatters that I'm frankly shocked Dean allowed to settle there. It gets even funnier whenever Sam and Dean start to walk around the showing still dressed in their customary plaid and denim. They stick out like sore thumbs.
- And Dean eats like a pig.
- I love the way Sarah introduces herself to Sam by trying to trick him into identifying the painting as something incorrect, just for the sake of agreeing with her. Sam, naturally, doesn't play along. And apparently impresses both her and mystifies Dean.
Dean: "Grant Wood? Grandma Moses? What?"
Sam: "Art History course. It’s good for meeting girls."Dean: "It's like I don't even know you."
- It worked, too, seeing as how Dean pointing out that Sarah was checking Sam out (not him) as they walked away. Even after her father busted them as impersonators. Apparently she goes for the 'adorable maverick' types.
- "I don't know about Romeo here, but I'll have a beer." At least she took pity on Sam for fumbling the wine list on a first date. One has to wonder how many fake credit cards he maxed out to get into that restaurant. They look a bit funny on the date too...sort of like a kid going out with his teacher for lunch. Sam's haircut makes him look ridiculously like a teenager.
- Still, the date scene manages to not be awkward and avoids many of the more disgustingly sweet clichés that such things so often fall into. Thank God...
- "Dean, would you get your mind out of the gutter, please?" I don't know, Sammy. You wouldn't want his mind to be homeless, now would you?
- The boys' very disco hotel room makes me snicker every time I look at it. Especially their reactions whenever they first walk in. A John Travolta door-knocker? Priceless!- Oh for...is every case they find in the newspapers seriously going to be marked in John Winchester's journal? I mean, I know the man can walk on water, but that book's only so thick. There's only so much that can logically be tucked away in there.
- I have to say that the special effects look quite good in this episode...especially in the scene where Sam and Dean torch that creepy painting and it simply reappears back in its frame. That looked cool.
- It's interesting that this episode is the only one where we ever see Sam and Dean using gloves to break into a place. You'd think, once the get the FBI on their trail, that they'd be more careful. But the gloves are never used again. Silly boys!
- And then the next morning Dean scares Sam half to death by claiming that he lost his wallet during the heist last night. "It's got my prints, my ID, well my fake ID anyway. We gotta get it before someone else finds it. Come on." But, of course, it's just a giant ruse to get Sammy in to see Sarah again. Dean just has a Cheshire grin the whole time...it's oddly adorable.
- Dean was still waiting for the Da Vinci Code film. He doesn't get Sam's literary references.
- Gotta love Dean's theory on relationships: "All right, you like her, she likes you, you're both consenting adults... " That's him in a nutshell. No WONDER he gets in trouble so much!
- I know I have a lot of quotes in this review, but I just had to include this one: "You know, seriously Sam, this isn't about just hooking up, okay? I mean, I, I think that this Sarah girl could be good for you. And... I don't mean any disrespect but I'm sure this is about Jessica, right? Now I don't know what it's like to lose somebody like that.... but... I would think that she would want you to be happy. God forbid have fun once in a while. Wouldn't she?" It's a beautiful quote from Dean and it says worlds about what really lies under that joking, macho shell he wears. Especially where his little brother is involved. It's also a great quote about moving on from relationships that ended badly. He's not just trying to 'pimp Sam out', as Sam initially thinks he is. He's honestly worried about Sam what with the younger brother not sleeping and generally making himself miserable in Jessica's memory.
- I love the way Sarah runs to Evelyn's house as soon as she hears that the older woman might be in danger.
- It's also nice the way she doesn't freak out over Sam and Dean failing to break down the door and matter-of-factly going to pick the lock, though she does demand an explanation.
- She takes the news of a killer ghost painting fairly well too. Though, I suppose finding your friend with a deeply-slashed throat all alone in a locked house might be reason to stop and think about the painting that changes its appearance and was at all the crime scenes.
- She does, however, point out that Sam and Dean are way too comfortable with digging up graves. She says it more like a joke, though.
- Dean's reaction? "Sammy, marry this girl!"
- I just have fun watching Dean this entire episode, much like Sam in Route 666. The fun of any Winchester brother romance is watching the other one react to it, honestly it is. Like the moment when Dean gets into the Impala and cranks up the romantic music to near eardrum-bursting levels in the hope of giving Sam a kick in the pants. All it does is make Sam look like he's longing to stop being a gentleman and give Dean the ol' one-fingered salute. He's seriously ticked off. Hey...you can't fault Dean for trying!
- "What kind of house doesn't have salt?! Low sodium freaks!"
- Sweenella is quite a creepy ghost, complete with a white frock, deathly pale skin, and a straight razor clutched in the hand not dragging a broken-necked doll along.
- Sam looks quite heroic fending her off with an iron poker. Or at least until she pins him to the wall with a bookcase and threatens to slit Sarah's throat. Fortunately Dean manages to figure out how to get to the doll made with Sweenella's hair and gleefully torches it. (I swear Dean is a closet pyromaniac!)
- As climaxes go, that was a pretty good one. It gets your blood pumping and provides plenty of laughs midst all of the tension. The ghost is creepy and the fact that the brothers are separated makes us all bite our nails as 'Divide & Conquer' runs through our heads.
- Dean saved the day, as he loudly reminds the happy couple.- I wonder if Sam ever contacted Sarah ever again. Dean did his darndest to get them together (and it worked...judging by that kiss Sam gave Sarah before they left) and he looked SO proud whenever his efforts paid off.
- Sarah is one of the more enjoyable romantic interests that are introduced for the Winchester boys. She's also one of the few woman Sam has ever dated or shown interest in that didn't end up being a monster and is just a delight to watch in her own right. The scenes with her and the Winchester brothers are cute and adorable/ She's smart and capable and definitely able to keep up with both of them, though she's not unrealistically tough or perfect.
Sarah is just a great character. She's funny and smart and was good for Sammy, just as Dean said she would be. Her episode too was an example of a single-episode romance done right. Just like with Merlin/Freya from Merlin, Sarah/Sam manages to be both sweet and cute without making me feel like it's forced down my throat just for the sake of having a romance in there. They felt very natural together and human instead of plot devices. The episode too was good, serving as a solid frame for the love story and providing plenty of mystery and scares to off-set the adorable scenes nicely. Provenance is a 5/5.
What did you think? Do you agree with my rating? If not - what would you say differently?
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