By: John Shiban
**Spoilers**
If you have not yet seen this episode, please go and do so before proceeding.
This is probably the DUMBEST idea Dean has EVER had! Yes...dumber than anything he has done in either Season 5 or Season 9. Why? Because here he knew better. Sam knew better too. And he wasn't shy about reminding Dean of that fact.
So Sam and Dean have been on the run from the FBI for close to a year now...and they've been jailbound for many. Dean is a wanted murderer and Sam is his law-school-drop-out assistant. On paper, they don't look good. In the eyes of the law, they're as good as dead. So what do they do? Take a case at a government facility (a prison, to be exact), of course. And how do they get in? By tripping the motion sensor in a museum...while they 'steal' some archaic weapons...and getting themselves sent to the Green River County Detention Center. Good times...
I've always been a big fan of the whole Sam and Dean on the run from the law idea. Not only is it rather darkly comical to see the Feds attempting to make sense of their lives, but it also forces the boys to set aside their differences and work together (on something other than ganking monsters) for once. They gain back what camaraderie they've lost on their most recent tragedy. And, I think at this point in their lives, they enjoy it just a little bit. At this point neither of them have been to Hell and they're still young and reckless and enjoying the 'us against the world' mentality rather than clinging to it in sick desperation like they will do years later. This particular episode is no different, despite Sam's clear exasperation with his brother.
Favorite Moments & Random Thoughts:
- Thank you, show, for forever making me afraid of broken clocks and flickering lights. It's not enough that Doctor Who ruined them for me...you have to go and add to my psychosis? Gee. Thanks.
- The title of this episode comes from a Johnny Cash song, by the way.
- I find it hilarious that Sam and Dean wear gloves to mock-break-in to a museum (just to keep up appearances) but never do so whenever actually breaking in to a place. I hate to think what kind of fingerprint data Henriksen has stored on them.
- Speaking of Henriksen...wow. Is the Winchester case really that important that he's on it 24/7? Now granted I don't watch a whole lot of cop/FBI drama and I have no interest whatsoever in researching the topic until I must for a novel or something, but isn't he going just a bit overboard?- "I think I'm adorable." We all do too, Dean, so you can stop smoldering into the mugshot camera now.
- Guess Sam's dreams of law school are pretty much kaput now. Even if he wanted to, Stanford's not going to take him back now that he has a (documented) criminal record. No wonder he's so irritated with Dean!
- I really appreciate the way they went out of their way to find a guy taller than Jared Padalecki just for that one visual gag with the cellmates. I still don't know how they managed it...
- That being said, um, I smell something rotten with Dean's cellmate? Shouldn't he have shorter hair? I haven't looked up prison regulations in America recently, but I'm pretty sure there are guidelines about hair and beards. It's so, should a prisoner escape, they can't just have a quickie disguise by trimming the beard or lopping off the hair. (I think.)
- "Dean. This is, without a doubt, the dumbest, craziest thing we've ever done. And that's in a long, storied career of dumb and crazy."
- Okay, so, I just found the defining quote that sums up what makes the Winchesters such great heroes despite their many, MANY flaws. It comes from Dean while he and Sam are waiting in line to be put through the metal detector so they can eat. "It doesn't matter. We may not be saints, but we're loyal and we pay our debts." That's it. That's the show right there. It sums up everything that the Winchesters are about. They're not saints. They swear, they drink, they're not afraid to bend the rules to get the job done, they steal, they lie, they do lots of things that aren't exactly right...but they are loyal and they are committed to saving lives for little to no thanks whatever it takes. If you earn their loyalty or if you do them a kind deed, then they're more than willing to repay the favor. They don't major on the minors, but they do always try to do the right thing.
- Sam's mood is not improved by the sad state of the chicken and the lack of salads. Dean is more than happy to eat Sam's lunch for him.
- Y'know, watching this episode again, I realized just how calculated Sam's clumsiness in this entire thing was? The way he keeps running into guys and knocking stuff over, giving Dean the perfect opportunity to start a distracting fight is clearly pre-meditated. The first time I watched it I was a bit annoyed by the fact that, with the exception of the burning of the blanket, Dean was doing all the heavy lifting this episode while Sam sulked...but that just isn't true. The mark of a great episode: making me notice new good things about it every time I watch.
- "So much for the 'bonding in solitary' moment." You've seen The Great Escape one too many times, Dean.
- Dean is sent to solitary while Sam is left to clean the latrines. Because he has an idiot for a brother (his words, not mine...though I concur).
- I crack up every time I see Dean (and Sam too, let's be honest here) hustling the other prisoners. It really isn't fair. We do, however, get a confirmation that they (the Winchesters) don't smoke.
- They also get down to some more of their case as Sam tells Dean about his findings on the old cell block and Dean describes his encounter with the spirit. "The clock stopped, the flickering lights, cold spot... I mean, he did everything but yell boo." Mark Moody was a wonderful red herring. I was almost disappointed when it turned out not to be him.
- I have to say that I got pretty attached to Tiny in the small amount of screen-time he was given. He seemed like a generally decent-enough fellow. Kinda get the feeling he may have a story similar to Sam and Dean's (minus the hunter bit). Oh, wait, had a story. Because he's dead. Darn it all, SPN, do you have to kill off characters left and right?
- Dean's comments to him over lunch (inappropriate as they were) cracked me up.
- Want to know how I know that Sam is irritated? He's being sarcastic (more than usual) and throwing Dean's own smart-mouthed remarks back at him. "How sure are you?" "Really pretty sure."
- Gotta also love how Sam and Dean always feel the need to stare dramatically at a match flame before lighting up the remains. Closet pyromaniacs? Or is that just their own personal last rites for the poor sod they're about to burn?
- After Faith the heart-attack-inducing ghost going after Dean is somehow twice as terrifying, made worse by the heartbeat built into the soundtrack. Good job he had that salt! Poor Tiny, though.
- The question is, Sam, have you noticed how well you fit in?
- I think that their defense lawyer, much as she's potentially interesting, is where this episode is the weakest. She's pretty bland, she falls for the old 'look at me and tell me if I'm guilty' trick, and she has no resolution. Oh sure she helps them and lies to Henriksen...but what happens to her then? She lied to the FBI to protect two wanted murderers. No way will she be able to keep her job! Even if she claims that she didn't lie and that Sam and Dean just used the information to narrow something down, that case is flimsy as best. What happened to her?!
- The fact that Deacon was the ultra-tough prison guard cracked me up a bit.
This episode is, without a doubt, a lot of fun...especially if you're a fan of this particular arc, as I am. The characters are, for the most part, interesting and the case is definitely a unique take on the classic salt n' burn tale. It's very suspenseful and even scary in places. I would NOT advocate watching it alone after dark, but it's definitely one that you don't want to miss out on. I like the way the inmates were presented as people rather than just criminals, I liked Dean conning them and Sam making faces at his back, and I enjoyed the twists and turns of the case. Folsom Prison Blues is a 4/5.
What did you think? Do you agree with my rating? If not - what would you say differently?
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