By: Matt Witten
**Spoilers**
If you have not yet seen this episode, please go and do so before proceeding.
"I never get to work jobs like this; old school haunted houses, you know? Fog, and secret passageways...sissy British accents. Might even run into Fred and Daphne while we're inside. Mmm, Daphne. Love her. "
Sam and Dean are off to investigate an honest-to-god haunted hotel, complete with an old lady in an attic and a suspicious little girl named Maggie. I thought this episode was a lot of fun. There was a very 'Shining' feel to it, especially in the scenes with the bartender and with the inclusion of Tyler and Maggie.
Almost as soon as the episode began, I had the dollhouse pegged as the culprit in the killings. I thought that it was either haunted or that maybe the dolls inside were some kind of voodoo dolls. I wasn't too terribly off. While I'm still not certain what exactly the connection between the dolls and the murders was, the hotel was indeed haunted. As it turns out, Maggie was not so much a little girl as she was a ghost. To be exact, she was the ghost of Grandma Rose's baby sister who had died as a child and never moved on. Becoming lonely throughout the years, she latched onto Rose's granddaughter (Tyler) and became an imaginary friend. But when the hotel was going to close, Maggie started to become violent in a desperate attempt to save her home and keep her new playmate. Eventually, it goes so far that she almost drowns Tyler in the hotel pool.
Enter Sam and Dean who have heard about the killings and arrived to try and sort the ghost out. Sam is still feeling incredibly guilty about the loss of Ava last episode and is fearful about what this dark destiny everybody keeps on talking about might mean for him. The revelation that their father warned Dean that if he couldn't save Sam the best thing to do would be to kill him has deeply shaken the boys, but also in a way brought them closer together. They are determined to thwart Sam's destiny, but in this episode we see that Sam is starting to believe that maybe he can't change fate. He ends up getting drunk and telling Dean that Dean is "...bossy. And short..." before begging his brother to promise to do the deed and kill him if he should go dark side. Dean doesn't want to agree, but eventually does so just to shut Sam up and get him into bed so he can sleep the alcohol off.
The episode ends with a great climax. Tyler is drowning in the pool while Sam, Dean, and her mother desperately try to break down the locked doors to save her. While this is happening, Grandma Rose calls the spirit of her dead sister back to the attic and offers to give her life for her granddaughter's. She still loves her sister desperately and is willing to die and remain as a ghost forever, playing and jumping rope in the hallways of the old hotel together as sisters. Though it is not clear what is going to happen to these spirit sisters once the hotel they call home is sold and possibly demolished, the episode does end on a positive note with Tyler alive and well and the two sisters merrily giggling and jumping rope together.
Enter Sam and Dean who have heard about the killings and arrived to try and sort the ghost out. Sam is still feeling incredibly guilty about the loss of Ava last episode and is fearful about what this dark destiny everybody keeps on talking about might mean for him. The revelation that their father warned Dean that if he couldn't save Sam the best thing to do would be to kill him has deeply shaken the boys, but also in a way brought them closer together. They are determined to thwart Sam's destiny, but in this episode we see that Sam is starting to believe that maybe he can't change fate. He ends up getting drunk and telling Dean that Dean is "...bossy. And short..." before begging his brother to promise to do the deed and kill him if he should go dark side. Dean doesn't want to agree, but eventually does so just to shut Sam up and get him into bed so he can sleep the alcohol off.
The episode ends with a great climax. Tyler is drowning in the pool while Sam, Dean, and her mother desperately try to break down the locked doors to save her. While this is happening, Grandma Rose calls the spirit of her dead sister back to the attic and offers to give her life for her granddaughter's. She still loves her sister desperately and is willing to die and remain as a ghost forever, playing and jumping rope in the hallways of the old hotel together as sisters. Though it is not clear what is going to happen to these spirit sisters once the hotel they call home is sold and possibly demolished, the episode does end on a positive note with Tyler alive and well and the two sisters merrily giggling and jumping rope together.
4/5
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