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Heart
Sam and Dean are on the trail of a werewolf but their only lead is a woman whose former boyfriend has been stalking her, and Sam finds himself falling for her.
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NotesWriterSera GambleDirectorKim MannersGuest Stars:Emmanuelle Vaugier (Madison)Other Guests:David Quinlan (Nate)Patrick Currie (Kurt) Brad Dryborough (Glen) Caroline Carter Rob Hayter (Policeman) Teryl Rothery (Coroner) Lindsay Maxwell (Hooker) Yasmine Vox Filming Locations:Victoria Street StudioCompletely Useless Trivia:The credits of the soap opera read as follows:Executive Producers: Clive Aronauer Lesley DeHaan Associate Producer: Kathie Bouldry (These are names of select crew members) Madison lives at 1144 Minna Street |
ReviewOpening teaser, we meet Madison and her letch of a boss. She's smart and beautiful, and I find her endearing as I'm sure we're meant to. Her ex-boyfriend looks on from a nearby table and he is sufficiently creepy-looking to allow us to assume he's the werewolf around which the episode revolves. The whole teaser is a really good setup for the rest of the episode, but the part I like best is the moment she finds her boss. She's filling the carafe with water to make the morning coffee, and something strikes her as out of place. The image slows down and we hear only the sound of her breathing. All her senses are on high alert as she moves to the office to open the door, the smear of blood an ominous sign. This whole sequence is really brilliantly done, not only is it suspenseful and creepy to watch, but the way it's presented also emphasizes her heightened senses. Although we don't know at this point that she's a werewolf, this idea of a highly attuned danger sense is very fitting for her character. Since there was nothing obvious to tip her off to the body in the next room, I like to think that she smelled the blood. With no conscious reference to place the smell, her instincts take over and she strains with all her senses to find the source.Lovely to see Teryl Rothery back in her doctor's smock. I miss seeing her on Stargate. As the coroner she lets Sam know (off the record) that she suspects a wolf and yes, his heart was missing. When Sam tells Dean the news, Dean is as excited as a teenager on prom night. Apparently he thinks hunting werewolves is a lot of fun. Introducing themselves as Detectives Landis and Dante, no doubt named after Joe Dante (The Howling) and John Landis (An American Werewolf in London). As Dean says the names, he still has the happy schoolboy look on his face; he clearly feels this hunt is a party waiting to happen. She introduces them to her neighbor, Glen. He's wearing a Mission Church T-shirt and as we all know, you just can't trust the religious guy!!! As Maddie tells the boys about her boss hitting on her, Dean openly admires her looks. I know I've said it a million times, but here it is again. I am always amazed at how Jensen is able to show such a plethora of thoughts with such a tiny look! When Sam comments that he knows the type, Dean's look changes from open admiration, to "hey Sam, check her out", to "I think I've just been insulted", to "shut up, Sam!" in just a heartbeat or two. Wow. She tells them about her ex-boyfriend, Kurt Mueller, and they go to check him out. While they're away, Kurt appears outside Maddie's window and disappears by her second glance, lending credence to the idea that he may be to blame. At his apartment, Sam and Dean explore under the watchful eye of a growling creature. Another cool effect here, when the creature watches, the lights are enhanced with a slight purple tone intimating that it has better night vision that a regular person. They hear a slight sound and look to find a set of claw marks running down the outer wall. Looks like the werewolf left. Gunshots lead them to a fallen police officer that stumbled across the creature and lost the fight, I guess the poor guy used brass bullets. They check on Madison, leaving poor Glen out in the hall, and tell her that it's not safe for her to be alone. One of them should stay. Dean's happy to do it, of course, Sam can go after the creepy ex. Sam finally stands up for himself, telling Dean that "because I'm older" isn't a good enough reason. They try rock, paper, scissors instead. It's so fitting that Dean always chooses scissors. Of course he'd want the pointy metal weapon instead of a boring old rock. Sam knows him so well! I wonder if we'll ever see the day that Dean will shock the world and choose paper? Doubtful. Sam stays, sitting uncomfortably at the table and showing his poor social skills while she folds her underwear in front of him. When Dean calls, he gets to show that he knows Sam equally well by saying "let me guess, you're sitting on her couch like a stiff trying to think of something to say." I really love the soundtrack in this scene. It's romantic with a tinge of longing to it. Madison sits down to watch her soap opera, telling him to suck it up if he doesn't like it. By the end, Sam is just as into it as she is, (is that a tear you're wiping away Sam?) and can't believe that Kendall could do something so horrible to Ethan. The sharing time opens up the door to Sam's sensitive side and he listens as Maddie shares her story. She was with Kurt because she didn't know how to leave, but then she was mugged and decided to take control of her life. The mugging acted as a catalyst to make her a stronger more secure woman. The sharing is cut short when Dean calls from the strip club. Love the clear platform shoes. I betcha now he's glad he let Sam stay with the girl! Madison goes to bed and Sam stays up to keep watch. As he says good night it looks like the wheels are turning madly in his brain as if he's asking how Dean does it. Apparently he doesn't find the answer, because she goes to bed without him. Poor Sammy. Dean keeps watch outside Kurts apartment and hears the window shatter. He races up to find Kurt has been killed. Wolfie Madison turns and throws him against the wall, but before she can bite him he cuts her arm with his silver blade. She backs off and disappears out the window and Dean drops into unconsciousness. I have to say, on seeing Madison as a werewolf, I can't help but wonder why they didn't play up the werewolf look more. The only things that changed are her teeth, eyes, and fingernails. I'm curious as to why they wouldn't give her at least a hint of fur, unless it's to make it easier for Dean to identify her. When Dean wakes in the morning, he calls Sam and tells him the news. Sam doesn't believe it, but the knife wound is proof enough. Madison wakes to find she's no longer wearing her pj's (which is interesting since she was dressed when she attacked Dean) her only clue that something is wrong. Sam locks the door and ties her to a chair, but her impassioned plea makes him wonder if she really doesn't know she's a werewolf. They discover that when she was attacked a month ago, she had been bitten on the back of the neck. There's a theory that a werewolf can be cured if the bloodline is severed. Sam chooses to stay and keep Madison from escaping and killing someone else while Dean goes to hunt the werewolf that bit her. Dean goes to Hunter's Point where the rash of murders began, and watches for any action. A blonde hooker walks alone when she hears a wolf howl. (although it sounds a lot more like a moose call.) As the werewolf chases her down, Madison begins to change. Once she's in werewolf form she snaps the ropes holding her with no trouble at all and attacks Sam. Not wanting to shoot her, he maneuvers her into the closed and barricades it with a heavy cabinet. Meanwhile, Dean waits for the werewolf at Hunter's Point to show itself, then he puts four bullets square in its chest. The hyperventilating hooker runs off in shock, sure to be wondering about the crazed freak that attacked her in a Church of America Charity Marathon T-shirt, while Dean watches the werewolf die. It's Glen, Maddie's neighbor. As the life fades, he returns to normal with no memory of what happened. Dean looks on helplessly, knowing that there's nothing he can do and realizing that the human part of Glen really has no idea that the werewolf part is there. In the morning, Sam releases Madison from the closet and tells her it should be over. She looks at the myriad of claw marks in the wall and the scratches on Sam's face and begins to realize that he's telling the truth. The boys wait outside to make sure she doesn't turn that night. Unable to miss the Impala sitting out front her house, she comes to invite them to wait inside. They sit out the night and are relieved that nothing happens. The threesome watch the sun rise in a truly beautiful shot of the sky reflecting in the window glass, and when Madison gives Sam a thank you hug, Dean excuses himself with a not-so-subtle excuse. Well, I'm sure you know what's coming next. If you're going to have hard-core sex, you might as well make it crazy animal sex, right? Sam tries to talk himself out of it, saying there's no way she could sleep with the guy that tied her to a chair, but she jumps him anyway. Okay, I'm sure you're all expecting a play-by-play review of the sex scene, but I tell you I just can't do it! There were so many complaints about Dean's scene in Route 666, but quite frankly I prefer his to this. Not that there's anything wrong with either one, but with Sam there were just so many near misses with the kissing, I felt as though they just weren't coordinated enough to kiss at the same time. I have to confess though, Sam is looking mighty buff. He joked in that interview that he stopped eating candy and did a few sit-ups to get ready, but this is more than a few sit-ups! He must have been in the gym for several hours a day to get that buff in such a short time. Well done Jared! I really like the position they sleep in at the end, too. Sam cradles her in his arm and buries his nose in her hair; it's very possessive of him and I like that. Sadly, he wakes to find her watching over him, here werewolf eyes bright with excitement. I can't help but wonder why she would change now when she didn't the night before. (It also occurs to me to wonder how Sam had the stamina to go all day and into the following night with her, but that's a discussion for another time.) The conclusion that I come to is that the previous night they stayed up talking, and her conscious mind kept control over the animal instincts. It helps that she didn't see Sam and Dean as threats since she invited them in herself, and the only other two threats in her life had already been eliminated. When she fell asleep, the animal side was more easily able to take over, and the fact that she had just been tapping into her baser instincts with Sam probably encouraged it to do so. Sam races to the China Sea Motel to tell Dean the news, because apparently Dean's cell phone is broken or something. Sam insists that they can find some way to help her, but Dean says if there was a way, someone they know would have found it by now. While they discuss it, Madison calls from a payphone. She has no memory of her time out on the streets and needs Sam to come and get her. They tell her that there's no cure, and although they can lock her up at night, one day she'll get loose and kill someone else. She doesn't want to live like that and asks Sam to put an end to it. He fights it, saying that they can find a way, but she puts the gun in his hand and tells him that this is the way he can save her. Dean offers to do it for him, but Sam says no, that she asked him. With tears streaming down his face he braces himself and walks back into the room. A single tear runs down Dean's face as the gun fires and the episode ends. Wow. What an ending. First of all, let me just say that I don't buy for a minute that Sam and Dean would give up on her that fast. I realize that they only have an hour to fit everything in, but I still think they would have given her at least another month to see if they can find a cure, and I'm surprised that they wouldn't wait until she had turned to shoot her. This felt a little too much like cold-blooded murder. That being said, I love the parallel between her situation and Sam's. There's something evil inside, and it's very likely that the only way to stop it is to kill it. The fact that killing it also kills the innocent person can't be a factor, the evil has to be stopped or more innocent people will die. I'm sure that after this Sam will be a lot less eager now to have Dean be the one to kill him if he turns evil, knowing what it will cost his brother emotionally. If shooting Madison was so hard for Sam and he only just met her, how much harder will it be for Dean? On the other hand, the fact that Sam found it so hard and that the memory will likely torture him for years to come shows that he is not as evil as people think. Anyone with such a solid sense of good and evil will take a lot to become evil themselves. Then again, once turned, they will be as deeply and all-consumingly evil as they were good. All in all, I thought this was a good episode. It probably won't make my list of top 5 favourites for this season, simply because it spent a little too much time on the relationship issues and not enough on hunting werewolves. Nevertheless, it was a solid, well-written and well presented episode and I look forward to seeing how the events affect Sam in the future. |