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Fresh Blood
Sam and Dean learn that a male vampire is using human blood to turn women into unsuspecting bloodsuckers. Meanwhile, Sam is being pursued by Gordon, who has escaped from jail and become a much more dangerous threat.
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NotesWriterSera GambleDirectorKim MannersGuest Stars:Sterling K. Brown (Gordon)Michael Massee (Kubrick) Matthew Humphries (Dixon) Other Guests:Mercedes McNab (Lucy)Damon Johnson Clare Elliott Daneilla Evangelista Natalia Minuta Joh Kralt Katie Chapman Filming Locations:Lu Lu Island Trestle BridgeSeymour Street alley, Downtown Completely Useless Trivia: |
ReviewWow, wow, and more wow! I expected to hate this episode, but it was really top notch! It had everything a fan could want; brotherly angst, Bela at gunpoint, evil psycho hunter-turned-monster and best of all, Sam gave an impassioned speech to his brother WITHOUT breaking into tears! How great is that? Keep it up Sammy, there's hope for you yet!We begin the episode thinking this is just another vampire hunt. Blonde bombshell vamp gets caught in a back alley, and of course since she's a blonde she can't possibly be smart enough to smell a trap when Dean cuts his own arm. Instead, she races straight for him and gets herself caught. Buffy fans may recognize Mercedes McNab as "Harmony", Spike's vampire girlfriend, who does a pretty good job of playing Lucy the victim vamp. Having convinced herself that the hunger and the murders were all a hallucination from a bad trip, Lucy doesn't yet realize what has happened to her. (Although I don't really get the "Wavy Gravy" comment. Is Dean insulting her hair? Because that's the only similarity I can see between Lucy and the "real" Wavy Gravy.) I'm sorry to say that it looks like they went for prosthetic fangs this time instead of the usual CG insertion. Not that I have anything against prosthetics, but it really does change the facial features dramatically on both Lucy and Gordon. Dean and Sam check out Spider, the bar where Lucy met Dixon the "dealer", and find a man matching his description taking yet another blonde down a nearby alley. They save the girl and scare of the vampire, but before they can give chase they run into Kubrick (Bad Day at Black Rock) with Gordon fresh out of prison. Still the worst shot in the world, Gordon can't hit the broad side of a barn despite the fact that the boys are open targets. Even when Dean gives him a second chance by running out from his cover and across the line of fire to give Sam time to escape. Poor Gordon, so many people have told him he's a good vampire hunter, I guess he let it go to his head and stopped going to the firing range to practice. With Dean running through the parkade with Kubrick in pursuit and Sam already halfway back to the hotel, Gordon is left alone to be captured by Dixon. I can't say I have much sympathy for him, knowing what's coming I rather enjoyed seeing him get beat down like the dog he is. I'm really curious to know the story behind Sam and Dean's apparent lack of funds. Have they stopped hustling and using fraudulent credit cards to avoid undue interest by local law enforcement? Last episode found them squatting in an empty house, and this episode their hotel room is stacked with damaged mattresses. At first I thought they had put them there purposely, perhaps to dampen any noise that Lucy the vampire might make, but now I suspect that they've simply appropriated an unused room at the hotel to avoid paying. It seems odd, considering that Bela left them with $10,000 at the end of last episode. Then again, if Dean was shooting craps there's no telling how much they owe in Atlantic City now. (Note to self: check Sam's legs for fresh casts or other injuries left by casino collection agents.) Dixon has Gordon tied to a bed, as well as two more blondes chained to the ceiling. I can't say I'm terribly sad to see Gordon tied down, it seems like fair payback for when he tied Dean to the chair in the Hunted episode. Dixon shares a part of his life story with Gordon; hunters came in and murdered his whole nest, including his daughter. He shows a 1900's photograph of a (very homely) blonde woman meant to explain why he's converting every blonde he can find. He originally brought Gordon to his lair with the intention of feeding him to his "new daughters", but after chatting with Gordon for a few minutes a new thought strikes him. He decides that a much more fitting end to this jackass of a hunter would be to make him immortal. He infects Gordon with his own blood, turning the hunter into the one thing he abhors more than anything else: a vampire. Still at the hotel room, Dean cautiously breaches the subject of what to do with Gordon when they catch him. Sam doesn't even blink, just says they'll have to kill him. Surprised, Dean does his impression of what he thought Sam would say; a slightly whiny falsetto saying "no, we can't, he's human, it's wrong". And if this were pre-death Sam he would have been right. No way would the old Sammy allow Dean to take a human life. But this is the new and improved? Sam. This Sam says killing Gordon is okay, because it will save their own skins. This new Sam is tired of treading water in the sea of his own moral code. This new Sam seems to want to be more like his brother, to plumb the depths of darkness and find out how far he can push things before they collapse. This is the Sam that will do anything, regardless of consequence to get his brother out of the crossroads deal and it's going to be a pleasurable torture to watch his decline. Gordon awakens in the warehouse no longer tied to the bed, but chained to the ceiling like the two blondes. In one of the best sequences of this episode he begins to realize his situation. A deep pounding rhythm eclipses all other sound. The neon sign outside shines through the cracks in the wall, becoming so bright that he is forced to turn away. A pocket watch lays on the nearby table - the source of the deafening sound. His increased strength allows him to break the chains restraining him and, after "helping" the two girls he wanders outside where his senses continue to be battered by unfamiliar and painful stimuli. Every street light, every car headlight burns his oversensitive eyes until he finds something more distracting still. With the pounding pocket watch away from his hearing, he is now able to distinguish a softer sound; a human heartbeat. A stranded motorist changing a flat tire. The once righteous hunter pounces on him like a starving coyote on an unguarded infant. The man never had a chance. Working on a tip from Bela, Dean and Sam check out the warehouse and find a forlorn Dixon in tears. To me, Dixon's speech feels stilted and wooden, but the words certainly hit home for Dean. Without actually telling them the story, Dixon lets them know how deeply lonely he is, and how he would rather be dead than face an eternity without his family. He practically begs Dean to kill him, saying he just doesn't care anymore. While Dean reflects on the obvious parallels, Sam explores the room and finds the bodies of the two blond girls. The heads have been torn off. By hand. Let me just say, the shot of Dean from behind the bloodied torso is truly gruesome. Somebody was having a little too much fun with that protruding spine and, deviant freak that I am, I can't help but wonder what they used to get such luminescence from the bone, not to mention that those sticky tendons are just too cool. Poor Kubrick. As soon as Gordon comes inside the RV we know Kubrick is a goner. Too bad, too. In Bad Day at Black Rock he was so gung-ho for Jesus that I really thought they'd play up the miracle hunter story a little more. This episode didn't have any of that, not even a little bit of righteous anger or pious disdain for the Winchesters. I realize Kubrick is just a minor character, but I can't help but feel that he's wasted in this episode. Still, I supposed he deserves to die since he isn't smart enough to realize vampire Gordon can hear his heart racing as he reaches for the knife. Sam, clearly much smarter than Kubrick when it comes to vampires, knows that Gordon can trace the signal from his cell phone. He takes the chip out of both their cells and smashes the phones to bits. Not sure why exactly, without the chip the phone is untraceable. Still, better safe than sorry I guess. Dean wants to go hunt Gordon alone, intent on keeping Sam out of harm's way. Sam accuses him of playing kamikaze, to which Dean delivers my favourite line of the entire episode: "Kamikaze? I'm more like a ninja". Sam says it's not funny, but I know I was laughing outright. Still, Sam has a point. Dean shouldn't be trying to throw his life away early. This is the problem with little brothers. They know things. Dean gives a good show of being unconcerned about his impending trip downstairs and is obviously willing to throw himself into the fray to keep Sam from harm, but Sam knows the truth. He knows it and he forces Dean to stop and admit it as well. In the best Sam speech in the history of Supernatural, and not just because he doesn't cry for once but because he really sells it heart and soul, he tells Dean that he can see through the charade because he's been looking up to his big brother his whole life. He knows the devil-may-care act is all show, and that underneath it is nothing but fear. Although Sam obviously expects an argument, or at the very least a backlash of anger, Dean surprises us all with an unconditional surrender. No defensive snark, no argument, not even a token smirk. Dean simply agrees to hole up with Sam and wait for morning. The "I wish you'd just drop the show and be my brother again" comment must have hit a soft spot because apparently Dean now sees the value in the short time he has left to spend with Sam. Unfortunately, quality brother bonding time will have to wait, because Gordon knows the one thing that can entice the Winchesters out of hiding - an innocent woman in peril. I assume this is the clerk who sold Dean his new phone, but whoever she is she doesn't deserve to die. As expected, Dean and Sam come running to the rescue and since they're on enemy ground they are quickly separated from each other. Dean has the Colt and the woman, while Sam is trapped in the dark with only the machete. Gordon has the advantage of night vision, and in his confidence he decides to play a little cat-and-mouse before killing Sam. He spews the usual rhetoric, how his life is basically over, how Sammy is evil and needs to be stopped and, oh yeah, by the way, the "innocent victim" outside with Dean isn't so innocent after all. Gordon turned her before he allowed her to be rescued. Fortunately Dean is quick on his feet, he hears her hungry growl and has a bullet in her brain within ten seconds. Sam isn't quite so lucky. Relying only on the sound of Gordon's voice for his target, he has little choice but to wait until Gordon charges. The good news is that when the attack comes it throws Sam through a brick wall and into the next room, allowing Dean access again. Not quite as quick with the Colt this time, Dean is smacked down and snacked on a little before Sam can do anything to stop it. But stop it he does, with a bare handed pile driver punch to the back of the neck Sam succeeds in getting Gordon's attention once again. He goes for a nearby hatchet but Gordon is too fast, so he's forced to resort to the only other weapon nearby; a spool of razor wire. With a deft flick of the wrist he wraps the wire around Gordon's neck and pulls it tight. Cutting off the airflow as well as slicing the jugular, Gordon is a goner. It's amazing how strong Sam's hands are. Apparently razor wire is sharp enough to slice of a vampire's head, but not so sharp as to inflict more than minor damage to Sam's hands. Granted, he had some protection from the cloths he managed to grab first. Then again, maybe the blood dripping from his fingers was really Gordon's that had dribbled down the wire, because in the very next scene we see Sam opening a twist-off beer bottle with no discomfort whatsoever. Ah, but I pick nits. (If I were really going to be picky I'd point out how odd it is that blood spurts from Gordon's neck in a typical heart-pumping fashion even though Dean pointed out at the beginning of the episode that a vampire heart no longer beats.) The closing scene takes place in the light of day, so we know it's going to contain some real emotion. One of the things I admire about this show is how they use daylight and darkness to reflect the open emotion and the tortured soul of the hunter, respectively. Daylight scene means the boys are about to display some honest feelings and brotherly bonding. And we're not disappointed. In a scene akin to the ending of Croatoan, Dean uncharacteristically shares a piece of himself with his brother. The fact that he uses his single most important possession, the Impala, to do so makes it a deeply meaningful gesture. Sure, one could shrug it off by saying Dean just wants the Impala to be cared for when he's gone, but it's really so much more than that. Dean protects his car with the same vigilance he protects his feelings. To share something so personal as the innards of his baby with Sam shows that he's now open to sharing his deepest thoughts and fears with his brother as well. It's a major turning point in the relationship, and I look forward to seeing how they adjust to a deeper level of kinship. All in all, this episode was excellent. Despite a few oversights in the logic department, it captured the essence of what makes this show so much better than the rest of the television fare. The evil they fought, both Gordon and Dixon, were not truly evil to the core, they both struck a sympathetic chord that took an otherwise straightforward hunt into the realm of existentialism. And on the flip side of the same coin, Dean and Sam exhibited dark tendencies that forced us to question their role as warriors for the greater good. With the lines between good and evil blurred more than ever before, will the Winchester boys be able to find their path? I, for one anticipate a long and twisted road ahead and eagerly await the ride. |