Reply To: Let’s all talk about Croatoan (S2 E9)
I think it’s cool that the writers used the Roanoke colony story as a springboard for this episode. It’s not exactly an urban legend, but it’s definitely one of the greatest mysteries in all of American folklore.
REALLY minor point, but I love the music that’s playing when the brothers initially roll into town. This is one of the few early season episodes (Nightshifter is the other one) when I started to love the show’s original compositions as much as I loved the classic rock that peppered so many of these episodes. Who doesn’t love “Americana”, which became Dean’s theme?! Kudos to Jay Gruska and Chris Lennertz, who both stayed with the show until the very end!
I LOVE that Dean is always so quick to start figuring out what’s going on. As soon as he realized phone lines and cell towers were down, he realized someone or some”thing” was isolating the town. I LOVE when the writers show us how smart he is!
Dean’s commitment to Sam is the one thing that has always shined for me in this episode. When Beverly Tanner changed and attacked the group, Dean wasn’t there. But when Sam confirmed that she was infected, Dean shot her without any hesitation – just based on Sam’s word alone. He also spared the kid (who was actually lying) based on Sam’s word and against his own judgement. That shows tremendous trust in Sam and his judgement. It just makes Sam’s betrayal in later seasons (like season 4) that much more heartbreaking, because Dean never doubted that he could count on Sam until those events happened. In season 5 “Sympathy for the Devil”, when Dean tells Sam that he doesn’t think they could ever be what they were before, scenes like this one from Crotoan help capture the enormous weight of that statement.
I love that Dean was willing to stay with Sam after he got infected – even if it meant they’d both die. However, did anyone else wonder if Dean was staying because he thought he might have to kill Sam per John’s warning?
I love those scenes between Dean and the Master Sergeant! Bobby Hosea and Jensen have such great chemistry and timing. That scene in the car was a fun and light moment to break up the drama of this episode.
Plot armor moment: Even someone as amazing as Dean Winchester probably wouldn’t be able to pull a gun on Sarge like that without getting shot. Dean’s fast, but that would’ve been highly unlikely.
Speaking of great guest stars, Chiton Crane (Beverly Tanner) played a woman who killed her husband in “Southern Comfort” and she was also Kelly Kline’s mother in later seasons.
Hey, when Dean tried to leave town, he came across an abandoned car with the license plate “WTF-4C7” – do y’all think the props people were having some fun with “WTF”?
kate