So, last week's episode ended with Sam getting a vision
teasing us into this week's episode.
This week we get episode 3- "Home"
based on the season 1 episode of the same name.
Okay. I'll be the first to admit that the first two seasons
of Supernatural were a bit all over
the place. You could miss an episode or two and not miss anything particularly
relevant. However, the anime seems to be
randomly grabbing episodes here and there and somehow managing to create a
sequence out of them. I'll give them credit for making it seamless, but if
you're following the anime and the live show at the same time, I recommend
dumping one or the other before things get confusing.
Anyways, back to this week's episode. To my delight, this
one is introduced by both actors, Jensen Ackles and Jared Padalecki, who
helpfully inform us that this episode is based on the season one episode called
"Home", although my trust is starting to waver on Jared Padalecki at
this point (he promised me cool action scenes in episode 1 and surprise twist
in the second, none which actually happened), I am hoping Jensen Ackles proves
to be a more trustworthy host. He proceeds to tell us that in the live show,
this is one of his favorite episodes because we get some Winchester Family
history.
Background story and a plot? Sign me up, Mr. Ackles! Of
course, live action Sam proceeds to spoil it for us by saying that John
Winchester is in this one.
Wait, daddy Winchester? The guy who had Anime Sam in a hissy
fit an episode ago? This is gonna rock. Let's begin.
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| Admit it, they make a cute family. |
Once again we begin at night in a cute little house in a
suburb, which makes me realize a pattern here. A mom is putting her scared
little girl to bed and assures her that there are no monsters in the closet. However,
in order to get this little girl to sleep, she puts a chair in front of the closet door to barricade it. She leaves
after the little girl explicitly says she doesn't like the house because there's
weird in the closet and walks into the basement. The lights flicker and since
this is a modern, suburban home, she immediately assumes rats are the problem.
Once there, she picks up a box filled with stuff that isn't theirs and pull out
a picture that says on the back "With Mom and Mary" and a smudged out
word that she makes out to be "Winchester". Even though it's
confusing because we don't know who took the picture and apparently Mom and
Mary are two different people, I've got to say that is an adorable family
picture, even though Mary has short hair now.
The lights go out and in the little girl's room, the closet
starts shaking. The little girl wakes up just in time to see the doors open and
fire come out. In the middle of the fire is a burning woman, the little girl
screams and we shift into the Supernatural
logo.
This was actually a pretty cool opening all in all. Better
crash girl and idiot husband in the last episode.
Still at night, we switch to the brothers in the Impala.
They're not talking to each other, so we are treated to a flashback. In it, we
have the boys arguing in a hotel room over Sam wanting to visit their old home
before the show began. He explains he had a vision of a woman screaming for
help and that it isn't the first time he's had plot devices in his head. Of
course Dean doesn't want to go, so Sam is packing and making to leave without
him.
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| All you need to hunt things. Shaving cream and a hair dryer. |
It is important to note, that the show gives us a glimpse to
Sam's suitcase as he neatly packs everything and that amidst his belongings is
a hair dryer. Suddenly Sam's fabulous locks in both shows and the universe as a
whole make sense again. Hey, if Dean can have a Gengar key chain, Sam can have his hair dryer.
Anyways, Dean eventually agrees and we go back to Impala,
where Sam asks about their mom. Dean doesn't want to talk to him about her
which prompts Sam to go on an emo binge.
He accuses Dean of being their dad's favorite because they never talk to him
about their mother and that they always leave him out of the loop. He also complains
about wanting to play soccer when he was a kid but instead being made to
practice archery.
Dean decides to ignore the relevant parts of Sam's ranting
and proceeds to respond in the best way ever.
"Don't take archery lightly."
Is it possible that Dean and I can be friends this episode?
Let's go with that.
Finally, they arrive
in Lawrence, Kansas and go to the house where they grew up in. The lady that
lives there, who is the same one from the opening, receives them and asks if they are the
Winchester brothers. When they say yes, she tells them she has pictures of them
and lets them inside. Dean asks Sam if she's the vision girl and Sam answers
that he's pretty sure she is.
I have to side with Dean here. How are you not sure, Sam?
After all your whining and begging, you're not sure?
Back to the plot, the lady introduces the boys to her kids.
The little girl with the scary closet, Sari and a toddler, named Ritchie. She
then proceeds to explains about the electrical problems of the house and some
noises the walls make at night. Sari helpfully adds that there's something scary
in her closet too, which the mom dismisses as bad dreams. Sam helpfully tells
the little girl that when he was a kid he used to believe there were monsters
in his closet too.
 |
| The face of a disgruntled child after being counseled by Sam. |
Really, Sam? First you tell the girl you used to live in the
same house, then you tell her you thought there were monsters in the closet
too? Did you think that maybe the girl may believe it was the same closet and
you're in denial too? Furthermore, considering you were a baby when the house
burned down, are you referring to the closets in the hotel rooms you lived in
afterwards? You know what, never mind.
Continuing with the show, the boys are now on a bridge
debating on whether or not Sam is satisfied with the visit. Sam obviously says
no, not only because being satisfied is impossible for him but because he
thinks there's a poltergeist in the house. He uses the electrical problems the
lady mentioned as a legitimate reason to believe in said creature. Dean just
wants to leave and once again, chooses to not believe Sam, prompting him into
another hissy fit. He asks Dean about what happened twenty years ago in that
house. Dean decides to tell him and we are treated to another flashback.
In this flashback, we see child anime Dean watching his mom
screaming and burning on the ceiling. He is shouting out for her when anime
John Winchester comes in, puts baby anime Sam in his hands and tells him to
run, which he promptly does as the house burns.
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| "Dammit Dean, run before my anime immunity to fire runs out!" |
Before we continue, let me address something. Whoever voice
acted or cast the voices of all the children in this show did a horrible job.
ALL of the children sound equally horrid in the English version. It's like they
got one guy to voice all the children and told him to sound as generic as
possible. But enough ranting, let's move on.
Dean says that he thinks about that event every day, while
Sam makes the connection that whatever killed their mom, killed Jessica too.
You know, Jessica. The girlfriend the show assumes you know about already even
though she hasn't been mentioned once. That one. Dean doesn't see the point of
finding the evil doer, but Sam once again convinces him to check it out. Must
be Sam's hair dryer that makes Dean unable to resist him.
The boys dig around for information and find out that after
the incident, John Winchester became obsessed with his wife's killer, even
though the town though he was crazy, they also find out that he started hanging
around with Missouri Mosely, a psychic.
Now, if you watched the show, Missouri was awesome. She was a
sassy black woman and tended to put Dean in his place.
Here....well....um...she's still sassy, but now she's
Jamaican and a Miss Cleo stereotype. The writers, casting director and artists
apparently decided that the best way to approach her was to try to make a Miss
Cleo revival. Her appearance may also induce nightmares but you know what, you
be the judge by looking at the image below.
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| "Now Sam, make sure you drink the tea I gave you and you won't remember me touching you in your sleep." |
Anyways, they have a talk with her and break into the house.
Even though Missouri says there's no ghosts in the house, nor whatever the
thing that killed their mother, Sam insists that something is in there. Instead
of trying to shut Sam up, Dean says he has to go to the bathroom and but
instead sneaks away and tries to call their dad to no avail.
Long after the brothers have left the house, the baby,
Ritchie is playing alone in his pen when it suddenly opens and he gets out
while the mother is outside unloading groceries. There's a convenient ironing
board with a plugged, hot iron on it which mysteriously lifts up and burns the
baby. Now I understand that the mom was busy outside, taking
groceries out of the car and left the baby alone in what seemed like a secure
playpen. But if she went out to do groceries, does that mean she left the thing
on? And why would you place it within short walking distance near a toddler's
play area? No wonder when we switch to the hospital she keeps blaming herself
for the mishap.
 |
| No hazards here. None at all. |
Missouri explains that the evil presence that killed their
mother seems to have attracted another harmful spirit, which means that Sam was
right after all. But then she gives us another plot twist as she examines the
house. The house has not one, but two spirits in it. Which only proves that Sam
was right twice. Dear lord I hope he doesn't start whining over how right he
was.
 |
| "But I was right all along, right?" "Shut up, Sam. We know." |
In the meantime Dean is outside trying to contact his dad,
but keeps getting his voice mail. Now, I'll admit that I like this scene, short
as it is. It's a little sad actually, since he's begging his dad to please
assist them in the investigation regarding their mother's death. It's one of
the few times where the anime is actually pretty close to the actual show and
shows us a more vulnerable side to Dean that the anime hasn't shown before. It
also serves to show us a slight bit of the relationship between Dean and John
"Daddy" Winchester, which is very different from Sam's. Points for
the writers in this bit.
 |
| There there, Dean. Your dad sucks. |
In the house, the walls start shaking and objects start
flying everywhere. Fire comes out of the closet in the little girl's room but
everyone is stuck inside their rooms. The mom starts screaming for help,
exactly like in Sam's vision. Since she can't get her kids, the boys snap into
action. Dean helps her get out of the
burning house, while Sam goes inside the house to get the kids. Since Sam is
always right, his plot vision comes true and has decided to give us some much
needed action scenes.
Inside the burning house, Sam grabs the baby and heads to
the little girl's room. He tells her to grab the baby and run but since this
girl is not little Dean Winchester and is legitimately scared because she's
inside a burning house with an evil spirit, she does not do so. Sam proceeds to
grab her too and run as they are chased by a burning ghost. As he heads down the stairs, he sees the burning ghost in
front of him, blocking the way out. Before he can turn back however, a chandelier
comes loose and its chain wraps itself around Sam's neck dangling him from the
ceiling in an attempt to strangle him.
I will give credit to Sam here. As he is being strangled he
lets the girl go, who lands swiftly on the floor, and manages to drop the baby
into her arms and tells her again to run. The fact that he has pinpoint
accuracy and that the baby lands wonderfully in her arms as he chokes is to be
commended. The fact that he doesn't complain about it also earns him points.
 |
| "Are you gonna shoot your mother now, Dean?!" |
Dean rushes in to save Sam after he finds out from Sari that
his little brother is being strangled by chandelier chains. However, by
the time he gets to Sam, the burning ghost cuts the chain and saves him. Dean
arrives just in time to shoot it, but Sam stops him and the ghost reveals its
identity as Mary Winchester. Unlike the live show, she has short hair (no, I can't get over it) and
speaks like she came from the middle ages. Turns out she had been in the house
trying to protect the kids in it all along. Using words like "thus"
and sounding like a medieval talking ghost, she tells Sam to be strong and Dean
to continue protecting him. She also reveals that the evil one who killed her
led them to the house.
After she says "The evil one is back. Get out of our
house." in a voice Gandalf would respect, she proceeds to glow very brightly and gets rid of whatever it
was that was haunting the house. She continues with her odd speech patterns,
stating that her time is short and must leave. She says goodbye and that she
loves them and disappears, making anime Dean cry, to Sam's surprise. He
pretends not to notice, which is mighty decent of him.
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| "I'm just going to pretend you're not crying. In the meantime I'm gonna remember how right I was all the time." |
Miss Cleo, I mean Missouri Mosely, declares the house free
of spirits and the boys promptly leave, leaving
the single mother with two kids to deal with the paramedics and a partially burned house. As she watches them leave, Missouri says that
with all the power Sam has, she found it strange that he didn't notice John
"Daddy of the year" Winchester standing in the shadows of the house.
She asks John if he doesn't want to see his sons again, to which he replies
that it's still too soon.
And then the credits roll.
After the credits, we are treated to boys in the Impala
talking about whether or not Mary went to a better place. Sam says he still
believes that spirits go to a better place and Dean smiles. What do we have
waiting in next week's episode? Well, we'll have to wait and see.
What did we learn in this episode?
- Jared Padalecki is playing with my emotions. John Winchester was in the episode for less than a minute. Jensen Ackles is a more trustworthy host.
- Sam packs a hairdryer.
- Mary Winchester apparently is from the Shakespearean era and thus speaketh as such.
- Anime Dean can be likeable from time to time.
- Sam is ALWAYS right. ALWAYS.
Next time on Supernatural: The Anime: In an anime
original episode, someone has framed the best character in this show for the
crime of murder! Did the Impala really commit multiple murders? Or was it the
gay cop who finds the boys adorable and hints at Wincest? Find out in the Anime
Recap of episode 4: Ghost on the Highway
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