Supernatural
CW, Thursday, 9PM
“Family Remains”
Written by Jeremy Carver and Eric Kripke
Directed by Kim Manners
Warning: this review contains some spoilers. If you’d rather not know what the story is going to include, bookmark this page and read it after viewing.
Supernatural has gone decidedly unSupernatural with the episode “Family Remains” in which Sam and Dean Winchester face off against a foe that is anything but the standard family ghost. In “Family Remains,” a family tries to recover from the recent loss of their eldest son by buying a pleasant looking farm house and moving to the country for a fresh start. However, it doesn’t take long before strange things start happening. The trouble begins with the words “Get Out” scrawled on the wall in red crayon, and continues with creaking doors that seem to open themselves, something licking the daughter’s hand, and a scary little girl who tells the family’s young son that his parents have to leave the house.
In the usual Winchester fashion, Sam and Dean appear when things turn dangerous, but even they are surprised to learn that the entity in the house is a flesh-and-blood girl who lives inside the walls. This episode, which has the Winchesters protecting innocent people rather than fighting to protect the Seals, is a clear departure from the season’s story arc. Armageddon is coming, Heaven and Hell are about to do battle, and the Winchesters have reverted back to hunting common ghouls. Although it seems like this diversion is sending the brothers off course, it does a nice job of reminding the audience—above all else—that the Winchesters are hunters.
Although the episode doesn’t further the story arc for the season, it does serve to highlight the talent behind the show. In what could otherwise be a standard, run-of-the-mill horror television show, Supernatural consistently draws upon creative storylines, writing, and filming techniques to convey the dramatic tension and conflict within the series. In “Family Remains”, even the title implies multiple meanings. At first the Winchesters think the girl is the ghost of the woman who committed suicide in the house. Then they learn that the little girl is the woman’s daughter, and then to complicate matters further, her brother is discovered. The well timed revelations surrounding the little girl’s history heighten the dramatic truth that humanity is as capable of horrific evil as any demon.
Although it’s established early on that there is no supernatural presence in the house, the episode uses things “unseen” to inspire a compelling sense of dread and fear that is amplified through creative filming techniques. The camera rarely captures and holds the girl’s image completely, and never in full light. Rather than seeing her, we see dark hallways and closets. We hear the squeak of a swinging door, and we see flashes of her dirty clothing and her eyes that peer out from beneath tangled hair. Without a single ghost or demon, “Family Remains” cranks up the spine-tingling terror as we realize this violent little girl and her brother have been locked in the house all their lives and are the product of incest between their mother and grandfather.
The episode ends with Dean revealing to Sam that, while in Hell, he began torturing souls, and that he liked it because every new victim he tortured meant he wasn’t being tortured. The guilt and pain associated with his Hellish acts make him feel like a human monster. No matter how many people Dean saves, the gaping hole in his soul is never filled… can never be filled. This revelation answers Sam’s question from the opening scene: Why is Dean running from hunt to hunt to hunt without a break? It also sets up the second half of the season to help Dean realize that there is a way to heal his soul, to fight Lilith and win. The question is, how will this play out in the rest of the season, and can the show sustain its energy without starting to repeat itself as the end draws near?