Supernatural Review: Safe House

Supernatural Review: Safe House

Director: Stefan Pleszczynski

Writer: Robbie Thompson

Starring: Jared Padalecki, Jensen Ackles, Jim Beaver, Steven Williams

Synopsis: Sam and Dean investigate a case that Bobby and Rufus had investigated years ago.

Review: Not only is Supernatural back from break, but the give us a gift as well! BOBBY!!! Not ghost Bobby, no it’s actually Bobby back in the hunt! Jim Beaver has a special place in my heart, plus it was so nice to see Bobby and Rufus teaming up again. While this episode did very little for the season story arc, it was great for all of the long time fans to get to see characters from the past without making it feel cheap.  Rufus, played by Steven Williams, is always an oldie but goodie as well, as he was up to his old tricks convincing Bobby that he had to do all the hard work because Rufus couldn’t, it was Shabbat after all. Hate for Rufus to actually have to do any of the work.

All joking aside, the dynamic of the episode worked so well, the story proceeds through two separate times taking place a handful of years apart. It’s actually kind of touching to see how Sam and Dean’s process  for hunting is almost exactly the same as Rufus and Bobby’s process for hunting. I’m sure it made it much easier for story purposes to get through the hunting part of the episode by going back and forth between the two time periods rather than having to do one and then do the other. Also, it is slightly heart warming to see both the similarities and differences between the boys and Bobby. Bobby done did something right raising those boys!

After both set of stories, past and current, figure out what is going on, plans are set to stop this Soul Eater. While Sam and Rufus paint one symbol, Dean and Bobby wonder around the house as a sort of a distraction for the monster. Notably one of the best parts of the episode was when Bobby says “stay away from me, you son of a bitch,” while Dean said “come and get me, you son of a bitch.” While it shows similarity to Bobby, it also shows that Dean is still a Winchester. Them Winchesters just love to throw themselves from the kettle into the fire, it’s just their thing.

The difference between the two time lines is that Bobby hadn’t planned on being captured by the Soul Eater, but Dean did.  Sam and Dean’s plan needed symbols to be painted in both reality and in the Eaters nest. According to the lure, the nest is outside of the regular world and does not exist in the same time or space as reality. So while it was nice that we got an episode the gave us a story with Bobby as a hunter on his on rather than assisting the boys, we still got that small moment at the end where Bobby got to see Dean in the nest. It was quick and clean and exactly what was needed.

 

Final Thoughts: It really was great to get to see Bobby again, it was even better how they did it. Thank you Robbie Thompson for writing a script that didn’t involve some weird ghost type story where Bobby is back and stuck on the sidelines. Bobby got to be Bobby along with Rufus, to hunt and crack jokes like old times. While the boys are pretty much alone these days, this episode really helped show the boys really do take after someone. There are little things that I do believe will be important for the remainder of the season, one being the “oldest rule”. It’s been a while since that has been brought up, the boys are going to need to remember that you can’t save everyone. I’m also curious if there is going to be something to the fact that Dean saw Sam dead in the nest universe. Bobby saw both Sam and Dean dead in the nest, which for Bobby’s timeline, was around the time the boys were fighting Lilith.  Who knows, its just food for thought for now. 

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