Okay this episode is rife with that Dean Winchester lechery I hate so much. Not much in the way of character growth for our main duo, although Sam is presented with a conflict of sorts. The side characters in this one are a little interesting, but there is still the whole "damsel in distress" trope that seems to pop up quite often in this show. So here's the DL.
The show opens with a girl (Lori) getting ready for a date. She starts out in a very conservative outfit, which her party girl roommate (who just happens to be black, seems a tad like a racial stereotype) thinks is too stuffy and of course she lends her something a little more revealing to wear. Lori and her date park on a deserted road because he insists they can't show up early. She knows he's up to something and doesn't seem to mind at first. Then he tries to slip his hand inside her shirt, she tells him no, he tells her it's okay (seem a bit rapey to you? It did to me too). He tries again, but they begin hearing some kind of metal scraping against another metal. The guy goes out to investigate and the car is scratched by an invisible hook and the tires slashed. The guy disappears and the girl, frightened out of her mind, locks the door and rolls up the window. Then she hears scratching on the roof. Eventually, she decides to make a run for it and that's when she sees the mutilated corpse of her date hanging above the car. The horror element here is pretty high. With the hook scraping and only getting glimpses of the killer, the ambiance of the lonely deserted road also plays into this well. After seeing the body, she does the characteristic "damsel in distress" scream. I guess that's a common trope in horror too.
We cut to Sam and Dean. Sam is still trying to find their father. Dean reminds him that "Dad probably doesn't want to be found" then redirects his brother's attention to a news story from a nearby town about a college girl who witnessed a murder by an invisible assailant. The boys decide to investigate. This time they pose as new fraternity brothers as they investigate the murder. A frat boy is painting himself purple and asks for help which Dean defers to Sam while giving a kind of disgusted look (seems a bit homophobic). He tells them about the guy that was murdered and how he was taking out a hot sorority girl named Lori who is also a preacher's daughter the way he says this is dripping with innuendo (what did you expect from a show centered on frat boys and sorority girls?).
Sam and Dean go to Lori's dad's church as he's giving a sermon about the tragic death of one who has only begun to live and to my very pleasant surprise I recognize the actor. It is Bob Bulldog Briscoe from Frasier. Although I hated his character in the show Frasier, it is cool to see him playing an altogether different and much more nuanced character (albeit a short lived one) in this show. The boys talk to Lori to get a feel for what happened. Sam believes her, so they hit the books. They are looking through old arrest records and they find one that seems to fit the bill. A preacher about 200 years ago butchered a bunch of prostitutes and he used a hook, not to mention the red light district where he committed the crime is in the same vicinity as the attack. The boys think they're on to something and go to find the ghost, carrying a shotgun filled with salt. Meanwhile, daddy dearest tells Lori he doesn't think she should go back to the sorority, and that he knows what goes on in that type of place and what kind of a person her roommate is.
Lori gets in and the lights are off. She sees that her roommate is already asleep so she doesn't turn them on. She cuddles into bed. Cut to the boys off to fight the ghost only to run into a sheriff who's patrolling the area. Sam, who's holding the shotgun is in a lot of trouble. The next day, Lori awakens to find blood dripping from her roommate's bed. Her eyes roam up to find a mutilated corpse and the words "aren't you glad you didn't turn on the light" along with a symbol carved into the wall above the bed. Lori screams her "damsel in distress" scream one more time. The scene then changes to the Winchesters who are leaving the sheriff's office. Dean has somehow convinced the sheriff that Sam was just being hazed into the fraternity by being forced to "hunt ghosts" because salt repels them. I should mention that Dean makes several remarks about sorority girls during their time in this town especially once they find out that a murder was committed in a sorority house. The boys break in, which isn't hard because the small town police security is pretty bad, and see the message. Sam recognizes the symbol and they check it out. It matches a symbol they saw on the poster about the murderous reverend 200 years ago. So they have their hookman. Now all they need to do is salt and burn the bones. Too bad the guy was buried in an unmarked grave.
The boys attend a party (who knows why because all they do while there is talk about the murder and the likelihood that the ghost has attached itself to the reverend Bob Briscoe [sorry I couldn't resist]) and Dean agrees reluctantly to find the spirit's grave and get rid of the bones while Sam keeps an eye on Lori. Sam is sitting outside of Lori's house and witnesses her fighting with her dad about some relationship he's in. Dean, digging to unearth the bones after he sees the same symbol on a gravestone, laments that he didn't get to watch the "cute" girl's house. Lori comes out of the house to where Sam is. She tells him how her father is having an affair with a married woman and how she thinks that when people do immoral things they should be punished. Then she tries to kiss Sam but he tells her no. She guesses correctly that the person he lost was his lover. Then her father is attacked by the hookman, but Sam is able to chase it off with the salt packed shotgun. At the hospital the next day Sam asks Dean why he didn't burn the bones and Dean says he did. They decide the ghost is attached to the hook so they need to find it. Going over the execution record tells them it was given to the church and going over the church record says it was re-forged. The boys need to find whatever object the silver hook was repurposed into and melt it in a salty fire. They also realize that the ghost is not attached to the reverend at all, but to his daughter Lori.
The mystery element in this is pretty high because it surrounds not exactly who the spirit is, or why he's vengeful (obviously he's a self-righteous prick who wants to kill anyone he deems unworthy) but whose emotions he has attached to and what is keeping him tethered to this world. Lori comes back to the church to pray as the Winchester boys are burning everything silver they can find. Sam hears her and goes to investigate. Lori tells him she thinks the murders are her fault and that she deserves to be punished at which point the hookman makes his appearance. Sam fend him off, but gets hurt. Dean comes up after melting all the silver then they realize that the necklace Lori is wearing is silver. It was a church keepsake that her father gave her. Dean leaves Sam with the shotgun while he runs to throw the necklace in the fire. The necklace melts and just as Sam and Lori are about to be hacked to pieces, the hook begins to melt and hookman burns away.
The sheriff doesn't seem to believe Deans story about the hookman which they all saw but who got away, but he doesn't act like he thinks he can do anything about it. He gives Dean a warning but Dean tells him not to worry, they're leaving town. Sam is at the back of the ambulance just having gotten his arm bandaged from the hook's gash. Lori thanks Sam but he leaves her and it shows her in the rearview as they drive away. Dean tells Sam they can stay, but Sam shakes his head not quite ready to move on from Jess.
I didn't mind certain elements of this show, but others were extremely distasteful to me. Here's my rating: For horror this one gets a solid 9/10, mystery suspense is also pretty high at 8/10, the misogyny is there and undeniable so I have to take -3 points off this for that, not a lot of character growth for our main duo I give that part a 5/10 for showing just a bit of Sam frustrated about not being able to find their dad and his hesitation to move on from Jess. The side characters were pretty interesting, especially reverend Briscoe (lol, you can't stop me from calling him that). Lori was interesting in her own right, but not quite as nuanced. I give the side characters a solid 8/10 for this episode. Overall this episode nets a 6.75/10.
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