Review

Sam and Dean are still trying to come to terms with events following the car crash. Sam is suddenly John Winchester's biggest fan, and Dean is spending inordinate amounts of time trying to get the Impala back up and street legal. Guess the car isn't named Christine then. Following a cryptic message on one of John's old cell phones, the brothers go soccer-mom in a new vehicle and arrive at an isolated bar in the middle of nowhere. They are soon introduced to Ellen and her daughter Jo who run the bar, and a barfly named Ash who thinks he can build something to track the yellow eyed Demon. Seems the “Roadhouse” is a meeting place for hunters like Sam and Dean.

Sam notices a folder behind the bar and asks Ellen if he can read it. Turns out a number of unsolved murders have been linked to Cooper's Circus and they bear all the hallmarks of a supernatural investigation. Little girl invites a Clown into the house, Clown rips the parents into mince meat, and then vanishes into thin air. A similar spate of murders occurred back in 1981 and were associated with another circus, “Bunker Brothers Circus”. Sam and Dean are soon running away to join the circus in order to investigate the situation. An in-parts gripping, but slightly undercooked episode ensues. Ready to face your fear of clowns?

Clown has Sam and Dean doing what we dial in for each week to see, off checking out some spooky occurrence in the backwoods of America. Not sure about you, but I'm more into the stand alone episodes than the big plot arc ones that occur roughly every five or so episodes. Eventually we'll find out what the good oil is on the yellow eyed Demon but it would be a real mistake for the show to focus overly on this aspect. The X Files’ final couple of seasons were living proof that if nothing new is going down then the audience wont dial in. With this second episode we are at least getting back on track, though enough screen time is given to the grieving process the brothers are going through to cover bases. Nice change in the outlook of both brothers as they go their separate ways in learning how to deal with events from the first episode. As stated in the previous review, that's got to come back home at some stage, so lets not overly dwell here.

Great start to Clown with director Sgriccia hitting the atmospherics that were an outstanding part of the first season. It's night and we are at a carnival. A little girl notices “another clown”, though her parents can't see the new addition to Cooper's Circus. Which is unfortunate, as the girl notices the same clown on the side of the road as they are driving home, and then invites her new playmate into the house after lights-out. Naturally we're not expecting the best outcome to happen from here, and learn second-hand that our fears were justified via Sam reading the file in the “Roadhouse”. Said clown ripped the parents to shreds before vanishing. Nice tension-filled opening gambit that looks for all the world as if it's going to open an outstanding episode. Unfortunately Sgriccia and writer Shiban then go off the reservation with pretty mixed pacing and one too many ideas thrown into the mix.

There are simply too many ideas floating around this episode to hammer home the tension and scare factor the Director and Writer are aiming at. The grief process, which frames the episode, is certainly a requirement else I would have been putting on the clown makeup over the complete dropping of that element, but did we really also need the “Roadhouse” scenes? Sure there's a plot device going down with the computer hacking by Ash to track the demon, and that's got to be a new arc, but too much time is spent with the incidental characters Ellen and Jo. If they aren't reprised later in the season then this was a complete waste of time as far as Clown is concerned. Really hoping Ash is reprised; besides the obvious wink at the audience with the name, he provides the much needed weird character missing to this stage from Supernatural.

Clowns are scary, unfort not the same can be said about this middling episode

Director Sgriccia is pretty on with Clown but is forced by the script to deliver an episode that lacks overall pacing. Certainly the opening prologue, mentioned above, is on the money, and Sgriccia delivers a pretty freaky fun house, but it's the non “hunting” scenes that take the audience out just when the tension should be starting to be ramped up. Side note, the fun house is an obvious take on Tobe Hooper’s minor movie of the same name. Sgriccia can do better than Clown but is constrained by the emoting scenes writer Shiban introduced. Clearly you can't win this one with me; I thought they should have put the whole thing to bed with the first episode of the season before getting back into the all out Supernatural thing.

On the bright side of the ring, writer Shiban has one twist coming at you, though I kind of picked it about half way through the episode. The writer also adds some great one-liners for Dean, and the blind guy's lines adding to Dean's embarrassment were also high on the fun-times stakes.

Jared Padalecki (Sam) and Jensen Ackles (Dean) are once again pretty damned good, and have really grown into their characters. The interaction between the two remains a high point of the early season episodes. Guess things came to a head with the final scene, and hopefully we'll be spared team Winchester breaking up as that was already covered in season one. Samantha Ferris (Ellen) and Alona Tal (Jo) do what they can with pretty loosely scripted characters that are pretty much unneeded in the episode. Yes, I got the whole thing going down there but thought it was surplus to requirements. Chad Lindberg (Ash) was a welcome inclusion and I am hoping we see more of the actor and character later in the season.

In terms of either winking at the audience or ripping previous horror outings, depending on outlook, there's a whole parcel being delivered to your front door. The supernatural killer that has to feed every so many years was of course crucial to the X-Files episodes Squeeze and Tooms. A killer clown that rips his/her victims to shreds was the basis for the Stephen King novel and later the Tommy Lee Wallace movie of the same name, It (1990), though admittedly King and Wallace go for a sci-fi answer to their creature, while Shiban settles on more earthly supernatural explanations. For mine the clown in Everybody Loves A Clown lacked the chill factor brought to Pennywise by an outstanding performance from Tim Curry in It. Man really need to review that one, maybe we could have a Stephen King-a-thon at some stage.

Oops, off track; anyways, Shiban bases his evil clown on the myth of the Rakshasas, a particular nasty spirit of the night from Hindu and Buddhist mythology. “Rakshasas are notorious for disturbing sacrifices, desecrating graves, harassing priests, possessing human beings, and so on. Their fingernails are venomous, and they feed on human flesh and spoiled food. They are shape-changers, illusionists, and magicians.“ - wikipedia.

On the music front we get a decent selection, though still no Black Sabbath! The Chambers Brothers’ “Time Had Come Today”, “Shambala” by Three Dog Night, and shockingly “Do That To Me One More Time” from The Captain and Tennile. Now come on middle of the road, being let down here!

So clowns are naturally scary in my estimation; don't let them fool you, they are naturally murdering bastards who are just waiting on a chance to prey on the unwary. Just ask any horror fan or sub teenager. I actually quite enjoyed this episode but did note it's not the strong early season all-out mayhem ride I had been hoping for. There are some good tension-laced scenes, enough punch lines to have Dean Winchester fans baying at the moon, and Sam is still emo and all. Par for the course, and we would expect a decent episode. Unfortunately writer Shiban tries to cover too much ground, introduces too many characters that may not reprise later in the season, and misses nailing one of those urban phobias. Slightly disappointed in Clown end of day.

For Supernatural trivia buffs we learn that Sam is scared of clowns (we already know Dean has a fear of flying). If anyone wants more details about anything Supernatural -related, head on over to www.supernatural.tv for the good stuff. The site is slightly too fan-biased but has a wealth of information on the show.

Moderate recommendation on Everybody Loves A Clown. The episode isn't up to the standard of some of season ones knock outs but does have enough going down to retain audience interest. Some new characters and a new demon tracking device is worth checking out. Okay am good to finish on this one, as must check out if It is available in region four.