Review

Simon Said starts with some black dude, turns out to be the local doctor, taking a call on his cell phone. He agrees to do whatever the caller wants and heads off to the local gun shop. Wash up there is that the Doc shoots the sales clerk and then himself. Aren't doctors warning us about overly using mobile phones? The last few frames are confusing as there seems to be a hand basin on the roof, then we find out that this is another one of Sam's visions.

Dean and Sam head to the “Roadhouse” to see if Ash, the warped computer guy, can follow the clues and discover which town the tragedy is about to strike in. Ash, for the price of a brew, discovers things are going to go down in Guthry, Oklahoma. Well at least something happens in Oklahoma then. Ash can further discover a local, Andy, is the same age as Sam, his mother died in a house fire yadda yadda. Arriving in Guthry, Sam is able to stop the shooting in the gun-store, but the doctor, after receiving another phone call, walks in front of a bus. Meanwhile Dean, who has been tracking Andy, simply hands him the Impala. Power of suggestion or what?! Sam is complete immune from Andy's stock in trade, motivating people via speech, and is soon confronting Andy about what's going down. Did Andy kill the doctor, is someone else involved, how does the yellow eyed Demon tie in? A reasonably good episode unfolds. Let's see if this will work: “you will not read the review”.

Still reading huh? Guess that old mind power doesn't work for me then. After the last episode failed generally on all levels I was a bit worried we might end up with two bad Supernatural outings in a row. Thankfully Director Iacofano sidestepped the issue and turned in a reasonably enjoyable episode. Besides the actual events going down, we get concerns about whether or not Sam will turn out to be ultimately evil, and some more flesh on the bone in regards the Yellow Eyed Demon's special children. Not a bad effort end of day, and I'm back on board the whole Supernatural groove train.

There are a few issues with this episode that rubbed me up the wrong way, Director Iacofano didn't manage to convince me to get totally behind Simon Said. But at least it's an improvement over Dead Things. We get three of Sam's foretelling incidents in the episode. The first one worked like a brought thing, totally had me caught out, the second one is “because it's in the script”, but by the third one it was getting slightly tiresome. Should have left it at one and worked out some other way to get the story rolling. Plot devices only really work if they don't fall into the trap of beating a dead equine for mine.

Overall, however, this episode hums along and is well-paced. You get the story, some plot arcing, and just when you have it figured out, writer Ben Edlund throws in a curved ball from out of left field. Actually didn't mind that one, though some may feel it's a tad trite. Noticeably the happenings in this episode occur during the day, until the resolution scene that happens after dark. The whole of Simon Said builds towards that scene and we do get paid back for the time invested getting to it. Some good use of location there to add to the whole impact.

What's confusing some people over Simon Said is that Andy's birth mother, being very careful not to add a spoiler in here, didn't die in a house fire ala Sam's mother. His adopted mother was the one dancing on the ceiling. Whoa, I'm now referencing Lionel Richie, may have just turned to the dark side here. Anyway, the point is pure speculation and for mine doesn't really have a bearing on the overall plot arcs of Supernatural. Remember way back to episode one of season one, Sam's girlfriend at the time Jess, also suffers at the result of meeting the yellow eyed demon, (henceforth in these reviews known as the YED). That certainly hasn't had a bearing on developments. Either we are looking at “special kids” not having any female influence, or it's simply a shoal of red herrings going down. Your call on that one, frankly not concerned to be honest.

Writer Ben Edlund did rub me up the right way; there's plenty of comedy and Dean one-liners in Simon Said and I hope Ben is called back to do further scripts in the season. Equally, I sure hope they think to include Andy as well; the dude rides a pretty cool panel van. Would pay good money to see a scene of Andy sparring with Ash.

The season manages to right itself, but is a pale reflection thus far of the first season

What Edlund does wonderfully well with Simon Said is switch the Dean and Sam roles to a surprisingly effective degree. In this episode, Dean is the one doubting where the evidence is pointing while Sam is the gung ho “shoot them first and ask questions later” member of the team. Whether or not this is pointing towards a new dimension for Dean is something that will remain high on my agenda during the next couple of episodes.

Our fears from the first couple of episodes have been laid to rest; clearly Ellen, Jo, and Ash are going to take a pretty decent slice of season two. Guess with John Winchester seemingly gone they needed something to fill in for the Obi Wan character.

Referencing other horror output, and I might be stretching things here, I picked up on a nod to Scanners and an early Brian de Palma movie that I'm not going to mention due to wanting to keep spoilers to the bare minimum. You'll know the reference when you see this episode.

At least this episode gets back on track with the mullet rock good times. Surprisingly we get REO Speedwagon's “Can't Fight This Feeling”, and are fully made aware that Dean should keep his day job and not take up singing. More in line with Supernatural's penchant for rock, Spinal Tap get a quick sound bite with “Stonehenge”, was loving that, and “Fell on Black Days” by Soundgarden rounds out festivities.

Not half bad, Simon Said kept my attention while still not bearing any comparison to season one episodes. The episode romped along to a pretty intense resolution, but am not quite sure of what to make of the final scene. Newcomers, Director Iacofano and writer Edlund, were certainly not letting the Supernatural team down, but could have put in some extra goodness. Passable TV fodder for mine and perhaps an indication that things are getting back on track.

My full apologies on the review of this episode, I have left a major character out. Unfortunately I can't include the character as it would blow the major curve ball in Simon Said. You'll have to watch the episode to get an insight.

Marked recommendation on Simon Said; not the best ever entry in Supernatural's catalogue of things that go bump in the night, but for sure not the worst one either. If you are following the Winchester saga then this is much-watch stuff. For those not loyally following every episode you may get confused in places here as a whole lot of references are made to season one. Simon says things are looking up, worthwhile episode for fans of the show.