Review

Naturally it’s late one night and a couple, Molly and David, are driving towards their destiny on an isolated and ill lit back road – are there any others in the heartland of the U.S.? Some dude is standing in the middle of the road, this can’t be good, and we have the requisite car plunging off the road and crashing into a tree.

Molly wakes up after the crash and finds that David is missing, which provides a good excuse to have a chick wandering around spooky woods at night with the dry ice machine adding to the atmosphere. Hey, there’s a light on over at the Frankenstein place and Molly, who clearly isn’t up on horror etiquette, heads on over seeking help. Backwoods, night, naturally our safe haven is home to a psycho of the Jason Voorhees variety. Molly manages to escape and runs back to the road where she manages to flag down a passing Impala full of Winchesters. What are the odds!

Molly won’t leave the area without searching for David, Sam and Dean are prepared to help her out as we learn the psycho is a revenant, and there’s an under story going down. A pretty decent and atmospheric episode ensues. Ready to check out the woods and see if you are in for a big surprise?

Roadkill starts out in pretty good fashion and then simply keeps up the atmosphere and pacing till the end credits roll. Admittedly most viewers will have worked out what the “shock” ending is going to be but that doesn’t distract from a pretty decent episode. After a laid back episode previously, Tall Tales, the Producers here are ready to let it rip and get back to what has made the Supernatural franchise almost must watch viewing.

Director Beeson does the best he can do with the requisite couple driving down a deserted country road – how many times have we seen that scene exactly? – but doesn’t let it halt the pace. We quickly gather the couple are celebrating their anniversary, have taken a wrong turn somewhere, and are not prepared for the sudden appearance of someone or something in the road. The actual crash which results is believable, and Beeson throws in a nice overhead of the car post collision with a tree. About the only thing that was left hanging was the fact that the Director is at pains to point out the time is 12.50am but then never revisits why this is crucial during the rest of the episode. Maybe the editors snipped out a few pertinent frames end of day?

No one does a better revenant show on television, and this episode is no exception to that rule

Beeson is more at home with his night-time wood scenes and harkens back to some of the great episodes of season one. We get the same use of dry ice to add to the eerie atmosphere, and backlighting used superbly to illuminate scenes while not flooding them. Since the majority of the episode involves differing characters charging through various parts of the local woods, this is a good thing.

Molly won’t leave without checking her car for her husband, in case he’s gone back there from wherever he was/went. Car has disappeared from the crash site which sort of gives the game away, and Sam confirms it.

We quickly learn that the dude standing in the middle of the road is one Jonah Greeley, who once a year on the anniversary of the requisite family tragedy haunts the stretch of road Molly’s accident occurs on. Beeson doesn’t hold this information back as this isn’t the surprise twist he’s hoping to keep hidden from the audience till the final revelation. Sorry dude, M. Night you ain’t. Anyways, Greeley as a character is possibly the most interesting point of the episode, or that might just be my morbid side leering out over the gravestone. Greeley is an out and out revenant committed to extracting some weird revenge thing for his wife’s suicide. I didn’t quite join the dots with this development and had no notion as to why exactly Casper the unfriendly ghost would set his sights on Molly and not either of the Winchesters.

Just when I thought I had things sussed out, writer Raelle Tucker threw a few curve balls in my direction and popped in the odd development I wasn’t expecting. Greeley won’t let the Winchesters and Molly leave because he believes Molly belongs to him, and there’s a nasty little catch coming your way with that development. Naturally the tension is tightened when we learn the Winchesters will have to find Greeley’s body in a 1,000 acre haystack. And for those going huh, revenant bones must be salted and burned, there’s going to be a pop quiz at the end of this episode guide so do please try and keep up with the overriding Supernatural mythology.

Director Beeson doesn’t hold off on the claret, so if expecting a perfectly respectable episode that you can show your grandmother then think again. We get people hanging from hooks, stomach wounds, and plenty of shotgun carnage to ghosts.

Tricia Helfer (Molly) does pretty well in Roadkill and manages to convey the confusion, terror, and growing realisation that her role requires. She actually worked pretty well with Jared Padalecki (Sam), though due to the requirements of the Supernatural plot arcs and mythology the Producers are in a corner with any idea of developments in that direction.

Guess the psycho in the woods with an agenda is pretty standard for horror, whole movies have been dedicated to the concept, and at least one episode of Masters of Horror. I wouldn’t exactly call this a borrow by the Supernatural team as it’s pretty much a Jungian archetype sort of a thing. Similarly, the whole not realising you are dead thing can be pretty much traced back to Gothic novels and “penny dreadfuls”.

In terms of the mullet overtures we get “House of the Rising Sun” by The Animals and nothing else. I was somewhat mollified with the choice of track however.

An atmospheric and interesting episode that keeps the high standard of Supernatural in mind. Roadkill threw out some interesting ideas and twists but to be honest I had the major plot reveal sussed by the ten minute mark. A good spooky episode that keeps to its guns and doesn’t try to be anything more than it actually is.

One of the interesting ideas that breaks surface here, but has been percolating just below the radar all season, is Dean’s continued denial of anything in terms of God, Angels, or supernatural forces dedicated to the light side. This is in the face of vampires, revenants, demons, and the forces of darkness advertising their presence pretty much every week. Dean’s stance reprises an earlier statement from Houses of the Holy and of course a couple of episodes from season one. Clearly this is a plot arc that gets reinforced from time to time but there is still no indication of where the show Producers are going with it. Just thought I should keep that in people’s minds while we head into the last few episodes of season two.

Full recommendation on Roadkill, the episode should hold most audience members’ attentions and there is enough juice for horror fans to pay attention. An atmospheric ride that tries to at least have a twist in the tale, I’d check this one out sooner rather than later.