Supernatural S04E19 - Jump the Shark (2009)

Review

After receiving a call on one of John Winchester's old mobile phones the Winchester Bros head for Windom, Minnesota to meet up with Adam Milligan whose mom has been missing for three days. The winkle in the ointment being that Adam claims to be John's son. Dean, thinking Adam is either demonically possessed or is a shape shifter, tries various means to out him while Sam is at least harbouring the possibility that Adam might be the real deal. Turns out he is and his mother's disappearance is due to supernatural events. Something is moving up the food chain and Adam is meat for the grindage.

The Winchester boys have stumbled on a completely new monster, at least for them, a ghoul, a devourer of dead and rotting human remains. Seems the ghoul has a thing for a set collection of people and the Winchesters have just rung the dinner bell. When Sam becomes the ghoul's next meal Dean needs to get out of a tight spot and ride in to save the day.

Jump the Shark mixes in some humour, a monster that ironically freshened things up, and a nice twist that I didn't see coming. It's a tight episode that exposes some anxieties that Dean has towards the Winchester role in life, Sam's obsessive need for revenge - a theme running through the episode, and evaluates the whole Winchester Bro dynamic. I mentioned the episode had some pretty gnarly monsters right? Anyways one of those episodes that side tracks from the primary plot arcs of the season while shedding some light on the Winchester dynamic and introducing a new element to the Supernatural universe. Yes things are a bit tense, and yes there are dramatic interludes, but we still get wise cracking Dean and serious Sam.

Things kick off with this chick running from something in a darkened house, seems no one else is at home, so we sort of have a supernatural home along thing happening. Anyways, and avoiding bad jokes, the chick locks herself in a bedroom as something pounds on the bedroom door. Director Philip Sgriccia, no stranger to the franchise, takes time out of his busy schedule for a POV from under the bed, before an overhead shot, and then back to the ever moving POV. Naturally the chick is pulled under the bed by something unseen and we have our epilogue. For mine the best expression of unease at what might be lurking under the bed at night since David Cronenberg unleashed The Brood on us back in 1979.

Always cool to have a new monster on the block, and have to say ghouls are worth checking out

Having established that the episode is going to rock the house down Sgriccia gets down to business with Dean doing his thing at a diner, while Adam Milligan remains blissfully unaware that he is under scrutiny. The episode, while having dark dramatic undertones, keeps up the comedic element to avoid things going off the rail, Sam and Dean doing "rock paper scissors" for example was a wink to long term fans, hint Dean always picks scissors.

While the Boys track down the background story to determine what they are hunting, Adam gradually learns the family business isn't actually to do with car repair as Sam introduces him to the life of a hunter. Dean is against Adam's involvement, believing the boy is one of the few Winchesters able to get out of the lifestyle, while Sam warns that the lifestyle is going to come after Adam due to who is father was. Quite the surprise that Dean is the one trying to push a Winchester into normality while Sam recognises that Adam needs revenge on what took out his mother. The episode underlines the differences in opinion between the Bros over hunting, with both brothers taking stances that are diametrically opposes to those they had in previous seasons. Dean points out that while he drives the Impala, listens to mullet rock, and wears clothes similar to John Winchester its Sam who is closer in personality to the Winchester patriarch. Quite the admission and something that has been coming for a number of episodes now.

Interesting Jump the Shark focused on revenge from a couple of view points, while I think pointing out how destructive it can be to those caught up in the maelstrom of strong emotion. Sam was all about revenge through seasons two and three, the ghoul surprisingly has targeted certain people it has identified, and Adam and his mother are paying the price. Back in 1990 there had been 17 grave desecrations in local Windom cemeteries, which drew John Winchester to the area where he took care of business and as Sam put it "slipped one past the goalie". Sam and Dean arrive to discover there have been three more grave robberies committed, all of which tie into the revenge motive. Not quite sure why they brought this theme up late in season four, we had covered similar ground in earlier seasons, but guess someone decided it was worth revisiting with possibly a future episode revolving around the concept. We'll keep checking that idea through the final three or so episodes.

I was actually quite grooving to one of the minor cards of the tarot being put onto the table with this episode, it's not often ghouls are dusted off and thrown onto the screen. Okay, and I'm not about to give away spoilers here, the ghoul in the Supernatural universe feeds on rotting human corpses but can go after slightly fresher fare. There's also an interesting characteristic that I won't go into here, check Jump the Shark to dial into that, which holds out some promise for future seasons if the Producers want to dial the monster in again. Makes you wonder however if there is any mileage in a ghoul versus Romero zombie thing going down! Actually forget that one, great idea for a story, you read it here first.

Strangely the episode throws up Burt Ives' "A Little Bitty Tear", which was just strange and weird, would AC/DC or Black Sabbath or Bachman Turner be too much to ask for! Disappointed in the music content overall this season to be honest.

One of the better episodes in the second half of the season, though we are counting down to the final and there's only a few episodes left in the bank, and Jump the Shark goes right off the reservation. I was cool with the themes going down but am less so with Dean's increasing emo chick moments, dude get your act together! Sam rocked it out and had some real chemistry with Adam, if they want to resurrect the lost Winchester Bro next season I'm saying "hell yeah"! Strangely Jump the Shark is one episode that doesn't get talked about much but which still rates with show fans, I'm recommending it folks, darn fine television. Wish we could at least get back to the Lucifer rising thing, the Winchesters have a little destiny to fulfil there.