Jeff Holbrook takes a look at the Feb. 3 episode of Supernatural,
titled “The Slice Girls.”
Synopsis: “Sam (Jared Padalecki) and Dean (Jensen Ackles) investigate a case where the victims’ hands and feet have been severed and each have been branded with a strange symbol. While Sam does some research at a local university, Dean heads to one of his favorite places to investigate – the town bar. Dean strikes up a conversation with a local named Lydia (guest star Sara Canning, “The Vampire Diaries”), and the two go back to her place. Sam discovers the symbol on the bodies is a sign of Amazon warriors. Jerry Wanek directed the episode written by Eugenie Ross-Leming & Brad Buckner.”
If you have not seen this episode yet and do not wish to be spoiled, do not continue reading!
Recap: First off, I really liked the opening montage that showed us what we have previously seen. Then, we cut, quite literally actually, to a man being slaughtered by an unknown person with a knife. The murderer slashed quite the elaborate symbol into the victim’s chest. The brothers Winchester are then driving while discussing the case saying that the four victims had their hands and feet cut off as well.
They start their search off in the local morgue. At the morgue, the brothers gather as much information as they can from the mortician. Sam recommends researching some, but Dean instead heads off on his own.
Dean meets a woman named Lydia (Sara Canning) at a bar called the Cobalt Room. He tells her that he is a wealthy investment banker rather than the usual FBI agent. After some fun conversation between the two, an awesome montage plays to AC/DC’s “You Shook Me All Night Long,” showing Dean and Lydia getting intimate while also mixing in another man being butchered.
Sam and Dean head to the crime scene in the morning as Sam teases Dean about his night. After being introduced to a fellow investigator with an untrustworthy aura, Sam speaks to one of the neighbors about who may want to harm the victim Jerry. He learns that Jerry had an affair a few nights earlier, causing his wife to leave him. As they investigate the familiar death of the man, Dean realizes that he left Bobby’s flask at Lydia’s. He calls her to ask if she has found it, but she is short with him and tells him that she is busy. Sam again teases Dean. As the camera pans out, we see that Lydia is pregnant and looks ready to burst.
The next scene shows Lydia giving birth in front of a cult of women. The Winchesters are continuing to look into the symbol found on each victim and meet with a professor at the local university. They ask him to research and he is quite the character, blackmailing them and asking for his housekeeper’s green card. Dean shows frustration at the professor’s behavior, so Sam blatantly reminds him that the guy is all they have because Bobby is gone. Dean gets annoyed and heads off to Lydia’s to get the flask.
Lydia answers the door shocked and says that she did find it. Dean walks in to find that she has a daughter that he was oblivious to. Sam calls Dean to meet at the crime lab when Dean hears an infant Emma talking like an older child. He hangs up with a promise to call Sam back.
Sam heads to the morgue himself. He meets the female investigator for the second time as she continues to give a suspicious vibe. Sam looks at some evidence next to the body that reveals a card for the Cobalt Room. The mortician informs him that several others on the victims list also had affairs in which they met a woman in a similar situation with some even meeting in the same bar.
As Dean sits outside of Lydia’s home watching several women enter the place, Sam calls and gives Dean hell about not meeting him and continuing to be at her residence. Sam went as far as to tease Dean as being obsessed. Sam tells Dean what he has learned at the lab as Dean informs him that he has a weird feeling about the awkward situation with Lydia. He watches the woman leave with a little girl that looks to be in kindergarten. He decides to follow them and get a location.
Back where the brothers are staying, Sam tries to tell Dean that she could have had two kids, but Dean isn’t buying that. We shift to the women performing a ritual with several girls including an even older Emma. She is told to eat something to complete her acceptance among their group and does as she is commanded.
Back at the college, the professor explains to the Winchesters that it is a Amazonian symbol that represents a group of women that only use men to procreate. The lore also mentions that they murder the father afterwards, cutting off their feet and hands like the cases they have looked into. We finally learn that the female investigator has been looking into the brothers and knows they are hunters. She is ordered to take care of Sam, for Dean is already in the motion to be killed.
The brothers continue to research the Amazonian lore and find that their women give birth within thirty-six hours. They discuss the (un)realization that Emma is Dean’s daughter. A little bit later Dean tells Sam that some of their research papers moved without him touching them. The one that they need is just sitting on top of a book. Sam checks the room and they are picking up a lot of energy. Sam says that it is coming from the nearby power lines and that the breeze from the window shuffled the papers. Dean thinks that Bobby may be around spiritually, but Sam refuses to acknowledge that, stating that the brothers burned his body in the hunter burial ritual.
Sam takes the page written in Greek back to the professor. While he is gone, Emma (Alexia Fast) finds her father and begs that he save her from being a monster. She claims that she just wants to be normal. Dean invites her in to talk, asking her what he can do. She just asks him to help get her away from them.
The professor tells Sam that the paper says that the daughters must kill their own fathers. As Sam is rushing to his brother’s aid, he runs into the Amazonian detective. Sam shoots her and leaves. Emma pulls out a knife to kill Dean, but he was prepared for it with a gun. He is hesitant to kill her and offers to let her go if she doesn’t kill. She claims to have no choice and Sam bursts in to shoot her in the chest. Dean has a look of sincere pain in his eyes.
They go back to where the Amazonian monsters were located to find that they have vacated the premises. On the road Sam confronts Dean about opting to let Emma go. He is angry because Dean told Sam that you have to kill the monster no matter what when he killed Amy. Sam says that Dean is not in the right mind and begs him not to get killed. Dean replies unconvincingly that he’ll do what he can.
Things I liked: The storytelling was smart by the writers. Both brothers seem to be continuing down totally different paths in regards to handling their predicament. Sam seems very angry and focused on the job. Dean is continuing to try and wear a smile while feeling miserable inside. It was clever to play the role reversal with the brothers in regards to Sam killing Emma because she is a monster. In the third episode of the season, Dean killed Sam’s old flame Amy for the same reason despite Sam’s personal wishes to let her go. We now see that Sam is willing to make the hard decisions like Dean had. This decision to introduce and kill Dean’s daughter is another reason for Dean to feel down on top of them losing Bobby and Castiel. Sam makes it verbal that he is worried about losing his brother, too, and you can feel the pain within each brother. The final scene was great!
The acting was spectacular as usual. Jensen Ackles and Jared Padelecki always impress me, but they were especially strong in this episode. Jensen was fantastic at showing how conflicted he was about Emma. Jared, on the other hand, had the chance to play the aggressive hunter, yet not quite RoboSam aggressive, as Jensen had back in the episode guest starring Jewel Staite earlier this season. I loved Sara Canning, but I wish that she was in the episode more. She was wonderfully charming in the Cobalt Room with Jensen. They seemed to have some terrific chemistry. Alexia Fast as Emma was also great in her role. It’s a shame that her character couldn’t be saved.
The direction was good overall. The scene where Dean meets Lydia had a bunch of close-up shots that did not continue throughout the episode, so it felt slightly random. Other than that the direction and editing especially were really nicely executed. The AC/DC montage was a lot of fun to watch. The sets and special effects also looked awesome.
The episode had a lot of different types of dialogue. It was brilliantly written to include a lot of internal sadness as well as the usual humor, but the episode’s dialogue seemed opposite of the usual spectrum this week. Sam was the wisecracking brother while Dean was mostly serious until his hilarious “bigger” line mentioned below. My favorite full scene of dialogue is when the boys are talking about Bobby possibly being in the room. Sam is so against it, but Dean wants so badly to believe it’s him. It was an expertly composed scene from the writers.
Some of my favorite quotes from the episode are as follows:
Dean: “Damn it. Why hasn’t she called?”
Sam: “Who? Lydia? What’s this? Some girl’s actually dumping you the morning after?”
Dean: “I think that you’re enjoying this a little more than you have to.”
Dean: “…This kid’s gotta be five. And same name: Emma.”
Sam: (Smirking) “You know George Foreman named all of his sons George.”
Dean: “Are you deliberately messing with me?”
Prof.: (Referring to their research) “Where did you get it?”
Sam: (Referring to Bobby) “A crazy, drunk old genius.”
Prof.: “Yeah. They always have the good stuff.”
Dean: “News flash, pal. You’re just as screwed up as I am. You’re just… Bigger.”
Sam: (Confused) “What?”
Dean: “I don’t know!”
Things I did not like: I really don’t have much to complain about. I do not like how the Amazonians just disappeared without Sam or Dean mentioning going after them. I feel that it should have had more resolve. You would think that Lydia would want revenge on Sam and Dean, too. Maybe the writers plan on bringing them back at a later time.
The other plot point that I thought they might further explore is the fact that the monster detective recognized them as “deceased” fugitives. Why wouldn’t she report them? I guess she just wanted to kill them off, but I feel like the monsters would want to tie up all loose ends in case something were to happen. It would help keep the brothers off of their trail.
Outside of those two small complaints, this was a great episode! I cannot wait until next week’s clown show. Thanks for reading, friends!
Rating: 4.5 sets of severed hands and feet out of 5
