Synopsis: “After a ballerina is found dead from dancing herself to death, Sam and Dean look into the case and discover the ballet slippers she wore were cursed. When Dean accidentally touches the shoes the power of the curse starts to take hold of him.”
If you have not seen this episode yet and do not wish to be spoiled, do not continue reading!
The episode opened up with the most exhilarating ballet number I have ever seen (which isn’t many)! The music was epic and classically appropriate for the dancer to spin to until her ankles snapped off. Dancing really can be an intense sport…
We first see the boys with Dean talking to Frank Devereaux over the phone. The conversation between the two hunters was as fun as ever. I love the dynamic and chemistry between Jensen Ackles and Kevin McNally. They discussed the latest Leviathan activity which neither of them could interpret. Sam seemed like he has been open about seeing Lucifer at a more consistent pace. It’s an awesome development that they are not keeping secrets from each other lately.
The brothers made their way to Portland to work the case of the deadly dancer. They went to the police station and looked at the crime scene pictures that had been taken. They noticed that a pair of perfectly clean ballet slippers sat next to the bloody, footless corpse. The Winchesters made their way toward evidence when the policeman on duty made the connection that his daughter must have taken the slippers the boys were pursuing.
In a manner of good timing, Sam and Dean busted into the bathroom that the little girl ventured to just as the possessed object took control of her body and she began to dance herself to an early grave. Luckily, the boys were able to manhandle the little girl and slippers, despite several kicks to the head of Dean. Some sarcasm showed that the brothers agreed they were dealing with a cursed object. Cursed objects have always delivered some of the more entertaining episodes of this show.
The label on the slippers read: Out With the Old. The Winchesters made their way to the store in town with the same name. Once they got there, they found out that the new shop owner Scott sold several other cursed objects that originally belonged to his now-deceased mother. During that scene we hilariously witnessed the power that the ballet slippers had over Dean before Sam stopped him from putting them to use.
In another suspenseful scene, a woman was in her kitchen chopping vegetables. Immediately my mind went to she was going to cut herself apart, but the writers built that up to throw a curveball. A teapot whistled distracting her from the knife. However, she grabbed it with her bare hands and drank the boiling water in a horrifyingly painful manner. Cursed objects…
The boys discovered the other potential objects and tracked them down. They included an old porno magazine and an antique crank phone. While Dean got the magazine off-screen, his dialogue suggested it was quite the forgettable experience. He hoped anyway. Sam saved a mother from being slaughtered by her son who was possessed by the crank phone.
We learned back at the store that the woman that owned the shop was being pressured to sell the store. Her son was also trying hard to convince her. She died in an accident and Scott agreed to sell the place. With the case seemingly solved so quickly into the episode, one could only wonder what else was going on. That’s when Dean noticed that most stores on the block had sold their stores to the same real estate agent.
The Leviathans were in town and buying up the properties. If someone did not sell, they were killed off and probably eaten. Pretty acceptable terms, huh? Who said it was a buyer’s market anyway? The woman Leviathan, Joyce, was the leader with an incredibly timid, secretly angry lackey Leviathan named George. Foreshadowing showed that he would most likely not be as faithful as she hoped… She forced him to run errands and made him leave to get coffee.
We saw that Sam was falling asleep at the wheel, which is showing that his body and mind are really being put through the ringer by dear old Lucifer. The writers did a great showing his effect on Sam without actually having Mark Pellegrino reprise the character in this episode. After almost being smashed by a semi on the highway, Sam pulled over for coffee. It was the same stand that the Leviathan lackey visited. George the Leviathan let his boss know and they began to plan their next move.
Dean looked into the real estate and was blocked by a firewall while trying to access the website. After Frank did some digging for Dean, we learned that the company belonged to Dick “The Big Bad Leviathan” Roman. Frank suggested the boys get out of town, but there was no way they would listen.
The Leviathans had Scott call the brothers back to Out With the Old in order to lure them into a trap. Naturally, it went off without a hitch. Sam and Dean were on their way. George finally had his last straw with Joyce when she was trying to force him into resuming Scott’s life after they killed him off.
The boys busted in and Dean went after Joyce. George, rather than fight Sam, told him that the liquid that harms them was under the counter. Sam quickly shoved his face in it and beheaded Joyce. George revealed that he helped them because he wanted to eat Joyce’s head. The Winchesters used this time to try and get answers out of him regarding their plans. After some forceful dialogue from Dean, George let them know that they planned on curing cancer. This show has some truly fresh and interesting reveals on an often basis, but that one really threw me off. What on Earth does that mean?!!! I couldn’t even process it enough to come up with any theories. I’m going to hold off and ride this sunset to the grave.
With no indication of what further happened with George, the episode ended with a very disappointing turn of events. They arrived at Frank’s trailer to find signs of a struggle, blood splattered all over, and no sign of Frank. I’m starting to understand that the creators were not kidding about stripping away any tools that the brothers had this season. No dead body is at least a golden rule in TV and film stating Frank may be alive.
While this episode was great in many ways, it is by far not one of my favorites this season. I really enjoyed the first half with the cursed objects storyline, but the episode tried to accomplish too much by including the Leviathans. I would prefer two separate episodes to one lacking a strong identity.
Next week’s episode looks very promising. It features the highly-anticipated return of Misha Collins as Castiel and the devious demon Meg. The episode also looks to be about Sam cracking under his Lucifer visions, which has been developing into an exciting storyline during the second half of the season.
Some of my favorite quotes from this episode follow:
Dean: “I saw Black Swan… Twice. Hot tutu on tutu action? C’mon, Sam, what’s wrong with you?”
Dean: “Hey, I got the porn. Just in time, too.”
Sam: “What was he doing?”
Dean: “Let’s just say you don’t want to know.”
Dean: “Frank, sorry to be double-dippin’ in your crazy sauce. No offense.”
Frank: “None taken, Fudge pop.”
Frank: Can a dog play poker? (After a moment’s pause) The answer is yes.
Sam: “He’s singing ‘Stairway to Heaven right now.'”
Dean: “Good song.”
Sam: “Not fifty times in a row.”
Rating: 4 cursed objects out of 5
1 Comment
It’s almost as if the writers of season 7 have no clue what they are doing, main story arc and are just meandering around with it.
The cure for cancer I am wondering if either they believe that humans are a cancer and they want to “cure” them….OR …something about cancer in their “livestock” keeps them from being eaten?