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<\/a><\/p>\n\nDirected by Robert Singer
\nWritten by Ben Edlund<\/i><\/p>\n
Before we get down to brass tacks, let’s take a moment to list just how much this episode accomplishes in 41 minutes.<\/p>\n
1. A continuation of the two season-wide Arcs – Dean’s crossroad’s deal and Sam’s dangerous alliance with Ruby. They are not central but they are present, already in motion.
\n2. Gordon returns.
\n3. Introduction of a major new character. (One of my favorite character introductions in the history of the series. It can’t top the introduction of Death – the best sequence the show has ever done – or of Castiel – another stunner – but it’s up there.) It’s even more of a surprise than Death, because we have been prepared for “Death.” Nobody prepared us for Bela.
\n4. Entertaining one-off episode. <\/p>\n
That’s a lot, but it doesn’t feel like a checklist of events needed to push the plot forward (I’m looking at you Season 12). I will try not to keep referencing Season 12, but sometimes comparisons are an important object lesson. It’s HARD to be as good as “Bad Day at Black Rock”, it’s hard to be as good as Season 3 (especially since it’s truncated) and the fact that it looks so effortless is fuel for that same fire. It’s HARD to do this much this well.<\/p>\n
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“Bad Day at Black Rock” breaks a lot of rules: the narrative is pulled in many different directions. In some spots in the episode, we know more than the brothers do (what Gordon is planning). In other spots, we are as in the dark as they are (who on earth is that hot waitress?). I love that the episode withholds information from us, knowing that the anxiety – who the hell is that British woman? where did SHE come from?<\/i> – is an essential part of the pleasure of being a viewer. <\/p>\n
Women in Supernatural<\/i><\/h1>\n
There are probably those who do not care for Bela. Who resent (or are suspicious of) any woman’s intrusion into the manly-manliness of the manly-brothers’ world. While a cliched woman, or a shallowly-written woman would be a huge disappointment, at this point the writers had earned my trust in the “writing female characters” department. The show does not show hostility to women, the show does not have that toxic reductive atmosphere that would be a huge turnoff. Look at the women who have entered thus far. Ellen. Jo. Cassie. Bela. Lisa. These are not cookie-cutter women. That will continue to be the case. Amelia was not some generic domestic girlfriend-type. She was prickly and rude, she clogged the sink with limes because she was getting wasted alone. I mean … wow. And Sam LIKED her. He chose her! Instead of being annoyed that she was prickly and rude (I saw a lot of fan chatter along those lines), I was more fascinated that THIS was who he would choose to be with, that Sam was drawn to this woman! His only relationship had been with the perfect girl really: smart, sexy, supportive, who made cookies for him with cute little notes. Now that he’s got all these miles on him, he’s drawn to this MESS of a woman. I LOVED Amelia, because she represented an opportunity to get to know Sam better. We can never know these guys too well. At this point in the series, I had grown to trust the writers, and knew that they knew what they were doing. Even though this is a show about men without women, when women DO arrive, they are three-dimensional. Besides all of that though:<\/p>\n
When a woman enters their Belljar(TM), sexual, non-sexual, it doesn’t matter: she brings with her all kinds of disturbances in the atmosphere. They are Motherless Sons. Women are “Other,” “other” enough at this point that it’s WEIRD when Jo wants to be a hunter (very glad Supernatural<\/i> gave up THAT cliched trope), and the “other” is desired, feared. The “other” can derail these guys because of their natural protector personalities. It’s a kind of sexism, I guess, but it’s sexism that means well. It’s also an Achilles heel. <\/p>\n
If Bela were a man, she would not bring the disturbances that she does. If Bela were an elderly woman, she would not bring the disturbances that she does. She is the Potential of Sex. She is a Femme Fatale, and the series hadn’t introduced one of those yet. I’ll be getting into the Femme Fatale later. At length. <\/p>\n
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