{"id":90086,"date":"2014-10-28T11:32:34","date_gmt":"2014-10-28T15:32:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.sheilaomalley.com\/?p=90086"},"modified":"2025-09-23T11:47:46","modified_gmt":"2025-09-23T15:47:46","slug":"supernatural-season-2-episode-7-the-usual-suspects","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.sheilaomalley.com\/?p=90086","title":{"rendered":"Supernatural<\/i>: Season 2, Episode 7: \u201cThe Usual Suspects\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"

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\nDirected by Mike Rohl
\nWritten by Cathryn Humphris<\/i><\/p>\n

There are a couple of reasons why I hold “The Usual Suspects” dear. <\/p>\n

One is obvious: <\/p>\n

\n\"Picture<\/a><\/p>\n

I love the woman who starred in the movie that practically single-handedly ruined my Catholic childhood. Why wouldn’t I? <\/p>\n

The performance is mainly remembered for the horror-movie makeup, and the horrible things the demonic creature says (voice by Mercedes McCambridge), and, of course, the following immortal moment:<\/p>\n

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\nAs an adult, I watch the film and worry about Linda Blair, the young girl being asked to tap into\/represent all that darkness. (I still worry about kids in horror films.) I had ZERO business watching The Exorcist<\/i> at age 9, 10, and was so terrified by it it was shattering. <\/p>\n

“The Usual Suspects” gives Linda Blair a nice meaty role, with a lot to do. The episode is handed over to her. It’s not a cameo. <\/p>\n

The second reason is that the episode is almost entirely from an outsider’s perspective. Sam and Dean are the “objects” of her attention, and it gives us an opportunity to look at them from the outside.<\/p>\n

\n<\/p>\n

\nIt is different from Gordon entering the action, or even Ellen and Jo, major characters though they are. Any new character helps us see the brothers in different ways; new characters bring out shadings of Sam and Dean that don’t arise when they are operating in isolation with one another. Who Dean is with Ellen is extremely revealing. Who Sam is in the presence of Gordon is extremely revealing. <\/p>\n

But here, Sam and Dean have been turned into suspects, creatures kept under lock and key, studied under glass. In that context, seen from the cops’ point of view, they seem uncontrollable, violent, and downright creepy. <\/p>\n

Normally, we are in the Winchester Belljar (I talked a little bit about “The Belljar Effect” in the “In My Time of Dying” re-cap<\/a>). Their rules become our rules, we don’t question them, we don’t even blink when they dig up bodies and set them on fire. We’re like, “Oh. That’s totally normal.” But Supernatural<\/i> (on occasion) takes the time to remind us what it would look like to a normal civilian (i.e. us). That “outside perspective” is used sparingly, for the most part, and is responsible for one of the funniest moments in the history of the show.<\/p>\n

\n\"Psychopaths\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Part of the outside perspective of “Usual Suspects” is to prioritize Linda Blair’s guest spot, but it’s also because we’ve been “inside” with them, in that claustrophobia, since the beginning. It’s time to let some air in. It’s time to show that their actions have consequences in the real world, and also to have a character come in who sees them as criminals and then \u2026 slowly \u2026 changes her tune. Watching Linda Blair “get it” over the course of her interrogation of both Sam and Dean, is the main fun of the episode. <\/p>\n

A change in Point of View can also be very sexy, and I’m sure there have been dissertations written on the topic. All I know is my own reaction. That’s where voyeur erotica comes from, or voyeuristic fanfic, so you get to be a Peeping Tom and see what goes on behind closed doors. A well-known fictional figure, the star of his own story, is suddenly viewed by a chambermaid hiding behind a curtain in his bedroom, or whatever. That’s what “The Usual Suspects” is all about for me. There’s no sex in it, but I find it one of the sexiest Supernatural<\/i> episodes, due to that radical Point-of-View shift. I’ll get into that as the re-cap goes along. <\/p>\n

Other reasons to love “The Usual Suspects”:<\/p>\n

— Dean’s burlesque act monologue to the video monitor
\n— all of the hand-written notes
\n— The Aardvark Motel
\n— References to The X Files<\/i>, The Great Escape<\/i>, CHiPs<\/i>, Matlock<\/i>, The Rockford Files<\/i> and The Shining<\/i>, all in one episode.
\n— The episode starts out as a clear nod to The Shining<\/i>, then it becomes Sixth Sense<\/i>, until finally it becomes Serpico<\/i>.<\/p>\n

The title is a reference to the 1995 movie The Usual Suspects<\/em>, but of course most people know that that is a reference to Casablanca<\/i> and its famous final scene. <\/p>\n

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