Supernatural: Alex Annie Alexis Ann Review

Jody Mills and vampires make up for some odd cinematography in tonight's episode of Supernatural.

Sheriff Jody Mills makes a welcome return to Supernatural. Plus vampires! What’s not to like? Well, normally I’d have said the vampire thing is tired and cliché by now, but I’m going to let the showrunners pass on this one. Why? Because of Alex-Annie-Alexis-Ann herself. Plus any episode with Jody Mills is good in my book.

There’s a couple of dumb character moments that stood out. When does going to a cabin in the woods ever turn out to be a good idea in Supernatural? This is the question that should have been in the Sheriff’s mind when she takes Alex to her secluded cabin to evade her vampire captors. We can see that the vamps will be attacking her here from half an episode away. Sam isn’t immune to dumb character moments. He seems surprised when Jody mentions there is more than one vampire in town. Vampires have always been shown to live in “nests”on this show.

Tonight’s cinematography stood out for two reasons: cool transition shots and gratuitous shaky cam. Shaky cam can say a lot about a scene. The movement in this episode was too common and unmotivated. It became distracting.

The cinematographer made up for this plethora of erratic movements by having some really stunning transition shots. One was a crane over the impala as the boys discuss their next move. Another impala shot was from Jody’s point of view. She wakes up on the ground and the impala approaches, first very blurry and distorted and then becoming clearer as she woke up.

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The makeup and visual effects work on all the bruising, scarring, etc was especially good. My favorite was Alex’s unusual bloodshot eyes after being turned. It was creepy but you could still read the emotion in them.

Jody was a treat in this episode, bringing some of the original heart in Supernatural back. She had the compassion to see the real girl under the tough Alexis character, something Sam used to be able to do. Jody’s greatest act was not killing vampires, but telling Alexis to look away before chopping the head of her vampire-mother, saving the girl further anguish. Her familial relationship with Alex gave them both closure from losing their families.

Alexis posed a complicated character—a real problem for the Winchesters who still prefer to think of people and monsters as simply good or evil. She was complex because even she didn’t know where she stood. She acted as bait to lure in victims for her vampire family, but felt intense guilt and tried to escape.

A good episode, plagued with a few minor annoyances. Jody can return again, thank you very much.

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Rating:

4 out of 5