TV Review: Supernatural Episode 1.06

Tuesday, October 18, 2005

From WB: Sam (Jared Padalecki) and Dean (Jensen Ackles) come to the aid of Sam's old college buddy after he is accused of a murder he swears he didn't commit. The brothers discover a shapeshifter is adopting the likenesses of others and murdering people. The brothers' race to stop the shapeshifter takes a terrifying turn when he shifts into the likeness of Dean.

My Rating:

This week Supernatural comes to us with an episode titled "Skin" in which we have a shapeshifter in our mists. The show starts by jumping ahead in time where we see the police searching an house. They find a female victim tied up in a dark room. She directs the cops somehow to where the person that tied her up is, and as they go to look, we see his face, and its Dean.

This is when we jump back in time a week to see the brothers sitting in a car talking. Well, Dean is talking to silent Sam. We learn that Sam is going through his emails using his palm pilot, and one of the messages is from a friend from back at school. A friend of his has gotten into a bit of legal trouble, and the sister emails Sam about it. Turns out the young man is accused of murder, but at the time of the murder he was with his sister drinking, so there was no way he could of committed the crime. The problem here there is video footage if the young man entering the location of the murder just before it happened. Sam gets Dean to drive to St. Louis, even though Dean is pretty sure this isn't their type of case.

They arrive in St. Louis not long after, and they go immediately to where the sister is staying. Becky tells them all she knows, and even takes them to the crime scene. Dean pretends to be a cop, so Becky trusts them to go into the crime scene. She also shows them the surveillance tape, and Sam notices something strange when he sees his friend on the video - something odd with his eyes.

While they are searching, another similar crime is taking place. A man leaves home for work, but decides to return when an appointment cancels on him. He comes home to find his wife tied up in the same manner as the girl in the start of tonight's episode. She also seems fearful of him. The man goes to look through the apartment, and he finds himself. The other version of him actually whacks him over the head, and when we next see him he is being taking away in handcuffs by the police.

The two brothers visit this crime scene as well, and after a few questions, Dean finally concedes that they really should be there because we have a shape shifter on our hands. The two brother go underground to find the shape shifter after finding the skin the shape shifter sheds. They find the creature, and he attacks Dean. This leaves Sam to chase after him while Dean slowly catches up.
The two brothers separate to go after the shape shifter with no luck. Or so we think. The shape shifter has taken the form of Dean. Sam isn't fooled, and figures out the ploy quickly, but the shape shifter still takes him, and when Sam wakes up he is tied up like the others. Appears the shape shifter takes on not only the identity of the person it shifts into, but it takes on its memories too. In a scene between the shape shifter and Sam, we learn of some of Dean's feelings about his brother.

As Dean, the shape shifter then takes on its next victim, Becky. After talking doesn't work, he ties her up like he did Sam. This is where we pick up the scene from the beginning. While this is happening, Dean wakes up in the same location Sam is, and gets himself free. The brothers then go to Becky's, but it is too late because the shape shifter has already been there. The two brothers try to retrieve their car, but the cops show up. Dean runs, and leaves Sam to handle the cops.

The next morning Dean decides to go back after the shape shifter in the sewers, but he finds Becky tied up there. The shape shifter has now taken over likeness just as Sam arrives to meet her. The shape shifter takes Sam once again - returning to the shape of his brother Dean. The shifters plan is to kill Sam and frame Dean for his murder. However, Sam breaks free, and a fight ensues. During the fight, Dean arrives and shoots the shifter in the chest with a silver bullet, thus killing it. Once again the brothers are successful.

This was another good episode for Supernatural. Not only was the legend they dealt with interesting, but they also had some other areas covered by this episode. One being the relationship between the brothers. We are able to see some hidden feelings that Dean has for his brother when the shifter talks to Sam. We also see Dean essentially die in this episode. Since the shifter was in his form when killed, that is who the police think it was that died.

Dean is also accused of the murder of the girl Sam's friend killed, so this young man is also set free. With Dean now being legally dead, this might come back to bite us in a later episode. We also see how Sam is dealing with his new life. He had given up school and friends when he ran off to join Dean, and now we are seeing the results of this action. This show really does keep us going each week, and I can't wait to see what happens next.