Nightshifter

Original Airdate: Jan 25th, 2007

I promise- I’m not one of those people that is going to rave about every single episode, regardless of quality, simply because Supernatural is my favorite show. I swear.

But wow. Just, wow.

Well, not just wow. There’s actually a lot to say about Nightshifter, but little to complain about, which is why this will be another of my shorter reviews. For an episode like this, it wouldn’t be prudent to do a full recap- there was so much happening so fast that if I forgot to mention a single detail, all would come apart and make no sense. So, a brief overview instead: This is an episode about a shapeshifter, and the myth is taken to a whole new level, making the monster in the first season episode Skin look like a feisty kitten. It all starts when the Winchesters, looking pretty fly dressed as federal agents I must say, appear to be investigating an unusual string of bank robberies. Jensen as Dean makes the role his own in new and exciting ways here, from hitting on one witness as easily as breathing, to relating to another who is convinced he’s figured it all out- the robberies are the work of a mandroid (a word I definitely plan on incorporating into regular usage) who can look like different people, ala the T-1000 in Terminator 2. He’s wrong of course, but his tracking of the mandroid leads the brothers to the next bank their shapeshifter plans on hitting. Things start to get ugly when they are interrupted in their hunt by the X-Phile himself, who takes the bank hostage in order to pin down his mandroid. Heroic older brother takes the reigns in what proves to be a very Dean-centric plot, and the craziness really begins.

So, now they are now trapped in the bank with some innocent victims, a gun-wielding maniac who isn’t as crazy as he thinks he might be, and a shapeshifter who seems to have no qualms with killing as many people as are necessary in it’s attempts to escape the bank. Of course, the monster doesn’t know that the Winchesters are hunting it at first, but it doesn’t take long before the game becomes clear. The shifter escapes the vault where everyone in the bank has been herded, and starts shedding skin like crazy, terribly complicating the search. But beyond the hunt inside the bank, what is happening outside is far more frightening. Police have surrounded the building, and they’re shortly joined by some actual feds, who happen to actually be here to collect Dean. Much scarier than the threat of the shifter is the very real possibility that at least one Winchester may not be making it out of this situation handcuff-free, and things get even more serious when the original hostage-taker/mandroid-believer (I could just type mandroid a hundred times…) is sniped and killed by the SWAT team.

How are Dean and Sam going to get out of this one? Now the severity of the situation has set in for both of them, but they are still managing to keep their cool, taking it one step at a time, starting with finding and killing the shifter. Eventually Dean gets his man, or rather, woman this time, and takes the monster down for good. At this point though, the SWAT team has already rushed the bank, and Sam finally gets his guilty wish that he were as notoriously wanted as Dean (see: diner scene in Crossroad Blues) when he takes out two SWAT members bare-fisted. The rest of the feds and police have released the hostages, including the bank teller whose shape the shifter had assumed when slain by Dean. So we know they have some confusion in store when they’ll assumedly ask the living woman if she had a twin sister and she denies it- but that’s the least of their problems right now. An agent with his heart particularly set on bringing Dean in, is denied, and demands that the bank be torn apart in search of the brothers. He gets what’s probably the let-down of his career when it becomes apparent that Sam stripped the two SWAT members he assaulted, and he and Dean have already exited the bank and made their escape in disguise.

“We are so screwed.”

Yes, Dean. Yes, you are.

As I mentioned before, this was a Dean heavy episode, temporarily removing focus from the brothers’ very supernatural problems involving Sam and the psychics and the demon, and bringing us back to their very real-world dilemma. They have been wanted by the law that they have spent their careers as hunters living above for awhile now, and with this new mess, the hole gets deeper and deeper. Throughout the episode, theories ruled about how they were going to escape as free men or even, as the feds got serious, with their lives. I originally thought that they would somehow manage to kill the shifter while it looked like Dean, and this time maybe they could make his death more convincing by, well for one, not getting caught by the police again! But this was wishful thinking, I suppose, and too easy of an out. The Winchesters manage to wriggle off the hook once more, but this time the depth of their troubles with the law seems to have sunk in for both of them. When they collect the Impala and make their quiet getaway this time, it’s with none of the joviality that we saw at the end of Skin or No Exit.

All that said, Nightshifter was an extremely well-executed episode. It isn’t often that I am clutching a pillow, literally on the edge of my seat for an entire hour, but this time I was, and that’s no exaggeration. Like I said, Jensen is dead-on. Only he could take a line such as “I like him, he says okey-dokey” and own it so completely that it sounds totally natural, and not just thrown in for the sake of a laugh. The way he makes the mandroid-believer trust him, comforts the panicked bank teller, defends the actions of his dead father to a fed who thinks he knows far too much about their family, and the look on his face when he realizes that yes, the police really want to shoot him, are all priceless and perfect. Not to mention that he seems to be attracting females without even trying now, which brings us back to Sam, who is slightly under-written but not totally forgotten within this script.

To give Jared some much deserved credit, he communicates the mixed-emotions of our Sam Winchester as flawlessly as his counterpart here. The nature of Sam and Dean’s relationship is put on display, but subtly. The slight eye-rolling as the hostage bank teller gushes about Dean’s bravery, and his insistence that Dean take seriously the real danger they are in from the police paint them perfectly as real-life brothers- Sam conveys his annoyance, frustration and concern for Dean all at the same time. And in the end shows that it’s his loyalty that will always win out. The expression he wears in the final car shot (I call this his not-amused-at-all face) is less worried than Dean’s, and just slightly more angry. Sam has his own serious troubles these days, and this in addition is sure not to improve his mood. And one wonders if Dean’s final realization about his status as a wanted man will really stick with him this time, and have him being much more careful in the future.

How long now until there’s an APB out on the Impala, and the boys have to (gasp- no!) ditch the car? Or, at least, change their plates… If a nationwide manhunt is declared for Dean (whose body-count began with one shapeshifter, and here is increased by another) and Sam (who should now, definitely, be viewed as an accomplice), will their next shoot-out with a spirit bring the feds down on them again? And again? This was my main concern with what was otherwise a great episode- what are they going to do now? As hunters, they are always going to have to be shady, break the law, kill things that those not ‘in the know’ will perceive as humans. They can always lay low, hunt in middle-of-nowhere towns with one sheriff, stay off the radar for awhile. But sooner or later they are going to find themselves in direct contact with the law again, and I’m beginning to wonder just what exactly the writers are planning on doing to lessen the heat for the boys a bit. They can’t very well go on like this forever, right? It’s not often I actually find myself worried about a pair of fictional characters, but even I’m starting to get anxious.

I just hope the writers have something amazing planned, and we aren’t kept stressing about the law for too long. There are, of course, other more potentially apocalyptic things to be worried about!

To wrap this up, Nightshifter was a definite success in all areas from humor, to fear of both the supernatural and the natural, and heaped plenty more weight onto our boys shoulders. Season two keeps going strong, and getting stronger, and I can’t wait to see what’s in store for the Winchesters next week.

It looks like an angel. Much nicer than an armed agent.

Added: Jan 27th 2007

Reviewer: Amber D