#missouri moseley
1x09: Home
Rating: ★★★★☆
Lookhere for my explanations of these reviews.
Written by: Eric Kripke
Directed by: Ken Girotti
They really should’ve found more reasons to bring back Missouri, huh? What a waste. Well, I’ve got to say, this episode is better than I remember it being. I think a lot of that can be attributed to this being an episode where stuff feels like it’s finally starting to go down, but regardless, I enjoyed it a lot.
What I liked: Dean, for one thing, but I’ll save that for later. I think it’s really good that SPN didn’t neglect its own rules with this episode; spirits stick around when they’ve had violent deaths, and Mary’s was as violent as it gets. I mean, I guess that didn’t happen with Jess, but let’s just ignore that. The overall plot for this episode was good hype-up material for what’s coming next. John coming back, mysteries about Sam’s abilities being addressed, information on Mary’s death—all of these actually managed to get me excited to continue my rewatch despite knowing, not only what happens next, but how it all ends.
What I didn’t like: I know it probably wasn’t that feasible to do since the circumstances surrounding Mary’s death were set to come up later, but it still would’ve been nice if the boys could’ve had a moment to breathe with their mother before she destroyed herself. Not, like, talking with her or anything, but drawing that moment out a little bit would’ve been nice. Or, at least, having a conversation between the boys at the end about it.
Character work: I know this episode focused on Sam a little bit more than it did Dean because of Sam’s psychic abilities, but I lovedwhat we saw from Dean in this episode. I actually don’t remember this getting addressed enough in the series, but it’s really intriguing to see/hear how Mary’s death affected Dean so much more than it did Sam because Sam was only a baby when it happened. I’ll talk about this scene a bit more in the next section, but you can really feel it when Dean calls John and asks for him to come help them. It’s also in Dean’s expression when they see Mary at the end—Sam is emotional when he sees her, but Dean is shocked. Some of that may have to do with the fact that Sam had realized who she was already, but I think it also has to do with the fact that Dean has been pushing away any memory of Mary’s death since it happened, and seeing her shook him.
Favorite scene: So, my favorite scene, despite the fact that the boys seeing their mother was beautiful—and maybe it’s because Dean is my favorite character, I don’t know—was when Dean called John at the gas station, about a third of the way through the episode. The fear in Dean’s voice during that scene is phenomenal—hats off to Jensen for that one. Not only are you seeing the trauma Mary’s death put him through, but you’re seeing how much Dean leans on his father. It’s an interesting scene because, for most of the series, Dean fights tooth-and-nail againstleaning on people. This scene was a good reminder that he wasn’t always that guy—that, even though he was looking after Sam, he still needed someone to look after him and wantedsomeone to look after him.
Favorite moment: Both because it was an important reveal and because it looked awesome, my favorite moment this episode was when Mary shifted from being a silhouette of fire to looking like herself.
Iconic quote: “Boy, you put your foot on my coffee table, I’m ‘a whack you with a spoon!”
It’s episodes like this that remind me why SPN can be plain ol’ goodsometimes—not something that’s only good to long-time fans, but just good. Gotta say, I’m excited to keep watching.
