Supernatural Station

Long-Distance Call

Supernatural Season 3, episode #14.
Airdate: Thursday May 1, 2008.
Written by Jeremy Carver.
Directed By Robert Singer.

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• Synopsis: Click here to read the episode summary.

  The brothers take on a case in Milan, Ohio where people are killing themselves after getting phone calls from deceased loved ones. Disguised as company execs, they visit the telephone company branch office to trace a century old telephone number that showed up on one victim’s caller-id. Stewey, a sloppy, porn-addicted technician, reluctantly came up with a list of people called, but was unable to find where the number came from. Their own EMF check on Thomas Edison’s “spirit” phone in a museum also came up empty. Then Dean’s cellphone rings and he hears his dad voice on the other end before the call drops off. Dean thinks the call is genuine, but Sam is skeptical. That night, “John Winchester” calls again and tells Dean about a way to get out of his demon deal.

  The next day, Sam heads out to rescue a young victim and Dean goes to the house that “dad” directed him to. Sam discovers that the “spirit” caller is a “crocada”, a soul-eater that lives in filth and says “come to me” to it’s victims, and calls Dean to meet him at the phone company. Sam confronts Stewey, the phone tech, but is captured when the real “crocada”, Steve, another phone company employee, hits him from behind. He learns he never actually spoke to Dean and that Dean was sent into another trap by the “crocada”. Sam manages to free himself and kills the crocada after a struggle. Dean, in turn, fights a man he thinks is a demon, then realizes his error and stops. Both brothers return to the motel a little worse for the wear, but alive and well. The end.

• Praises: Supernatural's mytharc was front and center in this episode, plus it had a great standalone story with a new scary creature I never heard of before. There were plenty of Dean snark, a laugh out loud scene with a porn-addicted telephone guy, Dean angst, brotherly moments, good fights scenes, and a heart pounding scene where Sam grabs a little boy out of the path of speeding truck. I am always happy when television surprises me or brings me something new and interesting. This episode did that several times. The twist of the villain turning out not to be the sloppy, porn-addicted tech, Stewey, but his better groomed coworker, was surprising. I had not known that Thomas Edison, the actual inventor of the telephone, had been rumored to have an occult link or a “spirit” phone invention. The supernatural creature itself was a good one. The “crocada” is a soul-eater that calls you on the phone, pushes just the right buttons to send you over the edge, and says “come to me” over and over…wait a minute, if that were “come visit me”, that creature could be my mother.

  I enjoyed the scene where Sam and Dean realized simultaneously what the phone tech meant by “I was busy”. Seeing the difference in their reactions was funny. Dean grinned cheekily while Sam looked uncomfortable and embarrassed. I love that our boys are so alike, yet so different. Jensen's acting was on the money. I could feel his emotional vulnerability as he hid in the bathroom to talk secretly with his “dad”. And his lost boy look of crushing disappointment when he later realized that it was not his dad, was heart wrenching. Hearing John's voice, seeing Dean's “blind faith” in his father and Sam's skepticism resurface was a welcome reminder of the good 'ole days of season one and made this a great, nostalgic episode.

• Nags: Dang it! Jeffrey Dean Morgan never made a physical appearance at all! After I got my hopes up because of spoilers saying he was a guest star. Psheesh, a recording of Papa Winchester's voice is not what I would call a guest starring role. Also absent was Dean's classic rock music. This lack was quite glaring because of the episode's strong focus on Dean. I thought the supernatural creature's crocodilian teeth impressively scary, and when it opened it's huge maw, I fully expected it to chomp on phone guy. I was disappointed when it just inhaled his soul, instead. It's teeth were apparently for decoration only. The fight scenes were quite good, but it was conveniently lucky for Sam that not all supernatural creatures have superhuman strength. On the flip side, seeing a human get the drop on Dean, a highly skilled hunter, was somewhat unbelievable. Finally, near the end of the episode, hearing Dean say to Sam that he was scared seemed completely out of character for our emotionally repressed, Dean. “Scared” is too much like “cowardly” and is not a word I ever expected to hear uttered matter-a-factly by Dean. Overall, this was a great episode with a few faults that did not detract too much from the overall story.

• My Rating: Great episode. 4 out of 5 stars.

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