Monday, November 9, 2015

Supernatural 11x05 "Thin Lizzie" (Axed) [Contributor: Deena Edwards]


"Thin Lizzie"
Original Airdate: November 4, 2015

Welcome to the Lizzie Borden Bed and Breakfast Museum, where the ghosts aren’t real, creepy fanboys with cameras lurk in the shadows, and the only thing on the menu is... well, death. Also, a course of delectable human souls, if you’re Amara, but we’ll get to that later.

BURY THE HATCHET


We all know the story. It was 1892, and Lizzie Borden had “allegedly” slaughtered her father and stepmother with her infamous murder weapon of choice: an axe. Although the subject of her innocence or guilt has been widely speculated even to this day, she was acquitted and lived out the rest of her days in her hometown.

Fast-forward one hundred and twenty-three years later. Similar murders begin to occur at Borden’s old residence, which has since been turned into a combination of a bed and breakfast and a museum. So Sam and Dean decide to drop in for a visit, hoping to figure out who (or what) is behind the murders. For Dean, this seems to be a case of nothing more than a tourist trap combined with a possibly crazed and homicidal Borden fan. But Sam insists it must be something more (though, maybe the fact our Moose has always been a bit of a true crime nerd has a little to do with his enthusiasm towards this particular case).

Not long after they check in, the EMF starts going crazy and lights begin to flicker. All signs seem to point to spirit — oh, but not so fast! Turns out, Dean was right, at least about the tourist trap bit. A homemade EMF generator in the attic is to blame for the spikes in the EMF, and the flickering lights are tied to timers in the walls, where speakers are also nestled to play "haunting" recordings that visitors mistake for spirit activity. The whole thing's a hoax, but just as they’re ready to pack up and leave the Borden house behind, not one, but two more people wind up dead, and it becomes clear that someone out there has an axe to grind (haha, see what I did there? I crack myself up.)

SOUL-SEARCHING


Deciding to split up, Sam checks out the location of the most recent victim, while Dean hunts down Len — an overly enthusiastic Lizzie Borden fan whom he’d caught snooping with a victorian camera outside one of the B&B’s windows the previous night. At Len’s house, Dean discovers a sheet of paper with a sketch of the Mark, which Len had seen on a young woman during one of his many outings at the Borden house trying to get a photo of Lizzie’s ghost. Now grown to the physical age of around eleven or twelve, Amara has continued her soul-searching (I’m sorry, the puns just write themselves), and unfortunately for Len, he’d simply been at the wrong place, at the wrong time.

The murders are somehow linked to Amara’s presence, that much is obvious. Given the fact that a few episodes ago Jenna had slit her grandmother’s throat after becoming soulless, it’s obvious that whoever is committing these axe murders is not a ghost, but instead the leftovers of one of Amara’s afternoon snacks. Since Len was home at the time of the deaths, the wife of one of the previous victims is their first suspect, but when Sam and Dean try to find her, it’s too late. The brothers find themselves tied up by the soulless, Amara-obsessed babysitter, Sydney, who intends to use them as an offering to Amara. Before she can, Len appears, taking her down with an axe. In the end, he decides to turn himself in for the murders, knowing full well that if he’s out there and isn’t stopped, he’ll end up just the same as Jenna and Sydney. He’ll become a killer. I know he was only around for one episode, and for that episode he was well, soulless, but by the time it was over, I’d really started to like Len. I also found it interesting how everyone who loses their soul reacts to it differently. Some act with immediate violence, like Jenna and Sydney, while others, like Len, are able to hold on a little longer, faking it as much as they can before that feeling takes hold. Len was a nice change to the usual “soullessness” we see in Supernatural.

One of my favorite parts of the episode, though, was the brief bit at the end where Sam talks to the young, now-orphaned boy, Jordie. Usually it seems to be Dean who has the sweet, caring moments with the kids, so I was glad Sam finally got a turn. He tells the boy he’s going to survive this — and Sam would know, wouldn’t he? He’d not only also lost both of his parents, but he’s been through enough to make even the sanest person lose their minds and their faith. If Sam can keep fighting after all of that, there’s hope for pretty much anyone.

“It’s coming for all of us.”

The babysitter’s final words are no different than what Sam and Dean have been constantly hearing since the Mark was destroyed. The Darkness is coming. Amara may already be here, but she isn’t at full power yet. Random supernatural diseases and soulless axe murders are child’s play compared to what she will probably be capable of in the future. The brothers might have stopped an apocalypse once or twice, but something tells me they’re going to need a little more help on their side to take down the Darkness — if it truly can be taken down.

Stuff & Things:
  • “This has something to do with your freaky fetish for serial killers.” “It’s not a fetish.”  Dean just doesn’t understand the true crime lovin’ lifestyle, Sam. 
  • “What do you wanna do about Cas?” “Oh, he’s knee-deep in binge-watching The Wire. Just started season two.” “Oh, he’s not coming out any time soon.” Like I said last week, I just want an entire episode focused on Castiel and his binge-watching adventures. I want to see him experience Breaking Bad for the first time.
  • “I don’t know where to put my eyes. I think I’m gonna throw up.” “We’re surrounded by doilies.”
  • “What is that smell?” “I think it’s this. It’s like... lavender toilet water.” “Bottled toilet water? Why do you keep spraying it?” “I just wanted to see if the squeezy thing worked.”
  • “I’m not Lizzie CNN!” “Yeah, I don’t know why anyone would think that.”
  • “You’re better with that whole sensitive, verbal massage.” “There is no sensitive way to tell somebody their soul has been sucked out by a prehistoric tween!”
  • “Excuse me? Drunk girl? You shouldn’t be driving. You could put your head through a window.” She may be a prehistoric being of evil, but at least she’s concerned about drinking and driving.
  • “I picked my thumb up like it was a mini hot dog.” “Len, I’m not gonna lie, that’s worrisome.”

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