We’re finally getting back to the Supernatural rewatch after a break for life being too damn busy – oh OG Supernatural, I have missed you! We pick up with Season 2’s ‘Folsom Prison Blues’, written by John Shiban and directed by Mike Rohl, which aired in April 2007. I had fallen madly in love with the show earlier in Season 2, so by the time this episode aired, I was glued to my TV screen, probably with a piece of pie and a whole lot of excitement as I sat down to watch, having shooed the kids out of the living room so I could squee to my heart’s content.
This is a great episode – it’s Sam and Dean for the entire episode, something that seems like an absolute feast after Jared and Jensen needed to share the burden of constant filming in later episodes (understandably). It’s directed and filmed beautifully, the prison scenes darkly lit, spooky and gritty just like the show itself in these early seasons. Rohl plays with perspective throughout, using it to evoke the claustrophobic feel of being incarcerated, unable to escape or even see clearly the dangers around you. And of course, the acting is incredible. Jared and Jensen were so young, and already so damn good.
The Road So Far reminds us that Agent Henriksen is onto the Winchesters, telling Dean on the phone that he knows about the desecrations and the thefts, that he knows about Sam too, and about their dad. Mention of his family is what gets to Dean, as always.
Dean: You don’t know crap about my Dad.
And then we see Sam and Dean at the end of the job that saw Henriksen almost catching them.
Dean: We are so screwed…
And… NOW
Workers in a dark eerie prison, using a blowtorch to open up an old cell block. We see their breath come out as visible steam, and uh oh. Something invisible blows by them, freaking them out. The lights flicker. All of us experienced Supernatural viewers know that’s trouble. A prisoner calls to the guards, the lights flickering, the clock on the wall stopping at 10 o’clock.
The guard tells him to cool it and go to sleep, but he keeps calling, the guard ignoring Randall’s insistence that he saw something. The lights go out and the guard goes to walk away when suddenly something slams the door on his arm and he’s attacked by something invisible, Randall watching from his cell as the guard screams.
The title card appears, and we jump to three months later as Sam and Dean break into a dark building at the Arkansas Museum of Anthropology at night. It’s a beautifully filmed typical Supernatural scene, lit by the brothers’ flashlights. The brothers are not in agreement.
Sam: I hate this plan, Dean.
Dean: I got that the first ten times I heard it.
They walk right past a motion sensor, open up a glass case and take out an artifact or two – a dagger, an axe – then put them down as they hear a noise and the command ‘Freeze! Down on your knees now!’
As a viewer, it’s confusing because the Winchesters are never this careless, and they do make a half hearted attempt to evade capture, but then comply and get on their knees.
Sam is annoyed (which seems to make sense because who wouldn’t be annoyed while getting arrested) but Dean actually gives him a little smile, which… huh?
Sam is cranky doing mug shots too, and again, who wouldn’t be? Though he can’t help but look handsome anyway because that’s just Sam.
Dean, however, is almost enjoying himself in a scene which is now iconic for the series.
Dean: I call this one the Blue Steel.
He purses his lips and cocks an eyebrow, and somehow because he’s Dean Winchester he still looks hot.
Dean: Who looks better, me or Nick Nolte?
A little pop culture reference of the time there.
Dean stays cocky when an agent comes in who we recognize as Henriksen, asking for a cheeseburger with extra onions. (Dean does not recognize him, having not seen his face yet).
Henriksen: You think you’re funny.
Dean: I think I’m adorable.
(He is)