'Supernatural': Reach out and haunt someone

After last week's fairly fluffy fair, Supernatural is back on the serious train. With all the questions raised, one really sticks out to me: Are calls from the afterlife considered anytime minutes?

Spoilers...skip to the end if you just want to read my thoughts/highlights.

We open with a man named Ben Waters drinking some liquor on a stormy night and paces around the room. The phone rings and he looks stricken. After about 10, he picks up the phone and it's Linda and she's begging him to come to her. He tells her she can't keep calling and that he can't. He hangs up and she calls back, trying again. He turns her down again and hangs up but of course, the phone rings again. He pulls the phone out of the wall in frustration and throws it to the ground. Where it starts ringing again a moment later. He opens the draw, takes out a gun and, after saying out loud "You win", he blows his brains out.

After the standard research (talking to the widow, hitting the net, etc.) Dean and Sam find out that the Linda he was talking to was his high school sweetheart who died in a car crash way back when and that the phone number she called from is a century old. But where can the be traced?

The Winchester Boys visit a phone company (as visitors from "Headquarters") and are shown around by boss-man Clark who introduces them to Stewie Meyers. He's to perform a phone trace for them. Stewie's a jerk. He looks at porn on a company computer and keeps one of the grossest offices ever (fast food remnants and flies - ick). After a bit of coercion from Dean, Stewie looks it up but can't tell them where the calls originated. He can, however, print out a list of where the calls went.

Sam visits one house and says he's checking up from the phone company. the father says no but the teenager daughter's face says otherwise. As Sam is leaving, the girl (whose name is Lanie) comes out and talks to him, telling him (eventually) that she's been talking to her deceased mother. On the way back to the motel, Sam calls Dean to check in. After they hang up, Dean's phone rings again. He picks up expecting baby bro...but it's the voice of dearly departed Papa Winchester.

Back at the motel, Dean tells Sam about the call. All Dad said was Dean's name and then the connection dropped out. He asks Sam what he should say when he gets another call and Sam suggests, "Hello." That doesn't cut it for Dean and he leaves in a somewhat uncharacteristic huff. He comes back three hours later and Sam's drawn a blank on anything supernatural happening in the town. But Dean's found something in the motel lobby that might help: the town is the birthplace of Thomas Edison. They visit his Museum and the over finger-quote using, entirely too chipper tour guide says that Edison's last invention was a "Spirit Phone" that he used to try and contact the afterlife. It's a shaky theory but that's all they have to work with right now.

Meanwhile, Lanie is chatting with some friends and she receives an IM from her mom who urges Lanie to join her. She types in that she's scared and her mom says that it's okay, she's there with her. Lanie's webcam turns on and shows Phantom Mom standing behind her. She takes two steps forward and puts her hand on Lanie's shoulder, who freaks out and turns off the computer, bolting out of her chair. But the comp turns back on and, to Lanie's horror, types the phrase "come to me" over and over. Big ups for having the self-control to not throw that sucker out the window.

That night, Daddy W calls again and tells Dean that the demon that holds his contract is in that town and that may be chance to break the deal. Sam talked to Lanie the next morning and returns to a somewhat frantic Dean who's been doing some research. He gives Sam some evidence that Contract Demon has been following them but Sam is skeptical, especially since the Elder Winchester gave them an exorcism that supposedly kills demons. Despite the exorcism being real and really old, that's awful convenient and not even Bobby's heard of such a thing. Dean gets all tweaked about Sam not believing and they get in yet another fight (third of the episode). Determined to get to the bottom of everything, Sam goes to protect Lanie and see if he can figure everything out but he tells Dean not to do anything until he gets back. Which, thanks to another call from Papa, ain't happening.

At Lanie's house, she goes over exactly what's been happening to her, including the "come to me" message on her computer. That sets off a light bulb in Sam's head. On his way out, he tells Lanie to stay away from all communication devices and she notices that her little brother is missing. Seems he got a call on his fake phone from "Mom" and she told him to go walk across six lanes traffic without looking either way. Which he does. Clearly, this kid is not a genius. Sam saves him before getting splattered by a truck.

Sam hops in his car and calls Dean and tells him that they're dealing with a scavenger demon that mimics the voices of loved ones. Dean notes that they live in filth...aha! Jerkface Stewie at the phone company! By the time Stewie leaves the building, Dean hasn't arrived so Sam leaves a message for him and goes after the demon. Except it's not Stewie, it's Clark. And he bashes Sam in the back of the head with a baseball bat before taking it to Stewie.

Sam comes to, tied up to a chair across from a freaked out Stewie who's also tied up. Clark kills him, his face contorts and he sucks out and devours Stewie's soul. Clark, who is not an attractive demon, manipulated the brothers by accessing a bunch of emails and phone logs after making them as hunters. Sam was there alone because that call to Dean was intercepted by Clark, who then places his hands on the switchboard panel. He calls some Random Dude and, as his little girl, lures that guy to where Dean by saying he was the one who killed her and that he's there to kill the RD too.

Sam escapes his binds just as Clark is about to kill him. We're then treated to inter-cut sequences of Sam & Clark fighting as Dean & Random Dude struggle. Dean discovers RD is human when he walks out of the trap he spray painted on the floor and eventually gains the upper hand in physical combat, telling a tearful RD that he didn't kill his daughter. Sam wins by shoving Clark's head onto a long, sharp spike/nail that's sticking out of the wall. Dangerous much? I'm pretty sure that's a employee safety suit waiting to happen.

Sam returns to the motel as Dean is tending to his face wounds. They make up in their typical pseudo-serious fashion, with Dean making a quip and handing Sam a beer before it gets entirely too heavy.

Assorted Thoughts and Observations:

• I'm slightly surprised by Dean's uncharacteristic behavior in this ep but the subject of Pops always makes him a bit unhinged. After seeing Demon Dean in the nightmare episode, a way out is probably more important to him now than ever and I can see how the prospect of Papa Winchester miraculously contacting him with The Answer would get him all bent out of shape. It was interesting, however, seeing how the roles reversed this episode. Usually it's Sam who gets all worked up.
• Speaking of Demon Dean and the expiration of time, what is the possibility that they'll actually kill Dean at the end of the season? I'm not saying they should. I'm actually saying they better not.
• Since the exorcism text "Papa Winchester" gave Dean was real, I'm wondering if one of those calls could've actually been from Pops or maybe Clark just made a mistake and gave him something they can work with? What exactly does this exorcism do? The key to breaking the deal must have something to do with the Contract Demon since they brought it up twice (in the episode and the "Then" section of the intro). It just might be Lilith...or could there be another player involved?
• Clark's speech about us being disconnected despite being more technologically connected than ever was very interesting - the real vs. virtual community angle. I also appreciated that bit about "little pieces of [ourselves]" being scattered around the electronic hemisphere.
• Dean's voicemail message states that his name is "Herman Munster." I find that amusing.
• Favorite Quote: "As long as the moldy are calling the freshes around here, it's the best reason we got." - Dean on the "Edison Spirit Phone" theory

Next Week: Oh, ew. The next episode looks likes it's going to be a dozy, especially since the demon in question is played by serial bad guy Billy Drago.

What did you think of this week's more serious episode? Have any idea how Dean will get out of his contract? Have a favorite moment or quote I didn't mention?

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