Things I Love About SPN Season 1: Asylum #1
Hi everyone,
Sorry it’s been so long since I last posted one of these. I’ve been giving some thought to the way I do these recaps and I’ve come to the conclusion that the essay length segments I’ve been posting are a lot of work and take me too long to prepare, plus I think the length puts some people off reading. So, I’m going to try a new approach with this one: I plan to post in bite size chunks examining just two or three scenes at a time. I’m hoping this will make it easier for me and enable me to post more often, and hopefully it’ll make the posts easier to digest for readers too.
Please let me know what you think of this change. Here goes:
Supernatural, Season 1
Episode 10, “Asylum”
Written by Richard Hatem
Directed by Guy Bee
I confess this is another episode that I’m not overly fond of, and I’m not sure why; it hits all the right notes with a solid MOTW story, the guest stars are entertaining, and it’s an important episode in terms of the brothers’ relationship. I suspect my ambivalence may simply be because the make-up FX for the ghost-patients’ physical deformities really creep me out but, if that’s the case, then I’d say the show was just doing its job!
We open with a spooky shot of the asylum that will become the main focus of the action.
The episode was actually filmed in an abandoned mental health facility in Vancouver, though the building looks a lot more attractive in real life, at least in broad daylight:
https://www.fangirlquest.com/travel/supernatural-location-riverview-hospital/
The building became a favourite location, used several times over the show’s run, and it’s easy to see why. It certainly provided a chillingly atmospheric backdrop for the action in this episode. I don’t know if they filmed all the scenes in the facility, or whether we’re sometimes seeing studio sets; either way the settings for the episode are super creepy.
The camera pans over “Keep Out, Condemned Building” signs as we move into the dilapidated interior and we can hear footsteps, indicating that we are viewing the scene pov intruders. Their flashlight picks out a heavily chained pair of double doors which they access with the aid of bolt cutters.
Presently, the cops show up, a veteran and a rookie who’s new to the area, which provides a convenient excuse to supply some explanatory exposition for the benefit of the audience:
COP 1
Can't keep kids out of this place.
COP 2
What is it, anyway?
COP 1
I forgot! You're not a local. You don't know the legend.
COP 2
Legend?
COP 1
Every town's got its stories, right? Ours is Roosevelt Asylum. They say it's haunted with the ghosts of the patients. Spend the night, the spirits will drive you insane.
http://www.supernaturalwiki.com/1.10_Asylum_(transcript)
“Let’s split up” is a frequently used phrase in the horror genre
that loosely translates to “let’s go die”.
Rookie enters a room with a biohazard warning, always a bad sign. A door creaks open, apparently of its own accord, then the young cop’s flashlight starts cutting out. That’s three for three; this guy’s buggered.
Meanwhile, veteran catches a group of sheepishly amused kids hiding behind a partition wall and escorts them off the premises. Then he calls his partner, turns and startles because, of course, Rookie is standing right behind him. He’s acting a bit weird but denies having seen anything. With all the cliché boxes neatly ticked, the cops get into their car but, as they drive out, Rookie’s nose starts bleeding, and we suspect this may not be an entirely natural occurrence. Next, we have a scene in Rookie’s home, in the marital bedroom, where we gather he and his wife have been quarrelling. While she tries to mend fences, he ignores her, emptying his pockets onto the dresser, then he picks up his gun. From outside the house, we hear two shots that accompany two flashes, and it’s later confirmed as a murder-suicide.
After the title frame, Sam’s on the phone searching for news of John and we gather he’s talking to a friend of their father who supplies John with munitions. “Caleb hasn’t heard from him?” Dean asks when the call ends and Sam replies “Nope. And neither has Jefferson or Pastor Jim.” Little do we know it yet, but a couple of these names are going to mean a lot more to us before the season is over.
The brothers proceed to bicker about John’s continued silence and whether he’s even still alive when Dean suddenly, out of the blue, gets a text with co-ordinates, which he assumes is from John. His assumption gains weight as he identifies the co-ordinates as Roosevelt asylum, discovers a report of the deaths of the cop and his wife, then produces pages in the journal that refer to the place as a site of past supernatural shenanigans.
It might seem narratively convenient that the brothers get a message from their father just as they’re having this discussion about his whereabouts, but I have a theory: it’s conceivable that, as soon as he hung up from Sam, Caleb called John to let him know his sons were looking for him, so John promptly responded by sending them a case to better occupy their time.
His message instantly resets the dynamic between the brothers. In recent episodes Dean’s been less authoritarian, even looking to Sam for direction and guidance, and they’ve been getting along better as a consequence, but now Dean’s had a message he considers a direct order from John, so he’s confident laying down the law to Sam again.
And suddenly, there’s tension between them again. Seems like John is the source of a lot of the friction between the brothers.
Sam’s not happy. There’s even a touch of nostril flare.
In the next scene we find the veteran cop from the teaser sitting in a bar when Dean appears, sits next to him, and introduces himself as Nigel Tufnel from the Chicago Tribune. (Nigel Tufnel, btw, was the lead guitarist from the fictional rock group, Spinal Tap). The cop, Daniel Gunderson, isn’t happy about being “ambushed” in his local.
When Dean persists with his questioning despite Gunderson’s protests, Sam suddenly appears, drags Dean out of his chair and flings him across the room. “Hey buddy,” he yells, “why don't you leave the poor guy alone! The man's an officer! Why don’t ya show a little respect!” Dean glares for a few moments, then retreats out of the bar, tail between his legs.
Of course, Sam calling him “buddy”, like they’re strangers, is a clue that this is a "good hunter/bad hunter" set up because, after the show of solidarity and offering to buy a drink, he finds Gunderson much more amenable to a friendly chat.
Afterward, outside the bar, Dean complains about Sam’s perhaps overly enthusiastic performance:
DEAN
(sitting on Impala) Shoved me kinda hard in there, buddy boy.
SAM
I had to sell it, didn't I? It's method acting.
DEAN
Huh?
SAM
Never mind.
http://www.supernaturalwiki.com/1.10_Asylum_(transcript)
Maybe it’s just as well Dean isn’t familiar with method acting, since it involves drawing on one’s own personal emotional experience in order to perfectly identify with a role. Hence, Sam is implying he was using his own anger at Dean in order to authentically portray a character who is . . . angry with Dean.
Sam demonstrates a method actor perfectly identifying with his role.
Once again, it’s interesting to see Sam exhibiting knowledge of the Arts. It’s curious how often we see him showcasing knowledge and ability in the theatrical and fine arts in season 1, yet I don’t think I recall any occasion where he demonstrates any specific knowledge of Law. You’ve gotta wonder if he’d truly been pursuing the best scholarly discipline for his temperament :P
This concludes the first slice of this pie. Please click here to continue to #2. Please follow the "episode rewatch" tag to be notified when new updates are posted.
.
Sorry it’s been so long since I last posted one of these. I’ve been giving some thought to the way I do these recaps and I’ve come to the conclusion that the essay length segments I’ve been posting are a lot of work and take me too long to prepare, plus I think the length puts some people off reading. So, I’m going to try a new approach with this one: I plan to post in bite size chunks examining just two or three scenes at a time. I’m hoping this will make it easier for me and enable me to post more often, and hopefully it’ll make the posts easier to digest for readers too.
Please let me know what you think of this change. Here goes:
Supernatural, Season 1
Episode 10, “Asylum”
Written by Richard Hatem
Directed by Guy Bee
I confess this is another episode that I’m not overly fond of, and I’m not sure why; it hits all the right notes with a solid MOTW story, the guest stars are entertaining, and it’s an important episode in terms of the brothers’ relationship. I suspect my ambivalence may simply be because the make-up FX for the ghost-patients’ physical deformities really creep me out but, if that’s the case, then I’d say the show was just doing its job!
We open with a spooky shot of the asylum that will become the main focus of the action.
The episode was actually filmed in an abandoned mental health facility in Vancouver, though the building looks a lot more attractive in real life, at least in broad daylight:
https://www.fangirlquest.com/travel/supernatural-location-riverview-hospital/
The building became a favourite location, used several times over the show’s run, and it’s easy to see why. It certainly provided a chillingly atmospheric backdrop for the action in this episode. I don’t know if they filmed all the scenes in the facility, or whether we’re sometimes seeing studio sets; either way the settings for the episode are super creepy.
The camera pans over “Keep Out, Condemned Building” signs as we move into the dilapidated interior and we can hear footsteps, indicating that we are viewing the scene pov intruders. Their flashlight picks out a heavily chained pair of double doors which they access with the aid of bolt cutters.
Presently, the cops show up, a veteran and a rookie who’s new to the area, which provides a convenient excuse to supply some explanatory exposition for the benefit of the audience:
COP 1
Can't keep kids out of this place.
COP 2
What is it, anyway?
COP 1
I forgot! You're not a local. You don't know the legend.
COP 2
Legend?
COP 1
Every town's got its stories, right? Ours is Roosevelt Asylum. They say it's haunted with the ghosts of the patients. Spend the night, the spirits will drive you insane.
http://www.supernaturalwiki.com/1.10_Asylum_(transcript)
“Let’s split up” is a frequently used phrase in the horror genre
that loosely translates to “let’s go die”.
Rookie enters a room with a biohazard warning, always a bad sign. A door creaks open, apparently of its own accord, then the young cop’s flashlight starts cutting out. That’s three for three; this guy’s buggered.
Meanwhile, veteran catches a group of sheepishly amused kids hiding behind a partition wall and escorts them off the premises. Then he calls his partner, turns and startles because, of course, Rookie is standing right behind him. He’s acting a bit weird but denies having seen anything. With all the cliché boxes neatly ticked, the cops get into their car but, as they drive out, Rookie’s nose starts bleeding, and we suspect this may not be an entirely natural occurrence. Next, we have a scene in Rookie’s home, in the marital bedroom, where we gather he and his wife have been quarrelling. While she tries to mend fences, he ignores her, emptying his pockets onto the dresser, then he picks up his gun. From outside the house, we hear two shots that accompany two flashes, and it’s later confirmed as a murder-suicide.
After the title frame, Sam’s on the phone searching for news of John and we gather he’s talking to a friend of their father who supplies John with munitions. “Caleb hasn’t heard from him?” Dean asks when the call ends and Sam replies “Nope. And neither has Jefferson or Pastor Jim.” Little do we know it yet, but a couple of these names are going to mean a lot more to us before the season is over.
The brothers proceed to bicker about John’s continued silence and whether he’s even still alive when Dean suddenly, out of the blue, gets a text with co-ordinates, which he assumes is from John. His assumption gains weight as he identifies the co-ordinates as Roosevelt asylum, discovers a report of the deaths of the cop and his wife, then produces pages in the journal that refer to the place as a site of past supernatural shenanigans.
It might seem narratively convenient that the brothers get a message from their father just as they’re having this discussion about his whereabouts, but I have a theory: it’s conceivable that, as soon as he hung up from Sam, Caleb called John to let him know his sons were looking for him, so John promptly responded by sending them a case to better occupy their time.
His message instantly resets the dynamic between the brothers. In recent episodes Dean’s been less authoritarian, even looking to Sam for direction and guidance, and they’ve been getting along better as a consequence, but now Dean’s had a message he considers a direct order from John, so he’s confident laying down the law to Sam again.
And suddenly, there’s tension between them again. Seems like John is the source of a lot of the friction between the brothers.
Sam’s not happy. There’s even a touch of nostril flare.
In the next scene we find the veteran cop from the teaser sitting in a bar when Dean appears, sits next to him, and introduces himself as Nigel Tufnel from the Chicago Tribune. (Nigel Tufnel, btw, was the lead guitarist from the fictional rock group, Spinal Tap). The cop, Daniel Gunderson, isn’t happy about being “ambushed” in his local.
When Dean persists with his questioning despite Gunderson’s protests, Sam suddenly appears, drags Dean out of his chair and flings him across the room. “Hey buddy,” he yells, “why don't you leave the poor guy alone! The man's an officer! Why don’t ya show a little respect!” Dean glares for a few moments, then retreats out of the bar, tail between his legs.
Of course, Sam calling him “buddy”, like they’re strangers, is a clue that this is a "good hunter/bad hunter" set up because, after the show of solidarity and offering to buy a drink, he finds Gunderson much more amenable to a friendly chat.
Afterward, outside the bar, Dean complains about Sam’s perhaps overly enthusiastic performance:
DEAN
(sitting on Impala) Shoved me kinda hard in there, buddy boy.
SAM
I had to sell it, didn't I? It's method acting.
DEAN
Huh?
SAM
Never mind.
http://www.supernaturalwiki.com/1.10_Asylum_(transcript)
Maybe it’s just as well Dean isn’t familiar with method acting, since it involves drawing on one’s own personal emotional experience in order to perfectly identify with a role. Hence, Sam is implying he was using his own anger at Dean in order to authentically portray a character who is . . . angry with Dean.
Sam demonstrates a method actor perfectly identifying with his role.
Once again, it’s interesting to see Sam exhibiting knowledge of the Arts. It’s curious how often we see him showcasing knowledge and ability in the theatrical and fine arts in season 1, yet I don’t think I recall any occasion where he demonstrates any specific knowledge of Law. You’ve gotta wonder if he’d truly been pursuing the best scholarly discipline for his temperament :P
This concludes the first slice of this pie. Please click here to continue to #2. Please follow the "episode rewatch" tag to be notified when new updates are posted.
.