Supernatural: Bloody Mary

Spoilers for the episode

The Story:

Sam’s feeling guilty and having nightmares over Jess, Dean’s had enough and Bloody Mary is killing people who feel it’s their fault someone died. Which turns out to be quite a few people in this town but is ultimately just a way for Sam to get over his guilt.

Thoughts:

Three girls are playing truth or dare and one of them gets dared to go into the bathroom and say Bloody Mary three times in front of the mirror. They also can’t decide on Bloody Mary’s origin story which comes back to be a little plot point later. They do decide that it doesn’t matter who she was though.

Nothing happens to the girl but her dad gets stalked in mirrors and reflective surfaces around their house by a woman and it’s not scary at all. I think it’s because she looks like every other scary ghost ever. The ghosts from the Ring and The Grudge come to mind. Pale skin and black hair.

In the bathroom the father’s eyes explode leaving a massive puddle of blood on the floor for his older daughter to find.

Instead of calling an ambulance or checking he’s actually dead she stands there screaming. Off to a good start.

Sam is having nightmares of Jess blaming him for her death. He says at least he’s getting sleep but Dean’s not happy. Despite that ‘no chick flick moments’ in the first episode Dean’s the one who keeps wanting to talk about Sam’s feelings.

The guy at the morgue won’t let them in to see the father’s body so Sam bribes him with Dean’s poker money. I’m wondering why they didn’t just use fake IDs again and be something official instead of students.

Officially it was a stroke but the morgue guy has never seen so much blood in a skull.

They turn up at the wake under dressed and question the sisters. Donna, the one who discovered the body and Lilly, the one who said Bloody Mary in the mirror. She thinks it’s her fault and it is but Sam and Dean are nice enough to tell her it isn’t.

They go up to the bathroom where the father died. They try to avoid saying Bloody Mary in front of the mirror while trying to figure out what happened and give exposition which makes the scene more entertaining than it would have been.

They’ve never found any evidence that Bloody Mary is a real thing because kids play it all over the country and no one dies. So they theorize this is where the legend started and so it only happens here.

Donna’s friend Charlie catches them in the bathroom and threatens to scream if they don’t tell her what they’re doing. They tell her they’re there to help and she accepts that answer. But she’s also got really bad judgment as she proves later in the episode so I don’t mind her just trusting them. It’s in character.

They go to the library where the computers are out of order so they can’t google stuff. The problem is they don’t even know what the true story is. She could be a mutilated bride or a woman who committed suicide.

Then it’s back to Charlie talking on the phone to her friend Jill who decides to prank Charlie (because apparently she’s that gullible) by saying the name in the mirror and then screaming. Jill dies after they hang up.

Meanwhile Dean’s reaching a whole new level of frustration with the books when Sam wakes up from another Jess nightmare. Charlie calls and tells them what happened to Jill.

She gets them into Jill’s room and they find a name on the back of the mirror of a boy killed in a hit and run. They realise Jill did it and so they find the mother’s name on the back of the mirror where the father died. Apparently she died of an overdose but now they think the father had something to do with it. Although later they find out that you only have to feel guilty about the death for Bloody Mary to kill you. So he may just have felt guilty and not actually have killed her.

Folklore says that mirrors reveal your lies and secrets. They reflect your soul that’s why it’s bad to break them. They can also capture a spirit and so people cover them up when someone dies.

They find a story about a woman called Mary Worthington who was murdered and had her eyes cut out but it was far away so off they go.

The cop they interview shows them a picture of Mary’s dead body in front of a mirror where she was trying to spell her murderer’s name in her own blood on the mirror.

The Cop’s retired and he says he shouldn’t have the file which means he shouldn’t be showing it to them. They say they’re reporters so I don’t know why he trusts them.

Turns out she was cremated but the mirror was sold and is currently in the town where people are dying.

Meanwhile Charlie is demonstrating her bad judgment and trying to convince Donna that it’s Bloody Mary that’s killing people. I don’t think she’s going to say the name into the mirror she’s got enough problems at the moment. You don’t need to convince her.

Donna’s not in the mood for crazy so she says it to the mirror and nothing happens. Until Charlie is sitting in class and gets her little mirror out and sees the spirit behind her. Instead of asking to be excused from class she screams her head off and chucks a chair through the window then runs off. How is that helpful?

The brothers are trying to find the mirror when Charlie calls them. So they take her to the motel and put her in the dark.

Her secret is that her abusive boyfriend threatened to kill himself if she left him and she told him to go ahead. They promise her they won’t let her die and leave her at the motel.

They plan to smash the mirror but Sam thinks Bloody Mary needs to be in it when they do so he plans to summon her. Dean’s had enough of the self pity and tells him he’s got to stop blaming himself. He should blame the thing that killed her or to take a swing at him for dragging Sam away form her.

Sam’s determined to do it and says if they don’t Charlie will die. So at least it becomes more about saving someone than self pity.

They break in to the shop and Sam summons her but the police show up and Dean goes to stall them but ends up taking them out when it doesn’t look like they are going to believe he’s the adopted son of the owners.

Meanwhile Sam’s reflection starts to do things he’s not doing which is a clue that’s she’s in the mirror and he should smash it. He probably can’t move though because he’s got blood running down his face and he doesn’t try to smash it.

Dean smashes it which releases her and she comes crawling out. This really reminds me of when the ghost in the Ring comes out of the TV. I think it’s the way she moves.

They both start dying but Dean grabs a mirror and makes her look at her own reflection. She blames herself for all those murders and kills herself.

They say goodbye to Charlie who if she isn’t suspended from school is really lucky and at best she’s alienated herself from her friends.

Sam’s secret was he had dreams about Jess dying days before she did and he did nothing about it because he wanted to be normal. Dean wants to know his secret but Sam won’t tell. That does make it a little bit your fault especially when you know weird stuff goes on. You could have at least done research.

As they’re driving away Sam sees Jess’s ghost on the street then she disappears. Who knows if he’s going crazy or if she’s actually appearing to him. Who cares?

I want to know why there aren’t a whole lot of cops looking for the guy that broke into the shop and took out two police officers. I would have thought Dean would have to hide considering they saw him really clearly. But they didn’t have to hide from the FBI when the plane went down so I’m guessing they’re just lucky. Although that luck does run out at some point because I can remember a whole sub plot about them being hunted by the police that went on for a while.

I liked this episode and it feels like we’ve got somewhere with Sam dealing with Jess’s death. I know it’s the big problem of the season and I think it continues into season two as well but this might be the last of Sam feeling sorry for himself. It feels like an end to that little subplot but I can’t remember.

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