Supernatural, “Into the Mystic,” was written by Robbie Thompson and directed by the always wonderful John Badham. The episode features a Banshee for the first time. The effects team does a spectacular job with her, and it’s terrific to see a monster-of-the-week episode that really returns to the roots of the show. Atlin Mitchell is the person behind the Banshee. The episode also features guest star Dee Wallace as Mildred, the retired Patsy Cline tribute band singer. She follows in the steps of other great horror actors like Linda Blair. Wallace starred in
Cujo and Robert Singer produced the movie. She clearly really enjoyed the role, and it also felt like a nice tribute to the many mature fans of the show.
The episode opens with a classic motw scene. Dad (Brett Alexander Davidson) has “Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow” playing when Mom (Karyn Mott) comes home. Baby starts to cry just as Dad starts to hear mysterious screaming. Dad is attacked and killed by Banshee, but Mom lives long enough to cast a spell to save the baby! And of course, the theme of love will also play an important role thematically throughout the episode.
Cut to present day and Sam (Jared Padalecki) is having trouble sleeping. Dean (Jensen Ackles) finds him in the kitchen, dressed and cleaning weapons when he gets up. Dean has just the cure for Sam’s insomnia – a locked room murder! It’s a case and it’s only 15 minutes away from them. The opening scene is nicely bookended by the last scene in the episode when we see that Dean is now the one suffering from insomnia.
Sam is worried about Cas (Misha Collins) and the Darkness, but Dean assures him that Cas will be fine and they have no leads on Amara anyway. Cut to Casifer feeding the ducks in a park. He’s spotted by an angel (Anthony Shim) whom he lures into the woods. Nithael is going to try to kill him, but Casifer insists he’s a changed angel – and besides, he’s their only hope to defeat the Darkness! Nithael doesn’t believe him so Casifer snap-explodes him, remarking, “that’s the problem with you rank and file angels. No vision.” Loving Collins’s Lucifer so far, especially that grin…
The case happens to be at a retirement facility. Dean thinks it’s awesome and sees the attraction, but Sam comments that they’d be unlikely to live long enough to need one. The two investigate and find out that the victim, Harold had lots of enemies. I loved Sam finding the Viagra that Harold had stolen and Dean describing it as “a dick move” – oh Dean! And then he sneaks a bottle into his own pocket! The two determine that the most likely candidate for the murder is the vengeful ghost of Jake Townsend. Harold had been stealing Jake’s pension checks.
We get a nice, classic grave-digging scene. For once, the hole doesn’t look ridiculously square either! I’m continuing to like how the show is attempting to answer a lot of fan pet peeves. Dean jumps out of the hole to sit on our old friend, the green cooler. He’s disappointed that Sam thinks they don’t get a retirement. Sam points out that Dean was always the one who wanted to “go out in a blaze of glory,” preferably with Bon Jovi blaring!
Dean asks if he’s ok, and Sam actually admits that he’s not and goes on to explain that being in the cage with Lucifer brought up a lot of stuff. He’s not ready to talk about it – yet. We get that in the final scene between the two brothers. Dean lets it go… for now. Dean is clearly just enjoying being on a job, but Sam just wants to go home.
Naturally, the job isn’t done. After Arthur (Jonathan Potts) is killed, the two return and interview the only witness – Mildred. She clearly has the hots for Dean. I loved when Arthur introduced her to him initially, how she oogled him and then won’t let go of his hand in this scene. Sam notices the janitor, Marlene – who is of course, really Eileen (Shoshannah Stern) – the baby from the first scene. I loved Stern from
Jericho, so it was terrific to see her here.
She tells Sam that she wasn’t working when the deaths occurred. Sam tries to thank her, but his sign language is rusty. He took it while at Stanford – and this is also a nice bit of fan service. Dean is excited that it might be zombies – so they can “get their Walking Dead on!” All Eileen lip reads from Dean is “it’s feeding time,” so she thinks they are the Banshees.
The brothers determine that they are actually hunting a banshee, and a malevolent one at that. They only prey on the vulnerable – Harold had a hip replacement and Arthur had a broken heart from his marriage breaking up. Dean heads back to the bunker for the gold blades they’ll need to kill it.
Dean finds “Cas” at the bunker tearing up the file room looking for lore on the Darkness. I loved watching Collins settle Casifer into being Cas, complete with dropping his voice. It’s just a subtly exaggerated Castiel because, of course, Lucifer couldn’t help but make fun of him.
Dean admits to Cas that he’s had two chances to kill Amara and wasn’t able to. Casifer suggests it’s because they are connected by the Mark, and Dean admits that he’s attracted to her. He also admits that it scares him because he’s not sure that he can resist it. ‘Cas’ puts his hand reassuringly on Dean’s shoulder, telling him it’s a good thing, because they can use it to draw Amara out. As Dean leaves, Casifer smiles to himself. He’s clearly planning on using Dean as bait. Which makes a nice parallel when Dean is upset about using Mildred as bait.
Sam admits to Mildred that they aren’t FBI, and she’s not surprised – they’re too cute to be FBI! He’s also determined that she’s likely to be next because she has a heart condition. She tips him off that Marlene isn’t who she says she is.
Marlene traps Sam in the laundry room with a sigil. He convinces her that he’s not the monster, we learn that she was the baby in the crib, and we learn that her mother’s father was one of the Men of Letters – she’s a Legacy just like Sam and Dean! I’d love to see her become a recurring character! She was rescued by a hunter, Lilian, who raised her until she died of cancer when Eileen was 16. She’s hunted on her own ever since.
There’s an even better scene between Eileen and Sam when he tells her that revenge isn’t all it’s cracked up to be. She tells him that she never met her family, they’re just people in photographs – but they’re her family. Sam tells her he understands, and that is underscored by the picture of Mary with the boys we see in him keepsake box at the end of the episode. Eileen tells him that her mother was a lawyer, so maybe she’ll follow in her footsteps, and Sam tells her about studying at Stanford until Dean came to get him so they could get their own revenge. Sam tells her that Dean’s had his back every step of the way. Even when he’d let Dean down. Again, nice parallels – though the law one was maybe a bit heavy handed. It also gives Sam a chance to look back on his own history and maybe gain a little perspective.
Meanwhile, Dean shares a moment with Mildred when she drags him off to watch the sunset with her. She tells him it’s almost as gorgeous as he is. Then she asks him when the last time was he stopped to just watch the sunset and appreciate it’s beauty – not just waiting for something to go bump in the night. It’s pretty obvious from his reaction that the answer is probably never.
She tells him about being in the Patsy Cline tribute band. He asks her if she ever misses being on the road, and she tells him that she had her fun, made people happy, and then had enough. It’s a nice parallel to Dean’s own nomadic life. She tells him the secret to a long and happy life is to follow his heart. I would suggest that Dean has been doing this his whole life already – he’s been happy hunting things and saving people – but most importantly following his brother, who really is his heart. The scene ends with Mildred making a pass at Dean….
There were lots of funny moments of Mildred drooling over the boys – telling Eileen that she could have Sam because she had dibs on Dean. I also loved Dean admitting to a crush on Blanche from the Golden Girls – of course, because she was the over-sexed one! Sam jumps in to say he preferred Sophia – the oldest! And again, of course, because this fits right in with the ongoing gag of Sam and older women.
Naturally, when the Banshee comes, it goes for Dean. He’s the vulnerable one because of his connection to Amara. Is he also physically weakened in some way? I’d point to him being out of breath digging – though that could also just be big brother fobbing the work off on little brother. Sam is knocked out, Mildred works the sigil to trap the Banshee and Eileen is left to make the kill.
Eileen tells Sam afterward that it just felt like any other kill. She’s going to keep hunting. Mildred breaks it to Dean that it couldn’t work out between them because she can tell when someone is pining for someone else. Dean is pining for Amara? Dean insists that he’s “single and ready to mingle.” We get one more hilarious shot of Mildred enjoying watching the boys walk away. Of course, really, their coats were too long to make that realistic…
The brothers talk over beers back at the bunker. Dean remarks that there was something off about Cas – Gee, Dean, ya think?!? Sam remarks – ironically – that being close to Lucifer was probably hard on Cas too. Sam tells Dean about Lucifer bringing up Sam’s biggest failures. He tells Dean that he should have looked harder for Dean when he was in Purgatory. He admits that he’s never forgiven himself over it. Which is nice, but we still never get an explanation of the why – though he does say he should have looked harder NOT that he didn’t look at all. Dean in turn tells him it’s ancient history and he’s forgiven Sam. Dean tells him that all that’s ever mattered is that they’re together.
Sam decides that he’ll be able to sleep. As Sam leaves the kitchen, he finally stops to wonder why the Banshee went after Dean. Dean puts him off, saying the Banshee was going for Mildred, saw Dean’s gold blade and then attacked him in self defense. But of course, that doesn’t explain why Dean heard it and Mildred didn’t…
We get a quick look inside Sam’s keepsake box as he puts in the flyer for the retirement home. It’s a nice nod to his lightened conscience and his hope now for a future. Was that a glimpse of Dean’s amulet in that box? It doesn’t look quite right, but it would be some of the best fan service ever it was because it would mean that Sam really did retrieve the amulet out of the trash when Dean threw it there at the end of “Dark Side of the Moon.”
I'm liking how the myth arc is playing out this season. It feels like it has some weight and some legs. What did you think of the episode? Favorite scene? Line? Let me know your thoughts in the comments below!
About the Author - Lisa Macklem
I do interviews and write articles for the site in addition to reviewing a number of shows, including Supernatural, Arrow, Agents of Shield, Agent Carter, The Walking Dead, Game of Thrones, The X-Files, Defiance, Bitten, Killjoys, and a few others! I'm active on the Con scene when I have the time. When I'm not writing about television shows, I'm often writing about entertainment and media law in my capacity as a legal scholar. I also work in theatre when the opportunity arises. I'm an avid runner and rider, currently training in dressage.
