What do you get when you cross Supernatural with Fargo; one heck of a good time don’tcha know!! Tonight we follow Sheriff Jody Mills at an annual Sheriff’s retreat in Hibbing, Minnesota where she befriends a fellow sheriff, Donna Hanscum, who is way to happy to be there. It’s Cagney and Lacey: monster hunters, trying to solve a series of animal attacks in town that seems oddly familiar to Sheriff Mills.
The Good
- Brianna Buckmaster who plays the buddy Sheriff Donna Hanscum, is a real hoot to watch. Her deep Minnesotan accent and lingo makes her character likeable. She reminds me Frances McDormand in Fargo; polite but a real firecracker when provoked.
- Donna’s use of phrases are hysterical, “what the H-E-Double Hockey Sticks”, “heck no”, “ate the whole kit and caboodle, that’s for darn sure”, “okey dokey”, and “what the cuss?” My favorite is “stuff you Dean”, when Dean tells her to stand back and let Sam and him kill the vampires. Yes, vampires invaded the town of Hibbing.
- The chemistry between Jody’s cynical realistic attitude and Donna’s pleasant overly cheerful side is magical and fun. Even though their outlook toward life is different, they compliment each other in other ways.
- It’s nice to see vampires coming back in this episode
- Jody calls the Winchester for monster advice and instead of just giving her information they take a road trip to Minnesota. Donna immediately recognizes them, as FBI Agent Criss, and Agent Frehley, when they were undercover at a fat-loss spa hunting a fat sucking demon
- Having Sheriff Jody Mills back is refreshing. She is like a mother to the Winchesters, and I think the brothers need that now more than ever. There’s a touching moment where she offers to make Dean a bowl of chowder and listen to whatever he has to say. She even calls him “kiddo”. A word that a mom would say to their child as a loving gesture.
- The local sheriff, Sheriff Cuse, is a vampire, in which his former nest follows him to Hibbing to force him back into the nest again. The new nest is led by a nineteen year old vampire, Starr, in which Sheriff Cuse turned quite awhile back.
- Toward the end of the episode, Starr and her nest capture the Winchesters, Jody and Donna, and preparing to eat them, when Dean stops them and uses a reference to the Circle of Life motto in the Lion King. Dean is able to get free and start killing the vamps. Starr head towards Dean, but Donna uses a machete to lop off her head and says, “Hakuna Matata Lady”. AWESOME!!!!!
- It is good for a change to see Dean and Sam take the sideline in this one. They did help find the vampires, but it is the female buddy cop dynamics of the two female sheriffs that takes center stage. They make a great team.
The Bad
- I think it is great that vampires are the monsters of the week, but their presence is not all impressive. I miss the heavy hitters like the Leviathans, Mother of all monsters, even the shape shifters. The head vampire, Starr is a weak character and I didn’t like that she is free living hippie with daddy issues.
- What’s with the missing belts from the victims? If you want to take something valuable from a victim, shoes would make more sense, maybe their wallets for cash.
This episode definitely had some good moments and some not so good moments. All in all I liked this one. Kim Rhodes who plays Sheriff Jody Mills is a wonderful actress that brings humor, warmth, realism, and likeability to her character. I hope her counterpart Sheriff Donna Hanscum comes back in future episodes, now that she knows about the monsters. They make a great duo. Next week is the midseason finale; it looks like the old Dean is returning, and not in a good way.
