From MadCap's Couch - "Supernatural: Playthings"

Recap of the last episode, Ava be gone and it's very sad.

Not as sad as what happens to her later, but just wait...

There is a creepy inn in Connecticut that is being shut down and a pair of daughters from a family who have an upsetting amount of creepy dolls (read: any number higher than zero) are not too happy about it. As one of them plays with a dollhouse, they find one of the dolls has been knocked over and his head twisted in a full 180. When the girl comes down, she finds that the mover has fallen down the stairs and apparently twisted his head...one of the creepy dolls resting right by him...

Meanwhile, Sam and Dean have been trying to hunt down Ava but have found bupkis. Ellen has passed along a job for them, though, the house in Connecticut with the guy's head that spun 'round. Right 'round. Like a record, baby. Right 'round 'round 'round!

. . .sorry.

Sam is despondent about Ava's disappearance and fears of what might happen to her, but he seems more committed than ever to the job, something that sets off an alarm bell for Dean until he understands Sam's reasoning. The pair head to Connecticut and find a hoodoo charm on an urn meant to ward off evil. The boys manage to get rooms after getting a gay joke in (because 2007). They get some history on the house from a porter, saying that it used to be a spectacular place but the guests just haven't been coming like they used to.

Going over the previous victims, the boys believe that someone doesn't want the Inn to close and is using the hoodoo to take out anyone who is trying to do so. After finding another symbol on another urn, Sam and Dean fast-talk their way into checking out the various creepy dolls. The woman, Susan, introduces the boys to her two daughters - one being Tyler and the other being Maggie. She apparently has a broken doll that she insists she found in its current state, which Sam offers to fix. Maggie corrects her mother when she mentions that Tyler wouldn't be mad about her breaking her dolls, saying that "Grandma Rose" would be very upset. All the dolls in the house were hers.

Drunk Sam is funny...until he is not.

Rose is apparently still alive, but is very ill and isn't taking visitors.

As Sam and Dean get to work, Susan signs over the house to a new buyer, who tells her that the new buyers tend to demolish the house. While one of the girls plays, a doll that looks suspiciously like the lawyer sits on a bed in one of her dollhouses. He is apparently in one of the rooms at the inn and, when the girl looks back, the little doll has hung itself on the ceiling fan...which the lawyer proceeds to do in real life.

After talking to Susan, Dean comes back to his and Sam's room and finds Sam...drunk. Very, very drunk. Apparently, Sam isn't as put together as he let Dean believe at the beginning. Sam has come to believe that if he saves more people, he can change his destiny to come. Drunken Sam attempts to extract a promise out of Dean that he'll kill him if he goes dark side and Dean eventually relents in order to get Sam to go to bed alright.

The scene goes from comedic to heartbreaking with no warning, and Dean is clearly eaten up about it. He takes a walk in the night, finding the porter from earlier in what is definitely not ripping off The Shining with the bar scene. Luckily, he learns some of the history of the house and a picture of Rose from her childhood gets Dean's attention during the tour - including one of her with a very African American Nanny, wearing an amulet with the same hoodoo symbol. Someone who looked after Rose more than her own mother, the porter says...

The next morning, Sam needs the hair of the dog that bit him (Dean suggests a greasy pork sandwich served up in a dirty ash tray) and Dean gets him up to speed on what he learned the previous night. They resolve to talk to Rose, though Dean tells Sam to brush his teeth first. The pair break in to Susan's room after knocking to make sure she isn't there and then break into Rose's room further in. They find her in a wheelchair, staring out at a rainy windowpane in a near catatonic state. She doesn't respond to stimulus, having had a stroke and being immobile meaning that she can't be the one doing the rituals necessary. Susan finds them and kicks them both out.

Here's the twist, however...Maggie turns out to an imaginary friend of Tyler's. Maggie...is a ghost, who Tyler can see and hear but Susan cannot. Maggie doesn't want to leave...

Indeed, Maggie seems to be working her magic again. While Susan bids the porter goodbye and heads over to a swing set where a swing seems to be moving of its own accord, Tyler's playhouse shows the same thing happening...and Susan's car spontaneously comes to life all on its own as the playground seems to go berserk around her. Susan is saved at the last second by Sam, Susan finally accepting help from the brothers.

Susan tells them that Rose had a stroke about a month ago, right when the killings started. Rose wasn't doing hoodoo to harm anyone, but to protect them. When the boys tell Susan that she needs to get everyone else out of the house, including her daughters, Susan tells them that she only has the one daughter...

Meat Loaf just couldn't take it after "I Would Do Anything For Love (But I Won't Do That)" became a music video.

Maggie and Tyler are up in the attic, Maggie tormenting Rose with the knowledge that "she" is going to stay with her, the implication being that Tyler is going to be her prisoner.

Sam, Dean, and Susan head back into the rooms to find the creepy dolls smashed...which makes me want Maggie to actually win, but never mind. The boys press Susan for information, her remembering that Rose had a sister named Margaret, who drowned in their pool when she was a child.

Naturally, Tyler and Maggie are perched right over said pool and Maggie encouraging Tyler to leap to her doom. Maggie can't leave the house and doesn't want Tyler to leave. She doesn't want to be alone. The Winchesters rush to the rescue, but can't break in before Maggie chucks Tyler into the pool. Maggie even holds Tyler's head under the water...and then a voice calls her name, causing her to vanish. After breaking in, Sam hops into the pool and rescues Tyler from drowning to death.

We have a really pretentious moment where everything goes slow-mo.

Maggie appears in the attic to Rose, speaking to her. We only hear half a conversation, but it seems that Rose is giving herself up so that Maggie will let the others leave.

Susan and Tyler go up to get Rose, but find that she has passed away...

In the dénouement, we learn that Rose apparently had another stroke and this one killed her. Susan thanks the boys for their help after everything. Tyler confirms to the boys that Maggie is gone, she can't see her anymore. With that, Susan and Tyler say their goodbyes. The boys have some banter and Sam gets serious about what he told Dean while drunk off his ass, Sam reaffirming that Dean did promise him.

Thus, we get another somber end to an episode as Sam and Dean drive away...and, within the house we get a close up of a picture on the fireplace mantle - Rose and her hoodoo nanny. After some frankly nice tracking shots through the house, we see two sisters reunited in death, playing together now and forevermore...

Creepy House.

Playthings is, again, a pretty good episode. One of the few critiques I can give it is that, in spite of the repeated use of the motif with the doll imitating what is happening in real life with the murders, it's never something that really comes into play. Sam and Dean never see it and it never amounts to anything apart from being a psuedo-hint at the childish nature of Maggie in all this. It's very good imagery for us the viewer, perhaps even a bit of a misdirection given the nature of the hoodoo being used, but it doesn't really gel with the rest of the episode. Honestly, when I can say that the worst thing about an episode is a facet of its production design that doesn't really amount to anything, that's a good thing.

Side note: with the completion of this review, we are halfway through Season 2! Party!

Next time, we head to Milwaukee. A string of robbery-suicides are happening and Sam and Dean suspect something supernatural is behind it all. They are right, and they'll get a lot more than they bargained for when they face the power of the mandroid!

Nightshifter. Look for it soon!