From MadCap's Couch - "Supernatural: Route 666"

"I heaaaar you knockin', but you can't come in!"

By Rob Benedict's fetching beard, I don't wanna do this one.

This is an episode that, like Bugs, is literally so bad that the show jokes about how bad it is later on. This episode is basically Christine...if the car were racist and the movie sucked.
I'll go ahead and preface my comments with the fact that I'm a white guy who was born in the 90's. I wasn't there for the 1960's, but I'm given to understand that it was a very turbulent time for race relations in the United States in particular in what is definitely not a very uncomfortable parallel to current events at the time I'm writing this in late August-early September. When I say "racist truck", it's a joke about...well, the stupidity of the main villain, not what led to the creation of the villain. Things like what happens in the episode did actually happen in real life and it's really, really uncomfortable and disturbing...so I'm glad they did take a stab at it. However...it's not exactly subtle or nuanced.

Ironically, in Bugs, Supernatural was able to show at least some respect to the Native American community. Not much, admittedly, but at least they avoided stereotypes that weren't the curse on the land. Will Route 666 be able to highlight something terrible from America's past without devolving into preachiness and stereotyping out the wazoo?

...sort of, but it comes at the cost of a dumb plot that really doesn't make any sense. Also, again...racist truck.

After the customary recap, an African American man is traveling along Route 6 when his radio starts to malfunction and a large truck seemingly comes out of nowhere and tries to run him off the road before suddenly disappearing...and appearing at the other end of the road and causing him to crash before disappearing into the night...literally, in fact.

Catching up with Sam and Dean, Dean gets a call from "an old friend" whose father was just killed. They're heading to Missouri, Dean says, saying that she would have never have called if she hadn't needed the help. Sam grills Dean about her, finding out that her name is Cassie and that she and Dean went out for a couple of weeks...and Sam finds out that not only did Dean date her for more than one night, but that Dean told her everything about what they did.

Needless to say, given that he lied to Jessica for a year and a half about the family business, Sam is quite pissed.

I just keep thinking..."God, how did this make it to air?"

At a newspaper, Cassie and her editor are getting the business from the Mayor when Dean and Sam walk in. Megalyn Echikunwoke (and I'm glad I don't have to try to pronounce that) plays Cassie, and there is instantly apparent that some connection exists between her and Dean. She has a look of awe and regret and really has a good chemistry with Jensen Ackles in what is one of the few good points of the episode.

The very, very few.

We also find out, in passing dialogue, that another black man had been killed on that same stretch of road in the same manner as Cassie's father  - Martin - within the last three weeks. The Mayor thinks it's a coincidence, or at least vehemently insists that it is. Cassie isn't so sure, hence the call to Dean. She explains to the brothers the state her father's car was found in - beat up as though something big had hit it - and that Martin had mentioned seeing a black truck for a time before he died. To further the connections, the first man that was killed was a friend of Cassie's father.

He died the same way - big dent, no tracks to the car.

Dean has a bit of "I told you so" given how Cassie originally called him insane. Cassie's mother, Mrs. Robinson comes in and Cassie fumbles through an explanation. In the swamp, Cassie's editor Jimmy is killed. The next morning, Cassie and the Brothers Winchester come to the crime scene and speak to Mayor Todd...who still doesn't want to close this stretch of road, saying it's the only way in and out of town. He takes offense at the implication that he's racist, telling Cassie to "ask [her] mother" why he isn't.

Back at the motel, Sam tries to convince Dean to go deal with the unresolved feelings he clearly has for Cassie (and vice-versa). Dean, because he's Dean, deflects. The two head out to speak to some of Jimmy's friends and find out there was a string of deaths in the 60's - all black men - all committed by someone in a big, black truck. Dean likens it to the Flying Dutchman...meaning that, yes, we have a haunted truck.

...so like the Flying Dutchman, but stupid.

That night, Dean goes over to Cassie's. They talk briefly about the current events, then argue, then bang to "She Brings Me Love" by Bad Company.

This goes on a for a while...

...no, really. We have our first honest to God sex scene in Supernatural that has nothing to do with Sam getting molested in a car by the woman in white.

...No, seriously. That happened. Remember?

Also, while her mother is upstairs, no less. Damn!

I kid, but again, it's a catharsis that both of them need given their past relationship issues and working them out. I personally would have waited until after dealing with the racist ghost truck, but saying the words "racist ghost truck" have been known to kill the libido for months, so I understand why they didn't.

Either after this or during (I'm not sure which, the pacing is odd), Mayor Todd gets run over by the Ghost Truck. I hope the sex was good, you guys! To be fair, it probably was, since neither of them are wearing anything after. In the afterglow, the two discuss potentially mending their relationship...though given that we have fourteen seasons after this and Cassie hasn't been seen or heard from since this one...you know how that's gonna go.

Sam is already at the crime scene and notes that Mayor Todd wasn't black and wasn't on the same stretch of road where the others were killed. A little poking around reveals that the land that the Mayor was killed on used to belong to the Dorian family, who owned pretty much the entire town. One of the family, Cyrus, went missing in April of 1963. He was investigated, but never solved. Todd tore down the Dorian house when he bought the place...and the first killing was the very next day.
That night, Cassie gets tormented in her house by the ghost truck...which doesn't run through the house despite it clearly being able to interact with physical objects because of budget. Oh, wait, I need an in-universe reason...uh...

...uh...

...erm...

...Dean says that whoever's in control of the truck wants her afraid before she dies...which really isn't that consistent with what we've seen. Nor does it make any sense...but whatever.

Sam and Dean arrive and apparently their presence scared the truck off. Cassie's mother is finally forced to reveal the truth: Cyrus attempted to kill Cyrus' father for dating her mother, and in a struggle, Martin killed Cyrus. Some of his friends helped him hide the body in the swamp.

Also, when Cassie's parents were going to get married, the church where they were going to get hitched was burned to the ground...with a children's choir inside.

Todd was a deputy at the time, investigating the disappearance of Cyrus...and he found out the truth and did nothing, because he knew who Cyrus was.

Like Sam, I miss conversations that don't begin with "This killer truck..."

Sam and Dean work out what they need to do - find the truck and salt and burn the body. Cassie and Dean have some romantic banter and kiss before they leave, Sam quietly resisting the urge to tell them they look like two walruses fighting over a grape.
In what is the most bizarre gaffe the show has made since the midnight and then suddenly dawn without a transition in Bugs, Sam and Dean are somehow able to dredge up the ghost truck's physical form without having actually gone into the lake to attach the chain to it. I know this, because neither Sam nor Dean looks like they have a single droplet of moisture on them. Grabbing the salt and the gasoline, the boys crack open the truck to find Cyrus Dorian...extra mummified.

They salt, they burn, and it's all over...except we have another eight minutes in the episode.

The Ghost Truck is back, and burning the body apparently did nothing. Dean gets into the Impala and drives off to distract the truck, telling Sam to figure out a way to burn the actual truck. Sam checks a map and cross-references things while Dean has an admittedly tense chase scene with the truck. Sam talks Dean through the directions, telling him eventually to stop after a turn at seven tenths of a mile. Dean stops, turning around, and the Truck appears.

After a second, it charges him...and it disintegrates before hitting. Dean is at the site of the church that was burned down. Sam mentions that evil spirits crossing over hollowed ground are destroyed...which is funny when you think back to Hook Man and to several future events that had evil spirits in an actual intact church, but never mind.

In the morning, Dean and Cassie close the book on their relationship with a kiss, and Sam and Dean drive off in the Impala.

"You ready to get the hell out of this episode, Sammy?"
"Hell yes..."

Route 666 is, on paper, fine. In practice, it's kind of a mess. The race relations part is handled semi-okay, without falling into stereotypes. The ghost truck is...inconsistent with how spirits in Supernatural have been before or since. Luckily, besides rightfully mocking this episode later on, Route 666 and it's contents are never mentioned again and that is definitely for the best. Besides some good performances in a sort of but not really romance subplot by Jensen Ackles and Megalyn Echikunwoke, allowing us to see a new facet of Dean's personality that isn't oft touched upon despite him being full on Tony Stark as far as his heterosexuality goes...this is just not good.

I'm happy to say the quality does go up a bit more from here. There are no more Bugs or Route 666 -esque episodes in Season 1. Does that mean they're all good? Find out next time, as Sam and Dean find themselves in...a Nightmare.

Supernatural is the property of the CW and Warner Brothers.

For the latest from the MadCapMunchkin, be sure to follow him on Twitter @MadCapMunchkin.