From MadCap's Couch - Supernatural: "Long-Distance Call"

I fear how many slash fics have been written about this screenshot alone...

I like how this episode isn't a gigantic and terrible Ghost Hunters-knockoff and we're back to true form.

...I might still be a bit salty from last week.

The recap covers a lot of ground from the fallout from John's death, and our reminder of Dean's deal, Sam putting the screws to the Crossroads Demon, and Ruby mentioning Lilith as Sam's chief opponent in Who Wants To Be the Leader of the Demon Army-aire?.

After, we cut to a man downing booze on a dark and stormy night when his phone rings. The caller ID shows "SHA33". Picking it up, he is called 'Ned' by the woman on the other end of the line, 'Linda'. The two apparently are having an affair, something that Ned is reluctant to be involved in in spite of Linda begging him to come to her. She continues to call him in spite of his rebuttals, and he rips the phone out of the wall... and it continues to ring. Terrified and broken down, he pulls a gun out of his desk and presses it to his chin... a shot to the outside of the house shows the flash and we cut back to the phone splattered with blood, still ringing...

We then cut over to Sam and Dean, where they've been speaking to just about everyone they can think of to try and find a way to break Dean's deal. Bobby has presented the boys with a job in Ohio - the man we saw blow off his own head in the teaser. This ends up leading into an argument where Dean reveals that Ruby told him that she can't save him and cuts off Sam's offense at that by reminding him of the secrets he's been keeping as well - namely Lilith being after him.

The boys question the wife, learning that his phone was ripped out of the wall for reasons unknown. Sam scrolls through the caller history, finding the SHA33 number. When asked, the wife eventually relents and admits that her husband had been acting strangely. One morning, she'd woken up to hearing her husband talking to someone on the phone and, when she picked up the other line, there was no one on the other end. The boys dig into the records, finding Linda was Ned's highschool sweetheart and died in a car wreck years ago that Ned survived.

"What do you mean that you're hear to ask about my car's extended warranty?"

Sam has also researched the number SHA33 - a number from over a century ago. Heading over to the phone company, they are led down into the frankly filthy and fly-ridden basement by a telephone company employee named Clark Adams and have an awkward moment with an employee by the name of Stewie involving Busty Asian Beauties... and he runs the number for them, finding where it's been going to, even if he can't figure out where it's coming from. Ten houses that got calls from that number.

Sam heads out to investigate, finding a normal home... and a young woman named Lanie who has figured out that he isn't who he says he is and she's experiencing something she doesn't fully understand. Sam reaches her, and she tells him about her mother calling the house... her mother who has been dead for three years. Dean has likewise come up with some creepy things... and gets an even creepier thing when his phone rings and he hears none other than John Winchester on the other line.

At the motel, Dean wants to believe that it's really John, but Sam is skeptical. After some investigating, Sam has turned up with nothing while Dean has found something... a museum to Thomas Edison including a "Spirit Phone", which Edison made with the intention of communicating with the dead. The boys investigate it, but find no EMF on it. It is, unfortunately, the best lead that they have. Later that night, Dean's phone rings with the SHA33 caller ID and John is on the other end... and John chastises Dean for selling his soul to save Sam. Luckily, John has a way out... the demon who holds Dean's contract is there in town.

At her home, Lanie gets an instant message from SHA33... her mother, or so she has thought. Her mother has apparently asked her to come and see her. When she mentions she visited her grave earlier, her mother replies that that isn't what she means. Lanie insists that she's scared... and her webcam activates, showing Lanie in her room and her mother at her back. Of course, when she turns around, no one is there... she backs away from the computer after shutting it off, but text still appears on the screen "Come to me" over and over and over again...

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The next morning, Dean is going over reports of demonic omens in places that they've been, something that Sam is skeptical about seeing as he doesn't remember any omens in their travels. John's also given Dean an exorcism that can supposedly kill a demon. Sam has checked it out and so has Bobby and while it is an exorcism, there's no evidence that it can kill a demon. Sam thinks there's something more to this, while Dean just wants to believe that 'John' is right and the demon is here to be taken out. This leads to an argument between the two of them, Sam ending it by begging Dean to not do anything until he comes back. He leaves to go check on Lanie.

Lanie tells Sam about what happened last night, telling her about the encounter last night and adds onto it by saying that her mother wanted her to take all of her father's sleeping pills. Downstairs, Lanie's brother Simon's toy phone rings as their mother starts talking to him. Of course, the boy wants to see his mother again...

When Lanie mentions the phrase "come to me" being said by her mother, Sam's putting two and two together as he realizes what it is.

Dean, meanwhile, has not followed Sam's wishes and has cowboyed up to go after the demon. As Lanie realizes that Simon has gone missing, Dean prepares. As Simon walks into traffic, Dean preps a Devil's Trap and holy water. Sam saves Simon at the last second and then calls up Dean, telling him that the creature they're hunting is a crocotta, a beast that lures people away from their loved ones and devours their soul. They live in filth, Dean reminding Sam about the basement at the phone company. Sam, thinking that it's Stewie, begins to tail him and even corners him... only for Clark to show up, subdue Sam with a baseball bat and then take out Stewie.

"Hey, have I got something in my teeth?"

A trapped Sam and Stewie are now at the mercy of Clark, who kills the latter. Clark drains the soul out of Stewie with a creepy angler fish-esque mouth beforehand, Sam realizing that the 'Dean' he spoke to was Clark, tricking him. Using the phone network, Clark reaches out to someone - the man answering to hear his dead daughter on the other end. 'She' tells him who killed her, directing him to his house... the house where Dean was seen at only a few short scenes ago.

Clark monologues to Sam about how he managed to find Dean's number, then Sam's, then John's, and was able to use all of that to mimic John perfectly to fool Dean. Everyone's just so interconnected now, and there's so much of everyone just floating around in the ether for the crocotta to use. While Sam is adamant that Dean won't kill an innocent man, Clark taunts him with the knowledge that the man will kill Dean.

Said man busts into his house with a shotgun and Dean dodges his shot and takes after him as he reloads, leading to the two getting into a punch up that ends with Dean kicking the man down onto the floor and into a Devil's Trap.

Clark needs a breath mint. Badly.

Sam busts free and fights Clark, mirroring Dean's fight with the man. As Dean attempts an exorcism, he's stopped in his tracks as the man steps out of the Devil's Trap... leading to a further tussle. Sam kills Clark by impaling him on a hook in a cork board. Dean finally manages to convince the man that he did not murder his daughter, though the man very pointedly asks him why he's even there. Dean... doesn't know.

At the motel once more, Sam and Dean reconcile. Dean admits that he wanted to believe so badly that there was a way out. He admits to Sam that he's scared, really scared of going to Hell, and that he was willing to believe everything. Sam tells Dean there's nothing wrong with hope, but Dean knows he can't hope... the only person that can get him out of this is him.

And Sam adds, "And me.", which Dean chides him for trying to cut the tension. Then, Dean pulls out two beers and the boys settle in to watch the TV as the episode ends.

Long-Distance Call is a pretty alright episode. Nothing earth-shattering, just a good monster of the week episode that ties into the struggles that one or both of the boys is having - in this case, Dean and his fears about his upcoming dance in the lake of fire and brimstone.

The commentary on modern communication that is only lightly touched upon by the crocotta is something that someone more talented than I could probably write an entire book on. Needless to say, I think he has some really good points about people being more disconnected than ever because of the connections of technology... he wrote without an ounce of irony on his blog on the internet.

Getting Jeffrey Dean Morgan back, even for a few lines, made the episode insofar as Dean's reactions. While they could have easily just had him not be heard on the other end - perhaps, too, giving us the feeling of Dean being the only one being able to hear him and tying into his blind faith in John - they did actually take the time to dub his lines in, and I think it does help us to empathize with Dean's feelings in the episode a lot more. As much as he still loves and still wants to believe in his father, Dean knows that John isn't coming to his rescue with some magical solution to all of this. It's heartbreaking, but it drives him to work to get the job done as it does Sam.

Two brothers, facing an impossible challenge before them.

That's really all there is for me to say about this one. I'm a little confused at how the crocotta's powers work given some of the things we see in the episode (in particular Lanie seeing the illusion of her mother in the webcam view) and how it can consume souls when later seasons do help to clarify what exactly a soul in within the Supernaturalverse, but I can honestly look past that and just enjoy the entertainment value. A good monster of the week as we push toward the finale.

And push towards it we shall, but with one more stop along the way. Someone is stealing organs, a plot that goes back two centuries and has led to one man living forever... and may be Dean's way out of his demon deal...

Time Is On My Side...

Be there!