*I apologize in advance for the low quality/darkness of some pictures. This is an older season.*
When looking up what most people saw as the scariest Supernatural episodes, one episode that kept coming up was the 6th episode of Season 2, No Exit. There are many things I love about this episode, but for this review I am going to focus on the horror components. To start off, here’s a screencap from one of the scariest parts of the episode:
There’s nothing to analyze about this scene. I just thought I’d set the mood.
While the first two seasons of Supernatural have more of a horror movie feel to them than others, this episode stands out especially, as it is full of classic horror film components. The shot choices, the overall tone of the episode, and the choice to make the antagonist the ghost of America’s first serial killer are all the components that contribute to the horror movie feel.
As both a hero and victim of this episode, Jo Harvelle represents the “girl in a horror movie” trope and punches it right in the face. In horror films, there’s the trope of the blonde girl always being the helpless victim. If ever there were to be a damsel in distress in a classic horror film, you can almost always assume it will be the attractive blonde girl of the group. The other female character is “the smart brunette” or “the last girl”. This is the attractive brunette girl who lasts until the end of the film because she’s the whole package of unrealistically tough and smart. Jo looks the part of the helpless blonde and even gets kidnapped. However, she has the brains and tough nature of the smart brunette. Yet her character does not play to the bland 2-d writing of either trope. By representing both but not falling to their stereotypes, her presence in the episode crushes the need to include a female in a horror film simply to fill out an unnecessary role. In this episode, she is strong and capable- being able to solve the case and fight back against Holmes’ ghost.
Yet she is also inexperienced (taking foolish risks when she is unprepared) and scared (she starts to cry when she realizes she is trapped before quickly pulling herself together to assess the situation). She is a real and multidimensional character.
At some point, when Jo is trapped, we see Holmes’ beard and mouth through the slit in the wall (Jo’s POV). He is absolutely repulsive, heavy breathing, and whispering “so pretty, so beautiful” as his dirty hand starts to caress her face, neck, and arm.
She fights back with her knife and yells at him but is still visibly shaken and even more so when he turns violent and attacks her right before Sam and Dean show up. They rescue her, and she immediately wants to “get the hell out of here” but Dean tells her that they need her as bait. We suddenly cut to her there, alone, being used as bait- no arguing, no objecting. She is terrified of this disgusting ghost- yet she’s willing to do what needs to be done to save more girls. It’s a scene that says so much about her, and about the Winchesters as well, as, unbeknownst to Sam, Dean, or Jo, this is exactly how John Winchester got Jo’s father killed.
The theme of the episode is ever present throughout it; even in the title of the episode: No Exit. The feeling of being trapped. Because it’s discovered that Holmes is somewhere in the walls of the apartment building, there are many scenes of the characters within confined spaces. Jo and Dean both search for Holmes inside the walls where Jo then separates from Dean to go on alone. She is later kidnapped and taken to Holmes’ hideout, where she is trapped in a coffin-like space. When Dean and Sam search for her, they are crawling in a tight fit through the pipes.
This episode combines the feeling of entrapment with the classic horror film usage of POV shots to show that someone is watching. When Jo and Dean are searching the hallways with their EMF meters, Jo pauses in front of the vent. We then see her feet through the perspective of someone in the vent. A hand starts to come out but quickly retreats when Dean shows up, indicating that someone in the walls is watching Jo. This also foreshadows her eventual capture by that very someone that is watching her.
The climax of the episode is when Jo is being used as bait. In this scene, Jo is sitting instead of standing, making her seem smaller than she really is. We see a shot of her through a vent, creating the look of her in a jail cell. She seems to be trapped in this room. No exit.
The scene starts off with no music- all we hear is the echo of her breathing. This not only emphasizes how very alone and vulnerable she is in that moment, but it also builds anticipation. Both the audience and Jo are nervously waiting for Holmes to appear. When he does come, the music starts, creating suspense. Jo is in the foreground with her back to Holmes, who appears in the shadows of the background. This is another classic shot used in horror films and is usually the frustrating part where the audience screams “turn around!”. But there’s no reason to shout that in this scene. This shot is used somewhat ironically, because Jo is fully aware of his presence and it is actually her vulnerability that makes her the one in control of the situation.
The Winchesters jump into action by shooting Holmes and releasing the ring of salt around him as Jo runs to safety. Holmes freaks out- and that’s when we see Sam, Dean, and Jo watching him from behind one of the cage-looking vents as Jo gets in her vengeful one-liner (“scream all you want, you dick, but there’s no way you’re stepping over that salt!”). This time its them watching Holmes as the one who is trapped. And scream he does, as we get one last look of him behind the vent right before the wall closes in on him.
Using the sewer, the Winchesters and Jo then bury Holmes’ spirit with cement, another form of irony as he had requested his physical body to be buried in cement so no one could mutilate it (like he used to do to bodies). It’s the only time (I think- it’s a 15 year-long show so cut me some slack if I’m wrong) where the Winchesters trap a ghost instead of killing it. He gets what he deserves, because now there’s no exit for him.
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