Supernatural: No Exit

June 9, 2021 3:25 PM - Season 2, Episode 6

Sam and Dean meet up with the ghost of America's first known serial killer; Jo tells Ellen she's going to Vegas, and instead joins Sam and Dean to help them on their hunt.
posted by orange swan (4 comments total)

Dean: Los Angeles, California. A young girl got kidnapped by an evil cult.
Sam: Yeah, and does this girl have a name?
Dean: Katie Holmes.
Sam: That's funny... and for you, so bitchy.

[Sam and Dean walk into the Harvelle Roadhouse and find Ellen and Jo fighting]
Ellen: Guys, bad time.
Sam: Yes ma'am.
Dean: Yeah, we rarely drink before ten anyway.

Jo: [on the phone to Ash] Thanks a lot, Ash, and don't tell my mom.... That's right, I will. With pliers.

Dean: Sam, I think I know what we're dealing with here... It's the Stay Puff Marshmallow Man

Jo: You ripped off a cement truck?
Dean: I'll give it back

Jo: [to the outraged ghost serial killer] You can scream all you want, you dick! There's no way you're crossing that salt!

Dean: [to Ellen, who is sitting beside him in the Impala] You weren't really joking about coming, were you?
Ellen: [maintains an outraged silence]
[Sam and Jo look at each other in the back seat]
Dean: How about some music? [turns on the radio]
Radio: [playing Foreigner] "You're as cold as ice..."
Ellen: [immediately turns the radio off]
Dean: [quietly to himself] This is going to be a long ride.

From the IMDb trivia section:

Unlike most of the demons, spirits, and creatures that the Winchester brothers hunt, the ghost in this episode is based on a real-life historical figure: the serial killer Herman Webster Mudgett (1861-1896), a.k.a. Dr. Henry Howard Holmes. Many of the details mentioned by the Winchesters about H. H. Holmes are historically true: he did confess to 27 murders (9 confirmed); he did build a so-called "Murder Castle" in Chicago so he would be able to carry out his crimes in secret; there is evidence that he used chloroform in at least some of his crimes; he was executed by hanging in Philadelphia; and, at his request, he was buried in concrete so no one would be able to molest his corpse.

The photograph of the victim H.H. Holmes was said to have murdered was actually a photograph of Jack the Ripper's victim, one Elizabeth Stride, 1888. Handwriting samples from Holmes and Jack the Ripper's "From Hell" letter at least 97% matched. The reason these murders are attributed to Holmes is due to at least a few of them being killed by mutilation of their organs. It is thought only a surgically trained doctor could pull this off. Mysteriously, these murders took place during a blind spot in Holmes's recorded history. This has led many, including some of Holmes's descendants, to believe That H. H. Holmes is, indeed, Jack the Ripper. If this is true, Elizabeth Stride would have been another victim of his.

According to the Wikipedia page for Jack the Ripper, the "From Hell" letter is generally believed to be a hoax, and if that is true, the handwriting similarity proves nothing. 

It is some satisfaction that Katie Holmes has since managed to escape said evil cult, taking her daughter with her.

Those blackened, creeping fingers.... ughhhh!

I was sure the reveal was going to be that Jo was Sam and Dean's half-sister.

Ellen is more dictatorial than she should be with her grown daughter. Jo's 23 and her mother doesn't have the right to tell her not to hunt. 

This show must have gone through a Dead Sea level of salt in 15 years. 
posted by orange swan at 3:44 PM on June 9, 2021 [2 favorites]

There was definitely some sexual tension between Jo and Dean. Awkward.

Alona Tal at this point looks younger than 23. I do get Ellen's pov though, routinely seeing hunters not come back.

If Tal was deliberately being not good twirling a (prop, unsharpened) knife around, then kudos. It telegraphed poseur. Don't know how to feel about that character reveal, especially compared to being really really good at shooting in an arcade game.
posted by porpoise at 8:35 PM on June 9, 2021

Of course there is a list of times that salt was employed.
posted by porpoise at 8:39 PM on June 9, 2021

It would've been so good to have Jo as a half-sister, although I absolutely love Forgotten Spoiler. I love both Jo and Ellen but the dynamic of them and the Roadhouse never deeply sank in for the show - Dean and Sam at that point are still deeply isolated from both general society and the society of Hunters which you get glimpses here of as a real community. It's kind of sad that they don't even recognise that they're missing out on working with other people who understand the life because the insularity of the Winchester family is so engrained in them.

This was a MOTW episode where I really enjoyed the monster. The cement truck trick was neat and the horror house with all the claustrophobia, urgh! Holmes is one of my favourite ghastly serial killer stories because the sheer scale and cruelty hidden for so many years is mindboggling.
posted by dorothyisunderwood at 2:24 AM on June 10, 2021