Supernatural Episode 4.11 Review Family Remains

The eleventh episode of the fourth season of Supernatural aired on 1/15/09 on the CW network. The episode is titled Family Remains and deals with the Winchester boys trying to save a family about to move into a haunted house. Warning: my episode review contains plot spoilers.

Family Remains is a very disappointing episode. It is my least favorite episode of the season. Gone is joke-cracking wise-ass Dean. Instead we now have whiney mopey Dean. Yeah, I get it. He spent 30 years in Hell being tortured and torturing. He deserves to mope a little but please not the rest of the season. I am pretty sure there wasn't a single joke in the episode. I think Dean tried a joke about the dumb waiter but either the joke sucked or the editors ruined the scene. Either way, the episode was not good.

Besides being boring, the episode did not contain one original thought within the storyline. The "ghost" looks remarkably like the scary girl from The Ring. The lame twist is scary girl isn't a "ghost." Nope she is an inbreed socially inept girl who lives in the walls. Hmmm, sounds like People Under the Stairs to me. The family who bought the house are a grief stricken family who move to the country to start a new life away from the city but of course very bad stuff always happens to the newcomers to the country. I could name at least twenty moves with that plot. My personal favorite rip off scene is when the teenage daughter thinks the dog is licking her hand but quickly realizes it isn't the dog when she sees him standing at the door. Darn it now I can't remember the movie, was that scene in The Ring or The Grunge?

I think the writers realized the episode was quickly going down hill so they threw in another twist, which I missed the beginning off because I assumed it was safe to take a bathroom break. For some reason, I doubt I missed much. The twist was...surprise...there isn't just one inbreed freak living in the walls, there is a boy too. Either it was the girl's brother or maybe her son. Either way, it was lame.

Family Remains is not the best from the writers of Supernatural. I know Supernatural is a drama series and not a comedy but I do like when they throw in a little humor every once in a while. I hope this episode was just a mistake and not a sign of things to come. The give the episode 0 out of 5 stars.