Safe House (Supernatural)

"Safe House" is the sixteenth episode of the paranormal drama television series Supernatural's season 11, and the 234th overall. The episode was written by Robbie Thompson and directed by Stefan Pleszczynski. It was first broadcast on March 23, 2016, on The CW.

Plot

A woman, Naoki Himura, is scraping old wallpaper in her new house when she hears a scream and runs up to her daughter's bedroom. The girl tells her mother that there is something bad in the house, and complains about how cold her room is. After the mother leaves to get her a glass of water, the lights in the little girl’s room go out and her door slams shut. The child hides under her bed, watching the shadow of someone walking in front of her door. The door is suddenly opened, followed by a pale hand snatching the child away.

After getting no information on Cas or Amara, Sam and Dean decide to take up the case of a little girl who went into coma and the only sign of any trauma is a handprint on her ankle.

On reaching Grand Rapids, Michigan, Sam and Dean realize that Rufus and Bobby worked the same case a couple of years ago and consult Bobby's journal but it doesn't contain any information about what they were hunting.

In the past, Rufus and Bobby argue over the case. Bobby believes it's a simple ghost case while Rufus now thinks it's a baku. They bet a bottle of Johnnie Walker Blue Label Whisky on it, then head off to dig up some bones. On two separate nights, two pairs of hunters are digging up the same graves. Sam and Dean open the first casket and find that the bones have already been burned. They dig up the second grave and find that the bones have been burned as well. They come to the conclusion that they're not hunting a ghost after all.

After the mother is also attacked by the soul eater and goes into coma, the brothers after consulting the lore find that they are dealing with a soul eater. Bobby and Rufus figure it out too but they couldn't find any means to kill it so they trap it instead. Bobby goes into the nest while Rufus draws the sigil on the wall and they are able to trap the soul eater.

The brothers find a way to kill the soul eater from the Men of Letter's archives. Dean goes into the nest of the Soul Eater and paints a sigil while Sam paints the same one in the real world and they are able to kill the soul eater.

After he finishes with the wallpaper, Bobby goes back to his car and finds the whisky from Rufus, with a note. As he's about to write more in his journal about the hunt, his phone rings. It's Dean, asking for Bobby’s help tracking Lilith. He puts his journal down and starts his car. Back in the present, Sam and Dean decide to take care of a similar case of Bobby in Tennessee and drive off.

Reception

Viewers

The episode was watched by 1.69 million viewers with a 0.6/2 share among adults aged 18 to 49.^[1] This was a 8% decrease in viewership from the previous episode, which was watched by 1.85 million viewers.^[2] 0.6 percent of all households with televisions watched the episode, while 2 percent of all households watching television at that time watched it Supernatural ranked as the second most watched program on The CW in the day, behind Arrow.

Critical reviews

Professional ratings
Review scores
Source	Rating
IGN	8[3]
TV Fanatic	[4]
TV Overmind	[5]

"Safe House" received positive reviews. Matt Fowler of IGN gave the episode a "great" 8 out of 10 and wrote in his verdict," "Safe House" gave us a nice Bobby story. One where he was allowed to stay dead and not come back in a cheap way to saddle up next to Sam and Dean. Where he could be a hunter and crack wise with Rufus while still lending the episode a nice emotional lift. Sam and Dean are more or less alone these days, but this story made them feel connected to one of their past partners. In a way that made this regular style monster mash feel a bit elevated.""^[3]

MaryAnn Sleasman of TV.com wrote, "Okay, so "Safe House" might have been filler—and by "might" I mean "definitely"—but it was such good filler that I’m willing to let that one slide. Sam and Dean even mocked their avoidance of this latest version of the apocalypse. The way to my heart, other than being ridiculously attractive, is through self-deprecation and, on TV, self-awareness and the occasional parody. "Safe House" featured some genuinely funny moments, a welcome reappearance of two of Supernatural’s most dearly departed elder statesmen, and some really swell directorial decisions with those seamless parallels and throwbacks."^[6]

Hunter Bishop of TV Overmind wrote, "This was a fun, exciting, and clever episode of Supernatural. It’s almost unfair, really; time travel and dealing with being outside of reality are two things that I think about often. This is the kind of story that I come to fantasy shows for. Unfortunately, that doesn’t leave me with a lot to say. This was an interesting, engaging episode of both Supernatural and television. There are a lot worse things you could be doing or watching than this.""^[5]

Sean McKenna of "TV Fanatic" wrote, "This was an enjoyable hour, especially because of Rufus and Bobby, but it was the mix of past and present cases while incorporating the parallels (with some excellent editing) that made it far more than just a typical one-off episode.""^[4]

References