This is a thoughtful, emotional exploration of both the problem of evil (i.e. why do bad things happen to good people, if god?) and an unflinching look at what evil is. The episodes presents several different versions of faith, i.e. Dean's skepticism, Sue Anne's fanatical, Layla's simple and earnest, Roy's confidence. The writing effortlessly bounces each of them off each other to provide a sample of tonalities of what faith can mean. It was only a matter of time before religion was used as a source material for this show and they hit the ground running here. Add in that plot incorporates a key feature of Dean's characterization, i.e. his mask of devil may care attitude, and the story is emotional, intellectual, spiritual pleasing.
Second the direction is extremely tight. The pace, scares with emotions, the way Roy's tent is iconic, the striking teaser etc. all blend to make on of the most visually varied and engaging episodes. Add in that the acting is uniformly excellent, not to mention well cast guest stars and this is a great episode.
Second the direction is extremely tight. The pace, scares with emotions, the way Roy's tent is iconic, the striking teaser etc. all blend to make on of the most visually varied and engaging episodes. Add in that the acting is uniformly excellent, not to mention well cast guest stars and this is a great episode.