Urban legend palooza! Also lots of library research in this episode. Sexy.
Pre-show notes
There was a thing in 1980s shows where there would be a girl of the week who was either the victim or deeply involved in the crime of the week. The girl would aid the hero in solving the crime, and by the end of the episode she would be in love with him.
Supernatural in its early seasons did something similar. Not every week, but there’s a pretty girl victim who has chemistry with one of the leads. Hook Man was the first time Sam got a girl of the week. Lori is young and pretty and her story mirrors Sam’s – if you squint a bit. I don’t remember it really working.
But it’s one of those episodes that’s just fun. The urban legends on Supernatural are a great hook (ouch – sorry!) and in Hook Man the chosen urban legends are so popular you can just about see each beat coming.
Episode notes
The episode opens like a classic slasher movie. We see a Nice Girl and her Slutty Friend, getting ready for a night out. Later, Nice Girl is parked in the dark with a clean cut young man, kissing. The boyfriend wants to go a bit further than she’s comfortable with. She pushes him away. Just then, a hook screams across the metal of nearby road signs, killing the mood. Boyfriend leaves the car to investigate and is attacked. Nice Girl is smart enough to lock the car doors but then something hits the car and we hear scary sounds outside. She plucks up the courage to leave the car and finds her boyfriend’s bloody corpse strung up over the vehicle.
Somewhere else, the Winchester brothers are talking over their search for Dad. They are using the conventional methods a private detective would, searching for sightings of his car or hospitalisation. But there is no sign of him anywhere. Dean thinks Dad doesn’t want to be found. But he has found a new case for them: the invisible killer.
There is a difficulty: the identity of the witness is being kept confidential by the police. They do know the victim’s identity, though, so the brothers claim to be fraternity members from another state in order to interview his frat brothers. There is an odd scene where Sam is persuaded to paint a boy’s body with purple paint. Sam is inexplicably uncomfortable and Dean obviously enjoys his discomfort. I wish someone would explain this joke to me because unless it’s horrifically homophobic, I don’t get it. [It just reminds me of Iolaus turning purple in Hercules: The Legendary Journeys – he fell into a wine vat and spent the rest of the episode being asked “why are you purple?” until he eventually responded “because I like it!” Now that time I got the joke.]
They get enough information to identify Lori as the witness and they head for the church where her father is the minister. Barging in in the middle of a service, they sit at the rear of the church. Dean doesn’t pray. Sam does, or at least bows his head for appearance sake – it’s not clear. Dean can simulate being a good church boy well enough when he talks to Lori’s dad, though.
After hearing Lori’s story, Sam and Dean quickly identify the Hook Man legend, and Sam goes into research mode, on the assumption that they have found the one place the legend is real. It’s a bit repetitive so soon after the Bloody Mary episode, but I forgive that because Sam in research mode is sexy. They find a record from 1862: a local preacher turned serial killer, who killed prostitutes with a silver hook which was his prosthetic hand. There’s even a detailed drawing of the hook.
Lori’s dad drives her back to her sorority house. They argue about her living away from home: Daddy thinks she’s living a life of sin and booze. Lori merely insists she’s an adult and can look after herself. Her room mate, Taylor, is sleeping when she gets in. Lori leaves the room in darkness, gets ready for bed in the bathroom and returns. Taylor is still asleep, but very clearly alive at this point. Lori gets into bed and goes to sleep.
When Lori wakes, there is blood everywhere. Fresh blood, still dripping off Taylor’s bed. Taylor is dead, her throat slashed. On the wall above the corpse, the words “Aren’t you glad you didn’t turn on the light?” are cut into the plaster. Below the words is a strange symbol.
The obvious implication is that the killer was in the room when Lori returned. That he waited for Lori to fall asleep, murdered Taylor, wrote his message on the wall and left, all without disturbing Lori’s sleep or being noticed by anyone else. Good luck feeding that story to the police, hon.
Meanwhile, the Winchesters are investigating the crime scene, and Dean hands Sam a shotgun loaded with rock salt instead of buckshot. It’s the first time we’ve seen their signature anti-spirit weapon. But their investigation doesn’t last long since the cops are staking the area out and don’t take kindly to a couple of armed boys crashing their party.
Morning finds the brothers leaving the police station, where Dean has managed to convince the sheriff that their nocturnal hunt was a Hell Week prank and Sam was a fraternity pledge being hazed. His improv skills are back! But as they leave, several cops tear out of there in a hurry. Clearly something bad has happened. The brothers follow the police to the scene and see Lori outside being treated for shock. They circle around to sneak in and Dean instantly loses my respect by joking about sorority girls in porn movies outside a building where a girl has been brutally murdered.
This new crime scene confirms they are dealing with the Hook Man legend, and that it’s a spirit. Sam goes back into research mode and uncovers two other preachers arrested for serial murders in the town, decades apart. Both claimed they were innocent and the murders had been committed by an invisible force. This matches Lori’s story about her boyfriend’s murder. Nevertheless, Sam’s suspicion falls on Lori’s father, not Lori herself.
Dean goes in search of the original Hook Man’s grave. It’s supposed to be unmarked, but there’s a nice giveaway headstone with the cross-like symbol engraved in it. Dean digs out the grave, covers the remains with salt and gasoline, and burns it all. Meanwhile, Sam is watching Lori’s home. He’s not good at this: Lori sees him and comes outside to chat. She thinks she’s cursed. Sam empathises. She’s just found out her dad is having an affair with a married woman and has a little rant about it. Sam tries to comfort her and they kiss, but Sam instantly draws back, feeling guilty. The reverend catches them at it and tells Lori to come inside. Then the Hook Man materialises behind him and skewers him. Sam saves the reverend’s life by shooting the Hook Man with his trusty rock salt shotgun. Sam realises that the spirit has latched on to Lori.
After yet more research, the brothers determine that the original hook was donated to the church and melted down, reforged into something else. They decide they need to find and destroy it. At the church, Lori is praying for forgiveness, believing she’s responsible for the murders. While Sam tries to tell her she’s not to blame, Lori’s words summon the Hook Man, turning herself into his next victim. In a final tense showdown. Dean melts the last of the silver – Lori’s necklace – just in time to save Sam and Lori from the Hook Man.
Nitpicks
The hook is partially silver. Silver is traditionally friendly to magic, so it’s reasonable that the remaining silver could have absorbed enough of the Hook Man’s spirit to keep him haunting the town. But since reforging it into the cross didn’t “kill” the ghost, why does melting the cross work?
Associations
So, the Hook Man legend in this episode combines three common urban legends.
In the Hook Man legend, a couple are necking in lovers’ lane when a story comes on the radio about a mental patient having fled a nearby asylum. The description includes the detail that he has a hook for a hand. Nervous, they decide to drive away. When they reach home and leave the car, they discover a hook hanging from the car door.
In the legend of the murdered boyfriend, rather than being parked in lovers’ lane, the couple runs out of gas in some secluded area. The boyfriend sets off to find a gas station, leaving the girl alone in the car. In the morning, she is rescued by police. As they lead her away she turns back to see her boyfriend’s body suspended above the car.
Finally, the writing on the wall comes from a third legend, in which a college girl is working late at the library. Returning to her room she creeps in without turning the light on so she won’t disturb her sleeping room mate. When she wakes, the room mate is dead, and there is a message written on the mirror: ”Aren’t you glad you didn’t turn on the light?”
Final thoughts
Supernatural is at its best when it recreates urban legends this way. This was a fun episode. The Hook Man was scary, and I like the twist of Laurie, rather than her father, being the person unconsciously summoning the spirit.
