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Recap of Supernatural
Season 7, Episode 19
Of Grave Importance
Written by Brad Buckner and Eugenie Ross-Leming.
Directed by Tim Andrew.
Air Date: April 20, 2012.
Sam and Dean get a call from Annie Hawkins, an old hunter friend, asking for help on a case. When they arrive in town, they find that Annie has disappeared. They trace her last whereabouts to an old abandoned house that is haunted by a powerful ghost. Unbeknownst to them, the ghost of Bobby is following them around, having tied himself to his old flask that they carry. He finds the house populated by mostly mindless ghosts and the spirit of Whitman Van Ness. Bobby discovers the ghost of Annie and the two try to solve the murders.
Body Count:
For this episode = 5 humans and at least 10 ghosts.
For the series so far = At least 801 humans (of which 6 were witches), 97 demons, 55 angels, 47 ghosts, 36 Jefferson Starships, 26 vampires, 19 zombies, 15 gods, 9 hellhounds, 7 skinwalkers, 6 changelings, 5 shapeshifters, 4 ghouls, 3 djinn, 3 dogs, 2 Amazons, 2 arachnes, 2 kitsunes, 2 Leviathan, 2 vetalas, 2 werewolves, 1 crocotta, 1 dragon, 1 fairy, 1 Khan worm, 1 lamia, the Mother of All, 1 okami, 1 phoenix, 1 Purgatory creature, 1 rakshasa, 1 rawhead, 1 reaper, 1 rugaru, 1 shojo, 1 shtriga, 1 siren, 1 wendigo, 1 whore of Babylon, and 1 wraith.
Tropes
- Ax-Crazy: Whitman Van Ness is a sick bastard. He may hide it well at first glance, but the fact that he’s made a hobby out of killing people and trapping their ghosts in his house out of little more than pleasure, and the disconcerting Slasher Smile that he pulls when consuming O’Connell and while trying to kill Sam and Dean shows just how unhinged the man is.
- Bait-and-Switch: Dexter is actually trying to scare away potential victims before they're killed by Van Ness.
- Bookcase Passage: Justified as the house was once a speakeasy.
- Call-Back: Dean's line towards the end of the episode about how "everything has an end" stems from his day filling in for Death in the episode "Appointment in Samarra" (S06, E11), where he learned to respect the natural order of life and death.
- Cessation of Existence: Discussed. Bobby and Annie believe this is what happens to ghosts whose bodies are burned.
- Character Development: Where Dean has previously resorted to resurrection and séances in past seasons, in this one he speaks to Bobby's spirit about the natural order of things after death, likely due to learning just how such imbalances can hurt others last season when making his deal with Death.
- Chekhov's Gun: Bobby removes his flask from Dean's pocket so the Winchesters won't remove him from the haunted house. Unfortunately Van Ness plants his door key in Dean's pocket so he can follow them out of the house, where Bobby and Annie can't.
- Condensation Clue: Bobby is finally able to get the message across this way.
- Danger Takes A Back Seat: Justified with a ghost.
- Dramatic Irony: Bobby tells Dean and Sam they didn't "know" Annie as well as he did. They did, actually, and they share an awkward look.
- Electromagnetic Ghosts
- Ethical Slut: Annie, apparently, who had slept with Bobby, Dean, and Sam at different times.
- Failed a Spot Check: Bobby gets annoyed over how the boys keep missing his signals.
- Fate Worse than Death: Bobby and Annie discover that, after remaining in the world of the living long enough, ghosts develop a kind of Alzheimer's and eventually disintegrate into nothing. Loudly. They also speculate what occurs after spirits' bodies are salted and burned, concluding that it's probably nothing. Though previous episodes may contradict this.
- Ghost Butler
- Haunted House: The Van Ness house.
- Homicide Machines
- Insistent Terminology: Victoria was a "fancy lady", not a "hooker".
- Invisible Main Character: Bobby hasn't mastered the tricks of being a ghost, so he has difficulty alerting the Winchesters to his presence. This is extremely frustrating to him.
- I See Dead People:
- Bobby gets a shock when he enters the Haunted House and finds it full of ghosts staring at him.
- Bobby and Annie have to persuade Victoria to appear to the Winchesters to pass on a warning.
- Lady in Red: Victoria, given her profession.
- Married to the Job: Annie, which explains why her relationships were all 'on the job'.
- Mind over Matter
- One-Steve Limit: Annie. There was already more than one character named Anna.
- Phone Call from the Dead: Victoria tried to warn Annie on her mobile.
- Shout-Out: Numerous references to Ghost.
- Soul Power: Van Ness consumes ghosts to become more powerful.
- Surrounded by Idiots:Bobby: Give them a moment. They've gotten a little slower since I left.
- Terror At Makeout Point: The first two victims.
- We Hardly Knew Ye: Annie. Played with in that we meet and get to know her more after she dies.
- What the Hell, Hero?: Dean to Bobby over him staying as a ghost. Bobby gets annoyed and vanishes.
- You Can See Me?: Bobby to the boys at the end of the episode.
