Supernatural Episode Review: “Hibbing 911”

Guest stars include Briana Buckmaster, Aren Buchholz, Fred Ewanuick and Morgan Taylor Campbell.

Even though I love Sheriff Mills, I was a little concerned when I realized the show was going to pair her with Sheriff Hanscum (Buckmaster). While admittedly funny, she is also one of those characters that has the potential to get a annoying after only a short amount of time and I did honestly wonder if she was going to wear out her welcome quickly.

As it turns out, however, this was actually a good match. While still funny, this episode also gave some real depth to Hanscum’s character and, by the time it was over, I really felt like she could become a series regular because I’m now interested to see how she uses her newly discovered knowledge and if she’ll grow into a hunter like Mills did (or get killed).

As far as the case goes, I have to admit it was somewhat unique. Based on the condition of the bodies, it seemed like they were dealing with something brand new. So, the discovery it was, in fact, something as common as vampires behind the deaths was surprising and the idea they were trying to justify the deaths by making sure to use as much of the bodies as possible (rather than wasting) was an interesting twist. Of course, the second the episode revealed Sheriff Cuse (Ewanuick) was a vampire and showed him over that body, I kind of figured he was a red herring.

Dean’s comment at the end about finally feeling like himself was a little cryptic and I’m not sure if that really is a good thing or if the Mark of Cain is starting to subtly take over again. It’ll be interesting to see where that leads, especially since we are heading toward the mid-season finale.

I did have some doubts about this one when I started watching it. But, it surpassed my expectations and turned out to be a very good episode with a few twists that kept me guessing. While I wouldn’t classify it as one of the best I’ve seen from this series, it did a great job setting up the mid-season break while giving Sam and Dean an exciting case.

My Grade: A