Supernatural: Ladies Drink Free

Posted by: Kyle Tetarenko  •  March 30, 2017 @ 11:20pm

Filed under: Recaps & Reviews

When a werewolf attack leaves one boy dead and his sister alive, the Winchesters will need the help of a not-so-old friend to solve the case.

After arriving in Wisconsin to look into the latest werewolf attack, the Winchesters, along with Mick Davies, have their work cut out for them. Dean isn't thrilled at the idea of a tag along but Sam has to babysit so it should be fine. The three of them arrive at the hospital to check on Hayden Foster but her mother isn't having it. In a show of quick thinking, Mick puts his accent to use to and disguises himself as a doctor to examine Hayden while the boys talk with her mother. Sam and Dean learn that someone already came to speak with Hayden's mother from the department of Fish and Wildlife but she was far too young and had a bad attitude. After getting a description of the girl, Sam and Dean realize that it may be none other than Claire Novak. Meanwhile, Mick examines Hayden and eventually finds a bite marks from a werewolf but decides to not tell the boys about it. Later on, the Winchesters call Claire and meet up with her to discuss the case and find out why she is even there. Claire is more or less playing hooky from Jody and is out hunting while she lies and says that she is looking into colleges. She also tells them a few details about Hayden and how the bartender at the local dive bar is more than a little friendly with younger girls. Just then, Mick has to suddenly run out and write a report for the Men of Letters. It's then that he goes back to the hospital and reluctantly kills Hayden moments after she turns into a werewolf. The next day, Dean and Mick have a chat with the touchy bartender but don't get any closer to finding the werewolf but Dean knows something is up. After hearing that Hayden has died he confronts Mick and confirms his suspicions about how he killed Hayden. Mick says that he was following orders but how can the Winchesters track a werewolf if they can't trust the man there to watch their backs?

Though well intended, Ladies Drink Free felt clumsy in its execution due to a weak guest star and a concepts that ultimately contradicted themselves. To start off, I haven't been the biggest fan of the Claire Novak character for quite some time now and Ladies Drink Free didn't do anything to change that. This is largely due to Claire's insistence on being a hunter but never moving past the phase of being a defiant teen. The parallel between bitten by a werewolf and losing who you are to an older attractive man, only to rediscover your true independent self isn't lost on me. It's a difficult thing to write into a shorter story but where it fell entirely flat in Ladies Drink Free is how Claire was not responsible for anything besides being in the same location as Sam and Dean. Every time that she makes an appearance, Sam and Dean are the ones that rescue her and this time was no different. She couldn't take criticism so she walked away; which lead to her being attacked by the werewolf. After that, she was rescued by Sam, Dean, and Mick who were able to cure her from lycanthropy. Having Claire drive off in the closing moments to Wild One felt empty because Claire's biggest accomplishment in the episode was telling Jody that she was going to be a hunter for a while... via voicemail. The next time we see Claire, I hope we see a character that is responsible for her actions and not a plot obstacle that Sam and Dean need to rescue.

Though he has been a mystery for the better part of the season, Mick Davies is turning out to be a surprisingly good character. After the attack by the alpha vampire, Mick has been quite shaken up. No longer do we see the laser focused Men of Letters with striking confidence but instead a man that is very aware of his own mortality and limits. Although he knew that killing Hayden may have been the right thing to do, he took no pleasure in her death and it provides a stark contract to Mr. Ketch. Davies didn't want to kill a young woman but had no choice once his orders were given. Adam Fergus has been more than capable in the role of Davies and I'm very interested to see what he will do with the character now that Davies has been on the ground level of the fight.

Overall, Ladies Drink Free just wasn't a great episode due to a stagnant character in Claire Novak that became the entire focus of the story. I guess we'll see what happens next week when Mick decides to join the hunt in The British Invasion.

Tags: Supernatural, Dean Winchester, Sam Winchester, Jensen Ackles, Jared Padalecki

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