Supernatural season 11, episode 12, “Don’t You Forget About Me,” explored the found family unit of Jody Mills, Alex Jones and Claire Novak.
The Winchesters get a call from Claire for help on a case, but when they arrive they find that there may not be a case after all. However, Jody is among their closest friends, so they never mind visiting her.
In the time since Jody took her in after eight years being held by a vampire nest, Alex appears to have bloomed, making friends and even dating the most popular boy in school. She’s doing sports and is doing well with her grades; she’s adjusted to a normal life, and Jody couldn’t be happier about it.
Claire, on the other hand, enrolled in college but hasn’t gone to class and has instead been “hunting,” only her targets have ended up being innocent people. Only the fact that Jody is the sheriff has kept her out of prison. She and Alex don’t get along, and Jody doesn’t know what to do about it. The brothers both try to talk to her in their own ways, but it doesn’t quite sink in.
Other than the whole hunting issue, the dynamic here feels pretty normal with a single mother doing her best to raise two polar opposite teenage girls and feeling in over her head. The highlight of this family feud is a hilariously awkward dinner scene when the Winchesters are pulled in to Jody trying to both talk Claire down from her hunting obsession and give Alex a sex talk. Her inclusion of Sam and Dean here just shows how much Jody trusts them and considers them to be family as well.
The episode turns, however, when Alex’s favorite teacher is murdered. It turns out that a vampire has come to town to target Alex, as she got him turned when she was acting as a lure for the nest in Nebraska. He turned the most popular boy in school and had him target Alex. He also kidnaps Jody and Claire in a brutal scene that included the breaking of Jody’s leg. He wants Alex to lose her entire life the way he did when the vampires turned him. Alex is willing to give up her own life to protect Jody and Claire, but luckily she doesn’t have to as the Winchesters and Claire manage to kill the vampires.
Alex feels incredibly guilty for getting Jody and Claire targeted, but neither of them hold it against her. She was the victim of that nest of vampires, after all. And the fact that she was willing to sacrifice the freedom she’d gained to protect them shows true goodness in her.
This experience brings the entire makeshift family closer. Jody promises to help Claire learn how to hunt more competently while Alex realizes that more vampires might come after her. She’s considering moving on, though, to get away from the type of life Jody, Claire and the Winchesters lead.
While it makes pragmatic sense for Claire to learn how to hunt competently since she’s not going to stop doing it after everything she’s been through, it’s probably not the best path for her. Sam tries to encourage her to hold on to a real life while she has the chance, but Claire’s been through too much from a young age just to walk away from it. Alex, on the other hand, is much more unwilling in her involvement in the supernatural.
The two girls provide parallels to the Winchesters, as the gung-ho Claire echoes Dean while the hesitant Alex who craves a normal life reflects Sam. All four lost parts of their lives to the supernatural at young ages, and all four are inevitably pulled back in. Jody’s goodness gives the girls an advantage the brothers never quite had with John, however. Though Jody also hunts, she only does it out of necessity while John did it out of revenge. Jody’s attitude toward her charges is quite different than John’s, and one hopes that will benefit the girls.
Overall, this was a strong second outing from writer Nancy Won and it was a pleasant change of pace to see women at the forefront of the story (especially without dying).
Watch a promo for the next episode
