TV episode review
US airdate 1 May 2008 (The CW)

A man argues on the phone with a childhood sweetheart who died many years before. He refuses to talk because his wife is upstairs and when she rings again he rips the phone from the socket. But the phone goes on ringing and the man shoots himself, declaring that she has won…

When Sam and Dean learn that many other people are receiving calls from the dead, a visit to a sleazy telephone engineer provides little clues – but Dean receives a call from their father soon after. It makes for a tense scenario, and it’s good to have John Winchester back on the scene (even if this is only as a disembodied, probably bogus, voice), especially as he berates Dean for making the deal. The storyline is given added depth since it is set in the birthplace of Thomas Edison, who believed that the telephone could be used to communicate with the dead.

Being so close to the end of the season, this episode doesn’t move the arc story on in any way, but what it does do is focus on Dean’s feelings as the time for his death approaches. This is just what makes Supernatural a captivating, standout series. Brigid Cherry

VERDICT: 9/10

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