Supernatural (TV Series) No Exit (2006) User Reviews

The Truth About the Relationship of John Winchester and Ellen

[claudio_carvalho · 8/10 · 29 June 2008]

Dean and Sam visit Ellen and Joanna Beth in the Harvelle Bar, and Jo shows her file about the disappearance of six blonde girls during the last eighty years in an apartment building in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. She tries to convince the Winchester brothers to bring her to investigate the case; but Dean refuses the request afraid of Ellen's reaction. They break-in the apartment of the last victim and when Sam finds ectoplasm, they realize that a fiend is hunting the location. When they leave the place, they meet Jo with the super and find that she had lied to Ellen telling that she was going to Las Vegas and had just rented the foregoing apartment. Their further investigation discloses that in the past, before the construction of the building, the field was next to a prison and used to execute criminals, including the serial killer H.H. Holmes. When Jo decides to search the last victim behind the walls, she is captured by the evil spirit, and Dean and Sam figures out how to rescue Jo and escape from the wrath of Ellen.

"No Exit" is and engaging but flawed episode of "Supernatural". The story has good moments, like the revelation of Ellen to Jo about her relationship with John Winchester, but I honestly believed Jo was actually sister of Dean and Sam. The greatest flaw of the story is the use of the sledge hammer in the walls of the apartment building does not bring the attention of the super or the dwellers. My vote is eight.

Title (Brazil): "Sem Saída" ("No Exit")

Many plot ploys

[mm-39 · 8/10 · 28 July 2007]

The Dean and Jo sexual tension plot ploy is implemented on the many stories and sub stories which intertwine in the complex series Super Natural. Did Jo go on the hunt because of Dean? Did she go for she wants to be a hunter? Maybe both or even because of family fighting? Jo acts annoyed and makes it deliberately obvious that she is ignoring Dean. The story heightens with Jo needing to be rescued by Sam and Dean. Did Sam and Dean screw up? They find out later that John Winchester (their dad) mistakenly killed Jo's father. The cold as ice song hits the mark for humor when Sam and Dean drive Jo and her (over protective) mother home. 8 out of 10. Will Dean and Jo meet up again? I guess we will find out in season three.

Classic spn ghost story

[shwetafabm · 9/10 · 27 May 2020]

With jo, which is a good character. It was classic supernatural.

Not the Best Episodes

[katierose295 · 6/10 · 20 March 2008]

I actually wrote my master's thesis on World's Fairs, so the true crime book, "Devil in the White City" by Erik Larson was pretty much required reading. The book is all about the juxtaposition of a rash of urban serial killings in Chicago, with the artificial splendor of the 1893 World's Fair. H. H. Holmes was the serial killer in the book and I actually like the idea of basing an episode around him. He was a human monster, who would make an excellent ghost for the boys to fight. "No Exit" is just not a great episode, though. It just never comes together. If you're interested in Jo's storyline, you might want to give it a shot, since she's in it a lot. And it does set up her anger with the brothers in the better episode to come, "Born Under a Bad Sign." However, if you don't care about Jo, then you could probably skip it and not miss much.

"No Exit" revolves around Jo. She wants to investigate killings in Philadelphia and Ellen is trying to stop her. Ellen gives the case to Dean & Sam instead. It seems that women are mysteriously disappearing from an apartment building. Jo follows the boys to Philly, where they soon discover that the ghost of H. H. Holmes is at work in the building. Holmes was America's first serial killer and soon he's kidnapped Jo. Sam & Dean have to save her from Holmes. Then they trap Holmes in a ring of salt in the sewer and cement him in. Meanwhile, Ellen is furious at Jo and the boys. She tells Jo that Jo's father died because of John. They were both Hunters and John used him as bait on a case they were working. Something went wrong and Jo's dad died. Jo takes her anger out on Dean and tells him to go away.

There are some good parts to this episode. I really like the ectoplasm in the building. Or, more specifically, I enjoy Dean's reaction to it. "Sam, I know what we're dealing with here. It's the StayPuf Marshmallow Man." It cracks me up. And I like Dean's ring tone playing "Smoke on the Water." It's a nice touch. And I enjoy his fearful respect of Ellen. She kinna scares him a little, especially when she calls asking where Jo is and Dean has to deliver the encouraging news that, "Look, we'll get her back, alright?" And the scene of them all driving together in the Impala is just so uncomfortable and perfect. But, at the same time, Dean tries to tell Jo that she should appreciate her mother more. It's a nice way to show how Dean misses his parents and how he never had someone to try and stop him from doing a dangerous job. He even tells Jo that he never really had choice about Hunting and now he can't do anything else. Even if he loves the job, he's trapped in it and doesn't see an exit.

On the down side, it's still hard for me to warm up to Jo. She just seems too try to hard. I really like the show best when it's just the two brothers hunting together. Poor Sam spends a lot of this episode getting coffee and doing stuff on screen. And Jo's reaction to Ellen's story is just ridiculous in my opinion. Why are Sam & Dean to blame for something their father did years before? They never even met Jo's dad. It's just out of line to take it out on them. Also, anyone who's ever watch the History Channel knows that photo of the murder victim shown in this episode is one of the women Jack the Ripper killed, not a H.H. Holmes victim.

My favorite part of the episode: The "Nebraska is for Lovers" t-shirt wearing tourists who wander into the Roadhouse while Sam & Dean are refereeing Jo & Ellen's screaming match. "We'll just try the Arby's down the road."

America's first serial killer

[zombiehigh18 · 6/10 · 3 November 2011]

When I first saw this series, I never understood the hate some people had for Jo. I mean the girl is beautiful, smart, and fans always say that if Sam and Dean should have a girl, She should be a hunter. So where is the problem?!, Jo is a hunter and fans never liked her, yet fans never seemed to like any of the boys' love interests any way. Jo is clearly very interested in Dean, and Dean obviously likes her, Yet he keeps on pulling away. But, watching this episode again, I understood why.

This is the episode where the writers (whether deliberately or not) screwed up Jo's character. First of all, Jo is too young for Dean, He only sees her as an inexperienced school girl, a younger sister who has a chance for a normal life (unlike him, who never really had the choice) and a mother who wants more for her. Jo is no doubt a tough girl (She has a knife collection!) but not too tough to be a hunter, the girl tries too hard but I don't really know; is it whether to make her daddy proud? or to impress Dean and make him see her as an equal? All in all, Jo is not a good hunter, She had no solid plan hunting the ghost, she was too scared when it got her and if not for the boys she would certainly be dead.

However, my favourite part was the awkward scene in the Impala when they drove back home with furious Ellen and the "You are as cold as ice" song.

On the other hand, I don't like episodes where Sam is taking the back seat and has nothing to do more than just appearing in the camera frame.

This is a filler episode, so if you want to skip this, you wont miss anything.

On its own this is OK, in continuity it is terrible

[CubsandCulture · 5/10 · 8 September 2019]

The monster this week being both a ghost and a serial killer makes Holmes one of the most over the top characters in all of the show. It is laughable contrived in set-up as a the case. Likewise, the ectoplasm being subtextually semen is A) gross and B) more bold than the show usually is. However, Manners does his thing and the resulting episode is scary and creepy when it needs to be. If this could be severed from the rest of the series as a true standalone I would think more of it.

But in continuity it is awful. The writers were still trying to force the Jo-Dean love story and nope not a good fit for the actors; a couple of jokes here are really wrong for where the characters end up and the bonding moments for Jo/Dean could have been better calibrated for the brother/sister dynamic they finally settled into. Apart from that the final scene feels tacked on. As the big revelation is never fully dealt with-it is barely mentioned again at all-I think the writers just decided to kill the Jo/Dean love story in artless way after seeing a roughcut of the episode.

Pretty lame twist at the end

[alloreati · 6/10 · 6 February 2024]

The episode overall is pretty mediocre. Sad one-liners from Jo and Sam's basically not in the episode.

Jo's reaction at the end is so forced. I read this on other reviews as well. It would have been so much better if Jo turned out to be Sam and dean half sister or something. I thought it would go this way from the very beginning, with the awkward romance between the two. As the story went on the jokes were getting a little out of hand and I was starting to think it would have been weird at that point if they were actually related. Still. Opportunity missed for a half decent plot twist. Certainly better than what we got.

Oh and...

"I should have cleaned my pipes"

...

Just wtf. So out of place.

Well-directed, some awful dialogue.

[aserdcerebral · 5/10 · 12 July 2022]

Kim Manners is incredible in his use of camera to communicate drama, both interpersonal and internal. He choreographs his camera to circle his characters and always be in the perfect position to convey how they feel or what they're thinking, their reaction and what they're reacting to, all within the same frame; A lot of the best episodes of Supernatural are directed by him.

This episode contains 2 well-executed set pieces about claustrophobia that take place in angular and cylindrical mazes respectively. They're tense and memorable.

What is also memorable is, to this point, the worst dialogue the show has had.

Restating obvious things and filtered through a cringe-generator, one character keeps spewing these out like a spigot; "Pure iron you creepy-as* son of a bi**h!" "Scream all you want you di*k you'll never step over that salt!"

Meryl Streep would make those work perhaps, but they aren't being read by Meryl Streep, but an actor that maximizes their cringe factor. Yeesh.

Casting for television is a high wire act; you miscast a movie, it's a fling gone wrong.

You miscast a recurring role in a television show, that's a bad, joy-draining marriage, which is what fails this episode; too much screen time for an actor that can't carry it.

Resect the cringe like a tumor and it's 8/10 With the cancer intact, 5/10.