Back to Sam, who’s feeling pretty good because not only did he save the guy but he mastered his demon-choking technique sans headache. The good feeling is short lived when Sam, Ruby, and victim turn to see a dark figure enter in the shape of Dean Winchester. Not good. “So, anything you want to tell me, Sam?” There’s a crack in his voice, so Sam’s little show obviously shook him up. Sam reacts like a teenager that’s been caught breaking curfew and tries to explain. Oh, good luck with that!
Dean demands to know who the chick is. Come on Dean, you know it's Ruby. He embraces this touching reunion by slamming Ruby against the wall and pulling the demon-killing knife on her. Geez, has this become the standard Winchester welcome or what? Sam jumps in and wrestles the knife away, but not before Dean throws him against a wall too. Ruby does some wall slamming of her own and gets Dean in a chokehold. There we go! This is the tough, mean Ruby we grew to love last season. Genevieve’s performance was more convincing this week.
After a few seconds of a pissed off stare down between the three, Sam convinces Ruby to take the now demon free man to the hospital and I’m wondering if he found the notion of being dropped on the floor and witnessing an explosive Winchester family fight more bizarre than being possessed by a demon. Ruby takes the guy to the hospital, Dean leaves very angry, and poor Sam is left standing alone wondering how he’s going to get out of this mess. Not easily, that’s for sure.
That’s a way to kick off an episode! I thought they would start with the freak of the week like they normally do. I like the change.
“If I didn’t know you, I would want to hunt you”
Back at the Willow Tree and Sam’s reading a book, alone. Dean enters in a snit and starts packing his things. Yep, still mad. Sam, walking on pins and needles, comes over to talk and Dean whips around and clocks him right in the jaw! Sam recovers and then Dean does it again! He’s not mad, he’s livid. Sam takes it like a man and Dean goes off on him for his inhuman behavior. “I’m just exorcising demons,” Sam defends.
“With your mind!”
Dean’s got you there, Sammy. He wants to know what else Sam can do. Sam says nothing, what he does only works with demons. Dean rightfully doesn’t believe him.
Article comments
1 - Tigershire
I very much agree with you. If it were that easy for Sam to stop using his powers, well the show should end with this episode.
Steven King said it best in his book on writing - "Kill your darlings."
And Kripke has done that in spades. I don't expect this season to be any different. Grin.
2 - Elle
Another excellent review!
Can I just say, this was the most disgusting episode, in my opinion, to date. Pretty much any scene with Jack had me wincing, cringing and eye-covering. Moving on...
You are so right in your grade of the Sam/Dean scenes as A+, Alice. The Dean and Sam confrontation was exactly what I wanted and I felt Dead was totally justified in his anger (even the punches). Jensen, once again in a suberb acting job, conveyed piss off and overwhelming sadness in that low, grave tone that was heartbreaking. The range of emotions - man, episodes should be rated for their ew-factor and tissue requirement. [sidenote related to the hotel scene - even though Misha Collins wasn't in this episode (tragedy, if you ask me, he should be in EVERY episode), Dean called him "Cas" - ah! I loved that part. ] I breathed a huge sigh of relief when, finally, ALL the Winchester secrets (at least between the boys) had been revealed. The secret keeping was making me anxious.
I do agree that Ruby 2.0 was better (though I still miss KC) however, it irked me a little bit that Dean didn't figure out who she was right off the bat. Also, I loved how Dean's absolute rage lead to flinging Sam off him and nailing Ruby against the wall - awesome! That's the Dean we know and love!
On that note - I loved the entire "long-pig" exchange, including the pleased look Dean got on his face everytime he worked it into a sentence. I'd bet the bloopers for the "rescue" scene in the apartment are great too.
Looking forward to your treats for next weeks episode. I have a feeling I know what your special surprise might be (but I'll keep that to myself).
3 - Tigershire
Not all the Winchester secrets have been revealed. Dean still hasn't told Sam about his nightmares of Hell.
4 - cassi
Great review Alice!
I loved this episode because it was my usual dose of SPN Monster of the Week combined with amazing brother moments!!!! And Jack was really one gross and cool monster! Loved his scenes! The food scenes were also amazing, the close-up of his mouth was so disgusting, Kim Manners you're a genius! I loved the little bloodstream flashes he used to emphasize the evil inside Jack!
The brother moments were fantastic as always! The episode feeled like the first SPN episode that dealt with the brothers relationship using Sam-Dean discussions since NRFTW.
5 - Alice Jester
Tigershire - Good point about Dean not telling Sam about his flashbacks, but I'm sure he doesn't know what it means yet. I wonder when they get worse (notice how I said when) if he'll share that with Sam. He didn't when he was getting the hallucinations in NRFTW, but then again, he might be learning from Sam that lies aren't the best thing.
Elle - yeah, I could have said something about the "long pig", but I'll admit, cannibalism is one of those topics I turn away from with sour stomach. This one was pretty gross, but I think last year's "Malleus Maleficarum" was worse.
I also agree, need more Castiel. I get why he wouldn't be in this one though, for he gave the brothers room to work things out. I can't wait to see what happens when Sam and Castiel cross paths.
Cassi - You're so right! How did I miss the blood pumping thing? That's another great example of the parallels. What's happening to Jack is happening to Sam too. Thanks for mentioning that.
6 - Tigershire
Alice - I agree that Dean doesn't know yet what they mean (although he knows what they are as referenced by Castiel - "what were you dreaming of?") but I don't think either of them get much figured out until the 11th hour (which is what makes good television, right?)
Actually that brought me to an interesting thought. Have you noticed that, so far, Dean only dreams of Hell right before Cas shows up?
7 - vichi
Alice, great as always! I was focused on the brothers and Jack's story was for me more as a parallel for Sam's story, because after all, in this episode, Sam is the one who got metamophosised (I don't know if the word exist, I think I just made it up:).
Funny thing, I too saw again BUABS and Bedtime stories, and with me the fried who is staying at me for a couple of weeks. She got converted to SPN and now, every night she watch one or two episodes of SPN:)
the title and the action of the episod made me think about Franz Kafka's novel "The Metamorphosis", his only novel I liked:) Did you notice that at some point the license plate was the original one, from season one? I read somewhere that they reused a scene from an early episode and that's why the plate was back. I was glad to see it again:)
8 - Liz
Great review. And I totally agree, Jared deserves tons of praise for this episode. He was absolutely fantastic!! And it was SO good to see Sam back.