“I’ve got demon blood in me Dean! This disease pumping through my veins and I can’t ever rip it out and scrub it clean. I’m a whole new level of freak!” The close-up on Sam’s face on that last line is incredible. Jared deserves tons of praise, for Sam’s venting of the long building frustration over his misfortune is astonishing. We feel every bit of it and the close up on Dean’s shocked face poignantly reflects the heartbreak. Sam finishes, “And I’m just trying to take this curse and make something good out of it (heart wrenching beat), because I have to.” Awesome stuff. That shut Dean up and he’s willing to talk to the freak. The other freak. I told you about the parallels!
Winchesters and Flamethrowers
They find Jack, he thinks they’re nuts and sends them away. He runs off and ends up stalking a chick, and this sets up the one funny moment of this emotionally heavy episode. Sam and Dean barge in with flamethrowers into this woman’s apartment only to find Jack talked himself out of the attack. “We’re here to save you, I guess.” Dean’s words are of little comfort as she threatens to call the police. They scram quick.
Let’s burn through the next chunk of this. Freak goes home, Travis is there and is ready to kill him and his wife because she’s pregnant. Freak gets angry, breaks free and Travis becomes his first human feast. They go for mega gross out factor, which satisfies those who expect nothing less from this show. Jack unties the wife who runs for her life. Sam and Dean arrive, see mostly eaten Travis, and then Dean is knocked out on the coffee table, Sam on the floor. This happens right after a sorrowful Sam says, “I guess you were right about Jack” to Dean. Yeah, great time to find that out.
Sam wakes up in the closet and talks to very bloody freak through the door. “We’ll have a little brainstorming session.” Ha! I love that line. I’ve been in business too long where I’ve learned that’s code for “we have no freaking idea what to do.” Sam talks to Jack while picking the lock on the closet door. Oh come on Sam, open it with your mind.
Next is a gross shot of Jack eating Dean’s blood, but that’s par for the course. Sam pleads to Jack’s humanity and how can your heart not bleed for poor Sammy? “You got this dark pit inside you, I know, believe me I know, but that doesn’t mean you have to fall into it. You don’t have to be a monster… It doesn’t matter what you are, but what you do. It’s your choice.” Jack doesn’t listen and Sam emerges out of the closet just in time to save Dean with the flamethrower. I said this before with "The Kids Are Alright." Sam Winchester, flamethrower, me, thud, floor. Sam’s beside himself over the kill and the sad puppy dog eyes prove it.
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.