All this time, I've been thinking Dean might turn to the dark side to save Sam. Last night, Dean had his chance, and refused it.

But Sam... Sam, on the other hand, was not only willing, but almost eager, for Dean to become supernatural. Is this Sam's own struggle with the evil part of his nature showing through, disguised as love for his brother? Or is Sam just desperate?

I think this might give us a clue to the arc of Season 4. Dean won't be the one Lilith, or its master, is interested in. Dean is just a bargaining chip. The demons want Sam back in the fold, helping the cause of evil instead of fighting it. Dean's life, and his eternity in hell, will be the reward.

So next year, I think, could be about getting Sam out of whatever contract he's forced into to save Dean's life.

Or maybe there's another demon that has its eye on the contract business. Lilith apparently holds all the contracts. Maybe another demon wants Lilith out of the way, so it can take that over. It could offer to free Dean from his bargain - if the brothers kill Lilith. The demon could even be willing to help them some way - like by giving them an ultra powerful knife, say?

Or I could see a Sam/Ruby alliance. Ruby helps the brothers kill Lilith, freeing Dean from his contract. She convinces Sam she's not like the other demons, and gets Sam to help her in the demon war. That leaves a lot of dramatic tension - Dean doesn't trust Ruby, Sam does. Is Ruby evil, or is she a "good" demon? Is Sam being evil by helping her, or is he aiding the cause of good? So many questions and situations can be created if it falls out this way.

What about Mary?

On the other hand, I don't think the little comment by the demon in the episode opening was just a generic "your momma" insult. I think that was specifically designed to remind us that we don't know much about Mary's past. John is pretty well filled in as a character, except for some bits and pieces about how he discovered that Mary's death was related to the supernatural, and why he decided to become a hunter. There's some rich background there that I hope we'll get to see, but it's not a big mystery. Not the way Mary's connection with the YED is.

It's been a while in this fragmented season, but we need to remember that there are still some big unanswered questions out there. Why did the brothers' eyes bleed in the Bloody Mary episode? Is Sam part demon, or something else? And how did Mary know the YED?

We may find out the answer to at least one of these questions next week.

Buh-bye Bela

As much as I've complained about Bela, now I'm sad to see her go. Bela's own bargain was brilliant. I never saw it coming, right up until the the end. I was a bit surprised to find out she'd been abused as a kid. Not because I didn't think of it, but because it seemed like the easy way out. Of course, the writers didn't have the luxury of having Bela's story be complicated or morally nuanced, partially due to the writers strike. They needed something that was easy to grasp in just a few minutes, and that would immediately make her more sympathetic.

One of my main complaints with Bela has been that she was too much a stock character. And yet, with just a couple of minutes of screen time, the writers fixed that. The bargain was the vital detail that made her backstory compelling. Eric Kripke said that she had a surprising secret in her past that would make her character worthwhile. I guess I should have believed him.

My other main complaint with Bela is that she hasn't drawn a realistic reaction from the brothers, in my opinion. Problem solved. I thought the interaction with Dean was well done. He didn't trust her, he didn't try to help her, for fear of her turning on him and Sam, just to save her own soul. And yet, he couldn't be the one to send her to Hell. If there was a chance she could find a way out of her bargain, and it didn't put him or Sam in danger, he was going to give her that chance. Even at the end, he pitied her, but seemed to feel she got what she deserved.

Rufus Turner

One final thing about the episode: what did Rufus Turner get Dean thinking about? I'm not talking about the "Did you do her ear?" line (brilliant, hilarious, and I'm shocked that it made it past the censors). I'm talking about telling Dean what he's got to look forward to as a hunter. What will that conversation set into motion, assuming Dean gets out of his deal? Dean seemed shocked and dismayed that maybe his future could be like that - paranoid, isolated, and maybe just a little on the edge of sanity.

How will this impact his future choices? I can't wait to find out.

I checked it out. Issue number 4 of the series has John Winchester, back in 1982, in Wichita, Kansas, facing a creature called "Doc Benton" (love the ER pun, though it would be seriously anachronistic). The bad doc was a surgeon who used parts from his victims to keep himself unnaturally alive, getting his start by eating the heart of a dying patient.

I'm wondering if this will tie in - the story seems pretty similar, but John killed the creature in the comic book.

So keep an eye - or an ear - out for mentions of Wichita or Doc Benton.

Do the dead call Collect?

As a short followup, I did a bit of googling on Edison's alleged device for speaking with spirits. It seems this may have been a hoax pulled by Mr. Edison on a magazine editor. Or maybe not.

Plotting

Wanted to make a quick mention about last week's writing.

Here's one reason I thought the episode was strong. By this time, you surely know Sam or Dean aren't going to die. So why do we care what happens in this episode?

Because we care about how the characters feel at this point. The writers have brought us along, given us every reason to care what happens physically to the brothers. But more than that, we care about how they are doing mentally.

Dean might have been forced to kill an innocent man. Dean is already suffereing from guilt over his father, and doubts about some of the hunts they have been on. How would he handle it if he was forced to kill a human who didn't deserve to die? Then there was Dean's hope that his father could show him a way out of his deal. How would Dean react when he knew that the voice on the call was just offering him yet another false hope?

Finally, the writers also created a very sympathetic minor character in the father grieving his murdered daughter. The viewer can imagine what the father is feeling, and so they have sympathy for him, and want the father to live. But that puts the viewer in the situation where they know that father is doomed (since Dean won't be killed) unless Sam can stop the monster. Some nice writing how they quickly built sympathy for the father with just a short scene.

Wrapping up

The season is close to wrapping up, and I'm wondering where it will go from here. Dean could die - theoretically. The writers could send Dean to hell, and just have him wander as a spirit all season next season, but I really don't think that will happen. It's not very satisfying, and it really paints the plot into a corner. Once Dean is dead, you can't bring him back again, in my opinion. And it's hard to see how they could keep the season interesting next year with the focus basically being Sam trying to bring peace to Dean's spirit.

So that leaves 2 options - Dean gets out of his deal, or he gets a reprieve. Both have a bit of weakness to them, but I think the reprieve could have some interesting side effects.

If Dean gets out of his deal, then I suspect next season becomes the hunt for Lilith, or Lilith's master. That will be good, but it has a sense of "been there, done that" to it. I think the writers will find some way to spice it up - like maybe finding out a former acquaintance or friend is really the one Lilith serves?

Or, Dean could get a reprieve. That runs the risk of making Season 4 seem like Season 3 - the Director's Cut. But it could add interest also. Dean already owes his life. What could he possibly offer that's more valuable than that? Maybe there is a supernatural item out there (now I'm not saying it's a Ouija board owned by someone with an accent, but you never know....) that the demon needs to complete its conquests. That puts Dean in moral tension. He hates demons, but may be forced to help it enslave humanity in order to save his life. Of course, he would never do that. Unless he was just buying time to figure out a way to kill the demon.

On the other hand, he could be made to serve the demon, also. That could be interesting. Dean would be forced to help the very creatures he hates so much. But Sam is there to try to undo all the damage Dean is forced to cause. That would really ramp up the conflict between the brothers.

Just a little food for thought.

But I anticipate it will get crushed on the internet for being too similar to One Missed Call. So I want to get this out of the way right up front - I don't care. Maybe the writers were inspired by the premise of the movie, maybe not, but even if they were, they took a tiny germ of an idea and took it in a whole different direction. Moreover, they made it fit nicely into the mythology of the show. Inspired (or for some, "inspired") or not, this was a solid episode. It had some nice twists, real peril, and snappy dialogue.

The monster

It's a crocotta.

"What is that, a sandwich?"

Great line, and just like Dean (or pseudo-Dean) to always be thinking of food. I'd never heard of a crocotta either. So, of course, first thing this morning I went to wiki. Turns out the writers may have done something they've only done a couple or so times before. They took a mythical creature (one from waaaaay back this time, back when the years had 2 digits, in fact), and changed it substantially. Looking at the wiki page, you can see some of the inspiration for the visuals of the character - the moving jaw, the spiny, horrible teeth. But the mythical creature doesn't take human form, and that was required by the story. Of course, in storytelling, everything is fair game for liberties, so if that's a problem, you just change it.

And it worked. And worked well, in my opinion.

The brotherly love

There wasn't a lot of range of emotions between the brothers this week. But somehow, that's appropriate. Dean's time is winding down, and both of them are frustrated by their lack of progress. They aren't the teary types, despite Dean's jokes about Sam's feminine side, so taking out their frustrations on each other seems natural.

I was shocked that Dean just blurted out the big revelation about his conversation with Ruby. I wasn't surprised that he told Sam that Ruby admitted she couldn't help Dean. I was surprised it happened in the first few minutes of the show. In fact, I was surprised it happened during this show at all. I expected there would be a big dramatic build up, with the bombshell dropped during the next to last episode.

Unveiling this particular piece of info so early makes me wonder what the writers have in store for the next 2 episodes.

Minor annoyances

One little technical thing bothered me. During the big fight with Sam, the camera cut away to show the sharp pegboard hooks on the wall.

As soon as they did that, everyone knew how the fight would end. I give them credit for not using the stereotypical "reversal of fortune". You know, where the hero is almost killed by dangerous object, before the villain is eventually killed by the same dangerous object. The idea is the viewer won't see the villain's defeat as deux ex machina if you bring it in during the fight and show it as a threat to both characters.

That's a really old, and really over-used, convention. In fact, I think they used that one in Season 2's Bloodlust, and probably others.

Of course, you can bring it in earlier somehow. Have a character remark on it - "that thing's really sharp, someone could get hurt on that." or similar. But then, anyone familiar with Chekov's gun would have recognized the spiky thing as a plot device. That's what makes writing hard - and even more so on a deadline. I can understand this editorial or writing decision.

Another thing I hate is when characters do stupid things. "Don't go into the scary house, you idiot!" you scream at the screen. There was a minor moment like that in this episode. Sam is going to comfort the Lanier girl, Dean is expecting a call from John, and sends Sam alone.

Uh, Dean? It's a cell phone, right? You don't have coverage there or something? Go with him.

I can overlook that also. With the emotional dynamics between them to that point - the sniping and general frustration level, they may have felt like they needed a bit of alone time.

Anyway, they're both minor nitpicks in an episode I liked very much.

Next week

Another first - next week's episode appears to feature a monster that was previously mentioned in the Supernatural Origins comic books. I'll have to check mine to see what issue. I'll try to post briefly about it early next week.

First, the framing of the story as an attempt at a reality series pilot was genius - and very, very funny. But it's a hard way to shoot - you have to be very careful not to include anything that wouldn't be seen from the handheld video camera's point of view. I thought a couple of times, I caught them with Spruce (the character who had the main camera) in the frame, with none of the other characters around to be the source of the video. But it was brief, if it even happened. The way this was edited, with lots of quick jump cuts, made it hard to tell.

I was also a little thrown off in the beginning, when they had Sam and Dean in the Ghostfacer credits. After all, they're supposed to be dead. If they're being shown on national TV, I think the FBI could figure out that they maybe didn't perish in the jail explosion. It all made sense at the end though.

I also thought the reference to the writer's strike was a great line.

Other than that, I can't recall too many really funny lines. All of the humor in this one was how they did such a great job of satirizing the reality ghost shows. They nailed them. The only thing missing was some murky footage of something moving, and the team declaring it a "ghost".

I thought Corbett's ghost attacking Daggett's ghost was kind of a lame ending. I guess they set it up well enough, so that it didn't seem tacked on, but it still seemed forced, like they couldn't think of any other way to get the brothers out of this one.

Mythology Meat

Well, there wasn't any. The biggest thing that happened was the writers established a time and date for this episode, and a timeline on Dean's life remaining:: Feb. 29, and Dean only has 2 months to live. Cleverly inserted, but I'd hoped for a bit more than that. I had especially hoped that Lilith would be revealed a bit more, but there's plenty of time for that, I guess. I wonder if this is another ep that is being shown out of order due to the writer's strike.

Next week

I have high hopes for next week's ep. I never would have guessed they'd do an ep about Electronic Voice Phenomena (EVP). The previews looked great. Can't wait!

Kristin of E! Online reported it last week, among others. Eric Kripke thanked the fans, apparently the internet buzz and fandom made a difference in the decision. No word yet on the number of episodes that have been picked up, but with the shortened season this year, I would expect a minimum of 22.

Additionally, the Deseret Morning News, among others, is reporting that the second half of Season 3 will return April 3, not April 24, as has previously been reported. Since there will be only 4 new episodes, and May is a sweeps month, I am guessing (and so is Firefox news) that means repeats from April 3 to April 24.

Great news all the way around, and looking forward to a fifth season now, and syndication!

Bela's got the Colt, but why?

Sam and Dean track down Bela's last known location, but once again, she's a step ahead. She calls them, and Dean speaks to her. She asks him what he thinks she plans to do with the Colt.

Sell it to the highest bidder, of course.

But she denies it. What's she planning?

Knock, knock

And as Dean threatens her, telling her they are going to track her down, the local Sheriff breaks through the door and captures the good guys. Did Bela report them, or just know the police were on the way?

Agent Henricksen is with them.

This is going to be bad. Real bad.

Behind bars

It doesn't take long to figure out that maybe heading to SuperMax is the least of their problems. The helicopter sent to pick them up explodes. All the deputies outside the building are dead. And then, Henricksen's supervisor walks in and shoots Dean before Sam is able to grab the lawman and exorcise the demon. Good thing he's got that Latin stuff memorized.

Sam talks a timid young receptionist into getting him a towel for Dean, before he viciously grabs her and pulls her to the bars. After a moment, she manages to escape.

But Sam has her rosary.

Eau de toilet

Well, they have a small weapon now against the demons. Good thing, because a bit later the Sheriff comes to let them out.

Sam and Dean are suspicious, but Henricksen is furious. So furious he kills the Sheriff.

Sam and Dean disarm him, and push his face into the toilet where they have created some ad hoc holy water by dropping the rosary in. Sam exorcises the demon, and Henricksen comes around. Now he believes them. But he can't believe he shot the Sheriff.

Dean tries to resist. Honestly he does. But he finally gives in with a smirk. "But you didn't shoot the deputy."

Sam is not amused. The look he gives Dean is priceless.

So Sam and Dean tell Henricksen how to survive. The close up the station, put demon traps at all entrances using spray paint. The seal the openings with road salt. Sam and Dean pass out amulets that will protect the others from becoming possessed. Henricksen asks what protects them. They both open their shirts and show ritualistic tattoos over their heart.

"Clever," Henricksen says.

Ruby to the rescue

And then Ruby shows up. They let her in. She tells them they are being hunted by a mob of about 30 demons, all under the control of Sam's rival from the west. Her name is Lilith (in legend, Lilith was Adam's first wife, who became a demon, also a demon in ancient Mespotamian writings).

Ruby tells them they need the Colt to escape.

Awkward silence.

The brothers finally admit that the Colt has been stolen. Ruby is not pleased. The only thing she can think of is a spell. It will kill every demon with 30 miles.

Including Ruby. But she's willing to make the sacrifice so that the brothers can win the war.

Problem is, the spell requires the heart of a virgin. Who's got a virgin socked away for a rainy day? Why, the sheriff's department! The timid receptionist is, surprise!, a virgin.

Dean is aghast. How could she be a virgin? Then, when Ruby tells him that the poor girl must be killed for the spell to work, he's more aghast. No way will he go along with the plan.

Sam, however, is noncommittal. He seems like he could be persuaded that the death is necessary. Dean takes him aside, tells him he has another plan, one that doesn't require human sacrifice. Sam reluctantly agrees.

Ruby rides away

Ruby is furious. She thinks the brothers are too soft-hearted, they could end the situation now. Ruby is so angry, she stalks out. She was willing to kill, and die, to save them. But she's not willing to stay behind and watch them die.

She leaves, challenging the demons outside to stop her. None try.

Dean sets his plan in motion. The open several doors and break the demon traps. When the demons come rushing in, they shoot them with rock salt to slow them down. Once the demons are all inside, a deputy and the receptionist seal them in with salt.

Henricksen starts a tape recording of Sam's excorcism ritual. It works! The demons can't flee, so they are all exorcised by the recording.

All that's left is the aftermath. Dean and Henricksen had struck up some grudging respect during the siege. Henricksen has no family, is frustrated in his job. But he seems to enjoy kill evil creatures. He may be on his way to becoming a hunter himself.

He tells the brothers that he'll say the helicopter crashed and burned, killing several people, including the Winchesters. They'll no longer be fugitives. The brothers thank him, and head off.

Someone searching

While the deputy, the receptionist, and Henricksen clean up the station to hide the aftermatch of the battle, a young girl walks into the station. She's looking for the Winchesters. They ask who she is.

"My name is Lilith," she says, as her eyes flash milky white. She raises her hands, and there's a bright flash....

Ruby bursts in on the Winchesters, and angrily tells them to turn on the news. The news reports that the local sheriff station was destroyed by what was presumed to be an explosion due to a gas leak. All inside were killed, including a deputy, receptionist, and an FBI agent named Henricksen. Two fugitives being detained also were killed.

Ruby is incensed. She tells them that she could have prevented all this, but the brothers were too squeamish, not wiling to make the sacrifices necessary to win.

She tells them it's war, and if they want to survive, and want the world to survive, they need to do what's needed.

She hands them a couple of amulets, and tells them to put them on. It won't protect them, but it will make it harder for Lilith to find them while Ruby figures out what to do.

News

We have one more new episode, showing this week, then a break. After the break, Supernatural will return with new episodes beginning April 24, according to multple news reports. The show will run for 4 episodes. No news yet on how this will affect the story arc. There were 22 episodes originally scheduled this year, so there will be 5 less than Kripke had mapped out for the season.

Speaking of Mr. Kripke, Starpulse.com had an interesting interview with the man, no, make that The Man in which he talked about a spinoff idea he toyed (is toying?) with.

Now, about Bickle

I originally blew this comment off as a throwaway cutesy line for the Trickster. But commenter nattyff called my attention to how similar this speech was to similar themes recently - how Dean is Sam's weak spot.

So I got to wondering, what else could that mean?

If you don't know who Travis Bickle is (and I didn't), or had never seen the movie Taxi Driver (I hadn't), Bickle is the ultraviolent, delusional title character played by Robert De Niro.

Well, the mental imagery of Bickle in a dress aside, seems to me here's one meaning the comment could have.

On the outside, Sam is all sensitive, but on the inside, he's a monster who doesn't realize his true nature.

That would fit with the general theme of the season, in that we don't know just how dangerous Sam is, or even how dangerous he can become. The Trickster showed Sam, though, that when Dean is endangered, or if Sam is without Dean to act as a check on his actions, Sam is more ruthless and dangerous than most of the creatures he hunts.

That makes sense, and it's a role-reversal from the first 2 seasons, where Sam had to act as Dean's conscience.

Bickle also was hailed as a hero at the end of the movie, despite the fact that he very nearly became a murderer instead. So that fits also.

Still, I wonder what else it could mean. What do you think it means?

Not that it didn't have it's serious side, which I'll get to, but this episode was brimming with great moments.

My favorite was Dean head-banging to Asia's "Heat of the Moment". Over and over and over. Let's take it from the top.

Finnegan, Begin Again

Sam wakes to the clock radio on a Tuesday morning. Dean is cheerful and ready to go. Annoyingly cheerful, actually. They discuss the case on the way to the town diner, their normal "office" in whatever town they happen to be in.

There was a single disappearance near this town's "Mystery Spot," a tourist attraction found in many American small towns.

Along the way, as they walk, distractions appear - a couple of movers having difficulty, a barking dog, a young blonde woman passing out fliers who bumps into Dean.

At the diner, more distracting details can be noticed. An older gentleman is told to drive safely, a man who appears to be down on his luck sits at the counter, wistfully ordering coffee. A distinguished gentleman eats at the counter. The wait staff drops a bottle of hot sauce.

The brothers speak for a moment about Bela, before deciding what to do. Cut to night. They go to check out the "Mystery Spot" after hours. They find nothing, until the proprietor arrives, shotgun in hand. Clearly frightened, he accidentally shoots and kills Dean.

And that's how Sam's nightmarish day begins.

Sam, Alone

Obviously, Sam is distraught, but then he awakens, to the same music. While the day seems curiously repetitive, he laughs it off as a bad dream.

Until Dean is blindsided by a car driven by the elderly gentleman from the diner.

From there, it's a whirlwind of Sam awakenings, and Dean deaths. We seen Dean hacked by an axe, crushed by furniture, choked to death, poisoned, slipping in the shower, electrocuted, attacked by a dog. Am I missing any?

Some of the deaths were hilarious, especially the one scene where Sam stops Dean from walking out in the street and being hit by the car. Dean asks Sam if looked cool, like in the movies. Sam is in no mood for joking.

"You peed yourself," he says.

Dean pauses, then reacts angrily. "Of course I peed myself! Man gets hit by a car, you think he has full control of his bladder?"

He then carefully looks both ways before crossing the street.

Since each day Sam has to convince Dean that the day is happening again, Sam is essentially on his own figuring out the puzzle. Dean, though, discovers that the blonde woman is handing out fliers about her father, the missing man they originally set out to find. Sam discovers that the missing man is a professional debunker on a bit of an ego trip.

Then Sam notices something odd. Every detail is always the same, except today, the distinguished man at the counter uses a different type of syrup.

Sam chases the man down, throws him against a fence with a stake at his throat.

A stake? Yep, Sam knows what the man is.

The Trickster from Season 2's episode, Tall Tales.

Sam threatens to kill the Trickster, but monologues a bit too long. The Trickster sends him back to that morning, yet again. Except it's not that morning. They're free, it's Wednesday. Sam can't wait to leave town, but as Dean is loading the Impala, the down on his luck guy from the diner shows up and shoots Dean in a failed robbery attempt.

Sam races to Dean's side, but this time, he doesn't wake up.

Sam, Driven

We now get a glimpse of what Sam's life would - will? - be like without Dean. Sam is obsessed with finding the Trickster and killing it. He hunts the supernatural alone, without mercy, and recklessly, crossing the countryside with nothing but his obsession. It isn't pretty, but it is effective. Sam is a merciless, driven, killing machine.

Bobby tries to contact him, but Sam doesn't return the calls. Until one day, Bobby calls to say he's found the Trickster.

Sam, Vengeful

Sam returns to the Mystery Spot, where Bobby has a ritual set up.

Bobby tells Sam he's found a way to summon the Trickster, but it requires a gallon of fresh blood. That means an innocent person must die. Sam is ready to go, no debate, no discussion.

Bobby is disturbed. He thought the sacrifice required would dissuade Sam. Not so, Sam is ready to do anything to get revenge for Dean.

Bobby instead offers himself. "Better me than some civilian," he says.

"Fine," Sam says.

Bobby kneels with his back to Sam, and Sam, instead of cutting his throat, stabs him with a stake.

"You're not Bobby," Sam says.

But Bobby doesn't change into the Trickster. He just lies there. Sam becomes increasingly concerned. There's still no change.

Finally, as Sam is about to reach panic mode, Bobby's body glows, then disappears.

The Trickster appears in the corner of the room, as the stake flies to its hand.

Sam begs for the Trickster to bring Dean back. The Trickster refuses. He tells Sam that Dean is his weakness, and that the bad guys know this.

"Dean'll be the death of you, Sam," it says.

"Please... just... please," Sam begs.

"You know, this stopped being fun months ago," it says.

Then it said something I couldn't make out, and the closed captioning didn't have it either.

Even Sam apparently couldn't make it out, because he said, "What do you mean by that?"

"That's for me to know, and you to find out," it says, and snaps its fingers.

And just like that, Sam awakens on Wednesday to the clock radio playing Huey Lewis singing "Back in Time". Dean is alive, and Sam hugs him. Sam asks Dean what he remembers. He remembers Sam acting weird, and them finding the Trickster. Nothing else.

They leave, without breakfast, and Sam won't let Dean go anywhere alone. Dean asks Sam if anything else happened, he doesn't look good.

Sam says he just had a weird dream.

"Clowns or midgets?" Dean asks.

Sam just looks at him, then turns to give the bed one last look before he leaves.

I don't blame Bela for this. Bela was really just a plot device. The Colt needed to be gone. For most of the stuff the Winchesters hunt, the Colt is too powerful. It makes them an uneven match.

Think about how boring most of the episodes would be if the brothers show up on a hunt, find the thing, whatever it is, and just shoot it.

Probably a 40 minute episode, max. With commercials.

On the other hand, we've now seen it's not quite true that it can kill anything. More powerful demons just shrug it off. And since the brothers are moving up to a tougher class of monster, it's not going to be that useful anyway.

Double Duty

I don't think Bela was in this episode just to keep her fresh in our minds, or just to steal the Colt. I think she had another purpose that's probably going to play a big part soon.

Remember Bela's board? She calls it her "talky board". You probably know it as a Ouija(tm) Board. It seems like every time Bela appears in an episode, the board is either shown, or mentioned.

Surely that's not an accident.

I'm just wondering what the writers have in store for us with that.

Strike Is Over!

I'm sure you've heard by now that the WGA strike is over. Eric Kripke mentioned in an interview that he thought they could do 3 new episodes, maybe 4, before the season ends (though E! Online reports they've been asked to do 5 or 6! That's a great sign towards a Season 4!). Previous interviews mentioned that he was unsure how they would handle the missing episodes, whether they would be shot and shown in the summer, shot for the fall as part of Season 4, or condensed and made part of Season 4. As soon as anything shows up in the news, I'll post it here.

This is one of a few things that bothered me about this episode. Not that he didn't want to die, of course. But that I thought the decision was made last episode, after finding out he would become a demon. I'm sure you remember. Dean has a chat with Ruby, she confirms what he already had figured out but wouldn't admit - that Ruby really can't save him and that his fate was to become a demon. The stunned yet resigned reaction gives it all away. Dean had not cared about living or dying to this point, until he realizes that he faces the same fate Gordon faced. Gordon became what he hated most, a monster, in fact the same monster he hated most, the type that killed his sister. A vampire.

But we get to go through it all again in Dean's nightmare.

Viewers Clubbed with a Clue Brick?

It's as if the writers didn't trust Jensen's acting (they should, I thought he nailed tha ending scene last episode), or if they thought the viewers maybe didn't quite get it last time, so they needed to club us over the head with it.

Maybe. Or maybe they just thought they needed a way to show Dean finally confronting his self-detructiveness, and his anger with John (thought we'd been over that, too, last season). I guess it did segue nicely into Dean's awkward talk with Sam at the end, asking for his help.

But I'm starting at the end of the episode. Highlights from the beginning.....

From the Top

The bit about Bobby's wife was nicely done. I've been wanting more Bobby backstory for years because he's such a great character.

"Everyone gets into hunting somehow." Nice line. I hope we get to hear more about this event in a future episode. I'd also like to see how Bobby and John met and became friends.

The bit about Bela helping was irritating. The scene with Sam dreaming about her, and um... well, not being able to immediately stand up.... was funny. Very funny, in fact, but it really didn't seem to fit in the episode, and it really didn't seem in character for Sam (even possibly evil Sam). Sorry, but it's awfully hard to feel anything but irritation and dislike for Bela. She's put the Winchesters in danger too many times. And still they get swindled by her, time after time. This storyline needs to end before it becomes a running joke.

Yeah, sorry, I'm not a big fan of Bela.

Sam's Dream

I'm not sure if this was the episode Eric Kripke had planned to use Friday 13th's Jason Voorhees in. If so, Sam's dream might have been the place it was going to happen. Sam would have been about the right age to have nightmares about our hockey-masked friend. As it was, I think Sam's dream was okay, if unremarkable. Though it would have been a neat homage to the Friday 13th movies, it wasn't needed for the episode, and might've distracted from the main theme, which seemed to be Dean's battle with himself.

Dean vs. Dean

Dean's dream was strong. Nicely symbolic of his self-loathing and self-destructiveness. Not sure it was necessary, as I discussed above, but otherwise I thought it worked. And it was good to see him finally let loose with all the stored up anger he's held against John, and himself for all these years.

Now, will the writers show his character growing from this? Yeah, I think they will, and I look forward to it.

So what did you think? Did this episode live up to your expectations?

Gross!

Ep starts with a pretty gruesome death. The teeth falling out was gory and hard to watch. Then, just a few minutes later, we're treated to the maggot meal. Ugh.

I think it was Stephen King that said, "If you can't scare 'em, go for the gross out." They definitely achieved the gross out.

So Dean's got a hatred of witches, eh? This makes me wonder why. Was there something in his past? A development to watch.

Playing with fire? Check. Burned? Check.

Then we move to a nice twist in the episode with the murderous witch herself being killed by something supernatural. The Stepford witches were convincingly creepy when they found out, though the one (Elizabeth - Erin Cahill) looked a little too much like Alyssa Milano. It was a bit jarring.

The blonde witch, Renee, was nasty enough that you could easily believe she killed a friend. Nice pacing though, because the writers only briefly let you think that, until Ruby shows up. And she is obviously frightened - for Sam? for herself?

The Winchesters, being Winchesters, totally ignore the warning, and nearly pay the price. Dean begins spitting up blood, right in the middle of an argument with Sam about Ruby. Sam looks for a hex bag, can't find one, and tears out of the room to confront the witches. Except they clearly have no clue what he's talking about.

Demon Among Them

Sam is a bright guy though, and it only takes him a few seconds to figure out that the demon these witches serve is right there in the room, pretending to be one of them.

Bad idea confronting it, though. The Colt proves to be useless against it. Yikes.

Rescue Ranger Ruby

Meanwhile, Ruby is saving Dean's backside. She forces him to drink something that looks like dishwater (another gross out!), which heals him, and allows him to follow Sam. And to get his butt kicked once again.

Ruby arrives in time to save the day. One problem, though. This demon is the demon she once served - as a witch herself long ago, and she is nowhere near powerful enough to take it on. Ruby and the brothers look down for the count, which gives a little convenient monologuing time for the baddie. So Sam is no longer the golden boy Demon-Messiah, eh? A new one is being created out west. This means that YED wasn't the one pulling the strings in this war, he was just one of the training officers. How the heck will they kill the Boss Demon if the Colt is useless against even the current baddie?

On Pins and Needles

Thanks to a distraction by the one remaining witch, who pays the price with her life, Dean is able to use Ruby's badass demon-killing knife to dispatch the baddie demon.

At the wrap up, Dean once again sees Ruby. His attitude toward her has changed. He is beginning to see her as an ally. Is she, or is this just part of the plan?

Dean's Hell

Dean hasn't made the connection yet. By selling his soul, he has doomed himself to become the very thing he hates the most - a demon. Hell strips away your humanity, and you gradually become a force of demonic hatred for what you once were. In fact, part of what defines Hell is your loss of humanity. And Ruby also makes it clear, there is no way out of the deal. She's been stringing Sam along for her own purposes. She wants to toughen him up, make him more like Dean so that he can continue on when Dean's dead.

But why? What does she gain from Sam's ability to survive without Dean? What are her plans for Sam? And is she telling the truth about there being no way out for Dean?

Questions like these are another reason this is the best show on TV right now, and that includes "Lost".

Trivia:

Malleus Maleficarum, the ep title, is the title of a 15th century book which was basically the witch hunters guidebook. You can wiki it, but it's a long article. I recommend checking out the summary on TV.com instead.

Ruby doesn't believe in Satan. Interesting. Kind of a neat way to keep out the most religious aspects of the show.

I don't think that's exactly accurate.

Here's what has happened

Due to the writer's strike, Supernatural will run out of episodes before the end of February sweeps. It will be replaced, not by repeats of the show, but by the CW show Reaper.

This is similar to what will happen with Lost. Grey's Anatomy will run out of episodes in January, and Lost will premiere, temporarily taking Grey's time slot.

Now, with Lost and Grey's, there is no doubt that when Grey's comes back, it will get its old slot, or a new, plum, slot.

With Supernatural, who knows? The network has been only lukewarm toward the show, it seems. They certainly haven't done it any favors by moving it to the slot against Grey's. And the decision not to show repeats is puzzling, though not the decision to show new Reaper episodes.

See, CW has contractually obligated to show ads during a show on Thursday nights that will pull in a certain rating. New episodes of Reaper are probably what the network believes will give them the best chance, and they may be right. I think more people, or at least roughly the same number of people, will tune in to watch new episodes of a different show, compared to watching Supernatural repeats.

Plus, it may build viewership of Reaper, and CW desperately needs viewers right now.

But Supernatural is one of their most successful shows, so I'm keeping an optimistic outlook about the network's decision against airing Supernatural repeats.

Oh, and by the way, the January 31 episode - the first new one in a while - is supposed to be a good one. But it will certainly lose out to the Lost premiere. However, I think there will be a lot of weekend DVR viewings of our favorite show.

Or maybe it's the WGA strike. I've noticed on a couple of shows the writing seemed a bit flat. I imagine it was difficult to put your best work in with the possibility of a work stoppage hanging over your head.

Regardless, here are some highlights.

Demigods

Once again, we're back to the demigods, just like Season 1's episode "Scarecrow". Pagan demigods are pretty powerful, it seems, but not too terribly bright and certainly not too fallible nor indestructable. Those facts have been good to the Winchesters.

Sam and Dean check out Ypsilanti, Michigan (someone should Google Map the episode locations, I think that would be a neat mashup), where a couple of people have been murdered/gone missing. Sam, with his l33t occult Google-fu, tracks down a possiblity - Santa's evil brother. How do you recognise him? He walks with a limp and smells like sweets.

They check out a local run-down Santa village, and find a Santa meeting that description. But when they burst into his home to take him down, they find only a drunken slob watching TV. They amusingly try to cover by singing Christmas carols, before hastily exiting.

Back to the drawing board.

A bit more research alerts Sam to the possibility of Hold Nickar, a pagan demigod that used to require sacrifice in return for good weather. The weather in Ypsilanti is unseasonably warm, and so they go checking things out. They discover wreaths that attract the demigods, made by a nice older lady. She, and her 1950s-esque husband, turn out to be the actual demigods themselves, taking the sacrifices into their own hands. In pagan times, villagers brought them people to eat. Now that civilization is beyond that human sacrifice thing, they've been a bit starved.

So Sam and Dean get captured, escape, and kill the demis with the help of evergreen stakes. Quite convenient that the Nickars have to have a Christmas tree so as to blend in with everyone else.

Family time

The best part of this episode was the glimpse into the family lives of the brothers. Dean wants to celebrate an old style Christmas, but Sam doesn't have very good memories of that time, and resists. Sam's flashbacks to when he discovered that Santa, and John, were not what he thought, was pretty compelling. It gave a nice look at how warped their childhoods really were.

In the end, the Winchesters did have a traditional - for them - Christmas. It was a pretty crappy celebration by normal standards, but for the 2 brothers, it was completely appropriate.

In a first, Eric Kripke brings us a Christmas episode this time. Being Supernatural, I wouldn't expect jolly old elves or happy misfit reindeer.In fact, in a TV Guide interview (careful, spoilers enclosed), Mr. Kripke tells us exactly what to expect. Lots of gore. He also talks a bit about the arc of the rest of the season.

Unfortunately, he also reveals that there are also only 4 more episodes before repeats, unless the strike is resolved soon. It wasn't clear if the 4 includes tonight's episode.

So enjoy while you can, and ask Santa for an end to the strike insanity.

Nice choice of setting. From the abandoned room where the brothers were hiding, to the warehouse where Gordon trapped Sam, it was all perfect for the story.

I especially liked the effects they used to simulate seeing through Gordon's eyes when he had Sam trapped. Sort of infrared, and giving the impression of rage and bloodlust. The crazy camera angles and inconsistent closeups, and Sam being unable to see Gordon while the chase was shot through Gordon's point of view, was similar to something I have seen. I'm not sure, but for some reason I keep thinking it could be the Texas Chainsaw Massacre or Saw, neither of which I've seen, but have seen the trailers repetitively.

The soundtrack was excellent also. I just saw 30 Days of Night, and they used a similar industrial-techno sound. I liked it in the movie, but I liked it even more here. It really fit with the metal and scrap of the warehouse.

About that ep title.

The "fresh blood" being, of course, Gordon.

A fitting ending for that character. There is justice in the Supernatural mytharc, and this is a great example of it. Gordon, consumed so much by his rage, becoming physically what he hunts, just as he already had become mentally a monster. And yet, even as a monster, he held hatred of monsters, and his hatred of Sam, and he acted appropriately on them. I am sorry to see Kubrick go, though, as he was a fun character.

Ah, Bela

This is more what I hoped to see from Bela. Less cutesy interaction with the brothers, and more danger. She almost cost them their lives for a piece of treasure. And Dean does actually seem angry enough at her to kill her the next time they meet. She's put their lives in danger twice now, and I would be disappointed to see Dean just accept her actions, or try to reason with her, the next time they meet. She's become a menace, and Dean must realize this. There should be no mercy now.

And Sam, that cold-blooded, heartless hunter. The changes are subtle, but they are there. Will they keep growing to the point that Dean can no longer deny that Sam has changed? Will Sam notice that he has changed?

I have a feeling that a meeting with Bela may be the catalyst for Sam's character to show there's more than just Sam inside Sam's body.