Season 4, Episodes 9 – 12
After I dropped Owen off at Nature Camp this week (oh, sweet freedom!), I was driving home to too-loud classic rock, imagining myself to be the long-lost Winchester sister … have I been watching too much Supernatural?
To tell you the truth, I’m starting to think it wouldn’t be all that much fun to be a Winchester. Man, life is totally sucking for the boys with this batch of episodes, and as a viewer, I’m entering Suckville a bit myself.
“I Know What You Did Last Summer” and “Heaven and Hell”
Castiel and Uriel battle Alastair and his men to get possession of Anna the fallen angel. We learn more about what Dean and Sam were individually up to last summer, and in both cases, it was no good.
“Don’t you recognize me? Oh, I forgot, I’m wearing a pediatrician.” – Alastair the demon, to Dean
“An angel and a demon riding in the back seat. It’s like a setup to a bad joke. Or a penthouse forum letter.” – Dean, driving with Anna and Ruby in the backseat of his car
Yeah, Supernatural may have just crossed the “too dark” line for me with these two episodes. No monster of the week, and it was sorely missed. As fascinating as it was getting all of the mythology behind the angels, it was made a little hokey because it took itself so seriously. This is something that Supernatural hasn’t done before. I mean, a giant suicidal teddy bear and killer clowns, evil Santa and Ghostfacers … they all worked because it was so delightfully tongue-in-cheek.
When Uriel had Anna’s grace in a necklace around his neck, all I could think of was Austin Powers and his stolen mojo. Hokey.
I’m certainly not going to let my love for Supernatural be tainted by these two episodes, but I do hope they get back to what makes Supernatural great and lighten up a bit. You’ve warned me season four was a dark one, and I finally get it.
Even though I’m not all mushy-gushy about this two-parter, there were some important things going on in these episodes:
“Family Remains”
Tortured and abused humans kill to defend their territory, and Sam and Dean save the family who were unfortunate enough to buy the house.
“What kind of ghost messes with a man’s wheels? – Dean
This doesn’t happen very often in Supernatural (the last time was “The Benders” in season one), but we’ve got a spook-free episode this time. The evildoers are human, and like last time, and a heck of a lot scarier than ghosts.
Yeah, that dad/granddad/I’m my own Grandpa was a sick bastard, and like Dean did, you’ve got to feel for the abuse that would have turned those kids basically into animals, but man, I don’t want to watch it. I really didn’t enjoy this episode at all, and I’m sure I could live a full life without ever having seen a human tear into a live rat with an appetite.
As always, Supernatural does an amazing job at having the storyline reflect what’s going on with Sam and Dean; in this case, Dean. I get that we had to see a completely horrifying human story, down to the base survival instinct, for this episode to give us the most impact in light of Dean’s revelation. How horrible must Hell really be for Dean to enjoy torturing others, because he had suffered for so long he needed to deal some out? Deep and wow, and methinks if Sam does go all evil that Dean lest not be too judgy.
Other things:
“Criss Angel is a Douche Bag”
An immortal magician tries to help his friend achieve success, but it is at the expense of others’ lives.
I was holding out hope that this episode would save this batch of episodes for me, because it is probably the best episode title in the history of episodic television, but I was pretty meh about it. Kripke, baby, why have you forsaken me? Where’s the magic (no pun intended)? Our relationship started off so strong, with so much promise, and now, well, I still love you but I want the old “us” back.
Don’t get me wrong, this episode had its moments:
And we did get the Sam connection. Like Jay had to do the right thing, even though it meant killing his best friend, Sam decided to do “the thing” with Ruby, whatever that is. Oh, Kripke, you tease. Maybe some of the old magic is left in us yet.
Hey, I like Castiel! But hang on, for later in the season we finally get his origin story – or rather, who Castiel’s host used to be. And if I remember correctly, there are a string of “non-mythology” episodes that came after the Christmas break that had fans antsy. I still have the last two episodes of the season on the DVR, so I’m waiting to see how it all turns out. Enjoy!
Debbie, I have remained a tried and true Supernatural fan, but the show you knew is no more. There were a couple exceptions this season, and they were worth the wait. One of my favorite episodes ever – Yellow Fever (episode 70, I still have it on my DVR from Oct 08) – was laugh out loud funny.
The other standout for me is called It’s A Terrible Life, and was episode 81 from March 09. This one managed to bring everything; it could, in effect, be a standalone episode but the meaning was much bigger.
You’ve come this far, see it through. There will be little light coming through the darkness, but when it does it will be worth the wait.
*POST AUTHOR*
I’m hoping it’s worth the wait, because I’ve loved this show for 3 and a half seasons… I can’t really imagine I’d be disappointed when season four is said and done!
Like Jay had to do the right thing, even though it meant killing his best friend, Sam decided to do “the thing” with Ruby, whatever that is.
Actually, it was the opposite. He saw that Jay did the right thing yet ended up lonely and embittered and that’s why Sam went ahead and did the very wrong thing. ;-)
and methinks if Sam does go all evil that Dean lest not be too judgy.
I have to say I can’t really equate doing bad things because you have been tortured to near insanity and doing bad things because you choose to do on Earth.
*POST AUTHOR*
Ah, OK, the Jay thing is clearer to you since you’ve seen what “the thing” is. I’ve got no idea if what Sam chose to do is wrong or not.
Again, Dean feels bad for what he did, and knows what would drive a person to make a bad decision. I don’t know what Sam does this season yet, so I don’t know how judgy Dean ought to be. Probably not at all, because we’ve all got to be responsible for our own decisions and there are so many shades of gray in Supernatural; the fact that Sam would make a strictly evil decision based on doing evil alone is probably not something we’d see b/c it is so clear cut.
I’m looking forward to finding out!
Be patient dear! Kripke likes to tease us and IKWYDLS and HAH are not the best episodes of the season. I personally like IKWYDLS but comparing the episodes 9-12 to the rest of the season, they’re certainly not among the best.
Family remains, Criss Angel is a douchebag are the usual standalones and you either like them or not but beware Kripke is one hell of a tease and just cause the storyline is on a good way doesn’t mean it will directly continue in the next episode. He likes to make us wait!
Cherish the few funny lines cause until the season finale there is not that much funny left, maybe one or two episodes but the darkness won’t go away until 4.22.
I personally think 4.18 is pretty funny but not everybody tends to agree, courious if you will enjoy it.