Supernatural – Sam and Dean Survive A Japanese Game Show

The powers that be down at Supernatural HQ had a little something up their sleeves with “Changing Channels.” Judging by the previews for the episode, and all that we’ve learned about the show over the years, this one had all the makings of a classic Supernatural romp. As we soon found out though, things were not exactly as they seemed, and the story took a decidedly darker turn once the real culprit behind the Winchester’s trip to TV Land was revealed. That move back to the bigger story, combined with some well crafted shots at Grey’s Anatomy, Knight Rider, and CSI: Miami, made for another very fun episode.

Starting with TV Land, it really was a fun gag. Dr. Sexy, M.D. was my favorite of the bunch, for the simple fact that the little jabs were so well done. Things like Dean’s all-too-knowing descriptions of all of the characters, “Dr. Ellen Picolo, sexy yet earnest doctor at Seattle Mercy Hospital.” Or, the good natured jab at one of their own, “This show has ghosts? Why?” That’s not to say the other segments didn’t have hits as well. You knew exactly what was coming when the title of Nutcracker was announced, but it was still so fun to watch it go down. Then that was almost topped by Dean’s fear of suffering the same fate.

David Caruso probably took the most pie to the face, as both Sam and Dean did multiple takes on the sunglasses/cut to opening theme line. But then, he’s kind of asking for it at this point, right? After all, you know who wears sunglasses at night? “No talent douchebags.” If it had all ended there, when the boys “killed” the trickster on the Miami set, I would have actually been OK with it. I’ve always been a fan of the comedy episodes, and this one held up pretty well at that point. The genital herpes commercial was also an especially nice touch. The writing was already on the wall though.

I started to get suspicious right from the opening. They were showing us way too much about Michael and Lucifer for this to just be a one-off laugher. Added to the way the trickster so easily dismissed Castiel, and something had to be up. I never imagined it would actually be Gabriel. In the big scheme of things, that’s huge, as is the revelation of just where he stands in all of it. His defeatist attitude was completely the opposite of what I had imagined, and it just makes everything that much more mixed up.

It was just one short scene, but it did say a lot. The situation is as dire as it’s ever been. It would seem that Sam and Dean are in the vast minority in thinking that something can be done to avoid destroying the world.  The only positive for the boys is that they have now bested Gabriel once, which does remove one of the dark clouds hanging over their heads. Unfortunately, it’s just one of many. It certainly does look like things are going to get much worse, before they get better. And, for our purposes here, like it’s going to be a lot of fun watching it all unfold.

Clacked by Brett Love
on Nov 05, 2009 @ 23:09 EST5EDT