CW
(Season 4, Episode 4)
Sammy fans were shortchanged last week as the younger Winchester raced off with Ruby before Dean took his little trip back to 1973. That situation should be remedied tonight as the brothers meet up with Jack. Jack’s not your normal guy. He’s going through some changes, and they’re not what you would call good changes. Apparently, Sam and Dean may struggle with how to deal with Jack. That’s our weekly story, but the more interesting bit should be how all of this relates to Sam and his special gift. After last week, it looks like it’s time to make some headway on just what Azazel was really up to. I’ll be back later with a full review.
Well now, what did you think of that? As is often the case with Supernatural, there are two distinct portions of the episode to talk about. Why don’t we start with the monster of the week, Jack (Dameon Clarke). The rugaru isn’t my favorite monster to be on the show, but that didn’t stop it from being a solid outing. A lot of the credit for that goes to Clarke. He did a great job portraying Jack’s change, and hunger.
He had some help, as well. I’m sure fans of The Dresden Files recognized Joanne Kelly, as Michelle. We’ll be seeing her again in Sci Fi’s Warehouse 13. What really made the episode though, was Travis. As far as crusty old hunters go, he was about all you could ask for. I really liked the character, right up until he went a bit nutty at the end anyway.
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That was the scene that got me. I didn’t expect it to play out like that at all. Given the parallels between Jack and Sam, I thought we might be given a look at someone overcoming the power of the dark side. A little hint that things aren’t as bleak as Dean would have you believe where Sam is concerned. Of course, I totally missed on that one. I’m going to blame it on the scene outside the apartment. I got distracted wondering why I don’t have neighbours like Angelique Naude that hang out by their windows in their underthings. The only thing I thought was missing was some kind of wrap up with Michelle. Other than that, another really good monster story.
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Getting to the other half of the story, we have Sam and his special abilities. What a complicated deal that’s turning out to be. It paved the way for some great Sam & Dean moments as they went back and forth. We all knew going in where Dean stood. It’s a position that was only reinforced by Castiel’s warning last week. The angle that I hadn’t seen until now was that Sam is now able to save those that have been possessed. Given what we’ve learned about Sam over the past four years, that’s a big deal. But it gets us right back to the Ruby question.
Fred asked in the comments for “In The Beginning” about whether or not Ruby has been working for Azazel this whole time. It’s an interesting question. Is she using the possibility to save those that have been possessed to lure Sam down a dark path? It’s possible. They tossed out another scenario in the opening as well. Sam and Ruby were asking the demon where Lilith was. So it could just be that Ruby is still bent on revenge, and helping Sam to achieve their shared goal. At this point, I think we can flip a coin, but I’m looking forward to finding out.
My favorite line of the night: “I’ve seen big weird, little weird, weird with crazy on top. But this guy, this guy’s boring.” It just edged out Manburger Helper. Overall, another solid chapter in the Supernatural story.
Clacked by Brett Love 
on Oct 09, 2008 @ 21:00 EST5EDT
I am just watching right now, so check back later for my full comments…HA! I really wanted to say that. LOL
As much as I hate to admit it, watching Jack scarf food (raw meat, Chipotle, peanuts, any of it) was making my mouth water. I’m a meat lover, I admit. He made it look like everything was the best thing he had ever had in his mouth. Now I’m laughing at myself for posting this. And thinking of a seared, rare steak. Yumbola!
I love this show.
*POST AUTHOR*
Looking forward to those comments Modwild. :D
I thought this episode was pretty solid. I’ve always liked it when Supernatural brings in the monster of the week, though the raw meat chowdown was a very disturbing.
I wished Sam hadn’t given up so soon. It would have been nice for the brothers to have had a little tension a little bit longer.
Another solid Supernatural episode. Maybe not as “shock and awe” as the past few episodes have been, but that’s probably a good thing.
As for the episode not wrapping up the Michelle character, I’m pretty sure they did that on purpose. It’s a parallel to what Travis experienced in not finding out that Jack’s mother was pregnant all those years ago until it was too late. Maybe Michelle and her doomed offspring will return at some point? Or maybe they did it to highlight the moral dilemma without actually having the guys participate in it. By showing that neither Sam or Dean is aware that Michelle was pregnant it raises the obvious question. Could Sam or Dean kill a baby because they knew it would turn bad someday? What is the difference between killing a baby who has yet to turn evil and killing an adult who hasn’t? In reality, the only difference is our sentimentality towards infants. An innocent is an innocent, no matter how old they are. I’m telling you, Supernatural is one of the only shows on TV that makes the viewer consider deep ethics like this. And all without preaching. That’s what makes it so great.
I have to say, I’m still not digging Genevieve Cortese as Ruby. I wanted to give her a chance, especially after Kripke said that there was a reason why Ruby’s suddenly all nice, but in reality it’s just her acting that’s plain bad. I miss Katie Cassidy. Maybe Kripke can have Ruby jump into someone else’s body before she appears again and then we’ll get to see some quality acting. I know money is tight and they probably got Ms. Cortese for a bargain, but it would be sad to see a show that’s always been known for it’s superior casting get tarnished on a pretty major role.
I do think it’s obvious at this point that Sam and Ruby’s relationship is or has become sexual. Meg hinted at it in episode two, and now a demon seemed to know about it too. It’s gross and scary. Think about how far Sam must have fallen while Dean was in the grave. When this show began Sam wouldn’t have even considered such a thing. It raises all kinds of ethical questions because as ghost Meg pointed out, she was still in there and could feel everything being done to her body. Does that mean whatever poor girl Ruby is possessing is essentially getting raped every time Ruby and Sam have sex? I don’t even know what to do with that.
One thing I’m confused about is that Sam’s reason for using his powers is being able to “save people”. Doesn’t that largely depend on what the demon has done to it’s host’s body? And Sam has certainly saved people before without resorting to mind games. Remember the pilot in season one’s “Phantom Traveler”? Sam performed an old-fashioned exorcism and the guy was pretty much fine afterward, albeit shaken up. Dean did the same thing to a crossroads demon in season two’s “Crossroad Blues”. And as far as I can tell, the reverse is true even with Sam’s mind exorcisms. When he did it to the waitress demon in the season premiere, she still died, because the injuries to her body were too great. So I’m failing to see how the psychic shortcut exorcisms are saving any more people than the old fashioned Latin ones.
At the end, when Sam told Dean he wasn’t going to use his powers anymore I didn’t wonder whether he was telling the truth, I knew he wasn’t. Did you see his face when he exorcised the demon in the beginning of the episode? He was like a junkie getting his fix. At this point, Sam has been seriously seduced by the dark side (in more ways than one) and I fear it’ll take more than a warning from an angel to bring him back.
*POST AUTHOR*
I’m waiting for Genevieve Cortese to get a big part in an episode before I decide on her version of Ruby. She really hasn’t been given a lot to do at this point. Still, I do agree with you about missing Katie Cassidy. I would have happily traded the reveal that Genevieve was Ruby in the diner for seeing Dean’s reaction when the Katie powered Ruby opened the door to the hotel room. Talk about a crazy scene.
If Sam and Ruby are having sex, yikes. Not knowing what to do with it is a good way to put it. I’ve been leaning toward it not being true, because I really don’t see how Sam can be redeemed after that. He knows full well what he’s doing. You have to consider the source when our only evidence comes from two demons, but the little underwear show in the hotel is troubling.
You’re right about Genevieve Cortese not having any major screen time yet, so I’ll hold off a bit longer before I really freak out about her. But it just doesn’t seem that she has the kind of presence that Cassidy had.
As for Sam sleeping with Ruby, I’m the sort of person who thinks almost anyone can be redeemed from almost anything if they truly realize that they did wrong and are sorry for it. So while I agree that it’s disgusting and horrible, I still think Sam could be a good guy again. Oh and when Meg hinted that something naughty was going on between Sam and Ruby in “Are You There God? It’s Me, Dean Winchester”, she was a ghost, not a demon. A seriously ticked off ghost, but a ghost nonetheless. Also, I don’t think demons always lie. In fact, I think they find that sometimes telling someone the unpleasant truth is much more cruel than lying. And when Meg said what she did she was alone with Sam, and when demon dude said it, the only people there were Ruby and Sam. In both cases, it doesn’t make sense for them to lie when the only people hearing it would know that it wasn’t true anyways.
I have to agree with much of what you say Kate, specially about Ruby.
At first I was just upset because I LOVED Katie Cassidy as Ruby, her presence, attitude and her chemistry with Sam that turned every scene a great one, but then I could see (because I just remembered from WILDFIRE, and now I know it’s true anywhere) that Genevieve’s acting is the worst thing television ever saw…the way she delivered that line “unless you want to go another round” to Dean when she was taking the guy’s body away from the place just killed any chance she had for me. It was sooo flat I was impressed, in a negative way. I also don’t like to think of the 2 of them having a sexual relationship, I never though Sam would literally “touch that” but it was clear to me since the first chapter when she opens the door of their motel room and there she is standing in nothing but her undies….
I don’t know what her agenda is, but i hope Dean can at least scare her into another body!!!!
The hunt this week really took a back seat to the trouble brewing between the brothers. I have to wonder if the boys are going to make it past this issue or is it going to divide them forever.
https://redlightnaps.wordpress.com/2008/10/10/supernatural-metamorphosis/
I was a little surprised that Dean told Sam about what Castiel said, given his own epic internal battle as to whether Castiel is real and if there really is a God.
https://vacelts.newsvine.com/_news/2008/09/26/1916391-dean-ponders-his-mission-from-god-in-supernatural
And did I mention how much I hate Ruby right now!
how did you put that avatar there???, i’m really bad figuring out that tipe of thing… :p
*POST AUTHOR*
Nattyff, to get your avatar, go to gravatar.com. There you can upload a picture and connect it to your email address. Just put the picture you want to use with the email address you use to comment here and your avatar will appear with all of your comments. It will also work on any other site that is using gravatar.
Thanks!!!
I’m really loving this season so far!
About the way it went down for Jack : I thought there was a parallel with Sam, in that – I felt – Jack was resisting. He was fighting back and never took that famous bite. It’s only when pushed by Travis, who was threatening to kill his whole family, that he did the only thing he could do to save her/them : let his inner-monster take over.
Actually, I was surprised to see Travis go down that way and act like that while looking unprepared to Jack’s reaction, it’s as if he didn’t know he was gonna be stronger and could escape… I thought he had been fighting those things for years?!
https://tvoholic.com/episode-reviews/supernatural-metamorphosis/
Loved when they kicked into the girl’s apartment for nothing, that’s my favorite line of the episode I think: “Wait, we’re here to… save you I guess… ?”
What I wanna know is why it took them so long to get back to Jack’s place after that ?
Fred, that’s a very interesting comment on the Sam/Jack parallel. Going along with that, do you think there’s a parallel between Dean and Travis? Do you think it’s possible that Dean’s inability to accept Sam the way he is might drive Sam to let his inner monster take over? It’s a scary thought. I definitely understand that what Sam is doing is bad news, especially since an angel has warned against it, but I feel that Dean can be sort of cruel about it sometimes. Calling Sam a freak and stuff like that. Sam can’t help what he is, only what he does. I feel like Dean, although he obviously still loves Sam dearly, looks at him like he some sort of tainted being now.
I just wonder if it’s this conflict between Sam and Dean that will finally push Sam over the edge (and he’s really close now) towards the dark side.
Well, I actually hadn’t thought of it like that, but yeah it’s possible I guess. I don’t think it works as well for the parallel, because Travis wasn’t really trying to help Jack, or in a very basic way : by killing him.
Dean wouldn’t do such a thing, obviously, so in my mind it was more of a demon (Ruby?) that could pressure him that way.
But I agree that even though they love each other, there’s no question there, and I’m sure Sam would give his life for Dean, just like Dean would give his for Sam, and yet they have this “twisted” relationship.
Sam keeps hiding stuff & lying to Dean, probably because he fears his brother would see him as a “freak” or a monster, and maybe not love him the same, which I don’t thin would happen. But it makes Dean be even more aggressive in his ways with Sam, to express how worried he is that Sam could lose control and get sucked in something and be hurt, which does encourages Sam to keep things secret…
It is possible that this conflict and vicious circle could lead to such an outcome.
But I’m not sure I would say Dean isn’t able to accept Sam the way he is, I feel it’s more that he is worried because neither he nor Sam knows what was done to Sam, really, and it didn’t came from a good guy obviously. Dean knows first hand that when dealing with demons, you can end up in Hell, and he doesn’t want Sam to fall there, he’s trying to protect him. I think he’s just afraid of losing him…
Yep, that part was really funny, as always a great episode. I been thinking about ruby’s motives for a while now, but i really can’t figured her out, wich is exacly why i love the show, you never know what is going to happen…
About the new actress, we have to give her a break, i remember when “blond” ruby show up, at first nobody liked her (i liked her, Bella too), ruby is an interesting character, and for now she hasn’t had much to do, just stand arround and stare, let’s give her the chance to shine when the writers think is best.
I think that sam was lying at the end, and that is really sad (plus no doubt he has been banging a demon…). In the other hand, maybe Castiel isn’t what we think he is (and that would be just ok, because i’m really liking the angels v/s demons smackdown that we have goin on right now), but with supernatural, you never know for sure.
GREAT EPISODE, GREAT REVIEW!!! :)