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(Season 4, Episode 9)
And now for something completely different. Really, just when you think you have this show all figured out, an episode like this comes along. For all intents and purposes, this thing started off like our standard Supernatural adventure. A damsel in distress, a demon attack, some vague information. I was sure Anna (Julie McNiven – Mad Men) would be saved and the boys would be having a heart to heart at right around the 55 minute mark. Ah, but look at that cart, way up ahead of the horse. If you were playing along with the home game, you know that’s not what we got. Not by a long shot.
Things did get off to a fairly typical start. That’s not to say it was boring, or lacking in any way. When Anna started going on about 600 possible seals, Lilith only needing to break 66 of them, and how the end is coming, I was hooked. She knows some junk. How does that work? The addition of her drawings, showing that she has been following along, and her knowledge of the boys, was a nice touch. “Dean Winchester is saved.”
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Anna’s predicament set the stage perfectly for the return of Ruby, and her presence left me a little torn. I love what they are doing with Ruby, the character. I’m not quite as thrilled with Genevieve Cortese though. When I compare her Ruby to the Katie Cassidy Ruby, she leaves a little to be desired. Not horrible or anything, just somewhat lacking. Be that as it may, we got some great Ruby back story that answered some pressing questions.
You might recall a great comment that CC reader Kate made on the “Metamorphosis” post. It had to do with Sam’s relationship with Ruby, her host body, and what it all means. They were good questions, and we got some reasonable answers here. Yes, it’s still pretty creepy that Sam’s girlfriend is a demon, and he’s probably going to need a goodly dose of therapy at some point, but it is worlds less evil now that we know the soul had left the body before Ruby took over. She also earns points for gaining the endorsement of the innocent Anna. And you had to like the ‘awkward’ scene between Dean and Ruby, now that the cards are on the table. “I guess I uh … you know. I just want to … you know.” Well said!
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Sam’s retelling of what he did last summer to Dean was where the episode really took a turn. It left me looking at the old NFW on the wrist thinking, “Hey now, they’re not gonna make it.” It felt odd to have Anna introduced to us, the focus of the episode, and then have her just disappear. Of course, it all makes perfect sense now, and it all worked very well, but it was different. That segment did a lot to explain where Sam is right now in regards to both Dean and Ruby. His forcing Ruby (Anna Williams) to leave the secretary’s body was big, and their battles from the summer explain where his trust in her comes from. In the end, it was a detour well worth taking.
Getting back to the main story, there really isn’t a lot to say at this point. We were introduced to a new baddie, Alastair (Mark Rolston), who plays into what Dean did last summer. And we had the return of Heaven’s Odd Couple, Castiel (Misha Collins) and Uriel (Robert Wisdom). That scene played out so well. It certainly looked and felt like Hell was going to come charging through that door, but when the not-so-friendly neighborhood angles walked through instead, they brought no sense of relief. You could tell that something wasn’t right. It didn’t take long to confirm, as Castiel let everyone know that Anna, “She has to die.”
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Damn. It does make sense, given what we learned in “It’s the Great Pumpkin” and what Dean explained to Anna. If the other side gets their hands on her, it’s a game changer. She’s quite the liability. Of course, in that same episode we also learned that there is no way the brothers are just going to go along with that plan. It should make for quite an interesting conclusion next week. This is exactly how sweeps is supposed to work.
Clacked by Brett Love 
on Nov 14, 2008 @ 10:00 EST5EDT
This episode left me feeling all kinds of wishy-washy. Like you said, it’s all about sweeps and when I too found myself looking at the time (nice watch, by the way) I realized we were going to end with the always frustrating To Be Continued…
Somehow they still managed to surprise me with the story of Ruby and Sam while Dean was in Hell. I have to admit, I was relieved that Ruby’s newest body was not keeping an innocent person hostage in their own body. However, I was still schocked and even a little grossed out by the rather explicit love scene. Since gratuitous sex is not something we see too much of on Supernatural, I can’t help but feel it was supposed to be off-putting, given Dean’s interjection. Brain stabbing imagery, indeed.
As interesting as Sam and Ruby’s story was, I find myself much more intrigued by Anna. Of course Sam and Dean are going to try and save her, but will they succeed? Will Anna be guaranteed entrance to the pearly gates? I can’t believe that they would write in a character with telekinesis unless she was going to stick around for a while, since she only used her power in the very beginning of the episode.
My favorite scene this episode: the brothers recuperating in their hotel room after jumping out of the church window. Somehow, Sam sewing up his shoulder and popping Dean’s shoulder back into place made me laugh, and that’s why I love this show.
Great episode!, in the final part i was sure that the angel’s would came along to play. Will these be another one of the hard decisions that Dean has to make??? maybe the angels will be bound to what Dean has to say these time too. Love these show!!! :)
Yeah, this show is pretty awesome, and this season is definitely its best one so far!!
So… is everyone simply trusting Ruby now ?? I know Anna seemed to trust her, and Dean did his sorta… you know. But in the end, I’m not sure I do trust her.
I used to think she might have her own agenda, pushing Sam into the darkness of his powers because she might be working for Azazel’s plan for instance, and with that in mind, all of what she did was working according to plan, getting Sam to trust her, and to use his powers more & more.
https://tvoholic.com/episode-reviews/supernatural-i-know-what-you-did-last-summer/
Regarding Genevieve Cortese, I think she has definitely Ruby, but I don’t have a problem with it. And it might be part of the plan, her Ruby might look less tough, but you can think she falls for Sam.
With Katie Cassidy’s Ruby, I don’t think I would have bought it. That she helped Sam and teached him, yes, that she fall for him, not so much. She was colder and less vulnerable, and I don’t think it would have worked…
Great review, Brett! It’s so nice to read something by someone who’s obviously really enthusiastic about the show. I loved this episode – it was darker and heavier than the last few we’ve gotten and I think that’s what we needed right about now.
I think Genevieve Cortese has done a lot to vindicate Katie Cassidy, many of the fans who tore her apart are really missing her now. Fred brings up a great point, though. I would have found it harder to buy Katie’s Ruby hooking up with Sam than Genevieve’s. I don’t trust her either. When you think about it, Lilith would have to be either really stupid or really damn forgiving to give Ruby another chance (and after only a few months!)…I think they’re in on it together.
I’m guessing Anna will live. I think it’ll be too much like the episode Heart if she dies. Ooh, and yay, another sexy scene next week!
Wow! I can’t believe you remembered my comment from October, lol. Well, I was still grossed out by the Sam/Ruby sexy time, even if it was a little less horrid by virtue of the fact that there’s no innocent soul involved. One thing I didn’t buy though, I thought Dean should have been way more angry about it, even though Sam told him how Ruby jumped into a vacant body. I mean he’s still sleeping with a demon. That should have still made Dean want to choke him to death, instead of making a lame joke about it.
I love Anna. I really hope Supernatural departs from it’s pattern here and lets her stick around a while. (They have such a bad habit of prematurely killing good characters.) It’ll be interesting to see what the boys do with Castiel’s pronouncement that Anna has to die, although I’m pretty sure Dean will never go for that. Sam might, he was willing for Virgin Nancy to die back in season three after all. I think that if Dean does say no way, Castiel will stand by him based on what he said in the last episode. I think this might be another one of the tough decisions that falls to Dean to make. For whatever reason God has made Dean the general of this war to stop Lucifer from rising and I think the angels have to abide by what he says.
I definitely still don’t trust Ruby. While I don’t think she’s necessarily in league with Lillith, I do think she has her own agenda and her constant push to make Sam use his powers doesn’t sit right with me. While they can be heavy handed at times, I trust the angels when they say that Sam using his powers is wrong and that he needs to stop. Anything that makes your nose bleed and your eyes turn black can’t be right.
As soon as Sam told Ruby to get out of the secretary body, I thought of that comment. It played out like a direct answer to your concerns.
Like the rest of you, I don’t completely trust Ruby either, but I do give some weight to her winning Anna over. I think that could count as a sign that she is actually on the side of the boys.
I don’t agree about Genevive-Ruby being a more believable romance for Sam than Katie-Ruby. Given Sam’s history with Jessica, Katie-Ruby looks more his type.