What's it about?
Sam investigates a case about missing babies whose parents are being murdered. At one of the crime scenes, he discovers a baby that was left behind and calls Dean for help. Reluctant to leave Lisa (guest star Cindy Sampson) and Ben (guest star Nicholas Elia), Dean finally agrees to meet Sam and surprises his brother with how parental he has become. The brothers take the baby to Samuel, who decides to raise it as a hunter, which infuriates Dean. However, before they can decide the baby's future, a shape-shifter breaks in and attempts to kidnap the baby.
What we saw
It's two men and a baby when Sam and Dean end up in position of what turns out to be a shape shifting baby. What is going on with the demons these days? Everybody seems to be acting really weird?
Review
Jensen Ackles surely felt he was being punked when a read a script which mentioned that the baby he was protecting would shed its skin and become black half way through the episode... if not he has clearly been on this show too long.
I liked this episode but let's make no mistakes here: this was a slightly comic interlude after laying out the current battlefield last week. It works on many levels and even provides us with the bittersweet conclusion which we all knew had to come at some point soon.
Sam and Dean needed to get back together and this episode circles the drain for Lisa and Ben and brings our boys to a point where it's time to get back in the Impala and get on the road.
As I said last week it's been well publicised that we were going to see a return to a season 1 style format but there was no way the writers could outright have the boys back on the road fighting the monster-of-the-week after the conclusion of the previous season and the ramifications it had on the 'Supernatural' universe. What they have done instead is far more clever and has proven the devotion the team behind the show have for their fans.
Instead of putting the boys back in the car we've had a little time to adjust to Dean's new life and understand his newfound happiness just in time to see it taken away from him.
Structure wise it makes sense to ease in to a new format for the show but also makes the change less jarring for the viewer and will act as a nice little buffer for new show runner Sera Gamble instead of just outright changing the show we all know and love.
There was something reminiscent of the final season of 'Buffy the Vampire Slayer' here what with the appearance of the first of the shape shifters, it felt like a greatest hits/first evil kind of moment but hopefully in the case of this show it isn't a sign of the end just as we are seeing a new creative outburst in its writing.
All the stops were already pulled out for season 5 so if this was to be the bigger finish after the big finish I don't know how they can possibly top their first apocalypse.
The appearance of the Campbell family is beginning to bother me, obviously there is something going on with the brother grandpa which is bubble under the surface for a little while before ending in a twist regarding who we saw him talking to on the phone this week. But other than that the cousins are bothering me, there was no weight to the death of one of them this week and they seem to ooze attitude without having a real background or any real development to back it up.
If we are going to be spending an extended amount of time with them this season I would like to see a lot more development so that we as an audience can come to understand why they are the way they are other than the generic answer of 'they were raised as hunters'
All-in-all this is another solid episode, it serves its purpose well and does provide a certain amount of filler which is not great at the beginning of the season but understandable due to the requirements of the story. Bring on next week and the return of Cas!
Next week...
While Heaven remains in a state of disarray, Sam, Dean, and Castiel come face-to-face with an old foe when they attempt to track down the thief who stole the Staff of Moses from an arsenal of God's weapons in order to kill several police officers with the plagues of Egypt.
Overall
Story 3.5
Character 3.5
Scares 2.5
Overall 3.0
No comments:
Post a Comment