What's it about?
Bobby turns to Sam and Dean for help when the demon Crowley refuses to return his soul as agreed.
Review
Last week I was underwhelmed by 'Supernatural' and it scared me. I loved this show from before I'd even seen the pilot and for the last five years I have watched religiously and awaited the end of the five year plan by creator Eric Kripkie and I loved his season finale in May.
I was apprehensive about the return of the series for a sixth season but I awaited it with an open mind and enjoyed the season opener 'Exile on Main Street' immensely; episode two I enjoyed a little less and after watching episode three I found that during the week which followed I several conversations along the lines of 'maybe this show should have ended last season' and that is not a conversation I take lightly or enjoy having.
It's not so bad when you're on the receiving end and defending the integrity of your favourite show but when you are giving the talk it's bad times... thankfully this weeks episode was far more enjoyable and has worked somewhat to renew my faith in the series.
'A Weekend At Bobby's' is the directorial debut of series lead Jensen Ackles so in turn he is barely in this episode, the same goes for Jared Padelecki because wherever Dean goes Sam must follow. Jensen's time in the directors chair doesn't seem to have been as hyped as other series where stars take a turn behind the camera but all his work and effort has clearly paid off and this is the most solid episode so far this season.
There are a lot of different elements to this episode: slapstick comedy, horror, drama etc... all of which together are needed to make a damn good episode of 'Supernatural' and that's what we've got here.
The writing this season has so far failed to bring all these elements together in a seemless manner every week and that is where the show as lost its game, but apparently having somebody as important as a series lead behind the camera means that everybody has pulled out their A game here.
The writing in this episode is much more cohesive and instead of waiting for a twist to happen purely because we need it to for us to remain entertained this episode involves the audience by disposing of the usual Sam/Dean investigation and subsequent slayers and replaces them with the loveable Bobby Singer.
Bobby has long been a fan favourite character and after this I would quite like to seem him spun off, whether it be the stories of a younger Bobby or even him now. After all he has been through it really was time for him to take the limelight and have a self contained story of his own.
Casts and crews often talk about working on their respective show as being like a family and I think that is important to note here because clearly the 'Supernatural' family have a lot of respect for each other and where this episode could have become filler it is instead a brilliant stray from the norm.
The story has so many peaks and troughs in mood yet it's impossible not to be swept up in them even as an audience members and I can't remember the last time I had a good chortle to myself whilst watching an episode of this show.
I do feel bad that after criticising the show so much over the course of the last couple of weeks that I now renew my respect for it over an episode which isn't actually about the characters the show was created for. But maybe that is just a genuine sign that the story of the Winchester Bros should start winding itself down before the masses call for it to be over.
There are a lot of standalone moments in this episode, the wood chipper stands out most for me, and they are all strongly directed which is testament to the work of the rookie director here. We've yet to find out if castmate Jared will have a crack at the directors chair.
The guest cast do a great job of filling out the world of Bobby and providing character which help those standalone moments jump out of the screen and stick in the memory long after the episode is over. A lot of attention has been paid to making sure that this episode is memorable for a long time to come which I think alludes back to my earlier comment about the nature of the family on this show.
It does worry me slightly that this was the first episode shot for the season and yet after that the creativity lost its juice a little but I remain hopeful that after seeing the final edit this gave the creative team a boost and pushed them back in the direction this show should be going in. Only time will tell.
Next week...
During a fight with vampires, Dean is bitten and transformed. To obtain a cure, Samuel tells Dean to get the blood of the vampire that bit him. However, the vampire alpha is part of the pack that Dean must infiltrate.
Overall
Story 3.5
Character 3.5
Scares 3.0
Overall 3.5
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