Supernatural season 3 episode 4 review

Mmmm, suicide in a church and it all goes south from there.  Dean and Sam head to Ohio to a town that went to sin from oh so virtuous! (Although the motel has mirrored ceilings and they don’t look new…). First things first, they run into Richie, an old hunter friend of Dean’s.  There’s a bar, with an evil bartender, who quickly dispatches Richie.  Dean finds out, they both end up trapped in a basement waiting for one of their partners to show up (Sam or an unknown demon) and that’s where the interesting part of this episode comes in.

See, while they’re trapped, they talk.  And then they bond (you didn’t think the bonding was between the brothers, did you?)  This is the possibly the frankest discussion about Dean’s fate that we’ve had so far.  He asks what hell’s like and we can actually see nervousness through the bravado.  It’s so bad that the demons want to get out to earth.  So unpleasant that they’re actively looking forward to Dick Cheney’s appearance.  We also get some back-story on the whole demon invasion thing- that they were supposed to follow Sam, that she would have followed Sam.

Meanwhile, Bobby is trying to fix the Colt, with blonde demon girl’s help (let’s call her Sally from here on in).  This comes in handy, allowing Sam to shoot the demon barkeep and priest.  Dean tries to stop Sam from shooting her, but more interestingly, she tries to save Dean from her demon partner.  It shows that demons are fallible just like humans- evil, but no less flawed.  That or Dean is just irresistible to all women no matter what form.   

Dean calls Sam cold and he was.  Bobby reassures Dean but we should note the change in the brothers.  Sam’s becoming more cold and calculating, Dean more soft and squishy.  And Sally’s no help.  Sam’s got his own demon bonding moment, but more to the worse than the better.  She warns him he’ll have to do things unpleasant, like killing the mortals the demons inhabit, to succeed and that she’ll be the little fallen angel on his shoulder.

This episode is really setting the tone for how the season will unfold.  Bobby becomes a paternal figure, but much more available than theirs ever was.  Dean and Sam diverge as the go on different journeys and, probably, Dean will need to save Sam from himself, again.

Next week, FAIRYTALES!  I love love love fairytales and there’s nothing better than them refigured!