Diary of a Supernatural Virgin – You had me at sex and violence

Season 4, Episodes 13 – 15

I’m just not sure it’s normal for someone my age … is it OK that my heart beats with excitement every time I hear AC/DC on the car radio these days? Oh Dean, what have you and your 8-tracks done to me? Or maybe it’s Kripke, and the fact that he’s back in his groove and I’m loving Supernatural once again.

Although I have to say the last several episodes have been decidedly void of cool soundtrack vibes, let alone Impala cruisin’. Now there’s a staple of the formula I seem to have taken on while the boys bicker. Glad I can help out.

“After School Special”
Sam and Dean visit a high school they attended in 1997 when kids start getting killed by other possessed kids. Sam’s got a connection to the main players.

I don’t even have a quote from this episode. Did Supernatural get new writers or something? OK, I must get out of my negative Supernatural slump. I just need some funny … please. I miss enjoying the episodes on different levels, and smiling throughout and laughing out loud are a couple of levels I’m really yearning for. I suppose I ought to thank Kripke for the dodge ball scene….

The heart of this episode was Sam’s struggle — about how his actions affected other people’s lives in such a major way, how his teacher taught him to make his own choices, and about whether or not Sam used those choices to bring about happiness for himself. Every one of these themes fits in perfectly with Sam’s present day situation, and when he was fighting Dirk at the end and Dirk calls him evil, Sam’s reaction was awesome: “I am not evil; I have seen real evil and it’s not me or you.” I’m really beginning to believe that Supernatural will stick to their ever-complex shades of gray and Sam won’t go completely evil; I still think he may make some unfortunate choices, but like Dean’s Hell behavior, there’s not a black or white, and I love that about this show.

This and that:

• I’m so glad they got back to the monster of the week being an actual spirit, and the inky black goo, Supernatural‘s ectoplasm, brought me back to X-Files‘ alien slime.
• I love that little kid who plays young Sam (Colin Ford); the expressions on his face are priceless, and he must have studied tape after tape of Jared Padalecki, because he’s dead on.
• Dirk’s story made me want to cry, and brought me back to my days as a teacher. There’s always a reason for bad behavior, and I just wanted to give Dirk a hug. And it was a little weird, because my kitten’s name is Dirk — which is a lot weird (Dirk the Daring, in fact).
• High school kids really, really don’t act like that. No one chants derogatory names as a group, even though Dirk the Jerk has a certain musical ring to it.

“Sex and Violence”
Sam and Dean battle a siren, who pits them against each other and some dark truths come out.

“Strippers, Sammy, strippers. We’re on an actual case involving strippers. Finally.” – Dean

I’m with Dean — finally! Finally, an episode of Supernatural that lives up to it’s self-established reputation. After five episodes I didn’t particularly enjoy watching, even though I get that they are important and deep and parts of them were wonderful, “Sex and Violence” rocked my socks off again.

They fooled me a bit too, which always makes for a good time. I did think at first that something was up with the FBI agent (gushing over Dean’s Impala, bonding over hair bands), but then I figured it was probably the doc, since Sam is always the hapless victim. When Dean ran right to FBI guy, though, and blew off Sam, I knew.

And we got some major brother angst, and although they shrugged it off as the siren’s spell, it’s obvious there’s some truth to Dean wanting a little brother that looks up to him and that won’t hide things from him, and Sam thinking that Dean is weak and slowing him down since he got his fancy powers. It’s a good thing Bobby is on the ball, or it would have been the end of the Winchester boys.

At the end of the episode, the boys decide, “We’re good,” but something tells me not so much. There is so much set up this season to the inevitable showdown between Sam and Dean. Will they ever have each others’ backs again? Will it be a good thing in the end, because their weakness has always been each other? Hmmm… now I’m wondering if Castiel’s plan all along was to split up the brothers. As the Trickster said back in season three’s “Mystery Spot,” Sam and Dean have always been each others’ weaknesses, and the demons are eventually going to catch onto that and use it against them. If they don’t have each other to worry about, perhaps they’ll be stronger and be able to defeat Lilith and friends.

Other great things:

• FBI agents Stiles and Murdock (Route 66, the original two-guys-on-the-road show that Supernatural surely was inspired by)
• The siren used Disney princess names as her stripper aliases: Jasmine, Aurora, Ariel, Belle.
• “First it’s Madison, then Ruby, now Kara. What is it with you banging monsters?” – Dean to Sam
• I loved Bobby’s line-up of phone lines solely there to back up the boys’ aliases if they ever get caught.

“Death Takes a Holiday”
Allistair tries to kill death and break a seal, but Sam and Dean stop him with some casualties along the way.

“Joe the Plumber was a douche.” – Dean

Yay, Supernatural — another great episode. Perhaps the show I love is back? I know you’ve all been saying it is no more, but all I’m looking for is a great story arc that’s true to the characters, which mean funny quips no matter how dark the places they go. The episodes I didn’t enjoy were missing the whole formula, the Kripke stamp; it wasn’t that they just went to a dark place. Regardless, Kripke’s back from his hiatus in Suckville and he’s back on track.

Now see, here’s what I’m talking about: all I need is a little thing like Sam and Dean posing as bloggers from flooredbythelord.com. Just a warning, I do not think this creepy-ass site is owned by The CW, so click onward at your own risk. OK, maybe that’s not all I need. I definitely needed Dean saying, “Oh, I’m so feeling up Demi Moore,” when Pamela turned him into a ghost.

What we really have in this episode is more questionable choices by Sam. He lied to the ghost kid, saying he could stay with his family as long as he wanted, when he knew Tessa would take him after they found the black smoke. Here’s where it’s gray, though — did Sam figure that Cole wouldn’t actually want to stay when all was said and done, which is what happened? Or was he so driven by the lust for demon slayage that he didn’t care who he hurt to get it? Add this to Pamela, on her deathbed, telling Sam, “If you think you have good intentions, think again,” and we’re getting into evil Sam territory.

How about Dean wishing he had gone with Tessa back at the beginning of season two? And Tessa telling Dean to trust his instincts and stop hoping that Castiel and friends have something wonderful in store for him? Dean knows something nasty is coming down the road, so maybe my theory about the angels setting up Sam and Dean has some merit. I love that I kind of know where they might be going with all of this, yet I still really have no idea.

And still there’s more:

• Sam had a good point about him and Dean not being regular people, as much as Dean wants to believe it. Sam’s got demon blood pumping through his veins and Dean’s been to Hell and back, so they are a bit beyond Joe the Plumber.
• I loved the scene with Cole hitting Sam and Dean and then disappearing, as he’s trying to teach them how to do it. Very cute.
• Pamela calling Dean “Chachi” and telling Sam he’s got a great ass.
• Sam’s way stronger, as we saw with his showdown with Allistair, and still lying to Dean about it all.
• Dean sticking his ghost hand into ghost Sam’s body:
  “Dean, get out of me.” – Sam
  “You’re such a prude.” – Dean

So it’s pretty clear to me how involved I’ve become in this TV show when I look back at my old virgin diary entries. The season one finale, for example — how could I just write several paragraphs? I think as the series has gone on, I’ve become so enraptured by all of the little details that I just can’t help but write about them — all of them! Kripke’s genius is back, and believe me, I’ve been looking for it.

Clacked by Debbie McDuffee
on Jul 12, 2009 @ 12:00 EST5EDT