Lower Decks

The following review contains spoilers for Supernatural through the current episode, “Metamorphosis,” originally broadcast October 9th, 2008.

Apologies for the lateness of the review. There is so much on television every Thursday and so little time to watch it all, let alone review it.

Following the customary recap (which told the story of “In the Beginning” within the space of two minutes), the episode begins. Having been warned by Castiel that his brother is walking down a dark path, Dean comes across Sam and Ruby exorcising a demon. Sam can do it just by pointing his finger at the demon-possessed man. And, luckily for the man involved, it survives. When Dean learns that Ruby is the woman Sam has been spending time, he pulls a knife (Bela’s demon killing knife, perhaps) and lunges at her. Eventually, Sam has Ruby take the man to the E.R. with the man and Dean stalks off.

There was really no other way this could play out. To be quite honest, I would have preferred to have Dean find out about Sam’s late-night activities on his own, completely accidentally, rather than have Castiel point him in the right direction. If Dean reacted with anger — and even violence — after Castiel told him about Sam, imagine how furious he would have been if he had simply stumbled upon his brother using his creepy mind powers (and with Ruby as his sidekick to boot)?

Still, not only was the reaction we saw from Dean realistic to the character, so was Sam’s. Throughout the episode, as the two were dealing with the monster-of-the-week, they were also dealing with the issue of Sam using his powers and lying to Dean about it. Sam understood where Dean was coming from but felt that Dean didn’t understand his point of view. All their lives, the two have fought evil (and just recently they learned that their mother was a hunter, as were her parents, their grandparents) side by side. And then, Sam finds out he has demon blood coursing through is veins. That’s got to be a shock.

Dean, in his anger, even points out that Sam is turning into something that any hunter would want to take out. It’s a startling fact, one that Sam seemingly ignores, pointing out that what he does saves more lives in a month than the two of them could save in a year. He’s doing good. Dean just doesn’t like the way he does it. But enough about the brothers Winchester later. First, some discussing of the monster-of-the-week.

After getting a call from an old family friend named Travis, Dean and Sam head to Missouri to stake out the home of a man named Jack. At first, the only thing unusual the two notice about Jack is his hunger. He’s really hungry. But when they see him stuffing his mouth with raw meat they decide Travis was right: there is something odd going on with Jack. And when they meet up with Travis they learn what’s going on. Jack, it turns out, is a rougarou, a disgusting creature that starts life human and then turns into something very, very different. One taste of human flesh and a rougarou is changed for life.

Travis killed Jack’s father some thirty years earlier. At the time, he had no idea Jack’s wife was pregnant. She gave up the child for adoption and by the time Travis found out about young Jack, he couldn’t stand the idea of killing a child. He wanted to wait until he was sure. Now he is. But after some research, Sam doesn’t exactly agree. He finds reference to rougarou (or humans turning into rougarou) that are able to keep from turning by never feasting on human flesh. Travis dismisses the idea out of hand. Dean eventually agrees to talk to Jack before killing him.

Here the monster-of-the-week storyline and the family drama intersect. Dean worries that Sam is becoming too emotionally involved, that he is comparing his inner demons with Jack’s. After all, Jack can’t really help what he’s turning into, and Dean can’t help having demon blood mixed with his. But the comparison falls apart somewhat: Jack does have more of a choice than Sam does. He can decide never to taste human flesh. Dean and Sam try desperately to convince him to do just that. And it seems as if Jack is fighting the urge as hard as he possibly can. When his wife, Michelle (played by the lovely Joanna Kelly) cuts herself, after a moment of indecision in which he appears to consider attacking her, Jack runs off.

In fact, Jack is portrayed as very sympathetic. He’s just a regular guy with really bad genes. Later, after apologizing to Michelle for abandoning her, Jack gets a little too rough with her. He apologizes again for his behavior and explains he doesn’t know what is happening to him. Sam and Dean talk with him and explain what is happening to him. But he doesn’t believe them. He tells them to leave. They do, but they follow him just to be safe. He watches a woman in her apartment, watches as she pulls the drapes closed. He climbs up the fire escape and watches as she undresses. Sam and Dean grab a few improvised flame throwers and head after him. But Jack once again fought the urge and ran off. Sam and Dean burst into the woman’s apartment to find her the only occupant.

As the episode begins to wind down, the action heats up. Jack returns home to find Michelle tied up. He is quickly subdued by Travis, who apologizes for having to kill them both. It turns out Michelle is pregnant. And Travis isn’t going to make that mistake again. Jack’s rougarou strength kicks in and he breaks free, attacks Travis, and proceeds to feast on the meat of his neck. Michelle watches in horror and is then set free by Jack, who still has some of his humanity. She runs off screaming, never to be seen again.

Sam and Dean find the remains of Travis and are attacked by Jack. Dean is knocked out and Sam is locked in a closet. He begs Jack not to kill Dean. Jack blames the brothers for sending Travis to kill him and his wife. Just as Jack is leaning in for the first bite, Sam bursts out of the closet, flame thrower ablaze. Jack burns alive in front of them. On the drive home, Dean apologizes for being so hard on his brother (there really was a lot of apologizing in this episode) but Sam doesn’t want to talk about it. He says the demon blood is just something he’ll have to live with. And he’s decided to stop using his powers. Dean thanks him, but Sam explains he isn’t doing it for Dean or for God or anyone but himself. It’s his choice.

“Metamorphosis” was a worthy follow-up to “In the Beginning,” continuing the threads laid down in that episode. Dean confronts Sam about his powers, driving a wedge between their relationship, but ultimately Sam decides to do the right thing and give them up. Whether or not he sticks to his promise remains to be seen. At the moment, though, the lines being drawn between Sam and Dean appear to have abated somewhat. Perhaps we won’t have to see them on opposite sides of the final showdown between angels and demons, God and the Devil.

As always, there was that wonderful Supernatural humor in “Metamorphosis.” The best bit of dialogue? This one:

Dean: “Long pig?”
Sam: “He means human flesh.”
Dean: “And that is my word of the day.”

Also hilarious was Dean’s line to Jack about his appetite “reaching hungry, hungry hippos level.”  And Dean not believing “rougarou” is a real word.