Lower Decks

The following review contains spoilers for Supernatural through the current episode, “Criss Angel Is a Douche Bag,” originally broadcast January 22nd, 2009.

When I finished watching this episode I was left wondering what Criss Angel being a douche bag has to do with anything. I know who Criss Angel is and the word douche bag was certainly thrown around quite a bit in the episode, but I don’t get the connection between the two. Did Criss Angel do something to the author or authors of the episode? Did he somehow slight the producers of Supernatural? Or is the title of this episode a joke to be enjoyed by those in the know? I’m sure I could find the answer myself on the Internet, but where’s the fun in that?

It was refreshing to finally see someone realize that the Brothers Winchester aren’t F.B.I. agents (unless that’s already happened and I just don’t remember it). Poor Dean, sent to see Chief. I, too, wonder what his safe word is. I’m sure he has one. But he won’t be talking or thinking about his experience with Chief ever again.

Overall, I thought “Criss Angel Is a Douche bag” was a solid episode with a wonderfully depressing ending. The Monster of the Week, a magician with a book of actual magic, was far more interesting than I initially assumed. I thought we were going to be dealing with a demon who enjoyed toying with a magician long past his prime. But the best friend of the magician in question being the baddie? That was a twist I didn’t see coming. This episode really wasn’t about Dean and Sam. At least the main storyline wasn’t. It was about friendship and growing old.

Barry Bostwick did a fantastic job as the aging magician, Jay, who finds himself suddenly able to pull of elaborate (and dangerous) performances. But when other magicians start dying and their deaths reflect the stunts Jay has been successfully pulling off, Sam and Dean suspect Jay has been using real (dark) magic to help his act. It’s not until his best friend Charlie (played by John Rubinstein) is killed that Jay admits something is truly wrong. Oh, sure, he has his doubts earlier but Charlie convinces him to go forward.

Eventually, Charlie is revealed to be the one causing the deaths, using a deck of tarot cards. He reappears, alive and well and youthful, and offers Jay and their other friend Vernon (played by Richard Libertini) a chance to be young again. Vernon shows some interest but Jay turns Charlie down. when the Brothers Winchester show up and try to take down Charlie, they are met with magic tricks galore. Dean is strung up by a noose and Sam is restrained in one of Jay’s contraptions.

Finally, Jay ends things by stabbing himself with a knife after taking Charlie’s tarot cards from his pocket, leaving only one behind. Due to the magic involved, Charlie is the one to die while Sam and Dean are freed. But Jay pays the ultimate price. His best friend is dead, Vernon will never talk to him again, and he’s all alone. He leaves his deck of cards behind when he walks out on Sam and Dean. Depressing.

But the episode had a secondary storyline that I truly appreciated. While Dean is off looking for Chief, Ruby drops by to chat with Sam. She can’t understand what he’s doing in Magictown, U.S.A. when 34 seals have been broken (that’s more than half, she points out). The two yell at one another for a while with Sam insisting he can’t do anything because he doesn’t know where the seals are. Ruby suggests he go after Lilith but Sam won’t have anything to do with it.

Later, however, Sam and Dean have a discussion about death. Dean suggests that they’ll either die young and violent or old and pathetic. Sam hopes for something better. Seeing what happens to Jay and his friends makes Sam change his mind about trying to kill Lilith. He leaves Dean, saying he needs to go for a walk, and gets into Ruby’s car. Cue ominous music. When Ruby was berating Sam for “doing a job” when the battle between angels and demons continues to rage (and the angels are losing) I totally forgot for a moment that Genevieve Cortese is a poor replacement for Katie Kassidy.

I have written many times before that I don’t quite understand why so many episodes this season are standalone stories in which Sam and Dean battle a ghost or a demon or what have you rather than work to stop Lilith from opening the 66 seals. Ruby seems to agree that Lilith is a bit more dangerous than a wayward spirit. Perhaps now that Sam has come to the same conclusion, the rest of the season will focus more on Lilith. I certainly hope so.