Lower Decks

Supernatural
“It’s a Terrible Life
Originally Broadcast Thursday, March 26th, 2009

This is a difficult episode to review. As a standalone story, it was a fun romp, with a seemingly perfect combination of amusing moments or one-liners and disturbing scenes of incredible gore. But by attempting to tie into the season’s long arc — the battle to stop Lilith from opening the 66 seals and freeing Lucifer — “It’s a Terrible Life” may have sabotaged itself. Given that I generally dislike standalone episodes, regardless of how fun it is, I’m tempted to dismiss this as largely inconsequential. But is it more than that?

“It’s a Terrible Life” was a bit like Season Two’s “What Is, And What Should Never Be” in that it shows what life could have been like for the Brothers Winchester if they weren’t hunters. Unlike that episode, in which Dean was aware of the real world, this time both the brothers were leading relatively normal lives. Dean Smith (father Bob, mother Ellen, sister Jo) is middle management at Sandover Bridge & Iron Company. Sam Wesson (recently broke off his engagement to Madison) is a low level phone jockey.

But things at the company aren’t nearly as normal as they appear to be. When two of Sam’s fellow workers kill themselves in violent ways — one roasts his head in a microwave, the other stabs himself in the neck with a pencil — Sam and Dean realize they have to work together to figure out what’s going on. Sam has been having dreams about vampires and hunting which, along with Ghostfacers how-to videos, set them on the right track. They realize that a ghost named Sandover — who started the company — is haunting the building and killing anyone who makes the slightest mistake.

Skills they didn’t even know are quite helpful when combating the ghost. They’re eventually able to vanquish Sandover after finding and burning his glove. Afterward, Sam suggests that the two continue fighting ghosts together, but Dean nixes the idea. Later, though, he tells his boss he’s quitting because he has something important to do. His boss then reveals himself as the angel Zachariah, Castiel’s superior. Following Uriel’s traitorous turn, he felt the need to inspect the troops personally, so to speak.

By showing Dean that even in a perfectly normal world he’d still find himself fighting evil, Zachariah apparently hoped to convince Dean that he is strong enough to finish his mission. He tells Dean hunting is in his blood, that he’s miserable without it and that he’s good at it. Dean will stop the apocalypse. He will do everything he’s destined to do. For some reason Dean doesn’t seem convinced.

Perhaps Dean is tired of being used by the angels and not knowing exactly how he’s supposed to save the world. Obviously, he’s tired of living with the guilt of what he did in Hell; learning that his father supposedly never cracked under torture couldn’t have helped. But instead of sitting him down and letting him in on the game plan, the angels are simply using him as a tool, pushing him around on the big chess board that is their field of battle with the demons. He’s sick of it and quite frankly, as a viewer, so am I.

As interesting as this season’s arc has been at times — and it has been very interesting on occasion — it’s been stretching thing off late. What probably could have been wrapped up in thirteen episodes has been expanded to fill an entire season. Even with a hearty portion of standalone episodes, it’s high time the final confrontation between Dean and Lilith or Dean and Lucifer or, as the case may be, Dean and Sam comes to pass.

I still don’t know what to make of “It’s a Terrible Life.” It wasn’t a terrible episode, by any means, but it did nothing to move the larger plot forward. In that respect, it was inconsequential. But it had its moments. The death of the security guard in the elevator, while obvious and gruesome, was something of a highlight. The last names Dean and Sam were given — Smith and Wesson — a nice joke. And this exchange between Zachariah and Dean was hilarious:

Zachariah: “You should see my decoupage.”
Dean: “Gross. No thank you.”

Frankly, I’m ready for this season to be over. We still have five episodes left, though, and I’m sure the season will end on a cliffhanger.  Anyone agree on either points?