Supernatural 8x01 "We Need To Talk About Kevin"

Well, kids, it's time for Supernatural season eight. Honestly I kind of can't believe that the show has been on for eight seasons now. That's a little bit insane, and if I'm being totally honest, it's not as magical for me as it once was. Everything starts to feel all samey-same. This is not to say that I don't still enjoy the show, because obviously I do, but I do wonder if it should become like a TV rule to have a set amount of seasons planned, to actually quit while you're ahead rather than run things into the ground until there's nothing left.

Sam, did you become a hair model while I was away?

Anyway! Let's get to the recap here. In case you forgot, at the end of last season, after all of the hoopla with the Leviathan(s), Dean found himself trapped in Purgatory with Castiel, Kevin was taken away by Crowley to parts unknown, Bobby was finally really dead after his stupid stint as a ghost, and Sam was left all by his lone to find some semblance of a life. Alrighty then!

Cut to a year later, and a couple camping kids get a light show in the woods, and a bedraggled Dean comes stumbling toward their site with some weapons and a delightfully grim grimy face to growl a question about where the road is. You see, he's got to find this graveyard, which has a grave (they often do), which he digs up, chants some stuff, and then cuts a glowy thing out of his arm to drip into it. It appears that Dean did not escape Purgatory alone, but rather had a hitchhiker of a vampire buddy named Benny. Benny the vampire buddy gets a Dean hug before walking off into the sunset, with a stern warning to, you know, not go eat a bunch of people.

Meanwhile, Sam has apparently found out that Dean is back and sneaks out of the house he's shacking up with a girl and dog in, and meets Dean back at Rufus' cabin. Right? I think that was his cabin. They splash each other with holy water and borax to say hello before we get a trademarked Winchester BroHug. And then Dean immediately gets to the bitching when he finds out that Sam did not, in fact, try to find him. That Sam, actually, tried to have a somewhat normal life for the past year, because that's what they had indeed promised each other they would do. Look down at my random thoughts section for some frowny faces on this whole exchange.

We break into churches, don't you?

Dean is also pissed because Sam didn't get the messages from Kevin that he had escaped Crowley and could use his help, all of which happened at least six months prior. So, Sam, ever with wanting to please his frowny face big brother, says let's go find the kid. They track him down to the university where his old girlfriend is, but it turns out Kev hasn't been there. And it also turns out that the girl is possessed and now alerts her boss that Dean is back among the living.

Sam works some computer-fu and manages to track down Kevin via some kind of IP address something or other, and basically calls Kev a big ole dope for using the same wireless router more than once. Yay for Sam using his actual computer smarts! If this was last season, they would've had to call up Frank or something.

They find Kevin holed up in an abandoned church. He informs them that while he was captured by Crowley, the demon asked him to read from a tablet he had, which was a different tablet than the one from last season. We're not sure how many tablets there are, or what exactly they all are for, but this particular one was all about demons. Kev used a spell to expel the demons from where he was being held, and has basically been on the run since. The other useful thing about the tablet? It has a way to close the gates of Hell. Forever. Bum bum bum!

But, before the trio can head off on their new mission, guess who decides to crash? Yep, our dear Crowley, and girlfriend-demon. Crowley wants to trade the girl for Kevin and yada yada, but Kevin is smart again and manages to holy water them, enabling an escape. Of course, he gets to see Crowley kill his girl before they make it out of there, but what else can you expect from him? I mean, duh.

While all of this has been going on, we've seen a few flashbacks to some of Dean's time in Purgatory, and how Sam hit a dog and a met a girl. Dean met Benny after Benny saved him from being eaten by a vampire down there, and they struck a deal: Benny helps Dean find Cas, and Dean agrees to let Benny hitchhike a ride stateside, because Benny knows how a human can get out of Purgatory. Sam's story is literally, um, hit a dog, take it to a vet hospital, get berated for not wanting to take care of it, fall in puppy love. Well, not so much love yet, but there's a puppy, and look, they made the joke easy.

We're left to wonder just what Dean had to do down in Purgatory, just who this Amelia woman is that all the Sam girls are going to hate on, and whether the show would even be necessary if they were to actually accomplish their goal of closing the gates of Hell. Until next time!

Random Thoughts:

- Did Benny the vampire escape from Bon Temps? Just curious.

- I have a lot of questions about Purgatory, I suppose. What happens when they kill stuff there? Does it actually stay dead, or does it come back to "life?" Does Dean need to eat while he's there, like he does in the land of the living? And honestly, how is he not dead while he's there? I don't get it, I guess. MOST importantly, though: how did he keep such a short haircut and clean-shaven face over the course of a year? SAM AND I MUST KNOW! Seriously, Sam, with the hair?

- Okay, how can Dean give Sam crap for stepping away from the hunter life when he did the exact same thing with Lisa not so long ago? Honestly, the situations seem rather similar. I get that they didn't have a big ole heart-to-heart promise about it, knowing it was going to happen and whatever, but still. It's a little hypocritical to me.

- What do you think of the new title card? It seems very steampunk to me for some reason.

- Why does Blogger hate Firefox? Or is it that Firefox hates Blogger? What? That's not pertinent to this recap? FINE.

Quotes:

Sam: I don't know whether to hug you or take a shower.

Dean: Well, no visible signs of douchery, I'll give you that.

Dean: The rules are simple, Sam. You don't take a joint from a guy named Don, and there's no dogs in the car.

Sam: It's a burger.
Dean: It's a treasure.

Sam: Trust me, it gets better.
Kevin: You know I'm not gay, right?

Crowley: Moose. Still with the porkchops. I admire that.

Kevin: There's a demon in you, and you're going to your safety school.

Previous Episode -- Next Episode