Tuesday, October 21, 2014

Supernatural 10x03 "Soul Survivor"

Recap/review of Supernatural 10x03 'Soul Survivor' by freshfromthe.com
How long until his arm is okay?
Well, that was quick. For being touted as the "Year of the Deanmon," Dean sure wasn't a demon for very long. Oh, sorry, am I giving the end away? But let's be honest, we all knew Dean wouldn't stay a demon, it was just a question of how long it would take until he was turned back. The answer? Three episodes. I know everyone was wanting Dean to get back to his old self, but the whole demon storyline feels like a bit of a waste so far. Hopefully it will have more resonance as the season continues, but who the heck knows. This show doesn't always excel in resonance.

Anywayz, let's get down to business. As you may recall from the last episode, Sam managed to get Dean back to the Men of Letters bunker, thanks to Crowley basically turning him over. Sam is determined to use the demon cure on him, which is basically just shooting him up full of human blood. I think it has to be blessed blood or something? I am not so much on the up and up on the whole demon purification process. The point is, Sam starts sticking Dean with human blood, Dean does a lot of yapping about how Sam isn't as innocent as he seems (it turns out Sam was the one who led the dude from last week to sell his soul to a demon, in order to get information on Dean's whereabouts), blah blah.

Down in Hell, Crowley is rather bored at doing his job, which is basically trying demons for treason and killing them. The demons are getting rather annoyed at his lack of fatherly compassion, leading to one even dousing himself with lighter fluid (or is it the holy oil stuff?) and setting himself on fire. For some reason, this makes Crowley want to help Castiel, which we'll get to in a moment.
Recap/review of Supernatural 10x03 'Soul Survivor' by freshfromthe.com
As has become tradition, Jensen directed this episode.

Meanwhile, Castiel is trying to reach the bunker to help Sam. He is looking pretty worse for wear, though. He and Hannah stop at a gas station, only to be jumped by the angel Adina, whose angel bestie/lovah they killed last week or the week before or whenever it was. She manages to somehow wallop Hannah with some massive punch that leaves her moaning on the ground while she can get to beating down Cas. But, Crowley comes just in time to save the day. He steals Adina's grace and gives it to Cas. So that problem is temporarily solved.

Which is good timing for Sam, because back at the bunker, Dean has gotten free. Apparently he had enough of the human blood working in him that the special cuffs and the devil's trap didn't work on him anymore. However, he is still feeling the demon spirit, so he goes hunting after Sam. Sam uses his wits to try to keep one step ahead of Dean, which only results in Dean nearly slamming his head in with a hammer, and Sam having to put the special demon-killing knife to Dean's throat. Of course, Sam could never kill his brother, so he's lucky that Cas shows up just in time to help him out.

And, together, they manage to finish the blood purification ritual, and return Dean back to his human self. Except there is still the whole Mark of Cain thing to deal with, but for now Sam just wants to get Dean some cholesterol and get drunk. As I'm sure most people would. Dean seems rather wary of the whole situation when he talks with Cas, but it's hard to tell just what he is thinking or feeling at this point.

That's... pretty much it. Oh, except for this ending bit. Cas basically tells Dean to take it easy as things are pretty quiet at the moment, only for the show to end on a red-headed woman in a room, drinking some kind of brown alcohol, with two men impaled on the ceiling above her. The new big bad, we presume.

Random Thoughts:

- What exactly is Crowley's goal anymore? He doesn't seem to care about Hell, really. He decided to save Castiel, but for what purpose? It's hard to say if Crowley is really "evil," though I suppose that is kind of the appeal of his character.

- Castiel basically shut down Hannah on the romantic front before anything could even get started. I confess, I actually like the prospect of a romance between them, particularly since the show is so starved for any kind of genuine romance ever. It's not just some girl introduced who automatically has a history with one of the boys, but rather someone introduced over time. Much better.

- Could Dean go demon again? Just from lack of killing with the Blade or only if he were killed again? Obviously they have to deal with getting rid of the Mark as well, but I'm sure that will come in time.

- Next week's episode really just looks like it could come from any season anywhere. Hopefully this is not the case, but it does feel a little jarring to have a monster of the week episode right now. Though, I'm not sure what else they could do. Hmm. It just makes the last three episodes feel a little superfluous. I mean, am I wrong?

Quotes:

Dean: Sammy, you know I hate shots.
Sam: I hate demons.

Crowley: It's Hell. You wait. It's what you do.

Hannah: Castiel, if these are metaphors and you're attempting some kind of human communication, it's not working.

Crowley: Why can't you people just sit on clouds and play the harp like you're supposed to?

Dean: What does Sam say? Does he want a divorce?

Previous Episode -- Next Episode


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4 comments:

  1. That was quick for the year of the Deanmon. I was actually looking forward to demon Dean's shenanigans. I really love Dean, but it was nice to see Jensen play a bit of a different character. I guess we'll see what side effects the Mark had on Dean going forward. Honestly, I was kind of expecting the end shot to have Dean flip to the black eyes, as he was faking all along.

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    1. Yeah I kept wondering whether Dean would fake being himself as well. Guess not? I'm not sure what to think of this season quite yet, as it did feel like they resolved the whole demon thing maybe too quickly.

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  2. Yeah, what you said! You know, I adored these first three episodes, but I find I'm a bit saddened by the fact that Dean was turned back so soon. How many episodes were we able to enjoy sexy Soulless Sam? Half a season or so? And only 3 with Demon Dean? I wanted more time with him!!

    I do hope there's more excitement to come this year. Of course, knowing this show, they still have a few tricks up their sleeves. Can't wait to see what they do next!

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    1. I mean it's hard to say what sort of repercussions are going to be felt from the Demon Dean storyline. How Dean feels about it, how it will affect him long-term (it better). I do feel maybe they rushed it a bit, because it's sort of a big deal. But we'll see where the rest of the season goes.

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