Supernatural: Bedtime Stories
By fred | November 3, 2007
(S03E05) There are some series out there that do pretty well in ratings and are watched by millions every week, despite the fact that they quite frankly suck. No, I won’t mention any name, because those shows don’t deserve to be mention. Those that do are the ones that are really great ones, ones that keeps delivering awesome episode one after the other each week, and yet for some reason do not get the recognition they deserve.
And Supernatural falls into that last category, it seems. It doesn’t do bad, bur it doesn’t do that great either, and every year there’s threat that the current season might be the last. This is a real shame, for both the shows and their fans, because it truly is a great series, and also for all those missing out on it, because I guarantee you you’d have a much better time each week watching this show, than any episode of Chuck.
And this week was no exception to the rule, and every week I get more and more convinced that Kripke told the truth when he said this would be the best season of the show. And let’s not forget they never had a bad season, or a bad episode, so far. If you have friends not watching it, you really have to recommend it to them - it can only be good for everyone, them, us, the show, everyone really.
Last week I was talking about how I wished we’d get an episode back to the original setup of the show : the two brothers versus some bad guy, without the help of Bobby, some demon or other hunters. Of course I ended up not minding so much last week, because it was such a cool episode (and featured some a hot demon, too).
Well, I guess I got my wish granted anyway, since this week we had an stand-alone episode - pretty much - in which the two brothers had to deal with things themselves, and that’s a little something I for one really enjoyed.
If it wasn’t for that last scene, this episode was completely detached from the overall story going on, even the bad guy of the week wasn’t an escaped demon from Hell. In fact, it wasn’t even an evil demon or a bad guy either, but a little girl trying to be heard. Nevertheless, it was an interesting story, with a little touch of Halloween as she was recreating or putting to life bedtime stories, not Disney versions but the original, more cruel ones that don’t really have a happy ending.
It was all nicely done, and how could you not liked the smiling defenseless old woman taking a knife and starting to kill her guests. I also liked the frog, which might not have any major role, or any role, but was a great “false hint”. The greatest part of that story came from its relation to fairy tales, in what has to be the greatest line of the episode, at least, when after Sam gave more info about the whole thing and Cinderella, which Dean doesn’t know much about given that the only knowledge he has of such stories comes from porn movies, which isn’t really a surprise, Dean had this to say : “Dude could you be more gay?”
This had me laughing out loud for some time.
Moving on to the famous ending scene, Sam trying to get Dean out of his deal. Of course it doesn’t work that way, and killing the demon wouldn’t mean nothing because there’s a higher demon in the chain of commands behind her. Now don’t ask me why, but my first thought when I heard that, was Ruby. Maybe I got influenced by the fact that she’d been referenced just seconds before, but I thought it could made sense.
But the most interesting bit of that scene was how Sam’s confrontation with the demon was to be seen alongside with Dean’s fight with the wolf-guy, who turned back to his true self at the last minute. At that point, killing him wasn’t necessary no more, and Dean stopped - of course. On the other hand, despite it was known that killing her wouldn’t have no benefit, Sam still shot her.
Now one could imagine he was trying to send a message or set up a meeting with whoever is in charge. But the look on his face was much the same when, last week, he shot the very hot demon and her Demonic partner. Again, they play with us about how Dean and Sam have changed, how Dean isn’t killing first and thinking later, while Sam might be.
As far as I’m concerned, I’m not sure if Sam is really changed, not the way we’re meant to believe. That the loss of his father, that what he learned about his involvement in the whole thing, that that fact that he is partially “responsible” for opening the gates of Hell, that the deal Dean’s took, that all of those things are really getting to him and changing him, sure. That he’s not 100% Sam, I doubt it.
For one, they’re trying way too hard to convince us of this for it to be true. Also, a deal has been made, and that deal involved bringing Sam back, not a half-Sam half-Demon thing. But we know it has always been about Sam, his mother’s death, everything has been about Sam, somehow. He is also the reason Ruby is around, and helping hunters of her kind, and his evolution might just be a “natural” one, one that would have occurred even if he hadn’t died and been brought back by Evil forces.
Either way, another great episode and of a show that definitely has much to offer, for a long time.
One last thing I want to mention, cause I thought it was pretty damn funny too : I loved that Sam actually draw something, on his notebook, when given the attacker’s description. He did not pretend or wrote notes, he actually drew something… Call it easy, but I liked it.
Posted in Reviews
Shows: Supernatural
