TV Verdict

The “Save Sam from Himself” effort continues, with Dean being dispatched by Castiel the angel to put the kibosh on his brother’s dangerous flirtation with the Dark Side of the Force. This will lead to yet another melodramatic shouting match between the brothers on the side of the road.

In other news a seemingly normal suburban white male has found himself clamoring for the sweet taste of human flesh. Turns out he’s a Rugaru or something. So the Winchesters will have to intercept him before he goes on a cannibalistic eating spree–and the parallels between him and Sam are oddly familiar.

This was a pretty good episode, but more a monster-of-the-week installment than a major addition to the season-long arc of Dean and the Angel of the Lord and their tomfoolery. As a MotW, it was entertaining, but incredibly…messy. I’m surprised that they got away with as much vivid cannibalism as they did here and the chewing sounds struck me as a tad too over-the-top.

The theme of “choice”–this maneating guy had the power to say no to his cravings–mirrors Sam’s psychic addiction, and represented the lone thread tying the season’s mythology together. There was a lot of inter-brother squabbling about this fact, but if your younger bro is inducing demons to vomit froth their spirits, then I suppose that would lead to some heated emotions.

MIA: Castiel and Bobby and raw hamburger that didn’t look like raspberry jam.

Next week seems to be a light-hearted episode, which are among my favorites.