SUPERNATURAL – It’s the Great Pumpkin, Sam Winchester

Happy Halloween GMMR readers!! Like Linus waiting for the Great Pumpkin and millions of children who’ve waited up to see Santa Claus, Sam Winchester had his childlike hopes dashed when he finally had the chance to meet a couple of angels face to face (his version of the GP/SC). As a person with a lot of faith (and certainly way more than Dean) he was dismayed to learn that two of the beings (Castiel and new buddy Uriel, aka Good Angel/Bad Angel) he was hero-worshiping all of his life are kind of dicks…or at least appear to be…for now. Nothing ever stays the same on this show and I don’t want to be eating those words in a few weeks. Unlike Linus however, he wasn’t left waiting all night in a pumpkin patch for a being that never shows up. Nope, instead he used his magic abilities to destroy the demon of the week, against the wishes of the angels and his brother. The dynamic between Sam and Dean has also once again shifted thanks to the angel-hunter foursome interacting, and Sam and Dean now both have new questions to ponder.

A couple of days before Halloween, a man dies mysteriously after eating a piece of candy that causes him to violently cough up razor blades (I suppose there wouldn’t be a non-violent way to that, but whatever). How disgusting was the “inside the mouth” view of the blade stuck in the roof of the man’s mouth?? I actually had to do avert my eyes from the screen, and I am not a “hide behind my hand” kind of person. The following day, a young woman dies when she can’t remove her face from a barrel full of water while bobbing for apples at a party. The water begins to boil and her friends try desperately to pull her out, but it’s too late. Sam and Dean are investigating the deaths and discover hex bags planted at both locations. When it turns out that both victims are enemy-free, they decide that the two have served as sacrifices to summon Samhain, the original baddie behind Halloween.

The boys are surprised to find Castiel and his angel friend Uriel in their motel room, who are there to discuss the situation – apparently the return of Samhain will break another of the 66 seals that will lead to the ultimate rise of Lucifer (also the angels found a third hex bag in the boys’ room). As such, the angels are in the (very) small town to smite the entire place as a precaution. Sam is so excited to meet two angels and, like a kid at Christmas who spots his parents eating the cookies and milk left out for Santa, is saddened to learn that they would be so quick to turn to mass violence. The brothers are against wiping out the town and want to handle things themselves. They’ve lost the witch but know who she is (a harmless looking cheerleader type) and are going to hunt her down and do away with her. The angels reluctantly agree to let them try out their plan, but only because Dean puts his life on the line knowing that the angels can’t kill him given his value to the big guy upstairs.

The boys ultimately discover that there are actually two witches – the student and her hippie-in-an-annoying-way art teacher who are actually thousands of years old and brother and sister. If there were ever a set of baddies that would be perfectly suited for an episode of Jerry Springer, these two would be it. Now, I suspect that some of what happened totally escaped my notice, but in the weird twisted back-and-forth for control between these two, they each try to kill the other and then share a rather intimate kiss. What the hell was that? I’m going to have to ask fellow SN fans to clue me in if I missed something in the comments section. Regardless, Samhain kills his “sister” and then the boys follow him to a local cemetery where Dean saves some innocent teens while Sam takes it upon himself to use his powers in a fight with the evil one.

Dean arrives in time to see Sam finish Samhain off (twss, lol) and the look on his face is so heartbroken (to see Sam use his abilities) and also torn (because he was doing a good thing). As he pointed out to Castiel at the end, the town was still there because of Dean and Sam. How can that be all bad? Castiel opens up at this and admits his own doubts about the bigger picture – I thought that this was a nice touch. Nobody can ever be one hundred percent certain of what is right and what isn’t; not even angels I guess. But still, you know that Sam using his powers on a regular basis is going to lead to bad times all around.

There were a few things in this episode that caused me to laugh uncontrollably that weren’t intended to. One was the death of Samhain – it was like the most intense and painful staring contest ever – as scary as it was, I swear if you watch it with that in mind, it becomes pretty damn funny. Incidentally the other thing that caused me to giggle was Castiel, who, as sexy and angelic and important as he may be, was reminding me an awful lot of David Caruso on CSI Miami last night. If he had been wearing sunglasses that he could strategically remove at opportune moments, it would have been perfect. I wanted him to be there when Sam killed Samhain just so he could utter something like “Looks like someone won’t be trick or treating for a long, long time”. Less whisper-talk next time maybe. Finally, an intentionally funny moment: when Dean and Sam bump into the chubby astronaut kid at the motel and refuse him candy only to see later that the Impala has been egged, we are treated to a very compact freak out by Dean: “Astronaut!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!”.

Aside from all of that, we had a pretty heavy episode with a lot of mythology that was pretty light on the laughs. Big picture concerns to think about:

* Dean and Castiel had a great heart to heart, and Castiel revealed that the whole Samhain thing had been a test of Dean and how he handles pressure and leadership. He also indicated that this was the first of many such tests and states that he doesn’t envy the burden on Dean’s shoulders – yikes.
* Uriel threatened Sam and said that he wouldn’t hesitate to kill him the minute he became useless to them. Double yikes. Also, he hinted that Dean might not be being totally honest when he says he doesn’t remember hell.

What lies ahead for Dean and his series of tests? Will we find Dean and Sam moving farther away from each other, or will Dean stand up for Sam’s methods so long as the ends justify the means? How do we feel about Uriel – is his bark bigger than his bite? Finally, what the hell happened in hell?? Any speculation? Next week involves a wishing well that grants real wishes – looks like fun!!

— posted by Nicole

Nicole is a lawyer by day and will be GMMR’s resident Supernatural and Privileged expert this year. She lives just outside of Toronto, and as such, you’ll have to forgive Canadian spellings and maybe the occasional “eh” when they pop up in her reviews. Nicole is still in mourning over the loss of Arrested Development and desperately hoping that the movie happens soon. While she’s a lover of music and movies, television is near and dear to her heart and she’s really excited to be a part of the GMMR team!