Diary of a Supernatural Virgin – Gore leads to reveals of the coolest kind

Season three, Episodes 8 – 10

I think I’m starting to repeat myself… stop me if I am. Just when I think I might not enjoy an episode of Supernatural, it gives me a reason to love it. Each of these three episodes turned me off — at first — for different reasons, but by the end (or sooner) I was loving each of them as much as every other episode of this awesome series — again, for different reasons.

“A Very Supernatural Christmas”
A pagan god couple enters homes through chimneys and takes sacrifices; Sam and Dean flashbacks show when Sam found out what John did for a living.

“You fudgin’ touch me again, I’ll fudgin’ kill ya.” – Dean to Mrs. God

OK, I really don’t know what I was thinking because this episode was brilliant, fun and delightfully twisted. I take that back: I know exactly what I was thinking. I was thinking that the flashbacks of Sam and Dean as kids were taking up too much time in the story, and that it was kind of gross. Pulling off fingernails and teeth? Yuck.

But the sheer brilliance and tongue-in-cheek humor of this episode won me over, from the “special presentation” thingy at the very beginning to the Christmas tree branches being the weapon of choice to bring down the pagan couple. It makes me want to re-watch Buffy‘s “Doublemeat Palace” episode, which I hated the first couple times but now I think I know what they were trying to accomplish.

I ended up liking the flashbacks too, for a couple of reasons. We got to see how hard it was for Dean, taking care of Sam and trying to protect him (something he’s still doing) and because we could see Dean acting the same way he does today. During the Christmas flashback, Sam opens up Sapphire Barbie and Dean says that Dad probably thought he was a girl (though he was less of a girl in this episode, as he impaled Mrs. God with conviction). Don’t we all?

And it was heartbreaking when Sam found out that monsters were real, and that Dean still wears the necklace Sam gave him all those years ago, and that Sam found the strength within himself to celebrate Dean’s last Christmas.

Other completely awesome things about this episode:

• the anti-Claus stopping to enjoy a cookie after he bloodily murders the dad
• “St. Nicotine” watching Christmas porn and Sam and Dean pretending they were Christmas carolers
• Sam describing the “yummy” meadowsweet wreathes, and the clerk saying, “You’re a picky one, aren’t you?”
• The smarmy couple whose house was vomiting Christmas were not just pagans, but actual pagan gods… yeah.

“Malleus Maleficarum”
A coven of witches — under the guise of a book club — do spells to give themselves good fortune, but the demon they worship (who has a history with Ruby) starts killing.

I was turned off from this episode at first because it was just gross; from the woman losing her teeth in a bloody pool to the yummy maggot meal, it was vile. But we ended up getting some back story of Ruby’s, a connection to Dean’s hellish predicament and a glimpse at Sam’s darker side.

So Sammy was completely on board with killing the witches — humans — because they were killing people. But he wouldn’t let Dean kill Ruby, a demon, especially with the gun she helped fix. Such a tangled web we weave, eh Sam? The tables have turned. It worked out when she was around to save Dean’s life, though.

Ruby remembers what it’s like to be human, and connects with Dean at the end of this episode. Hell takes your humanity, but she wants to help Dean prepare Sam to fight the fight without him. And the little tidbit about every demon being human once? I wonder if that’s foreshadowing for when Dean goes to hell — will he come back as a demon? If he does, my bet is he’ll be a good one, like Ruby.

I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention detectives Bachman and Turner.

“Dream a Little Dream of Me”
Freddie Krueger style, Bobby is getting killed in his dream and Sam and Dean go in to save him.

I didn’t like this episode at first because it was pretty unoriginal; a total rip-off of Freddie Kreuger. But they ended up included some things that made it distinctively Supernatural, which is why it won me over.

First of all, Bobby didn’t die like the other victims, because he’s a fighter. This was important to retaining the integrity of Bobby’s character, even though he was a victim in this episode. It was also so hard for them all to believe that they were dreaming. That makes perfect sense, considering the crazy stuff they see and fight everyday while they’re awake.

Now, Sam with the Bella sex dreams was hilarious, but I’m wondering what that’s all about, because it has always seemed that Bella and Dean were the ones with chemistry. It’s always a good time to see Sam all awkward and dorky, though, so I’m going with it.

Speaking of Bella, she’s one sneaky bitch, pretending that Bobby had saved her life so she can get in good with them all and steal the Colt. I’m liking Bella’s character and I can’t wait until they meet again. She can’t really be more savvy than the Winchester boys and Bobby, can she?

I liked getting a little more back story on Bobby, too, with the tragic possession of his wife and him having to murder her. He got into hunting for many of the same reasons John did; I can see why they were such good friends.

The most important part of this episode was Dean’s battle with himself, ultimately ending with him realizing that he doesn’t want to die or go to hell, and Sam promising they’ll find a way to save him.

I’m looking forward to the rest of season three, and solving the mysteries of Ruby, Bella and Dean’s fate.

Clacked by Debbie McDuffee
on May 31, 2009 @ 17:05 EST5EDT