First, the plot summary:

Sam and Dean travel to Wellington, Ohio, where they encounter strangeness they believe attributable to the Trickster, a demi-god who has appeared in at least a few prior episodes – most notably “Mystery Spot” (Season 3, Episode 11). Dean bears a grudge for the way the Trickster killed him over and over and over in that episode, but Sam suggests that the Trickster would be a powerful ally during the apocalypse. They track the Trickster to an abandoned warehouse, but it turns out to be a trap that they walk right into. They find themselves trapped within various television shows in a series of alternate realities orchestrated by the Trickster. Its a setup reminiscent of the 1992 John Ritter movie “Stay Tuned,” only Supernatural does it much better than that movie did. In “Stay Tuned,” Roy Knable (John Ritter) and his wife Helen (Pam Dawber) become trapped inside “Hellvision,” an alternate universe run by Satan consisting of insipid television shows. As described in that movie’s tagline, the pair must survive 24 hours trying to escape a diabolical lineup of inane programming. Sound familiar?

Sam and Dean learn that if they play along, they will move along. They, like Roy and Helen, must survive 24 hours. If they do, then the Trickster will speak to them about their desire to join up and save the world. Part of what makes this episode so special is the breadth and variety of the shows they run through. There’s “Dr. Sexy, MD,” lampooning of Grey’s Anatomy that was so spot-on it caused @shondarhimes (Grey’s creator) to tweet “thought the Supernatural episode was hilarious…” the following day. There was “Nut-cracker!” a Japanese gameshow. There was a fake commercial for Herpexia, a daily Herpes prescription medication. There was a sitcom (indeed, the shows opening credits were even done in the style of a sitcom, complete with an upbeat musical montage featuring lyrics like “together we will face the day/you and I won’t run away/when the demons come out to play”). There was a spoof of CSI (Yeeah!) complete with an internal close-up of a heart being staked. There was even a spoof of Knight Rider, featuring Sam as the voice of the KITT-like Metallicar and a great joke about Dean reaching into his trunk. Just about the only missed opportunity during these segments was the failure to bring Jeffrey Dean Morgan in for a cameo during the Dr. Sexy segment. He played John Winchester on Supernatural and Denny on Grey’s. It would have been fantastic to have him play the part of Johnny Drake (the parody version of Denny in Dr. Sexy), but apparently schedules didn’t work out.

At several different points Castiel appears in an effort to rescue Sam and Dean, but each time the Trickster easily overcomes him and sends him away. (I’ve no idea how Castiel found Sam and Dean, as supposedly their location is hidden from all angels, including Cass, but I digress). Castiel questions whether the Trickster really is the Trickster based upon how powerful he is. It turns out Castiel is right: Sam and Dean eventually recognize that the Trickster is an angel and they escape by trapping him in a ring of holy fire. Trapped, the Trickster admits that he is, and always has been, the archangel Gabriel. Gabriel explains that he has been living undercover on earth because his family is so screwed up. He explains his repeated involvement in Sam and Dean’s life by pointing out to them that he has always known that it will all come down to them. He argues that life is not a television show – there are no easy answers and there will be no bows at the end. It will end bloody. Rather than leaving him trapped, Sam and Dean free Gabriel by setting off the warehouse sprinklers. As they walk away, Dean comments that he wishes it was just a television show. Fin.

Next, the analysis:

One of the things that I love best about Supernatural is that the showrunners are so damn literate. References to various literary works often can be found within episodes provided you look with a discerning eye. The show frequently will take an existing literary property but lovingly twist and fold the source material like some piece of origami until it is something new, original, and uniquely Supernatural. Then, within the episode, credit to the original will be granted via a line of clever dialog. By giving a knowing wink and nod to the source, Supernatural in this way elevates its appropriations to the level of homage. Sometimes the thefts are blatantly obvious because they borrow from sources that have become part of America’s pop-culture zeitgeist (as with Season 4, Episode 3′s “In the Beginning“, which borrowed from Back to the Future, Season 5, Episode 2′s “Good God, Y’All“, which lifted its premise from the classic Twilight Zone episode “The Monsters Are Due on Maple Street“, the aforementioned Mystery Spot episode which played off Groundhog Day, or this episode’s take on “Stay Tuned”). Sometimes the thefts are more subtle because the sources are less well-known (e.g. Fallen Idols, which was a riff on Neil Gaiman’s novel “American Gods” – a bestseller, but nowhere near as familiar to the average viewing audience as would be, say, Back to the Future). And sometimes the source material is so obscure as to be practically invisible.

In this episode, I see shimmers of Tom Stoppard’s “Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead.” Stoppard’s play focuses on two of the minor characters of Hamlet. While Shakespeare gave Rosencrantz and Guildenstern hardly any stage time at all, they serve as the ill-fated protagonists of Stoppard’s work. If you didn’t read the play back in high school, I strongly encourage you to pick it up. It is extremely entertaining. Of course, to maximize your enjoyment of it you should first read Hamlet, and I don’t know anyone that would call reading Hamlet “extremely entertaining,” at least these days. If you’re not going to slog through Hamlet and then read Stoppard, then at least take the easy way out and read the Wikipedia synopsis. In Supernatural‘s retelling, Sam and Dean are set up as the equivalents of Rosencrantz and Guildenstern while the Trickster is The Player. It may be simply a matter of the show exploring themes similar to those explored by Stoppard in his play. Or it may be that Kripke and crew have intentionally created a palimpsest – adding one more layer to Stoppard’s work of art (which was itself a piece of metatheatre based upon Shakespeare’s earlier work). I’d like to believe that the parallels to Stoppard’s play are intentional, since it would be awesome if true.

Stoppard’s play is about two characters swept up in the midst of events larger than them. (Think Sam and Dean, swept up in the midst of the angel/demon war). The two characters, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, try to glean the truth by asking questions while revealing as little as possible. They also impersonate other characters in an effort to gain knowledge. (Think Sam and Dean, who in most every episode don disguises and question and interrogate witnesses to various supernatural phenomena). In his play, Stoppard explores the concept of free will versus determinism. Supernatural has been treading similar ground this season with the question of whether Sam and Dean have any real ability to avert the apocalypse: witness, for example, their conversation at the end of Episode 5.04 (“Free to Be You and Me“, a title itself a play on the nature of determinism), where Dean says “So now we make our own future,” and Sam responds “I guess we have no choice.” Does Sam mean that they have no choice but to make their own future, or does he mean that they have no choice because the future is set in stone? This is what the series is investigating as surely as the brothers are investigating the supernatural.

In Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead, the Player leads a troupe that seems able only to put on plays involving bloodbaths. The Trickster, himself no stranger to bloodbaths, wants all the fighting to end. He is tired of seeing his siblings battle. He left town during the first battle (Lucifer’s great Fall) and is disgusted now to see history repeating itself but acknowledges that the apocalypse is invitable. He doesn’t care who wins; he just wants it to be over. In the play, the Player similarly tells Rosencrantz and Guildenstern that all paths end in death. This provokes an angered Guildenstern into stabbing the Player to death. The Player falls dead in dramatic fashion, but a few moments later stands up and brushes himself off, revealing he was only acting out his death scene. This is very reminiscent of Sam and Dean’s apparent dispatching of the Trickster: they stab him during the CSI spoof, but it is revealed after the commercial break that the Trickster was only feigning his death. The next morning, Dean believes that he is having a “morning after” wrap-up conversation with Sam but Sam is nowhere to be found. He heads outside and finds that Sam is now KITT from Knight Rider, or at least a Metallicar version of KITT. Sam surmises from within the dashboard, “I don’t think we killed the Trickster.” Its the same essential setup as Rosencrantz and Guildenstern’s interaction with the Player.

Perhaps most significantly in terms of the comparison, Supernatural and Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead share in common a certain “play-within-a-play” aspect known as metatheatre. In the latter, the characters Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are fictionalized within a play they watch called “The Murder of Gonzago,” which features characters resembling them. Compare this to Supernatural, where Sam and Dean (and we, the audience) learn from the Trickster that they are essentially metaphorical extensions of Lucifer and Michael. “Michael, the big brother loyal to an absent father, versus Lucifer, the little brother, rebellious of Daddy’s plan.” The Trickster lays it out in a way that is hit-your-head/why-didn’t-I-see-it-sooner obvious. He’s right on target: Sam is not just Lucifer’s vessel. Dean is not just Michael’s vessel. They are themselves metaphorical representations of Lucifer and Michael. The Trickster elucidates, paraphrasing Mat. 6:10, “as it is in heaven, so must it be on earth.”

If Supernatural is intentionally riffing on Stoppard, then bringing it to the forefront in this particular episode — which features Sam and Dean bouncing from one fictional television show to another — is inspired, since Stoppard’s story similarly involves Rosencrantz and Guildenstern bumbling through the fictional world of William Shakespeare’s “Hamlet” while questioning the reality of their surroundings and wondering if there may be supernatural forces at play. (Near the play’s opening, Guildenstern suggests that they may be “within un-, sub- or supernatural forces”). Thinking back, I believe that a case can be made that the series as a whole (or at least this season) has been paralleling Stoppard’s work in many ways. All in all, it’s a brilliant setup deftly executed by the show runners. Regardless of whether the allusions to Stoppard’s play are intentional or not, I’m thrilled to be along for the ride.

In case you couldn’t tell, I liked this episode. I give it 5 Metallicars.

Next time: a comparative analysis of Supernatural and Waiting for Godot.

(Just kidding, though I do think a case can be made…)

The premise of the instant episode is that Sam and Dean attend the first annual Supernatural convention and hijinx ensue. The convention is honoring the collected works of its featured guest, novelist Carver Edlund (known to us from prior episodes as the prophet Chuck Shurley, whose character I very much enjoy). Sam and Dean rush to the Pineview Hotel, the site of the convention, operating under the belief that they have been summoned there by Chuck as a matter of life-and-death. They find Chuck out front and quickly discern that Chuck did not text them. Rather, his cell phone was appropriated by superfan Becky. Becky first appeared in the first episode of this season, Sympathy for the Devil. I didn’t like her then, and I don’t like her now. I tried to analyze my feelings toward her in the review for that episode, and I’ll explore them further herein.

Sam and Dean enter the hotel and see a Supernatural convention is underway. Cosplayers abound. Azazel, Bobby, Ash, and various Sams and Deans are everywhere. The con coordinator announces the day’s schedule, which includes events like:

3:45 – Frightened Little Boy: The Secret Life of Dean
4:30 – The Homoerotic Subtext of Supernatural
7:00 – The Big Hunt

It is this last, The Big Hunt, that occupies the majority of the episode. The Big Hunt is a LARP (Live Action Role Playing) experience. The prize at stake is a $50 gift certificate to Sizzler. A slew of Sams and Deans, including our “real” ones, are briefed on the “situation” (the hotel, a former orphanage, is now haunted by the ghost of headmistress Letitia Gore and her charges) and off they go on their hunt.

Of course, the hotel actually does prove to be haunted. Alex, a lone LARPER, encounters one of the children and then suffers a beatdown at the hands of the ghost of the headmistress. The encounter with the child was spooky-awesome (the ghost says only “Help us – Miss Gore won’t let us have any fun”), but the subsequent physical encounter with Miss Gore herself is too much for Alex. He bolts. On his way out he relates his experience and Sam and Dean overhear. They are now on the case for real.

Sam and Dean bribe the hotel clerk for the real scoop, which turns out to be substantially the same as the LARP backstory. The clerk explains that, in 1909, Letitia Gore went crazy and killed the four children and then herself. Since that time, there have been occasional sightings of their ghosts. This is the 100th anniversary of the event. The clerk advises them to check the attic and so that is where they head.

In the attic, Sam and Dean encounter the ghost of a scalped boy who talks about his mother (presumably Miss Gore) loving him “this much.” Meanwhile, Fake Sam and Fake Dean (two of the LARPers) are on a parallel quest, doing their own investigation. They, too, encounter a real ghost of a boy. They ask where to find Letitia’s bones, and the ghost points at a picture on a nearby wall. They remove the picture and find, inside its frame, an old map detailing the location of the local graveyard. As soon as Sam and Dean see that Fake Sam and Fake Dean have a real map, the two pair team up. They join forces despite Dean’s protestations that the fans “are friggin’ annoying.”

Sam and Dean LARP Rufus and Bobby, but they aren’t into it and before long Dean blows up at Fake Sam and Fake Dean, saying that Sam and Dean’s lives are not there for the amusement of others. To this, Fake Dean reminds Dean that in fact they are, since Sam and Dean are just fictional characters.

Before long, the four men find the graveyard. Fake Sam and Fake Dean freak when Sam and Dean start exhuming Letitia Gore’s grave. They feel that Sam and Dean are taking the Hunt too far. When the ghost of Letitia Gore arrives and attacks, they become believers and gain respect for Sam and Dean. Since Letitia Gore is dispatched at the 30 minute mark of the episode, it is obvious that there must be a twist yet to come.

Sam and Dean return to the hotel with Fake Sam and Fake Dean. They tried to leave but discover that the hotel is locked and nobody can get out. They then encounter the scalped boy from the attic, who tells them that Letitia didn’t scalp him — it was the other three boys. The boys are evil, and Letitia’s ghost had been keeping them in check. As if on cue, the three naughty boys appear and kill one of the cosplayers, a german fan that looks distractingly like Jim Carrey in “Lemony Snicket’s A Series of Unfortunate Events.”

Sam and Dean round everyone up and keep them in the basement, with Chuck keeping them busy. Sam and Dean salt the doors, bunkering in. They realize that they cannot burn the bones of the boys because they are trapped in the hotel, so they enlist one of the cosplayers, a fake Letitia Gore, in an attempt to trick the young ghosts. They also employ the assistance of Fake Sam and Fake Dean, who agree to help despite being frightened “because that’s what Sam and Dean would do.”

Fake Letitia calls the boys to her, and two of the three evil ones appear. Her attempt to scold the boys into submission fails when her cellphone rings and they realize she is an imposter. Fortunately, by this time Fake Sam and Fake Dean have found the graves of these same two boys. (What happened to the whole “we’re trapped inside the hotel” thing? Was it just Sam and Dean that were trapped? How did Fake Sam and Fake Dean get to the graveyard, and if they could go why couldn’t Sam and Dean?). Anyhow, Fake Sam and Fake Dean burn the bones just in time. The ghosts burn just as they were about to scalp the real Sam and Dean.

Meanwhile, the third of the three evil spirits appears at the convention hall. He is dispelled by a quick-acting Chuck, who slices through him with a microphone stand. The only problem with this is that (1) microphone stands aren’t iron, so it shouldn’t have had any effect, and (2) even if it was iron, iron only temporarily dispells ghosts. This is well-established in Supernatural, including within this episode. So where did the third boy go? It is never revealed. Fake Sam and Fake Dean only burned two sets of bones, though, and so this third ghost is presumably a loose end, as is the scalped boy’s ghost.

The horror over, the next morning Sam and Dean thank Fake Sam and Fake Dean for their assistance. Fake Sam and Fake Dean reveal their names to be Barnes and Damien (a bit of fan service there – Barnes and Damien are the names of the Supernatural recap writer and a mod over at Television Without Pity). Fake Dean explains to Dean that Supernatural is great because “we have normal lives that suck. We get to live vicariously through these fantastic books.” (Paraphrasing there, but that’s the gist of it).

While Dean is listening to how great Supernatural is, Sam is off to the side conversing with Chuck and Becky. Apropos of nothing, Becky gives Sam a hot lead on the location of the Colt: when Bella stole the mystical gun, she did not give it to Lilith as she had claimed. Instead, she gave it to Lilith’s right-hand man and possible lover, Crowley. Sam and Dean drive off, their quest for the Colt revitalized with this piece of new information.

The real reason for this episode was not to tell the story of Letitia Gore, of course, it was just to provide a backdrop for the episode’s primary purpose: making fun of its fans. As a fan, I found myself a little offended. It reminded me of that classic Shatner SNL skit, only I felt like I was one of the fans in the audience being told to “Get a life!”

I know I’m going to be in the minority, but for that reason I didn’t particularly care for this episode. I was even a little put off by it. (I love Supernatural, generally, so this is definitely the exception to the rule for me). While I have no problem when Supernatural lampoons itself, or makes fun of other shows (as they do with their Ghostfacers parody of Ghost Hunters), I do take some umbrage when they make fun of their fans. I think it is one thing for fans to make fun of themselves, but it is another for a show to be the one doing so. I’m not a ghost hunter, so I enjoy the Ghostfacer episodes. But I am a fan, and so I cringe when the show mocks fans. It comes off as condescending, even though I know it is supposed to be good-natured. Across the web, I’ve seen very few other people take this view. Most, in fact, seem to view the episode as something of a “love letter” from Kripke to his fans. If it is a love letter, then I argue it is tough love. I’d shudder to read one of his poison-pen missives. The episode certainly is a love letter to the show itself, but I question whether it is one to the fans, as well.

While I understand that the portrayal of the fans doesn’t fall far from the mark, and while I recognize that the fans weren’t necessarily portrayed in a bad light (well, at least sort of), and while some of the humor really was funny, when I laughed it was kind of in an uncomfortable “I’m laughing, even though I know the joke is on me” sort of way. I saw the episode not so much as fan service but more as fan dis-service. I think the episode was a commentary on fandom, and specifically Supernatural fandom. The only question, for me, would be whether the show was casting the fans in a positive light or a negative one. I’d argue that the principal Fake Sam and Dean of this episode were portrayed positively, but Becky is a pretty negative depiction. However, I’m very open to being convinced otherwise.

I’m trying to understand why I feel the way I do about the episode, so I’d really welcome the opportunity to engage any readers in dialog, down below in the comments section. The best I can come up to explain my feelings is: (1) I consider myself a fan of the show; (2) I wasn’t comfortable looking in the mirror the show held up; (3) therefore, I didn’t care for the episode. Using a different metaphor: I’ve never really liked any caricatures I’ve had drawn of myself, although I can appreciate the artistry behind them. I appreciated this episode, but I didn’t like the caricature it painted of me as a fan. I suspect the more accurate you feel the portrayal of the fans is, the less you may feel like the show was poking fun?

The episode featured a whole row of parked Metallicars, but I’m only going to give it 2.

“People imagine, and people believe: and it is that belief, that rock-solid belief, that makes things happen” – American Gods (Neil Gaiman)

The central conceit of Neil Gaman’s 2001 novel “American Gods” is that gods and other supernatural beings owe their very existence to the belief of mankind. Gaiman’s book explores how gods’ powers wax and wane along with the strength of people’s belief in them. As society has marched through time, the gods of old have diminished in power as society’s new obsessions (media, drugs, celebrities, technology) have replaced them. Supernatural series creator Eric Kripke (in a commentary for a season four episode) has acknowledged Gaiman, and particularly “American Gods” as an influence on Supernatural. Nowhere is this more evident than in the Season Five episode “Fallen Idols.” The episode is more of a bottle episode than we’ve been getting of late, and it serves as a nice diversion away from the main story arc. In many ways, it is reminiscent of the type of monster-of-the-week episodes that predominated during the show’s first and second seasons. While it is a standalone, and is a funny one at that (similar in tone to “Wishing Well”), it still manages to pack in quite a bit of action, and gore, and brotherly angst and love.

The episode opens within a five-car garage in Canton, Ohio. Cal Hopkins and his friend Jim Grossman have an excess of disposable income and a love for collectible autos. Cal reveals to his friend Jim that he has finally located “Little Bastard,” James Dean’s race car. Cal gets in the car while Jim goes for a camcorder to document the moment. Jim returns to find Cal dead; head halfway-impaled on broken windshield glass. When Sam and Dean hear of this, they decide to check it out as a dry-run of sorts: even though the Apocalypse is nigh, Dean tells Sam that they must get their groove back and that the detour to Ohio to investigate what may be a “monster of the week” is an important one. We learn from their discussion that three weeks have passed since the last episode. Three weeks of fruitless searching for the Colt.

Upon arriving in Canton, Sam and Dean interview the local lawman, Sheriff Carnegie, who insists that there is a rational explanation for Cal’s death – his friend Jim must have been on drugs and killed him[1]. Sam and Dean don’t buy this for a moment. They interview Jim. Jim mentions the car was “Little Bastard” and Dean can hardly contain himself. However, when Sam and Dean check the car out, Sam traces the chain of title and determines it to be merely a replica.

Meanwhile, later that night, Professor William Hill, an aficionado of Abraham Lincoln, is alone in his study when he suddenly finds himself confronted by what appears to be the angry ghost of Lincoln himself. Professor Hill dies, messily, shot in the head just as was Lincoln himself. Despite the fact that no gun was recovered, no bullet was found, and there was no gunpowder residue to be found, Sheriff Carnegie remains convinced that there is a rational explanation for this crime: Professor Hill was taken out by a professional killer. Consuela, the late Professor’s maid, disagrees: she ID’s Abraham Lincoln for the crime.

The plot thickens when, back at their motel, Dean reviews Jim’s video from the night of Cal’s death and he spots what appears to be the reflection of James Dean off of one of the car’s hubcaps. Sam and Dean theorize that they are dealing with famous ghosts that are ganking their own fans. The question becomes “why is this happening in Canton, Ohio?” To answer the question, the next day the brothers head to the Canton Wax Museum, where they pose as travel reporters and interview the museum’s lonely proprietor. After acknowledging that both Cal and Professor Hill were regular visitors, the proprietor explains that the museum is unique because it uses real artifacts in its displays: Lincoln’s hat, Gandhi’s bifocals, James Dean’s keychain, FDR’s iron lung, and more.

That night, while Sam is out at the Metallicar prepping guns for some ghost busting, Dean calls Bobby. Sam overhears Dean disparaging him to Bobby. Sam confronts Dean about this, realizing that their peace is perhaps uneasier than he thought. They set their differences aside and head back to the wax museum. At the museum, they separate. While apart, Sam gets jumped by Gandhi. Gandhi grapples with Sam. Sam is saved in the nick of time by Dean, who torches Gandhi’s bifocals. Gandhi vanishes, but not with the typical fanfare of a vanquished ghost. Dean teases Sam about being a fan of Gandhi.

The next morning, while packing up, Sam questions the manner of Gandhi’s departure. He also ponders why Gandhi would have tried biting him, since Gandhi was a fruitarian. Sam and Dean again spar. This time, Sam wins. Sam argues that they cannot go back to what they had before, because what they had before did not work: Sam argues that Dean must let him grow up. Just then, Sam and Dean receive a call from Sheriff Carnegie. Finally, the Sheriff appears to be at a loss for a rational explanation as he tells the brothers that two girls are now claiming to have been attacked by none other than Paris Hilton. Their friend, Danielle, was abducted by Paris, they say. Since Paris Hilton is not deceased, the boys realize they must not be dealing with a ghost.

Sam reviews Cal and the Professor’s cases. He autopsies Cal and finds two odd stone-like seeds in Cal’s stomach. Sam searches the “Global Seed Bank,” looking up a listing of seeds categorized by appearance, and determines the seeds in question to be buergeranun procerae, from an extremely rare plant found only in eastern Europe. The site notes that a few such seeds were found preserved in a farmer’s seed bag found by scientists at an unusual worship site. Subsequent research was halted due to a freakish accident which killed the entire scientific research team. The plant blooms once a year, at midnight, and Slavic lore sites it as a magical plant. Sam tells Dean that these seeds were from a particular forest in the Balkans that was deforested some 30 years prior. That forest was guarded by a pagan god named Leshii[2]. Leshii, Sam tells Dean, is a trickster god. He can take on infinite forms and is appeased only by the blood of his worshippers. He drains his worshippers of blood, and then stuffs their stomach with seeds. Conveniently, the site explains that Leshii may be killed if decapitated with an iron axe.

Leshii is a woodland spirit in Slavic mythology who protects wild animals and forests. Leshii, as were many pagan gods, was demonized by the Christian Church and lent demonic features by the Church. Originally, he was an embodiment of the forest itself. In fact, his name comes from the word “les,” the slavic word for forest. In eastern European mythology, Leshii often manifests as a tall peasant wearing shoes on the wrong feet. Occasionally he is described as having green eyes, pale skin, wings, a tail, black hair, hooves and horns, or some combination of the above. His described appearance varies throughout various legends, but what remains consistent is the idea that he is a shape-shifter, able change both his shape and his size. Leshii would imitate voices, tricking forest wanderers. The best way to defeat Leshii was to turn clothing inside out and backwards, and to switch up shoes. Leshii could also be appeased by food offerings. None of this is really explored in depth in the episode.

Their heads replete with Leshii lore, Sam and Dean head back to the wax museum. It is now officially after-hours and the museum is even more deserted than it was during the day. Essentially, this just means that the proprietor is gone. The boys head back into the “closed for renovations” section. Before long, they find abductee Danielle tied up to a tree, barely alive. Out of nowhere, Paris Hilton appears. Preternaturally strong, and a good boxer, she fights both Sam and Dean and gets the better of them both. They are knocked out. When they awaken, they too are tied to trees. Leshii, in the form of Paris Hilton, begins to monologue. Leshii explains that in the old days he was adored, but then his forest was cut down to make way for a Yugo factory. Since then, he’s been wandering the earth, scrounging for scraps. When he realized it was the apocalypse, he decided to take advantage and pig out. He found the wax museum, where adoring fans stroll right through the door. Even though they don’t idolize him, particularly, Leshii says he’ll take what he can get. Leshii conveys a certain disgust at the debased state of modern day religion.

Dean argues that Leshii cannot kill him, because Leshii is in the form of Paris Hilton and Dean does not worship Paris. To turn to a different form, Leshii must touch an item belonging to that other idolized person. Leshii’s answer to this is that Dean worshipped his father, John Winchester, and that the iron axe the boys brought in was owned by John. Leshii goes for the axe but is stopped by Dean, who breaks free just in time. Sam breaks free shortly thereafter. He grabs the axe and beheads Paris/Leshii while Dean is struggling with her.

The next morning, Sam and Dean prepare to leave town. At their car, the boys reconcile once again. They agree that they will go down fighting, even if Sam is on deck for the Devil and Dean for Michael, with no changing fate, they will still fight. In an effort to show that fences have been mended, Dean offers to let Sam drive.

While I really enjoyed the episode, I do question Kripke’s choice of Paris Hilton. He is using her the way Gaiman used a fat, socially awkward young man as the embodiment of the god of technology; representative of America’s new religion. Where Gaiman focused on technology, media, and the like, Kripke appears to be saying that pop celebrity is America’s new religion. Paris actually monologues on this at the episode’s end. As Leshii (in the form of Paris) opines, people today are in a sorry state, where celebrity worship passes for idolatry. Celebrities are nothing more than people with spray tans and small dogs; old time religion has been replaced by US Weekly. It is essentially the same point that Gaiman makes in his New York Times bestseller. But is Paris Hilton really the best spokesperson to make the point? To my mind, her fame waned several years ago already. She’s already been replaced in the fickle mind of Americans by newer and greater objects of pop culture obsession. Maybe it’s just that Paris Hilton became the de facto best choice for the episode because she was game to actually appear in it as herself. Or maybe the fact that her celebrity is on the wane actually plays to Kripke’s point – even the new Gods don’t stay new for very long, these days.

This episode had a bit of everything, ably mixing horror and humor in the adept way Supernatural somehow routinely carries off with ease. I give it 4 Metallicars.

——–

[1] Apropos of nothing, but just a fun etymological fact you can use the next time you find yourself in the back of a sheriff’s car with nothing to talk about: The word ‘sheriff’ comes from “shire reeve.” Reeves were elected annually by serfs to supervise land for a lord. They took on tax collection and other duties, and generally were responsible to make sure that the lord’s will was respected throughout the shire.

[2] See Giants, Monsters, and Dragons: An Encyclopedia of Folklore,Legend, and Myth, by Carol Rose for more on Leshii.

Then came Supernatural 5.04, “The End,” and I was blown away. Not only was it a great episode on its own, but it also put “Free to Be You and Me” into more context. Ultimately, I think the two episodes are best viewed and reviewed together. 5.03 is a precursor for 5.04 and adeptly sets the stage for it. On its own, I would have rated 5.03 about 3.5 Metallicars. Taken in conjunction with 5.04, I give them a combined average of 5.

“The End” begins with the beginning: The ‘Road So Far’ capsule summary at the episode’s start calls back to incidents early in the show’s history, including the Season Two episode “Croatoan” as well as episodes featuring the Colt, a demon-slaying gun that featured prominently in Supernatural‘s first main story arc. As the episode proper begins, Dean is on his own, walking the streets of Kansas City. He is stopped by an evangelist, who asks him if he has taken the time to think of God’s plan for him, and whether his soul is “rapture-ready.” Dean brushes him off and enters a motel where, road weary, he crashes. Just as he collapses into bed he receives a cell call from Castiel. Castiel tells Dean that if Dean is going to insist on his crazy plan of attempting to kill Lucifer, then they will need the Colt. The Colt’s continued existence comes as news to Dean, who had assumed it destroyed by demons. The conversation between Dean and Castiel is brief but laugh-out-loud funny: when Dean attempts to crack wise, Castiel scolds him, saying in deadpan delivery “This isn’t funny, Dean – the voice says I’m almost out of minutes.” Lending humor to Castiel’s character at the start of this episode continues the progression and humanization of Castiel’s character from the episode prior. At least this time it’s truly funny, and not quite so unwonted. Castiel wants to meet right away, but Dean declines, in need of sleep. They agree to meet in four hours. Dean concludes his conversation with Castiel only to receive a telephone call from Sam. Sam admits to Dean that he has learned that he is Lucifer’s vessel. Sam practically pleads with Dean that they should join up again; not for revenge, but for redemption. Dean declines. Dean explains to his brother that they are stronger when they are apart. Dean is determined to go his own way, abandoning his brother.

Dean lies down in his bed, but when he wakes the following morning he finds himself on a bare box-spring, the hotel room charred and destroyed. He makes his way to the motel window and looks out to see that he apparently has slept through the apocalypse. Buildings are in ruin, cars are strewn across the road, the world looks abandoned. He wanders the street and eventually encounters a young bedraggled girl squatting amidst shards of broken glass. She attacks him, unprovoked, and as he extricates himself he notices the word “Croatoan” scrawled in graffiti on a nearby wall. This is not a good thing: the word is a callback to a second season episode involving what boiled down to Demon germ warfare, where an entire town turned on itself due to a demonic virus presumably similar to one that must have afflicted the colonial town of Roanoke, Virginia. Roanoke vanished with nary a trace but for the word “Croatoan” carved on a fence post[1]. The same word appears on a board in River Grove, the locale for Supernatural’s eponymous episode. While the episode “Croatoan” felt like a bit of a redux of John Carpenter’s “The Thing,” the episode “The End” feels more like “28 Days Later.” Hordes of angry/possessed/afflicted people spot Dean on the street and start running for him. Dean escapes by the skin of his teeth, and only because the horde is dispatched by a nearby contingent of militia out hunting ‘crotes.

Later that night, out exploring, Dean finds a sign, dated August 1, 2014, labeled “Croatoan Virus Hot Zone.” Dean jacks a car. The angel Zachariah manifests in the passenger seat while Dean is driving. Zachariah explains that he was able to locate Dean thanks to the bible freak that accosted Dean at the episode of the beginning. When Castiel took Sam and Dean off the angelic radar courtesy of protective Enochian rib etchings, Zachariah and his crew were forced to resort to alternate means of locating them. Zachariah explains that they enlisted the aid of fringe religious groups, and one informant responded to the BOLO after spotting Dean. Before vanishing, Zachariah explains that it is his plan to have Dean spend three days in the future so that Dean will understand that his choices have consequences.

The following morning, Dean visits Bobby’s home. Bobby is presumably dead; Dean finds only Bobby’s bullet-riddled wheelchair. Stashed in Bobby’s secret hiding spot, Dean finds Bobby’s journal. One of the last entries includes a photo of Bobby, Castiel, and a few others standing at the entry to Camp Chitaqua. They are posing with weapons and seem reasonably happy, it being the apocalypse and all. Dean presumably knows the location of Camp Chitaqua, or is able to find it, because later that night he is there. He sneaks in, finding the rusted hulk of the Metallicar just to the inside of the gate. While mourning its loss, he is clubbed to unconsciousness by… himself. Yes, this episode features Jensen Ackles playing two parts: Dean and FutureDean. Not only does Ackles have the acting chops to pull it off, but the director does an admirable job of not making it too hokey. Rather than lots of sloppy split screen, the episode instead is heavy on quick dirty frame cuts from one Dean to the other. It works quite well and is technically not distracting at all. It flows naturally and is fun to watch.

Dean awakens to find himself in a wooden lodge, cuffed, a prisoner. FutureDean begins interrogating Dean. FutureDean ultimately accepts that Dean is from 2009. He explains to Dean that the Croatoan virus is the demons’ endgame. It is efficient, uncurable, and scary as Hell. It started hitting major cities two years prior.[2] Asked where Sam is, FutureDean explains that there was a heavyweight showdown in Detroit, and that “Sam didn’t make it.” Dean is taken aback that FutureDean and Sam apparently did not have each other’s backs for the showdown, but FutureDean explains that they had a falling out five years prior and hadn’t spoken since. Presumably, FutureDean is referring to the parting of the ways that happened two episodes prior.

FutureDean leaves Dean cuffed while he goes to run an errand. Dean, of course, promptly escapes. Outside the cabin, Dean runs into Chuck. Chuck assumes he is FutureDean and begins to speak with Dean about the logistics involved with running the survival camp (supplies and morale are low). They are interrupted by Risa, recently spurned by FutureDean. Dean takes the brunt of her wrath. He then seeks out Castiel. He finds him in the midst of making preparations for an orgy. Castiel immediately recognizes Dean as PastDean and correctly deduces Zachariah’s involvment. Dean demands that Castiel send him back to 2009, but Castiel explains that he’s pretty much human, now. The angels have abandoned the planet and, when they did, Castiel’s angelic power just kind of fizzled away. Left behind, Castiel has turned to a life of stoned debauchery. It’s a path that we saw the first glimmers of in the episode prior, and the fact that the show laid the groundwork for it in “Free to Be You and Me” makes Castiel’s debasement seem like a payoff rather than a joke. In the context of this episode, the prior episode makes more sense.

FutureDean returns back to camp and Dean witnesses him killing Yager, one of the men on his expedition, in cold blood. The other men see Dean, and FutureDean explains that it is a messed up situation. To Dean, FutureDean explains that Yager had been infected with the Croatoan virus while they were in the hot zone and that he would have started showing symptoms soon. It was a mercy killing, he claims. FutureDean explains to Dean that the prior night’s mission was successful: he shows the Colt to Dean. He tells Dean that obtaining the Colt took five years, but that now that he has it he will be killing the Devil.

FutureDean rallies his troops for a planning meeting. He explains that Lucifer’s location is known; having been determined by FutureDean through the torture of a demon. Lucifer is in the middle of a hot zone and it is not going to be an easy mission. FutureDean wants Dean to come, because he wants Dean to see what Sam has become. He explains to Dean that Sam said “yes” to becoming Lucifer’s vessel. He wants Dean to see this with his own eyes, so that Dean can do things differently. Specifically, FutureDean wants Dean to say “yes” to becoming Michael’s vessel, so that Michael can inhabit Dean and take out Lucifer before Lucifer can destroy the planet. Even though this will likely mean a battle that destroys half the world, FutureDean argues that “half a planet is better than none” and he tells Dean that he would do so himself were it still possible. Dean expresses his reluctance, perhaps realizing that FutureDean is asking him to do exactly what Zachariah is trying to convince him to do. He argues that there must be a different way. FutureDean explains “That’s what I thought. I was cocky. But I was wrong.” (As it turns out, FutureDean is right – Dean is cocky. He does think there is another way. When Zachariah returns him to 2009 at the episode’s end, he doesn’t learn his lesson. He doesn’t say “yes” to let Michael in, but he tries to find another way. That other way is reuniting with Sam).

The following morning, FutureDean and his crew drive out to the hot zone, Dean in tow. Dean and Castiel drive out together. Castiel explains to Dean that he went mortal, and is “practically” human. He has embraced the decadent world of women, wine, and drugs that Dean introduced him to at the brothel in the prior episode. As he explains to Dean, it is the end of the world, so why not. They reach the hot zone, where Dean questions FutureDean’s plan to conduct a frontal assault. FutureDean explains that while Castiel, Chuck, Risa, and the extras are going to go through the front (and die, as a diversion), he and Dean will slip through the back. This plan to sacrifice everyone does not sit well with Dean. The Deans fight, and FutureDean wins. Dean gets knocked out cold. When he awakens, the plan is already in action. He runs toward the tenement where Lucifer is holed up, and arrives in the courtyard there just in time to find FutureDean die under the bootheel of Lucifer, embodied within Sam.

Lucifer and Dean speak. Lucifer explains that his sin was loving God too much, and loving Earth too much. He couldn’t abide by God’s direction to love humans – ugly hairless apes – above all else. For that, God threw him out of Heaven. It’s an interesting play for sympathy, made more compelling by the fact that we humans have, in fact, really screwed up the planet. Dean, however, doesn’t buy it. He contends that Lucifer is no different than the other supernatural trash he is used to dealing with; Lucifer is scum like all the rest, just with a bigger ego. As they have their discussion, Lucifer fondles a red rose. Perhaps this is nothing significant, or perhaps it is a bit of a reference to the rose that grows in the vacant lot of Stephen King’s Dark Tower series. Dean and Lucifer are talking about choices, and realities, and fate, and – as Lucifer points out – no matter what, everything leads back to this confrontation. Lucifer tells Dean he will see him in five years. With that, he vanishes. As he does, Zachariah appears and zaps Dean back to 2009 with a touch.

Back in 2009, Dean asks Zachariah how he knows that all that he has been shown is the real future and not just some trick. Zachariah responds that the time for tricks is over. He implores Dean to say “yes” to Michael so billions need not die. Dean, cocky, says “nah.” Before Zachariah can attempt to school him again, Dean vanishes – summoned by Castiel for their morning appointment.

As a result of his experience in the future, Dean calls Sam and they reconcile. Dean returns Ruby’s knife to Sam. The episode concludes with a great exchange between the two brothers, where Sam’s response can be read two ways: Dean says “So now we make our own future,” to which Sam responds “I guess we have no choice.” Does Sam mean that they have no choice but to make their own future, or does he mean that they have no choice because the future is set in stone?

My score for this episode: 5 Metallicars.

__________

[1] History lesson, courtesy of Wikipedia (parts redacted):

Roanoke Island was the site of the 16th century Roanoke Colony, the first English colony in the New World. [The first attempt to settle Roanoke, in 1585, failed]. In 1587, the English again attempted to settle in Roanoke. John White . . . left the colony to return to England for supplies that he felt would help the colonists to survive, expecting to return to Roanoke Island within three months. Instead, he found England at war with Spain, and all ships were confiscated for use of the war efforts. His return to Roanoke Island was delayed until 1590. When he finally returned, the colonists had disappeared. The only thing he found were the letters “CRO” carved into a nearby tree and the word “CROATOAN” carved into a fencepost. Before leaving the colony for England three years earlier, White left instructions with the colonists that if they were forced to abandon their settlement on Roanoke, that they were to carve out the name of the place where they were going and a Maltese cross under the carving if they left due to danger.

“CROATOAN” was the name of an island to the south (modern-day Hatteras Island), where a friendly native tribe was known to live, and it was thus reasonable to assume that the colonists had left the Roanoke settlement bound for that island. However, foul weather would keep White from venturing south to search on Croatoan for the colonists, and they returned to England. White would never return to the New World. The fate of the colony has never been authoritatively ascertained, and consequently it became known as “The Lost Colony”.

Later, in 1880′s, a man living in North Carolina wrote about what the Natives looked like there. He wrote he noticed some had “fair skin and light eyes and hair, with Anglo bone structure.” These are not found among Native Americans normally, so some believe that the Roanoke colonists assimilated into the Croatoan Indian tribe.

[2] If FutureDean is in 2014, and the Croatoan virus took hold two years prior, then this would put Supernatural’s full-on apocalypse at approximately 2012 on the calendar; a date that coincides with the end-date of the Mesoamerican Long Count calendar. In recent years December 21, 2012 has been popularized as the next expected end of the world (Y2K having passed uneventfully). There’s even a new major motion picture called 2012 coming soon to a theater near you. It’ll be interesting to see if perhaps a later episode of Supernatural does anything with the 2012 meme – they’re certainly chronologically leaving the door open to do so if they like.

Maple Street, USA. Late Summer. A tree-lined little world of front porch gliders, barbecues, the laughter of children, and the bell of an ice cream vendor. At the sound of the roar and a flash of light, it will be precisely 6:43 PM on Maple Street.

– From the introductory voice-over to “The Monsters are Due on Maple Street” (The Twilight Zone, 1960).

“Good God, Y’all,” the second episode of the fifth season of Supernatural, picks up shortly after the conclusion of last week’s entry. Bobby is convalescing in the hospital. Sam and Dean mull over what to do to help him bounce back. A call comes in from Castiel. He asks where they are and then meets them at the hospital, explaining upon his arrival that the rib carvings he administered last week shield them even from his own view. Castiel upsets Bobby further by telling him that, cut off from heaven, he is unable to heal Bobby. Then he informs Sam and Dean that their plan to hunt down Lucifer is foolish, but that there is one person apart from Michael strong enough to kill Lucifer: God. Castiel confirms what was strongly alluded in the last episode; that it was God who resurrected Castiel and that it was God who put Sam and Dean on the plane, rescuing them from the scene of Lucifer’s arrival. Castiel explains that he is going on a mission to find God. He takes Dean’s amulet, which he explains is a powerful artifact that glows hot, like some elvish sword of great antiquity, when near God. I do not recall the significance of Dean’s amulet being explained in a prior episode: is this something we knew? Did we know it was special? Did Dean?

Castiel vanishes and shortly thereafter Bobby receives a call from fellow hunter Rufus. Rufus is pinned down and badly outgunned. He manages to convey that he is in the town of River Pass, Colorado. Sam and Dean immediately head there but find that only bridge leading into town has fallen down. Not the first time they’ve seen such a thing, and surely not the last. They decide to hoof it. As they reach the main street, they discover the town to be largely deserted. Wrecked cars are strewn across the road, a bloody baby carriage under the front wheel of one. Nice. Dean whistles appreciatively as he takes note of one car in particular: a pristine cherry red Mustang.

“Good God, Y’all,” the second episode of the fifth season of SupernaturalSam and Dean’s investigation of the town is interrupted by the appearance of none other than Ellen Harvelle, former Hunter roadhouse proprietor, marking the character’s first return to the show since Season Two. Ellen confirms to her satisfaction that Sam and Dean are not possessed and then takes them into a nearby church basement. She has fortified the basement against demonic attack and there has assembled the town’s surviving non-possessed. Introductions are made, with particular attention paid to a besuitted town resident by the name of Roger. Ellen explains that it is her plan to arm up and get out. Sam and Dean agree to assist, with Sam going for salt at a nearby convenience store and Dean for weapons at a sporting goods store. While in the convenience store, Sam fights off two possessed town hicks. He finds himself strongly drawn to their blood, the lust for power nearly overcoming him before Dean arrives. Sam gets himself under control but Dean takes in the scene and understands that Sam was nearly tempted. (Had Sam succumbed to his desire, he would have saved the town some trouble and likely would have figured out right then and there that something other than demonic forces were at work).

The boys return to the church basement and proceed to arm the survivors. Ellen explains she is going to go off and look for her daughter, Jo. Sam goes with her. They find what they presume to be the demon base camp, noting that Demons do not get cold that it is odd, then, for the chimney to be puffing smoke. This, in hindsight, is a clue that the demons are not demons. A bigger clue comes a few minutes later, when Sam and Ellen are jumped by Jo and a few townies. “Don’t you hurt her,” Ellen warns the demon she supposes is possessing Jo, even as Jo responds, “Give me back my mother, you black-eyed bitch.” Something definitely is not right. Why do they each see each other as demons? Even as Ellen and Jo are struggling, so too are Sam and Rufus. Rufus makes short work of Sam, however, and he and Jo take Sam upstairs for interrogation.

“Good God, Y’all,” the second episode of the fifth season of SupernaturalAs it becomes more evident that demonic forces are not at work in the town, Dean attempts to puzzle out the truth. He learns from Ellen that Rufus arrived in the town to investigate a water-related omen, and then from the surviving townies he learns that the day prior to the town going crazy, the local river started to run polluted. He’s also told that a meteor was seen in the sky right around the same time. This is enough to send Dean to the bible, where he flips to Revelation 8:10:

“And the third angel sounded, and there fell a great star from heaven, burning as it were a lamp, and it fell upon the third part of the rivers, and upon the fountains of waters; And the name of the star is called Wormwood: and the third part of the waters became wormwood; and many men died of the waters, because they were made bitter.” (Revelation 8:10, 11 – KJB).

“Good God, Y’all,” the second episode of the fifth season of SupernaturalDean explains that this particular omen is tied to the arrival of one of the four horsemen of the apocalypse. He reasons out that the cherry red Mustang must therefore belong to War, who traditionally is pictured riding a red horse. (One has to wonder what Pestilence will drive when he arrives – a white Ford Bronco?) Dean reasons aloud that War is in town and is sowing distrust and hate – the town is not fighting demons; it is fighting itself. And, yes, it is the apocalypse. It is fortunate for Sam and Dean that so much of the apocalypse and the events leading up to it are transpiring within the continental United States.

Meanwhile, Roger drops in to talk to Sam. He reveals himself to be War but explains to Sam that he hasn’t had to do much: “take out a bridge here, lay in a little hallucination there… sit back, pop some corn, watch the show.” War tells Sam that Sam lusts for power and then sets Sam up for a fall; pretending to be injured at Sam’s hand to provoke a reaction from Rufus and Jo when they return. War does this as he has been doing everything else; with a twist of his ring. For some reason surely completely unrelated to gender-symbolism, the writers of Supernatural have seen fit to replace the large sword War traditionally brandishes (a phallic symbol) with a ring (a vulvar symbol). Why would War need to use a magic tool like a ring, anyhow? That seemed a bit off, though it did at least allow for a clever “detour to Mt. Doom” quip at the episode’s end. Roger/War returns to the church basement and riles up the survivors, telling them that the demons know they are about to try to make a break for it. Dean tries to calm everyone down, reminding them that there are no demons at play, but mob mentality has taken hold and a little push from Roger’s ring is enough to convince the survivors that Dean and Ellen are now demons. They flee, the town in pursuit.

“Good God, Y’all,” the second episode of the fifth season of SupernaturalEllen leads Dean to the “demon base camp.” They are able to overcome Jo and Rufus and to convince them of the truth. But the town is on the move. A firefight breaks out in the street. They rescue Sam from upstairs and Sam and Dean head out to confront War himself. They corner War by his car. War points out that he cannot be killed; he is War, after all. This, though, does not stop Sam and Dean from trying. Dean holds War still while Sam cuts off War’s fingers with his knife. The ring falls to the ground, and War’s hold on the town is released. Then, just like that, War and his cherry red Mustang are gone.

In this episode, Dean tells a resident of the town of River Pass, Colorado, that “this is not The X-Files, pal.”  In doing so, the show arguably seeks to accomplish several things: (1) Cleverly establish the ‘reality’ of the episode by grounding it in a world whose fictional entertainment is the same as our own. The more the show makes reference to our own reality – swine flu, popular television shows, real-world current events, and the like, the more natural the world of Supernatural necessarily feels. (2) Distinguish itself from its lineage. This, of course, is no longer necessary. Supernatural already is in its fifth season, its identity firmly established. Other, newer shows, like Fringe, may yet have to fight off comparisons to The X-Files, but Supernatural already has firmly established its own unique identity. (3) Make a tongue-in-cheek reference to one of Supernatural‘s spiritual forebears. In this, it has perhaps fallen shy of the mark. Rather than The X-Files, Dean should have stretched back farther to acknowledge the common parent of both The X-Files and Supernatural — The Twilight Zone. After all, this particular episode draws heavily on one of the classic episodes of that series: 1960′s “The Monsters are Due on Maple Street.”

“The Monsters are Due on Maple Street,” first aired in 1960 as part of the original Twilight Zone‘s first season, put the sleepy suburban neighborhood of “Maple Street, USA” under Rod Serling’s microscope. The story begins with what is presumed to be the crash of a falling meteor. As night falls and things in the town start to go wrong (basically, technology starts to fail), the town’s residents begin to turn on each other. Everyone blames everyone for everything as suspicions rise. Neighbors and friends begin suspecting each other as aliens. By the episode’s close, the residents of Maple Street have descended into chaos. The episode closes with the reveal that the supposed meteor that preceded this series of events actually was an alien space ship. The town, which really is under observation by aliens, has fallen victim to an alien experiment – the aliens have been manipulating the town’s power using a device. They conclude that the easiest way to conquer our planet is simply to turn humans on each other, something “Maple Street” has demonstrated is quite easily done.

Replace the aliens with War, name the meteor “Wormwood” to help tie in Supernatural‘s apocalyptic story arc, and replace the aliens’ device with War’s ring, and you’ve successfully updated a Twilight Zone classic for use in Supernatural. The show makes good use of its borrowed source material, at least – this is quite a nice episode. War is well cast, if surprising in appearance. And the town turning on itself serves as an able backdrop and metaphor for the continuing deterioration and fracturing of Sam and Dean’s own relationship. Sam and Dean may save the town from itself (or, at least some of the town is saved) by recognizing that they are all victims of imposed hallucinations, but they are as yet unable to see that their own intra-family battle is destroying them with equal ferocity and efficiency. The episode ends as so many episodes of Supernatural have of late: with an earnest talk between Sam and Dean. This time, though, instead of flying accusations there is unexpected agreement. Sam feels he must go his own way, and Dean does not put up a fight – he lets his brother go. Dean even offers Sam the Metallicar. Hopefully they’ll find a way to reconcile before the end of the world. If they have been permanently fractured, then it may be that War’s mission at River Pass was not to divide the town but rather to divide the brothers – a mission that hopefully will not be successful.

Five seasons in, and I’m still loving Supernatural. I rate this episode 4 Metallicars (one for each Horseman).

The 5th Season opener of Supernatural wastes not a moment diving right into the main story arc. The demons are still thugs, the angels are still thugs too, Sam and Dean are still caught in the middle and in the throes of their dysfunctional relationship, and all hell is — literally — breaking loose. It is as though we never left. This is now a series possessed, though; it feels as though the end of the story is in sight and each episode will count. (Sure, Kripke recently equivocated on the possibility of more seasons yet to come, but from the start he has stated that he envisioned and plotted the show with a five season arc. Anything that comes post Season 5 will exist because it was jerryrigged to appease the network. I’m not quite sure yet how that will work, and I don’t know whether Kripke does, either. I look forward to it, but I expect that in many ways the end of this season will be the end of the show proper).

This episode, “Sympathy for the Devil,” begins with a brief “The Road So Far” recap that does an admirable job of reminding the viewer not only of the events of last season but also of how kickass the show is, in general. The 66 seals have been broken, freeing Lucifer, who will bring the apocalypse. Ready? Go! But wait… just as Lucifer gets sprung, there’s some sort of odd deus ex machina (perhaps a literal one) – Sam and Dean find themselves abruptly removed from the tomb where Lucifer is being born and on an airplane. A column of bright white light stretches up into the sky, which they observe from their plane’s window as the pilot scrambles to avoid it and keep the plane aloft. Wait… a column of white light? A plane in distress? What show is this, again?

Apparently, the pilot is able safely to land the plane, because in the next scene Sam and Dean are motoring along in the Metallicar, trying to figure out what just happened. Flipping through the car’s radio stations reveals talk of floods, hurricanes, earthquakes, nuclear posturing, swine flu, and the like. All signs of the apocalypse, surely. We are living in the end of days, the show is telling its viewers, even if we – like the innocents in the world of Supernatural – don’t necessarily recognize it. This is a brief but important point; it likely means that although the final season of the show will feature the apocalypse, we won’t necessarily be seeing rivers of fire and, as in previous seasons, the world at large will likely be oblivious of the insanity all around. Sam and Dean switch off the radio and Sam tries to broach the subject of his betrayal with Dean, but Dean is having none of it. He points out that they should keep their eyes on the figurative road, and locate Castiel.

As it turns out, locating Castiel is easier said than done. They visit the Prophet Chuck, who tells them that Castiel is dead, exploded in a shower of meat and molars. Chuck, disgusted, finds one of those molars in his hair. (“Dude… you’ve got some… Cass… on you.” Again, what show is this?) During their conversation, the angel Zachariah appears in the room with two of his henchmen. He tells Sam and Dean that they are all on the same team – they all want to stop Lucifer. He explains that Lucifer needs a vessel, and it is up to the boys to stop him from claiming one. Sam and Dean, though, want no part of the angels – Dean has pre-prepared a sigil, painted in his own blood on a pocket door, and he dispels Zachariah and his muscle by applying his bloody palm to the sigil just as Cass did at the end of last season. This was a bit confusing to me, honestly: when, exactly, did Dean paint the sigil? The scene began with the boys arriving and talking to Chuck and from there straight to Zachariah’s sudden appearance. And why, exactly, did Dean’s bloody hand leave no bloody handprint on the sigil when he touched it and then took his hand away? Quibbles.

Sam and Dean head over to the Regent Inn Hotel, where they arm themselves with hex bags Sam admits he learned how to make from Ruby. Sam insists he is feeling fine, not going through withdrawal at all, and he again tries to explain his actions to Dean. Dean is still having none of it. Dean, ever practical, suggests that as before they should just keep their eyes on the road, and hunt the Devil. Cue the Devil.

The season finale of Supernatural‘s fourth season, which wrapped up in May of 2009, closely paralleled the season finale of LOST in several surprising ways: Two sides – one light, one dark. It’s not quite easy to tell which side is which, though, as neither side appears to be particularly good, and each is using our fearless protagonists as pawns to further their own ends. Tension builds as questions of fate and free-will abound. Ultimately one of our characters is duped into setting into motion the very thing they’ve been trying to stop, and an incredible destructive force is unleashed. Maybe. Fade to white. Supernatural and LOST definitely wore the same dress to the season-finale prom last season. That turned out not to be a bad thing, though, considering how kick-ass the dress was in both cases. Now Supernatural has returned months before LOST will, with this episode entitled “Sympathy for the Devil.” And who, pray tell, plays the role of the Devil for Supernatural? Why it is none other than LOST’s Jacob himself, actor Mark Pellegrino! Very nice!

Pellegrino’s character, Nick, is first seen walking up to his home, apparently oblivious to the camera following closely behind him at an ominous and spooky angle. He settles in for the night, only to wake up covered in blood. He freaks out, but then the blood is gone. Then, suddenly, his wife Sarah is there. He’s understandably shaken.

Meanwhile, Chuck enlists the aid of superfan Becky, webmistress for www.morethanbrothers.net, a Carver Edlund fan website that, disappointingly, doesn’t actually exist. Gone, apparently, are the days of Supernatural where phone numbers mentioned on the show lead to the start of Alternate Reality Games when dialed. More disappointing than this, though, is the portrayal of Becky herself. She practically drools on herself with fan-desire. It’s funny for a moment, but ultimately uncomfortable in its excess. I had a visceral dislike for Becky, and I couldn’t quite figure out why. Ultimately, I think it is because her portrayal demonstrates how the show sees its own fans. She’s a joke, but she’s a joke at the viewer’s expense. It’s funny, but in an uncomfortable “I recognize that it is me that you are laughing at” kind of way.

Chuck explains to Becky that she must visit Sam and Dean to deliver a message: The Michael Sword is on earth. The angels lost it. It is in a castle on a hill made of 42 dogs.

Shortly thereafter, Bobby arrives. He explains that Michael is the angel that kicked Lucifer out of heaven, and that his sword was an instrumental part of this. Sam admits to Bobby that it was he that broke the last seal, bringing on the apocalypse, by killing Lilith. Bobby deems this unforgivable. He coldly tells Sam to lose his number, should they survive the end of the world. Sam goes off to sulk, leaving Dean and Bobby alone. Bobby suggests to Dean that maybe Sam’s very existence was John Winchester’s biggest mistake. At the mention of his father, Dean conveniently remembers that his father has a storage facility – Castle Storage, on 42 Rover Hill. Chuck’s prophecy suddenly makes sense. Unfortunately, this bit of information is all that Bobby needs – he strikes Dean to the ground and reveals himself to be a Man Possessed. Why Bobby didn’t get the same Anti-Demon-Possession tattoo that Sam and Dean have is a mystery – I’m sure he regrets not doing so. DemonBobby is soon joined by Meg, inhabiting a new body, and several other Demon friends. They all fight, but Bobby is somehow able to break through to wrest temporary control from the demon inhabiting him, long enough to stab himself in the gut rather than Dean – the first time in Supernatural history I can recall a successful power struggle between possessor and possessed. Unfortunately, it is a bit of a pyrhic victory: his wound is grave and is likely to seriously hamper Bobby for episodes to come. Sam arrives and joins the fight, the demons are put down save for Meg, who barfs away to survive to fight another day.

Meanwhile, Nick continues to be courted by the discorporeal Lucifer. While he is seeing visions of bloody cribs, Sam and Dean are dropping Bobby off at the hospital. They head over to Castle Storage, where they find a few dead demons littering the floor and Zachariah and his minions awaiting their arrival. Zachariah explains that he planted the prophecy of the missing sword in Chuck, but that the angels really did lose the sword; they truly couldn’t find it. Zachariah then reveals that Dean is, himself, the Michael Sword. Dean is Michael’s vessel, assuming he consents to the job. Dean says he will do no such thing.

I’m not sure I follow this whole planted-prophecy thing: why exactly did Zachariah need to lead Dean to the storage facility to tell him Dean is the sword? At what point did Zachariah realize that Dean is the sword, or did he know all along? If he knew all along, why did he say the angels truly couldn’t find the sword? They’ve known where Dean is, and they’ve apparently known Dean is the sword. There’s something here I’m just not understanding.

In any event, Dean refuses to be the sword. Zachariah means business, though. He tries to compel Dean by shooting Sam in the knee with his finger. When that doesn’t work, he threatens to make it so that Bobby will never walk again. Dean doesn’t budge, so Zachariah gives Dean stage IV stomach cancer. Dean still stands strong, and so Zachariah takes away Sam’s lungs. Just in the nick of time, Castiel appears – molars apparently intact. Zachariah seems unsettled by the implication that there may be a Higher Power at work here, after all. It seemed that last season the working theory was that God was MIA, and in fact Castiel had a bit of a crisis of faith on that very topic. Now, though, Castiel appears to be fully restored and faithful, and more powerful for it. He stands Zachariah down and forces Zachariah to put Sam and Dean back together again. He then warns Sam and Dean about Lucifer and Lucifer’s quest to find a vessel. To help them, Castiel carves an Enochian sigil into their respective ribs. They are told that the sigil will keep them hidden from all angels. (Hopefully not hidden from Castiel himself, though – that would be problematic).

Meanwhile, back at Nick’s place, Nick dreams again of his wife, Sarah. Sarah appears to him as in a dream, a vision in white. She tells him, forthrightly, that she is Lucifer and that she needs his help. Lucifer tells Nick that his crime was loving God too much, and that for that God betrayed and punished him. Lucifer draws a parallel between his Fall and Nick’s lost family, pointing out that Nick has every right to be angry at a God that must be either sadistic or uncaring. Who but an uncaring, sadistic God would allow Nick’s wife and baby to die at the hands of an intruder? Lucifer enlists Nick’s help at seeking retribution. A bit shortsighted, perhaps, because Lucifer honestly tells Nick that he cannot reunite Nick with his family. If Nick’s only chance at seeing his family again is in heaven, then perhaps it is not best to side with the Devil against God. But whatever. Nick doesn’t think it through too long – he consents. Lucifer has his vessel.

The lines between good and bad are blurred on Supernatural, and it therefore comes as no surprise that an episode entitled “Sympathy for the Devil” establishes Lucifer as a complicated and — yes — sympathetic character. This is done on several levels. First, his vessel is himself sympathetic: Nick is a man wracked with sorrow and grief; still dealing with the recent violent death of his wife and infant son. He quickly accepts Lucifer’s argument that only a malicious or, at best, uncaring God could do such a thing to a man’s family. It is easy to feel bad for Nick even as he welcomes Lucifer into his body. And as for Lucifer himself, it’s easy to sympathize with him. Lucifer appears not as a malevolent winged fire-spewing monstrosity, Modest Mussorgsky music swelling in the background, but rather in the lovely and sad form of Nick’s recently deceased wife. Lucifer, through her, explains that his only crime was loving God too much, and as he does so we can’t help but feel a twinge of sympathy for the devil. No doubt Supernatural will explore the relationship between God and his favorite fallen angel throughout the episodes of this 5th season, and I for one can’t wait to see how it plays out.

Before we get to see that happen, though, we’ll no doubt have to see Sam and Dean’s fragile relationship repaired. The episode concludes with Sam, Dean, and Bobby agreeing that the only thing to do, in the face of armageddon, is to keep on keeping on. They will save people one by one, Season One style. Bobby tells Sam that he doesn’t really want Sam to lose his number; that it was the demon talking. Outside, in the parking lot, Dean admits his bravado to Sam. He tells Sam that he will fight for as long as he is able, but that he believes that they have as much chance of success as a tissue paper dog chasing an asbestos cat through Hell.

The episode closes with the fight that’s been bubbling to the surface all episode long: Dean calls Sam out for choosing a demon – Ruby – over family. Over his own brother. Dean tells Sam that Sam let him down and that he cannot forgive and forget. There is no more trust. They cannot be what they once were. This is perhaps a bit harsh and hypocritical, considering that Dean had just as much a hand in starting the breaking of the seals as Sam had in finishing it, and that Dean’s plan — to kill Lilith — was the same as Sam’s. Dean’s concern last season wasn’t that Lilith shouldn’t be killed; it was that Sam wouldn’t be strong enough to do the job.

All in all, this was a powerful and fun start to the season. Quibbles aside, I give it 4 out of 5 Metallicars.

MONDAY

8pm          ABC         Dancing with the Stars
8pm          FOX         House
8pm          NBC         Heroes (Chuck at midseason)
8pm          CBS          How I Met Your Mother
8pm          CW           Gossip Girl
8:30pm   CBS          Accidentally on Purpose
9pm          FOX         Lie to Me (24 at midseason)
9pm          NBC         Trauma
9pm          CBS          Two and a Half Men
9pm          CW           One Tree Hill
9:30pm   CBS          The Big Bang Theory
10pm       ABC         Castle
10pm       CBS          CSI Miami

TUESDAY

8pm          ABC         Shark Tank
8pm          NBC        The Biggest Loser
8pm          CBS          NCIS
8pm          CW           90210
9pm          ABC         Dancing with the Stars Results
9pm          FOX         So You Think You Can Dance (Past Life at midseason)
9pm          CBS          NCIS: Los Angeles
9pm          CW           Melrose Place
10pm       ABC         The Forgotten
10pm       CBS          The Good Wife

WEDNESDAY

8pm          ABC         Hank
8pm          FOX         So You Think You Can Dance Results (American Idol at midseason)
8pm          NBC         Parenthood
8pm          CBS          New Adventures of Old Christine
8pm          CW           America’s Next Top Model
8:30pm   ABC         The Middle
8:30pm   CBS           Gary Unmarried
9pm          ABC          Modern Family
9pm          FOX          Glee (spring) (Human Target in January)
9pm          NBC          Law & Order: SVU
9pm          CBS           Criminal Minds
9pm          CW            The Beautiful Life
9:30pm   ABC          Cougar Town
10pm       ABC          Eastwick
10pm       CBS           CSI: NY

THURSDAY

8pm          ABC         Flash Forward
8pm          FOX         Bones
8pm          NBC         SNL Weekend Update Thursday
8pm          CBS          Survivor
8pm          CW           Vampire Diaries
8:30pm   NBC         Parks & Recreation
9pm          ABC         Grey’s Anatomy
9pm          FOX         Fringe
9pm          NBC        The Office
9pm          CBS          CSI
9pm          CW           Supernatural
9:30pm   NBC        Community (30 Rock at midseason)
10pm       ABC         Private Practice
10pm       CBS          The Mentalist

FRIDAY

8pm          ABC         Supernanny
8pm          FOX         Brothers
8pm          NBC         Law & Order
8pm          CBS          Ghost Whisperer
8pm          CW           Smallville
8:30pm   FOX         ‘Til Death
9pm          ABC         Ugly Betty
9pm          FOX          Dollhouse
9pm          NBC          Southland
9pm          CBS           Medium (yup, it moved to CBS)
9pm          CW            America’s Next Top Model Repeat
10pm       ABC          20/20
10pm       CBS           Numb3rs

SATURDAY

8pm          ABC         Saturday Night College Football
8pm          FOX         COPS
8pm          NBC         Dateline NBC
8pm          CBS          Crime Drama Repeat
9pm          FOX        America’s Most Wanted
9pm          NBC        Trauma rerun
9pm          CBS         Crime Drama Repeat
10pm       NBC         Law & Order: SVU rerun
10pm       CBS          48 Hours

SUNDAY

8pm          ABC         Extreme Makeover: Home Edition
8pm          FOX         The Simpsons
8pm          CBS          The Amazing Race
8:20pm   NBC         NBC Sunday Night Football
8:30pm   FOX         The Cleveland Show
9pm          ABC         Desperate Housewives
9pm          FOX         Family Guy
9pm          CBS          Three Rivers
9:30pm   FOX        American Dad
10pm       ABC         Brothers & Sisters
10pm       CBS          Cold Case

Wow. Until midseason when new shows like “V” and old favorites like “Lost” show up, that’s not much for sci-fi/genre/fantasy television on the major networks this year. If I discount the sitcoms, that gives us 9 shows in the Fall.

Perhaps cable will deliver some good stuff? AMC, TNT, SyFy, BBCA, Showtime, Adult Swim, HBO? What do they have for us? Fingers crossed!

The title of the episode, “The Monster at the End of This Book,” serves as a clear indicator of the episode’s subject, as it should. The title refers to a Sesame Street Little Golden Book, starring lovable, furry old Grover. In that classic, Grover warns the reader away from the end of the book, attempting in vain to prevent the reader from turning page after page to prevent the revelation of a monster at the book’s end. As it turns out, the monster at the end of the book is Grover himself. That’s basically this episode of Supernatural, in a nutshell. The episode tracks Sam and Dean’s efforts to avoid/confront the demon Lilith.

The episode begins with Sam and Dean, posing as Agents DeYoung and Shaw, interviewing the clerk of a comic book store. Their line of questions quickly leads the clerk to suspect that Sam and Dean are LARPing. The clerk assesses their LARPing to be hardcore, as their role playing is based upon an obscure series of books, called “Supernatural,” by an author named Carver Edlund (a mashup of two of Supernatural’s writers’ names: Jeremy Carver and Ben Edlund), that had an underground cult following but that never sold a lot of copies. This is approximately where I started smiling, and I don’t think I stopped until the episode was over. The clerk locates one of the books – the first in the series. The book’s blurb is a plot summary about a ghostly woman in white – the subject of the Pilot episode of Supernatural. Back at their motel room, Sam and Dean are amazed at how the books track their lives. The books’ titles mirror the episode titles for Season One. There’s a great moment where Sam and Dean shake their heads at the idea of there being “Sam Girls” and “Dean Girls” and slash fans. Sam reads a quote from a fansite poster named Simpatico, and I half-suspect that it’s a real quote from a real fan site. The series of books ends with Dean going to Hell, as the series had almost zero circulation and the publisher went bankrupt.

Sam and Dean decide that it is time to visit the publisher and to track down Carver Edlund. They convince the publisher of their sincerity by revealing an encyclopedic knowledge of Sam and Dean Trivia, and they further bond by displaying their tattoos. The publisher is convinced to reveal Carver Edlund’s real name and address. He is Chuck Shurley, a writer living in a ramshackle house. Sam and Dean pay him a visit. While at first he dismisses them as fans, he is convinced by Dean referring to himself as a Winchester, as their surname was never mentioned in the books or told to anyone. Convinced that his characters have come to life, Chuck reaches the conclusion that he must be a god. A cruel, cruel, capricious god. He apologizes for killing off Sam’s girlfriend for the sake of literary symmetry, and for the lackluster Ghost Ship episode: “Horror is one thing, but to have to live through bad writing!” Considering that Chuck is being confronted by his characters, he takes the whole thing relatively in stride. He gives Sam and Dean his current work in progress and they use it to learn about the coming day.

Chuck warns that Lilith will be coming for Sam that very night, and that Sam will succumb to fiery demonic passion. Sam and Dean also read about a minivan accident, a broken window on the Metallicar, and some pink flower bandaids on Dean’s face. With the knowledge that a confrontation with Lilith is imminent, Dean suggests running. Initially, they try to do so. However, the only way out of town – a bridge – is out and they are turned back at the town’s border and forced to stay the night. Dean decides that if they must stay, they should use Chuck’s draft as a guide for what not to do, in order to stay off the path and therefore avoid Lilith. The draft says they will fight, Sam will research, Dean will have a bacon cheeseburger. So they determine not to do so. And then they do. Fate cannot be averted. They hole up at the Toreador Motel, because the book says they stay at the Red Motel. Shortly thereafter, several of the neon letters in the hotel’s sign short out to reveal they are at the Red Motel, after all. Dean warns Sam against doing any research, and as a precaution he takes his laptop from him. He then drives off, only to be struck by a minivan while stopping a thief from breaking into the Metallicar. He wakes up to see the star earrings of the minivan driver, and to find pink flower bandaids on his face courtesy of the driver’s daughter.

Meanwhile, back at the hotel, Chuck and Sam meet. Sam asks Chuck if Chuck knows about Ruby and the drinking of the demon blood. Chuck admits that he does, but that he did not write it into the book because he feared it would make Sam too unsympathetic. “Sucking blood? You gotta know that’s wrong.” Sam admits that it scares him, but it is a compulsion and he feels that he has no choice if it helps him to stop the apocalypse. He admits that while stopping the apocalypse may technically be Dean’s job, Sam knows that Dean is not up to it and so Sam feels he must carry the weight. Chuck confirms that the story seems to be headed in the direction of everything resting on Sam’s shoulders.

Following the minivan accident, Dean confronts Chuck. He manhandles him, demanding to know how Chuck knows what he knows. Castiel appears from nowhere to warn Dean that Chuck must be protected, as he is a Prophet of the Lord. Chuck is incredulous. “Writing yourself into your own story is one thing, but writing yourself into the story as a prophet is like M. Night-level douchiness.” This is particularly ironic, of course, as the Supernatural scribes have indeed written themselves into this episode as Chuck, the prophet. It’s this level of self-awareness that makes the episode especially enjoyable. Castiel confirms that Chuck is a mouthpiece for the word of God, and that his books will come to be known as the Winchester Gospel. Further, what Chuck has written cannot be unwritten. As he has seen it, so it shall come to pass. Nevertheless, Dean still tries to convince Sam to leave. He still has not learned his lesson and is still trying to buck destiny.

Leaving is not to be, however, as Sam wants to stick around and challenge Lilith. With no other options, Dean prays. Castiel appears and congratulates Dean for his sign of faith. He explains to Dean that there is nothing that can be done to interfere with Chuck’s prophecy, but he hints that Dean can utilize Chuck tactically, as Chuck has a guardian archangel. Archangels, Castiel says, are heaven’s most terrifying weapon. If a prophet is in the same room as a demon, then the most fearsome wrath of heaven will rain down. I love it when a plan comes together. Dean takes the hint from Castiel and he forceably enlists Chuck’s aid.

At the motel, Lilith appears to Sam. She easily avoids the devil’s trap Sam has concealed under a rug, and she is unaffected by Sam’s demonic force mojo powers. Because Sam is immune to Lilith, too, they are at a stalemate. Lilith offers a deal. She explains that she has learned that she is not to survive the apocalypse. She’s going to die before the good stuff starts. She’d like to call the whole thing off and to go back to a simpler time, a time before she had to deal with angels. She tells Sam that she will agree to stand down – to stop breaking seals and to avert the apocalypse – and all she wants as a consolation prize is Sam and Dean’s heads on stakes. Will Sam agree to self-sacrifice in order to save the world? Lilith suggests the deal must be sealed with sex, and Sam appears to consent. Once on the bed, however, he tries to take Lilith out with Ruby’s knife. Chuck and Dean arrive in the midst of Sam’s struggle with Lilith. For reasons undetermined, Dean warns Lilith that Cuck is a prophet and that an archangel is about to appear. It would seem that Dean could just have remained silent, to let the archangel appear and kill Lilith once and for all. Maybe he was concerned about collateral damage, or about the archangel killing the dental hygienist whose body Lilith was possessing? In any event, Dean warns Lilith and she has time to flee before the archangel appears.

The situation resolved, back in the Metallicar Sam explains to Dean that he never considered the deal with Lilith because he knew that Lilith would find a way out of it. He saw that Lilith is running scared, and that this is a good sign. He will find a way to make sure she doesn’t survive the apocalypse.

I think it’s somewhat of an open question whether Lilith is the monster at the end of this episode. If Lillith is the monster then the episode is not as carefully crafted a self-referential work as it at first seems to be. For the episode to truly work, the monster at the end of the episode should be Sam and Dean. Are they? It would certainly explain the final scene, between Zacharia and the Prophet Chuck. Chuck startles awake from a disturbing dream to find Zacharia in his room with him. Zacharia asks Chuck, “Did you see it?” Chuck, obviously distraught by his vision, asks “Is it true? Is all that really going to happen? I have to warn Sam and Dean!” It’s a disturbing conversation with the viewer left to wonder what great and terrible things the writers have in store for the Winchesters and the world. Tellingly, Zacharia cautions Chuck against warning Sam and Dean. He says, “I wouldn’t advise it. People shouldn’t know too much about their own destiny. You try… and I’ll stop you.” So Sam and Dean have a destiny that the angels want them to know cannot be avoided, and which involves stopping the breaking of the seals and averting the apocalypse, but beyond that they shouldn’t know more. Whatever it is, it involves a future so terrible that, contemplating it, Chuck is only stopped from killing himself by Zacharia’s threat that he would just be resurrected. At the end of the Sesame Street version of the story, Grover is left relieved and embarrassed that there was really nothing to fear, after all. Something tells me that fate is not going to be quite so kind to Sam and Dean when we reach the last page of the Winchester Gospel.

My rating? You guessed it – 5 out of 5 Metallicars.