Television

Supernatural – 99 Problems

Dean and Sam end up in a town of hunters where the population is being led by a preachers daughter who is a prophet. Unfortunately things seem to get more and more on edge as the revelations from the angels get stranger and stranger.

Something is fishy in this little town in Minnesota. It seems the whole town has turned into Demon hunters. Led by a young girl who happens to be the daughter of the local Lutheran Minister. Even the Minister is packing.

The opening scene where Dean and Sam get helped by the townspeople is action packed and quite well done. At the same time the circumstances were very strange and almost surreal. Sam seems to see this for what it is, but Dean is clouded by his feelings and where his head is at. It is amazing what level headed good people will do when led by someone they think is doing good. As things begin to escalate the deeds this “prophet” requires become more and more ominous. The boys call for Castiel, but he seems pretty out of it with the recent revelations that God is not going to do anything to intercede.

Dean and Sam rally and in the end figure out what is going on with Castiel’s help and formulate a plan which may or may not work. Let’s just say there are some surprising results.

At the end we see some additional surprises and an interesting if not poignant scene with Dean setting up next weeks action. Overall this is a fine example of the work that the writers, production staff, and actors have been putting together for this fifth season. It should be fun to see this season come to an eventual completion. I’m looking forward to it! Thanks for reading…

Jeffery Yarter
The Lizardman

Supernatural – Dark Side of the Moon

Sam and Dean are killed by hunters who know about Sam and his situation with the Devil. They end up in Heaven and spend their time avoiding Zachariah and trying to find the garden where Joshua who speaks to God is located based on Castiel’s information.

A number of interesting things we learn in this episode. Each person sort of creates their own version of heaven. The Angels seem to have as many or more problems than humans. Intelligence is an asset as we see with Ash from the roadhouse who is played by Chad Lindberg. We also see Samantha Smith as Sam and Deans’s Mom Mary Winchester who is so nice in Dean’s memories, but downright evil being manipulated by the Angel Zachariah. In one of the best cameos we’ve ever seen Tracy Dinwiddie who plays Pamela Barnes was back. She really gives it to Dean and not in a bad way. It was great to see her as she is one of the best characters the show has ever had.

It seems that Sam and Dean have died a number of times that they don’t even remember and Ash has seen them in heaven before. This time they don’t get out without remembering everything though.

After all the running around is done we finally get to meet Joshua who seems to be a simple Angel and in the end the news is not the best for the boys. So for the time being the Apocalypse is theirs and theirs alone to deal with and we are left to wonder if even Castiel has the spirit to fight anymore.

This was a better episode than I thought it would be based on the coming attractions. Unfortunately it was very dark and unconnected which was a little disappointing. I did enjoyed it though and the boys were great as always. It was nice to see Ash and Pamela as well. Thanks for reading…

Jeffery Yarter
The Lizardman

Supernatural – Dead Men Don’t Wear Plaid

The dead start rising coincidentally in Bobby’s little South Dakota town. The boys are very concerned, but everything seems fine until things turn ugly. We learn that the Horsemen of Death specifically has it in for Bobby.

Another fine episode from the people that bring us Supernatural. This time we are returned to the quiet little town where Bobby lives. The dead seem to be rising from their graves and one had murdered a local citizen who was known for not being a good guy.

After Sam and Dean attempt to do something about this the local Sheriff arrests them even though she knows the guy they had was dead. It turns out not only was this guy back, but the Sheriff’s son and at least thirteen other people including Bobby’s wife have returned from the dead. Bobby’s wife was cremated! The Sheriff ends up letting the boys go, but they feel, especially Dean, like they need to do something before things get ugly.

Of course they do get ugly and despite the obvious Bobby is bound and determined to help his wife and tells the boys to leave. You can imagine what transpires from here.

The boys, Bobby, the local Sheriff, and the townspeople learn you can’t just take the dead rising from the grave for granted. Before his wife goes she tells Bobby a very pale and thin man gave her a message for him. That message being that this was all for him as he has been helping the boys.

So Death has taken an interest in the boys specifically for obvious reasons. I think things are starting to heat up even more for the boys. Angels and Demons!!!

Another great episode as we’re in the home stretch with episode 15. It looks like it’s going to be a great finale. I’m personally pleased with the renewal for next year. I enjoy the boys on Thursday nights and I think I would miss them. Thanks for reading…

Jeffery Yarter
The Lizardman

Supernatural – My Bloody Valentine

Sam, Dean, and Castiel visit a town where lovers seem to be taking things to the next level. Meaning devouring each other to death. After a little investigation it seems we are dealing with another of the four horsemen and this one is Famine.

What a powerful episode. Gruesome at times we get to see the real power Sam possesses and we get to understand so much more about Dean. We also get a little look into the makeup of Castiel as well.

It seems Famine rides in on a black horse. This time its a well equipped black luxury SUV!?! He is on oxygen and is accompanied by a legion of demons given to him by Lucifer.

As I stated this episode gets a little gruesome and that is really the point of my score. I think it was a little too much. Especially the first scene. In a lot of ways the later scenes were even worse because they actually showed some of the mess Famine was creating.

This is a really nice setup for the rest of the season. The stage is set for what seems to be the final confrontation. Of course you may have heard that there will be a sixth season of Supernatural. I for one am happy with this happening. I look forward to the rest of this season the next. Thanks for reading…

Jeffery Yarter
The Lizardman

Supernatural – The Song Remains the Same

Anna’s back and she has a solution to the whole Apocalypse problem. Kill Mary and John Winchester before they have the boys. Seems simple enough. Castiel and the boys aren’t going to sit still for this though. We also get to meet someone special!

Episodes like this always worry me. This one did, but it far exceeded my expectations. Dean and Sam with Castiel’s help go back to before they were born and help defend their parents against an Angel attack.

***** Spoilers *****

Anna escapes or does she? She shows up and as she can’t find Dean and Sam because of Castiel’s little symbol action she decides to return to Kansas past and do away with Mary and John before the boys arrive on the scene literally.

When Dean and Sam show up at the door the look on Mary’s face was priceless. Of course at this point she recognized Dean from before when her father died. I was really surprised when at the house Dean blurted out that he and Sam were their sons. Let’s face it. When you’ve been attacked by an Angel I guess you can pretty much believe anything.

Anna summoning Uriel was a stroke of genius on her part especially as he is sort of a hothead. Anna was his boss too. Also the added revelation that these were the humans that eventually off him as well.

The surprise finish was just that. It does seem like we’ve met all the players in the match by now. I also like the little touch of relieving Mary and John’s memories so that they will not be aware of what is coming.

That whole bit about no real free will was interesting. That’s pretty brutal. Pretty much saying no matter what Dean wants something will eventually happen whether he wants it to or not.

Well done on the acting, writing, and producing sides of things. I especially liked all the old cars and the city streets and stores. Good job. A surprising satisfying tale from Supernatural. Thanks for reading…

Jeffery Yarter
The Lizardman

Supernatural – Swap Meat

Sam finds himself on a roadside in a ditch in someone else’s body. He comes to find out he is Gary a seventeen year old with asthma, allergies to certain foods, and a virgin who has been delving into black magic. This is all because of Dean in the end.

By the time this episode reaches the midpoint it is quite exciting and fast paced. My only problem with the story was that it was a little slow in the setup and a there was a little bit of that annoying “what’s going on here?”, but Jared Padelecki manages to bring some humor and quick talking to the scenes with Gary’s parents which brought the episode back around.

By the time we figure out what is happening we see a pretty clever plot, but a bunch of pretty stupid kids messing with stuff they really shouldn’t be. Gary’s buddy there had a few screws loose and it’s too bad he didn’t listen to cooler heads. At least the girl was somewhat smart and as Sam said in the end to Gary, “she wasn’t in it for the witchcraft!”

Not wanting to give too much away, I was glad to see Dean pick up on so many of the signs and for Sam to pick up on what had happened so quickly. After everything these guys have been through I would expect no less and we weren’t disappointed.

Overall a good filler episode for the Apocalypse to come. Next week looks interesting. Shows have a tendency to butcher episodes that run on the premise “if this didn’t happen and then this won’t happen” type stories and next weeks episode could be just that type. Kripke and crew can pull it off if anyone can so I’ll look forward to their attempt next week. Thanks for reading…

Jeffery Yarter
The Lizardman

Supernatural Sam, Interrupted

Sam and Dean are back and they enter a hospital for the mentally impaired. Most of these people were functioning types with delusional cases or bi-polar disorders. Something is slowly killing the patients and the workers think they are all delusional.

I was a little disappointed about this episode in a few ways. First, it did not continue the apocalyptic subject matter left over from the cliffhanger when we last saw the boys. Second, we’ve been having a great deal of rain and the signal on my DISH Network went out with about fifteen minutes left in the episode so I got a little bit of a disjointed story as far as the whole of the episode was concerned. On the positive side it was a great personality play on the part of the boys. Also a vision of what could be in their future or any hunters for that matter if they survive the apocalypse. Haven’t the boys faced a Wraith before or maybe they thought it was a Wraith and it turned out to be something else? I’m not sure. If anyone remembers please send me a PM so I can check the other episode out! This creature was nothing like the other one.

It was very clever how the creature brought out some delusions in each of Sam and Deans psyches. The doctor,
Michelle Harrison as Dr. Erica Cartwright, Dean was seeing was a trip! When she started in on the list of things he and Sam had done you had to know something was fishy. I do wonder why he saw the one doctor as the Wraith and then the real one (the nurse) later on. Sam really lost it for a minute. Of course we’ve seen this behavior before. If you had been through what he has you could be ready to lose it at any minute as well.

Even though they were in a mental institution there was some great humorous moments in this episode. Sam looking at the Doctor when he said, “There are no monsters.” Dean’s referral to One Flew over the Cuckoo’s Nest. And of course no review would be complete without “Pudding”! Really Dean! “Crazy works in here.”

I really enjoyed Jon Gries as Martin Creaser, the former hunter friend of the boys father and Lara Gilchrist as Nurse Foreman(The Wraith).

A fun and entertaining episode that really was basically filler for the big showdown with Lucifer, The Angels, and Death coming up in the season. Where was Castiel by the way? Thanks for reading…

Jeffery Yarter
The Lizardman