Review: Supernatural S7, Episode 2

Warning: This review will contains spoilers. And opinions. Lots of them.

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Oh, yes. It's that time of the week. 

Beginning with my typical recap, the premiere episode (though a bit lackluster) left us with a lot of questions. Castiel apparently "dies," and his vessel is taken over by the Leviathans, a group of beings who were the original creatures trapped in Purgatory. After taking control, they proceeded to attack Dean and Bobby, and that was where we ended last time. While that was all happening, Sam was off who-knows-where getting his mind screwed over by a hallucination of Lucifer (who (successfully?) attempted to convince Sam that he was still trapped in hell and that all of the past year or so had been a hallucination). 

Now we start where we ended.

Cas('s body?) is now under the control of the Leviathans, but their combined power is too much for the vessel, and a bunch of black goo starts oozing out of him everywhere. Dean quickly calls them out on this, but they don't seem too concerned. They amble out of the building in Cas' body and stumble into a municipal water supply (big surprise there), where Cas('s body) apparently explodes into a cloud of black goo that quickly disperses into the water and vanishes. 

Uh oh. 

Now, if only the boys seemed a bit more concerned. I mean, they are, of course, but their resignation was a bit of a slap in the face. The "they'll show up eventually" mentality made me raise an eyebrow. Really, boys? What's with the defeatist attitude? You've been doing this forever, and you've always gone after the bad guys. So why are you just sitting idly and waiting for them to show themselves? 

Be proactive, people!

Anyway, poor Sam ends up having to explain that he sees Lucifer (perpetually; he doesn't go away) and that the devil is attempting to convince him that reality is fake. My favorite feature of this episode had to be Lucifer's dialogue (all of it). Nearly everything he said had me laughing out loud. Did I mention I love that guy? Best Satan ever. His presence---invisible to Dean and Bobby--makes for some great mind-screw moments, my favorite of which I'll get to later in this review. 

Anyway, at this point, we get to see just what's happening with the now-released Leviathans. They--like usual--possess a bunch of people and start wreaking havoc. Their goals were a bit sketchily presented, but what from I gathered, they end up trying to get themselves into beneficial positions in society, mostly so they can eat. And by eat, I mean eat people.

Oh, and they apparently have a "boss." Hm. 

We eventually end up at a hospital, where that sheriff lady, Jodie, (you know, from the zombiepocalypse episode?) is getting some surgery done. Like usual, terrible things happen. One of the Leviathans (originally in the form of a little girl) takes the form of a doctor and starts using it as a means of eating (people). Oh, and there's another Dr. Sexy reference. But I think I liked the purely comedic references better. This was a bit too ick to work as a comedy reference. 

Eventually, Dean ends up leaving poor, hallucinating Sammy to go look into a lead (where a couple Leviathans ate a sports team). A bit later, sheriff Jodie manages to contact Bobby, who goes to investigate, leaving Sam all alone.

Um, seriously? I had a hard time believing they'd both just leave him there like that while knowing what's happening inside his head. Guys, what happened to six seasons' worth of learning not to leave Sam alone?

But they do anyway, and of course, in my favorite mind-screwy scene in the episode, hallucination-Lucifer tricks Sam into believing he's Dean and gets Sam to drive himself (while hallucinating that Dean is driving) to an abandoned warehouse. 

Read that again. 

Lucifer, who is a hallucination, tricks Sam into thinking that he's Dean. Sam then drives himself to the abandoned warehouse while hallucinating that Dean is driving him there. 

Well, gee, that hurts my head a little. I won't even get into the questions that raises.

The rest of the episode plays out as I expected it to. Bobby saves his favorite sheriff and tries to take down the doctor-Leviathan (which fails miserably, of course). He ends up running away. 

The real Dean finally manages to find Sam, whom fake-Lucifer has been goading to commit suicide, and we get that nice scene from the episode preview where stressed-out-hallucinating Sam almost shoots Dean. Dean, in typical Dean fashion, manages to talk Sammy out of it, and they drive back to meet up with Bobby.

Too bad Bobby's house is completely destroyed when they get there. There's some panic by the boys as they contemplate Bobby's apparent (off-screen) death.

Then the other Leviathan guy (swing-set creeper) shows up and completely whoops both Dean and Sam. 

The end.

No, really. It ends with them getting transported the hospital. You know, the one Leviathan doctor works at. Oops.

My overall impressions of this episode were a little better than the premiere, but I still feel it's lacking in a few places, namely, the relationship between Bobby, Sam, and Dean. It just doesn't feel as real as it did in previous seasons. The writing quality seems to have degraded in this respect.

On the other hand, I like the Leviathan plot a lot better in this episode. It was a bit too typical and expected in some places, but I do see some potential I didn't see last episode. They now at least have a decent foundation to build a plot off of. But in order for it to become a great plot, their going to have pull of some pretty big twists in the near future.

As for what's happened to Cas...hm, I can't say for sure. But at this point I'm stuck in disbelief over pretty much everything that's happened to everyone. None of it really comes across as "real" anymore. The drama seems to lack the punch it used to have.

Anyway, that's all my ranting this time around.

Other Highlights:

Overall grade: B