Supernatural Red Meat

What’s better than being thrust into the thick of a butt-kicking fist fight with a couple werewolves in ‘Supernatural’? How about ending the fisticuffs with Sam getting a bullet in the gut before a flashback to 48 hours earlier…

It’s seems like the Winchesters have been spinning their wheels for the last few weeks, unable to find hide nor hair of Castiel (now driven by Lucifer) or Amara, aka the Darkness. Sam gets wind of a possible werewolf case—five missing campers in three months—and suggests they hit the road to “clear our head”. They hit up the closest bar in the area and the barkeep points them to an abandoned cabin as a possible location for some of the missing hikers. We eventually find out that it was a setup, as both barkeep and bouncer are a part of the werewolf pack.

Sam is dead? Not so fast, my friend...
Sam is dead? Not so fast, my friend…

Now, back to the shooting. Sam’s in a bad way but he, along with Dean and a kidnapped couple—Corbin and Michelle—need to get out of dodge before the others come back. On the arduous trek to the Impala, they stop by a cabin to look for some type of communication with the authorities. When that doesn’t work, Dean goes out for wood to create a litter so he and Corbin can carry the injured Sam. It’s here when the desperate Corbin takes matters into his own hands. Knowing that Dean would leave his injured brother, takes Sam out of the equation. Dean returns when he catches sight of the other werewolves. When he returns to get the others, he’s stunned to find his brother ‘dead’. But he still has a duty and leads the camping couple to safety. The trio comes across a sheriff and, when Dean insists on returning for his brother’s body, he’s tased and wakes up in the hospital.

While Michelle shows her shame at Corbin’s actions and he’s showing the aftereffects of a werewolf bite, Sam wakes up. Evidently, the profuse bleeding and Corbin’s attempted suffocation of the hunter wasn’t enough.  Despite being alive, Sam’s not out of the woods just yet, so to speak. Not only is he miles away from the Impala but the barkeep and bouncer show up, intent on cleaning up the mess. Wounded and bleeding out, Sam channels his inner Solid Snake and takes down both werewolves. Now he just needs to reach the Impala and drive into town…no big.

Billie is chomping at the bit to reap Dean
Billie is chomping at the bit to reap Dean

It’s no surprise Dean’s having trouble dealing with Sam’s demise and when Michelle tries to comfort him with the saying that death “it’s not the end”, Dean’s gets the crazy idea of dying. Why? Simply put (or in addition to him being certifiable), he knows Billie the reaper will come calling and he wants to barter for Sam’s life. Billie’s response?  “The answer will always be no. Game’s over, Dean. No more second chances. No more extra lives. Time to say bye-bye to Luigi, Mario.” As she moves to take Dean, she drops the news that Sam didn’t bite it.  And, thanks to Michelle and the doctor, Dean doesn’t either. They’re able to revive Dean and after a slight hiccup, he heads out to retrieve Sam’s body when the latter calls him. Sam tries to warn Dean bout Corbin’s werewolf bite but the connection predictably dies.

A fully wolfed-out Corbin takes out the doctor and sheriff on his way to turning Michelle. Dean interrupts Corbin but the latter gets the upper hand and threatens to choke the life from Dean. A bloodied Sam arrives in time, putting a bullet in the newly turned werewolf and a stamp on the case.

As Sam recovers from his injuries, Dean and Michelle have a final heart-to-heart. He tries telling her that, sooner or later, she’ll get back to normal. “No I won’t,” she says, adding that, after what she’s seen, “there’s no normal after that.”

Hours (or days) later, the Winchesters are heading back out on the road when Sam asks Dean what he did when he thought Sam was dead. “I knew you weren’t dead,” is his legitimate response, “I knew.”

The Good

  • Billie returns for a brief moment. Her role as an entity, neither good nor bad, makes her an intriguing character. She may not overstep her bounds to see the Winchesters meet death for the final time but after Death’s, well, death, she’s offering the brothers zero compromise once they walk through death’s door.
  • This was a straight-forward, somewhat boring episode, but the early flash backs/forwards added a bit of umph to mix up the generally linear approach. Bravo to the writers/director for the decision.

The Bad

  • Another week, another filler. Sure, there was some good action but “Red Meat” did nothing to further the Darkness storyline or the brothers’ own character arcs.
  • I’m not sure this should be catalogued under ‘Bad’ or ‘The Supernatural’: once again Dean offers himself up for Sam for the simple fact that he can’t bear losing his little brother. But, in this case, is it a little less selfish because Dean knows he can’t pull the trigger when it comes to Amara and Sam can? Food for thought…

The Supernatural

  • You can’t have ‘Supernatural’without a pop reference or two. Billie’s comparison of the two brothers with Mario and Luigi was great. She also threw in a ‘Charles in Charge’ reference. Who doesn’t like that?