Recap – Two and A Half Men

Samuel breaks it up, assuring Dean nobody is doing anything to Bobby John.  When he’s old enough, they’ll leave it up to him.  If he wants to volunteer to help out, that’s fine.  Then, Mark speaks!  I guess we’ll call these the famous last words.  He thinks it could be great.  “Think of the kind of hunter he’ll grow up to be.”  He’s actually smiling over the idea.  Ah well, I guess a teeny glimpse of personality won’t hurt in these final minutes.  Dean gets that exasperated look, the kind he gets when he thinks everyone has gone nuts.  I love that look.

 

“You all are joking, right?  I mean come on, you can’t Angelina Jolie a shapeshifter.”  He tells Samuel to give him the baby.  Now Samuel doesn’t get it.  “Why can’t you give me an inch of trust Dean?”  Dean goes back to the thing that’s still nagging the crap out of all of us.  “Maybe because you two are suddenly back from the dead and I seem to be the only one that wants to know how the Hell that happened!”<

 

Cut to Sam lurking in the shadows, assuring Dean he isn’t the only one.  Something about that look on Sam’s face though, the way he says it, I don’t believe him.  I think he knows.  I think they all know what’s going on and can’t tell Dean for reasons unknown.  Maybe because they’ll all go back to Hell if they do.  Or is this a trap for Dean?  Are you trying to pull him back?  Oh Sam, what have you gotten into?  It’s probably not that easy, for there’s this whole monsters changing story too.  Still, I think Sam and Samuel exactly know what’s going on.

 

I don’t think Dean believes Sam either.  “Well there’s just a little too much mystery with this family for me to get comfy.”  Samuel tells him don’t, but don’t put it on them.  All they’re trying to do is invite him in.  Then Samuel does the one thing that will irk Dean the most at this point.  He asks Parker Lewis about the fact that he and his life partner (Arlene, assuming wife) are trying to having a baby.  They haven’t succeeded yet.  “But you want one?”  Yes, they do.  He hands Bobby John to Christian, and Sam is actually happy for him.  “Congrats, it’s a boy.  Sometimes.”  Good shapeshifter joke.  “The crap I do for this family,” Christian says.

 

This is where Dean goes nuts.  “You’re kidding, right?”  “Go to Hell Dean,” Parker Lewis says, getting a look from the other two drones.  “You have no business raising anything,” Dean says.  Wow, these two really hate each other.  So Sam says something in Christian’s defense.  “Why Dean, because he’s a hunter.”  Okay, hold on.  Was this all a demonstration to make a point to Dean?  He can hunt and have a family?  Or, hunters shouldn’t be parents at all?  Either way, it wreaks of manipulation.  What’s going on here?

 

Then, the guard dogs outside start barking, so instead of Grandpa sending Christian and his new son down into the panic room, he gives the baby back to Dean and sends Sam with him?  Oh, right, there’s that development from last week where they are capturing these creatures and leaving poor Sam and Dean in the dark about it.  Right.  So that could be the reason, or it be both.  Dean suspected something just from the look he gave Samuel before being ordered to go, but let it go likely for the sake of the baby.

 

This is the action sequence of the program, and like I’ve said before, recapping action sequences is as dry as toast.  I’ll make sure I cover the highlights.  Sam and Dean disappear, the troops arm up.  Then bursting through the door is one mean looking Grandpa Samuel.  Since the real one is there with Christian, I guess that’s the shapeshifter.  “You have something of ours.”  Oh, I think he’s mad!

 

Shapeshifter Samuel knows the baby is there.  He can feel him.  That’s one perceptive shapeshifter.  Gwen fires a few rounds and that does nothing.  Shapeshifter goes after her so heroic Mark jumps in and stabs him with a silver knife dead in the heart.  That does nothing.  Uh oh, it’s one of those not normal shapeshifters.  Silly post apocalypse.  Shifter Sam then with one swipe breaks Mark’s neck.  Too bad Mark nice…not knowing you.  If it’s any consolation, I wish he killed Gwen or Parker Lewis instead.  He grabs Gwen by the neck but sadly she does not die.  Samuel and Christian load the dude with tranquilizers and it slows him down, but then he’s able to push them out of his body with either his mind or some really powerful back muscles.  Let’s just say their plan to capture the shifter has gone awry.

 

Meanwhile, downstairs Sam, Dean and Bobby John are in a panic room that is nowhere near as cool as Bobby’s.  From all the noise upstairs, Dean surmises it’s not going well.  Sam agrees and, look, that’s worry on his face!  He really cares about the Campbells.  Aww, there you are Sammy.  Too bad they don’t give a crap about you.  Sam says he’s going up and tells Dean to stay with the baby.  Sam gets to the door and guess who’s at the window?  Sam!  Okay, it’s shapeshifter Sam, but it’s really hot haired shapeshifter Sam.  He rips off the door, easily overpowers Sam and throws him out of the room.

 

The Sam shifter looks at Dean all evil, some hair flapping in his face, and he’s so hot!   He goes for Dean and then changes into Dean.  No shedding skin, no changing clothes, nothing.  He just morphs.  Wicked!  What kind of a shapeshifter is this?  Now its some Dean on Dean action and shapeshifter Dean grabs Dean by the neck and slides him up the wall.  Man, two episodes in a row where Dean is choked like this.  I thought choking was Sam’s thing.  Shapeshifter Dean easily grabs the baby from Dean, who falls unconscious on the floor.  Shapeshifter Dean with an awesome scowl walks out easily with the baby while the real Dean comes to on the floor.

 

Next scene is kind of perplexing, considering all the carnage.  Everyone is upstairs and Sam and Samuel are casually talking about how it’s not a myth anymore.  Gwen and Parker Lewis are cleaning up.  Um, guys, you did just have a loved one die, right?  A core member of your team?  Just checking because I remember when Sam died in “Swan Song” all the others were pretty broken up about it.  Oh, right, this is Campbellville.

 

Dean comes over to see what they’re talking about, but gets a look of scorn from Parker Lewis first.  That’s when I shout to my TV “Parker Lewis Must Die!”  I hope that catches on.  Dean wants to know what the hell that thing was.  Samuel confesses, they think it might have been an Alpha.  Whew, at least it’s not a Beta.  Samuel clarifies, all monsters come from somewhere.  This is the first shapeshifter, the one that spawned all the others.  There’s tons of lore about it.  He was strong, he could find the baby anywhere because he could feel it, that’s in the lore too.  Dean wants to know what he wants with babies.  Why does anyone want babies Dean?  To procreate of course!  Samuel instead gives a softball team joke.  How do you kill it?  Samuel doesn’t think they can.  I know, there’s this angel you know…

 

Dean and Sam and leaving but Dean is still thinking things through.  Dean brings up how just before Sam killed the shifter in the motel, he mentioned a father which makes sense now because it was the alpha.  Sam then says “Yeah, I guess so.”  Dean then wants to know if Sam heard him say that.  Sam doesn’t know, it was kind of a hot moment.  There’s visual evidence you didn’t Sam, but you aren’t helping your case here with Dean by saying that.  Sam wants to know why.  “If you heard him, then you knew the Alpha was out there.”  Sam still doesn’t get it.  “If you knew the Alpha was out there, then you knew he’d come after the baby, which means you were using the baby as bait.  Was that the plan, to use the baby as bait?”

 

Wow Dean, that’s quite a conclusion.  Not necessarily wrong, but quite a conclusion.  Sam claims of course not.  He just thought Samuel’s was the safest place, that’s all.  Dean dismisses it with an “of course” so Sam gets in the car after being surprised Dean would think that.  The final shot is on Dean, who’s completely disturbed.  Oh no, he’s not trusting Sammy.

 

The discussion has been pretty much exhaustive, but here’s my take.  At what point did Sam and Samuel know they were after an Alpha shapeshifter?  I personally think it was around the time the shapeshifter found Sam and Dean at the Supermarket and when Sam found out it was making babies.  He likely called Samuel and that got the whole ball rolling through some research.  So, did Sam use the baby as bait?  No, I think Samuel told him to get the baby to him by whatever means possible and Sam did so without questioning why.  Samuel knew it was bait, but Sam probably didn’t go there.