Recap: “It’s The Great Pumpkin, Sam Winchester”

After taking some time to recover from that one, even watching the bad CW promos, Sam is back in ugly motel room and man his camaflouge bag and neutral clothing clash with the bright purple floral bedspread. Uriel appears on the couch, freaking him out. Uriel mentions the anniversary on November 2^nd, the day Azazel killed Mary and 22 years later Jessica. He scolds Sam.  “Yet you brazenly use the power he gave you, his profane blood pump through your veins.” Sam defends his actions, pointing out if he hadn’t used his power, the demon would of have killed him, and his brother, and everyone. 

 

Uriel doesn’t accept the explanation, telling Sam he was warned twice now. Sam gets mad. “You know, my brother was right about you. You are dicks.” That prompts the angry eyes from Uriel, who does the whole angel flapping his wings thing to move over to Sam. I’m thrilled we didn’t see that and got the camera focused on Sam’s reaction instead. The blowing of his hair like it was caught in a sharp breeze was a nice touch. Sam jumps a little, but stands his ground.   

 

“The only reason you’re still alive Sam Winchester is because you’ve been useful. But the moment that ceases to be true, the second you’ve become more trouble than you’re worth, one word, one, and I will turn you into dust.” Sam does not take this warning lightly and keeps his mouth shut. Yeah, he’s pretty smart. Uriel backs away and sends a similar warning for Dean, telling Sam to ask Dean what he remembers from Hell. Uriel vanishes and Sam is quite unnerved now.   

 

The episode should have ended there! That scene gave me chills. That’s an impression you want at the end of an episode. Is it too late for them to change the order for the repeat and DVD version? Not that this next scene isn’t good, it is, but it should have come first. 

 

Dean is in a park, watching kids play, and Castiel is on the bench next to him. Castiel reveals that this was really a test for Dean, and his orders were to follow Dean’s orders. It was to see how he’d react in “battlefield conditions.” “It was a witch, not the Tet Offensive,” Dean jokes. That even makes Castiel laugh. He’s got such a gorgeous smile. 

 

Dean thinks he failed the test and lets him know that if he was given the chance again, he’d make the same call. “I don’t know what’s gonna to happen when these seals are broken, hell I don’t know what’s gonna happen tomorrow, but I do know is this here, these kids, the swings, the trees, all of it is still here because of my brother and me.” Yeah, not bad for a normal guy and his whole new level of freak demon blooded brother. 

 

Castiel admits he was praying Dean would choose the save the town, but they only stopped Samhain and allowed the seal to be broken. They are one step closer to hell on earth. Ha! Try going to Wal-Mart on a Saturday. That is Hell on earth. 

 

This part gets me, for Castiel is now comfortable enough with Dean where he opens up. I love how the relationship between these two is developing. Castiel has questions, has doubts, and he doesn’t know what is right and wrong anymore, or if Dean passed or failed. In the coming months Dean will have more decisions to make. “I don’t envy the weight that’s on your shoulders Dean. I truly don’t.”

 

They share an earnest look of concern, and Castiel disappears. Final shot is Dean alone on the bench, waiting for what’s to come next. Some serious crap I think. 
 

My heart is bleeding for Sam, for this guy has had it rough for a while now. He needs some sign of hope and isn’t getting it. His faith took a real beating, and I sense decreasing faith and increasing demon power makes for a bad combination. As for Dean, memories of hell coming back to him can only get uglier. Also, I’m now believing he was chosen for the fight to come because the angels have lost touch with humanity and they need a leader who can better define that line between right and wrong. Both brothers are in for a long fight ahead, and hopefully their heads will be in the right place when it happens.    

 

Overall, this episode did a great job of pushing the mytharc along, but the side story was pretty weak and the episode dragged a lot until the angels showed up. A season can’t be 22 episodes of “Lazarus Rising” though, so this one was decent. It didn’t disappoint, and it didn’t make me feel like I’d lost 42 minutes of my life either (cough * Red Sky at Morning* cough). The acting in this episode from Jared and Jensen was through the roof, not to mention Misha Collins and Robert Wisdom (Uriel), and some of the best we’ve gotten. 

 

Check out my summarized view of the episode, complete with deep thoughts and a grade on blogcritics.org.