Reviews That I Missed: Supernatural 13.08 – “The Scorpion and The Frog”

There we go!!  Soooo much better.  When you’re bogged down in the mythos, and it’s early in the season, a light hearted yet engaging action adventure where Sam and Dean get to be heroes for once is exactly what the doctor ordered.  Luckily, writer Meredith Glynn knew exactly what we needed.     

“The Scorpion and the Frog” was an amazing breath of fresh air.  It had it all.  A brisk and entertaining story that stood on it’s own while still blending in with the season’s mytharc, supporting characters that were enjoyable and actually had some personality, and well, the return of fucking Sam and Dean Winchester!  Both wisecracking, working together on the same page, with no sign of overwrought angst anywhere.  I mean, I was actually smiling at the end of the episode.  When was the last time that happened?  

This is on you, hand puppet

This was a really clever plot where every piece came together.  There was a specific reason Dean was chosen for this adventure.  Only a man who had been to Hell and back could access the vault.  Hmm, that would be Dean or Sam, but Dean is chosen for the task and given how it went, I’m cool with it.  How does Barthamus get them to do it?  Dangle a carrot that they can’t avoid, an ancient spell he just stole that helps them find a Nephilim, aka Jack.  Oh, but they have to help him with a task.  If they don’t the spell goes to Asmodeus, who is also eager to find Jack.  This perfect setup doesn’t disappoint as the adventure unfolds.  

The pacing of this episode was even and engaging from the word go.  Every scene flowed perfectly together, even when the brothers had their separate scenes. It wasn’t the usual choppy mess in scene transitions of late.  That pace and flow kept me engaged from beginning to end, unlike the recent whiplash between scenes in other episodes that took me out of the story so badly I was checking my watch several times to see when it will be over.  

This is one of the strongest episodes I’ve seen in the entire series for guest characters.  They were all good!  Barthamus was a charismatic, smarmy Crossroads Demon, very worthy of filling Crowley’s shoes.  Just like Crowley, he had Sam and Dean’s number.  Actually, he literally had Dean’s number!  He knew what buttons to push, like offering Dean cherry pie, and Dean actually got to eat it!  He was witty, intelligent, had tons of great zingers and as you would expect a Crossroads Demon to be, a crafty schemer.  He’s supposed to do Asmodeus’ bidding, but was clearly in it for himself, like every good demon should be.  Sadly, he was too much like Crowley, which meant he wasn’t going to live long.  Too bad, but I assume under lesser writing he would have quickly worn out his welcome.   

Snatch and Grab were snarky fun.  Both were worthy comical side kicks to Dean’s antics.  Grab was a smarter than average demon, and like normal demons, had just the right responses to Dean.  

Grab:  Oh, I’m not going down there. I’ve already done my bit. This is on you, hand puppet.
Dean:  I will kill you.
Grab:  I bet you say that to all the girls.

Too bad Luther got hold of the Ruby knife and ended Grab, but that’s usually the fate demons meet.  

I adore the bond between Snatch, aka Alice (love the use of that name!) and Dean.  They shared a similar love of Nerve Damage, a caffeine drink on steroids.  Snatch’s offer of her extra can to Dean was a nice moment.  Even with her tough exterior, she was warming to him.   They also shared a similar predicament, they are working for Barthamus because they have no choice.  They were kindred spirits.  

Even the ambiguous villain turned victim Luther Shrike brought a lot to the story.  It was nice to see him use an exorcism to tell stunt demon #3 that he wouldn’t take orders from Asmodeus.  That was pretty badass.  His intentions kept us guessing until the end.  It’s sad that he turned out to be yet another one of Barthamus’ unwitting victims, but stealing Barthamus’ bones, a la Bobby stealing Crowley’s in “Weekend at Bobby’s”, gave Luther the leverage he needed to become immortal, just as long as he didn’t leave his house.  That had to be a pretty lonely 200 years.  I wish he and Sam had more time to discuss his collection.  I could see Sam geek out over that stuff.  But he had to leave the house to stop the gang from stealing the bones and that sealed his fate. 

Glynn didn’t forget the pop culture references either.  There was Luther’s ‘fang of the basilisk’, which was a sweet Harry Potter shoutout.  It was also obvious Glynn was channeling her Raiders of the Lost Ark fan girl when coming up with that vault scene.  Dean even said, “There was supposed to be a safe, not some dollar store Indiana Jones crap.”  Ah, the writer taking a slight stab at herself and being hilarious doing it.  

Then there’s this fun exchange between Sam and Dean:

Sam: Wing it? Dean, these…these aren’t like the lasers in Entrapment. There are infinite possible combinations.. and pressure-released darts.
Dean: Did you just say “Entrapment”?
Sam: I don’t know. I mean, I don’t… I don’t watch a whole lot of those kinds of movies.
Dean: Yeah, but you saw Entrapment?
Sam: Catherine Zeta Jones.

Ah, Sam and his never ending attraction to brunettes.  

The best thing about this episode though was it brought back the Sam and Dean we know and love.  Both of them were perfectly in sync, working together seamlessly, a ‘just the brothers adventure’ that was well suited for them.  Their first scene did have the obligatory recap of where Ketch and Jack were, but this time they were pulled into an adventure by Dean getting a call from Barthamus instead of the usual, “Oh well, we can’t find them, let’s work a case.”  

I just love this discussion between the brothers debating whether to go along with Barthamus’ plan.  It’s classic Sam and Dean!

DEAN: All right, well, I’ve seen this movie a thousand times. Some asshat too fancy to get his hands dirty plans a job, swears it’ll all go smooth, and it does… until bang! And everything goes screaming off the rails, and it’s our asses.
SAM: Dean…
DEAN: You know he’s gonna screw us over the first chance he gets.
SAM: Not if we screw him over first. Listen, we want that spell, right? I mean, we need that spell. We definitely don’t want Asmodeus getting his hands on it. So, let’s do this, have him hand over the other half of the spell…
DEAN: And then?
SAM: And then, like you said we kill him.
DEAN: Okay.

This was the triumphant return of the confident, smart ass Dean Winchester!  Not a bit of main pain anywhere.  Well, maybe some slight physical pain, but it all played out for good comedy.  I mean, look at the lines!

Barthamus: I have something you might be interested in.
Dean: No, we’re happy with our cable provider. Thank you.

Barthamus: The famous Winchesters.
Dean: Some random demon.

Barthamus: I’ve been following your careers a long time. You’re a real pain in the pitchfork. And the halo. Natural disrupters. We have that in common, you and I.
Dean: Mm. Yeah, we’re twinsies.

Barthamus: Let me see if I understand. You two do-gooding idiots are willing to welch on our deal, throw away the only chance you have at finding your boy, because I killed a 200-year-old blackmailing piece of garbage? Is that it?
Dean: Yeah, that, and we just don’t like you.

The whole vault setup was a hoot.  First Dean, Smash and Grab had to find it, which worked out pretty easy since Dean’s blood made him a vault compass.  Him jerking around involuntarily, leading them toward the vault in the woods was very amusing, but that was nothing until they actually found it.  The plan was simple, Dean just had put his hand into the hog’s mouth on the door.  With no idea what was going to happen.  His apprehension was priceless!  Spiders?  Spiky blade things?  I was squinting and squirming with him, every bit as freaked out as he was. We even got a funny high pitched Dean scream when the contraption pricked his finger.  

SMASH: You gonna live?
DEAN: Ow.

Such a perfect scene, which again reminds us Jensen should be doing more comedy.  

The best scene though came from Sam and Dean trying to figure out how to get through the next obstacle, ‘a thousand tiny darts, each tipped with silver and filled with arsenic, holy water, and holy oil.’   Enter the triumphant return of Smart Sam, who has a plan!  Suddenly Luther, the immortal guy, is duct taped to a chair onto a cart and is pushed through the vault.  Watching him get hit with every dart, his own booby trap, was an awesome scene.  One of director Robert Singers’ better achievements.  That of course paved the way for Smash to open the vault and get the chest inside.    

When push came to shove though, Sam and Dean chose the welfare of someone else over their need.  They drew their line in the sand, exactly like they used to all those years ago when working with demons was a bad thing.  The life of an innocent victim was a stake, so the deal was off.  All it took was for Dean to hand her the box of bones, with a conveniently placed lighter on the top.  One of those patented Winchester lighters that lights on the first try!  Sure the spell burned up along with Barthamus, but like the days of old, the brothers resolved to find another way. 

Glynn subtly worked in some sentimental brotherly moments too.  Myself, as well as likely a ton of fan girls, enjoyed every bit of it.  

Sam: Dean?
Dean: Yeah.
Sam: Don’t get dead.
Dean: You too.

The ending especially hit home, showing that maybe, just maybe, the old Dean Winchester is finally back (I know, that changes from week to week, but one can hope).  It was a brief exchange, but the perfect ending that captured the true heart of this show.  

DEAN: You okay?
SAM: Yeah, not really. Not exactly the best day, you know?
DEAN: Well, it’s not the worst. We did save somebody. That felt good.
SAM: Yeah. Yeah, it did. But… [Sighs] back to square one with Jack.
DEAN: We’ll figure something else out. And if that doesn’t work, then we’ll move on to next, and then whatever’s after that. We just keep working, ’cause it’s what we do.
SAM: It feels really good to hear you talk like that again.
DEAN: I’ll drink to that.

Oh, hell, how about one more great line?  This episode was a huge potpourri of great dialogue. 

Dean: Well, see, here’s the thing. When a demon tells us to jump, we don’t ask how high. We just ice their ass.
Barthamus: How very ‘Dean’ of you.

Overall grade, an A.  Such a welcome surprise after a couple of stinkers.  Up next, “The Bad Place.”  I can’t remember, wasn’t this “The Bad Episode”?  I guess I’ll have to rewatch to find out.