After *three* Monster-of-the-Week episodes, of which two were comedic ones, no less, it's finally the return to the Mytharc. An a *Great* 9/10 episode it is, the best since the season opener "Lazarus Rising", for several reasons.
One of the traditional Annual American Holiday TV Episodes (Easter, Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Year - guess which one?), this one is not content to just lazily shoehorn the holiday into the plot - no, this explores the *true* roots of said holiday and also seamlessly links it to the Mytharc. Plotwise, there is no padding. There might also be a genuinely brilliant twist or two...
A great Supernatural episode does not necessarily need gruesome deaths, but here we get some pretty nasty and sickly inventive ones. But the best stuff comes from characterization. Pretty much every character is excellently written, and the actors seize the opportunity to shine. Misha Collins has by now, in his fourth episode, despite his rather limited total screen-time, earned his place as a semi-regular. However, this episode belongs to Robert Wisdom, whose performance is just *scary*. And he doesn't even raise his voice. All that is missing here are Jim Beaver and Genevieve Cortese, but there would have been nothing for their characters to do.
To this, add the trademark witty humor, *relevant* theological and philosophical discussion, tense sequences and some full-on action, and the end result is a not-to-be-missed episode, one of the key ones of the whole season. But even greater stuff is still to come...
P.S. Some might argue that the character Robert Wisdom is playing is incorrectly written, comparable to if one of the Horsemen of the Apocalypse were written just as a mere demon, but there is a logical explanation: the character in Supernatural is *not* the same character as in *our* world. Furthermore, as he is not as well known in our world than his "brothers", there is no need to say that the writing is factually incorrect. Especially since in our world, some of the character's brothers have been "officially excluded" from the company of the most famous ones. So, if the real world can just write off characters this major, why would Supernatural not alter them a bit?
One of the traditional Annual American Holiday TV Episodes (Easter, Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Year - guess which one?), this one is not content to just lazily shoehorn the holiday into the plot - no, this explores the *true* roots of said holiday and also seamlessly links it to the Mytharc. Plotwise, there is no padding. There might also be a genuinely brilliant twist or two...
A great Supernatural episode does not necessarily need gruesome deaths, but here we get some pretty nasty and sickly inventive ones. But the best stuff comes from characterization. Pretty much every character is excellently written, and the actors seize the opportunity to shine. Misha Collins has by now, in his fourth episode, despite his rather limited total screen-time, earned his place as a semi-regular. However, this episode belongs to Robert Wisdom, whose performance is just *scary*. And he doesn't even raise his voice. All that is missing here are Jim Beaver and Genevieve Cortese, but there would have been nothing for their characters to do.
To this, add the trademark witty humor, *relevant* theological and philosophical discussion, tense sequences and some full-on action, and the end result is a not-to-be-missed episode, one of the key ones of the whole season. But even greater stuff is still to come...
P.S. Some might argue that the character Robert Wisdom is playing is incorrectly written, comparable to if one of the Horsemen of the Apocalypse were written just as a mere demon, but there is a logical explanation: the character in Supernatural is *not* the same character as in *our* world. Furthermore, as he is not as well known in our world than his "brothers", there is no need to say that the writing is factually incorrect. Especially since in our world, some of the character's brothers have been "officially excluded" from the company of the most famous ones. So, if the real world can just write off characters this major, why would Supernatural not alter them a bit?