Supernatural S05E03 - Free to Be You and Me

Review

Sam wakes in a motel to find Jessica is lying next to him, Sam immediately interprets it as a dream but as we discover later in the episode it's just Lucifer getting inside his head, oh and delivering some startling news. No spoilers friends and neighbours. Meanwhile Dean is dealing with a vampire in a Hospital in Greely, Pennsylvania. Castiel appears on the scene and enlists Dean's help in finding and trapping the Archangel Raphael, who Castiel thinks knows where God is at.

Sam has taken a job as a busboy in a bar/café and finds via the news that the local town might be coming under demonic attack. He calls Bobby but tells the now wheelchair bound redneck that he isn't hunting at the moment, result of the demon blood addiction yo. Anyways three hunters show up blowing Sam's cover to his co-worker and possible GF Lindsey. The Hunters find out a few home truths about Sam as they battle the demonic herds, you know the kick starting the apocalypse type of truths. Meanwhile a trapped Raphael has no idea where God is at and considers death might be involved.

Well the Winchester Bros are separated in a plot development that we have seen about 80 times already through the course of the first five seasons. While this may be good stuff, gives Dean and Sam the chance to broaden their characters, it remains sort of tiresome as the same plot device seemingly gets recycled season in season out. What it does mean is a pretty disjointed episode that completely lacks flow and intensity. Gone are the days of the Winchesters going up against the monster of the week with Dean wise cracking and Sam being all emo about things. Could we have more of those episodes?

I was digging the scenes with Jessica, was Sam dreaming or not? - and of course the ultimate unveil that it was all Lucifer's little prank with a game changing disclosure thrown in. Must admit I didn't make the connection of Sam being in the chapel as Lucifer finally exited his prison, though got to admit it was a pretty tight editing choice that had me smiling. The other piece of information, that I'm prepared to divulge, is Satan can't locate Sam, due to the warding spell Castiel put on both Winchesters. Will we see a demonic search and cease party going down in coming weeks? Can Sam continue to bench himself as things intensify with outbreaks of Angel and Demon skirmishes on the increase? Is he over his demon blood thing, or is still on the path to sobriety? You get the feeling that Sam still yearns for a life outside the "job", but is always going to be dragged back. In this case it is totally justifiable as the younger Winchester Bro did set the apocalypse in motion against the sage advice of his older Brother. To be honest however they do need to get Sam back on track, these sidebars are becoming slightly tiresome as they occur season by season, with nary a break to hunt down anything useful in the war with Lucifer.

Meanwhile Dean is doing what Dean does best, hunting and checking out the local babes. Castiel comes as a surprise and the two show some screen chemistry as Dean takes the naïve Castiel under his wing and heads down to the local Bordello, where Castiel naturally makes a meal of it. I was not entirely sure what the Dean and Castiel versus Raphael thing was really about as all it served was to prove the Archangel had no idea where God was hanging, oh and to create yet another nemesis for the duo to face somewhere down the line. Nice writing however which reflected a 1970s Time magazine headline, "Is God Dead?" - strange days ahead.

Come on, this is just season filler, more meat on the bone y'all!

There were some nice touches to the Dean interludes however, Dean declaring to Castiel that he hasn't had so much fun for years, and Dean glancing at the shotgun seat clearly missing his brother. Jensen Ackles knocks it out of the ball park and I have to admit to enjoying his scenes throughout the episode. For the quick of eye, you will pick up on the Bros doing similar things, Sam wiping away sweat cut to Dean wiping away blood that underlines their simpatico thing. So yes Director J. Miller Tobin is scoring some majors.

As state above the episode really doesn't jive, there's too much going down and way too much that seemed fuller rather than working toward season specifics or indeed episode continuity. I was left with the feeling that Free to Be You and Me while moving the arcs along slightly, also treaded water to a large extent, tighter editing of both the script and the actual footage might have resurrected the reputation here. Is it just me or by season five are we starting to see a few episodes that simply shouldn't have been made? Harsh criticism, but tough love kids, we call it as we see it.

So what did the episode achieve you may be asking, quite a lot though to be honest the wrapper was looking a tad shop worn. Firstly Castiel has hit a brick wall in finding God, the deity has left the building folks, dead end street there. Got to say including Lucifer and God in the one season would have left very little for the franchise to hang its hat on going into season six. What exactly is God's end game here, I was at least wondering this, is the Big Guy testing his Angels? Castiel certainly seems to be getting some preferential treatment, even as he rebels against the mandates coming out of the pearly gates.

On the other side of the Impala Sam's little secret is out in Hunter circles, it's only going to take a week or so and word will spread no doubt creating all sorts of problems for the Winchesters as they attempt to find a solution to the impending end of days. On the bright side it looks like Sam may have come to terms with his addiction problem, though once again that probably takes a weapon out of the Winchester arsenal if it goes down to the wire. I'm hoping next episode he has to explain his past to his new would be GF, that should be a hoot.

Someone is listening, we get quite the mullet rock roll call this episode. I'm always up for Lynyrd Skynyrd, and tonight they delivered Simple Man, which was working for me. We also get the pleasure of hearing, if your ears are on, Devil Sway by Swank, Blues Won't Let Me Be, Left Hand Frank and His Blues Band, and to top it off Bob Luman's version of Let's Think About Living. Now I'm just going to say right here right now, that's the level of music regular Supernatural viewers deserve.

End of day a disappointing episode, that seemed more about filling out the season's requirements and less about being an outstanding excursion into the Supernatural universe. While appreciating some of the Director's flourishes and the chemistry between Ackles (Dean Winchester) and Collins (Castiel), I was taking out of the episode by the rather disjointed approach in use. Fingers crossed things improve from here, I'm simply seeing the same old ground being covered that we have dealt with previously. Not the best ever episode of Supernatural and to be honest not one that I would recommend to anyone who isn't hooked by team Winchester.