TVSquad

(S03E05) The Supernatural team had me confused for a bit this week. The show kicked off with some pretty important flashes in the opening. A brief history of the Colt, Ruby helping Bobby repair it, and the yellow-eyed demon once again posing the question about the Sam that came back from the dead. Certainly an opening that suggests there are some big fish to fry with episode five. But then, over the next fifty minutes or so, we got none of that. Instead, it was a stand alone episode, albeit a very entertaining one. Luckily, just as I was starting to think someone had pulled a fast one in the editing bay, they made good with that opening at the end of the show.

Gallery: Supernatural

Since we're just coming off of Halloween and many of us are probably still all jacked up from finishing off the candy that didn't go to the trick-or-treat critters, let's start with dessert. How about Sam's showdown with the crossroads demon (Sandra McCoy)? The scene was actually quite short, but conveyed a whole host of things. It's something I have been looking forward too since the season began. There was no doubt that Sam was going to make some kind of a play to get Dean out of the deal, and with the Colt 2.0 now in his bag of tricks, just taking her out was a logical option. But this is only episode five, and it can't be that easy, right?

I did really enjoy her cavalier attitude, the strange and oddly timed giggles, and her ill-advised attempt to bait Sam by daring to suggest he would be relieved when Dean was gone. Along with that, her revelation that she's just another cog in a much bigger machine was a good twist. Who is the big boss that is so determined to get Dean's soul? Also, why is Dean's soul more important to the boss than Sam's? Something I am assuming because the obvious offer of a trade was never made. And, of course, the fact that the crossroads demon so quickly fingered Ruby as the one that provided the upgrade to the Colt is also interesting. Especially with the ominous declaration that she will get hers. The plot, it does thicken.

Getting back to our story of the week, I thought it was really well done and the fairy tales came together very well. The three little pigs were a very fun way to start the episode. The mumbling about the first big gust of wind blowing the house down was a nice touch. The old woman going crazy with the knife was a little creepy, but not nearly as creepy as young Callie standing there and watching.

My favorite bit of those stories was the turn that found Dean, the hunter, as the huntsman that is supposed to kill the wolf. Having the boys overhear that passage as the good doctor read it to Callie was a nice touch, because I really wouldn't have bought that Dean knew the story well enough to go for the scissors. And I'm guessing that the porn version of the story that he most likely saw wasn't so concerned with those little details. The fact that the man that was the wolf in Callie's fairy tale come to life snapped out of it just in time to save himself was also interesting. Given the things we have seen Dean do in the past, I don't think anyone would have thought less of him had that whole thing played out before Sam could straighten things out with Callie. But the fact that it didn't shines a slightly different light on Dean, hinting at, I suspect, another shift in his outlook coming soon.

The fact that Callie was creating all of this from her coma called to mind Billy from the season one Buffy episode, "Nightmares." And as much as I love me some Buffy, I'd go so far as to say the concept was improved upon here. For a moment there I was thinking that the frog sighting might be prefacing a Prince Charming that would bring Callie out of the coma, but that wouldn't really be a Supernatural ending. There really isn't a lot of happily ever after to be found here.

So, overall, what did you think? Had this just been a stand alone episode, I would have called it very good. The way they put the fairy tales together with the story of Callie was really well done. And after the way the season has started out, I certainly wouldn't complain about a break in the big picture stuff. However, when you throw in that last scene at the crossroads, I'm elevating this one to excellent. I don't want to sound like a broken record, saying it week after week, but this show is off to a tremendous start.