Supernatural: Better Now

What's that, Supernatural? You have a completely solid episode to show me? Good MotW, good gore, good season arc advancement?  A little taste of Castiel? Where have you been all my life, "You Can't Handle the Truth"?

Forsooth, Friday's entry in to the Supernatural canon was exactly what I've been waiting for this season. All things considered, six episodes isn't too long to take to find one's footing, and one of those episodes was "Weekend at Bobby's." If the rest of the season plays out like "You Can't Handle the Truth," it will be just fine by me.

We open with a little pixie of a waitress doing a first date rehash with someone over the phone. She ends the call with a request for the truth. Pretty soon, she's getting the truth from all angles: the cook thinks she's pathetic, the manager thinks the other waitress is much hotter, and the busboy says she gives him the creeps. By the time kindly old grannies are confessing to murders and little girls are planning them, waitress has grabbed the six shooter from the till and called back her friend from earlier. Instead of support and comfort, the woman on the other end of the line tells our little pixie of a waitress that she's a freak who should go ahead and kill herself. So she does. She blows her brains out all over the restaurant's sign (which leaves the "happy" part dripping with blood). Hee! Oh, show. 

Turns out little pixie of the waitress is one of a string of suicides, and our boys are on the case. Sadly, they are just wearing suits, and we have no idea what lie they told to get in here. I miss their costumes. Remember when they were priests? Dean's sweep turns up nothing. Sam notices a tell when questioning the sister, and, to Dean's surprise and chagrin, harshly questions said sister until she breaks down and admits that despite wanting to say something nice, she told her sister to off herself.

No sooner has he done so than Dean's on the phone to Bobby, freaking out about how Sam is not Sam, is a scary mofo, makes Dean's skin crawl, is about to become friends with the business end of Dean's revolver, etc. Okay, so he says these things over the course of the episode, but let's just lump them together, shall we? Bobby promises to hit the books hard (perhaps another visit to the library is in order?). 

In the meantime, a patient confesses to his dentist that he raped the dentist's teenage daughter, and the dentist drills him to death, sending blood all down the man's front and all over the dentist's masked face. Hygienist screams.

With this news, Sam's off to investigate while Dean hangs back to do some research. The eight bewildered looks Sam gives Dean regarding this turn of events make my night. Dean's "research" largely consists of calling Bobby and angsting all over the place. Bobby tells him that he hasn't turned up anything yet. Dean worries that the worst case scenario is "Satan is my co-pilot," so Bobby drops some truth on him, "Maybe it's just Sam." That's what I was thinking. Still, heavy.

Sam calls Dean and sends him to investigate the dental office while he heads down to the morgue. Save this fresh body, all have disappeared. Hmm. Dean finds a single common link between the now-also-dead-by-his-own-hand dentist and the little pixie of a waitress: a music store that specializes in horns. At the store, the owner recognizes the two but knows of nothing they have in common. He calls Dean back to ask about his stolen horn, which is very old and very valuable. Dean surmises that it may well be Gabriel's Horn of Truth, and I take minute to miss Gabriel. Remember when he called Lucifer a great big bag of dicks?

Back at the motel, which gets exactly one point over the others we've seen this season for having blue walls, Dean gives Castiel a shout, who shows up (*cough* Enochian sigil *cough*) for the horn, flutters off, and comes back to tell Dean that it's not in town. I guess it must be one of Heaven's WMD for Castiel to show such an interest. Dean proceeds to have a little lover's spat with Castiel, and, for a minute, I go total Casgirl on Dean and yell, "HE'S AT WAR!" Hilariously, this is also what Castiel says when Dean complains that Cas is never there for him anymore. Dean grumbles that, for an angel, Castiel used to be remarkably human, and Cas, with a pang that he shows the camera but not Dean in cheated out soap style, replies that in this time of war, some elements of his personality have regrettably been jettisoned. While he's at it, he pours Dean another drink, and I die a little bit because suggested intimacy through non-verbal action kills me. Dean's really upset because Castiel hasn't answered any of his calls re: Sam, and Cas tells him it's only because he doesn't have any info. He can tell, however, that Sam is not Satan. Feeling guilty and concerned ("Sam's my friend"), Castiel offers to make a few inquires and flutters off.

Anyway, Dean must have gone through all his malt liqour because he's at a bar throwing more down his gullet. He tells the waitress that he doesn't want another, he "just wants the friggin' truth." Since the camera closes up on his luscious lips and there's a whoosh on the soundtrack, I think we all know what this means. Cursed! Yup, the bartender lady starts talking about how she can't get pregnant, her marriage is a sham, and she snorts oxycotin. She follows up every one of these admissions with, "Why'd I say that?" Dean starts to get spooked and walks out past the only other person in the bar, a woman wearing a lavender halter dress in a dive bar in the middle of the day. As Dean passes, she tells him that she's sitting with her breasts thrust forward in the hopes that he'll notice them because they're new and need a lot of attention. Dean wishes her good luck with that but doubles back to take a long, lascivious look, and hello, friend! Why it's the Dean I remember! Good to have you back, old pal, if only briefly.

Outside by the Metallicar, Dean calls Bobby to test the possibility that he, too, has been cursed. Sadly, he does not yell, "AM I HAUNTED!" Bobby's like, nope, still nothing on my end, and btw, I watch Tori and Dean, get pedicures, and still consider you my favourite though Sam is now a better hunter. Dean decides that he's going to use this curse to his advantage and motors on over to meet Sam, who has deduced that a car accident that preceded suicides was actually a vehicular suicide and searched the victim's room to find a serious hex box under her bed. Also, watching Sam crouch way, way down to look under the bed is as delightful as the 18 confused looks he shot research-lovin' Dean.

Before he can make it inside, Lisa finally returns Dean's calls. Dean's like, "Worst timing ever," and, instead of hanging up or better yet not answer the phone, he gets the straight dope from Lisa: she knows that she'll never come between him and Sam, so they are through. Were I Dean, I would have at least corrected her that I'm not the one who brought Sam back from Hell, but he was trying, wasn't he? Also, before you start comparing your relationship with your sister, try to remember that neither of you ever went to Hell, Lisa. Point is, broken up.

Out in the apartment's foyer, Sam's like, "Look at this hex box I found, Dean! Isn't it cool! Do you want to see what's inside!", but Dean's all about raining on his parade. Dean tells Sam that he is now cursed, so there are some things they're going to get straight. Dean, you are a moron. Why would you tell him that? When Dean says he just wants the truth, the same woosh noise appears on the soundtrack as when he's originally cursed, making me think that somehow he broke the curse. Anyway, Dean would like to know if Sam let him get turned last week, and Sam's voice catches in his throat before he realizes he can lie. So he lies right to Dean's face that he froze. Dean points out that Sam's been the terminator since he came back, and Sam says he can't explain it. He presses his point by being all, "I can't lie here, right?" Dean's like, "Hmm, that's true," so they're brothers again. 

Some research later, Sam and Dean suspect that it's Vertias, goddess of truth, behind all these shenanabons, and Dean further guesses that "attention whore" TV journalist "Ashley Frank" is the culprit. They steal an entire computer tower from the local TV station (where are they supposed to be, again? Small towns don't have TV stations). We see Dean pay off a guard but no truth-hijinks, lending a tiny amount of credit to my Sam-broke-the-curse theory. Anyway, after hours and hours of footage, during which time we are treated to some forearm porn, Sam and Dean find two things: 1) that dogs aren't so fond of Ms. Frank and 2) that she has scary (and scary bad) CGI cat eyes behind those glasses.

They head over to Ms. Frank's stunning multistory condo, which is filled with cats and the dead bodies of all the suicides in various states of dismemberment, hanging from chains and whatnot. There's the set design I've been missing. Veritas, now dressed in a skin-tight gold Grecian gown with hair style and accessories to match, promptly knocks the Winchesters out. 

When they come to, they're tied to two posts in the body-eating room. Sam displays some of his former college smarts by promptly dropping a blade out of his sleeve and getting to work on his bindings. In the meantime, Veritas chows down on someone's tongue before offering to let these pretty little liars get a few things off their chests before she eats theirs. Starting with Dean (how convenient!), she asks about how he feels about Sam's return. Dean starts with "better now." With some prodding, he admits that he was freaked out and ready to kill NotSam, but now he's ready to give Sam a bit more leeway when it comes to dealing with coming back from Hell. Sounds reasonable, buddy. Veritas moves over to Sam and asks from the truth from him about his bizarre return and new attitude, but all she gets in return are a bunch of lies about how their lives are hard, but Sam and Dean love each other so. Veritas is pissed in a hurry about how Sam can lie, and Dean promptly freaks about having his brother back only to lose him again so quickly. Veritas does let us know that Sam's not human, but that's as far as she gets before Sam's loose and choking the life out of her. Sam slides Dean the knife. When he's free, Dean stabs Veritas in the back, sees her scary (and scary bad) CGI cat face, and Sam stabs her in the chest, killing her. 

Dean, however, is now ready to kill NotHumanSam. He takes a few opening swipes but stands back when Sam promises "God's honest." Sam explains exactly what he's been saying all along: he's a hunter-extraordinaire because he no longer cares. He did let Dean get turned because he knew that there was a cure and that an inside vamp would help lead them to the alpha. In short, Sam has begun to suspect that he may need a little help. Dean seems to accept this, putting down the knife and turning his back on Sam, but it's only so he can turn right back around and sucker punch his little big brother in the face. Shit! At first I think sure, Dean's pissed, and he probably wants Sam unconscious while he transports him to Bobby's panic room for further testing/examination. But then he jumps on Sam and punches him again and again and again, threatening to beat the pretty right off him. Oh, dear. Sam doesn't even try to fight back.

Dean complaining about Castiel's lack of concern for humanity made me think of my speculation at the end of last season that Sam's come back as an angel. Aside from Castiel and that cherub that time, they're not painted as having any particularly strong interest in humanity, but they do seem to like kicking ass. I'd imagine that an angel who didn't know he was an angel wouldn't know what to do with himself. Of course, it's just as likely that this could go literally any other way, but surely we can keep that in mind.

In other news:

• Bobby says that they already tried silver, salt, and holy water on Sam to no avail. When, Bobby? When? Because last I saw, Dean let Sam do that to himself, and that proves nothing without Dean checking for the real McCoy. So, unless you did it when Sam first came back, you're just as far behind as Dean.
• No offense to Lisa, but we're all probably better off.
• Sam's new haircut is so inoffensive that I didn't say anything about it in the recap. Thanks, Sam!
• Was poor sacrificed Mittens another Drag Me to Hell reference?
• Two red herrings? Nicely done, show.
• Honestly, you would think it would have occurred to Dean that Sam would have a different reaction to being in/returning from Hell. Dean's the only other test subject they know of to go by, so trying to generalize is obviously a mistake.
• Dean seems to think that there is a fun way to get drilled to death. I'm pretty sure getting sexed to death wouldn't actually be that fun, Dean.
• UPDATE: I left out the part where Veritas suggests that Dean would have left Lisa and Ben in the dust eventually because he loves hunting more, and Dean says that he does want to be with them, but he's not a father. He's a killer. As variations on Dean's self-loathing go, it's not the most insightful we've ever heard, but it as excellently handled by Ackles as anything else we've seen before.

Next time: Dean suspects that Grandpa is up to no good. Good thinkin', Dean.

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