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Supernatural: Swap Meat

Written by April Yorke

Friday, 29 January 2010 11:49

Gary Last night's Supernatural, "Swap Meat," was a nice little one up from last week's procedural in terms of fitting into the larger myth arc. Seems that the little nerd from the previews didn't put himself into Sam's meat suit just cause, you know, it looks like Sam (though he does take some time to admire the biceps in the mirror, sensibly and hilariously): Hell's got a bounty out for Dean's head, which our nerd trio discovers during one of their Satanic séances (kids these days!). Actually bright Gary figures the easiest way to get to Dean would be via Sam, so he hops on in there. He also orders a banana daiquiri, picks up a cougar, and backs the Metallicar into dumpster, but that's neither here nor there. In the end, he's not much of a killer and opts for saving Dean from a demon instead of letting him die (and correcting Dean's Latin pronunciation in the process).

As much as I like Sam-centric episodes (it seems like everything's Dean-centric lately) and love opportunities for Padalecki to show off his considerable comedic talent, "Swap Meat" also highlights one of the show's main writing weaknesses: Dean and Sam are exactly as bright or as dim as the plot needs them to be. For the life of me, I could not figure out why Sam even so much as got in the police car when he was walking down the highway back to their motel (we have been told many times over that hunters, not to mention the FBI's most wanted, don't jive with the po-po), nevermind stayed there for the rest of the night and went to school in Gary's stead. Eventually it became clear that he was looking for Gary's grimoire (grimoires should be an app, they're so popular nowadays) or other evidence of how the switch took place, but 38 messages on Dean's phone? In Sam's voice (nice continuity, show)? No. Sam would have called Bobby or Castiel (who would have known what was up immediately just like he knew Dean was from the past in Zechariah's "future"), and they would have gotten him the hell out of there. But they didn't pay Jim Beaver or Mischa Collins to be in the episode, so Sam just slogs it out on his own.

This week, much like last week, ending with nothing new: Dean longs to leave hunting behind for a normal life but can't, whereas Sam has given up on ever having anything normal again and settled into hunting as a career choice (we discussed all of this, and better, in last season's "Jump the Shark.") Now, I suppose, the question is whether Sam's situation (had it and lost it, spectacularly) or Dean's situation (never had it) is sadder. Actually, scratch that. Let's just watch this and laugh:

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April Yorke is a (Cult)ure Magazine contributor since Wednesday, 07 January 2009.

Supernatural: Swap Meat

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