Supernatural: The Purge (9x13)

Your typical C-plot with some interesting themes, good jokes, a creative new monster, a new female character who doesn't get killed off? (Two of them actually!) And on top of that, a long overdue conversation between Sam and Dean, which is pushing their relationship farther and farther towards healthy - even if at the moment it seems like it's doing the opposite. Put all of this together, and you've got a very solid episode of Supernatural!

Before I get to the plot I want to mention Cas really briefly... I know some people are upset about how he isn't in this episode, and he wasn't in the last one... and there's really been very little mention of him. But here's what I see: they only have Misha for a certain amount of episodes this season. And if that's the case, it's a good thing we're not seeing him in any of the C-plot episodes. They're saving him up to be in all of the A-plot stuff for the rest of the season! And I'm so excited! I just felt like throwing my two cents in because I've been seeing people getting upset about no Cas. And yeah, I miss him too!

But now onto the plot. Dean and Sam take on a case in Stillwater, Minnesota, in which a 300 pound man is reduced to 90 pounds and found dead in his car. Later, it happens to another girl at the gym. The Winchesters find strange suction marks on the victims, and what's more, they see the same mark on a skinny trainer at the gym. After doing some research, Dean discovers that this trainer had recently taken a trip to a nearby health spa. Sam and Dean go undercover (as a trainer and a cafeteria worker, respectively) hoping to discover what these weird suction marks are about. While there, Sam discovers that all of the guests have the suction marks.

Dean, meanwhile, eats some pudding made for the guests and discovers he's been roofied. They then piece it together: the guests are being drugged to put them asleep and then the owner of the spa, Maritza, sucks out their fat. Dean catches Maritza with a tub of fat, and ties her up. She explains that she and her husband started this spa so she could have a steady supply of food, but that she didn't kill the victims. That would be her brother, Alonzo, who has a harder time controlling himself. Sam and Dean kill Alonzo, but they leave Maritza alone, telling her to get out of town.

While this case is going on, there's a lot of tension between the brothers because of Sam's declaration that they keep things professional. Dean is obviously upset that Sam doesn't need him as a brother anymore, and at the end of the episode, he declares that while he's made some mistakes, he always does the right thing. He then tells Sam that he knows that if the situation were reversed, Sam would do the same thing for Dean. Sam sadly tells Dean that he's wrong.

Okay. Honestly, there was very little that I didn't enjoy about this episode. I had my nitpicks, such as my wish for the cop lady to be more involved, or maybe have a moment where she comes to terms with her body type and his happy with who she is. This episode was so close to having some very lovely body-positive messages in it, and I wish they'd pushed it just a step closer. I also wish we could have had a few more A-plot references... maybe Dean could check in with Crowley or Cas about their respective missions, or something. Oh and one other thing - there's this bit at the beginning with the wife of one of the competitive eaters, and she's using a hex bag or something... it ended up being a red herring, but I didn't like how little it had to do with the rest of the story. I felt like they could have cut that. Like I said, these are fairly nitpick-y.

Now onto the good things!

- Female characters that are still living! Woo! And not only that, but we had a woc, who was a "monster," but not actually, and the Winchesters let her live. And we also had a woman who had a bit of extra padding, which almost never happens on this show or on television in general. What a lovely episode in that respect.

- This is the second episode in a row with a theme about "good monsters." Sam and Dean have now gone twice in a row with letting the supernatural beings live, and I think it speaks a lot to how much they've both changed over the years.

- The humor! I love how Sam has completely unreasonable standards about the yoga workout, as he tells them to hold position for five minutes when it's usually thirty seconds. I liked Dean's pudding-eating and his drugged out state. I loved the "oh yeah you betcha" Minnesota stereotype as played out by the adorable lady cop.

- SAM AND DEAN'S TALK AT THE END! All episode, we get this heartbreaking tension between the brothers, as Dean struggles with the reality that Sam doesn't want to be his little brother anymore. And it hurts that Dean is struggling with this, but I'm also just so happy that Sam is sticking to his guns on this issue. It's so important that all this toxic stuff between them gets aired out, so they can repair their relationship for good this time. It breaks my heart that when Sam says he wouldn't do anything to save Dean's life, all Dean is hearing is that Sammy doesn't love him as much as he loves Sammy. And that's not what's going on here at all! Sam was ready to die, and Dean didn't respect that. Sam is saying that he would respect his brother's death, his brother's mortality, even if it killed him. (I mean, think about what happens after the Season Seven finale. Dean is gone, and Sam thinks he's dead, and he doesn't make some crazy deal to try and bring him back. He's hurting, he's grieving, but he knows it's better for everyone if he tries to move on. He thinks it's what's best for Dean, too). I think, or rather I hope, that Dean will eventually understand what Sam's been saying all along.

I think that Sam wants to be able to love his brother and have a good relationship with him without all of these unhealthy feelings of codependency. He wants their relationship to be okay, without all of this dramatic stuff weighing it down. And I am so excited for that to happen. You have no idea. Good on ya, Sam. And Dean, I know you're hurting, but that's sort of inevitable. You're in the second act, after all!

9/10