Supernatural: Sharp Teeth (9x12)

Gaaaaarth! Woo. Okay, plot-y-plot time. (I'm in a silly sort of mood, so my apologies...)

This was a C-plot episode, with some strong (and rather depressing) character elements in it as well. We start off with Garth, who gets shot at by an angry farmer and then hit by a car. Sam and Dean both show up to investigate the Garth situation, although they do so separately, unaware that the other will be there. Garth wakes up, doesn't give them any firm answers (he merely says he was on a hunt), and disappears. Dean tries to get Sam to give up on the case and leave, but Sam insists on staying. Sam also learns about the Mark of Cain, and working a case with Crowley and all that, although Dean doesn't really go into details.

Sam and Dean find Garth with a woman - Bess, his wife. It turns out that Garth is now a werewolf. He has been for the past six months. While at first he thought he was doomed, he was actually found my a family of werewolves that have been living peacefully for many generations. Dean is extremely skeptical of this new "peaceful" family, but he goes with Garth to a family dinner, where he meets several werewolves who were born into the lifestyle, never having been bitten. Everything seems okay, and Sam is ready to believe that this is the real thing.

However, things go wrong when Sam and Dean are lured into a trap by the sheriff, who is also a werewolf. They kill him and get away, but when Sam goes to find Garth, he sees that he and Bess are both missing. Sam is knocked out and taken away. Dean, meanwhile, learns that some of the werewolves warship Fenris, and they plan to take over the world and eradicate humanity. The minister's wife (Bess's step-mother) is in on the plan. She plans on killing Garth and Bess, and framing the Winchesters for it, so that the minister will stop his peaceful, cooperative attitude and turn towards her plan. However, Dean shows up in time to stop that from happening.

Afterwards, Garth expresses his regret that he let everyone down. He says he owes it to Kevin, who had been his friend, to come back in the hunting life and help out, now that he has new werewolf-y powers with which to help. But Dean tells him no - he should hold on to what he's got, because it's clearly making him happy. Dean has accepted that even though it's unorthodox, these werewolves aren't too bad.

Sam and Dean have a depressing conversation wherein Dean basically asks if he can come back, and Sam says yes, that they can work together, but that he's not sure if they can be brothers anymore. Dean agrees to these terms.

I shall start with my one biggest problem with the episode... actually, you know what, it wasn't even really a problem, it was more of... a question. This episode was supposed to be about werewolves, but we never really saw anyone "wolf out." Maybe I'm just missing something, but I thought it was sort of funny that one of the central themes here was how inherently dangerous all of these people must be, and yet we see no real signs of their inherent danger. Dean's struggle to accept the concept of a "good werewolf" would be a bit stronger if a) we hadn't already seen the same sort of thing with other "good" supernatural creatures, and b) if we had some immediate evidence of a werewolf's potential to do harm.

That being said, this was a really strong C-plot episode. Some of the C-plots this season have fallen flat ("Rock and a Hard Place") and others have been outstanding ("Slumber Party"). I'm happy to say that this episode fits in with the latter type, and that it was a very fun look at a fan favorite character, and actually brought up some interesting and important themes for the show as a whole. My favorite bits -

1. Garth's guilt and sadness over Kevin's death, and Dean's continued insistence that it's all his fault. I'm so happy that Kevin is continuing to be a presence in this show, even though at the moment I'm not sure why he had to die. I liked the acknowledgement of Garth and Kevin's relationship.

2. Good werewolves! Good werewolves! I mean, I know not all of them were good, but Garth wasn't wrong to trust the group at large! And guess what? They're not dead! And I don't think they're going to "relapse" or whatever. It seems like this is genuinely a family of peaceful monsters. And one of our pre-existing characters is now a part of it. And it's okay. Specifically, Dean's acknowledgement that it's okay to want happiness was... well, it was amazing. And I hope that Dean learns that he too deserves happiness, even if it comes from an unconventional avenue (ahem... perhaps a certain angel of the lord? Sorry, can't help myself).

3. They explained where Garth was! I remember a few weeks back, I was getting so angry at Dean for kicking Cas out of the bunker and not sending him anywhere, in particular, not sending him to Garth. And now it makes sense - they haven't heard from Garth in months! He bailed on Kevin and went and got himself turned into a werewolf. In this season in particular, I'm noticing Sam and Dean's insistence on keeping the hunter family together. More than at any other point in the show, they're attempting to explain why certain people aren't available to them all the time. Charlie's in Oz. Garth went AWOL. Cas is searching for Metatron. I really enjoy this, because PLOT CONSISTENCY! Woo.

4. Sam and Dean's awkwardness. It hurt me to watch them interact like this. So... stilted. So... professional. And yet Sam's anger at Dean was still apparent, and Dean's uncertainty was very obvious. Their conversation at the end of the episode brought me such joy. I mean, yeah, it hurts that our boys aren't getting along, but I'm so glad that they're actually starting to work through their crazy co-dependency issues. Several times in the past of this show, the brothers have been at odds for one reason or another. And then the plot has shown up and distracted them from getting real closure. In "Sacrifice," Dean and Sam finally had a real, sincere talk. Sam said he felt like he was always disappointing Dean, and Dean... well, for a while I interpreted his response as him saying: "no, Sam, you haven't disappointed me." But that's not quite right, is it? Really, what he's saying is: "I would do anything in the world to keep you alive even if you wouldn't want me to." While the scene in "Sacrifice" seems like a solid, cathartic moment for Sam and Dean, it turns out... not so much. Immediately afterwards, Dean goes ahead and does something that Sam doesn't want, and then lies to him about it.

And now, the plot is actually connected to their toxic relationship - what Dean did to Sam has direct A-plot ramifications, which means that finally, they're going to unpack all of the toxic stuff between them for good. Or at least, I hope that's where they're going. Sam's refusal to sweep it all under the rug sure seems to make a case for a positive, healthy outcome. It's going to hurt to watch the brothers act all formal and awkward around each other, but hopefully it will lead to some positive developments.

Alright! I'd better stop myself before I get into a full blown rant. This episode was a good one. I loved seeing Garth, I loved the good werewolves, and I'm very optimistic about a new and more positive direction for the Winchester brothers' relationship.

8/10