Supernatural: Plush (11x07)

Supernatural is killing it this season with the C-plot episodes. Awesome! Let's take a look.

Cons:

This episode ends with a scene of Sam and Dean in the impala. Sam discusses his visions of the Cage with Dean, thinking that maybe that's where the answers are about the Darkness. We also see Sam praying to God at the beginning, asking for answers about what he's been seeing. All of that is fantastic, and I'm so excited to see where it's leading. But Dean is being way too dismissive about this. He keeps brushing off Sam's concerns, and it's getting ridiculous. If you don't want Sam to lie to you, maybe you should try and listen to him when he talks, Dean! I feel so bad for Sam, because he feels so alone right now with these visions. I wish that Dean would take him a little more seriously.

Pros:

This week, we've got a basic salt-and-burn ghost story, and it's so refreshing. As much as I liked the fake-out Lizzie Borden episode a few weeks back, I was a little bit disappointed that it wasn't a standard Supernatural ghost adventure. This week, we got that. Essentially, the vengeful ghost was a children's entertainer who had lots of costumes, so his vengeful spirit is possessing the different masks and costumes he used to wear. Whenever somebody puts them on, they become possessed and start killing people. Donna Hanscum calls Sam and Dean in to help when a man wearing a creepy bunny head kills someone. From there, it's a pretty straight-forward mystery to find out who the dead spirit is, and why he was killed. It turns out that a few members of the community thought that this guy Chester was molesting their children. They tried to scare him by hanging him over a bridge, and accidentally killed him.

I appreciated the standard narrative, and thought it was actually pretty daring of them to put in the child molestation part... I was made very, very uncomfortable by it, especially since we never got total proof that the guy was innocent of those charges. A risky move for the show to tackle this, but I thought it worked well in terms of upping the stakes.

Then there's Donna. She's a delight, and I'm happy to say that she survived another episode of Supernatural! Three for three, girl! She was just as charming and awesome as always. This time around, she's struggling with one of the police officers working under her. His name is Doug, the same name as her ex. She is giving him a hard time, seemingly punishing him for the other Doug's behavior. In the end, she apologizes for her unfair treatment, and the two seem to be on solid footing. Obviously this new Doug has feelings for Donna, but since we all know Donna and Jody are meant to be, I'm going to guess it won't work out. :)

I loved seeing Donna, and I loved seeing her with the boys, too. Sometimes it's nice to know that there are people out there who can learn the truth and not be totally changed by it. She's as sunshine-y as ever. Sam and Dean tell her that she's a hunter now, and she is totally honored by the title. I liked that she basically acted as a cop and nothing more in this episode, though. Sam and Dean did their jobs in getting rid of the bad guy, and Donna did her job in following up on all leads and bringing in the Winchesters when she realized she was out of her depth.

I think Sam gets MVP this week, because of the scene in which he had to fight a clown. Jared's acting was superb. I really felt Sam's fear, being trapped in an elevator with a killer clown. That's got to be his worst nightmare! It was just the right mix of humor and true sympathy for Sam's character. This moment also contrasted very nicely to the end of the episode, when we see Sam talking about confronting another of his biggest fears - the Cage. Sam Winchester is so brave. I love him a lot.

This is a bit of a short review, but honestly I think that's all I've got! Cas only got one brief mention in the beginning, as the boys looked over some research that he's apparently been gathering. Still, it's nice to hear his name in episodes where he doesn't appear, for continuity's sake. This was a fairly simple yet very solid C-plot episode. Can't wait for next time!

9/10