Supernatural: "Jus In Bello"

"Series classic"
The stakes ante up...

A couple of Season 3 plot threads begin to come to a head in this episode.

Trailing Bella for her theft of the Colt in "Dream a Little Dream of Me," the brothers Winchester track Bella to her latest hideout. Except it's empty--and Agent Henricksen comes busting in (thanks to a tip from Bella) with backup to finally nab 'em.

As the brothers cool their heels in the local hoosegow waiting for transportation to maximum security prison, over 30 demons come to kill them. After Henricksen is possessed and freed, he becomes a believer in demons and other things that go bump in the night.

It was interesting to see how Henricksen bonded with Dean and Sam, which made his death at the end more tragic and poignant. Henricksen would've been a great ally and convert to the hunter ranks, but now the brothers'll have to get by on their own, like they always have. Thegood thing is the Feds now think they're dead, giving them room to maneuver without pesky law enforcement stiffs trying to arrest them.

As the brothers, Henricksen, and the local cops struggled to stay alive, Dean and Henricksen focused on keeping safe the sheriff's secretary, Nancy. A sweet girl and a virgin.

When Ruby came to help out, she was understandably upset to learn that they'd lost the Colt. But she comes up with a plan, cast a spell to destroy every demon in 1 mile, including herself.

The cost?

Cutting out the heart of a virgin.

Sam considers it (another sign of his slipping to the Dark Side), which bothers Dean to no end. But Dean and Henricksen veto that course, making Ruby leave 'em to their fates and bemoaning that she picked the wrong side in the demon war to support.

Dean strikes on an alternative plan, let the demons into the jail and fight 'em off.

Brilliant?

Somehow it works. The brothers and friends break the demon seals--then reseal them and cast a spell that offs all the demons and saves their hosts. Except for one who got away before Nancy could finish laying down a line of salt.

After Sam and Dean leave, a little girl comes in, looking for them. When Nancy asks her name, she says "Lillith" and casts a bright white light that blots out everything.

Ruby visits Sam and Dean, bringing to their attention a newscast of the jailhouse being blown up with the presumed loss of everyone there. Ruby gives the brothers charms to hide 'em from Lillith and warns they better listen to her next time and be willing to do what it takes to come survive.

"Jus In Bello," acceptable practices while in war, is the perfect title for this episode.

The only quibble I had with this episode was the demon possessing Henricksen's boss (the first one on the scene), Deputy Director Steven Groves. He kept up the FBI director act--until he tried to blow Dean away with a silenced 9 millimeter. Nice play on Dean and Sam playing law enforcement, but why pretend when he had the brothers alone and why not fry 'em with flame from his fingertips, snap their necks with a snap of his fingers, etc.?

I can hardly wait to see what'll come next in the next few episodes. The brothers have to decide how ruthless they have to be in fighting the demon war and Sam may have to consider stepping up to take Lillith for the role of the demon messiah in order to "save" Dean from going to hell.

If Dean does, though, I feel the writers are talented enough to get good mileage out of this storyline and keep it going for a lot of episodes. Maybe all of Season 4?

Here's hoping the CW renews the series for next year.

Supernatural: "A Very Supernatural Christmas"

"Another great installment"
Christmas a la Supernatural.

The Anti Claus. A demon St. Nick who goes around killing people when they hang special wreaths in their homes.

Only on "Supernatural."

I'm sorry I missed this series in the first season. But after watching a replay of the first season finale before the second season premiere, I've been watching ever since.

Bobby was mentioned several times in the "Present" and the flashbacks. Ruby and Bela were absent--again. Ruby does have a link with Sam and Bela is a riot, but I wonder if they merited being added to the cast? Too bad the CW execs're interfering with a dark show by insisting that female cast members be added, shooting the episodes during the day, and cutting down on the alternative rock score. If someone had to be added in, Jo from Season 2 would've been great IMHO. She would've been the Princess Leia to Dean and Sam's Han and Luke duo. Too bad the actress is unavailable.

About the episode, it's a hoot (in a dark, disturbing way) to see an evil Claus going around to collect people (adults not children) to snack on.

As the episode goes on, it flashes back to Dean's and Sam's boyhood. We see that they're living on their own with Dean looking after Sam while their dad and Bobby are hunting demons. Dean is trying to keep Sam in the dark about monsters and what their dad's doing, but Sam's a smart kid and he figures things out. Seeing Dean give Sam some presents he lifted--er, got from a nearby convenience shop was nice.

Dean and Sam catch wind of some Christmas time kidnappings around Ypsilanti, Michigan. The producers didn't show enough of the setting for those who know Michigan to see how realistic it was, but it wasn't too important. Anyhow, the brothers investigate, posing as FBI suits at the homes of the missing people. Very sharp looking when they're gussied up. They then go to a run down Christmas theme park, where they see if they can spot a demon among the part-time holiday workers. They focus on one broken-down, grizzled Santa who tells a kid he has something special for the kid. When he hobbles away with a hemmorhoid? limp, the brothers decide to follow "St. Nicotine." The brothers're in their car outside St. Nicotine's trailer house when they see the old man pull the drapes on his window shut, then hear a scream. They rush in with their sawed off shot guns loaded with salt, and see St. Nicotine watching a movie. They then start singing "Silent Night" off tune and wing it where they forget the lyrics. St. Nicotine joins in and they step out with uncomfortable smiles. LOL.

The brothers (Sam really) notice that the victimized homes have wreaths of meadowlark? (wrong spelling) hanging over the fire place. They trace the wreaths to the home of the Carrigan's, an older WASP-looking couple taken straight out of the "Beavers." Ergo they're the demons.

The brothers investigate their basement, find a red demon Santa suit, some butcher cutlery, and...a sack with body parts. Just as they're about to open it, the Ma and Pa Carrigan get the jump on 'em, toss 'em around like they're rag dolls, and knock 'em out.

Dean and Sam wake up in the Carrigans' kitchen bound to chairs. The Carrigans say they're pagan gods only taking their due. They've adjusted over the last 2000 years since Christianity kicked in, going down from a few hundred sacrifices per year to 2-3. And they've gone to great lengths to assimilate, playing bridge every week with their neighbors. They're readying Sam and Dean, taking some blood from both and a fingernail from Sam. When Sam swears, Ma Carrigan suggests he says "fudge," which he adopts. Frequently. Pa Carrigan's poised to yank a tooth from Dean's mouth when someone knocks at the door. Reluctantly they answer it to find a neighbor inviting them to go caroling. They beg off and go back to the kitchen, which is empty.

Dean and Sam lead 'em into the living room and go mano a mano with 'em again. They use branches from the Carrigans' real live Christmas tree to stake 'em.

Dean and Sam cap things by exchanging presents they lifted--obtained at a store, reflecting on how it may be the last Christmas for Dean.

If there was one thing I thought could've been done, it was to show Sam's growing darkside in the context of the episode. And maybe the confrontation with the pagan gods could've happened at night. And since they were defeated without special measures, maybe it would've been better to class 'em as pagan demigods. I'd think that gods would be untouchable for mere humans to take out with what's at hand.

Good episode all around, though. Hopefully, this season will be brought to a satisfying conclusion considering the WGA strike is upon us.