The star of this episode is definitely Lucky the skinwalker. Dogs and little kids are a fool-proof way to tug at the audience’s heartstrings and it definitely worked for me. There is always the danger of being too cheesy but the ‘Supernatural’ crew found the right balance in this episode. ‘All Dogs Go to Heaven’ was cute and funny but also very sad.
His highness Crowley is back
‘Is that Bobby Singer? Give him a kiss from me.’ And he’s back. Crowley’s Darth Vader days seem to be over for now. This time, he was his usual funny self. Though I really enjoyed his appearance, it was also strange. If the boss of all demons doesn’t manage to find out what monsters - it was a skinwalker and not a werewolf – are behind which assault, I seriously doubt his competence to rule Hell. It’s understandable that he wants to spend time with the Winchesters – he’s a monster and thereby affected by the Winchester pheromones after all - but it’s weird that he would bother to play messenger boy. It was interesting that Crowley completely ignored Sam. He torched his hand but ‘talked’ to Dean. I wonder if this has any significance.
Even Soulless Sam can be funny
I cheered when Soulless Sam finally dropped the act and admitted that he’s not Dean’s brother. ‘I should probably go back to being him.’ You think Sam? You act fishier than a fish in a fish tank. I don’t believe he wants his soul back and to become his old self again for a second. I think Sam recognizes that he is at a disadvantage if he allows Crowley to keep it. Sam is not to be trusted with his soul. I can see him planning to double-cross Dean and hide or even destroy it if possible. He’s a creature with memories but he has no emotional connection to interpret them, e.g. Dean selling his soul to bring him back, doesn’t mean a thing to him. All his memories are facts. He’s clever and knows what feelings are expected of him but if you watch him closely, every smile is weird or a bit off. He sees that his actions have consequences, e.g. Dean getting upset. So he decides to tell him the truth because he needs his brother to get his soul back but nothing more. I think Sam’s ‘I would double-cross us’ will be foreboding. Dean should really watch his back or he’s gonna have a bad awakening.
This week on Supernatural: Sam’s hair wants plays ‘Gone with the wind’
Adam Glass delivered another solid script. There are a few nitpicks, e.g. the line about why Lucky got turned into a skinwalker. I don’t really believe one would approach a homeless guy with the promise of making him faster and stronger. My experience of living on the street is limited, in fact non-existent, but I would want money, food, clothes or shelter and not a promise of turning me into superman or superdog. Until the end of the episode, I actually thought Lucky was a homeless dog. If you’re a dog you want to be strong and fast but then it occurred to me that the whole sleeper cell plot wouldn’t make sense unless skinwalkers can infect both humans and animals.
Lucky is sooooooo adorable!
Phil Sgriccia is one of my favorite ‘Supernatural’ directors. When I first heard about ‘All Dogs Go to Heaven’ I was worried that it would be too much comedy and that the transformation would look ridiculous. But on the contrary: the scenes with the dogs, mainly Lucky, were fantastic. Of course, there were great scenes with the brothers and Crowley but mainly it was all about Lucky. His story reminded me of the shape-shifting Dracula in ‘Monster Movie.’ Sure, they killed people but both monsters were very sympathetic. Shooting with animals and babies is very challenging. ‘Supernatural’ proved with ‘Two and a half men’ and ‘All Dogs Go to Heaven’ that they could do both. Kudos to Phil Sgriccia! The action scene in the warehouse was impressive. I winced every time they shot a dog. Sorry, but it didn’t help that they were evil skinwalker dogs. I really felt for the poor dogs. There were a few scenes which mirrored previous episodes, e.g. In ‘Good God, Y’All,’ another Phil Sgriccia episode, there was a similar park bench scene with the brothers. Last time we saw Dean with a rifle was in season 2’s ‘Simon Said’, he didn’t get a lot of action, but this time Dean went into full sniper mode. In season 1 or 2 there was a fanservice shot of Dean sleeping, in this episode it wasn’t that extreme, no camera slowly moving along Dean’s body, but it was a cute reminder of simpler days.
Winchesters and park benches – always a sign for ‘serious’ conversations
Minus points:
-Lucky’s disappearance.The skinwalker fight in the empty warehouse was amazing. It looked great. But when Lucky got shot, he appeared to be severly injured, Sam prepared to finish him off and then he just disappeared without any explanation, it felt like a copout.
-Crowley’s branding. The effect looked great but I’m not sure if it makes a lot of sense. Does his ability to brand him mean he owns the body because he brought him back? It’s not like with Bobby where the soul is still in his body and a branding of his soul/contract appears. Or was it to prove to Dean his ownership of the body? Crowley is the king of Hell, he should be able to hurt humans no matter if he owned them or not. I couldn’t see what this little burning number was supposed to prove to Dean.
-Crowley bringing them a job. I thought he needed Samuel, Sam and Dean to do to the dirty work for him and not play messenger boy for the Winchesters? I get it, he likes to play with the brothers but doesn’t he have more important things to do as the big bad?
-Dean’s attitude. I understand that he doesn’t like the idea of working for Crowley but he was a bit too cocky. Maybe it was wariness about how Sam’s return threw his life back into chaos or realizing that he is on his own in comparison to the past. The brother who cared about him, who had his back, who he could trust with his life and who respected him, is still absent. The guy who sits in the same car with him now is just somebody who looks like him. And still Dean’s attitude struck me as a bit too confident for somebody who wants his brother’s soul back.
-Skinwalkers. I have to confess my knowledge of skinwalker lore is rusty but most of the time Lucky acted like a dog turned human. But then the ‘changing humans into skinwalkers’ plan doesn’t make sense. So was Lucky a homeless guy turned into a skinwalker or a homeless dog turned into a skinwalker? ‘I’ll be strong and fast,’ seems like something a dog would want, wouldn’t you promise a human from the street shelter and food?
-Sam’s proof of being hardcore. There have been spoilers about Sam being a hardcore hunter and saying shocking things like ‘mouth-breathing dick monkeys’ and everybody around him is shocked. I didn’t really see what all the fuzz was about, on the contrary. ‘Mouth-breathing dick monkeys’ made me laugh. Sam was more shocking when he treated the woman in ‘You can’t handle the truth’ as a criminal, when he stares people into co-operation or confronts them cruelly with their lies. Him uttering a few inappropriate swear words is cute or at best laughable but not really noteworthy.
-Week Number … and still no word of Adam. It’s episode eight and the characters talk about Sam, him being in Hell, Lucifer and Michael, his soul still being in the cage, but nobody mentions Adam. Sure, he’s not a main character and he was dead but the angels resurrected him, he was a real boy when he jumped into hole with Sam. So is he still caught in there with the archangels, did God remove his soul from the cage and only his body is still in there or did he draw the short straw and is alone with the two stupid angels?
This episode was not flawless but it was more entertaining than exposition 101 last week. ‘Supernatural’ has done more heavy and intriguing episodes but something simple that tugs at your heartstrings is nice once in a while. ‘All Dogs Go to Heaven’ managed to be a non-cheesy comedic approach of the old dog turning human storyline. The introduction of skinwalkers was promising and as I remember the first vampire episode ‘Dead Men’s Blood’ was not perfect either but it opens up possibilities for a future alpha skinwalker episode. And if there was anything positive about ‘Family Matters,’ then it was Richard the first vampire. I’m excited for more skinwalker action but only as long as they cast cute dogs or other adorable animals.
Grade: B-
‘Supernatural’ airs Friday, 9/8c pm on the CW.
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