Meta Fiction Review

This episode is certainly meta in more than one way. First METAtron is writing a work of fiction starring Cas and Gabriel. Metatron also clearly references being in a story multiple times. Then there's the various Supernatural novels scattered about, arguably one of the biggest fourth wall violations the show's ever had (except The French Mistake, of course).

I posted last week that Gabriel would be back on the show. Given the information at the time, I was under the impression that he would be in the episode that was filming at that point, which was 9x21 King of the Damned. Apparently, we got to see everybody's favorite archangel a bit early. Now there are two possibilities, either this is his only appearance or they're foreshadowing his return later. It's entirely possible that they're going to bring him back for real later on. In fact, there's been talk among fans of the 2014!endverse happening, so we may even see Michael and Lucifer. Metatron's spell may have accidentally cast them out of the cage in hell.

I think they're reusing hotels again. This one looks like the one Sam and his girlfriend were staying at in season 8. I'm fairly certain they've run out of hotel sets and are just reusing them. They may have run out ages ago and I just haven't noticed until this season.

We should probably be very concerned about Metatron juicing up like this. Apparently, he's using the angel tablet to increase his own power. Even the archangels Raphael and Gabriel couldn't escape holy fire, and Metatron blows it out like it's nothing. Then he goes and erases angel warding. That stuff's supposed to angel-proof, an angel shouldn't be able to get rid of it. Then there's the spell he puts Cas under to trick him into following his plan. The guy's got some serious reality-warping mojo going on. This is probably going to spell trouble later on.

Thinman Review

I was thoroughly convinced Thinman was a ghost all the way up until Ed revealed the truth. The last time they had a human monster was all the way back in season 4 (I think). So you can imagine my surprise when it turned out to just be a guy in a mask. To be honest, the guy was sick. Killing someone because they didn't go out with you or because they criticized you? He needs to grow up and realize that not everything in life is going to go his way. Just because someone doesn't do what you want doesn't mean you should kill them. That guy deserves to rot in jail cell for 20 years to life. Not to mention the fact that it was a cop who was helping him. How did he even earn a badge with an attitude like that?

Ed and Harry were definitely acting as a metaphor for Sam and Dean in this episode. Ed/Dean lied to Harry/Sam about something important in order to keep their relationship at its current state. Dean didn't want to hunt without Sam, while Ed didn't want to do Ghostfacers without Harry. Except for the time between seasons 3 and 4, Sam has done perfectly fine without Dean on multiple occasions. Each time Sam leaves Dean, though, Dean does crazy stuff to try to get Sam back. On one hand, we don't have a show without the brothers, but on the other hand, they need to learn to live and hunt without each other.

I think they're running out of motel sets to use. They already used the same exterior shot in both Dog Dean Afternoon and another episode this season. In this episode, the interior of the motel looked strangely familiar. I may just be remembering it from the trailers (which have been going around for a few weeks), but I think I've seen the inside of that motel recently. Since I haven't stayed in any motels in the past few months, I can only imagine it was on another episode of Supernatural.

The Purge Review

I didn't think for one moment that this was a witch. The reason is that in the opening sequence, there was clearly someone in the car. If it had been a witch using a hex bag, they simply would have planted it there beforehand. There's no reason to get into the car while the victim is still alive, unless you're a monster.

Nine seasons in, and they're still adding to the mythology. First it was Cain and the first blade, now it's the Pishtacos. It's the mark of a good when the writers continue to expand the universe, never believing that it's good enough. Some shows get dormant after a while and stop expanding, those shows generally die off. Supernatural is still going strong.

The brothers themselves finally addressed their codependency issue. Sam blamed it all on Dean, saying that Dean was afraid to live alone, while Sam would gladly let him die. I have a hard time believing that after the events of seasons 3 and 4, but there's been a lot of character development since then. I still think that Sam would at least try to save Dean if he was dying/dead. He might not go as far as to sell his own soul, but he wouldn't give up without a fight.

We've now had two episodes in a row using the "good monster with bad family" plot line. Sam and Dean initially suspect the good monster, before eventually realizing that it's their family member. I don't think the writers are going to be using the plotline again for the next episode. That one looks like a ghost story set in the bunker, at least judging by the trailer. Although, I suppose that doesn't mean there are two ghosts, one good and one bad. Also, Crowley and Cas both feature, so who knows. Either way, I hope they don't overuse this concept anymore this season.

The motel the brothers were staying at looked suspiciously like the one from Dog Dean Afternoon. I'm not sure if the interior was the same (although it was definitely familiar), but I'm confident the exterior shot was the same. I'm guessing the production team has only so many sets that they can use for the interior of motel rooms. However, there are thousands of motels scatter across the United States and Canada. There are probably a couple hundred just within a 200 mile radius of Vancouver. So far, we're 185 episodes in and not all of those have featured motels. I doubt they've used up all the motels within driving range and they definitely haven't used up all the ones within road trip range. The only acceptable explanation would be if both episodes took place in the same town, but they don't.