By Chaos

Supernatural seems to be revisiting old haunts in its sixth season. In the premiere there were djinn, some kind of super djinn, out after the Winchesters and now we have the appearance of a super shapeshifter, the Alpha, the one who spawned all the others. For something that exciting, the episode was flat and almost without character.

After a series of deaths and baby disappearances, Sam calls Dean for help. His brother is reluctant as first, until Sam breaks the news of what he has—a baby. After some almost out of place domesticity, mostly with the excuse to run into a shapeshifter posing as a caring grandmother, the boys take the baby to the Campbell clan. Grandpa Campbell decides to raise the child in the life, over loud objections from Dean. With that half-settled they head out to hunt the shifter. The shifter kills a Campbell and escapes. Grandpa Campbell has a mysterious phone call about the shifter escaping and says they will catch it (what are they doing starting a zoo?) The whole situation causes Dean to question his living situation with Ben and Lisa and he makes the choice to leave.

That might be a little simplistic, but sad to say, it really was almost that flat.

The episode did raise some issues that will probably be major ones throughout the season. Sam and Dean's relationship being at the forefront. There is a definite lack of trust on Dean's part, in fact at one point in the episode he asked if anyone but him was worried about all the resurrections. The lack of trust between the brothers is one thing that has plagued the show for the last couple of seasons and it is getting to the point where it is not even creating tension anymore.

Issue two? The Campbells, led by Grandpa Campbell (Mitch Pileggi). The three cousins are so stereotypical that they are interchangeable and completely unforgettable. In fact, I tend to thinnk og them as “touch chick” “shifty cousin one” and “shifty cousin two.” They are creating tension, between Sam and Dean and then between Dean and the cousins. Although the continual poking fun at Dean is getting tiring and since when would Sam tell anyone what Dean did during his time in hell? The only other reason they can possibly exist is to be slowly picked off by monsters one show at a time. It would be nice if they could just get it over with and kill them all off.

Issue three might become a biggie and may take viewers from the show—the revisiting of old monsters. In the beginning, Supernatural reveled in the Monster of the Week, and returning to that idea had many fans excited, however, surely the researchers for the show could find something more interesting than things we have already faced at least once, in not, in the case of the shapeshifter, several times.

The episode itself did have good points. There were several good moments between Sam and Dean, and Sam, Dean and the baby.

Of course, the baby also led to some moments that were almost “squirmable.” Handing the child over to Grandpa seemed pointless, and just a reason to start a fight about raising children in the “life.” And the look on Shifty Cousin's face when he took the baby was a little icky. The ongoing fight about raising children to be hunters is already exhausting.

The real high point emotionally was the discussion between Lisa and Dean. Her understanding in the light of the life he led, especially after they had recently been forced to move (and one wonders how many times they have moved in the last year) was touching, and while a lot of the fan base found this a gag moment, it worked, it was in character and overall it added to the show.

The best moment of the show, and of the season so far (up to and including the long-awaited hug) was Dean taking the tarp of the Impala to the strains of “Smoke on the Water.” There was a smile, a joy on his face (reflecting the acting ability of Jensen Ackles) that spoke volumes. It was one of the best episode endings in years. Perfect and almost enough to take away the bad taste the rest of the episode left.