‘Supernatural’ season 9, episode 10 review: Does Jared Padalecki get to play Sam again?

At this point, the idea of Jared Padalecki actually playing Sam again on “Supernatural” rather than someone else trapped in his body may feel like a pretty novel concept. After all, we’ve seen the man stuck within who we thought was Ezekiel, and we have also seen him play the part of Gadreel.

But finally, this week the real Sam surfaced with some help from an unlikely source: Crowley. In an effort to get a little something that he wanted, he agreed to work to ensure that Sam got his body back. It was nice to have the character actually back now, since that means that over half of the season will feature the Sam that we know and love.

While this was a joyous occasion, there was still a somber tone that rang throughout the entire hour. Dean was still mourning heavily the death of Kevin, and even worse, he blamed himself completely for it. His anger and frustration over the situation led him to think that he really could not be trusted to be around anyone … including his own brother. So even though Sam is back, he still does not have the same life that he once did.

The entire episode was strong from start to finish, even though we honestly wish that this was the sort of thing that surpassed the 43-minute run time without commercials. We would have been happy to see more Abaddon and way more Metatron, since they each felt more like afterthoughts. We also know that there is still much more Gadreel to come, since Dean is vowing to find him and ultimately try to take him down.

All in all, a very good “Supernatural” episode, and one that sets the course for the rest of the season. It has left us wanting more and that’s a very good thing. Grade: B+.

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