‘Supernatural’ season 9, episode 8 review: Did Dean tell Sam the truth about Ezekiel?
When “Supernatural” tends to think outside of the box as much as it does, the results can sometimes be mixed. You have episodes that are home runs, and then, you occasionally have episodes that start strong and then waver towards the end with “Rock and a Hard Place.” While the first half-hour of it was extremely entertaining, the second half of it sagged for a good twenty or so minutes until we got to the tail end.
Let’s face it: The moment that you saw the brothers Winchester arrive at the South Dakota chastity church, the feeling was that the evil-doer was the one who convinced them to sign the purity pledge in the first place.
But at this point, the spark in “Rock in a Hard Place” started to ignite. Just when it looked like Sam was about to die courtesy of a stake in his heart, it was revealed that he could not be killed. The expression “dead inside” really stuck with him … but he at least has not figured out that Ezekiel is keeping him alive just yet. Dean was about to tell him, but then Ezekiel came in and put the kibosh on it. But, at least we know now that the healing process is almost complete, but Sam is clearly not going to react well to finding out eventually.
There were funny moments this week, with Dean realizing that he was about to make a certain fantasy of his come true with a “counselor” being at the top of the list. But we still cannot shake that this episode was really more of a prelude of greater things to come with the return of Castiel next week, and the first episode where you could really end up seeing the angel story taken to the next level. Al least it looks like Sheriff Mills is going to be pulling through in the end. Grade: B-.
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Photo: The CW
mypipsranout
November 28, 2013 @ 12:38 am
Overall I really enjoyed this episode. I think every spn season will always be an ebb & flow between great, good, ok & bad episodes. IMO its the same for all of these kind of tv shows, but as a fan spn’s better episodes always stand way above the rest of its weight-class. The review pretty much sums up the episode. it was funny, it wavered, it got back on track. I really wanted sheriff Mills to take down the bad guy, so was glad that happened, eventually. But what really sealed it for me was the nostalgia, especially following last weeks episode, with the end focusing on Sam & Deans relationship. It’s made me hope things aren’t lost without Ben Edlund & all the old writers. To me this has always been the core of the show, its always been about relationships & how what they encounter reflects their own. I’m glad its getting back to its roots. I love Cass, but I think the heaven & hell overarching mythology can distract too much at times from the core, gold, that the show always used to be about, the relationships between the characters.
Bob Moriarty
November 27, 2013 @ 5:23 am
I started watching Supernatural when it was in syndication and up on netflix so I’ve never had the issue of having to wait for the seasons to get rolling. But looking back, and now sitting through these nonsensical monster-of-the-week episodes is ridiculous. Its 2013, the writers know we’re all out here on the internet with full knowledge of how its supposed to play out. If there was a little more to discover during the buildup I wouldn’t be as annoyed/bored, but these episodes are not revealing anything new about the characters, and we’ve seen Castiel go through this process 2 or 3 times now. GET ON WITH IT! They could just as easily have used the first half of the season to advance the Angel storyline, maybe a little slower but at least a little bit. I love the Winchester’s but I haven’t seen an Impala or a shotgun full of rocksalt even, and while Sam is SUPPOSED to look tired, the characters themselves are starting to get tired. They seem to know that they aren’t getting anywhere. And now that the mid-season finale is NEXT WEEK…great, we get Cas back for a week and then we have to wait til…when even I dunno, hopefully January? F!!