Supernatural Review: Double Trouble

There were some major developments on Supernatural this week that felt a little reminiscent of M. Night Shyamalan’s Signs, but in a good way. We see a little romance bloom between Bobby and a certain sheriff, Crowley makes an unexpected appearance, and we get the eye treat of two sets of hunky Winchesters.

As their attempts to capture and kill the Winchesters have continuously failed, the Leviathans decide to adopt a more aggressive tactic by using the media and law enforcement to help them find the brothers. They do this by creating their own Sam and Dean doppelgangers via hairs that nacho cheese Leviathan collected from them.

The Sam and Dean doppelgangers then going on a killing spree, hitting every town that the boys have worked jobs in since Dean appeared at Stanford to get Sam.

Being the second most wanted men in America now, Bobby sends the brothers to a man named Frank, the most batty conspiracy theorist but also an expert in keeping off the grid. He begrudgingly agrees to help them since Bobby saved his life at one time. Frank proceeds to violently destroy Sam’s laptop (then gives him a new one) but the look on the younger Winchester’s face is priceless. Still it’s even funnier when Dean is told that he can no longer drive his baby as the doppelgangers are using the exact same car as well.

With all of their rock aliases shredded, the brothers have to adopt common boring names, so boring that I can’t remember them. As they drive in their decidedly less cool car, Dean tries to hide his love for Air Supply’s I’m All Out of Love but fails miserably.

They finally rendezvous with their doppelgangers in Iowa where the real Sam and Dean are taken into police custody. The local sheriff happens to be Michael Hogan, most known for his role as Colonel Saul Tigh on Battlestar Galactica.

At first the sheriff thinks Sam and Dean are crazy but he sees one of the Leviathans who have impersonated local police officers “having a snack” and then shapeshift back into the Winchesters. He goes back into the holding cell and let’s Dean out.

Dean has learned from Bobby that a chemical called borax burns the Leviathans, similar to the way water burned the aliens in Signs. Though they don’t know if it will permanently kill them, it appears to slow them down as their host bodies become extra crispy and severing their heads will make it harder for them to reform quickly.

Bobby discovers this through a series of unforeseen events. First as he tries to figure out a way to kill nacho cheese Leviathan but nothing seems to work. All of a sudden Sheriff Jodie Mills shows up, having tracked down Bobby to offer her thanks for rescuing her. The hunter is clearly confused at why any woman would bother tracking him down to cook for him of all things. It is incredibly sweet though and it is through her domestic inclination of deciding to scrub the dirty cabin floor, that a weapon against the Leviathans is discovered. Drops of cleaning liquid fall through the cracks and hit nacho cheese Leviathan as he begins to burn.

In elation, Bobby runs upstairs and kisses the sheriff. Awww!!

Meanwhile back in Iowa, Dean and the local sheriff are able to take out doppelganger Sam, but doppelganger Dean tells the younger Winchester that the real Dean killed Amy Pond. Sam has a look of utter devastation and betrayal on his face, which is what the Leviathan was waiting for. Before he is eaten though, the real Dean bursts in and manages to damage his look alike.

The local sheriff agrees to help the real Sam and Dean by keeping them dead. When two FBI agents chasing after them arrives at the town, the sheriff and his medical examiner daughter claim that the Winchesters died after police shot them and then had their bodies cremated right away. One of the agents turns out to be a Leviathan and eats them. He reports back to his boss who tells him not to continue the Winchester manhunt. They’ll have to figure out another way to get them.

As the top dog Leviathan sits alone in his limo, Crowley shows up. The demon king introduces himself and the Leviathan calls himself Dick Roman. Crowley says that he thinks they should work together but Roman is uninterested. He considers demons as mutations and below even humans whom he considers as food.

At the end of the episode Sam tells Dean that he knows he killed Amy and in his anger tells Dean that he needs to just leave without him. His brother apologizes before getting into the car alone.

The interesting thing about the Leviathans is how they are able to access all the memories of the humans they impersonate. Nacho cheese Leviathan shifts into Bobby after their skins come in contact and he reveals how Bobby still secretly has hope despite all the death he’s witnessed in his life. Doppelganger Sam and Dean chat about how uncomfortable it is to be the Winchesters because how schizo Sam is and Dean’s constant guilt. Kudos to Jensen Ackles and Jared Padalecki in playing another version of themselves.

I am getting a little impatient to learn what the Leviathans are really up too. We’ve been given little snippets so far and this time we finally learn something that can effectively put them out of commission for awhile, so they aren’t the completely unstoppable force that they’ve seemed so far. About bloody time! Since the feel of it is much more akin to the speed of earlier seasons, it just might take some re-adjusting. Still, I’ll keep watching for the little Sam-Dean moments of hilarity that keeps me coming back for more.

Season 7, Episode 6: Slash Fiction (originally aired October 28, 2011)

Fridays at 9/8c on The CW.

Images courtesy of Jack Rowand and The CW.