Supernatural 5.08 “Changing Channels” Recap

This week’s hijinks begin with the Winchesters investigating a “bear attack” in Wellington, Ohio. An interview with the victim’s wife reveals that the attacker was not a bear, but the Incredible Hulk (the Lou Ferrigno version). Sam finds candy wrappers at the crime scene, and it seems the victim was quite a hothead himself and thus received his just desserts. The situation reeks of the Trickster (in case you weren’t paying attention during the ‘Then’ section five minutes ago). Sam, being of the utilitarian sort, wants to ally with it. Presumably because he doesn’t want to wake up to ‘Heat of the Moment’ every day for the rest of eternity. Dean, having been killed upwards of a thousand times by the damned thing, is understandably skeptical. The boys hear an emergency call over their police scanner and head out to an abandoned warehouse to check it out. They bust through the door and…

… walk straight into Dr. Sexy, MD, a Grey’s Anatomy-esque soap, complete with emo music and Denny knockoff. (Sam: “This show has ghosts? Wow.”) Turns out, Dean’s secretly a fan and goes into fanboy mode when Dr. Sexy walks up and starts grilling him. Fanboy!Dean then deduces that it’s not the real Dr. Sexy because he’s wearing tennis shoes and not cowboy boots. Honestly, if my doctor walked in wearing cowboy boots with his scrubs, I would probably run screaming in the other direction, but whatever. Surprise, surprise, Dr. Sexy is the Trickster. The Winchester boys have to survive the next twenty four hours trapped in TV Land, and then they can chat with the Trickster about the goddamned Apocalypse. Whoo hoo! Or not.

As the boys walk down the hospital corridor, Dean refuses medical treatment (specifically a facial transplant… hee) to some sketchy looking dude and consequently ends up shot in the back. He wakes up face down on the operating table, Sam looming over him with a scalpel in hand and no freakin’ clue what he’s doing. On my list of Winchester Boy Fantasies, that particular scenario is down towards the bottom. Poor Dean. Sam finally asks the nurse for a pen knife, dental floss, sewing needle, and a fifth of whiskey. HOMG. It’s moments like this that remind me why I still bother watching this show despite all the Issues I have with it. The guys’ childhoods were so messed up, and their concept of “normal” is so far removed from the rest of the world. Yet they’ve dealt with it in a way that conforms to the logic of their own universe and they just accept it as the way things are. But then we get occasional juxtapositions like this one, to the way that things should be. It’s very striking in the sense that it makes me both pity them and be proud that despite John, the YED, and all the other crap that they’ve gone though, Sam and Dean are more or less functional adults.

Crap, where was I? Ah, yes. As soon as Sam gets Dean stitched up, they’re transported to a Japanese game show called ‘Nutcracker.’ I have no idea if this is an actual show, but if it is, all I can think is, “God. There’s got to be a lawsuit in there somewhere.” The guys have to answer questions about their history (“Sam, what was the name of the of the demon you chose over your brother?” I believe the appropriate answer to that question is “Lalala never happened!”) Sam gets his nuts cracked before they figure out they have to “play the game.” Castiel bursts in and blabbers that he can’t get them out of TV Land before the Trickster zaps him out. (“Mr. Trickster doesn’t like pretty boy angels.” Snerk. No comment.)

Aaaand then Sam’s zapped to a genital herpes commercial. It’s awkward and hilarious and generally awesome.

Then the boys get zapped to a sitcom (which was actually where the episode started and then it did that whole “two days earlier” thing and had cheesy credits and everything) where Dean eats Dagwood-esque sandwiches, sleeps with ridiculously hot women, and he and Sam gleefully ride a tandem bicycle and play football. I can has this show, plz? Castiel storms back in to rescue the boys and gets his ass kicked again. But not before he can tell the boys that the Trickster is much more powerful than he should be. Yes, Castiel. I think Fandom has been complaining about that for a while. You should read the boards occasionally. The Trickster then preaches about the moral of this little exercise: he wants Sam and Dean to play their roles in the real world as well — as the vessels for Lucifer and Michael. Dean asks him what side he’s playing on and the Trickster gets pissy — apparently, he’s not on anyone’s side. If the guys don’t play their roles, they’re gonna be stuck in TV Land forever. I… am not seeing a problem here.

So. The boys are thrown int CSI Miami. Dean rants about procedural cop shows while Sam spots a lollypop-sucking cop (say that three times fast) and decides they have to make with the David Caruso. It’s painfully cheesy and is exactly the reason why I can’t watch CSI Miami. Sam distracts Lollypop Cop long enough for Dean to impale him with a wooden stake. Except it’s not the Trickster. Whoops. The Trickster, who was actually ANOTHER cop, transforms back and taunts that they got the wrong guy. “Did we?” Dean asks, and Sam jams himn i the back with a wooden stake. The TV show atmosphere flitters away and they’re back in the warehouse with a dead Trickster on the floor. All seems to be well, yes? Except we’ve still got, like, twenty minutes left.

Castiel is still missing and once Dean gets back to the motel, he can’t find Sam. Until the Impala’s goes all KITT and starts talking. (“I don’t think we killed the Trickster.”) Out of ideas, Dean and Sampala go to the site of the bear attack and Dean goes rooting around in Sam’s trunk (“Dean, um… that feels really uncomfortable.”). Seemingly defeated, Dean cries Uncle. The Trickster shows up and changes Sam back. Except Dean flips his lighter and BOOOSH! Fiery Angel Trap Circle ahoy! And then they’re back in the warehouse! Long story short, the Trickster is Gabriel. Has been all along. I’m not sure how I feel about that. It’s like… slightly blasphemous? It also stinks of retcon. And believe me, I sat through five seasons of ‘Alias’ — I know retcon when I see it. Apparently, “Daddy” (a.k.a. “God”) doesn’t care. “I have to sit back and watch my brothers kill each other thanks to you two,” Gabriel/Trickster complains. He just wants it to be over. This whole Apocalypse business apparently isn’t about a war, it’s about two brothers who loved each other and betrayed each other. And a father who was too concerned with Cuervo and crazy conspiracy theories to make sure his kids had enough Lucky Charms. Oh, wait. Bottom line: one of ’em’s gonna have to kill the other. DESTINY SAYS SO.

[Not-so-random aside: OMG THE ANVILS STOP IT WITH THE DESTINY CRAP. I was loving this episode up until this point, which is saying a lot. For me. Argh.]

When Dean threatens to deep-fry Gabriel/Trickster, Castiel is returned, only a little worse for the wear. Just before the Intrepid Heroes leave, Dean tells Gabriel/Trickster, “This is about you being too afraid of standing up to your family.” Which would be a nice thematic callback to Season One if I wasn’t so pissed about the Gabriel business right now. Dean pulls the fire alarm before he leaves so that Gabriel/Trickster won’t be stuck in the flaming circle forever. Outside, Dean questions the validity of the Trickster’s DESTINY intel, but Sam pretty much brushes it off. Dean says he wishes he was back in a TV show (hahaha, not), and they drive off.

Man, there was so much brotherly goodness here, and I was on board and actually enjoying the meta for once until they went an retconned the Trickster. It was less, “Oh! That makes sense now,” and more “Uh… *scratches head*… I feel slightly used/cheated here.” Mostly because Loki/Trickster lore is such a big chunk of mythology and I was excited when it was used in ‘Tall Tales’ (even though I wasn’t a huge fan of the episode itself, mostly due to its timing). I may be painting in overly broad strokes here, but there seems to be something fundamentally disturbing about shoving that lore aside and replacing it with Angel fairy dust. Especially Gabriel. I’m not sure how Kripke’s making that particular world view work for this “character,” because I’m just not seeing it. Even if Kripke’s playing fast and loose with ‘Paradise Lost,’ Gabriel was the one who expelled Satan from the Garden of Eden and the two nearly did battle, until God intervened. Not exactly an independent thinker, you know? That being said, definitely one of the stronger episodes this season.