Supernatural 5.11 “Sam, Interrupted” Review

I know I’m constantly bemoaning the Apocalyptic plot developments on ‘Supernatural,’ but this week’s episode, ‘Sam Interrupted’ solidified my distaste for the storyline. If you’ve seen the episode, you’re probably thinking, “But Julia! Why are you saying this now?! Lucifer wasn’t even IN this episode.” And, dear reader, you would be correct. As far as Season 5 goes, the events were very un-Apocalyptic (a wraith, masquerading as a nurse, invades a mental hospital to eat the crazy brains, driving the Winchester boys psycho in the process). But that is my point. Lucifer is walking free with his buddies War and Death, entire towns are apparently going in the hole, and Castiel probably needs help at the Wal-Mart self-checkout or something. Yet Sam and Dean Winchester, the two people that this Big Damn Battle supposedly revolve around, are attempting to save a group of crazies in a mental institutions from an evil, non-Apocalypse related creature. I’m sorry if this comes off as callous, but it begs the question — what  is wrong with these guys?

Yes yes yes. I know they were trying to save their crazy hunter buddy, Martin. Priorities. But the things that succeeded in this episode were the things that didn’t have to do with the Apocalypse, the things that made Seasons 1 and 2 so appealing to me as a viewer: the boys and the monster. (Really. The formula is that simple.) The things that were less successful — tying the conflict into the Apocalypse and the boys talking about their “feelings” — were the things that have dragged down the storyline in the last two years.

Don’t get me wrong — I actually enjoyed this episode. It’s probably second only to ‘The End’ this season for me (and that is just because I prefer Future!Dean – cold, callous badass). I would have enjoyed this episode more if it was in Season 1 or 2 because that’s the sort of episode it felt like. Boys get case, figure out what the hell they’re fighting, bumble along as we learn something about them as characters, eventually kill the monster, kiss the girl (or, in this case, leave their mentally unstable friend fighting off two burly guards who think he attempted to murder another patient – byeee, Martin!) and drive off into the sunset. The character development that occurred — Dean realizing how close to the edge of insanity he lives and Sam recognizing the anger within — could easily have happened in Season 2. No Apocalypse necessary. Or headbanging on my part (grumbling “… but, Lucifer! End of days!” to the point where I was ready to join Martin).

So if we look at this episode and pretend it was during Season 2, it becomes much more entertaining because we can stop arguing about whose fault the Apocalypse is or who’s going to end it and start making fun of the things that make Supernatural such a guilty pleasure. This episode reminded me a bit of ‘Folsom Prison Blues.’ “Yes Dean/Sam, this is a horrible idea. But we have to help out a friend! We’ll just fit in and try not to draw attention to our– oooooh. Whoops. That didn’t work out so well.” Actually, the more I think about it… yes. Exactly like ‘Folsom.’ Perhaps new-ish writers Andrew Dabb and Daniel Loflin recently got their grubby paws on Season 2. If so, congrats!

But I actually amused myself by looking for the things that I used to look for before the Apocalypse business got me all bent out of sorts. Like the fact that this had to have been the most poorly secured mental institution EVER, right? Because Sam and Dean just hauled ass straight out of the maximum security cell and through the front door without so much as a sniffle. Impressive. And they got into the morgue, which I didn’t even know modern mental institutions had! And Sam executed a perfect skull cap removal with limited mess and backspatter! And the Wraith!Nurse saw the Dean Winchester manly bits and didn’t immediately ravish him on the morgue-room floor!

Okay, I’ll admit that “Pudding!” and that adorable little face Jensen Ackles made when he dropped his drawers were my favorite parts of the episode. A close second was, “I like him. He’s bigger.” See, Kripke? That’s (more) subtle meta. You don’t need entire episodes devoted to it. But I also think that Dean’s descent into crazy-dom was more interesting and fully developed than Sam’s (surprise, surprise), even if it was on an issue that has already been hashed and rehashed to death. Admittedly, the writers showed their hand with Dean’s delusions early in the episode when Dr. Cartwright asked Dean about his father. Because, really, did you really think Dean would include his Daddy!Issues in the file? He can be dumb, but I don’t think he’s entirely self-destructive. So the Daddy!Issues was the first hint for me that all was not well in Dean-land. Why does he hunt — no one else can do it, blah blah blah. Heard it all before, for sure, but not really from Dean in a manner that doesn’t involve Manly Tears of Emo Angst. It’s ridiculous, yes, but it’s approached accordingly. And I enjoyed the parallels with Martin. When Dean was sitting in the corner during Sam’s second outbreak, he reminded me very much of Martin, and it was just all kinds of wrong.

Sam, on the other hand, had potential. The disclosure to the doctor within the first five minutes of the episode regarding the demon blood addiction, Ruby, etc. was delivered with a disconcerting frankness on Sam’s part that I wasn’t expecting. Ouch. And I found Massively Drugged Up Sam to be amusing, if not strikingly similar to his drunken demeanor during his speech to Dean in ‘Playthings’ (hence my assertion that Dabb and Loflin have only recently watched Season 2). But then there was the rage business, which seems to me to be dissimilar to the fatal flaw that was established for Sam in that wreck of an episode, ‘The Magnificent Seven.’ It was Pride, not Wrath. Maybe Pride has turned into Wrath? I dunno. I never saw Sam’s conflicts with John as simply blind rages — he just wanted to be normal so badly that he was willing to confront the things that made him abnormal (aka, the hunting lifestyle and it’s messiah, John). John’s own stubborn personality (unwillingness to compromise) offended Sam’s conviction that HE was right, and thus his Pride. Toss the two in a car together for thousands of miles = fights. So the revelation at the end of the episode, while unnecessary, also fell flat because the buildup didn’t make much sense in terms of the character history.

Let me specify what I mean by unnecessary, because it goes back to my complaint earlier about the boys talking about their feelings. I hate the “Tearful Talk Beside the Impala” trope that has developed in this series. I hate it with the burning passion of a thousand suns. I think it’s heavy handed, lazy writing that impedes on the actors’ ability to craft a character that develops subtextually along with textually. Based on Dean’s conversations with the doctor, I understood that his coping mechanism was to bottle things up. It was both an implicit and explicit point. It has been established by episode after episode. I also could have understood Sam’s conclusion about his rage (character history aside) if the writers had allowed it to play out with the Wraith confrontation in the maximum security room instead of letting the baddie pontificate Sam to death. I think that scene would have been more effective if the baddie had managed to taunt Sam about his rage and it had garnered some sort of reaction from him that connected the dots instead of having him stop Dean in the middle of their escape to tell him about his Very Important Emotional Moment.

Okay, so you address that issue before the breakout, the guys are running out to the Impala, and instead of TALKING ABOUT THEIR FEELINGS, you actually let them do some acting. Sam stops, takes a look back at the asylum (“Maybe that’s where I belong,” he’s thinking). He gets that disgustful, twitchy upper lip, scrunched nose look that Jared Padaelcki does so well. Dean, realizing his brother is no longer behind him, stops and looks back at him. He tries to get Sam going, but Sam’s frozen in indecision. Dean grabs his arm and pulls him to the car. “Suck it up,” Dean says (with a little twitch in his eye), throws his brother into the car and peels outta there.

See? Not the prettiest thing in the world, but there are other ways to convey the same (or similar) message without those long, painful emotional revelations that make me want to toss my booze at the television. I don’t expect ‘Mad Men’ from ‘Supernatural,’ but I do expect the writing not to draw attention to itself. You do that by getting out of the actors’ way and letting the actors and the story do their jobs. The ‘Supernatural’ writers seem to have trouble with that concept as of late.

P.S. Kripke, my inner fangirl thanks you for the white t-shirts and scrubs. Next time, less with the robes, m’kay?