Sam Winchester cries his way through sex.

Supernatural – Mystery Spot
Dean is shot and killed while investigating the disappearance of a man with Sam, who is stunned when he wakes up the next morning to find his brother alive and well. He realizes he is reliving the previous day, and tries to prevent Dean’s death.

A fantastic turn for Supernatural, and one that was much less humorous than the previews led us to believe. We open with Sam awaking to Asia’s “Heat of the Moment.” He and Dean go through their morning routine and sit down to breakfast at a diner. Dean wants to hunt Bela and the Colt, but since they have no leads they are looking into the disappearance of a professor at a local “Mystery Spot.” The brothers check out the spot after hours, but the owner, thinking they are trying to rob him, accidentally shoots Dean in the chest. And he dies. Ouch!

Cut to Sam waking up to “Heat of the Moment” again. This is not a new plot device for television, though here it is done better than most. While it is clear that Sam is reliving the same day over and over, the days move along at a nice clip. Sam tries a variety of tactics, but Dean ends up dying every time: he gets hit by a car, crushed by falling furniture, chokes on a piece of sausage, slips in the shower, gets food poisoning (“these tacos taste funny to you?”), gets electrocuted, gets killed by a dog, and – my favorite– watches as Sam takes an axe to the Mystery Spot only to get struck by the axe himself.

After 100 Tuesdays in a row, Sam is feeling defeated. Suddenly, he notices that a man in the diner has strawberry syrup instead of maple, and the brothers goes after the guy. Turns out it’s our old pal the Trickster, who the brothers thought they killed in “Tall Tales.” The Trickster tells them that this exercise is to teach Sam he can’t save his brother. Sam threatens to kill the Trickster, who promises he will let them out of the time loop if they let him go.

Bam! Sam wakes up to “Back In Time.” It’s Wednesday! Alas, as Dean is loading the car he gets shot by a mugger and dies. But this time, Sam doesn’t wake up.



Cut to a medley of scenes showing “life after Dean.” Sam has become a hard-as-nails loner, taking on dangerous fights by himself and pulling bullets out of his torso without flinching. Over this, we hear numerous voice mails from Bobby, and it becomes clear Rogue Sam hasn’t spoken to Bobby in three months. Flashes of his “research wall” show that he has become as obsessive about finding the Trickster as his father had been about finding the Yellow-Eyed Demon. Bobby leaves a final voice mail saying that he’s found the Trickster, but when Sam shows up Bobby tells him they need a gallon of fresh blood. Unperturbed, Sam prepares to kill an innocent person, but Bobby offers himself instead. At this point it is clear that “Bobby” is in fact a creation of the Trickster, who reveals himself when Sam stakes “Bobby” in the back.

“Holy Full Metal Jacket,” says the Trickster, and proceeds to inform Sam that the lesson he’s trying to teach is that nothing good can come of Sam's obsession to save Dean. “Dean is your weakness and the bad guys know it. He’s going to be the death of you.” Sam cries and begs to have his brother back, and the Trickster says, “This stopped being fun months ago." This implies [to me] that the Trickster has set up this entire exercise at the request of another (perhaps Ruby) in order to knock some sense into Sam and toughen him up. However, while Dean is Sam’s greatest weakness, he’s also the source of Sam’s strength. Catch-22, my friends.

The next ep looks like a season finale, with the return of Agent Henriksen and an army of demons poised to kill everyone in sight. However, now that the strike is over we will supposedly be treated to 4 or 5 additional episodes that will air in April/May. Will Dean die? Will Ruby turn out to be truly good? Will Dean and Bela have sex? Will Sam and Bela have sex? Will they kill Bela off already and move on? Only time will tell!