Review

In Elizabethville, Ohio a Nun is putting out pray books late one night, she is surprised by the local Priest who offers to walk her to her car. The duo are interrupted by Andy, who proclaims God isn't the answer prior to committing suicide. At Bobby's place Sam is onto the demonic omens going down in Ohio, Dean is less sure. Bobby is trying to deconstruct the colt to see what makes it work. The boys naturally head to Ohio while Bobby gets some surprising help with the firearm.

Sam and Dean discover the bordered up Industry town is rocking out, with prostitution, gambling, and drinking adding to the local economy. Is this due to demonic influence or normal human nature? Dean ends up in harm's way after running across Richie, a bumbling hunter he has worked with previously, Sam shows a ruthless side we haven't seen before. Can the Bros work out what's going down, or will they join the victim list?

Interesting episode, Dean shows a more humane side with his concern for Richie, the hunter from his past, and also a Demon who he seems to form some sort of bond with. Considering Dean has had problems with Sam's relationship to Ruby this second relationship seemed slightly ill advised. Of course the Demon did inform Dean he's not exactly in for a Club Med when a certain payment becomes due, that the Demon world was split on support for Sam leading the Yellow Eyed Demon's army, and surprisingly that Lucifer is real with an agenda of returning. Guess the dark Lord isn't going to be making an appearance this season, but hey this is Supernatural. Almost forgot to mention Dean hints at least at some belief in God for the first time, which is kind of a sea change for the big fella.

Conversely Sam, while hitting the old hijinxs - a certain scene in an office is worth dialling into the episode alone for - also shows a more vicious side. Sam isn't giving any leeway to Demons, except of course Ruby who is still working on Sam's need to save Dean from a fate worse than ... well anything. Sam seems to have developed into one lean killing machine as he pursues any avenue that might save Dean, while Dean is exploring his humanity in the face of imminent death and beyond.

I guess we should mention Bobby getting help from Ruby with the colt, to put the weapon back in the game and cause more than one demon a sleepless night. Sam uses the handgun to good effect, and while a lot of fans aren't best pleased with the development, I'm all across it, the Boys need something to level the playing field else we're going to be in for a real short season. Well shorter than expected, Writers' strike and all.

The reversal of roles in the Winchester camp is either going to work for you or put you off the season

Overall the episode is a good blend of comedy and horror, there's at least one very nasty scene involving Richie, and of course besides the normal Dean and Sam one liners there's a whole bunch of situations that had me smiling. The comedy works in the episode, but to be honest I wasn't feeling the chill factor that much. Still a bit more exposé on the Dean situation and the rifts in the Demon world, probably going to interest Supernatural fans a hell of a lot more than Johnny come late types.

Director Charles Beeson is across the script by Singer and Carver, though I didn't feel at any stage I wasn't watching a television episode. When are they going to do a feature length movie already! That's not to say it isn't pretty damn good television fodder, but it doesn't rise out of that particular swamp with any attempt to box above its weight. We're talking a return to television diet circa early X-Files rather than trying to push the envelope.

Actually last week we talked over the amazing Jim Beaver's Bobby, this week I wanted to touch bases with Katie Cassidy's Ruby. The demonic hottie has definitely been pulling all Sam's strings, but also went out of her way to help Bobby get the colt back into play. While on the face of things that looks real neighbourly, who can trust a demon! I'm expecting an ulterior motive to become apparent over the course of this season. Cassidy is nailing the role folks, tough, driven, and mightily fine to look at. You can't ask for much more really, added bonus is Cassidy is one hell of a good actress, no pun intended.

Music wise, the ever popular Creedence Clearwater Revival bash out "Run Through the Jungle", Brimstone Howl sign in with "Bad Seed", Sasquatch deliver "Nikki", and Mother Superior jam "Did You See it". Not a bad mullet rock selection in anyone's books of bad hair days y'all.

Season three continues to slide in the ratings for no apparent reason with Sin City dipping to 3.02 million viewers on broadcast night. While some drop is expected a continued downward spiral doesn't talk to continued support from the network. Of course anything over 3 million pretty much talks to a large audience with solid buying potential for advertisers.

While I sort of enjoyed the episode I was somewhat under charmed by the clear sticking to television conventions. There really wasn't an attempt to take the episode anywhere new, with the result being a forgettable fifty odd minutes. Good mixture of comedy and action did help the brew, but end of day Sin City isn't likely to make my list of best ever Supernatural episodes. One to catch if a fan, otherwise go catch something different. This isn't the episode that is going to cause new viewers to flock to the franchise; in fact it might just have the opposite effect with anyone not committed to the show's duration.