Review

The Boys head to Eerie, Pennsylvania, to investigate what Sam believes is an outbreak of zombies. Seems a plastic surgeon was grabbed in a car lot and later turned up at the local hospital sans his liver. However the Pathologist points out that the liver was removed with surgical precision, and did not involve any residual teeth marks. Other victims turn up with various organs missing leading Sam to deduce they are hunting Doctor Benton, a real life Doctor who abandoned his practice in 1816 to seek immortality. Apparently he achieved his aim, which proves to have a downside, he needs regular body parts replaced. Sam devices a plan to gain Dean Immortality and thus avoid Dean having to dive into the pit in three weeks' time.

Meanwhile Bobby has tracked Bela Talbot down and Dean decides to leave Sam hunting the good Doctor while he goes after the colt, and possibly some payback. Confronting Bela he learns she gave the colt to a demon and decides she isn't worth the effort of killing. Luckily for Sam Dean arrives on the scene to save him from some impromptu surgery at the hands of the Doc. The Bros devise a suitable punishment for Benton, which will keep him from practicing, and we also discover Bela's secret and why she needed the colt. An explosive and hard hitting conclusion to the episode leaves us breathless for the season finale, but hey lets first talk this one down.

Okay this might be Supernatural but I've got a feeling we're seen the last of Bela Talbot, which is disappointing as I was really digging her character. Actually you can catch up with actress Lauren Cohan, who plays Bela, in The Walking Dead where she plays Maggie. Sorry slight digression, we learn this episode that Bela had her own demons in the past and was trying to broker a deal with them, which brought her into the Winchester sphere. Whether or not Dean and Sam could have helped Bela if she had of asked for help remains a moot point, as does whether or not she deserve her fate, the chips went down and Bela is gone from the show. We should start a gallery of fallen Supernatural characters we are sad to see go.

[Editor's Note: Be careful what you wish for, but you know what, excellent idea]

Time Is On My Side, I'm assuming that's a reference to the classic Rolling Stones track, hinges around Sam and Dean taking their own approaches to saving Dean from the pit. Sam believes if he can gained Doc Benson's knowledge, immortality is the answer, Sam once again seemingly not concerned about the price that will cost in innocent lives. Dean takes a typical Dean approach, get back the colt and go down firing from the hip. Since neither Bro has the right answer and Ruby seems to be all out of answers as well, anyone else not trust her? - guess it will be up to Bobby to save the day in the final episode, leaving the requisite cliff-hanger of course. The episode shows the Bros pretty much grasping at straws as the clock ticks down to the midnight hour.

Bela Talbot will be missed, even though she was overwhelmed by the demons of her past

The episode features a guest star in the form of genre favourite Billy Drago, which was cool to see for us slightly older fans, would image the kids are wondering who the hell he is. I'm all for additional guests making appearances in future episodes, any chance Bruce Campbell could drop in? Just an idea. Drago does a pretty good psychotic Doctor who doesn't bother with the niceties of pain killers or the like.

Which segways in to a warning for sometime horror viewers, the episode does creep up on some nasty concepts and only just cuts away, tehehe, from showing some slicing and dicing. Director Charles Beeson might just have pulled off a Tobe Hooper, circa The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, in what he achieves here. I was digging the tension being added to the episode, especially when Sam hits the operating table.

With one episode left things are going to get pretty chaotic next week. What I've notice this season however is that there has been no steady build towards the climax of the season, I assume due to the Writer's strike taking toll, but I haven't had the feeling of things coming to a head I've had in the previous two seasons. On the bright side we do get the completion of a character plot arc, and a pretty good episode in its own right, for those after something slightly different to the previous few episodes.

I've got to say the season has been a major disappointment in terms of mullet rock, and this episode is no different. We get exactly no songs going down, now that's just wrong in my misguided opinion.

The episode saw a slump to 2.55 million viewers in North America during first broadcast. All season the show has been fighting to get above 3 million viewers each episode which doesn't bode well for the longevity of things. Still anything well above a 2.5 million average over a season has got to be an indication that a show is worth sticking with, even in the cut throat world of corporate television. Just ask the Angel people, oh wait a minute.

So I was surprised this episode didn't gear toward the season finale, but was pleased with the final declaration of the Bela story arc, and rocked on out to the main antagonist for the evening. Sera Gamble sure can write a good television script. Fans of the show will dig the episode, and yes sometime viewers can dial in without fear of plot details flying over their heads. Very decent television episode with some nice touches, that doesn't try to be anything else really.