Supernatural S06E02 - Two and a Half Men (2010)

Review

Dean has Lisa and Ben on lockdown after moving them yet again to avoid monster entanglements, unfortunately he is soon called on to give Sam a helping hand with of all things a baby. Sam has been working on a case where couples are being slaughtered and their babies taken. He interrupts a shape shifter in his work dealing with yet another family and manages to escape with the baby, hence his need to get Dean on board as Sam has no idea about babies. After a few encounters with shifters, including my mine a hilarious confrontation in a baby shop, the Bros discover they are protecting a baby shifter! Time to drop in on family in the form of the Campbells and find out if their grandfather has any idea on what to do with the kid, naturally this isn't going to be all reunion fun times.

Samuel Campbell surprisingly isn't against the of one of the Campbells adopting the baby, but Dean smells something slightly off with the family patriarch. Seems Dean's instincts are correct as the Campbell compound comes under assault by an uber Shifter who waltzes through the Campbells and Winchesters like they are noobs and exits stage left with the baby. Seems Samuel knows about an alpha Shifter, the original that created the rest, and was only too happy to have the baby as bait to draw the big bad out. Dean also intuits Sam knew all about the alpha Shifter. A further surprise awaits Dean on the home front, though this time the surprise is something good.

Not surprisingly Two and a Half Men, yes I got the overtly obvious reference to the Party Sheen lead show, subplot's family values and the Winchester family business. Dean is at pains to protect Lisa and Ben to being almost paranoid about what might be coming. Naturally this doesn't sit well with either Lisa or Ben and especially when Dean goes ballistic about Ben handling one of the saw off shotguns the Bros normally load with salt shot. Dean makes it perfectly clear that Ben will never learn to handle a gun and definitely will not follow in the Winchester family business. Through the course of this episode he does come to realise that he is acting in exactly the same fashion as his own father, being overly protective and domineering.

Thankfully they have got through the whole Dean being a civilian thing that threatened to derail the season

Lisa ultimately works out Dean is never going to be happy working in construction and wants him back on the road hunting, while she and Ben will keep the home fires burning. The episode is worth the price of admission on Dean's reaction as he takes the dust cloth off the Impala and prepares to resume his preordained role in the world. Good use of Smoke on the Water to drive home the themes here and to keep us heavy metal fans jiving to the beat.

So the horror fans amongst us may be wondering at this stage of the review about whether or not the scare tactics in use are going to hold up to scrutiny. Considering this is main stream television, and hence the metal isn't exactly going to be meeting the flesh, I was surprised by the content. There's a ton of tension built in different scenes, a decent body count going down, but perhaps not enough monster mash for mine.

For once I was feeling some real tension in this episode, normally I don't with Supernatural, for sure I knew neither of the Winchesters was in danger of not making the final credits but a couple of scenes had me clutching the arm rests of the sofa. Sam entering a house where a Shifter is up to nefarious activities had me hooked from the get go; director John F. Showalter was right across the horror requirements. So two thumbs up on the tension stakes, yes Showalter got me with it.

Before gorehounds start getting overly excited and humping the episode's leg all deaths are off screen and in no way front or centre. Texas Chainsaw Massacre alumni will know exactly what we are talking about here, murder most foul that seems to be right there in front of us but which is slightly off screen all the time. So basically don't go into this episode expecting blood drenched gore, mainstream television y'all.

Naturally the episode is moving the overall plot along in discernible directions. Dean, after go max chick moment, is back in the Impala and ready to battle the forces of evil and dirty diapers, the Campbells are up to something nefarious, what with secret phone calls and all, and we are going to be getting a slay of big bads. While the season has started roughly for mine it is starting to shape up nicely.

Guess I've already covered the expanded Supernatural mythology that was thrown in our direction but time to reiterate or go over the same ground. At least in the case of Shape Shifters there is an alpha, the first of the species and the most powerful. I'm betting every single monster the Winchesters have faced will have their alpha and we'll probably get to meet them all by the end of the season. It would also make sense for the writers to also include some reasoning as to why we are suddenly getting the alphas this season.

Get ready to rumble we got Smoke on the Water by Deep Purple and a perfectly timed tune by Master Source, Shop 'Til you Drop when the Winchester Bros are getting baby supplies for the kid in their care.

Not entirely sure if I liked this episode or not, Shape Shifters are not my favourite monsters in the franchise, but then again I didn't actively not like the episode. Yeah I know that sounds like I thought the episode was pretty meh, but it was entertaining enough to keep my attention. Good mixture of tension and humour to keep me happy with what I was seeing. Worth your time checking out, so yeah recommended at least, you should at least be rocking to the beat here.