galathea | Review for 7x09 'How To Win Friends and Influence Monsters'

After last week’s misstep Supernatural is back to top-form with Ben Edlund’s How To Win Friends and Influence Monsters. The episode mainly drives the mytharc forward, but it also gives us some insight into where the characters’ heads are at the moment. My favourite part is clearly the heart-warming interaction between Sam, Dean and Bobby, but I really have to say that I love the leviathan arc this season as well, and I am curious to see what their endgame is. Overall, the episode has just the right balance between humour, action and character drama – and the only real downside is that we have to wait two long weeks now to see the resolution to the rather worrisome cliffhanger.

I admit, I was a bit surprised to see Sam, Dean and Bobby on the run from the leviathans at the beginning of the episode, mainly because the previous episodes failed to convey a continuous sense of danger where the leviathans are concerned. I mean, the brothers may have used new aliases and ditched their not exactly inconspicuous car, but they obviously did not see any reason to drop off the grid completely. In The Mentalists Sam and Dean used perfectly normal accommodations, and in Time For A Wedding they went to Vegas – which is not exactly low profile – and Sam even got married under his real name and settled in a flat with Becky. And yet, there have been no leviathans far and wide. So, in terms of continuity it would have made considerably more sense if this episode would have followed directly after Slash Fiction, where the brothers made the headlines as America’s most wanted serial killers. If there was ever a moment where Sam and Dean should have gone into complete hiding – that was it. The fact that the brothers and Bobby suddenly have to disappear off the radar now, gives the impression that something major has happened that we were not privy to. Furthermore, while Dean’s depression was still noticeable these last two episodes, he seemed to be doing somewhat better after he and Sam reconciled. At present, however, Dean is as suicidally depressed and despondent as was the beginning of the season. Obviously the stress of constantly moving around and crashing in derelict buildings wore Dean out these last couple of weeks, but still, it felt like some puzzle pieces were missing. Luckily, the feeling did not impact my enjoyment of the episode negatively though.

Anyway, the episode puts a lot of emphasis on Bobby’s role as Sam and Dean’s father figure and emotional bedrock, in the past as well as the present. Of course I especially love the backstory details the episode bestows on us, like the fact that John used to drop the brothers off at Bobby’s when he had a case nearby or that it was Bobby who taught Sam and Dean everything about tracking. ♥ Now, given that the episode ends with Bobby being shot, the focus on the character seems to imply that the episode is intended as Bobby Singer’s swan song. Admittedly, I have not been afraid for Bobby in a very long time. Over the years, the writers’ treatment of the character gave me the impression that they have no intention to ever part with him, and deep down I still believe that to be true, even though the cliffhanger managed to make me a bit uncertain of that fact. After all, Gamble & Co stressed many times that Sam and Dean will lose everything they came to depend upon this season, and Bobby is undoubtedly the brothers’ main support system. Obviously I do not want to lose Bobby, not because he is my third favourite character of the show or because he is just about the only recurring character left standing, but mainly because Bobby’s death would deliver a devastating blow for Dean, and I do not want yet another storyline where Dean is mercilessly torn down. It is possible, however, that the writers will use Bobby in peril as a motivational factor for Dean to overcome his lethargy. So I have hope that, no matter how the writers resolve Bobby’s situation, they will use it as a forward momentum for Sam and Dean’s emotional arcs.

Bobby: "You know, you worry about him. All he does is worry about you. Who is left to live their own life here? The two of you, aren’t you full up just playing Snuffleupagus with the devil all the live long?"

I guess it comes as no surprise that Bobby’s heart-to-hearts with Sam and Dean, respectively, are my favourite scenes of the episode. Now, Sam does not open up to Bobby often – unlike Dean, Sam tends to rather confront his brother directly than to share his concern for Dean’s well-being with someone else – so it is all the more telling that he deliberately seeks Bobby’s reassurance where Dean’s current burn-out syndrome is concerned. It suggests to me that Dean has not exactly been forthcoming where sharing-and-caring was concerned these last couple of weeks, and Sam is at his wits' end. Sam’s quiet confession that he is okay with seeing Lucifer and that he thinks it is the best possible outcome – which is not altogether wrong, given that the alternative is an eternity of torture in the cage – is saddening. It is obvious that Sam does not believe that his condition will significantly improve and that managing his situation to the best of his abilities is all he can ever hope for. Admittedly, I find Sam’s subdued demeanour in his conversation with Bobby rather worrisome and the way he assures Bobby that he is fine, all the while forcefully pressing into the palm of his (formerly hurt) hand, is not entirely convincing in my opinion. I do believe that Sam thinks he is okay, but the amount of self-discipline and energy Sam has to invest on a daily basis just to maintain the status quo seems enormous, and I can’t help but wonder how much longer he will be able to keep this up. I mean, Sam not only needs to constantly stay on top of his mental issues, but he also has to handle a high stress job like hunting and deal with a brother who seems to be falling apart right before his eyes, all at the same time. Sooner or later, Sam’s resources will be depleted, and I would not at all be surprised if he will crash and burn at some point later in the season.

As for Bobby’s conversation with Dean, I love that, as soon as Bobby has a moment alone with the older Winchester, he confronts him about his self-destructive attitude, undoubtedly motivated by his earlier conversation with Sam. And even though Dean tries to evade Bobby’s questions at first, he ultimately listens to his candid lecture, not only because Bobby is an authority figure in his life, but also because, unlike with Sam, he does not feel the need to be strong for him and that makes it much easier for Dean to accept his concern. As I said before, Dean’s depression seems to be back in full force at the moment, and his open fatalism and lethargy in particular are very reminiscent of his demeanour in Meet The New Boss, where he had been convinced that nothing he does matters and that they will never be able to catch a break. The same sentiment echoes through his little speech about being tired of pulling the world from the brink of destruction time and again and in his statement that he cannot figure out why he ever thought that anything they do really matters in the long run. Bobby is right, of course, when he points out that this resigned attitude will sooner or later cause Dean to make a fatal mistake, and that he needs to find a reason to fight again, if he wants to survive. The question remains what that reason could possibly be, if it is not Sam or Bobby, his family. Now, I had high hopes that coming clean about Amy and seeing that Sam’s condition remains stable would give Dean the much needed positive impetus, but whatever encouragement he took from that experience clearly did not seem to last long, so maybe (almost) losing Bobby will give Dean a reason to fight back – out of love and spite, as Bobby so eloquently suggested.

What else is noteworthy:

(1) How To Win Friends and Influence Monsters would not be a Ben Edlund episode without an extra dose of comedy, and while I am not always a fan of Edlund’s humour, he hits all the right notes in this one for me. For example, the restaurant scene between Sam, Dean, Bobby and the grumpy waiter Brandon is absolute comedy gold, and stoner Dean, high on the secret turducken sandwich ingredient, is hilarious to watch as well. From Dean’s fixation on food during Sam and Bobby’s rather unappetising dissection of Gerald Browder’s mutated body, to his I don’t care that I don’t care speech, it is all highly amusing. Kudos to Jensen, whose facial expressions and body language are just brilliant in those scenes. ♥ It is just too bad that he does not get to showcase his comedic talent more often in the show. Anyway, stoned Dean is not only funny though, he also presents a poignant contrast to Dean’s world-weary attitude throughout the rest of the episode. It is rather sad to contemplate that substance abuse of any kind is the only way Dean can find some relief from all the things that weigh him down nowadays. Given his continuous futile attempts to drown his sorrows in a bottle, I almost wonder why Dean did not turn to more effective means like drugs or medicaments yet.

(2) I know I said it before, but I really love the leviathans as the brothers’ antagonists this season, mainly because they are so well organised, pragmatic and intelligent. I think the leviathans are what the demon army that escaped from the devil’s gate in All Hell Breaks Loose II could have been, had they been united under one leader. And, you know, if they would have had an actual strategy beyond just randomly wreaking havoc on humanity. Anyway, the leviathans’ attempt to control people through additions in their food supply is not only ingenious, but also rather ironic. I mean, they obviously applied the methods of industrial livestock farming – where the animals are treated with psychotropic drugs to keep them docile and with growth hormones to increase the meat output – to humanity here, and given that the leviathans spent the last couple of millennia imprisoned in purgatory, they most likely learned those lovely methods from their hosts. However, the fact that Dick Roman – who makes a wonderful villain, by the way – has no problem to shut the food experiment down, tells us that the leviathans’ endgame is about something else entirely. I guess it is fair to say that Roman’s two main rules, i.e. do not make the papers and there are no monsters, are crucial to the success of his operation. Moreover, the fact that Roman cosies up to various world leaders/royalties implies that the leviathans think big, world domination big even, but at the moment I have no viable theory as to what their exact plans are. I can’t wait to find out though.

In conclusion: How To Win Friends and Influence Monsters is a well paced and tightly written episode, that starts as a normal monster of the week hunt, but ends up as something else entirely, and I always love when the show keeps me on my toes. I wished I had more profound things to say about this excellent episode, but action heavy, plot driven episodes do not exactly lend themselves to in depth character analysis. Overall I find that I am extraordinarily taken with mytharc heavy episodes this season, and that is a refreshing feeling after I have grown so weary of the mytharc ever since the angel mythology has been introduced to the show. S7 definitely continues to enthral me. ♥