The Winchesters are having a bad day, a really bad day. Or maybe they finally get what it’s like to be normal, the same as everyone else. Either way, their bad luck could spell disaster if they don’t get it corrected soon.
Note: This recap may contain spoilers!
Like other episodes of the season, this was a chance to say a final goodbye to another beloved character. Thankfully, this time, it didn’t have to end bloody. Well, not for Garth at least. His cousin-in-law Brad, however, doesn’t get to be so spotless. We start off the episode with Brad, who is a werewolf, squaring off against a female wraith in a cage fight match. Unfortunately, Brad does not come out the victor in that little match-up. And that plants the seeds for the case to come.
Over to the Winchesters, whose bad luck is building up. We see Dean loading up on snack foods and beer at the convenience store in town, but his foolproof credit card gets declined. He’s also having a toothache and he gets a parking ticket for parking in front of the hydrant. Sam’s not doing much better, as he’s burning their meal back in the bunker kitchen and he’s catching a cold, sneezing all over the place. After getting Garth’s call for help regarding his wife’s cousin, they head out, but the bad times do not end. Ten miles from Garth’s house, Baby quits on them so they have to walk.
What follows is a lovely treat of a visit with Garth. He’s done alright for himself, with a loving wife, a daughter, and twin boys that he names Sam and Castiel. Garth is also full of more surprises, as we find out that when he retired from hunting, he went back to school and finished his dental degree. Even got an office set up in his house, where he performs an exam and extraction on Dean to fix up his 17 cavities. Like I said, the boys are having a really bad day. But at least we got treated to Dean’s hallucinatory dream with the tap dancing, which was entertaining. We need a little levity in the middle of the heaviness of this season.
Garth finally lets them in on a bit of an explanation about why they’re having such a horrible time. It’s because they’ve been downgraded from heroes to normal, so they’re experiencing normal people problems; albeit a bit quickly and all at once. This makes for entertaining viewing, but could also mean danger when the boys have to go into a case and fight off the bad guys as usual. And that’s exactly what’s expected of them, thanks to Brad’s lead about the cage match location. I liked that Dean kept Garth from going, since he has too much to lose. Garth has finally found happiness, which is few and far between in the hunting world, so Dean wants to see him maintain it for as long as possible. So sweet.
For all that’s going right in Garth’s life, it’s going consistently wrong in the lives of Dean and Sam. We find out that Dean’s now lactose intolerant, as he starts throwing up from all the grilled cheese sandwiches he’s consumed. And their bad luck continues as they both get caught by Cutty, a shifter who runs the fights. He locks them up and wants them to fight a vampire named Maul in the ultimate match that night. What should have been an easy escape is complicated by the fact they can’t even pick a lock now. And with the bad luck following them around and the demotion to “normal”, it’s not like they have a chance of defeating Maul if they do fight him. Sam’s feeling hopeless and so is Dean, though he tries to put on a brave front and talk Sam up, assure him that everything wasn’t just because of Chuck. Yeah, it might not have been all because of Chuck, but their hero stature did allow them to come out of most fights without dying. That’s no longer guaranteed.
I love that the hero of the story was ultimately Garth. He helped the boys escape before they had to fight Maul and then he blew the whole place up with some C4. And even when Maul remained alive and beat up the boys, it was Garth who finally took him down with a machete through his head. “He got Garthed.” And we get such a sweet ending for Garth’s story as well. He’s okay, has a great family, and he even gives the boys a lead about a place in Alaska where they can go to hopefully regain their luck. Goodbye, Garth. You were an amazing character. Live a long and happy life with your family.
Rating: 4 / 5 Stars
Screencaps by SupernaturalWiki
