TV Review: Supernatural 6.06 – “You Can’t Handle The Truth”

Episode: Supernatural 6.06 – “You Can’t Handle the Truth”
Original Air Date: October 29, 2010

Screencaps by rawr_caps.

We were promised truth in this episode. Did we get it? Well, more in terms of reasserting that which we already knew. It wasn’t straightforward, and that led to a better line of storytelling than simply laying bare the characters’ souls. We learn funny tidbits about Bobby, hear Lisa tell Dean how it has to be, and find out that Sammy really is broken.

When people all over town start committing suicide because they were dosed with a bit more truth than they were ready to handle, it’s up to the Winchesters to find the cause and stop it. The first suicide we see onscreen is of a waitress working for the Big Gerson’s restaurant. Nice callback to the “Bad Day at Block Rock” episode! And the most gruesome of these deaths was, of course, at the dentist’s office. It makes you never want to set foot in there again. But we’ve come to know Supernatural for being able to gross us out with the blood and gore and body parts flying. It has been billed as a horror movie every week and it’s lived up to the promise.

At first Gabriel’s Horn of Truth was suspected to be the cause of the truth curse, but it was not such a simple solution. However, the horn does seem like it’s missing, so perhaps we’ll have it touched upon again later. I just wanted to say that last season, when the Trickster was revealed as Gabriel, I mentioned that it would be hilarious if he showed up with a horn when we saw him again. One season later, and without Gabriel as a tag-along, the horn does get mentioned. Ah, delayed gratification.

When the curse is passed on to Dean, we’re hopeful that this new-found power will lead us to getting some answers on that whole Creepy!Sam situation. But first, we got some other truths to deal with. This was a very heavy episode, so in order to lighten it up, Bobby was used as a sort of comic relief. We find out that he’s a secret fan of Tori and Dean, as am I, and that Dean Winchester is his favorite. I think it’s reasonable that Bobby’s affection for Dean developed early on, perhaps in conjunction with the fact that Sammy always seemed to be John’s favorite. It evened it out a bit.

And then we got the finality of Dean and Lisa’s relationship. I want to thank the writers for giving us that conversation. After last week, I knew they were doomed, but I feared that destructive interaction would be the last time we heard from Lisa and I didn’t want to leave it like that. I just needed a conversation, a finality, to say “this is the deal, it’s not going to work, goodbye.” That’s what we got. She was very honest, and correct, in saying that when Sam came back into Dean’s life, she knew her time was short. The Winchester brothers have a co-dependent, destructive relationship that does not leave room for anyone else. Lisa tried, but in the end it’s just not going to balance in a way that can work for everyone involved.

The big truth everyone was waiting for was what’s going on with Sam. His interrogation of the victim’s sister at the beginning of the episode was without any kind of empathy whatsoever. Sam just kept pushing her, almost like it was a game he was bound to win, until she broke and told them what he wanted to hear. Later, when Dean straight-out asked him about the vampire situation and he lied, at a time when he wasn’t supposed to be able to, that’s the moment I knew for sure that Sam’s soul had left the building. And in the end, after Dean’s suspected him and Veritas confirms Sam’s wrongness, he does tell Dean the truth. Yes, Sam watched Dean get turned and did nothing to stop it. He sacrificed Dean for the greater good, not because he’s evil, but because he can’t feel anything. He’s watching the world around him, trying to emulate the proper emotional responses, because he doesn’t have any himself. Sam hasn’t been necessarily evil, he’s just been emotionless and removed from humanity because he has no soul.

What I was not expecting was that ending. Dean throwing one punch, okay. Sam’s been lying to him. A couple of punches, sure. After all, by Sam sacrificing Dean to the vampires, he put not only Dean’s life in danger, but Ben and Lisa’s as well. But I was expecting the punches to end with Sammy still standing. No, Dean took him down to a bloody pulp. Off his feet, to the ground, unconscious, and Dean’s still swinging. He surely broke some bones or at least gave Sam so many bruises that he’s going to be eating his food through a straw for a while. Maybe Dean has some anger issues and he just had to let it all out once and for all. I’m not judging. I’m just saying, maybe it was a bit much. We want Dean to help his brother, not kill him. Will Sam get his soul back soon? I hope so, or at least I hope it’s not drawn out over the whole season. But at least now there’s a reason behind the creepiness.

Rating: 4 / 5 Stars