Supernatural – All Dogs Go to Heaven

Even though this week’s episode, All Dogs Go to Heaven, doesn’t advance the plot very far, it is an entertaining episode. This is the first assignment Crowley has sent them on. I have been a Dean defender, since he’s acted fairly reasonably to the strange circumstances he has found himself in this season. However, there are a few small parts in this episode where he is being a bit whiney and borderline emo. His “I can’t trust you Sam, you’re not my brother” routine is becoming repetitive and irritating. Of course, it’s natural for him to be worried about his brother and not be completely trusting of a guy with no soul, but he almost says the exact same line of dialogue every time to convey his distrust in him. This is a writing problem, since the two leads are pretty much always on top of their game.

After Dean whines at Crowley about him not being their boss, he reminds Dean otherwise. Finally, the brothers agree to take the assignment, which is to capture a werewolf that will hopefully take Crowley to their alpha. There’s a mystery of who the werewolf is, until it’s revealed that no one is. The family dog being the culprit was a nice twist. This wasn’t a case of an evil dog. A skin walker was ordered to disguise himself as a dog until he received orders to turn his entire family. The system is setup similar to a terrorist sleeper cell. It’s interesting that just about every type of monster is gearing up for a fight. Shape shifters are doing the husband doppelganger plan, vampires are using Twilight as propaganda, and now we have skin walkers acting like Al Qaeda. The next big question I have is, are they all working together to jump humans or is it going to be every type monster for itself. It’s also slightly surprising that every type of monster seems have an alpha, even the lesser known ones such as these. As someone who mainly jumped on this show during the beginning of season three, I have never noticed the show ever mentioning skin walkers before. It is intriguing how fantasy shows such as this, True Blood, and Buffy/Angel define different species in their mythology.

Usually if something’s weak between the brothers or what’s happening with the case, it’s usually the latter. However, due to the repetitive nature of Sam and Dean’s relationship lately, the case was actually more entertaining. Lucky turned out more than just being a creepy monster that liked to lick his master’s face and watch her undress. Lucky killing her brother-in-law and husband was his way of protecting her and her child. Even though it seemed like overkill, no pun intended. At face value the sympathy card for him really works, since he was supposed to be such a mistreated him that his best days were spent as a dog… that is pretty sad. The fact that he would rather turn on his pack and help Sam and Dean, rather than turning on his family, shows that he’s genuine about his feelings for them. Of course, with everything being revealed to his master at the end, it’s understandable that she’s afraid of Lucky. Him getting shot and taking a beating for her withstanding, he did kill her husband, landlord, and brother-in-law… plus he’s a monster. However, who can’t feel bad for a German Shepherd with a limp that’s doing the Incredible Hulk walk away?

Some growth is made for the Dean and soulless Sam relationship. Sam finally admits how detached from life he really is. This situation is hard to bring up without getting philosophical about what a soul is, but how human can someone be when they don’t feel guilt? Not to mention, he doesn’t feel love, kindness, grief, and other emotions. With seemingly most of the secret layers of Sam revealed he is starting to become more of a character this season and less of a plot device. I didn’t count the lines of dialogue between him and Dean, but Sam may have had more this episode and a few scenes without Dean being there. Now that Sam is starting to let his freak flag fly, perhaps Jared Padalecki now has the opportunity to play his character even more different from Sam. Now that there has finally been some honesty between the brothers, I hope that their relationship can progress past Dean saying, “I can’t trust you” all the time. Things are building up nicely plot wise, so if the characters can keep up the next episode will be back to being great.