Note: This review WILL contain spoilers. You have been warned.
This episode seems to have people heavily divided, either hating it or loving it, but it is deserving of neither. It is a classic episode that hearkens back to the early seasons of Supernatural, where the main story arc is put on hold while the boys hunt down a new and unusual threat and try to source its history within some random small town.
Unfortunately for this episode, the history of the creature(s) in question is left as question mark with a dismissive shrug by the writers, who say, "They're Mexican I guess." The creatures are supposedly giant, Cicada spirit creatures that develop for 27 years underground and then show up top-side for few days of a gleeful procreation-focused orgy, before putting their offspring underground and then dying off. An interesting enough idea, but then why were the giant cicadas so damned violent and angry?
They of course needed to use humans as breeding husks, making for a creepier and more lethal monster, but it was a perfect opportunity for some hilariously awkward scenarios with the Winchesters constantly happening upon copulating couples before they fully realized what they were fighting. Sure, we need the monsters to be monsters and be wantonly slaughtering people, but they don't need to always be mindless savages. The show has plenty of those creatures, passing up an opportunity for a more human and relatable monster is a mistake. When the creature's behavior, no matter how awful, is somewhat understandable, it lets us explore the morality of the hunter lifestyle and the Winchester's "kill them before they kill you" attitude.
I liked the LGBT theme of having a same-sex couple as a pair of hunters and I'm glad they didn't take the easy, "sexy", way out by using two female hunters. However, Cesar and Jessy were the most chaste couple I've ever seen. If ever there was a time for a reassuring and romantic kiss, it is when your partner has finally ended his 27 year revenge crusade for the killer of his brother, not to mention at the viking pyre of the same brother. This as odd as Jet Li's missing kiss from Aaliyah in 2000's Romeo Must Die.
That all said, I've been waiting for Supernatural to have a same-sex hunter couple and Cesar and Jessy had the makings of an interesting one. It would be nice to see them return on the show. Or maybe the show is going to reveal that Bobby and Rufus actually had a bit of a romantic relationship.
In the end, this is a solid but not stand-out episode. It had some good humor at the beginning, but grew more and more serious as the episode ran on. It had some good plot motivations, but ultimately fell down on providing a satisfying origin story. It missed some great opportunities, but also checked off some satisfying boxes, both in providing a new and interesting villain and with a maturely, if chaste, handling of a comfortably LGBT couple.
The episode proves that the show still has new ground to cover and that there is still steam in the old, monster-of-the-week format that the show was built upon.
Carry on my wayward sons, I hope to keep watching your adventures for years to come.
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