Supernatural: S08E03 - Heartache.

Come on, please be good, please be good!


This week the brothers find themselves chasing bodies which keep turning up with the hearts literally ripped out. Once again though, the brothers going on this case causes a series of continuity problems. Remember, despite never seeing them, Supernatural's world is supposed to be full of hunters, the brothers have a kind of important mission like finding the prophet of God and sending every demon back to hell and throwing away the key, so Dean's whole speech about 'The brothers are back, we kill and walk at the same time' bullshit is just that...bullshit, you have an important mission, just because a week has passed without results, doesn't mean you drop it to do a job other hunters could do anyway. I know it feels like it, but you aren't meant to be the only Hunters in the world, priorities guys, Jesus.

Despite the stupidity, it's nice to have the Brothers back on a case. Supernatural has always worked best as a monster of the week show and Heartache comes with a pretty well paced, interesting mystery that doesn't seem to be pushing the show to tear at the seems like so many episodes have done in the last few seasons previous. This feels like a very classic episode of Supernatural, in tone and humour - we even get the classic character development chats in the car again and sitting around in weird looking motels. Plus they kept the stakes high enough so that the episode didn't feel out of place after all the God, Alpha and Leviathan slaying they've been doing for the last couple of seasons.

What is the bad of the week? Technically there isn't one exactly, just a guy who made a deal with a God, again, sadly but an interesting one - The Maya God of Corn, although it sounds silly, this God was particularly powerful apparently because of the importance the Maya's put on maize. After the guy eventually kills himself, his transplanted organs carried the spell the God put on him to the people who got the organs causing them to continue the ritual. However, the heart is the key, so the brothers have to take down the woman who got the heart and it all ends.

The final concluding fight was slightly more satisfactory than normal too, I mean sure it was as superficial as ever, but they at least pretended Dean was in danger, rather than just running in, blowing on the God and winning without a scratch.

This week Sam is the dick as he is back to looking at options for a life outside of Hunting, because you know, saving the entire planet doesn't mean quite as much as getting a degree! Wait... I mean sure, it fits into Sam's character from early Supernatural but Sam has changed a lot since then...but then this is Supernatural, character development? Fuck that! And I mean they do try and make it make sense of it, but it also makes Sam come across extremely shallow and selfish.

Maybe it's a coincidence but there is another Thor reference in this episode. What is it with this season and Thor? Is he going to turn out to be the big bad or what? Weird. I guess they had a God in this episode and a God in the last one, is God's like the thing this season? Considering how easily Lucifer tore through the God's and how little threat Osiris or Chronos ultimately granted, I'll be interested to see how they make God's a genuine threat.

The biggest problems with Heartache is the overarching plotline sandwich wrapped around it. In itself Heartache is basically a filler episode but is still one of the best episodes of Supernatural in a very long time. I guess that says a lot. Heartache feels very much like a callback to the Supernatural glory days and I enjoyed the hell out of it. I'm also interested in what all this Thor and God business is about, maybe this season does have a chance, after all.

Pros;

• The case.
• The bad of the week.
• The case itself is a pretty decent mix of classic and modern Supernatural. We have a classic case and feel to the show, but the bad of the week is a powerful spell cast by a God which is much more fitting considering the foes we've had for the last few seasons than if they just went for a normal monster. It's clever and worked and I enjoyed it.
• The episode was well paced and wrapped up excitingly. 

Cons; 

• Why did the brothers even go on this case? 
• Are they really just gonna take turns highlighting one brother as a dick every episode? I'm three episodes in and I thoroughly dislike both Sam and Dean.

Think About It!

-Locke