Season 10 Episode 4 – “Paper Moon”

After a disappointing turn last week Supernatural tries to go back to the roots of family drama with a monster story backdrop as Sam and Dean go on an old fashioned hunt for a werewolf.

I’ve made no secret of the fact that I was annoyed by the swift resolution of the Demon Dean story and I do still think it’s a big mistake to part with such an interesting story so soon. There is of course the possibility that it’s all a trick engineered by Crowley but we had a similar twist last season so I hope they don’t go down that route again.

One thing I will credit this episode with on a conceptual level is taking the show right back to basics. There are no scenes involving Crowley, Castiel or any of the baggage their plots bring to a given episode. It is as it was way back in season 1 with the two brothers working on a case together while interacting in various ways.

In practice this didn’t really work for me because I feel that too much has gone on for this show to go entirely back to basics in this way. There were many scenes where the brothers discussed their current situation as well as reminding the audience that the Mark of Cain is still a thing that will cause them problems but ultimately they are still treading well worn ground. I did like the recurring gag about Dean being a demon but it seems a little soon to be joking about that. I do find it refreshing that they were having an upfront conversation without any secrets for the first time in a good few years. These candid discussions have a lot of potential to become interesting but never quite get there.

The monster story fails to impress as well. It involves the return of Kate (Brit Sheridan), a werewolf who first appeared in the season 8 episode Bitten and was subsequently let go because she was deemed to not be a threat at this time. It seems that her return was orchestrated that the audience would recognise her and instantly relate to her in some way but for me it falls flat as I could barely remember who she was nor could I remember the episode well enough.

It doesn’t help that the episode tosses in the standard trope of making it look like she’s responsible for the killings and then revealing that it actually wasn’t her but she was chasing after someone she feels responsible for. In this case it’s her sister Tasha (Emily Tennant) who was turned by Kate following a fatal car accident. You can pretty much guess where it goes from here. Kate is hell bent on protecting Tasha but ends up realising she is beyond help. I’m sure the Supernatural writers could write this sort of episode in their sleep as there are no surprises here. Any emotional weight the events might have are ruined by their complete predictability.