Supernatural – Recap & Review – Dark Side Of The Moon

photo: the cw

Supernatural
Dark Side Of The Moon

Original Air Date: Apr 1, 2010

Nicola – Associate Staff Writer
nicola@thetwocentscorp.com

Dean wakes up on the wrong side of the bed… the side with the shotgun. Sam has already woken up to the worst day ever. A couple of fellow hunters are out for blood, a little testy with the whole apocalypse situation and all. So, because revenge solves everything, they blast the brothers away.

Dean wakes up in the Impala. Some dream! Fourteen-year-old Sam comes running out of the night with an arm full of fireworks and the brothers have a moment where they enjoy bonding and, for Dean, remembering one of the good times growing up. Sam runs off again and Dean gets back in the car, where Cas begins talking out of the radio (how many people are going to use the car as a vessel before the car gets its own voice?). He tells Dean that this is not a dream – it’s heaven. Ahh, now it’s all coming back. But where’s the real Sam?

The real Sam is in his own memory, back at Thanksgiving when he was eleven, with the family of a schoolmate. Dean drags him out of there and explains what happened. And then they tune into everyone’s favorite television personality, Castiel! He tells them that Zacheriah wants to return them to their bodies on Earth so they can say yes to Michael and Lucifer, so they really need to be looking for a way back elsewhere. They need to find Joshua, an angel who talks to God. They need to follow the road to the garden to find him so they can learn about God’s plan.

They try to leave the house and now there’s a forest – no road. Dean looks in the closet and finds a Hot Wheels road with a little car instead (why does Dean always end up in the closet?). There’s a flash and suddenly…

…they’re back in their childhood home. Dean is wearing a ludicrous t-shirt (he wuvs hugs) and his mother seems to think he is four years old. Dean is enjoying being four with his mom, but Sam is neglected and wants to move on. Then they find a picture of a road and sail away again.

They’re in a house in Flagstaff where Sam evidently ran away to on Dean’s watch when he was young. They step outside and suddenly they’re somewhere else at night. It’s the night Sam left for Stanford. This is obviously Sam’s heaven, and that says a whole lot of bothersome things about Sam, doesn’t it? His happiest memories are the times he spent away from his family. Then the light comes down from the sky and they have to run away from Zacheriah, who of course finds them anyway. But before he can do anything a dude in a luchador mask pops up and leads them out of danger. They end up in bar that looks like the Roadhouse, and the luchador is rocking a pretty gnarly mullet… Ahh, old friends!

Ash is enjoying his heaven. According to him, everyone has his or her own heaven. Except for in special cases – soul mates, for instance, can share heavens. Ash is special and can jump through heavens. He can also listen in on the conversations of angels through his special computer. He tells Sam and Dean that he’s found them in heaven before, which they don’t remember. He keeps his eyes and ears open for friends, but he didn’t know Jo and Ellen were dead. He also hasn’t been able to find any evidence of John or Mary.

But he has seen Pam, who’s here to greet the boys! She shows a bit of resentment towards the men who got her killed, but overall she’s happy to be in heaven – it’s better than Earth. But Dean doesn’t like that they’re just running around in a fake world controlled by angels. Also, it seems lonely to him, to be alone in your heaven.

Meanwhile, Ash does something clever on his computer and finds a road to the garden. Dean and Sam say goodbye to their dear friends (hope we don’t see you soon!) and hit the road. They end up back at home with mom, who’s not quite as nice this time around. That’s because she’s the yellow-eyed demon! Or maybe this just isn’t pure, unadulterated heaven anymore. She’s taunting Dean by telling him that everyone leaves him in the end. And of course Zacheriah’s behind this. He’s got a vendetta against the Winchesters for dragging him down the totem pole, and he’s going to make damn sure they take their rightful places as puppets for Michael and Lucifer.

Some other dude comes in and interrupts Zach and tells him he needs to talk to Sam and Dean on “The Boss'” orders. It’s the fabled Joshua, and he takes them to the garden. He explains that yes, he talks to God, but not face to face. He has a message for the boys from Him. He tells them to stop bothering with their hunt for Him, that He’s not interested. He doesn’t want to have anything to do with the fight of the angels and Lucifer. Dean says screw him, they’ll muddle through, but Joshua says that they probably can’t, now that this last nail has been hammered through the coffin of their faith, and one look at Dean’s face is enough to know that’s true. Joshua sends them back to Earth, this time with their memories.

They wake up back in the hotel and call Cas. Cas looks like someone kicked his puppy when they tell him God doesn’t care. He curses the sky, gives Dean back his amulet and disappears. Sam insists that they’ll find another way to fight this battle, but Dean dumps the amulet before leaving the hotel. This is a battle that Dean’s given up on.

This was an amazing episode. I typically prefer the silly, monster-of-the-week episodes, but between the reunion of old friends and a message from God at last, I couldn’t get enough. Yes, it was desperate and heartbreaking and cruel, but after seeing the boys get battered against the rocks week after week (Dean in particular), it’s almost a relief for them to finally break.

So – God is gone. He’s left the building. He’s on an extended vacation in Barbados, don’t even bother forwarding Him His mail. Is this really what it comes down to, or is her going to come in and save the day anyway? My faith wasn’t quite as thoroughly trounced as Dean’s was. How about yours?

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