Supernatural - 6.02 - Two and a Half Men - Recap

So I’m sitting here recovering from a bad haircut (thank god for HATS!), and thinking thank god for television and attractive people who can’t see me! More on topic, “Two and a Half Men” turned out to be a great episode, with both humour and mystery, and lots of brotherly bonding time. We’re introduced to probably a big part of the season arc, and it’s all very exciting. Let’s take a look at it…



Cause young blonde women never die on television…

The episode opens with the redshirts of the week, this time a young (blonde, of course) woman and a baby... and of course you know that at least the baby will survive because television doesn't kill babies unless it's Battlestar Galactica. The woman, however, is brutally slaughtered in front of the poor thing, and then the monster makes off with it. Cue mystery!

After the credits, Dean and family have moved to a new house, and Ben is not happy about it. When I was young I loved moving house so this is strange to me... but it shows the tense mood. They’re hiding out, and Dean’s pretty much got his new family on house arrest: he even orders pizza to stop them going outside. It’s causing friction, and Ben especially is not happy.


It's the Sam & Sam show

Meanwhile Sam is playing Mulder sans Scully and investigating the house where the murders happened. He's got Samuel on the other end to bounce his ideas off of, and I'm thinking… sure, this works, who needs Dean anyway? lolz sarcasm.

Dean catches Ben with one of the guns from the Impala, and it's an interesting parallel: as a young boy Dean did everything he could to protect Sam from the hunting world and let him stay a kid for as long as possible, and now he's got a second chance with Ben to keep him innocent. Except again, Dean is fighting a losing battle, and he knows it.

He is so desperate to keep Ben from following in his footsteps, yet that tarp won't cover Dean's past, his yearnings to go out there and do something, not lay low and hide out.

"What did you do?" Lisa later asks him. She's very, very patient – Dean really shouldn’t let go of that one, because most women wouldn't have that patience no matter how attractive the guy was. But she keeps a level head, and stands her ground. He's trying to protect them yes, but he's beginning to scare her. Poor guy, there is no win in this situation.

The first half of the episode really felt polarized: we had Dean and family on one side, while Sam is off being Supernaturaly, solving cases old-school style – but solo. He breaks into a house to find another incarcerated family and a missing baby. After being attacked by a shapeshifter (who'd have guessed it - oh wait, we were clued in in the previously on, which gave us a brief backstory), he discovers something shocking. Suspense.

This is apparently too much to handle, and Sammy Sr. isn't going to cut it. Sam calls Dean. "I just need you with me on this, okay?"

And the suspense is kept up because they haven't told us what's going on..... Sam and Dean meet under moonlit skies, and: it's a baaaaby! lol. I was expecting it but it was still funny. Obviously this was one of those gimmick episode like “Sam and Dean investigate a movie set” or “Sam and Dean go to a fan convention”, but I happen to really like this kind of episode so I was all ready for some baby-related humour. It turned out to be very underplayed, maybe because the writers were scared of the farce-label, but I still found the storyline really enjoyable. As we’ll talk about later it showed us a new, very pleasant side of Dean that has only been hinted at before, and allowed for some brotherly interaction that we’ve all been craving.

For some reason, the brothers decide to hold onto the baby rather than give it to the authorities. Given that they don’t know there’s anything special about him at this point and that it’s not obvious that they think the shapeshifter is targeting it, it’s a bit random. Obviously we know now that Sam held on to it for a reason, but I wonder why Dean didn’t question why Sam basically just napped it and claimed it for himself.

But this is a case Dean can not hide out from. A child’s safety is a touchy subject for obvious reasons, and so Dean shows Lisa how to use a gun, and heads out. Just this once... we hope, NOT.

Lisa was just awesome this episode wasn’t she? She’s not clingy, or unreasonable: in fact she wants him to go, she gets that he has to do this. They kiss and he leaves. I feel bad for her, and proud of the writers: at least their tactic of making Dean fans tolerate a special woman in his life is working on me so far.


So now we know what Dean and Sam would...name their baby...?

Of course, Dean and Sam have to go get some baby stuff, for the lulz. "Dean, make it stop!" was probably the best line of the episode. And of course when Dean a few moments later just says "aaaaaah" along with the baby, haha.

When the “old lady” asks what the baby’s name is, Sam says John, while Dean says Bobby. I KNOW it's just throwaway and cute, but I can't resist. Here's their psychological reasoning, the abbreviated version:

Sam = John: like I mentioned last week, Sam is a lot more like their dad than he probably realised growing up, and this was a main reason why they were always butting heads. After John's death, all the anger melted away and Sam became obsessed with doing what John would have wanted, and realised how right he had been (unlike Dean, who stopped following his dad's words so blindly and began to realise his mistakes). Sam misses John and has almost made him a saint in his mind, so naturally he would name his son in John's honour.

Dean = Bobby: as a massive Bobby fan I have no qualms in saying that Bobby has been just as much if not more of a dad to the boys than John managed to be, and he has really earned the right to be in the running for namesake. After John's death, Bobby was always there, and him and Dean had some epic bonding time over the years during Sam's dark periods: first when he started to get his visions and later when his powers developed. Add to that the negativity and resentment Dean has developed towards John, the choice of Bobby is clear.

Anyway, moving on. I like to note here how the writing very carefully steers clear of the "two dads" comments that would in earlier seasons have been joked around with like crazy. Damn it, over-enthusiastic fan base, you've made the writers weary. The early seasons were full of over-the-top innuendos like butt-slapping and assumptions that they were a gay couple, but honestly, I get why the writers don’t really want to do that anymore. I still miss it though, it provided some of the best comic relief in the series.


Family man – but which family’s man?

The nice old lady who offers to change Bobby-John's diaper is, as the security cams so handily reveals, the baby hunting shapeshifter. She makes a run for it, but luckily the brothers get her. Dean doesn't get to stab her but they do get away, still with the baby. Yay.

Next scene sees Sam and Dean back in a motel room working together to solve yet another supernatural case, and MAN I know it only happened last season but doesn't it feel like forever ago? I loved their easy, natural working together this episode, showing exactly how it should be and how we all want it to be. What worries me is that last year, I remember vehemently reassuring you all and myself that the brothers’ massive falling out was only a means to a very happy, mushy, brotherly loving end and well… that didn’t exactly happen. The reunion was lackluster at best, and this time I just can’t get my hopes up that we’ll get that all-important lightbulb moment where the brothers realise they mean everything to each other and can’t live without the other so… I’m not gonna promise anything this time. Just hope a tiny hope and cross my pinky fingers. Which, fyi, makes typing very hard.

Dean turns out to be really good with baby BJ, and Sam is surprised. I suppose it isn’t all that surprising, I mean Dean did spend all his life taking care of Sam, but I suppose there is one important difference: Dean is really starting to become a family man... moving further away from Sam and the lifestyle he’s always known in the process. He’s “father material” now, which implicitly means that he’s no longer “brother material”. It’s bittersweet. It also highlights the interesting conflict of interest which Dean is facing, between the life he never had that he always wanted, and the life he used to have which he’s always fought to keep. As we’ll see later though, there is a third (cheating :P) option…

"When I think about the way we grew up... I don't know, I kind of feel like I have a chance to do something different with Ben, you know?"
"You sure about that? Look, you clearly care about the kid... but moving them around? Keeping them on lockdown... how is any of that different from how we were raised?"

Sam points out that Dean is turning into John - something the "Bobby" comment in the supermarket earlier indicated is the last thing that Dean wants. Again showing us the difference between Sam and Dean, how Sam is like daddy and Dean is like mommy, and also of course shows just a basic character trait of Dean’s, a resentment towards the dad he spent his whole life taking orders from, and who he is now dreading moving towards. Ironically his other option is embracing his mother’s family, something else he doesn’t want to do. Ahh, so confusing! Poor Dean. What would you guys do in his shoes?


Baby blues. Or whites. Or browns. But never mind all that, look how cute it is!

Sam finds another clue: one father of a missing baby is still alive. Dean stays with the baby while Sam goes alone. And Dean...gives the baby some alcohol? Father material, my butt.

So... here's what's been happening, the shifter's been impersonating husbands, impregnating women and making shapeshifter babies that he's now collecting! And the baby, well... it shapeshifted! Hilarious scene.

The shapeshifter comes for his kid, and says that the child should be with his father - "our father." Huh? My first theory (after “omg Dean is adopted wtf!!???”) was that he meant “our Father” as in God, which would have been neat in a way cause we still haven’t found that guy, but also annoying cause I was getting kind of sick of the OTT religiousness… but as we later learn, he meant a general shapeshifter father. More on that later (I like saying this, it makes me feel like I’m in HIMYM).


The Bell Tower. There, that’s your insightful high culture reference of the week. Don’t worry, I’ll reference Buffy later.

Sam decides to take the baby to Samuel, and Dean isn’t happy with that one bit. They enter the house and you can literally feel the friction in the air... very eerie, I like it. Also note how Dean will hand the baby over to Sam, but not to Samuel. But Sam hands it on no problem. And Samuel... propositions to raise little Bobby John. Raise him to become a hunter. Was I the only one just completely confused by this statement? Sure, we’re back from the dead and hunters and on the road and crazy, but let’s keep this monster baby! Of course Samuel has his own agenda, and we know from last week he needs monsters for something, but I do wonder why not even Sam found this strange, even in his semi-sentient state.

Luckily Dean has a brain, and doesn't trust the Campbell family, and the mystery surrounding their appearance. He wants to take the baby, but Christian and the girl whose name I can't spell are handed the baby by Samuel - so we're presuming they're not brother and sister then? Cause um, I wasn’t really sure what was going on there. (NOTE: thank you Jillyanne for clearing up that Arlene, Christian's wife, and Gwen, his sister, are two different people. I must have missed that one.)

But just as the happy little fake family celebrates in their natural, gloomy state, Fake!Samuel appears. He can’t killed by anything, knives or darts or bullets, and a Campbell brother is killed. Sadness. Lol, or not. How anticlimactic.

Dean and Sam hide out downstairs with the baby, and fake!Sam appears. What happened to the people upstairs? Huh. Well he turns into Dean, but not in the normal shifter way. He takes the baby... and disappears. And well, we couldn't actually have the little guy in the rest of the series so I guess it had to go one way or another, but I'll miss it.

Samuel has a super-mysterious-and-suspenseful phone call. Ooooh.


And the Big Bad iiiiis…. a repeat!

So the super shapeshifter is an ALPHA - a "king shapeshifter." Apparently in the dawn of time there were these things called ubervamps supermonsters and then they were polluted over time and now they’re just regular vampires monsters as we know them… and you know what, Buffy’s already fought this thing and won so maybe Sam and Dean should give her a call. But hey who cares if it’s been done before, it's a pretty damn good storyline! And I’m sure everything is going to tie together very nicely, I can’t wait to see how the resurrections are involved.


Also, Sam was using the baby as bait... again showing hints to how jaded and devoid of feeling he has become. I’m keeping a Sam!watch, and hoping for an answer or elaboration on this theme soon.


Here Dean, have your freedom and eat some pie too! Or… something.

Lisa and Dean have a chat. Dean maintains that he wants to stay with her and Ben, but Lisa knows that Dean isn't a construction worker. He's a hunter, and he needs to be with his brother. She knows that Dean is torn, between "normalcy", and a life on the road with Sam. And here's a nice, conservative solution to get Dean on the road with Sam without him becoming the jackass who left his family and responsibilities behind: Lisa and Ben will placidly stay behind and wait for him, while Dean can do whatever the hell he wants. So I guess that's 1 - Winchesters, 0 - feminism... but screw that! Rejoicing time! Also leaving the potential Ben Winchester/demon blood storyline open for future revisiting, and I’m actually very interested to see more about that, so I’m okay with the convenient sidestepping of Dean having to make an actual choice.

And, yay, the Impala is BACK baby! Awesome ending, at least whatever happens, Supernatural’s still bringing the rock and roll to our TV sets! I’m gonna put on a cap to cover my truly awful hairdo, rock on out of here to the sweet sweet music, and see you all next week!