Supernatural: Malleus Maleficarum

Dean: "So the devil may care, after all."

They just did Fatal Attraction, The Craft, The Witches of Eastwick and Fight Club. (First rule of Book Club is, you do not talk about Book Club.)

I liked a lot about this one. It was rip-roaring and fast-moving, and it grossed me out. And they just expanded the Supernaturalverse again, as they continued to blur the line between human and demon. Apparently, all demons were once humans who were changed by what happened to them in Hell. They even explained what was going on with Sam in a way that made sense: Sam wasn't changed by his death and resurrection, after all. He's just trying to be more like Dean, because he knows he's going to lose him.

They also continued to build up the sense of inevitability about Dean's future trip to Hell. Is this build-up intended to get us emotionally freaked so that when Dean doesn't really go, we'll be relieved and grateful and not bitching that they didn't follow through? Or will Dean actually go to Hell? And even more intriguing, will the audience go with him? (I can hear Xander saying, "You've been to Hell. They have one-bedrooms, right?") This show has made so many original and daring choices. They might actually do it.

Like "Red Sky at Morning" with Bela, this episode was probably intended to get us to like Ruby. Didn't work for Bela. But – surprise – it worked with Ruby, at least for me. I think I like her now. I think she just proved herself in a great big, honking way. She's really on the side of the angels. Or at least the humans.

Bits and pieces:

— Malleus Maleficarum is the title of a book written in 1486 that was intended to prove that witchcraft really did exist.

— Ruby was a witch when she was human back "when the plague was big," which would be what? The fourteenth century? She became a demon but continued to care about humans, which she said was rare. Will John Winchester turn into a demon? That would be an interesting way to bring him back, wouldn't it?

— Lots of comparing witches to whores, which would make demons pimps. There was a definite sexual vibe between Tammi and Ruby, too.

— I wanted Elizabeth to make it. Too bad.

— That thing with the teeth. Bleah. That's primal, and absolutely guaranteed to make the audience cringe. Doesn't losing teeth in a dream mean something specific and symbolic, too?

— The lights and/or electrical things always dim when Ruby shows up. Has that happened with other demons? Have I just not really registered it?

— The knife and the gun didn't work on Tammi, at least when she could see them coming.

— Tammi said that there was a new leader rising in the west who hates Sam.

— This episode was written by Ben Edlund, who also wrote "Bad Day at Black Rock." He's fabulous. Super creepy as well as super funny, and very dead on with the characters. He's becoming my favorite Supernatural writer.

— Ah, the Conquistador Motel. Weird pseudo Spanish red stucco hacienda kitsch, with a mural. Detective Bachman and Detective Turner. If Bobby were along, he could have been Detective Overdrive.

Quotes:

Dean: "I hate witches. They're always spewing their bodily fluids everywhere."
Sam: "Pretty much."
Dean: "It's creepy. You know, it's downright unsanitary."

Dean: "Why does a rabbit always get screwed in the deal? Poor little guy."

Sam: "Her house was littered with satanic paraphernalia."
Dean: "It was a regular black sabbath."
Elizabeth: "But she was an Episcopalian."
Dean: "Then we're pretty sure she was using the wrong Bible."

Dean: "We kill her before she kills us."
Sam: "Kill her with what? The gun she fixed for us?"

Sam: "If she wants us dead, all she has to do is stop saving our lives."

Dean: "What was that stuff? God, it was ass. It tasted like ass."
Ruby: "It's called witchcraft, short bus."

Tammi: "Nice dick work, Magnum."

Tammi: "You're really telling me you threw in your chips with Abbott and Costello here?"

Ruby: "It's not philosophy. It's not a metaphor. There's real fire in the pit. Agonies you can't even imagine."
Dean: "No, I saw Hellraiser. I get the gist."
Ruby: "Actually, they got that pretty close. Except for all the custom leather."

Three out of four stars,

Billie
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Billie Doux adores Supernatural which is a good thing since apparently, it's eternal.

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