Supernatural Review: "Adventures in Babysitting"

You'd figure an episode after the gut-wrenching death of fan favorite Bobby Singer wouldn't be a simple monster of the week episode, right? God I miss the days when Supernatural was a focused show. Eric Kripke please come back. This show is not the same without you. In fact it isn't even a shell of it's former self without you. It trades in the great storytelling for more of a buddy cop drama show with humor. This season hasn't had the great villain that previous seasons have had. Hell even season six at least had a few good twists and turns and the alphas were at least moderately entertaining. This season, the only episodes worth watching have been the first two and the episode with Bobby's death. Every episode minus those three, have been relatively monster of the week episodes. Now I understand they don't want to become to serialized of a show, well in their fear of that, they are losing devoted fans.

Back to the episode now. Yes it was a filler but in the beginning we see the boys mourning the loss of Bobby and obsessing over the numbers that Bobby wrote in Sam's hand. One interesting part about the beginning of the episode when the boys were recovering from the death of their for all intensive purposes, their adopted father, was the empty beer bottle. In a quick glance you could assume it is simply Dean reverting back to his old self-destructive ways but I find it more likely that it was Bobby still hanging around as a spirit. After weeks of trying to find what the numbers are and with no success, Sam decides to take on a job when Bobby's phone rings. A girl called Bobby asking for help as her father hasn't come home in some time and she suspects something has happened. Sam pleads with Dean saying it's a case that they should look at, while Dean feels the numbers are a more pressing issue as Dick Roman is highest target on his list. Dean decided to use their old friend Frank to look into the numbers, while Sam went to meet the girl that called him.

Dean met up with Frank as he had a hard time finding what the numbers were. Frank at first told Dean that this crash course he is on to finding Dick Roman will lead to his insanity or his own death and ultimately that it is unprofessional. Frank also explained that the professional thing to do would be to bury himself into work while they constantly keep surveillance on Dick until something comes up, until then there is nothing that they can do. When Frank sat down and was actually serious and not the overly paranoid freak that he normally is was a bit reminiscent of Bobby. Bobby was frequently the voice of reason to Dean, and now with him gone someone else had to break it to him. At first it was a bit awkward, but it was effective and a well done scene by both actors.

Frank did eventually find out what the numbers were, and to no surprise they were coordinates. The coordinates led to a empty field that Roman Enterprises just recently purchased. Frank and Dean tapped into the surveillance cameras watching the field to be able to know what they are up to. One of Roman's high ranking officials who we can only assume is also a Leviathan, was frequently seen at the site setting up the boundaries for something to be built there.

Sam went to the town where he received the phone call and found that the girl that called Bobby, was the daughter of a hunter. The hunter was going after a monster, that got the best of him. The monster was a new one to the mythology of the show called a vetala. It wasn't given much development other than the fact that its a combination of a vampire and a djinn. It usually kidnaps you and drains you for a couple of days while also travelling in packs, which was the hunter and Sam's downfall. They didn't realize that vetala usually travel and hunt in twos. Dean came to Sam's rescue when he was kidnapped by the vetalas, and afterwards realized that all he can do at this point is the job. He and Sam would continue saving people, hunting things, you know the family business.

I expected more. Following the episode where Bobby Singer died, I would expect an episode that would further the overall story arc of the season more than they did. After all, that's what they would do in say season four or five, but this is not the epic feel that those seasons had. This is a much more reserved season that is much more focused on alienating Sam and Dean from all of these people that have been there for them. It is a bit weak, but it's the direction the writers decided to go for the good the bad and the indifferent. Next week is another filler, monster of the week episode but as a fan of the show I would hope that eventually they will turn the corner and give us nothing but story driven episodes. I hope.