‘Supernatural’ - Swap Meat

The series hits a new low with perhaps the worst episode in its five year run

By Dan Compora

Bad. Awful. Terrible. Cliched. Boring. But one word probably best describes this episode: Pointless.

Sam (Jared Padalecki) and Dean (Jensen Ackles) travel to Massachusetts to help oust a poltergeist from the home of their old childhood babysitter. This mission turns out to be just a minor distraction though, because the real story focuses on a nerdy fast food worker named Gary (Colton James) who ends up swapping his psyche into Sam’s body.

If this sounds like “Freaky Friday,” well, you’re right. It's a pathetic usage of a familiar plot device that has been terribly overused, usually in comedies, but not always. In fact, Anne Rice uses this exact same device in “The Tale of the Body Thief,” the fourth book in her famed "Vampire Chronicles." It doesn’t work well there either. This episode is a poor attempt to make that plot work in the “Supernatural” universe, and it fails miserably.

Don’t get me wrong: ”Supernatural” regularly recycles familiar plots and stories, but usually much better than they do here. In fact, my favorite episode of the series is “Mystery Spot,” which employs the overused “Groundhog’s Day” technique of having the same day begin over and over again. That episode though, was funny, and it included one of the best secondary characters the series has employed: the Trickster (Richard Speight).

Back to "Swap Meat." It turns out that this young fellow has been dabbling in witchcraft and learned that there is a bounty on Dean’s head. So naturally, he decides the best way to catch Dean is to swap into Sam’s body. No, it doesn’t make a lick of sense. In the end, Sam gets his body back, and emerges with the realization that a “normal life,” which he experiences for about one day, was not all it is cracked up to be. The attempt to infuse the episode with some sort of deeper meaning was futile.

This episode wasn’t interesting, it didn’t feature any of Dean’s classic quips, and attempts at humor were forced to the point of being ridiculous. For instance, Gary, in the body of Sam, orders a banana daiquiri and picks up an older woman at the bar. When the bedroom scene arrives, she emerges fully equipped in bondage gear. It wasn’t funny. I’m not sure it was supposed to be. It simply didn’t make much sense or matter, so why bother putting it in there?

As much as I love “Supernatural,” I have found several episodes this year to be quite tedious. I really have only liked the episodes that have focused on the season long story arc featuring Lucifer and the Angels. In fact, it really seems like they are running out of ideas and simply stretching the season to the magic number of twenty-two episodes. If this show returns for a sixth season, they are going to have to do a lot better than this to keep this viewer tuned in.

What Worked

Bob Seger’s “Rock and Roll Never Forgets” is featured not once, but twice in the episode. Growing up in Michigan, about 40 minutes outside Detroit, it was impossible not to be a Bob Seger fan. I really enjoy the classic rock that the series usually, but not always, features.

What Didn’t Work

For the second week in a row, the episode did not tie up its own loose ends. In fact, this may have been one of the sloppiest episodes ever. So Gary gets to go home, but the death of his friend is never dealt with. Nobody even seems like they care that he died, or that a body will eventually be discovered. Plus, a demon was let loose, and again, that simply doesn’t seem to matter.

Also, the episode had too many illogical, if not ignorant moments, to ignore. A Sam is tied up in Gary’s body, and the demon leaves without killing him. Lucifer only needs Sam’s body -- so killing him in Gary’s body would have been logical and easy. Instead, the demon leaves Sam tied up, so he can escape and rescue Dean. Totally stupid.

Giving Credit Where Credit Is Due

"Supernatural" stars Jared Padalecki and Jensen Ackles. ”Swap Meat” was written by Julie Siege, based on a story by Siege, Rebecca Dessertine and Harvey Fedor. It was directed by Robert Singer.

"Supernatural" airs on The CW Thursdays at 9 p.m. ET.