This was a really good episode story wise. It had some really vomit inducing effects though and that is because the monster is a shapeshifter (someone who can change shape to look like someone else) and the way that he shapeshifts is he sheds and it really shows a lot more than it has to. I'm going to rate this one a little lower on the horror scale even though it has really good special effects because there's more of a slasher feel to this one. I also don't really like gore horror as much. It feels a little cheaper I think to just show revolting things to elicit a reaction. Mystery element is not so high either. It's pretty obvious what the monster is pretty early on and it's just a matter of catching it. Interestingly enough, the girl they're helping doesn't end up really being a damsel in distress, instead it is Sam who needs rescuing in this one. For that reason I'm not going to take points away for misogyny even though Dean does spend a little time ogling the main girl (Becky).
The show actually opens up with a swat team zeroing in on a crime in progress. They find the victim who is being tortured tied to a chair and she directs them to the perpetrator who is about to escape out the window. We get a good look at the guy's face and it is Dean. Then the scene cuts to a week earlier. Even though it isn't obviously a shapeshifter at first, the mystery element doesn't last long because Sam and Dean go to help Becky with her brother Zack who was charged with his (wife/girlfriend)'s murder. Becky insists that Zack was with her at the time of the murder and he'd have to have been in two places at once, but police have him on surveillance entering the apartment before the murder.
First let me talk about how this is such a good episode for Dean's character. At the start he's telling Sam he needs to cut ties because the stuff they do isn't conducive to maintaining friendships. Sam says he'd rather not be a loner like Dean. Then they backtrack 400 miles to help one of Sam's college friends. Sam lies to Becky and tells her that Dean is a policeman so that she will let them look at the crime scene. When Sam's lie comes out later, Dean tells him that's why he should cut ties. Then the shapeshifter takes Dean's body and seems to take his memories as well. Then we start getting some of the emotional turmoil Dean has been holding inside in the form of what the shapeshifter says while he is Dean.
Before becoming Dean, the shapeshifter attacks another woman as her husband but the husband comes home and catches him. Well, not catches him so much as finds his wife tied to a chair bloody and gagged and when he tries to release her she begs him not to hurt her anymore. Then the shapeshifter jumps out and knocks the guy out and we see him being hauled off while Sam and Dean hunt for clues in the Zack murder case. They decide they're looking for a shapeshifter after hearing the story the man told police of coming home to find himself attacking his wife. They also figure out how the shapeshifter is disappearing and that he sheds his skin when he changes because they find piles of human flesh in the sewer (I know, pretty gross).
After chasing it through the sewer, it gets away. Then Sam and Dean get separated and that is the first time it appears as Dean. Sam catches on pretty quick but still hesitates to shoot which results in him getting captured and hauled to the shifter's lair. While at the lair the shifter comments on how messed up Sam and Dean's lives are and talks to Sam about how Dean resents the fact that he got to go off to college and how Dean is afraid that everyone will leave him and he'll end up alone. The shifter then announces that he's going to pay a visit to Becky.
He knocks on her door as Dean and uses the old lady charmer trait to worm his way into her good graces. He tells her that they think it is a shapeshifter and says he identifies with the shifter. He talks about how lonely it must be, and how everyone else must think it's a freak. He then comes on to Becky and Becky turns him down. Then he whispers something in her ear and she calls him a freak. He then attacks. He tells him it's too bad, that he kind of liked her and he proceeds to begin her torture. Meanwhile, Sam and Dean who are tied up in the shifter's lair escape and call the police who are able to get there before Becky is killed, but who now think Dean is the attacker. The shifter does not get caught by police and escapes to the sewers where it sheds (the whole thing is super gross, I recommend fast forwarding if you're at all squeamish). They go to get their car, but there are police so Dean has to make himself scarce. Sam makes him promise not to go to the sewers alone, but Dean is Dean and he goes anyway. Sam is going to see Becky because the shifter didn't finish the job so he thinks she might be still be in danger.
Dean, however, finds Becky in the sewer. She has been bound and gagged. She tells Dean she wouldn't have believed it until she saw the shifter transform into her. Meanwhile, "Becky" is talking to Sam and he's completely off his guard when it attacks. It then transforms into Dean so it can kill Sam as him. Apparently this thing gets off on having family attack family. Of course, Dean is on time to rescue Sam and put down the shifter (who doesn't stop looking like him when it dies). The story concludes with Becky sending the boys off still in disbelief that this is what they do for a living. Dean asks about Zack Sam says that they're pinning it all on Dean Winchester because they found Zack's (girlfriend/wife)'s DNA or blood or something on Dean's clothing and so the police now think the tape has been tampered with. They expect Zack to be exonerated. On this note, the boys drive off. Dean laments that he didn't stay because "how many times am I going to have the chance to attend my own funeral".
So this episode is rated 7/10 for horror, 6/10 for mystery/suspense, (no points deducted for misogyny), side character development is very minimal. Becky's character isn't really explored a whole lot and she's really the only side character we see so I give it a 6/10 for that but another 10/10 for Dean's character development. Overall a solid 7.25/10. It would have been higher if the mystery element had been better or if the horror element wasn't mostly gore. I really liked the Dean character development in this episode, as I've said and I hope we get another good Sam episode soon as well. (Although I know there are some really interesting developments with his character as the show progresses).
Thanks for sticking with me through this review. If you liked it, check out my other reviews. Stay tuned for more (I'll try to get this season finished by the year's end but we'll see how it goes).
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