This season of Supernatural  has been full of moments that seemed to be a course correction, or at least a return to the main story arcs, only to end up being a single episode of plot progression.  “Meta Fiction” wasn’t the best return to the main story, but at least it was some kind of progress.  Just one episode later, we are right back to the kind of one-off storytelling that has been plaguing the ninth season.

 

I’ve gone on and on about how this season is suffering from “middle chapter” syndrome, so I’ll not repeat myself.  And I’ll even reserve judgment over the fact that the next episode is really a backdoor pilot for the Supernatural: Bloodlines spinoff.  Instead, I’ll just let this episode’s flaws speak for themselves.  In short, the biggest problem with this episode is that it was just plain boring.

 

Sheriff Mills is dealing with a vampire situation, and the Brothers Winchester help her deal with it.  That’s pretty much the extent of the story.  There is some slight twist in the formula, in that the vampire nest is using a gorgeous young woman to lure victims to their doom, but that’s about it.  For a show that has long since transcended the point where a simple monster hunt would be satisfying, it’s odd that the writers would toss that into the mix.

 

If it wasn’t for the momentary reference to Dean’s struggle to maintain control over the Mark of Cain, or the history alluded to with Jody Mills, this could have easily been a script taken off the discard pile of some previous season.  In fact, there’s no reason why that still couldn’t have been the case, with a quick rewrite.  It’s that generic.

 

The episode also seems to be following a trend this season of setting up supporting characters in their own potential side adventures.  Charlie is off in Oz.  Garth is now a werewolf.  Jody Mills is a vampire hunter.  It’s like a season of backdoor pilots interspersed with actual plot progression and the occasional hour of filler (a term I do not use lightly).  It’s just part of what has made this the weakest season of Supernatural to date.

 

One small thing that helped keep the episode interesting was the actress that portrayed “Annie”.  Katherine Ramdeen was utterly gorgeous, and fit the bill as a young woman of indeterminate age that could serve as bait for those with unsavory designs.  Kim Rhodes was trying her hardest to carry the episode as Jody, but she wasn’t helped by some of the most perfunctory performances from Jared and Jensen that I’ve ever seen.  Some have pointed out that this is the director’s first time with Supernatural, so it may be a case of incompatibility behind the scenes.