Episode Review : Changing Channels

This episode starts out very un-Supernatural, and more like some cheesy sitcom from the seventies. Even the opening credits are different. But hey, that was most likely their intention anyway. And it works. It's so refreshing that I can't stop watching it, and know every word from the opening theme. Perhaps that makes me a geek, I don't know, I just found it to be very catchy.

After the 'catchy' theme song, we return to the episode in a relatively more normal setting; a dingy motel room. Dean shows his more feminine side as he watches some soap opera starring 'sexy' nurses, doctors and his most beloved Dr. Sexy. And when I say 'watches', I mean he's really enthralled by it. Hell, he even knows its based upon a book, which I doubt brought in much money for the poor author.

Tearing himself away from his beloved hospital show, we finally get a glimpse of the case. And man, it's one worth writing a book about. A man got killed by...wait for it...the Incredible Hulk. When Sam goes to see the hulk-size hole through the victim's front door, he also finds candy wrappers. And there we have it; one of our favorite 'monsters' is up to his old tricks again.

Suppressing his desire to avenge his numerous deaths, Dean agrees with Sam to 'ally' with the Trickster. Now all they have to do, is wait for the SOB to show his mocking face.

A segment: 

SAM: Think about it, Dean. He's one of the most powerful creatures we've ever met. Maybe we can use him.

DEAN: For what?

SAM: Okay, Trickster's like a Hugh Hefner type, right? Wine, women, song—maybe he doesn't want the party to end. Maybe he hates this angels and demons stuff as much as we do. Maybe he'll help us.

DEAN: You're serious.

SAM: Yeah.

DEAN: Ally with the Trickster.

SAM: Yeah.

DEAN: A bloody, violent monster, and you wanna be Facebook friends with him? Nice, Sammy.

SAM: The world is gonna end, Dean. We don't have the luxury of a moral stand. Look, I'm just saying it's worth a shot. That's all. If it doesn't work, we'll kill him.

DEAN sighs.

DEAN: How are we gonna find the guy, anyway?

Responding to a strange call on the police radio, they are lured into the land of make belief. Trapped in TV-land, they have to make it through several challenges.

At first, they find themselves in Dr. Sexy, MD. Sam gets bitchslapped around too many times to be considered healthy, and Dean fangirls over Dr. Sexy.

Some segments: 

BRUNETTE DOCTOR: Doctor.

She slaps SAM.

SAM: Ow!

BRUNETTE DOCTOR: Seriously.

SAM: What?

BRUNETTE DOCTOR: Seriously? You're brilliant, you know that? And a coward. You're a brilliant coward.

SAM: Um. What are you talking about?

She slaps him again.

BRUNETTE DOCTOR: As if you don't know! 

-

DEAN sees something and just stares.

DEAN: Oh boy.

SAM: What?

DEAN: It's him.

SAM: Who?

DR. SEXY comes down the corridor.

DEAN: It's him, it's Dr. Sexy.

DR. SEXY stops next to SAM and DEAN. He looks at DEAN.

DR. SEXY: Doctor.

DEAN looks down, hiding his smile.

DEAN: Doctor.

DR SEXY addresses SAM.

DR. SEXY: Doctor.

SAM nods. DEAN whacks him.

SAM: Doctor.

DR. SEXY addresses DEAN.

DR. SEXY: You want to give me one good reason why you defied my direct order to do the experimental face transplant on Mrs. Biehl?

DEAN's expression goes from awed through confused. He glances at SAM, then back.

DEAN: One reason?

DR. SEXY nods.

DEAN: Sure.

DEAN looks down. DR. SEXY is wearing white tennis shoes. DEAN slams him against the wall.

DEAN: You're not Dr. Sexy.

DR. SEXY: You're crazy.

DEAN: Really? Because I swore part of what makes Dr. Sexy sexy is the fact that he wears cowboy boots. Not tennis shoes.

SAM: Yeah. You're not a fan.

DEAN: It's a guilty pleasure.

His 'guilty pleasure' makes it possible to sniff out the Trickster from the very start. They ask for the Trickster's help and of course, he sets some conditions. Well, one actually; survive.

Not too hard a challenge, right? Yes, it seems so, until Dean gets shot by an extra, who plays the husband of a patient. Sam is forced to operate, but doesn't have the faintest idea how to. So sticking to what he knows, he requests for a penknife, some dental floss, a sewing needle and a fifth of whiskey. This heroic display earns him his own little fangirl, Dr. Picollo. But then the scene changes and...

NUTCRACKER!!

That's right. From a hospital show to a Japanese game show. Of course, the boys don't know Japanese and Sam gets punished brutally. He gets hit in the nuts, literally!! Talk about 'ouch'.
Dean is already freaking out when the quizmaster asks him a question. He doesn't want peanut butter, he wants to keep his balls intact. And then it hits him. Out of nowhere, the answer falls from his lips...in Japanese! That's it! Use the force, Luke! It's all just part of the game after all.

As if getting bitchslapped, and kicked in the nuts isn't enough, Sam now has to admit that he has 'genital herpes'. Dean has it slightly easier during the commercial; his role limited to playing basket ball and narrating.

After another peek at the seventies sit-com with Castiel as guest star, we only learned that the Trickster is too powerful to be one. That and the fact that Castiel seems to know the Trickster from the looks of it.

The trickster tries to reason with them to play their parts. Not only in the show though, but also out there. Be the vessels you are destined to be. But of course, that doesn't go over too well with Dean, because who would really want to become an angel condom, only to be left a drooling mess after. Can I hear a 'Nobody', please? Thought so.

And then, boom, we're suddenly in a procedural cop show, which Dean despites more than anything else so far. Because not only is he wearing sunglasses at night, he's also starring in one of the 300 nameless and completely identical shows of nowadays.

Dean's mini-rant: 

DEAN: Calm down? I am wearing sunglasses at night.

DEAN yanks them off.

DEAN: You know who does that? No-talent douchebags.

SAM nods in agreement.

DEAN: I hate this game. I hate that we're in a procedural cop show and you wanna know why? Because I hate procedural cop shows. There's like three hundred of them on television and they're all the freaking same. It's ooh, plane crashed here—oh shut up.

Some cute one-liners from both our favorite brothers and then it's time for some killing. Staking the wrong guy doesn't make them blink, because Sam is still one up on the Trickster and pierces him from behind.

Finally, we are nearing the big revelation. But not before we get another parody. This time on Knight Rider, where Sam stars as a nice pimped out ride. Cruising to the all-too-familiar theme song, their brains finally start to work and they figure out the Trickster's true identity. Now they only have to confront the guy in question. 

And confront him, they do - with a nice ring of holy fire, supposedly from Sam's ass. Captured, the Trickster reveals himself as Gabriel, a runaway Archangel.

His Witness Protection Program didn't work out so good for him anymore after the brothers stumbled upon him the first time. So now, he made it his goal to teach the Winchesters a lesson every now and then. But more importantly, he just wants them to embrace their destiny, so the whole Apocalypse-shazam can be over with. He tells them a little bit more about their bloodline and just how unavoidable their destiny is.

Bringing Castiel back from whatever dungeon of horrors Gabriel kept him in, things are slowly coming to an end. But not before Dean points out what a little coward Gabriel is for not standing up to his family. Well, I guess he told him, huh?

A nice shower for Gabriel and a surprisingly non-emo-talk between the brothers, and the episode is sadly over. Now, I don't know about you, but I'm hitting the rewind button.

Catch y'all later, and if you want to watch some of the greatest moments, go here.

Shirley out!