After all the talk of good vs. evil, angels vs. demons, God vs. the Devil these last few episodes… it’s kind of nice to have a classic Monster of the Week (MOTW) episode this week. And like all good MOTW episodes, “Metamorphosis” is at its best when the tragedy of the monster finds echoes in the Winchester family’s current situation.

To begin the episode, we continue from last week’s cliffhanger, when Castiel told Dean he needed to stop Sam from going down a dark path. He threatened that if Dean didn’t do anything to stop his brother the angels would take matters into their own hands. Dean races off to the address where Sam is, arriving in time to see Sam, in the company of Ruby, use his psychic powers to send a demon back to hell. Dean’s reaction is… intense to say the least, and Sam has to step in to stop him from killing Ruby.

Dean stalks off, and when Sam finally returns back to their shared motel room, there’s a knock-down, dirty fight where the brothers argue about Sam using his powers, and Dean even punches him (twice!).  Sam argues that he saves people by using the powers – the people usually survive his way of exorcising demons, as opposed to using the knife, which kills the demon but also the person they’re possessing. Dean uses several low blows against his brother, first by saying that God and the angels don’t want him using the powers, and second, that if he didn’t know him, he’d want to hunt him.

See, when I watch this part, I can kind of see Dean’s point, but overall I’m more on Sam’s side during the argument. After all, the show has used psychics (Missouri, Pamela) in the past and there’s never been any mention of hunting them. I suppose the argument might be made that their skills weren’t demon-tainted but then again, do they know that for sure?  As Dean said, it might be slippery slope, but in terms of dismissing the skills out of hand that could help save lives… I don’t know.... his reaction seemed kind of kneejerk.  Anyway, I’m sure this isn’t the last that we’ll see of that argument over the season.

Moving on the case this week- in the middle of their fight, Sam gets a call from an old hunter named Travis, who the boys know from back in the day (although I’m pretty sure he’s never been mentioned before in canon?). Travis wants them to keep an eye on a guy named Jack, who has developed a rather intense case of the munchies.

Turns out that Jack is a Ruagaru, a supernatural creature that looks human for the first thirty years of its life, and then changes into a monster hungry for human flesh. Travis killed Jack’s father back when he first changed, but he wasn’t able to track down Jack to finish the job because his biological mother had put him up for adoption.

As the brothers discuss the case with Travis, two different opinions on how to deal with the case emerge. Travis and Dean, while they don’t like the idea, believe that it’s inevitable that Jack will give in to temptation and eat human flesh, leaving them no choice but to burn him alive. Sam, on the other hand, thinks that Jack can hold off his cravings and never take that bite of human flesh, therefore never turning into the monster. 

On their way to inform Jack of the fact that he’s turning into a monster (wouldn’t that be a cheery conversation?), Sam and Dean finally touch on the issue that’s been present all episode, running underneath all their decisions. The issue is about choice. Sam makes the point that he has demon blood in him, and that’s one thing that he can’t ever change, but what he does have a choice in is how he uses the skills given to him by the blood. That’s <i>his</i> choice. Dean acknowledges this, but there’s still tension between them.

The conversation with Jack goes about as well as expected, and is further complicated by the fact that after Sam and Dean leave, Travis drops by and ties up Jack and his wife, deciding that he’s going to finish the job and burn them alive. Travis wants to kill Jack’s wife, not because she’s a monster too, but because she’s pregnant with Jack’s child. (Apparently the option of abortion doesn’t occur to Travis, or should I say, the writers on Supernatural?) Jack hulks out though, finally giving in to the monster inside and he starts eating Travis. His wife freaks out and runs screaming out of the house… which is understandable. Sam and Dean show up, get thrown around by Jack and despite a last minute attempt by Sam to convince Jack it isn’t too late, the episode still ends with Jack being burned alive by Sam.

Chalk up one point for the non-choice side.

But on the other hand, Sam telling Dean that he’s making the choice to stop using his powers… I’d say that’s at least a counterpoint for the yes-one-does-have-a-choice-side.

I imagine in the coming weeks there’s going to be plenty of those one-ups by both sides of the debate.

Episode 4x04,"Metamorphosis"
Writer: Cathryn Humphries
Director: Kim Manners
Guest stars: Genevieve Cortese, Dameon Clarke, Ron Lea, Joanne Kelly