'Supernatural' recap: Dog Daze

Either last night's episode of Supernatural was rather sleepy, or I was. The likely answer is: We both were.

But that couldn't be helped, right? After last week's massive plot reveals, twists, action, and gore, most anything was bound to pale in comparison -- unless the show surprised us with another "Weekend at Bobby's," which is still the best of the season so far. Instead, we got an episode that was neither here nor there, hot nor cold, funny nor serious. It was an episode that served a purpose only in that it probably gave dog lover Jared Padalecki a reason to hang out with canines for an entire shoot. Good for him. Meh for us.

With that said, we must remember that we get to enjoy new episodes of the show once a week. So let us make the most of it and properly examine the adventures of Robo-Sam and Sniper Dean.

As the episode opened, we caught up with Sam and Dean at yet another side-of-the-road eatery where they were once again racking up cholesterol points. Crowley popped in on them as Dean finished up a bitchy conversation with Bobby (who is on the search for a legit way to retrieve Sam's soul), and he bullied them into taking a case. Yes, Glee, you're not the only one taking on a bullying plot this week. Of course, Supernatural bullying involves threatening to put someone in hell (literally!) as opposed to putting them through it figuratively. Sam learned this the hard way when Crowley put the sizzle on his (mammoth-sized) mitten. Crowley made it clear that the brothers had no choice in his "hostage situation"; so they had to get to work. But before they did, Crowley made an agreement with them: They bag a live Alpha, and Sam gets his soul. Only good thing about this? They didn't have to seal the deal with a kiss.

Their mission was to track the werewolf Alpha, who Crowley suspected was behind a recent death and a subsequent missing heart. On the trail to their destination, Dean told Sam that he hated their predicament, and that he didn't like that Sam didn't see how wrong it was to be working for a demon. Sam claimed, however, that despite his changes, he was still himself. "Same melon, same memories, I still like the same music, I still think about Suzie Heizer." (You never forget your biology class love.) Sam said he was still Dean's brother and was determined to prove it -- too bad he wouldn't.

In fact, things would go downhill from there. Once at the scene of a second murder (in their Fed suits!), Sam played the role of the snarky, hard-talking investigator -- essentially who season 1 Dean would have been. Meanwhile, Dean looked on in confusion because of Sam's demeanor.

The next morning, the boys went to the house of a young single mom to investigate her boyfriend as a possible suspect. Said boyfriend also happened to be the second victim's brother. Upon seeing him, Dean and Sam thought he fit the bill perfectly: He was a slobby drunkard with no alibi and had grudges against both victims. He was an overall odious man -- even the family dog, Lucky, hated him. Sam wanted to bag him right away, believing him to be a werewolf who could lead them to the Alpha. Dean was less gung-ho; he suggested they trail their suspect for a night to confirm. But at the end of their mission, all they proved was that the man liked drinking, chili dogs, and bad country music. With their trail cold, they took off, unaware that they would miss all the action.

NEXT: No! No! Bad dog! BAD dog!

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