5.12 "Swap Meat" review

1. A humorous (humorose, more like) episode again, starting hysterically funny but then unfurling into a serious drama.

2. I remember the “swap bodies” idea was suggested to the show’s creator by some fans very early in Supernatural history (some convention?). It’s only in Season 5 that the writers got to use it, and, of course, they skewed it their way – not into a Sam-n-Dean body exchange, but into something less naughty. And yes, it’s high time Sam had his shapeshifter moment.

3. The whole episode is an interesting exercise in point of view technique, as we get to see the action through either Sam or Gary’s POV. It could’ve been even funnier if we saw all action through other people’s eyes, like in the teaser, so that Sam had to mimic all of Gary’s teenage-boy frolics, and Gary would copy all of Sam’s broody angst. It could probably lessen the misleading of the viewers who had to constantly remind themselves who of the two guys they were watching at each particular moment.

4. It was more of a soul/personality swap than that of bodies. The show was playing its sly tricks on the audience, with the deceptive title. 

5. It’s the second episode in a row that Sam goes under somebody else’s name.

6. Teaser. It’s ludicrous to see “Sam” with his normal physique of his 26-year old self and a mental age of a 17-year old. It makes him a himbo. And you know, Sam, maybe you should go for such spontaneity every once in a while. “You’re a stunning-looking man” – “I know, right?” sounds totally meta and makes Sam/Jared involuntarily vane. But who’ll argue against the objective truth in this statement?

7. This Crystal blonde is a man-eater. Who else would advance on a hot guy so insistently?

8. I bet Gary had a full-on man crush on Sam – why else would he borrow his body?

9. Sammy’s got a new haircut.

10. By the way, the word “meat” has implicitly sexual connotations, so you get how naughty this whole body transition thing is? This teen was literally renting Sam’s body and I bet he definitely sneaked a glance at it in every possible way. Guess many fan girls wouldn’t mind trading places with the black magic kid.

11. Check out how the body swap contributes to the ongoing idea of “vessels”.

12. And how long has it been since somebody violently broken into Sam’s body? Another protection tattoo would be a must, Sammy.

13. Dean had a crush on his babysitter, Donna. And guess John was a charmer: how many ladies across the country who would lend him a helping hand and accommodate his boys while he was away did the man have? So it wasn’t always motel rooms. And who knows, maybe there are more Adams than the boys know? *cringe*

14. Wow, Sam made his own reading lists.

15. I bet the moody chubby daughter of Donna, sitting next to her, was wondering, too, what kind of relationship her mother could have had with the guys’ father if the two of them were on such easy terms.

16. “He loved you, boys”. Now that’s a touching moment, but… like they never knew. Maybe other people saw it better than they did back then.

17. This scene was like an emotional flashback into the guys’ past, and it was especially justified in the context of this teenagers-centered episode.

18. Dean’s tense when he learns that Sam had tried to explain to their babysitter what kind of job their father had. Surprisingly, she takes it matter-of-factly while her girl is most sceptical.   

19. The actual no-brainer case, again, works as no more than a hook into the more important events to follow, and they solve it quite fast. A poltergeist, right? A haunted house? Been there, salted that.

20. “Healthquake” salad. Dean is disgusted. See what moral tortures your brother has to go through for you, Sam. And he even gives you this fork (oh so Season 1), so that you won’t have to avert your pretty eyes from your computer screen, and you don’t even say a thank you. So, get this. 

21. The “oh, you shake it up baby” line is immortal and goes straight into the Supernatural quote book. Dean had to face the humiliation of ordering this piece of pansy non-food first, and then suffer through the actual quaking of it – guess this squishy sound gets on his nerves like some psychological weapon. Twist and shout!

22. And, Dean, the last time you called Sam “baby”? And note that there is only one thing apart from his brother he calls that, his car. So, could you be more gay?

 

23. Seriously, the way this teen looks at the guys reminds me of that bloke in “Wishful Thinking” who told them they were getting it all easy, girls and all, because they were so handsome. I got it – Gary is a jealous Green-Eyed Demon.

Dean: Oh you shake it up, baby.

Gary: Dude, you called him “baby”? He’s a babe.

24. I’m so distracted by the naughtiness of this scene I’m not even making of Sam’s explanations of his case research. Who cares?

25. Their talk: “You ever think that you’d want something like that? Wife, rugrats, the whole nine?” – “Not really my thing anymore”. Wow, Sam, you’ve come a long way, baby. Cf. the last scene – “Trust me – we didn’t miss a damn thing” – “Or we don’t know what we’re missing”.

  

26. So, Sam’s been slogging away at the city’s archives all day trying to find bits and pieces on the 19^th century violent murder, and Dean? Nursing his “Healthquake” shock?

27. Wait, was that a poison darts arrow? Savages. Friggin’ stupid Cupids and psychos.

28. Psyches, more like. If you look at this “meat swap” in another way, it’s no so much that Gary took Sam’s body, it’s just that he replaced Sam’s psyche/soul in another meat suit. So, I’ll say it again, Gary jumped into Sam’s body to either (a) hunt and kill Dean or (b) because he had a crush on a cute guy like Sam. Probably both. But as long as he’s been with Dean, he came to be crushing on the elder brother even more.

29. Hi, Sam in McDonalds or whatever uniform, you look ludicrous, man. The policeman arrives and fetches him “home”, and turns out his “family”’s been looking for him. “My brother called you?” Sam, that you think your brother is your only family is endearing, but tell me, your brother ever needed the police to find you? Whatever, but Dean can teach master classes in “Looking for Missing Little Brothers” already.

30. Mirror device! “I think I’m in the wrong body” – latent transsexual impulses in here, eh?

31. It’s curious how Sam feels and sees himself as Sam (when he looks at himself and we look at him, it’s still him), it’s only in the eyes of others he seems to be Gary, and the same goes with Gary.

32. And what, Dean never worries that his cell phones are missing?

33. This whole episode feels like a precursor of Body vs. Soul theme in Season 6.

34. Dean probably thinks all of fake!Sam’s childish quirks are remnants of his spectaculacular madness from the last episode, so he’s wonderfully reserved and won’t overreact. And, Dean, Gary gives you plenty of suspicious mistakes for you to realize something’s wrong but you completely ignore them.

35. So, Gary’s mistakes are:

(a) letting the maid in the motel room,

(b) wanting to drive the Impala and then nearly crashing its rear against the dumpsters,

(c) enjoying Dean’s hard rock music,

(d) getting freaked out by stunt ghost number three,

(e) being overly enthusiastic over a good hunt,

(f) drinking together with Dean and getting drunk,

(g) eating the same food Dean is eating,

(h) being generally cheerful (the gravest one, I guess),

(i) telling Dean he’s “really… good guy”,

(j) securing a one-night stand in front of Dean

In conclusion: Dean, are you over your madness from the previous episode yet?

36. My only regret is that Sam and Dean spend so much screen time of this episode apart.

37. It’s endearing how many personal, intimate details are played out here. All the little habits you recognize a person you love by that may seem irritating in day-to-day living, but you’re going to miss them once they’re gone.

38. Physical appearance may be deceiving, while it’s the familiar soul you’re craving for. And, Dean, how many times you proved to be totally able to recognize an alien underneath your brother’s “fine packaging”? So why do your mad skills fail you now? Well, almost.

39. Jensen Ackles is doing an amazing job here with his puzzled faces. The way he shoots these incredulous, suspicious glances at Gary every time the kid acts weird – I think it’s my favourite type of his mannerisms.

40. Maybe part of Dean’s obliviousness to Sam’s fakeness is that Gary puts him into a one more “little brother who’d look up to you” situation (cf. “Sex And Violence”, “Jump The Shark”). He enjoys it, and so lets it go for a while. Even though he does attempt to find it out – when they drink together, for example, Dean almost directly tells the kid he’s not Sam: “Okay, who are you and what have you done with Sam?” Gary, like, constructs a perfect, idealistic brotherhood/family ideal Dean’s hankering for.  

41. Also, I don’t know how they’re doing it, but when we see Dean from Gary’s point of view, he’s really becoming this cool character – the tough, charming, authoritative guy that he is. Gary is totally looking Dean up (he’s a closeted fan girl). Even though he’s determined to kill Dean, it won’t prevent him from openly admiring and flattering the man. You can’t tell if his respect is fake or not, but I get it’s sincere.  

42. And Sam hasn’t been giving Dean much of such reverential attitude for a long time now, so Dean must miss it, and, hell, we kinda miss the good old days when Dean was the “big brother” in every possible way.

43. Little brothers are good for your self-esteem, Dean.

44. If anything, if only all little brothers were that enthusiastic about hunting, Dean would be eternally happy. Sam has always been the reluctant one, but to think there could have been another way…

45. Bet Dean is flattered when someone acknowledges his Impala’s perfectness.

46. And “Gary” does a terrific job portraying a wide-eyed teenager.

47. So, turns out Gary can be helpful, without even knowing it. See, the boy just can’t resist sharing his immense knowledge of witchcraft, so that he almost falls out of “Sam” character.

48. Gary actually craves Sam’s body and Dean’s company – so why would he kill Dean? Gary must have always wanted a big brother, in his turn.

59. Wait, he actually saves Dean from this ghost?

50. It’s clear that Gary’s, like, loosing himself, indulging in all these grown-up activities he hadn’t have a chance to enjoy before.

51. “You ever feel like your whole future is being decided for you?” Oh yeah, Gary (Sue), he knows it like no other.

52. Gary’s, in fact, an exaggerated version of Dean, when he was his age – chicks, beers, enjoying life. But in Sam’s body. A perfect slash girl dream, mmm. Or rather, he tries to be like Dean while he’s actually more of a Sam type. I got it – it’s an Alternate Flesh episode.

53. Sam, there’s a lesson for you here, baby. Do you never call your brother a good guy unless you’re drunk? Do you never cheer him up by being cheerful? No wonder he falls for the charms of black magic guys regularly.

54. So, Gary, you wanted to say goodbye to your frustrated virginity, but your never knew it would be that kinky? I bet he just freaked out and ran away, leaving fan girls fantasizing sadomasochistic dominatrix sex scenes. And, Sam, if he didn’t, the traces this whip left must hurt when you come back to your body, I’m afraid.

55. Sam, how does a “Star Wars” T-shirt mean the kid is a virgin? Wait, so maybe you physically feel it? God, you must be horny all the time like any teen would, poor baby.

56. Gary’s this versatile talented geeky guy, not too dissimilar to Sam. Only he’s got hell of a family to put a leash on him. *still not quite over the kinky sex scene* 

57. When “Gary” looks in the mirror, it feels like a comic picture: like, a geeky kid is looking in the mirror and he wants to see what he’d like him to be, deep inside: a sexy, hunky guy (oh Gary, if only you knew how Sam doesn’t like women anymore, and what a weird bloke’s skin you’ve entered – careful here), and when Sam looks in the mirror he sees this girly boy with brains and family issues, on his way to college, that, to a degree, he still is. Gary is like Sam’s own past personified, in a way. It’s like a dream projection of their ideal (in Gary’s case) or – possibly – true (in Sam’s case) selves. What is and what should never be.

58. Gary’s life mirrors Sam’s youth, only in reverse – steady home, overprotective parents, pressing the boy into MIT, a younger sister, and a sick habit as a way of running away from the boring, predetermined life (and Sam was developing “normal” habits to run away from his sick life). Sam’s astute description of Gary he gives to his parents – moody, occult fixations, amazing at Latin, often seen with a book – is basically Sam’s own profile. 

59. I get the feeling Dean would be happier to spend a night in a family circle, considering his nostalgising at the episode’s intro and outro.

60. Now, real Gary, your parents are probably going to take into account what Sam told them, being you.

61. When “Sam” meets Gary’s friends, the episode turns into a teenage horror all of a sudden.

62. I feel bad for Sam to be forced to talk to these stupid teens while tied down. Bet he could’ve snapped these ropes just by straining his muscles – had he been in his proper body.

63. “You’re just kids” – so what, Sam, you never knew kids can be even creepier than adults sometimes?

64. So, silly kids (seriously, their mental age is even lower than 17) inform him the demons had told them Dean’s being hunted. Sure, the demons would want to rob Michael off his vessel. They wish.

65. The Dean poster! It’s like in Season 1’s “Skin”, the episode about the shapeshifter – and, look, here we also deal with shapeshifting of sorts.

66. And, guys, listen to someone who knows, indeed, demons don’t play by human rules. Do you think they even can tell a dollar from a euro? When they say “wanted” it means it’s all the faithful’s moral duty and voluntary act.

67. Teenage demonette does her silly Trevor pal a justice. “Tastes like moron”.

68. And, Trevor, everybody knows Sam’s a “bitch”, not “jerk”, moron. 

69. It kinda shows, kids, how dangerous ignorance can be both for the people around and the ignorant ones themselves.

70. The way Dean’s all ninja-in-the-dark and knocks Gary unconscious, just as the teen is about to shoot him – rather, shoot a human-shaped log Dean had put in his bed instead of himself – it’s a very folkloric motif. By the way, the kid and Dean almost spent the night side by side. Also: when Gary first attempted to shoot Dean, Dean would actually see, unless he wasn’t busy digging, this scene as Sam aiming a gun at him, and if Gary did shoot, it would’ve been oh so symbolic. 

71. And then Dean ties Gary down – and note that from Dean’s perspective, he was tying Sam down. Fan girls would’ve given everything to have seen it through Dean’s eyes.

72. I bet Gary, in the long run, changed his mind. When he saw that demon disguised as his friend kicking Dean in the guts, and talking to him so suavely, asking him to come to the Devil with her to say “yes” to his one question, Gary, a clever kid that he is (much more so than his friends, fortunately), saw his vision of a future as a mighty man-witch was a bit rose-tinted, and backed off. Hell, he almost saved Dean again, having started to exorcise this demon.

73. The exorcism exchange between Dean and Gary was a cool scene. And the “Adios, bitch” – “It’s audi nos” final punchline goes into Supernatural quote book straight. Dean, creative Latin! Could get you in trouble, though. And note that in Dean’s eyes it all felt like he was reciting it together with his brother, so no wonder it felt so synchronic. Gary, you could have been a good hunting partner to either of the boys. The difference between them and you is, though, that they do it out of necessity and a sense of moral retribution/responsibility, while you and your pals do it for fun. It’s SRS BSNS, boy.

74. So, Gary, still, you must be a really brainiac guy, what with this Latin bodyswap incantation you made up. You don’t need black magic to be awesome in a geeky way. Come work with Bobby.

75. Home, sweet home, Sammy. How did it feel to be a kid again?

76. Dudes, you’ve just got wailed on by a pair of weeny adolescents.

77. So, Sam lies to Gary about how good his life is, or does he? “I’m telling you, kid – I wish I had your life”.

78. “I totally lied. That kid’s life sucked ass. All that apple-pie, family crap?” It’s interesting how radically Sam’s perspective has shifted by now. Once he was this wide-eyed kid himself, dreamt of a happy home, and Dean was averse to the idea of normalcy, but now they’ve, literally, swapped POVs – now it’s Dean who’s wistfully considering the possibility of such quiet family life could be good (“We don’t know what we’re missing”), after all, when Sam’s all against it, and the hours he’d spent in this “domestic” environment with Gary’s family only enhanced his aversion. And know what? I kinda like it, ‘cause, come on, Sam’s a hero, and that means he should be proudly alone.

79. “Hey, come on, man, turn it down” – “Welcome back, Kotter” (and the song immediately goes – “Come back, baby” – nice continuity). It’s probably the first time Dean is happy to hear that. Oh Dean, you won’t trade your Grumbly Young Man for anyone.