The Winchesters meet some wicked witches and discover the true origin of demons, thanks to revelations on Ruby’s part.

The episode opens with a happy couple coming home from a party and if you’ve seen any Supernatural episode before, you know this isn’t going to end well. I don’t know about you, but this show now has me scared doing normal, everyday activities. Who knew that brushing your teeth could lead to bloody death? Certainly not Janet Dutton, who seems to be the victim of an ugly curse. Her death is then followed by a seriously stomach-churning maggoty curse and I am so glad I wasn’t eating while watching this episode. Ugh.

We join the Winchesters as they investigate and it seems like this will be a typical MOTW case with Dean (Jensen Ackles) questioning the evasive husband and Sam (Jared Padalecki) poking around the bathroom where Janet died and finding a hex bag, which means witches. Dean doesn’t seem too impressed with this fact and his reaction throughout the episode made me want that back story. What’s his history with witches?

The witches in question here are a coven of four suburban housewives – Elizabeth, Renee, Tammi and Amanda, perfect candidates for Wisteria Lane. Well, minus the satanic worship, which they disguise as ‘book club’. I have to say, I was a little disappointed in the show’s portrayal of witches – it seemed too typical, especially for Supernatural, which has managed to find new twists on other mythic creatures like vampires and werewolves. Also, the fact that the witches traded their immortal souls for a husband’s promotion, a pottery business and a lower mortgage rate? Lame.

But moving on...

The boys’ argument in the car and then in the motel later on is slightly unnerving - seeing Sam as the Winchester advocating the hard line on the witches. Dean isn’t liking the change either and when he brings it up with Sam again, Sam says he’s getting ready for when Dean leaves. It’s been slowly building all season but it’s still a punch in the gut when Sam lays it out there, telling Dean that he needs to turn into him in order to survive in ‘this craphole of a world’.

Ruby (Katie Cassidy) showing up and warning that there’s a powerful demon in town is when I finally clued in that this was going to be a mytharc episode. And wow, was it packed with some powerful revelations. Demons were once humans, Sam isn’t necessarily the demon ‘messiah’ but a rival to the new demon rising in the west…

Tammi (Marisa Ramirez) as the demon was excellent in her role, bringing an air of menace and snark that’s been a bit lacking in the demons this season. She reminded me of Meg (Nicki Aycox) from season one.

And what about Dean and Ruby’s conversation at the end? It seems as if they’ve reached an uneasy truce, which is interesting in itself. If seeing Sam slowly try to get rid parts that make him Sam was hard to watch, then equally wrenching is seeing the last little light of hope die from Dean’s eyes when Ruby tells him he’s going to the ‘Pit’. Ouch. Not on Supernatural, no fair breaking my heart twice in one episode!

But is Ruby telling the truth, that she remembers what it’s like to be human? Or that there’s no way to save Dean from hell? I’m not sure that I’d just trust her word on those facts. She’s said exactly what was needed to get both Winchesters to trust her… telling Sam that she can save Dean, and telling Dean that while she can’t save him, she needs his help to prepare Sam for the war to come, all the while reminding him that she’s what he could become.

It’s been seven weeks since Supernatural went off the air and just in time for February sweeps, we finally get a strong mytharc episode that asks more questions than it answers. It’s too bad that with only three new episodes left, we’re unlikely to get those answers until the writers’ strike ends.

Supernatural 3x09, "Malleus Malleficarum"
Writer: Ben Edlund
Director: Robert Singer
Guest Stars: Marisa Ramirez, Erin Cahill, Kristin Booth