So, while I was on “on assignment” in Florida (that’s the IoM word for “vacation”), I missed not one, but TWO episodes of television’s best show, Supernatural! So you get Supernatural Saturday on Thursday (in time for tonight’s new episode!).  Both “Free to be You and Me” and “The End” were mythology-centric episodes of the series, which makes for four in a row.

“The End,” the much hyped “zombie” episode, ended up being something entirely different (which we’ve kind of come to expect from the show), while “Free to be You and Me” involved Dean and Castiel going on a buddy cop drama to find God.

Check out my review of both episodes after the jump!

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After the events of “Good God, Y’all,” Sam and Dean are no longer hunting together.  Sam is having visions of his ex-girlfriend, Jessica (she dies in the first episode), while also trying to live a “normal” life, having taken up a bussing job at a local bar.  The visions of Jessica tell him that he will never change despite his efforts.  Meanwhile, Dean continues hunting on his own and teams up with Castiel to find the Archangel Raphael.  See, God’s been missing, and, according to Castiel, Raphael knows God’s location. When they Raphael’s vessel, they lure him out, but Raphael claims that God is dead.

Sam is dealing with hunters who want his help, but find out that he’s the one responsible for letting the Devil loose upon the world.  After fighting them off, he gets another late-night vision of Jessica, who actually turns out to be Lucifer disguising himself. Lucifer says that the body he’s inherited is meant to be temporary, and that his true vessel is supposed to be Sam. He is convinced that eventually, without any trickery or lies, Sam will agree to be his vessel.

The apocalypse is moving very slowly this season on Supernatural. While I can’t say that any episode this season is bad (in fact, they’ve all been quite good), none of them have been quite worth the buildup of the last couple of seasons.  This episode brought a nice bit of humor as Sam and Castiel visit a brothel so Castiel can finally…ahem…earn his wings.  Great scene, and a welcome bit of humor after all the deep darkness of the last couple of episodes.  The Sam storyline was the real meat of the episode, though, as Lucifer reveals himself and his intentions towards Sam, and Sam has to battle with the hunters who have finally come to understand what he’s become as a result of the demon blood he was drinking last season.

Of course, as expected, the whole Sam/Dean breakup only lasted one full episode, as “The End” brings the brothers together.  This only happens after Dean is brought five years into the future by Zachariah, and told this is so that he can see what will happen if he doesn’t let Michael use him as a vessel, and what will happen when Sam allows Lucifer to use him as his.

When Dean awakens five years in the future, he is in an abandoned city and gets attacked by humans who have been infected with a demonic disease, the Croatoan virus (it’s popped up from time to time in previous seasons). Dean escapes, and discovers a group of survivors led by Future Dean, who captures present-day Dean. Future Dean explains that the virus is Lucifer’s endgame for destroying mankind. Later it is revealed that Sam didn’t die (as Future Dean suggests), but said yes to Lucifer, thus letting him in.

After getting The Colt, Future Dean plans to kill the Devil and end the Apocalypse, but it’s a trap, and Future Dean is killed by Lucifer (in Sam suit). The Devil says that whatever choices Dean will make, he will always end up in the same situation. Dean is ported back to present day and, even after all this, refuses to be Michael’s vessel. Castiel saves Dean from Zachariah’s wrath just in time and he reconciles with Sam so they can begin hunting together again.  Brotherly love!

Another solid episode, but the whole “croats” aspect of the episode felt a little underutilized.  I know that they weren’t zombies, per se, but they just looked like normal people.  And they really only popped up for less than a couple of minutes of the episode.  Other than that slight dissapointment, the whole Sam/Lucifer and Dean confrontation at the end was expertly acted and written.

Next week, we finally get back to a “monster of the week” episode, as wax figurines come to life to kill people – guest starring PARIS HILTON!