Rewatching 9-5 Dog Dean Afternoon
Sorry for the delay! I worked on it every chance I got, but my deadline was too close. Next time I'm going to give myself more time LOL
This is a comedic episode and has a lot of light scenes. However, as with the previous episode, we do find some warnings and prophetically important lines and parallel situations with Sam's possession by Gadreel/Zeke that you would fully understand only on a rewatch. There are interesting thoughts on outward appearances and reality - the mask and the face - as well as on hunters and animal rights activists, in which Dean grudgingly acknowledges and possibly changes his view of the latter after being a dog for a day.
So we start with a taxidermist being attacked and bent over backward by snake-man while his faithful German Shepherd, Colonel, did nothing but bark at the murderer.
(I like this view of the hunter through the legs of one of his stuffed animals. Also he is scared by his own stuffed bear as he looks around for the intruder.)
(I needed a picture of the tongue... :D)
Why did Colonel not protect his master (or friend as Colonel calls him later)? I have heard and seen videos of guard dogs whose owners are positive they would attack an intruder but the dogs end up just barking their head off and not doing a thing. Usually, it seems, dogs won't risk attacking someone bigger than them unless they are in a pack and know they will win. This makes those dogs (or cats) that do endanger their own lives to protect others all the more special in my mind. Also please note the parallel between possession and the work of a taxidermist - stuffing animal hides with wool(and whatever else they put in). I am quite sure that this particular victim (and his job) was very intentional.
Going on, Sam is researching for new cases while Dean has just come back from checking up on Kevin again. Kevin is still stressed out from all he experienced. Sam is like, wow he is taking a long time to recover, and Dean is like, that’s how he is. But I guess we know that Kevin’s talk with Crowley was a secret from Sam and Dean too and maybe they would understand his reaction more if they had known about it.
Sam has found the case of the taxidermist and suggests they go check it out. Dean is worried about Sam's recovery, especially after Zeke told him he couldn't heal Sam quickly if he had to bring friends back to life right and left. He tells him he should be taking it easy because he needs to recover from the trials. Sam feels fine and can’t understand why Dean is so worried. Another plot problem. If they (Dean and Gadreel/Zeke) want Sam to rest so he can recover, Zeke should have given him a fever or something that would slow him down instead of restoring his health completely. It’s like giving someone fever medication without telling them so they think they are not sick and do too much and get sick even more.
Anyway, Sam insists he is fine and Dean can’t dissuade him so they go check out the case. I love Dean putting his legs up on the table in this scene.
When they get to the shop, they find DIE SCUM painted in red on the door with a symbol of some group taking responsibility for it. Inside, they find out that nothing is missing except for animal entrails. And, that the only witness there at the time was the dog.
(Sam has some fun as he looks for hex bags :D
As far as I can understand, this "mouse" was dressed up as some character from Game of Thrones. Joffrey? :D I LOVE this scene. Sam's face cracks me up everytime, and I love Dean taking a moment to react to him as he talks with the police.
Sam and Dean confer after Dean talks with the police and hunting friend (who disposes of the entrails for the taxidermist) and Sam has a look around. They agree is seems witchy, but Sam can't find any hex bags. I’d like to mention here that I think it would be very hard to find a hex bag in this shop and that Sam could not possibly have checked everywhere.
Also if it HAD been a hex bag, Dean’s insistence of researching somewhere else just because he is disturbed by the owl looking at him disqualifies him from being a hunter (LOL). But ANYWAYS...
Sam checks out the symbol on the door once they get back to the motel. He finds that it's a symbol of a animal rights group.
S: Are those bleeding hearts witches or just hippies?
D: What's the difference?
So they go check out the group - the founders of which work at a vegan cafe.
DEAN: Always knew I’d find the source of all evil at a vegan bakery.
Some may feel insulted by Dean here - but his opinion changes later so don't judge him too harshly.
DEAN: You know who wears sunglasses inside. Blind people and douchebags.
But we find out that these people are neither. They have just been sprayed with something they thought was pepper spray but actually it is snake venom. They had gone to the taxidermist’s shop to do the sign, then scared away by a hissing sound like a snake. Then they actually bumped into a guy in the alley who had sprayed them with this stuff - obviously the actual killer. So this is where I felt there was a mask/reality symbolism - Dean goes in with the misconseption that these people are either blind (not likely) or douchebags (more likely since they work in a vegan store! LOL) and when they show their real face, he finds that it was nothing like that. They also think that people with sunglasses inside are douchebags and upset that they have to wear them.
I like what they say about hunters though, and Sam and Dean giving each other glances.
DYLAN: His business is funded by hunters, and you know how hunters are. They're selfish dicks who define themselves by what they kill.
OLIVIA:And as animal advocates, we couldn't stand for that.
SAM:So, you killed him?
OLIVIA:Of course not. S.N.A.R.T. doesn't tolerate violence.
This could refer to monster hunters too, I suppose, except for the selfish dicks part - and maybe that is similar to how Dean viewed them mistakenly as douchebags (mask/reality). It also definitely refers to this murderer who actually becomes like what he kills so this is a significant little quote.
Sam and Dean are researching, noting the fact that the taxidermist was constricted and the activists were poisoned, and no snake does both.
DEAN:Okay, so... What are we talking here, some sort of a freaky-ass snake monster?
SAM:Maybe. The weird thing is snakes either envenomate or constrict. No snake does both.
DEAN:Correction - freaky-ass mega-snake monster.
They decide to ask Kevin.
We then see the snake-man go to the pound where he has a deal with the guy at the desk. He pays him money and goes in and starts packing cats, and EATING them too! They guy sees it through the window, goes in and asks what he's doing (REALLY?) and he’s killed too.
So Sam and Dean find themselves at the pound, and see that Colonel is there too. So, he could be the murderer! Dean suggests. A shapeshifter? And until now I had totally forgotten about that infamous episode LOL I don't think it even clicked when I watched the first time - but the dog was a shepherd then too, wasn't it?
He tries the coin trick and nope. Colonel is not a shape shifter. So a witness! Colonel reacts significantly to the cowboy hat the Sheriff Is wearing and also when Dean borrows it, so we know it’s the hat, not the person. Neither the Sheriff or the boys get that the dog is reacting to the hat because of the murderer though.
They take Colonel back to the motel (Are pets allowed at motels? Just curious - I guess they are since Sam had one at the motel in Season 6 too. In Japan, usually they are not allowed - you have to choose a special pet friendly place if you want to take your pet on vacation. It sucks.) I also like that there is a shot before of Sam and Dean on their own, and now with Colonel in the middle :)
Kevin has given them an inuit spell that can help you read a dog’s mind. (Come to think of it, this spell is really not much different from what the murderer is doing. I mean, Dean drank the dog’s hair, the snake-man ate the entrails. More extreme, I grant you, but extreme measures make him more like the animal. The fact that an animal’s entrails are eaten is not the issue, although that is something the animal rights group would definitely have a problem with. The issue (for Sam and Dean as monster hunters) is that he is killing humans as collateral.
Dean makes some lame excuses and chooses to drink the potion to protect Sam. Sam’s like why are you being so overprotective? At first, the potion doesn’t look like it’s working, but then Dean hears Colonel:
COLONEL: Change the channel.
And then Dean and Colonel have a discussion about rock music (which is sort of dumb but LOL) and Sam’s like why are you arguing with a dog about music? And so Dean switches topics and they find out more about snake-man while we find out more and more how much like a dog Dean has become. Playing fetch with the tissue, barking at the mailman and the puppy dog face when he is trying to stop from picking up the tissue :D I love Sam’s expressions here too.
They look exactly the same here LOL Well done.
The potion is working all too well. The key points they find out from Colonel is that the guy has a cowboy hat, and he murdered both his friend and the guy at the pound.
Sam checks with Kevin and finds out that there are side effects and Dean’s like, why didn’t he say so! Dean can’t even eat chocolate (I love his pitiful face here.
I’d feel the same if I was denied chocolate (LOL) and Colonel tells him gleefully that he is going to want to sniff butts soon. Great.
Well I guess they decide to ask other animal witnesses about snake-guy so they go back to the pound. They find a pigeon soiling the impalla and Dean is not happy. Lo and behold, animals have a universal language and Dean and the pigeon exchange insults, which ends in Dean bringing out his gun.
SAM:Hey. Just calm down. Just get in the car.
PIGEON:Ha ha. That's right, Sally. Go cry to mama.
DEAN: Oh, that's it, you son of a bitch!
Sam is cute here :D
Yay! a car ride! Dean dog and Colonel enjoy the fresh air.
Dean of course is incensed when Sam tells him they can leave the dog in the car.
SAM:I think it's probably best to just leave The Colonel in the car.
DEAN:Excuse me?
SAM:Well, all the windows are open.
DEAN:You think we like that?
SAM:We?
DEAN:You think because the windows are open that that's some sort of a treat, huh? No, the dog's coming in.
THE COLONEL:Respect.
Then Dean and Colonel notice a pretty girl <3
*Pretends he's looking at me and blushes*
Sam then calls Dean so they can go inside - and I wish a gif could have done this scene justice, but I LOVE how Dean turns to go with Sam like a dog would - his nose high and leading him on. I can almost see a wagging tail when I think of the scene now.
Dean asks all the dogs and cats at the pound what they saw, and the more he talks with them the more he finds out how sad their lives are there in the pound. When they are about to go, they are stopped by a dog that tells them she can tell them more, if she can have a belly rub by Sam.
Poor Sam gets a cramped hand obliging but they find out that the guy is from a restaurant.
Before they leave, Dean lets all the animals go because he feels bad for them. This saves him in the end. And it’s cute because it reminds me of Lady and the Tramp and other Disney films where pounds are evil and the pets end up being let loose. But… all these pets on the street? Come on… realistically? Wouldn’t people notice? And isn’t he killing them slowly by doing that? Or is he actually already planning something for all of these dogs and cats? But, what is important here is that Dean is feeling empathy for the animals who have been abandoned for various reasons and who are being held in these cages very unhappily - especially now that he IS a dog.
Sam and Dean creep into the restaurant at night. Sam sees the spell(s) that they guy is using to become like the animals he consumes, Dean finds little mice that tell him to look in the fridge and he finds entrails of various animals. They go into the kitchen and find a young chef cooking for a private dinner by the main chef.
He’s like who are you? We are Health Inspectors (the usual!) and you are in violation of number such-and-sch so we are going to have to close you down.
Sam goes further in and the chef is waiting for him behind the curtain. He slashes Sam's throat, which would surely have killed him, but then Sam's eyes turn blue and Zeke quickly heals Sam. Sam's back on top and the chef asks him how he just healed himself, but Sam has no idea what just happened. The chef knocks Sam out and leaves him on the floor while he gets ready to eat him.
Dean comes in. Snake-guy overpowers him too, and ties him up to a pillar. This guy is strong! He can also tell that Dean has dog qualities. I wonder why he doesn’t understand that this is also a spell, just like what he is doing. But he thinks they were both born that way. Despite the fact that he was able to overpower Dean sufficiently already, he decides he has to become like a wolf to kill Dean.
As he gets ready and Dean gnaws away at his rope, they talk about why the killer is doing this - or at least why he started. He has cancer, as Dean was able to smell on him thanks to dog powers. He is trying to live longer and possibly heal himself by eating animal parts. The longer he does it, the more he starts to enjoy the killing.
CHEF LEO:See, when I was diagnosed, I was way past standard treatment. No one could save me. But then with the help of a Pawnee shaman and a zoo membership, I found a cure, albeit a temporary one. Cancer always came back.
DEAN:You start experimenting with different organs, huh? Traded in the single serving for a combo platter.
CHEF LEO:Well, what can I say? Combination therapy works. I felt stronger, and the effects lasted longer.
DEAN:And if you smoke a few innocent people in the process, well, hell, at least you felt better.
CHEF LEO:Well, I didn't mean to kill anyone - at first. But if people got in my way, they became collateral damage. Guess you eat enough predators, you start to become one. You are what you eat, right?
DEAN:Do you really think the power you hold over other people's lives can make up for what you lack in your own?
Let's stop here. The underlined passage is probably one of the most important ones in the whole episode. But, the reason the Chef started doing this in the first place is actually very understandable. Sam looked for similar solutions when Dean was threatened with going to Hell in Season 3. Remember the Doc?! And Sam was actually willing to consider this option for Dean too. And NOW... Dean has allowed an angel to possess Sam for the soul purpose of HEALING him. The lengths people go to sometimes for the people they love - in the Chef's case himself. We can also find a clear parallel between eating animals for their healing powers, and internalizing an angel (possession) for the same. And what happens to the Chef? He starts to become like the animals he ate, not only by his powers but also the way he thought - not caring if people who got in the way got killed as collateral damage. So the question the ep is posing is - What is going to happen to Sam? Is it going to change him? Well, it doesn't change Sam but Zeke (Gadreel) does in a sense, and he does start killing innocents to get what he wants... doesn't he? He also puts Sam at risk, where at first he had only good intentions.
Dean gets loose as they talk, and their second fight begins. Dean leads the Wolf-man outside.
And, I'm pretty sure he had this plan all along. He smiles when he gets to the fence.
So there is your answer to the Colonel not attacking the guy at the beginning, but he does now, along with the "pack." And wolf-man is torn to pieces by all the dogs. First of all I love that smile in the beginning - of a successful trap! I love Dean here. It's very much the old badass Dean that is always so nice to see.
Anyway, they take care of the murdering monster and the next scene is of Dean going back to Sam to try to wake him.
And thankfully Sam wakes up. (There is a blooper where he is actually licking his face, right? LOL
The next scene is of the vegans taking Colonel as their own. Colonel is not very happy about being fed vegetarian food, but Dean says he will be treated well and he deserves that. I thought it was interesting that Colonel is taken in by the former “enemies” of the taxidermist and also that Dean had chosen these people to give Colonel to after all that talk about evil at a vegan coffee shop and dislike of people who don't enjoy meat. It seems to me to show that he has changed his opinion a bit since he was a dog for a while - as I mentioned earlier. I am hoping that he also did something for the other dogs who helped him back there too, and I really think he would have especially while he was still "a dog."
Dean tells Colonel that he wishes he could keep Colonel himself but being on the road all the time, it would be no life for a dog. (I don’t know about that… he could maybe have been really helpful) Colonel is like, that’s ok, I get carsick anyway. He admits to throwing up in the car, and Dean’s not happy LOL
Colonel tries to tell Dean why dogs were put on earth - not as man’s best friend. But the spell wears off and Dean is super frustrated. This is all very Disney LOL
Then the broment. Dean goes out to the car where Sam is waiting. Sam is worried about what the snake-man said about him being different. Dean’s like that guy was crazy. Don’t worry about it.
SAM:Yeah, but, I mean, why - why would he ask that? Why - why did he want to know what I was?
DEAN: Who the hell knows? He was all jacked up on juice, you know? He was possessed by - by something he couldn't control. It was... It was a - a matter of time before it completely took over. You can't reason with crazy, right?
I mentioned on my first watch that this seemed like Dean was trying to hint about what was inside Sam - at least that he was thinking of the danger of Sam being taken over by Zeke too, if he was possessed for too long. This may be a very important turning point for Dean when he realizes the danger to Sam, and a warning to us watchers too that something bad is going to come of this particular possession just as it did to the other guy.
Possession is obviously the theme of this ep. We have first of all animals stuffed at the taxidermists for symbolism. We have hunters defining themselves by what they kill. We have this individual ingesting other animals to try to cure himself of cancer and being taken over by their characteristics, which is very close to Sam’s situation. And how does Dean actually save Sam later on? Through the cooperation of Crowley, whom HE SETS FREE… just like he does the animals here. So there we have another pretty detailed prophecy that I for one did not catch on first watch.
The End.
This is a comedic episode and has a lot of light scenes. However, as with the previous episode, we do find some warnings and prophetically important lines and parallel situations with Sam's possession by Gadreel/Zeke that you would fully understand only on a rewatch. There are interesting thoughts on outward appearances and reality - the mask and the face - as well as on hunters and animal rights activists, in which Dean grudgingly acknowledges and possibly changes his view of the latter after being a dog for a day.
So we start with a taxidermist being attacked and bent over backward by snake-man while his faithful German Shepherd, Colonel, did nothing but bark at the murderer.
(I like this view of the hunter through the legs of one of his stuffed animals. Also he is scared by his own stuffed bear as he looks around for the intruder.)
(I needed a picture of the tongue... :D)
Why did Colonel not protect his master (or friend as Colonel calls him later)? I have heard and seen videos of guard dogs whose owners are positive they would attack an intruder but the dogs end up just barking their head off and not doing a thing. Usually, it seems, dogs won't risk attacking someone bigger than them unless they are in a pack and know they will win. This makes those dogs (or cats) that do endanger their own lives to protect others all the more special in my mind. Also please note the parallel between possession and the work of a taxidermist - stuffing animal hides with wool(and whatever else they put in). I am quite sure that this particular victim (and his job) was very intentional.
Going on, Sam is researching for new cases while Dean has just come back from checking up on Kevin again. Kevin is still stressed out from all he experienced. Sam is like, wow he is taking a long time to recover, and Dean is like, that’s how he is. But I guess we know that Kevin’s talk with Crowley was a secret from Sam and Dean too and maybe they would understand his reaction more if they had known about it.
Sam has found the case of the taxidermist and suggests they go check it out. Dean is worried about Sam's recovery, especially after Zeke told him he couldn't heal Sam quickly if he had to bring friends back to life right and left. He tells him he should be taking it easy because he needs to recover from the trials. Sam feels fine and can’t understand why Dean is so worried. Another plot problem. If they (Dean and Gadreel/Zeke) want Sam to rest so he can recover, Zeke should have given him a fever or something that would slow him down instead of restoring his health completely. It’s like giving someone fever medication without telling them so they think they are not sick and do too much and get sick even more.
Anyway, Sam insists he is fine and Dean can’t dissuade him so they go check out the case. I love Dean putting his legs up on the table in this scene.
When they get to the shop, they find DIE SCUM painted in red on the door with a symbol of some group taking responsibility for it. Inside, they find out that nothing is missing except for animal entrails. And, that the only witness there at the time was the dog.
(Sam has some fun as he looks for hex bags :D
As far as I can understand, this "mouse" was dressed up as some character from Game of Thrones. Joffrey? :D I LOVE this scene. Sam's face cracks me up everytime, and I love Dean taking a moment to react to him as he talks with the police.
Sam and Dean confer after Dean talks with the police and hunting friend (who disposes of the entrails for the taxidermist) and Sam has a look around. They agree is seems witchy, but Sam can't find any hex bags. I’d like to mention here that I think it would be very hard to find a hex bag in this shop and that Sam could not possibly have checked everywhere.
Also if it HAD been a hex bag, Dean’s insistence of researching somewhere else just because he is disturbed by the owl looking at him disqualifies him from being a hunter (LOL). But ANYWAYS...
Sam checks out the symbol on the door once they get back to the motel. He finds that it's a symbol of a animal rights group.
S: Are those bleeding hearts witches or just hippies?
D: What's the difference?
So they go check out the group - the founders of which work at a vegan cafe.
DEAN: Always knew I’d find the source of all evil at a vegan bakery.
Some may feel insulted by Dean here - but his opinion changes later so don't judge him too harshly.
DEAN: You know who wears sunglasses inside. Blind people and douchebags.
But we find out that these people are neither. They have just been sprayed with something they thought was pepper spray but actually it is snake venom. They had gone to the taxidermist’s shop to do the sign, then scared away by a hissing sound like a snake. Then they actually bumped into a guy in the alley who had sprayed them with this stuff - obviously the actual killer. So this is where I felt there was a mask/reality symbolism - Dean goes in with the misconseption that these people are either blind (not likely) or douchebags (more likely since they work in a vegan store! LOL) and when they show their real face, he finds that it was nothing like that. They also think that people with sunglasses inside are douchebags and upset that they have to wear them.
I like what they say about hunters though, and Sam and Dean giving each other glances.
DYLAN: His business is funded by hunters, and you know how hunters are. They're selfish dicks who define themselves by what they kill.
OLIVIA:And as animal advocates, we couldn't stand for that.
SAM:So, you killed him?
OLIVIA:Of course not. S.N.A.R.T. doesn't tolerate violence.
This could refer to monster hunters too, I suppose, except for the selfish dicks part - and maybe that is similar to how Dean viewed them mistakenly as douchebags (mask/reality). It also definitely refers to this murderer who actually becomes like what he kills so this is a significant little quote.
Sam and Dean are researching, noting the fact that the taxidermist was constricted and the activists were poisoned, and no snake does both.
DEAN:Okay, so... What are we talking here, some sort of a freaky-ass snake monster?
SAM:Maybe. The weird thing is snakes either envenomate or constrict. No snake does both.
DEAN:Correction - freaky-ass mega-snake monster.
They decide to ask Kevin.
We then see the snake-man go to the pound where he has a deal with the guy at the desk. He pays him money and goes in and starts packing cats, and EATING them too! They guy sees it through the window, goes in and asks what he's doing (REALLY?) and he’s killed too.
So Sam and Dean find themselves at the pound, and see that Colonel is there too. So, he could be the murderer! Dean suggests. A shapeshifter? And until now I had totally forgotten about that infamous episode LOL I don't think it even clicked when I watched the first time - but the dog was a shepherd then too, wasn't it?
He tries the coin trick and nope. Colonel is not a shape shifter. So a witness! Colonel reacts significantly to the cowboy hat the Sheriff Is wearing and also when Dean borrows it, so we know it’s the hat, not the person. Neither the Sheriff or the boys get that the dog is reacting to the hat because of the murderer though.
They take Colonel back to the motel (Are pets allowed at motels? Just curious - I guess they are since Sam had one at the motel in Season 6 too. In Japan, usually they are not allowed - you have to choose a special pet friendly place if you want to take your pet on vacation. It sucks.) I also like that there is a shot before of Sam and Dean on their own, and now with Colonel in the middle :)
Kevin has given them an inuit spell that can help you read a dog’s mind. (Come to think of it, this spell is really not much different from what the murderer is doing. I mean, Dean drank the dog’s hair, the snake-man ate the entrails. More extreme, I grant you, but extreme measures make him more like the animal. The fact that an animal’s entrails are eaten is not the issue, although that is something the animal rights group would definitely have a problem with. The issue (for Sam and Dean as monster hunters) is that he is killing humans as collateral.
Dean makes some lame excuses and chooses to drink the potion to protect Sam. Sam’s like why are you being so overprotective? At first, the potion doesn’t look like it’s working, but then Dean hears Colonel:
COLONEL: Change the channel.
And then Dean and Colonel have a discussion about rock music (which is sort of dumb but LOL) and Sam’s like why are you arguing with a dog about music? And so Dean switches topics and they find out more about snake-man while we find out more and more how much like a dog Dean has become. Playing fetch with the tissue, barking at the mailman and the puppy dog face when he is trying to stop from picking up the tissue :D I love Sam’s expressions here too.
They look exactly the same here LOL Well done.
The potion is working all too well. The key points they find out from Colonel is that the guy has a cowboy hat, and he murdered both his friend and the guy at the pound.
Sam checks with Kevin and finds out that there are side effects and Dean’s like, why didn’t he say so! Dean can’t even eat chocolate (I love his pitiful face here.
I’d feel the same if I was denied chocolate (LOL) and Colonel tells him gleefully that he is going to want to sniff butts soon. Great.
Well I guess they decide to ask other animal witnesses about snake-guy so they go back to the pound. They find a pigeon soiling the impalla and Dean is not happy. Lo and behold, animals have a universal language and Dean and the pigeon exchange insults, which ends in Dean bringing out his gun.
SAM:Hey. Just calm down. Just get in the car.
PIGEON:Ha ha. That's right, Sally. Go cry to mama.
DEAN: Oh, that's it, you son of a bitch!
Sam is cute here :D
Yay! a car ride! Dean dog and Colonel enjoy the fresh air.
Dean of course is incensed when Sam tells him they can leave the dog in the car.
SAM:I think it's probably best to just leave The Colonel in the car.
DEAN:Excuse me?
SAM:Well, all the windows are open.
DEAN:You think we like that?
SAM:We?
DEAN:You think because the windows are open that that's some sort of a treat, huh? No, the dog's coming in.
THE COLONEL:Respect.
Then Dean and Colonel notice a pretty girl <3
*Pretends he's looking at me and blushes*
Sam then calls Dean so they can go inside - and I wish a gif could have done this scene justice, but I LOVE how Dean turns to go with Sam like a dog would - his nose high and leading him on. I can almost see a wagging tail when I think of the scene now.
Dean asks all the dogs and cats at the pound what they saw, and the more he talks with them the more he finds out how sad their lives are there in the pound. When they are about to go, they are stopped by a dog that tells them she can tell them more, if she can have a belly rub by Sam.
Poor Sam gets a cramped hand obliging but they find out that the guy is from a restaurant.
Before they leave, Dean lets all the animals go because he feels bad for them. This saves him in the end. And it’s cute because it reminds me of Lady and the Tramp and other Disney films where pounds are evil and the pets end up being let loose. But… all these pets on the street? Come on… realistically? Wouldn’t people notice? And isn’t he killing them slowly by doing that? Or is he actually already planning something for all of these dogs and cats? But, what is important here is that Dean is feeling empathy for the animals who have been abandoned for various reasons and who are being held in these cages very unhappily - especially now that he IS a dog.
Sam and Dean creep into the restaurant at night. Sam sees the spell(s) that they guy is using to become like the animals he consumes, Dean finds little mice that tell him to look in the fridge and he finds entrails of various animals. They go into the kitchen and find a young chef cooking for a private dinner by the main chef.
He’s like who are you? We are Health Inspectors (the usual!) and you are in violation of number such-and-sch so we are going to have to close you down.
Sam goes further in and the chef is waiting for him behind the curtain. He slashes Sam's throat, which would surely have killed him, but then Sam's eyes turn blue and Zeke quickly heals Sam. Sam's back on top and the chef asks him how he just healed himself, but Sam has no idea what just happened. The chef knocks Sam out and leaves him on the floor while he gets ready to eat him.
Dean comes in. Snake-guy overpowers him too, and ties him up to a pillar. This guy is strong! He can also tell that Dean has dog qualities. I wonder why he doesn’t understand that this is also a spell, just like what he is doing. But he thinks they were both born that way. Despite the fact that he was able to overpower Dean sufficiently already, he decides he has to become like a wolf to kill Dean.
As he gets ready and Dean gnaws away at his rope, they talk about why the killer is doing this - or at least why he started. He has cancer, as Dean was able to smell on him thanks to dog powers. He is trying to live longer and possibly heal himself by eating animal parts. The longer he does it, the more he starts to enjoy the killing.
CHEF LEO:See, when I was diagnosed, I was way past standard treatment. No one could save me. But then with the help of a Pawnee shaman and a zoo membership, I found a cure, albeit a temporary one. Cancer always came back.
DEAN:You start experimenting with different organs, huh? Traded in the single serving for a combo platter.
CHEF LEO:Well, what can I say? Combination therapy works. I felt stronger, and the effects lasted longer.
DEAN:And if you smoke a few innocent people in the process, well, hell, at least you felt better.
CHEF LEO:Well, I didn't mean to kill anyone - at first. But if people got in my way, they became collateral damage. Guess you eat enough predators, you start to become one. You are what you eat, right?
DEAN:Do you really think the power you hold over other people's lives can make up for what you lack in your own?
Let's stop here. The underlined passage is probably one of the most important ones in the whole episode. But, the reason the Chef started doing this in the first place is actually very understandable. Sam looked for similar solutions when Dean was threatened with going to Hell in Season 3. Remember the Doc?! And Sam was actually willing to consider this option for Dean too. And NOW... Dean has allowed an angel to possess Sam for the soul purpose of HEALING him. The lengths people go to sometimes for the people they love - in the Chef's case himself. We can also find a clear parallel between eating animals for their healing powers, and internalizing an angel (possession) for the same. And what happens to the Chef? He starts to become like the animals he ate, not only by his powers but also the way he thought - not caring if people who got in the way got killed as collateral damage. So the question the ep is posing is - What is going to happen to Sam? Is it going to change him? Well, it doesn't change Sam but Zeke (Gadreel) does in a sense, and he does start killing innocents to get what he wants... doesn't he? He also puts Sam at risk, where at first he had only good intentions.
Dean gets loose as they talk, and their second fight begins. Dean leads the Wolf-man outside.
And, I'm pretty sure he had this plan all along. He smiles when he gets to the fence.
So there is your answer to the Colonel not attacking the guy at the beginning, but he does now, along with the "pack." And wolf-man is torn to pieces by all the dogs. First of all I love that smile in the beginning - of a successful trap! I love Dean here. It's very much the old badass Dean that is always so nice to see.
Anyway, they take care of the murdering monster and the next scene is of Dean going back to Sam to try to wake him.
And thankfully Sam wakes up. (There is a blooper where he is actually licking his face, right? LOL
The next scene is of the vegans taking Colonel as their own. Colonel is not very happy about being fed vegetarian food, but Dean says he will be treated well and he deserves that. I thought it was interesting that Colonel is taken in by the former “enemies” of the taxidermist and also that Dean had chosen these people to give Colonel to after all that talk about evil at a vegan coffee shop and dislike of people who don't enjoy meat. It seems to me to show that he has changed his opinion a bit since he was a dog for a while - as I mentioned earlier. I am hoping that he also did something for the other dogs who helped him back there too, and I really think he would have especially while he was still "a dog."
Dean tells Colonel that he wishes he could keep Colonel himself but being on the road all the time, it would be no life for a dog. (I don’t know about that… he could maybe have been really helpful) Colonel is like, that’s ok, I get carsick anyway. He admits to throwing up in the car, and Dean’s not happy LOL
Colonel tries to tell Dean why dogs were put on earth - not as man’s best friend. But the spell wears off and Dean is super frustrated. This is all very Disney LOL
Then the broment. Dean goes out to the car where Sam is waiting. Sam is worried about what the snake-man said about him being different. Dean’s like that guy was crazy. Don’t worry about it.
SAM:Yeah, but, I mean, why - why would he ask that? Why - why did he want to know what I was?
DEAN: Who the hell knows? He was all jacked up on juice, you know? He was possessed by - by something he couldn't control. It was... It was a - a matter of time before it completely took over. You can't reason with crazy, right?
I mentioned on my first watch that this seemed like Dean was trying to hint about what was inside Sam - at least that he was thinking of the danger of Sam being taken over by Zeke too, if he was possessed for too long. This may be a very important turning point for Dean when he realizes the danger to Sam, and a warning to us watchers too that something bad is going to come of this particular possession just as it did to the other guy.
Possession is obviously the theme of this ep. We have first of all animals stuffed at the taxidermists for symbolism. We have hunters defining themselves by what they kill. We have this individual ingesting other animals to try to cure himself of cancer and being taken over by their characteristics, which is very close to Sam’s situation. And how does Dean actually save Sam later on? Through the cooperation of Crowley, whom HE SETS FREE… just like he does the animals here. So there we have another pretty detailed prophecy that I for one did not catch on first watch.
The End.