Supernatural Episode 815
“Man’s Best Friend With Benefits”
Written By: Brad Buckner & Eugenie Ross-Leming
Directed By: John Showalter
Original Airdate: 20 February 2013
In This Episode...
Sam and Dean get a text from a cop named James Frampton - they worked a case with him in the past. While they wait for him to arrive, Dean goes on a beer run and Sam finds a sweet doberman pinscher at their door. He lets her in, but meets Dean outside to warn him about “her.” When they finally go into the motel room, the dobie has turned into a beautiful woman.
The woman is Portia, a familiar. James’s familiar. After working the case with the Winchesters, James got really involved in witchcraft. A familiar is like a bonded partner. They can communicate telepathically, but lately James has been blocking her out. He has been having nightmares where he kills people, but then the people actually turn up dead. He has no recollection of actually committing these crimes, but he does find one of his monogramed shirts, bloodied, in his garbage. It was Portia who texted the Winchesters; she feels they are the only ones who can help him.
James accepts the help, reluctantly. The Winchesters are just as reluctant to help a witch, but Portia assures them that James only uses his powers for good, mostly to solve homicide cases. Even still, Dean arms himself with a witch banishment bomb. Sam visits the police station, where Ed, the lead detective for the murders, claims there is no evidence and they are ready to push it to the back burner. Dean goes with Portia to a witch lounge and meets a few witches. He suspects that a witch is controlling James with a hex, but no one has ever heard of such a thing.
For the time being, they keep James in shackles. He is okay with that - he wants to solve this as much as anyone. One thing that Portia didn’t tell the Winchesters is that she and James are romantically involved - a no-no in the witch/familiar community. While they were having sex, James let his guard down enough for Portia to see into his brain. She sees him committing the actual murders, but no thoughts before or after, which suggests the thoughts were planted.
On a follow-up visit to the police station, Sam notices that Ed and the lab tech have a thick police folder on James, and that they seem to be secretive about what goes on in a locked office in the station. The boys agree to let James astral project himself into the room, as long as they can go with. They discover that the entire room is dedicated to pinning these murders on James. And they finally have a name to pin this all on: Phillippe. Phillippe is the familiar to Spencer, who is James’s friend. Dean confronts him, and Phillippe begs for mercy. His witch, Spencer, forced him to frame James. He didn’t have a choice. Spencer shows up to take responsibility. He was jealous that Portia chose James over himself, but made peace with it - until he found out that James and Portia were sleeping together. He couldn’t handle that, and framed James for the murders to get him out of the picture. Spencer is powerful, and keeps James, Dean, and Sam at bay with magic. Portia - in dog form - rushes in with the surprise attack. Spencer is distracted long enough for Dean to throw the witch bomb, which causes Spencer to explode in a cloud of blood-red smoke.
Dig It or Bury It?
I was more entranced by the sweet doberman dog than anything else. The rest of the episode was fine. Not great, not bad. Just fine.
Spooky Humor
Sam and Dean are debating the merits of the Three Stooges. More specifically, Sam is trying to defend his position that Shemp is a superior Stooge to Curly. Sam feels that Curly’s humor was “too obvious.” “They’re Stooges - it’s supposed to be obvious!” insists Dean.
Sibling Rivalry
Dean’s concern for Sam handling the three trials is finally addressed. Sam thinks it is not because Dean doesn’t trust him, but because he only trusts himself. But while Spencer was messing with his noggin, he realized that with all the shit the Winchesters had been through, the only reason they made it through was because they had each other. Dean trusts Sam, and insists that if Sam says he’s good, Dean is behind him 100%. Of course, then Sam starts coughing up blood, but hides it from his brother.
Prophecies?
The Greek gods are getting off their duffs and are bringing havoc to Earth.