Supernatural: 99 Problems (2010)
Season 5, Episode 17
7/10
99 problems but a bitch ain't one...
8 April 2010
Warning: Spoilers
Good action-y opening, and nice mass exorcism (with the fire hose). Hey, Daniel Jackson from Stargate SG-1! Thankfully, Michael Shanks has chosen *not* to go with his hilariously gruff wannabe Batman voice (which he used in the recent Smallville two-parter). Wise choice.

Funny moment from Dean, when he said to Leah, "You're not the first prophet we've met...but you are the cutest.", saw the look Leah's dad was giving him, then added, "I mean that with total respect, of course.". Another funny moment came from Castiel, when Sam was calling him and the automated voice said "You've reached the voice-mail of...", then we heard Castiel asking, "I don't understand...why-why do you want me to say my name?" and him dialing several numbers (Sam's reaction to it was also amusing). Shame that Dean was such a downer with his talk of how everyone's going to die.

Also a shame was the poor bastard getting killed just as he was about to have a free beer. Don't drink beer, kids! Otherwise a demon hand might just reach out from under a car, grab you, then kill you!. In other news...shut up, dead guy's mother! It was NOT Dean's fault (like he needs anymore being crapped on by people/guilt on his conscience). How could he have known there was a demon lurking under the Impala? Sam's "No drinking, no gambling, no premarital sex...Dean, they basically just outlawed 90% of your personality." line was good.

At least Sam's shown some growth. Now he's all "I can't do this alone." (whereas, last season, he was all about doing the fighting alone and not needing Dean, since he had his own special Sammy powers).

Drunk Castiel and his "I find the sound of your voice...grating." line to Sam were amusing. As was pretty much everything Drunk Castiel said, including his "On a bender!" and blurting out "The Whore!" answers to Dean's questions. Then came his "joke" (about how the fake exorcism actually means "you breed with the mouth of a goat"), which no one but Castiel got. Heh. Angel humour. Then later on, his explaining to Dean who could kill The Whore of Babylon, "Not you...or me. Sam, of course, is an abomination." and Sam's reaction to that. Misha delivering it in such a matter-of-fact way was what made it so funny.

The actress playing Leah/The Whore knew how to turn on the creep factor, when she said to her dad (well...to the *real* Leah's dad, rather), "Let me go, or the next sinner I name will be you.". Pastor Gideon even got a funny line with "Yeah. Sure." when confronted by Drunk Castiel slurring "I'm an angel of the Lord.".

Nice creepy face effect on Leah The Whore when she looked in the mirror (though her magical hands of telekinesis were kind of unintentionally hilarious). At least she got a good fiery death.

I was wondering all episode how Lisa (played by Cindy Sampson) was going to factor into this episode. So it came as a pleasant surprise that she turned up at the very end. It was interesting to see Dean go to her, tell her that when he saw himself being happy, it was with her (and her kid) and then say that he was going to make arrangements to keep both her and her son safe. This, for me, was the best part of the episode. It was a really nice quiet scene, both Jensen and Cindy were great in it, and I like that the writers remembered Lisa and the fact that she has come the closest to being Dean's 'one' that he wants to be with/start a family with. Though it really was a bit of an unfair move on his part to just "dump this bombshell" (as Lisa put it) on her and then leave. Still, I appreciated the scene a lot. It was hardly "random". We know he dreamed about her and the happy life he wanted to have with her back in Season 3. Obviously he's held onto that dream all this time and he cares enough about her to make sure she's safe. I like the idea of Lisa and Dean together. After all the sh!t that's happened, Dean deserves a happy ending.

It's a shame Michael Shanks was pretty much wasted in this episode. I think they could have better utilised him (or saved him for a more important role in a different episode). I liked the progress this episode made with Sam, Dean and Castiel's characters. Especially Dean. He really is the most tragic character at this point. He's got 99 emotional baggage problems to carry around and there's not a bellboy in sight. Things are gonna get heavy. Bring on episode 100!
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