Supernatural 'The Purge' Review: Sam and Dean go undercover to stop a fat-sucking monster (yes, really)

Supernatural returned with its latest Season 9 offering, "The Purge," in which Sam and Dean went undercover at a health club to stop a fat-sucking monster. Yeah, it was pretty much how you think it was.

Look, I don't want to completely dump all over this episode, because it had its moments. Anytime Jensen Ackles gets to crack jokes and do something comedic, like act drugged up from food, it's a plus. And taking the boys out of their comfort zone, like making Sam a yoga teacher and Dean a cafeteria worker, usually makes for good television.

But this episode was just symptomatic of the problems of a show in its ninth season. Eventually, you just run out of material and a show like Supernatural resorts to more and more ridiculous monsters to fill the gaps between the more important episodes. The show cannot be completely serialized; if it were, seasons would probably last only 13 episodes (which, honestly, may not be such a bad thing). But the self-contained, procedural episodes of Supernatural are starting to wear thin. The characters have just been through too much for me to get invested in a Monster of the Week case.

This is not to say that all such episodes are not worth watching. In fact, some of them are downright entertaining. But throwing in a scene where Sam and Dean hash out their feelings at the end of a weak main plot does not make up for said weak plot.

The end of the episode was a bright spot, though, as the brothers hashed out more of their issues. Much of this episode was just training wheels for the boys to get back to work together so, in that sense, it worked. Like last week, it was nice to see Sam be assertive in talking to his brother, who again tried to use the "but we're brothers" argument to prove his point. Sam is right in that Dean's motives were mostly selfish; he didn't listen to what Sam wanted and just forged ahead no matter what. And what has the two of them "fighting the good fight" together gotten them lately? As Sam points out, Abaddon and Crowley are still on the loose and the angels are still wreaking havoc on Earth.

But the real truth bomb came when Sam told Dean that, if the situation were reversed with the exact same circumstances, he would let his older brother die. I got the sense briefly that Sam might have to follow through on that statement before the end of the season, especially with Dean's whole Mark of Cain problem, but only time will tell.

Notes from Dad's Journal:

-       There haven't been enough "Dean loves food" jokes lately, so I'm glad they were back this episode.

-       Sam got to brag about a sexual conquest to his brother!

-       I still can't get past the phrase "Peruvian fat sucker."

-       Dean is either the best or the worst on a job interview.

What did you think of tonight's episode? Let us know in the comments below.