Supernatural (TV Series) Metamorphosis (2008) User Reviews

A Beast Am I

[ttapola · 8/10 · 3 May 2011]

At first I considered this to be "only" a good, 7/10, episode, but on second viewing, I am elevating this to a *great*, 8/10, episode. As is often the case with less comedic, tense, edge-of-your-seat episodes like this, the less in-your-face details may be left overlooked. Especially when the writers are very in-your-face about hammering home the similarities between Sam and the case of the week.

There are great character moments between - and during! - the action, offering the actors chances to shine. And there is a *really* compelling philosophical debate going on between Sam and Dean. It also helps that the guest star of the week, Dameon Clarke, is *very* good in his role. Then again, he has a long CV - and one tends to learn a bit of acting in 20 years!

The season opener was fantastic, but the second and third episode introduced a recurring flaw: when Castiel made his appearance, he also made a huge revelation that was *great* as an episode-ending twist, but it was rather vague, wasn't it? Obviously, Castiel has his reasons not to disclose details (and at this point, he may not even know them), but it has been really frustrating to watch Dean seem *not* at all interested in posing questions about the matter to Castiel. Or to *anyone*. This is similar to what often happened in Lost - for some implausible reason no one, most of the time, asked 'What' and 'Why'. And since we can see from the opening credits that Misha Collins is AWOL from this episode, you can pretty much draw some conclusions from that. Also, the obfuscation recalls bad memories of The X Files - the difference being that in Supernatural, the writers know where the Mytharc is going whereas in The X Files they *actually* were making it up as they went on.

Bottom line: greater episodes still to come, so momentous, so astonishing that compared to them, this warrants no more than 8/10. But that is still waaay ahead of most of the crap on TV.

The writing is too pointed but Manners went out on a high note.

[CubsandCulture · 9/10 · 2 March 2020]

I find the monster of the week stuff too directly tied to the ongoing brother melodrama to fully work. It feels too forceful in the obvious parallels. This is more pressing as the week's case is lazily inserted between the bro melodrama bookends. There is a certain clumsiness to the writing of this episode that stands out.

But Manners (director) gets the most out of this script and this episode has some of the last true horror visuals in the series. It is fitting that Manners had this as his last episode. (He died of cancer shortly after making this.)

A Matter of Choice

[claudio_carvalho · 8/10 · 22 May 2010]

Dean witnesses Sam using his powers with Ruby to exorcise the demon from a man. Dean has an argument with Sam that tries to explain that he is saving lives instead of killing possessed people. When Sam receives a phone call from the hunter Travis, the Winchester brothers head to Carthage, Missouri, and Dean discloses his tragic encounter with their parents and grandparents to Sam and what Castiel had told about him. Travis asks the brothers to see if the local Jack Mongomery that lives in the suburb with his wife Michelle has any weird behavior and they find that Jack is starving and eating raw meat. Travis explains that Jack has a cursed gene and is in a metamorphosis process to transform into a flesh eater Rugaru as soon as he tastes human flesh. Sam feels sympathy for Jack and convinces Dean to have a conversation with Jack first. They tell him to control his instincts; otherwise they would have to burn him alive.

"Metamorphosis" is a good conclusion of the last episode. Sam feels in the same situation of Jack, doomed to live with a cursed blood. The poor Jack has no alternative in the end and makes his choice. My vote is eight.

Title (Brazil): "Metamorfose" ("Metamorphosis")

Metamorphosis

[zombiehigh18 · 9/10 · 23 November 2011]

Carrying on with intense episodes, after "In the beginning", this episode is even more intense and heartbreaking at some points. The season goes on with putting Dean in focus in previous episodes but no, it is Sam who is the centre of attention now. The show is back with the monster of the week theme, with some gross and gory scenes which sure carries the signature of an outstanding director like the late Kim Manners, who has delivered some of the scariest and goriest episodes of the series.

The episode keeps us confused between the two compelling but opposite point of views of the brothers:

• On one hand there is Sam, who was left alone in a world that works against him after Dean died and he was supposed to keep fighting by himself, to carry on his own. Sam knows he has something evil inside which he can't fight, he is scared but wants to turn it to something good, he wants to keep saving people (and it seems that Ruby is manipulating him some how). Sam justifies lying to his brother because he doesn't like the way Dean looks at him as if he is a freak. You can sympathize with the guy but his Machiavellian view "The end justifies the means" is risky.

• On the other hand there is black and white Dean, who has recently been through the pain of failing to save his family to the yellow eyed daemon. Dean is hurt because Sam keeps lying to him, he is worried because Castiel has warned him and scared because Sam is headed to a dangerous road and might turn evil someday. (But I thought he was a bit hypocrite when he told Sam that God doesn't want him to do this as he himself was just recently struggling with his faith issues, so now he is using God as an excuse?). Dean had every right to be angry with Sam but I wish he could be more understanding of his brother.

Jensen Ackles and Jared Padalecki both deliver great performances as Sam and Dean, with the former finally comes clean about what he is doing and the latter is both fearful and furious at the same time.

This episode also focuses on a formerly discussed idea but with a fresh feeling on how Sam is relating to Jack and his wish to save him because it gives him hope he can be saved (much as his desire to save Madison on "Heart") and his disappointment in his failure to save the guy leading him to come to the decision to stop using his daemonic powers much to Dean's relief.

On the down side: Why are all other hunters that the guys come across are jerks? Other than Bobby they all are stupid and end up dead pretty soon (I'm surprised any of them lasted long before we saw them) look on the history of hunters on this series:Daniel Elkins, Gordon Walker, Isaac, Richie, Kubrick, Grossman and Samuel Campbell all of them made some pretty stupid moves and ended up dead, But this guy Travis he sure is the stupidest, the guy takes the most ill fated hunter award. Besides I'm a little confused to why did he call Sam, apparently the man hasn't seen the boys in years and has no idea Dean went to Hell so it would be more realistic if he called Dean since he was more involved in the job than Sam who was in school.

All in all a very important episode, you can't skip this one.

Prelude to the Season final.

[mm-39 · 9/10 · 14 October 2008]

This guy is changing from a human to a flesh eating monster. A hunter says Sam and Dean have to kill him and any offspring from the monster. I believe the guy was changing into a monster. The right decision was made with the boys flaming the monster in the making. The episode is the micro of the macro. Will Sam Metamorphosis into a demonic monster? Will Dean pull the Gordon on Sam? These questions will be addressed as the season unfolds. A tease or taste of future events. A good episode 9 out of 10. The series gets stronger with each new episode. I just can not wait for next week show. The real Ruby should come out soon or later. I bet Dean will but heads with her.

Kudos to Dameon Clarke

[rich-fouts · 10/10 · 14 May 2019]

Great episode largely due to the super talented D Clarke who delivered a stellar performance.

It sounds made up

[shwetafabm · 8/10 · 11 June 2020]

The tension between Sam and Dean is pretty great. Now spn and monsters... They seem to always be about how the monsters have just the worst luck into being what they are and i got no problem with that it's just that you can see that's exactly why this "made up thing" (characters say that twice) exist. Now stuff that makes no sense happens to you for no reason is a theme that spn explores, did a great job with the vampires in the whole morality department i am just unimpressed a bit by this monster that just magically transforms one day from a perfect human.

My unprofessional opinion

[abusby-06048 · 6/10 · 21 June 2020]

I hate how dean treats sam about his abilities. I feel like he was completely overboard with this episode on how dramatic he reacts to sam using his skills. Sam has a logical reason to use them, save the person, kill the demon.

The other thing that drove me to almost stop watching this episode altogether, was the way that guy was eating. I realize it was for a reason but it's disgusting and truly makes me not to watch the rest of the episode.

Wrong monster

[amybourque · 8/10 · 27 August 2022]

The only reason why I am not giving this episode a 10 is because they did not portray a Rougrou correctly. This is a Cajun myth. Like the Louisiana version of the boogeyman. He is supposed to be more similar to a werewolf in appearance. I always pictured him like the Big Bad Wolf from Red Riding Hood.

Usually Supernatural gets the monsters correct but they didn't do the research on this one. Was Jensen married yet when this episode was written? His wife should have informed him about the legend of the Rougrou. She grew up in Lafayette.

The story itself was great. You really find compassion for the monster.

Great episode...

[m-47826 · 8/10 · 16 December 2020]

From what seems to be the best season. It is clearly echoing Sam's inner dilemma, but the case in itself is very good. The story about this new monster, put your every day Joe into an unreal situation, in a more realistic way than how it was done before. You kind of root for him, only you don't see the story having a happy ending. And that's what I loved about early seasons of the show. And hated during the shift of tone, in the latter ones. The fact that, no matter how sympathetic cursed people can be, they can't always be saved. Too bad they never addressed again, that cliffhanger ending, in the rest of the series...

heavenly angel

[sahinmertfirat · 10/10 · 21 November 2020]

I'm proud of Misha. Twelve years ago he was seen as the "new man" and didn't feel right. Now the value of the final depends on whether it is within it or not. This guy came in, gave more than you can imagine, and he's a huge source of inspiration, and it's a show and family. A part of.