Not every episode of Supernatural is a winner. “The Purge” is, for the most part, a forgettable stand-alone episode about a Peruvian fat-sucking monster. But really it’s one long case leading up to the final scene when Sam and Dean finally continue their fight from last week. This time, however, Sam comes prepared with some harsh truth bombs for Dean.
Extreme Weight Loss
The brothers, still at odds over the whole “We’re not brothers anymore” ultimatum from Sam, find a case in Minnesota involving death by massive weight loss. After some competitive eater red herrings, the suction marks on the victims (and one live fitness trainer) lead Sam and Dean to Canyon Valley Fitness Spa.
Once there we meet the hot South American owner Maritza and her hunky husband Larry. After a short time, we see that Maritza’s secret to weight loss is the creepy sucking creature in her mouth, kind of like the tiny mouth inside the alien’s mouth in Alien.
Roofie Pudding
While investigating at the spa, Sam takes a job as a fitness instructor while Dean is stuck wearing a hairnet in the kitchen, dealing with tofu pancakes and other ungodly “foods.” Shorts and a sleeveless tank top look very good on Jared Padalecki as Sam teaches yoga and discovers everyone at the spa has suction marks on their backs.
Dean is put in charge of the salty caramel pudding they give the clients before their treatments and, of course, he tries some. Then he tries a whole lot more. He gets knocked out and calls Sam for help, realizing that there are roofies in the pudding to knock out the clients during their treatments.
The local sheriff is also at the spa and tells Sam and Dean about her new suction marks, a byproduct of the cupping treatment she had with Maritza. So it’s obvious that she’s the monster.
Fish Tacos
Dean tracks down Maritza and ties her up. He learns that she’s a pishtaco (which Dean hilariously confuses with “fish taco”), a Peruvian fat-sucking parasite. But she swears that she and Larry opened the spa so she could feed and help people without hurting them. The real killer is her brother, Alonso, who works in the cafeteria.
The bad news is that Larry also figured this out and confronted Alonso, who killed him. The boys go hunting in the basement and just as Sam is about to get sucked (there’s really no way to make that sound less dirty), Dean cuts off Alonso’s sucker and saves the day.
The Fight, Part 2
After Sam convinces Dean to let Maritza live, the boys return to the bunker and have a much-needed second half to their fight that ended last week’s episode.
Sam calls Dean out for have a hero complex, thinking that he always needs to save his little brother. But he adds that it’s not about saving Sam, it’s about Dean’s fear of being alone. Sam explains that, at the start of season 9, he was ready to die and Dean brought him back not because it’s what Sam wanted, but because it’s what Dean wanted.
Dean tries to argue that, if the situation was reversed, Sam would’ve done the exact same thing. Sam simply says that he wouldn’t. That hurts, but I have to give this round to Sam. He’s absolutely right that Dean constantly saving Sam and sacrificing himself to do it isn’t really for Sam’s benefit, it’s for his own.
Next time on Supernatural: The show is taking two weeks off during the Olympics, but when it comes back we’ll get a haunted bunker and Snooki. Yes, that Snooki. And all I can think of is Sam’s classic line from season 6: “What’s a Snooki?”
(Image courtesy of the CW)
Senior Writer, BuddyTV
John watches nearly every show on TV, but he specializes in sci-fi/fantasy like The Vampire Diaries, Supernatural and True Blood. However, he can also be found writing about everything from Survivor and Glee to One Tree Hill and Smallville.
