Supernatural: Review: Season 8 Ep 16

The CW, 27 February 2013

Encountering a “real life Kenny”—a man with no memory who dies every day—Sam and Dean end up tangling with Zeus, king of the Greek Gods!

There’s a nice mystery to the first third of ‘Remember the Titans’, and even with the clue in the episode title and the (on reflection) fairly obvious set-up for the mysterious Shane, it proved to be much more engaging than the previous episode’s shaggy dog story. The red herring that he might be a zombie plays out well. The mystery of Shane’s repeated deaths and resurrections, and the bizarre attack on him by a leather clad hottie, initially leave the viewer, as well as Sam and Dean, stuck for answers… but in a good way. This show can sometimes be too keen to cut to the explanation, so teasing things out a while longer really worked in this case.

The discovery that Shane is really Prometheus, the rebellious Greek God (one of the Titans) who gave fire to mankind, and the woman who attacked him is Artemis, the huntress, diminishes things only a little: after all, we’ve been here before when Supernatural has dealt with various Gods. Things become a bit more predictable thereafter, with the confrontation with Zeus playing out in the standard Supernatural manner.

‘Remember the Titans’ was a nice change of pace from the on-going tablet translation by Kevin and the toll on Sam from the tasks. This episode even sees Dean taking pride at being a Man of Letters, as well as modeling a snazzy dressing gown… His final ‘prayer’ to the absent and non-responsive Castiel looks like an intriguing set-up for things to come…

Verdict: Supernatural is back on form after the previous dog’s diner of an episode! Let’s hope it lasts.

Episode 16 ‘Remember the Titans’: 8/10

Brian J. Robb