From MadCap's Couch - Supernatural: "Red Sky At Morning"

Ya best start believin' in ghost stories, Winchesters! 'Cuz you're in one!

...

... oh, y'know, as they call it - Thursday.

Red Sky At Morning kicks off with - what else? - a recap. Pretty short as it's been so far, the focus being on Dean's deal, Sam's killing of the Crossroads Demon last episode, and Bela being involved in events back during Bad Day at Black Rock. After we escape, we see a woman out for a night jog when she spies an old clipper ship in the mists... and then it vanishes moments later. She returns home to shower and something is stalking her... and she proceeds to get murdered to death in her shower...

Bela won't be so smug when she realizes she's upwind...

Elsewhere, Sam and Dean are heading to the town in question. Dean confronts Sam about the missing bullet from the Colt and, while Sam does play dumb, Dean has already worked out what Sam did and berates him for it. Despite a hope spot where Dean thinks he might be out of his deal, Sam reveals that he's not and he refuses to apologize for going after the Crossroads Demon. At the home of one Gertrude Case, the aunt of the woman who died in the tease - Sheila, the boys get some details about the case. Namely, Sheila saw a ghost ship before she died and that someone named "Alex" is here working the case as well.

Also, Gert hits on Sam... because it's funny.

Dean teases him about it, but Sam has gotten to work on the case. Every thirty-seven years, the town has a rash of mysterious dry land drownings... and they have over 150 ships to look through to see if they can find the right one. Dean's attitude takes a complete 180 when he finds the Impala has been towed... by none other than Bela, who taunts the boys and explains she's here to make money off of the various rich people in town, in particular Gert who she's been doing some supernatural investigating for. She knows what's happening, is irritated that Gert has stopped payment due to interference from the boys, and suggests that they stay out of her way.

Elsewhere, a man is doing some grooming when a presence begins stalking him. After noting that his bathtub has somehow mysteriously filled itself, he attempts to drain it and finds the water doesn't move. As he leans in, a hand grasps his throat and begins to strangle him. The next day, Bela, Sam, and Dean investigate. The man's brother tells Sam and Dean about the boat, giving a surprising amount of detail for a ship that his brother saw... until he mentions that he also saw the ship when they went night diving. Nothing that Bela is talking to the actual authorities, Sam and Dean split.

Y'know what? Nice cleavage, Lauren. Gold star.

Bela expresses some confusion that Sam and Dean are sticking around when they have enough information to ID the boat. She mocks their do good attitude, saying that hunters are nothing more than people obsessed with vengeance and "a stone's throw away from being a serial killer". Despite this, Sam and Dean stick around and keep an eye on the brother. Sam has been looking through records and found that the brothers inherited their father's real estate empire years ago, but otherwise seem squeaky clean. They don't know what the brothers and Sheila have in connection, if they have anything at all.

The brother reacts poorly to the boys hanging out outside his house and, as he attempts to leave, a waterlogged ghost of a man appears in his car and he begins spewing water from his mouth as though he's drowning. Despite Dean shooting the ghost with rock salt, the damage is done... the man is dead. As they're driving off, Dean tells Sam that he can't save everyone. Sam laments that it feels like, lately, he can't save anybody, drawing an obvious parallel to Dean's situation.

The next day, the boys are squatting at a house when Bela arrives. She gets an "I told you so" and she brings some information about the case, even apologizing for her earlier remarks. She's identified the ship and thus the ghost. Said ghost was killed and all of his body burned say for one part - his right hand, which was turned into a Hand of Glory, a very powerful occult object. Bela has arranged for Gert to get them invitations to a gala where the Hand is being kept.

Bela (and the fangirls) get to swoon over Dean in a tuxedo before we arrive at the party, where we get another comedy moment of Dean sticking a bit of gum on the underside of a punch bowl (to Bela's disgust) and Gert dotes on Sam in a totally very thirsty manner... because comedy. Sam moans about having to deal with Gert, Dean teasing him about it as he and Bela get to work on getting to the Hand. Bela fakes a fainting spell to give the pair of them a reason to go upstairs in spite of the security at the place. This succeeds and Bela sends Dean off to retrieve the Hand from Room 235 while she remains in the spare room to cover their deception.

On the dance floor, a clearly tipsy Gert feels up Sam because comedy.

Dean retrieves the Hand, coming back after Bela has pulled up an elaborate deception on a guard and has taken a ship in a bottle from the desk. He wraps the Hand up, pocketing it as he refuses to let Bela near it.

"John Mitchell? What are you doing here?!"

Back on the floor, Gert drunkenly mentions that the brothers who were killed were rumored to have killed their father for his money. Gert mentions that Sheila had a tragedy occur to her as well, her cousin Brian was killed in a car wreck that Sheila was the driver during. Bela takes Gert away to get her a cold shower and Sam and Dean get to the Impala to find... a ship in a bottle in Dean's coat pocket. Bela has swiped the Hand.

Unfortunately for her, now flush with cash, she sees the ship... and the next morning comes to Sam and Dean for help, showing some actual desperation for the first time since she's been introduced. She reveals that she can't get the Hand back in time before the ghost kills her. They reveal the spirit's motive, it kills people who have wronged someone else, someone in their family. Thus, Bela has to have spilled her own family's blood at some point. When Dean begins to dig into her for it, Bela digs her heels in and reveals nothing, only saying that they wouldn't understand. While Dean seems all too happy to let Bela die, even berating her for her earlier comments. Dean notes the irony that Bela sold the Hand, which could have saved her life... but Sam mentions that that might not be the only thing.

At a graveyard, Sam begins a ritual. A torrential downpour begins and the ghost emerges, throwing Dean around and causing Bela to start drowning. Sam completes the ritual and summons up the ghost's brother, his former captain who sentenced him to hanging. The two spirits clash and vanish and Bela is saved. The threat is ended.

We get the wrap up, Bela showing up and giving the boys each $10,000 for their help instead of just saying thank you, saying that she doesn't like being in people's debts. It seems things are... slightly better?... between them, at least for now. After she leaves, Dean decides they're going to Atlantic City. In a vulnerable moment, Dean tries to apologize to Sam about snapping at him earlier and to apologize for what he did and what he's putting Sam through. When Sam turns it around on him, saying that he doesn't want Dean to worry about him (which is his entire point), Dean deflects by saying he's going to play some craps... causing Sam to give an exasperated sigh as we close out.

Red Sky at Morning is an episode that gets raked over the coals in the Supernatural fandom for a number of reasons. For me, the tone is more than a little uneven. While the show definitely does blend it's comedy with its other elements very well (most of the time, anyway), this one is a bit heavy on the comedic elements and it doesn't come across as well. The serious moments aren't given the time they need, making the comedy feel like so much padding. Without it, the episode really doesn't have too much to go on.

There's also Bela being included in this episode. Bela is, as I said in Bad Day at Black Rock, a character that I've seen a great deal of hatred for in the fandom and I really do think it's undeserved. However, as I said back in the first review she appeared in, I can't get into the issues with her until we get to her final episode Time Is On My Side. Here, though, we get a little more of her backstory: the knowledge that she murdered someone in her family, although it's clear the circumstances were not exactly straightforward. 

Seriously, though. Reverse the genders and this becomes creepy so fast...

As it stands, Red Sky at Morning is... okay. Just okay. It really doesn't deserve the crap it gets, but it's hardly great. A few more rewrites and it probably would have been a pretty good episode. As it stands, it's a one watch and then move on.

Next time, we'll see the return of an old enemy more dangerous than ever before. Gordon is out of prison and is out for Sam's blood... Fresh Blood, if you will.

Be there!