Supernatural 'Reichenbach' Review: Sam and Dean's Horrible Reunion

Supernatural continues its strong start to Season 10 with its second episode entitled "Reichenbach." In this installment, we saw more of Demon Dean's dark personality and Sam's desperate struggle to get his brother back at all costs.

Dean continues to want to drink heavily, sleep around and basically do whatever the hell he wants. Crowley, on the other hand, wants Dean to be at his side and knows he needs to feed the Mark of Cain before it destroys him. To that end, he has Dean fulfill a contract by killing a target. Except Dean goes rogue and kills the client because, as Dean put it, he's a douche.

Crowley then raised an interesting philosophical point when he questioned if Dean is a demon or a human. He's done some ruthless things in these two episodes, but he's also shown hints of an incomplete transformation into a full-blown demon. Could this be what eventually leads to Dean's return to humanity?

As if to prove a point, Dean decides to be extra ruthless for the remainder of the episode. He abandons Crowley, who decides to go to extreme measures and recruits Sam to capture his brother. Of course, the King of Hell takes the opportunity to bargain for the First Blade, which Sam begrudgingly hands over to him. He tells Sam where to find Dean, and the brothers reunite for the first time in Season 10.

But this reunion is far different from the dozens that have preceded it. Dean readily admits that he has to hold back and actively stop himself from ripping Sam's throat out with his teeth. This is another sign of Dean's latent humanity lurking deep, deep within there somewhere, but it could also be a sign that Dean's been watching The Walking Dead in his spare demon time.

Sam gives an impassioned plea to his brother, which Dean promptly shoots down in a moment that is sure to satisfy fans who like to needle the show for its overuse of emotional speeches between the brothers. Shortly thereafter, Cole (Sam's captor from the season premiere) shows up to seek revenge on Dean for killing his father a decade earlier.

What follows is some of the best work Jensen Ackles has done in a while on this show. Dean knows he's going to humiliate this poor guy, and he savors every moment of it. He insults Cole. He toys with him. He mockingly acts impressed that Cole knows Kung Fu. And then he beats him to a pulp without even breaking a sweat. As he says later in the car with Sam, this was a fate far worse than death for Cole, who will spend every waking moment knowing that he had his chance for revenge and he failed. This is the darkest version of Demon Dean we've seen thus far, and it's not pretty. He also announces that he's a demon in a sort of response to Crowley's question earlier in the episode.

Sam takes advantage of the fight to slap those demon-proof handcuffs on his brother, who is now threatening to torture his brother the first chance he gets. This is going to get a lot worse before it gets better.

Notes from Dad's Journal:

-       Castiel's subplot featured some tender moments between himself and Hannah, who is starting to show more human emotions even if she doesn't fully understand a good serial killer joke. She also nearly made the horrible mistake of letting Metatron (welcome back Curtis Armstrong) free until Cas stopped her. Cas admits he's made peace with his impending demise, but Metatron sees right through it and calls him out on it.

-       Sam makes Dean ride in the backseat of the Impala. And Dean called it "just a car." Oh, how far we have fallen.

-       Crowley looking longingly at that ridiculous picture of him and Dean on his phone was just the best, as was his reaction to Underling Demon's presentation about how to increase efficiency. It was hard to tell if Crowley was extremely bored or slightly homicial in that moment.

-       Cole is now looking for information on demons, which means a new hunter could soon join the mix. I'll go out on a limb and say he returns after Dean is cured, just to complicate matters.

-       Dean's speech to Lester was harsh, but did anybody else think he had a point?

-       How has Crowley never called Sam "Samantha" until now?

What did you think of "Reichenbach?" Let us know in the comments section.