Supernatural: "Unforgiven" Review

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Article Comments for [link=http://tv.ign.com/articles/114/1149352p1.html]Supernatural: "Unforgiven" Review[/link]
by Diana Steenbergen

Summary: An intriguing case, involving both the present and a case from Sam's missing year without a soul, made for one of the better episodes of Supernatural's season so far. "Unforgiven" turned out to be a very accurate title indeed, as we got glimpses of Sam's actions while he was without a soul. [link=http://tv.ign.com/articles/114/1149352p1.html]Read Full Article[/link]

 

[Conatus]

first!

 

[ZBaksh386]

All in All, it's a great episode that reminded me why Sam is my favorite character and I'm psyched to see next week's episode.
I'm just wondering if Sam still has his demon blood fueled powers because I can see Soulless-Sam using them to great effect and not caring.
That is my only complaint against Supernatural. That Sam's abilities weren't really developed nor did he really use them.

 

[GreenBilliam]

Are you watching the show in HD? I am, and the lighting isn't bad for me.

 

[powerfulone1987]

They're rubbing it just a little too hard in our faces that Sam has his soul back.

He's like a lifetime movie. He has feelings. He cares.

He probably also has A.I.D.S. now.

P.S.--> It's hard for me to decide whether or not to think of Soulless Sam as an entirely different entity trapped within Sam.

Wouldn't that be so sad? He wanted to live.

 

[ZBaksh386]

All in All a pretty good episode reminding me why Sam is my favorite character and I'm psyched for next weeks episode.
I'm just wondering whether or not Sam has his demon blood fueled powers because I can see Soulless Sam using them to great effect and not caring about the consequences.

 

[D-Bane12]

Great episode, and in my opinoin I think this was a win for the monster for once. Sure he got killed but he made a few Spiderwomen and really rattle Sam's cage. And the scene in the end was awesome. Hope Sam going to be OK.

 

[Dredgon]

I thought this was a great episode, I loved the way it was told throughout with the black and white flashbacks and present day color. It was interesting to see that Samuel was so taken aback by Sam's brutality, when I thought he was always the more extreme of the two.

I liked the Mel Gibson joke, and there was some good humor throughout, but I also thought the episode had a good balance of humor and seriousness, as was fitting given the circumstances. I liked how Dean continued the trend of using Memento to describe Sam, and it was cool to see them piece together the mystery through Sam's broken memory.

I thought the spider monster was pretty cool, and it was tragic that Soul-less Sam created more through cold execution, while the real Sam would have done it probably more effectively. It was a genius ploy by the monster to lure Sam however, and I thought he looked cool, the eyes were as unsettling as his coldness.

My only complaint is I think they kind of rushed Sam's remembrance of Hell, as he only woke up last episode and then in this one the wall has already fallen. I understand that going back to the town catalyzed and most likely sped up the process, but I still think it could have happened later on. Regardless, I'm sure it will serve the purpose of the story and I cannot wait to see the outcome, as he looks alright in the previews, so there must be a good explanation of what actually happened.

Overall, it was a great episode with a genius storytelling method and an intriguing monster, coupled with some major changes with Sam. A 9.5/10

 

[LPfanatic4ev]

GreenBilliam: Either his eyes are really bad, his tv sucks, or his a whiney little punk, because I was watching in Standard Def. and the lighting was no problem whatsoever.

 

[LPfanatic4ev]

Oops. HER eyes... Sorry bout that.

 

[jrau18]

I had lighting problems as well. I watched it in HD.

And am I the only one that gathered that there's like, ten of these things now? The first monster captured something like five guys, and was then given the Sheriff. If he was turned, it's not unreasonable to assume the others were as well. Then there's the ones the Sheriff himself turned. He captured those women, didn't he turn them? And if all of them have been turned, it's the goddamn buddy system from Hell. Or Purgatory. Whatever.

 

[Kenny_Tha_Killa]

Sam killed Spider-Man. Not cool.

 

[ZombiePony]

Considering Sam is okay in the next episode I will conclude it was most likely a crack in the wall. He scratched it a little so he remembers a little of Hell. Every time he remembers he cracks the wall until it shatters.

 

[emastrofdisastr]

While I have liked a lot about this season, I did't like this episode. There was way to much "I have my soul back!" "I care about people!" Although I do appreciate the fact that he is a different person with and without his soul, I don't need to be reminded of it every second of the episode... it burned too much dialogue.

 

[DaLeadBull]

"While I have liked a lot about this season, I did't like this episode. There was way to much "I have my soul back!" "I care about people!" Although I do appreciate the fact that he is a different person with and without his soul, I don't need to be reminded of it every second of the episode... it burned too much dialogue"

Have you been watching since the beginning? Sam has always been Mr. goody two-shoes mushy type of character. So, I never felt like the whole Sam has a soul thing was overdone at all.

 

[emastrofdisastr]

@DaLeadBull: Yeah that is what I mean. Sam is the nice guy, always has been. So I just thought they didn't need to go into such depth to show that he is a nice guy with his soul. On the other hand, showing how, i guess you could say evil, he was without his soul is a nice contrast to who he is in all the other seasons.

I guess it just felt overly dramatic when he explicitly talked about his soul and his feelings more than him just doing good things.

 

[Kenny_Tha_Killa]

@ emastrofdisastr -

It's no surprise that Sam went on and on about his soul since that pretty much was what the episode was about. Sam remembering all of the horrific things that he did is not something you spend fifteen minutes on and then move on.

 

[Cloud182x]

It was like the first full episode since he got his soul back so yeah...it might be a point of interest.

 

[MrPicc0l0]

http://apps.facebook.com/newrules/?rule=1787&g=10

Vote for my new rule for Bill Maher's Real Time!

 

[NovaAJ08]

I generally loved this episode, but I had one problem with it. The arachni things were just people with weird eyes and busted faces. They didn't look like spiders, we never saw them actually spinning webs, and we never saw any spider fangs or any attempt by the arachni to turn anyone. It reminded me, if only for a few minutes, that I was watching a show on a cable channel with a lower budget than some of the network channels. That's really my only complaint, though. I think Padalecki did an awesome job playing both Sams in this episode and I'm excited to see where they take his flashbacks.

 

[c00lizz]

He probably also has A.I.D.S. now.

Now that would be an interesting storyline.

 

[big200]

its like they kinda rush things in my opinion.its great but he already got his soul and broke the wall...wow lookin forward to this story

 

[Volvagia_slayer]

its like they kinda rush things in my opinion.its great but he already got his soul and broke the wall...wow lookin forward to this story

I like it. It came out of nowhere for us because we were expecting the wall to falter much later on in the season. When it started to fall the episode after he got his soul back, it surprised me in a really good way. We already know that some way or the other Sam is going to make it through his memories of hell. There's no way the writers would permanently kill off his character in that way. So if we already know the vague outcome, how else can they surprise us? With the timing of the wall coming down, of course. And they did that with this episode. It would be a rush if he had gotten his soul back 3 episodes before the season was over (and that's when we first learned about the wall), and then the wall came down during the finale or the episode immediately before.

 

[GeneralBenCarville]

This episode was Ok,I personally wouldn't have given it a 9.0, maybe 8.5. I love this show, but I found this episode a bit slow, and the aracknids could have been a lot cooler then just messed up eyes. though it was worth while watching Sam break down at the end. It was sudden and sort of unexpected. I'm looking forward to see how Sam deals with his remembering hell.

 

[Ruzlix]

Like my complaint about last week's episode, this felt rushed too. The ending, in particular. I'm glad to see other people are starting to agree that it's all getting a little rushed. Things need some time to just melt or be absorbed.