Supernatural, 4x06, "Yellow Fever"

Episode Title: Yellow Fever
Writers: Andrew Dabb and Daniel Loflin
Director: Phil Sgriccia
Originally Aired: 10/23/2008
Grade: B+

Despite the fan backlash about this episode, I actually didn’t hate it at all. I don’t take Dean so seriously that I can’t stand to see him as the butt of a few jokes. I actually enjoyed the comedy in this episode, some of which was actually tiered. For example, the opening scene with Dean is already funny when they cut to the little doggy that’s chasing him, but then it becomes funnier when they cut to the long shot of Dean being chased across the screen by the dog. The same thing happened with the locker scene, where it was funny just with Dean’s girly scream, but I almost lost it when he said, “That was scary!” in that over-exaggerated, slightly sheepish way.

One other minor thing I loved was that in the shot with Luther and the kitten, you can actually hear the kitten purring. I’m not sure whether they actually recorded audio on that shot, or if they just dubbed in a real kitten purring, but either way, it’s nice that they didn’t just dub in a full-grown cat’s purr, because they’re very different sounds.

I did think it was a bit odd that Sam actually seemed to believe that Dean was targeted because he’s a dick, considering that Dean’s sacrifice is the only reason Sam is even alive. Still, I think I can overlook the off-putting writing there. At least we also got some progression on the character and/or myth arc with Lilith’s “You know why, Dean” to his question of why he’d been targeted.

My biggest problem with the episode was that the solution, or “cure,” for the disease was appalling. Luther was horribly murdered, and the only way to scare him into non-existence is to re-create the event and make him relive it? It just seems unnecessarily cruel, and I think that’s a valid statement since we’re dealing with a fictional world, meaning the writers could possibly have come up with something a little less appalling.

As for Jensen’s “Eye of the Tiger” performance, it was, of course hilarious and awesome. Jensen’s grin at the end really showcases the difference between Jensen and Dean, because sure, Dean smiles on the show, but he doesn’t smile like that. I also found it strange that there were people walking and driving on the street in the background, and none of them even seemed to notice what was going on!