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A tense but uneven episode pits brother against brother.

The episode begins with Sam confronting a trapped demon with Ruby. The demon taunts Sam over his relationship with Ruby and his hero complex, leading Sam to exorcise the demon psychically – but unbeknownst to him, his brother Dean is watching the whole time on a tip from his angelic contact Castiel. Dean bursts in and angrily confronts Sam and begins fighting with Ruby. Sam breaks them up in order to get the demon’s former host – who has fortunately survived his possession – some help.

The damage is done, however, the next morning, as Dean is all but ready to pack up and leave.  As Sam observed, Dean’s insistence Sam swear off his psychic powers was “practically his dying wish” – yet Sam persisted in continuing to train under the demon Ruby and lied to his brother about it. Dean punched Sam twice and then resorts to breaking a lamp, telling his brother if he didn’t know him – he’d probably hunt him. Sam argues the process works – saving more people from possession than they ever could before. They are interrupted by a call from an old hunter – Travis – who has a case for them.

Jack seems to be a normal guy approaching thirty, albeit with a voracious appetite. But as Travis explains to Sam and Dean, that’s just it – Jack is the host for a Ruguru, a parasitic creature with a hunger for human flesh which will eventually subvert Jack’s humanity. Once Jack tastes human flesh, the transformation is imminent and there’s no going back.  Travis hunted Jack’s father thirty years ago, but his father passed the condition on to his seemingly human son. Now Travis has come back to finish the job.

Sure enough, Jack starts going through changes. He gorges down raw meat while Sam and Dean look on amazed from across the street. He is overwhelmed by the sight of blood when his wife cuts her finger. And he effortlessly breaks a jerk’s hand at a bar. Still, he is human, and Sam insists there’s hope for him – something Travis dismisses as a fairy tale. But Dean agrees to go with Sam to talk to Jack about his condition, despite the two blowing up at one another in the car drive over.

Jack is getting worse. He practically forces himself on his wife and barely has the self-control to stop. Sam and Dean bluntly explain both his condition and his sinister destiny, but Jack angrily rebukes them. That night, Jack climbs up his house wall when he is overcome with lust for his wife. Sam and Dean see this and prepare for the worst, but right after Jack sees his wife undressing, he also sees his reflection in the glass – and what he has become. Repulsed, he flees the house just as Sam and Dean break down the door. Jack’s wife runs into the room, screaming that she’ll call the cops, while the Winchesters awkwardly run away, Dean sheepishly shutting the already-broken door.

Returning later, Jack is captured by Travis, who has also tied up his wife. Similarly bound, Jack learns his wife is pregnant, and Travis plans to kill them both to prevent the spread of the Ruguru. Jack breaks free as Travis moves towards his wife and attacks. The wife flees, horrified.  Sam and Dean arrive on the scene soon after to find what’s left of Travis – only to be themselves captured by the transformed Jack.

Locked in room, Sam tries to talk Jack out of feasting on Dean. Sam soon learns of Travis’ attack on the family and breaks out of the room just as soon as Jack turns his attention to the unconscious Dean. When Jack completes his transformation, Sam has no choice, burning the Ruguru – formerly Jack – alive. On the car ride back, Dean apologizes to Sam about his rough treatment. Sam announces he is giving up his psychic powers – by his choice, not Dean’s.

Overall, the episode held itself together pretty well through both the tense emotional stand-off between Dean and Sam as well as the tragic transformation of Jack. These two elements were a bit uneven though, with one situation completely replacing the other towards the end of the episode. And though Jack’s ultimate downfall was predictable, his character’s reactions to them were not, making for an intense ride.

Finally, after the show killed off hunter after hunter – from Caleb to Richie to Gordon – we have Travis, a character who I didn’t feel sad to see turn into a Ruguru chew-toy. Even Gordon – who tortured an innocent vampire in his first appearance – was a more likable character than Travis, who planned to burn Jack and his pregnant wife alive. Regardless of his reasons, the horror of his act never fully seems to dawn on him, making his death tragic only because of the path it sets Jack down.

When all is said and done, the one gaping plot hole in this is Jack’s newly-pregnant wife. Where does she go after fleeing the house? Does she still have Jack’s baby after seeing what the father of her future baby has become? Will Sam and Dean have to hunt another Ruguru in thirty years time? We don’t know. The plot completely forgets about her.

Ultimately, “Metamorphosis” is a pretty good episode – better than last week’s but still not as great as the season opener. Can Sam hold his promise to swear off his psychic powers, especially when Ruby comes a-calling? Only time will tell – but next episode, the black-and-white Halloween episode Monster Movie – looks to be totally brilliant.

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