Supernatural - Swap Meat, S05E12

Every once in a while, Supernatural has to have an episode that just doesn't quite measure up. Not that it isn't still a very good episode, but compared to all the others, it isn't as good, it has far more faults.

What happens is that a 17 year old, who has been playing with witch craft, casts a spell so that he can switch bodies with Sam (Jared Padalecki). The kid, Gary (Colton James), spends his time enjoying being in the body of an adult, while Sam just wants to get back in his own body. In the end, a demon gets summoned, and when Gary is promised what he wants, but asked to meet Satan, he chickens out and he and Dean (Jensen Ackles) send the demon back to hell.

It wasn't badly acted, though I would have preferred to see Jared Padalecki play Gary while he was in Sam's body, and Colton James playing Sam while in Gary's body. There were, however, some big issues I just could not get over.

1. It took Dean way to long to realize that something wasn't right with Sam. I realize that they've got tattoos which prevent demons from possessing them, but that doesn't mean they shouldn't be aware that sudden bizarre shifts in personality might be supernatural in nature.

2. If a junior witch like Gary was so easily able to switch bodies with Sam, how come the demons aren't working this angle a whole lot harder? All they needed was a person who actually worshiped Satan to get into Sam's body, and he'll say YES.

3. If witches are evil and corrupted, how did Gary stay so innocent? Sure, he's not going to do it again, but all the witches we've met up till now haven't been redeemable, and just cause Gary's 17 does not mean he's too young to have been taken.

Again, I didn't think there was anything particularly horrible about the episode, but it did come across as unnecessary filler.