Warning: This post contains spoilers for the Supernatural episode “The Chitters.” If you haven’t watched it yet, hop into the Impala and drive away.
After 11 seasons, you’d think Supernatural would run out of lore to explore, but that’s not the case. They keep visiting new corners of the United States and encountering the weirdest and scariest things. The monster in “The Chitters” was one of the most bizarre creatures on the series in recent memories.
The brothers made this discovery in a small Colorado town. They went to investigate a missing persons case, and while doing so, they ran into other hunters.
The reports about the missing woman were strange enough; the witness claimed she saw her friend get taken by a mutant—a green-eyed, buzzing, junk-less mutant. Yep, junk-less. And Sam and Dean learned two other instances of missing persons happened in the past–once 54 years ago and once 27 years ago. I found it frustrating how the sheriff (played by Kandyse McClure) was willing to write it off to people getting out of dodge for better lives. Apparently she didn’t find it odd at all how people got the itch every 27 years. like clockwork. That strange coincidence should have made her raise her eyebrow more.
While on the trail, Dean had an up-close-and-personal interaction with the weird monster. He had his butt saved by a duo who used an all-too-familiar line when Dean asked who they were: “You wouldn’t believe us.”
Other hunters! It’s been a while since we’ve seen Dean’s and Sam’s peers, and it was oh so lovely to get to see a different perspective on the profession. Like several other hunters we’ve met over the years, Jessy and Cesar, a couple, were in it for revenge. Well, Jessy was. His brother was taken by one of the monsters 27 years ago. Jessy informed Dean the beings were the spirits of cicadas. Cicadas. I’m not even pulling your chain.
It turns out the spirits showed up every 27 years for breeding purposes. Eww. For full gross-out effect, we saw the bodies of the pregnant women later in the episode. The concept is completely out of left field, and though I can’t claim this idea is one of my favorites ever for a monster, I applaud it for being wild and different. I certainly never would have dreamed of it.
Sam and Dean decided to team up with Jessy and Cesar to handle the bug problem. Cesar and Dean had an important discussion while they worked. They talked about vengeance. Hunters who focus all their energy on vengeance rarely get it, and when they do, the achievement doesn’t satisfy them or change them. In some ways, I think hunters are like gamblers. No win will ever be enough.
Jessy and Sam got the more boring duties by chasing a lead that wasn’t super relevant to the story. They questioned the former sheriff of the small town where the abductions were happening and found out he had a connection to them. His entire subplot could have been cut out, and nothing would have changed. Not really.
The cicada spirit certainly got my attention, but it was Jessy and Cesar that kept me invested. I was expecting Cesar to die in order for Jessy to understand the futility of revenge, but the twist thankfully didn’t happen. In fact, the couple got as happy a ending as we’ve seen any hunters get. Maybe the only happy ending we’ve seen for hunters? They took down the cicada spirits and folded. Dean was this close to asking them for help with the Amara issue—which in itself is big because Dean doesn’t trust easily—but backed off when he saw they were ready to retire.
I didn’t know how necessary it was for me to see, as Sam said, two hunters make it to the finish line. The career path usually seems to end in one way, and it’s bloody. To watch a couple step away from a life of monsters and drive into the sunset was reassuring and made me think a similar fate is possible for Dean and Sam one day. Maybe.
What did you think of this addition to the lore? Were you pleased to see hunters get a happy ending? Share your thoughts in the comments.
Images: The CW
