S05.E12: Swap Meat

[DittyDotDot]

A group of teenagers decide to go after the demon bounty of Dean.

 

I always forget about this episode. There are some good funny bits, but mostly I watch it thinking "I don't care how far apart Sam and Dean are, no way that Dean doesn't figure this out sooner." If they wanted to me to believe Dean wouldn't know it was Sam, they needed to do it earlier in the season--before or after Fallen Idols--the boys were back to a better place by this time in the season, so it just doesn't work for me. It's kinda weird for me to see Gary when Dean would have been seeing Sam (even though it was really Gary), but I also don't know how they could have done it differently, so that's not really a complaint exactly, just an observation. I also thought it would have made more sense if it had been Dean that got to see the "apple-pie" life wasn't all it's cracked up to be since it was him questioning it here. And, I think they hit the Sam is a boring pissy-pants that never smiles or has any fun what so ever far too hard and in the end I'm really not sure why that's funny. I won't even go into the whole "empty vessel" nonsense because that just opens up a whole can of worms that still doesn't make sense and probably never will.

 

All that being said, the actress who plays the girl that gets possessed was superb! As were the other two teenage-playing actors. And I happen to think the opening sequence is kinda funny and Jared played the gag well. I also liked meeting their old babysitter and it was funny when Sam asked Dean if he still had a crush on their babysitter--I love Dean's shifty-eyed little "No...weird"--he totally still has a thing for their babysitter, IMO. ;)

[AwesomO4000]

I entirely agree with everything you said here, DittyDotDot. "Sam" not knowing how to drive baby, letting the maid in, etc... There's no way Dean would think there wasn't something wrong. He may not have trusted Sam entirely at that point, but he knows Sam isn't a moron. And I entirely agree about the over the top "Sam is a total wet blanket" thing. It's not funny and it isn't even entirely true... and entirely contradicted itself. For example Sam is all "yay, I'm back in my body" but I'm supposed to believe he then immediately loses that "yay" feeling and turns pissy about Dean's music, because why? It makes no sense and is just Sam character manipulation for "laughs" (which aren't even funny and logically make no sense.)

 

As you said, a few good moments and everyone involved here does their best to make the most of what they've got to work with... and that's the only reason this episode isn't even worse, because the script itself needed a few more rewrites. Dean needed to have a reason to be waaaay more distracted than he was - explaining his cluelessness - and the empty vessel thing especially needed to go.

[mertensia]

Swap Meat is completely ruined by the writer making Dean dumber than a rock. There are bits to like- the way they filmed Dean appearing and then cold-cocking Sam, the teens who are playing with black magic, the teenage actors- but the sheer stupidity of Dean makes my teeth hurt.

[Ubiquitous]

I enojyed the ep but I hate when a char has to be stupid to keep the plot going. Dean would have noticed something wrong wayyy before he did.

[Mick Lady]

On ‎10‎/‎14‎/‎2014 at 7:24 AM, DittyDotDot said:

All that being said, the actress who plays the girl that gets possessed was superb!

I just rewatched this episode today TripleD, and came here just to post this! I'm so happy someone else thought so too!! She was incredible!

[Katy M]

Besides Dean not being able to tell it was Sam, the other thing that bugged me about this episode was that Gary was like a foot shorter than Sam.  So, Dean was looking down at Sam while they were both standing.  And Gary's mom was looking up at him when they would have been more at eye level.  Drove me nuts.  Couldn't they have gotten a taller nerdy looking actor.  That, and when Dean listened to Sam's message about the body swap, he heard Sam's voice.  Shouldn't it have been Gary's.  I did like a lot of this episode, but it was just infuriatingly ridiculous.

Oh, I just also want to say, if the body swap had happened on any other show, I wouldn't have minded that Dean didn't realize it was Sam.  Because, really, people generally are who you think they are.  But, on a show where Sam had already been possessed by a demon, and Dean has been copied by a shapeshifter, any red flags, should be red flags.  Especially obviously obvious ones.

[ILoveReading]

This was the first episode that made my never rewatch list.  The level of stupid in it was too much. 

Dean not noticing before he did and it also didn't do Sam any favors that what clued Dean in was that Sam wanted to hang out with him.

Then at the end Sam and Dean were all excited for Gary (I think that was his name) got the girl but seemed unconcerned that there was a dead teenager on the floor of his parents basement.

Disappointing that the demon bounty on Dean was dropped.

It's too bad they couldn't make the original concept work where Sam and Dean were supposed to switch bodies. 

[DittyDotDot]

17 hours ago, Katy M said:

Oh, I just also want to say, if the body swap had happened on any other show, I wouldn't have minded that Dean didn't realize it was Sam.  Because, really, people generally are who you think they are.  But, on a show where Sam had already been possessed by a demon, and Dean has been copied by a shapeshifter, any red flags, should be red flags.  Especially obviously obvious ones.

Exactly! If this were any other show, I could've bought into it, but since this is a show where the characters have been replaced or possessed before and all, it just didn't work. I get the whole point was probably to demonstrate how far apart Sam and Dean still were despite them being together, but unfortunately they went too far with a lot of it to make it work, in the end. More subtle differences would've probably worked better. 

[Myrelle]

I have to be honest, as dumb and stupid as the writing was in this one was, I still liked it a lot. I loved the joint exorcism of the demon in this one. And as Mick Lady said-that gal who played the demon was great. And Wicked(And JA was Beautiful Beyond Words to me in that scene ;-) ).

Edited April 21, 2017 by Myrelle

[Katy M]

49 minutes ago, Myrelle said:

I have to be honest, as dumb and stupid as the writing was in this one was, I still liked it a lot. I loved the joint exorcism of the demon in this one. And as Mick Lady said-that gal who played the demon was great. And Wicked(And JA was Beautiful Beyond Words to me in that scene ;-) ).

I enjoye dit also.  I just got annoyed at some of the ridiculousness.  And like @DittyDotDot said, they could have gone a bit more subtle.  Letting the maid in-fine.  Wanting to drive-fine, even though he hasn't since season 1, as far as I know, wouldn't be a huge flag.  Putting car in reverse--borderline.  Forgetting that he had(n't) done research last night-fine.  Master bezzatches in the house--no, just no.  That should have been it right there.  Running from the ghost also should have been it, but on the other hand, what else would Gary have done.  That was a fine line to walk. Eating a bacon cheeseburger and his speech should have set dean to thinking (which I think it did), and of course, "We're gonna do it" was what put it over the top. 

[catrox14]

Knowing now that this was supposed to be a body swap of Dean and Sam and I just thank gods someone put a stop to that, because what was going to happen? Sam screws the woman whilst wearing Dean's meatsuit and then later Dean doesn't know he did that?

This episode is in my bottom 10 of all time

[Katy M]

22 minutes ago, catrox14 said:

Knowing now that this was supposed to be a body swap of Dean and Sam and I just thank gods someone put a stop to that, because what was going to happen? Sam screws the woman whilst wearing Dean's meatsuit and then later Dean doesn't know he did that?

This episode is in my bottom 10 of all time

I had never heard that it was supposed to be a Sam/Dean body swap.  But, I'm sure if it had been, the episode would have been totally different.  Obviously, it would have had to be, because neither one of them would have been hanging out at a family's house, the other wouldn't have been running around with an infilatrator, and they both would have known what was going on, at least to some extent.  So, I don't think the sex scene would have happened at all.  Especially since Sam, or Dean, wouldn't have been itching to lose their virginity.

[catrox14]

6 minutes ago, Katy M said:

I had never heard that it was supposed to be a Sam/Dean body swap.  But, I'm sure if it had been, the episode would have been totally different.  Obviously, it would have had to be, because neither one of them would have been hanging out at a family's house, the other wouldn't have been running around with an infilatrator, and they both would have known what was going on, at least to some extent.  So, I don't think the sex scene would have happened at all.  Especially since Sam, or Dean, wouldn't have been itching to lose their virginity.

J2 have mentioned several times it was originally supposed to be them swapping.

You have more faith in the writers than I do that they wouldn't have done the sex thing.  Of course, they shouldn't have done the sex thing anyway because it's still gross with Gary using Sam's body to have sex without Sam's consent. 
 

[DittyDotDot]

21 minutes ago, Katy M said:

I had never heard that it was supposed to be a Sam/Dean body swap.  But, I'm sure if it had been, the episode would have been totally different.  Obviously, it would have had to be, because neither one of them would have been hanging out at a family's house, the other wouldn't have been running around with an infilatrator, and they both would have known what was going on, at least to some extent.  So, I don't think the sex scene would have happened at all.  Especially since Sam, or Dean, wouldn't have been itching to lose their virginity.

The original concept was for Sam and Dean to switch bodies, but like many episodes, what ends up on screen doesn't always resemble what was pitched.

I agree, the sex most likely wouldn't have happened because the reason for the sex in the first place was to show Dean that wasn't Sam in Sam's body. If Sam and Dean had switched bodies, that wouldn't have been necessary. I would assume it would've ended up being something more akin to Tall Tales where they would've had hijinks so each could gain insight into the other's perspective. But, as both Jared and Jensen have mentioned, TPTB realized it was probably going to far and went in another direction.

[Katy M]

47 minutes ago, catrox14 said:

You have more faith in the writers than I do that they wouldn't have done the sex thing.  Of course, they shouldn't have done the sex thing anyway because it's still gross with Gary using Sam's body to have sex without Sam's consent. 

I don't know that it's having faith in the writers per se.  It's just that the story of what happened wouldn't have made any sense with them switching with each other, and therefore, the episode would have been totally, completely different.  So, there's no reason to think that absolutely anything that happened in the episode we saw would have happened in the alternate episode.

[catrox14]

21 minutes ago, Katy M said:

I don't know that it's having faith in the writers per se.  It's just that the story of what happened wouldn't have made any sense with them switching with each other, and therefore, the episode would have been totally, completely different.  So, there's no reason to think that absolutely anything that happened in the episode we saw would have happened in the alternate episode.

I'm not saying it would have absolutely happened that way.  I'm saying that this show's track record to this point in the series still did some dubious things with consent and meatsuits. I'm saying that the temptation MAY, as in possibly,  still have been there to do some shenanigans. YMMV.

I'm saying I'm just glad someone pulled the plug on Dean/Sam body swap and I hope they never do it.

[Hanahope]

I just had a hard time believing these kids would have found such a book and figured it all out, and then be able to capture Sam so easily.  And yeah, Dean should have realized it wasn't Sam much sooner.  Some decent chuckles, needed after the last episode.

[bettername2come]

Crystal is an idiot. Like, dude's acting weird. I hate when women still hit on Sam when he's acting super weird. I get it, he's hot, but notice the weirdness, ladies. I like babysitter and her family. Sam shaking the salad will always be funny, even if I haven't seen a salad like that in at least fifteen years. "I think I'm in the wrong body." I "think" I'm in the wrong body. Nice scene in the mirror as Sam studies his reflection. "Witchcraft, huh, Gary? You little Satanic bastard." I feel the need to use that insult. I kind of wish we'd seen more of Jared playing Gary. He always does the non-Sam characters so well. Although seeing him in the nerdy teenage boy clothing is funny. Sara Drew is fantastic in everything she's in. "A dangerous warlock...named Gary." I don't like that the voicemails sound like Sam when Dean plays them back. The tag-team exorcism is good. I like that Gary was smart/decent enough to back out of killing Dean and know that he didn't want to meet Satan. "Take it from someone who knows - chin up, man. Your life ain't that bad." 

The logistics of this one bug me. I always feel like the anti-possession charms should keep out human spirits too. And Gary should not be able to give up possession of Sam's body to Lucifer. That's not consent!

I still want my Sam/Dean body swap episode. I wouldn't have like it with this plot, but Jared as Dean in Sam's ginormous body needs to happen. Maybe that can be the explanation if Jared ever gets a haircut.

[AwesomO4000]

48 minutes ago, bettername2come said:

I still want my Sam/Dean body swap episode. I wouldn't have like it with this plot, but Jared as Dean in Sam's ginormous body needs to happen. Maybe that can be the explanation if Jared ever gets a haircut.

Yes to the Sam/Dean body swap... No to the haircut. If Dean ever cut Sam's hair he should get the biggest bitch face ever once Sam got back into his own body.

[bettername2come]

3 minutes ago, AwesomO4000 said:

Yes to the Sam/Dean body swap... No to the haircut. If Dean ever cut Sam's hair he should get the biggest bitch face ever once Sam got back into his own body.

I accept these terms.

[RulerofallIsurvey]

Sorry, @bettername2come, but I'd hit on Sam even if he was acting a little weird.  ;)  Jared played that scene so well.   It's probably a little weird how well he played that scene.  Lol.  

I love meeting the babysitter and getting a little bit of history on the boys when they were younger from another's perspective.  I really like how the boys went to help her when she called them.  No surprise at all that Dean used to have the hots for the babysitter.  She was probably in her early 20's back then and Dean would have been 16-17 if it was the summer before Sam went into 6th grade.    

Somehow, Sam manages to make that dorky uniform look hot.  

ETA: I like how Sam was smart and immediately started looking into who Gary was.

Don't really know what to say about Gary - kid was willing to make deals with demons, kill Dean, and he wanted to be a powerful witch, but meeting the devil was a step too far?  Well, better late than never, I suppose.    Also, I don't really trust Sam's perspective on Gary's life (it sucked ass and was stressful) because HE was already under a lot of stress being not-Sam, so really not in a position to fairly evaluate, I think.   It was kind of weird how the whole babysitter/poltergeist storyline was just dropped after they burned the bones.  I would have rather had some closure with that family than Gary and Nora.  

Edited July 15, 2017 by RulerofallIsurvey
Smart Sam - looking hot and dorky at the same time. :)

[Iju]

there was something so subtle about gary that made us all hate him so much. my family was frustrated that dean didn't figure that sam wasn't sam sooner as well. i know it wasn't right but i didn't mind it that much. what really made me so mad was how these amateurs toppled these two top dog hunters in the country, maybe even the world (which makes me think there needs to be at least one episode when they boys go to a monster outside of the US, but whatever). sam snapping at the father, "I don't give a rat's ass what you think", and his hushed annoyed tone of "Leave me alooone" was so funny. i hated that he got caught not because of my previous stated reason but because his pissed off, "screw you, screw everyone, I need my brother" attitude was very fun to watch. still i enjoyed seeing him be so exasperated with the kids, calling them moron and idiots. he was so done with patience. i understand sam, i do.

other stuff:

"I promise you, you're going to be okay." i liked how it was dean who said this to the babysitter's daughter and it had a successful effect. when a guy that your mother trusts says something that firmly with those crystal like eyes, who wouldn't silently smile and nod?

i actually thought gary would mistake dean as sam's partner sooner or later, since it's been done multiple times by this point.

sam being sam and sherlocking gary's room. will never not love him using his brain like that (+john's possible training).

looking at sam rummaging through gary's stuff, i never understood the stuff kids packed in their lockers. apparently mother says it's like a home for students. weird.

if gary achieved shooting dean in the basement it could have meant two things - dean would immediately know it's not sam or he would be broken all over again, all hurt and confused. poor boy lol.

nora's actor was so freaking good as the demon, holy cow. she took that role and owned it. respect!

[The Companion]

On 10/14/2014 at 8:24 AM, DittyDotDot said:

I always forget about this episode. There are some good funny bits, but mostly I watch it thinking "I don't care how far apart Sam and Dean are, no way that Dean doesn't figure this out sooner." If they wanted to me to believe Dean wouldn't know it was Sam, they needed to do it earlier in the season--before or after Fallen Idols--the boys were back to a better place by this time in the season, so it just doesn't work for me. It's kinda weird for me to see Gary when Dean would have been seeing Sam (even though it was really Gary), but I also don't know how they could have done it differently, so that's not really a complaint exactly, just an observation. I also thought it would have made more sense if it had been Dean that got to see the "apple-pie" life wasn't all it's cracked up to be since it was him questioning it here. And, I think they hit the Sam is a boring pissy-pants that never smiles or has any fun what so ever far too hard and in the end I'm really not sure why that's funny. I won't even go into the whole "empty vessel" nonsense because that just opens up a whole can of worms that still doesn't make sense and probably never will.

All that being said, the actress who plays the girl that gets possessed was superb! As were the other two teenage-playing actors. And I happen to think the opening sequence is kinda funny and Jared played the gag well. I also liked meeting their old babysitter and it was funny when Sam asked Dean if he still had a crush on their babysitter--I love Dean's shifty-eyed little "No...weird"--he totally still has a thing for their babysitter, IMO. 😉

Agree x eleventy. This episode is saved by the girl. She was fantastic. The idea that Dean didn't, at a minimum, test Dean for demon possession, etc was ridiculous. 

On 4/22/2017 at 12:04 PM, catrox14 said:

J2 have mentioned several times it was originally supposed to be them swapping.

You have more faith in the writers than I do that they wouldn't have done the sex thing.  Of course, they shouldn't have done the sex thing anyway because it's still gross with Gary using Sam's body to have sex without Sam's consent. 
 

Poor Sam. Two STDs already this season without having sex. Now the risk of a third with no reward.

On 5/6/2017 at 9:17 PM, Hanahope said:

I just had a hard time believing these kids would have found such a book and figured it all out, and then be able to capture Sam so easily.  And yeah, Dean should have realized it wasn't Sam much sooner.  Some decent chuckles, needed after the last episode.

Yeah, they were awfully powerful for no prior demon contact. 

The episode has some funny moments, despite being almost entirely nonsensical. I loved the initial scene: I AM 26 YEARS OLD. The salad was hilarious. 

[Scout Finch]

The babysitter premise doesn't make sense. If Dean was 16/17 then they wouldn't have needed a babysitter, not to mention that even when they were young enough we always saw Dean taking care of Sam by himself.

[Aithne]

On 7/22/2020 at 1:37 AM, Scout Finch said:

The babysitter premise doesn't make sense. If Dean was 16/17 then they wouldn't have needed a babysitter, not to mention that even when they were young enough we always saw Dean taking care of Sam by himself.

I was wondering about this when I was thinking  through Dean's pre-show history. It definitely seems odd that a) John would bother arranging a babysitter when he was already having Dean do it for free, and b) that Dean would be hanging back in a motel at this age instead of backing John up. 

All I can come up with is that maybe the babysitting wasn't really official. This gal was working at the motel, it's not like she could have been minding them full-time. Maybe John just used the motel when he could because he'd struck up a friendship with her and knew she'd check in from time to time, which made it a better option than a motel where they knew absolutely no one. 

As for Dean sticking around here when Sam was old enough to be entering 6th grade and could've been fine for a few days on his own with this gal checking in... who knows. Maybe he was nursing an injury or something and John didn't want to risk him getting hurt further or being a liability in a fight. Or maybe he always left Dean when they used this motel because he was worried the cleaning lady would be way more concerned about him leaving little Sam alone and might get ideas about calling child services, whereas leaving Sam with his big brother looked a little less negligent. They don't really elaborate, and while it doesn't seem to fit with how John did things generally, I guess I can think of some scenarios where it might make sense. 

Edited January 12, 2022 by Aithne

[tessathereaper]

1 hour ago, Aithne said:

I was wondering about this when I was thinking  through Dean's pre-show history. It definitely seems odd that a) John would bother arranging a babysitter when he was already having Dean do it for free, and b) that Dean would be hanging back in a motel at this age instead of backing John up. 

All I can come up with is that maybe the babysitting wasn't really official. This gal was working at the motel, it's not like she could have been minding them full-time. Maybe John just used the motel when he could because he'd struck up a friendship with her and knew she'd check in from time to time, which made it a better option than a motel where they knew absolutely no one. 

As for Dean sticking around here when Sam was old enough to be entering 6th grade and could've been fine for a few days on his own with this gal checking in... who knows. Maybe he was nursing an injury or something and John didn't want to risk him getting hurt further or being a liability in a fight. Or maybe he always left Dean when they used this motel because he was worried the cleaning lady would be way more concerned about him leaving little Sam alone and might get ideas about calling child services, whereas leaving Sam with his big brother looked a little less negligent. They don't really elaborate, and while it doesn't seem to fit with how John did things generally, I guess I can think of some scenarios where it might make sense. 

We also know John did go hunting without Dean.  He left Dean and Sam for at least a month in that high school episode(Back to School Special?  Can't remember the name).  I think more often than not he left them but would probably take Dean when the hunt was localized, not when he was using the motel or wherever as a "home base" for something he was driving long distances to research. 

I have a feeling the regular hunts would be localized(monster in the area they are staying, so Dean would be involved and they probably were not away for more than a day or two or a night or two to get rid of the actual monster) and "hunts" where what he was really doing was picking a trail related to getting revenge for Mary's death, which might end up taking him long distances away from where ever Dean and Sam are and which he would follow until it ran into a dead end, which could take weeks or a month or more.  That's when they'd be left for long periods of time where they may not have much if any contact with him.

[Aithne]

57 minutes ago, tessathereaper said:

We also know John did go hunting without Dean.  He left Dean and Sam for at least a month in that high school episode(Back to School Special?  Can't remember the name).  I think more often than not he left them but would probably take Dean when the hunt was localized, not when he was using the motel or wherever as a "home base" for something he was driving long distances to research. 

I have a feeling the regular hunts would be localized(monster in the area they are staying, so Dean would be involved and they probably were not away for more than a day or two or a night or two to get rid of the actual monster) and "hunts" where what he was really doing was picking a trail related to getting revenge for Mary's death, which might end up taking him long distances away from where ever Dean and Sam are and which he would follow until it ran into a dead end, which could take weeks or a month or more.  That's when they'd be left for long periods of time where they may not have much if any contact with him.

Oh, After School Special (ASS). I must have selective amnesia about that one, haha. Good ol' D&L. 

Anyway, that explanation makes sense - that Dean stayed with Sam when John was gonna be gone for long periods, and only went on the shorter-term hunts. My impression about this, though, given the ages, would still be that this gal wasn't officially a babysitter as such, but moreso someone who could drop in and check on them, maybe hang out a bit to talk and see if they needed anything. 

[ahrtee]

The writers changed canon to suit the story.  Many, many times.  Can't you imagine the nepotism duo reading these forums and giggling to see how we turn ourselves inside out to make their idiocies fit canon?  

[tessathereaper]

20 hours ago, Aithne said:

Oh, After School Special (ASS). I must have selective amnesia about that one, haha. Good ol' D&L. 

Anyway, that explanation makes sense - that Dean stayed with Sam when John was gonna be gone for long periods, and only went on the shorter-term hunts. My impression about this, though, given the ages, would still be that this gal wasn't officially a babysitter as such, but moreso someone who could drop in and check on them, maybe hang out a bit to talk and see if they needed anything. 

Oh I agree with you, was just talking about that specific bit, I don't think she was really a babysitter, I think she checked up on them if they were nearby when he was on a case.  Or hell maybe it was a way to save money(I honestly can't remember the details of that episode so can't remember if they stated WHERE she watched them).  If he could leave them with her for a few days, that's less money he's having to spend on motel and food, I'll assume she was paid given she was "the babysitter" but it probably wasn't as much as motel and food.  Dean and Sam themselves probably felt relieved to not have to depend entirely on themselves for a few days on those rare occasions so would think of her fondly..