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Supernatural Season 5 Episode 16

Dark Side of the Moon

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AIRED: Apr 01, 2010

9.3

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EPISODE REVIEWS
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Episode Summary

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When Sam and Dean are killed by hunters, they end up in Heaven. They discover they must find Joshua, an angel who speaks directly with God, before Zachariah can find them.

FAN RECAP

Fan Episode Reviews (25)

High quality, but bleak episode.

8.5

By Geordiegirl1967, Oct 29, 2011

This was a top quality episode of Supernatural in many ways and both Jared and Jensen gave great performances. But it was marred for me by the way the writers depicted Sam. They portrayed him as a rather selfish man, whose happiest memories were having Thanksgiving with strangers, or when he ran away from home. He had, apparently, no happy memories of times with Dean or with the love of his life, Jessica. In contrast Dean's happiest memories revolved around Sam and his mum. This implied an imbalance in their relationship ie that Dean loves Sam more than Sam loves Dean. That is inconsistent with how the relationship has alway been portrayed, and does a disservice to the character of Sam. It was a missed opportunity to properly show the depth of the relationship between the brothers.

That, rather big, concern aside, this was an important and well-crafted episode.moreless
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Really well done episode, but it broke my heart...

8.5

By jessimari95, Aug 17, 2011

The episode itself was great, but it just broke my heart. I enjoyed this episode because it was important, and it allowed us a deeper look at the winchesters themselves. This episode really emphasizes Dean's family-oriented demeanor, but I hated how it made Sam out to be. He may not be a total family man, but he loves his brother and dreamed of one day having a family. In my opinion, Sam is better than the selfish person he was made out to be here. The brothers have an unbreakable bond, and the scene at the end nearly brought me to tears. That being said, I liked getting a peek at more of Sam and Dean's memories and revisiting some old friends. The cast was excellent, as usual, and you could FEEL the emotions in here. The plot line was good, and this episode is a great contribution to the show, in my opinion.moreless
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Filler.

5.5

By noelveiga, May 07, 2011

Not that there's a huge problem with that, we did get some old cast cameos out of it and I guess fans of the weird not quite unresolved sexual tension between Sam and Dean got a bit of the good old "will they stick together or fall apart" angle.

But it was filler.

The episode falls in between of a moment of good forward drive on the show and stops it dead. It starts with an unrelated, isolated incident and spins off into a largely inconsequential trip that feels almost like a clips episode full of backstory rather than a proper new chapter of the plot.

Not only that, but it ends with a Deus ex Machina (literally). In the end, the meaning of the episode to the entire arc is very limited. Either all of this is a plot to diminish the protagonists' morale, in which case it's superfluous and it could have been implied without wasting an entire hour, or it is not all real, and the McGuffin of the entire season has just been defused. Either way, the momentum is broken and the show stands still waiting to (hopefully) be kickstarted again in the next episode.

I guess one way to convey this for all the fans who will certainly express themselves with the rating tool is this: when this late in the game an episode could have been aired in any order in the middle of the last four or five weeks, you know it is not a season highlight. Don't you agree?moreless
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I liked this episode. Very enjoyable and great to watch.

9.0

By lilangeldee, Feb 09, 2011

I was heart broken at the end of this episode when Dean threw away his necklace. I have loved that necklace since I saw it in Season 1's episode Skin (Which is my favourite episode!)I was crying at the end of this episode! I also hate it that they always die. I think I have seen them die once too often and I hate it. I want it to stop. My favourite part of this episode was when little Sammy was lighting fireworks with Dean. That was very cute. Over all, I enjoyed this episode very much and I can't wait to see what else is gonna happen in Season 5.moreless
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Pure gold!

10

By Dark_Davis, Feb 09, 2011

This episode had it all! Memories of the past, action and answers. It was cool to see Ash again! A little weird that he was all tuned into heaven, but cool. I can't help but think though, that there was something fishy about what Sam and Dean saw, I think more of it was a show then they thought. Maybe what they heard was true, god really doesn't care. Or maybe it was only half of the truth. Something tells me that there is more to it. I really liked how in heaven it was like a big network of memories, and how it would just change from one memory to another, I also like the way Ash explained it, I guess it makes sense; I just never pictured it like that. My idea was this whole cloud city of light, but I guess everyone has a different idea of it. Very good portrayal of heaven though. I am pumped for the next episode, this was one of the better episodes of late!moreless
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Cast & Crew: STARS

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Jared Padalecki	Sam Winchester
Jensen Ackles	Dean Winchester
Misha Collins	Castiel

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Cast & Crew: RECURRING AND GUESTS

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Roger Aaron Brown	Joshua	Guest Star
Traci Dinwiddie	Pamela Barnes	Guest Star
Nels Lennarson	Walt	Guest Star
Kurt Fuller	Zachariah	Recurring Role
Chad Lindberg	Ash	Recurring Role
Samantha Smith	Mary Winchester	Recurring Role

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Episode Photos

Jensen Ackles as Dean and Jared Padaleck...

© 2010 The CW
Jared Padalecki as Sam on Supernatural f...

© 2010 The CW
Jensen Ackles as Dean on Supernatural fr...

© 2010 The CW
Jared Padalecki as Sam and Jensen Ackles...

© 2010 The CW

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Trivia, Notes, Quotes and Allusions

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TRIVIA (0)
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QUOTES (6)
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- (as the hunters prepare to kill Dean)
  Dean: Go ahead, Roy. Do it. But I'm gonna warn you--when I come back, I'm gonna be pissed.
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- Sam: Heaven?
  Dean: Yeah.
  Sam: Okay, how are we in Heaven?
  Dean: All that clean living, I guess.
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- Sam: Dad said they always had the perfect marriage.
  Dean: It wasn't perfect until after (Mary) died.
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- Zachariah: Wow. Running from angels... on foot... in Heaven. With out-of-the-box thinking like that, I'm surprised you boys haven't stopped the Apocalypse already.
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- Ash: See, you got to stop thinking of Heaven as one place. It's more like a buttload of places. All crammed together. Like Disneyland. Except without all the anti-Semitism.
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- Mary: The worst was the smell. The pain, well... what can you say about your skin bubbling off? But the smell was so... You know, for a second, I thought I left a pot roast burning in the oven. But.. it was my meat. And then, finally, I was dead.
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NOTES (3)
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- International Airdates:
  UK: May 19, 2010 on LIVING/LIVING HD
  Sweden: August 13, 2010 on Kanal 5
  Spain: December 6, 2010 on AXN
  Germany: February 21, 2011 on Sky Cinema Hits
  Australia: February 28, 2011 on ELEVEN
  Czech Republic: October 28, 2011 on Prima COOL
  Finland: June 24, 2012 on Sub
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- Injoke: Roy and Walt are named after Roy and Walt Disney.
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- Music: Knockin' On Heaven's Door (Bob Dylan)
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ALLUSIONS (6)
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- Dean: I think we hit the yellow bricks.
  Referencing the Yellow Brick Road, from the novel and movie The Wizard of Oz where Dorothy and her friends follow the yellow brick road to reach the Wizard.
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- Ash: Welcome to my blue Heaven.
  Referencing the 1989 song My Blue Heaven by the Pogues. The song refers to "My Blue Heaven, with angels who are out of reach."
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- Dean: Okay... thanks, Carol Anne.
  When spoken in response to Castiel's advice to stay out of the light, referencing the 1982 film Poltergeist. Carol Anne (Heather O'Rourke) is the young girl who first makes contact with ghosts that invade her home and eventually torment her and her family. The spirits attempt to entice Carol Anne to come to the other side, hence her being told "Don't go into the light."
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- Ash: Most people can't leave their own personal Idahos.
  Referencing the 1991 movie My Own Private Idaho, which presents two friends, Mike and Scott, who go on a journey of self-discovery. Their trip takes them to Idaho, Mike's home state.
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- Dean: That's... the Matrix.
  Referencing the virtual reality computer introduced in The Matrix (1999). The Matrix is a virtual reality created by sentient computers to keep mankind happy and satisfied... and unaware that they are hooked into giant energy batteries to power the machines.
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- Title:
  Referencing the Pink Floyd concept album released in 1973. The two tracks, one per side, are each a single continual piece of music concerning the human condition.
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