Supernatural (TV Series) Death Takes a Holiday (2009) User Reviews

Saving a Reaper

[zombiehigh18 · 10/10 · 28 November 2011]

Wow, I have probably watched this one like a hundred times and it never fails to entertain me. This episode is perfect to its last detail (Well not to the very last one, I think there is one down side, but I'll get to that in a minute) Last night I re watched it yet again and I don't recall how many times I hit the rewind button and I paid attention to every detail, every word and every facial expression.

This episode was fun, entertaining and heart breaking at the same time. It was good to go back to the main myth arc.

Sam chooses to continue lying to his brother, he continues strolling down the dark path, pursuing his revenge, trusting a daemon and thinking he is still in control. But is he?! He keeps lying to Dean, probably because he thinks Dean wouldn't understand or because he doesn't want to hurt him. Sam is clearly not the Sam we knew a few years back, he, the one who wanted to be normal more than anything, the one who still had a slight hope of ever being happy not two episodes ago, is now embracing the life asking his brother to accept it. But the most disturbing lie, was his lie to Cole.

Dean, who is still struggling with his faith issues, still has faith in human kind. But will he keep that kind of faith for long? Dean is swimming in a sea of mistrust and lies and is learning a hard lesson about life. He can't trust Sam any more and after Tessa's advice he can't trust the angels either. He used to be in control of his life but now he seems to be lead in a world he doesn't understand. He keeps chasing the truth but is helpless, yet when he comforts the dying Pamela he chooses to lie to her. Sam is lying to him and his words about being weak and holding him back is still lingering in his mind. He is angry, hurt and traumatized. He doesn't have any one to talk to but when he chooses to share it with Tessa, he tells her he wishes he would have gone with her the first time they met because by not doing so he had to go through more pain than he could handle.

At the end the brothers are left with two pieces of advice for each. Where will their relationship go? What is the nasty thing Tessa was warning Dean about? Will Sam ever listen to Pamela's advice? Will the boys end facing each other after all?

It was nice that every crazy idea always comes from dean, he decided to go to prison to save the prisoners from a killer ghost on "Folsom Prison Blues", he came up with the idea of dream walking on "Dream a Little Dream of Me" and he is one who decided to become a ghost on this one.

It was good to bring Tessa back but Pamela's death was the saddest thing on the show, her death seemed very real. She didn't hesitate to tell the boys she blames them for her death. Christopher Heyerdahl was great as Alastair.

The only downside: For such experienced hunters as the boys they shouldn't have left their soulless bodies unprotected in a motel room with a blind Pamela, They should have known better. They should a least have done some daemon proof traps or something. All in all it was a very good episode. Kim Manners you are sure missed.

Stop lying to yourself

[shwetafabm · 9/10 · 12 June 2020]

Dean and Sam's view of faith hasn't been much explored prior to s4, houses of the holy and especially faith were indicators of the brothers take on God. The exploration of Dean's faith through him being saved is one of the best mini plots this season has. Something nasty is coming, just a few lines and they set up the tension so well. As for the main plot of the ep, it was fine and had its cool moments. Good classic spn formula for the mythos storyline, a bit of humour, a serious relatble subject, the tension and anticipation and fear for the future.

The Place Where Nobody Dies

[claudio_carvalho · 9/10 · 13 June 2010]

Sam and Dean head to Greybull, Wyoming, after reading that a man terminal with cancer and another shot in the heart had not died; further nobody has died for a week and a half. They discover that a demon has kidnapped the local Reaper and intends to kill him to break one of the 66 seals to bring the Apocalypse to Earth. They summon the blind psychic Pamela Barnes to help them to make an astral projection to save The Reaper. While ghosts, they meet the boy Cole Griffith that was the last deceased person in Greybull and knows where Alistair is hidden and Tessa that was sent as the substitute for the local Reaper. When Tessa is also abducted, they find that Alistair is responsible for the abductions and the powerful demon needs two Reapers to break the seal.

"Death Takes a Holiday" is another great episode with the return of the war between demons and angels and Alistair trying to break another seal. The story is very well written, with many pop references (I loved "Feeling like Demi Moore") and alternating dramatic and funny moments. The relationship of the Winchester brothers is really shaken by the lack of trust. My vote is nine.

Title (Brazil): "A Morte Tira Férias" ("The Death Takes Vacation")

Nice episode

[luisp1991 · 8/10 · 19 March 2009]

This episode is awesome. The Winchester brothers meet with castiel and alastair again. It just starts like the most commons episodes from the first season, the brothers sat in a table looking for a job. It is also a sad episode because of kim manners death and the psycho woman's death whose name i can't remember. Death takes a holiday is somehow connected with the 16th episode. The brothers go to a small town where miracles are happening. People who were supposed to be dead, they don't die, so the winchesters reach the conclusion that someone is kidnapping the reapers and trying to break another seal, with the help of Pamela,Tessa and the angel castiel they go for another epic supernatural battle

A good win...but poor Pamela.

[CubsandCulture · 9/10 · 9 March 2020]

The show really struggles to keep reoccurring women characters alive, especially in the earlier seasons. I am not really sure why the writers felt Pamela's fate was necessary but it is a petty annoyance I have with this episode. Pamela worked as a romantic interest for the boys and there was no reason to write her out so quickly.

Apart from this is one is a solid mythos episode. Tessa was a welcome return and the photography is some of the most expressive on the show's long run. This was a welcome break to see again.

Huggy Bear thing..

[rimailbox · 9/10 · 11 August 2021]

Sorry this may out of context, I rewatched this episode then I realized Dean said huggy bear first here, before he said it to Cas in next season. Recently fandom feeling a bit chaos bcs the ending and destiel thing. And today I just found the truth that huggy bear here didn't mean huggable. The character of Huggy Bear was a "street-wise, jive-talking" underground contact of Starsky and Hutch from the American 1970's TV show. It means more like informant. Even tho I can not deny that Dean antiquated language choice to Cas indeed interesting.

Death Magick for Adepts

[ttapola · 8/10 · 31 July 2011]

In the previous episode, words were said that could not be taken back. The Sam–Dean Hunter partnership suffered a wound that would not heal soon, if ever. Yet, the brothers continue, since that is what they do. Of course, getting back into the Myth-Arc is exactly what we need, because at the very core, it is about being brothers. A very clever viewer may have at this point guessed where the arc is *roughly* going, but it is unlikely that anyone could at this point foresee the endgame. Knowing what will happen, this is one of the important episodes – if any hints are placed but the show-runners later change their minds and contradict the hints, the elaborate arc collapses.

Luckily, this episode passes the re-watch test. The plot is like a battle of wits between the Winchesters and Alastair – or is it? The mind-games are brilliant. Pretty much everything has been thought of: how the Mystery-of-the-Week ties into the demons' plans, why the angels' do things the way they do, and what is the brothers' role. Rewatching this after seeing everything to the culmination at the end of Season 5 reveals only one small problem: as was stated by Castiel at the start of this season, the angels have a work for Dean to do. So if Dean is their *asset*, why haven't they protected him appropriately during the past dozen episodes? Well, it will be explained later on, but not in a wholly satisfying way. Meanwhile, bonus points for how cleverly Alastair drops a hint at the future of things to come.

Everyones favorite hot psychic Traci Dinwiddle is back as Pamela, and there is a very special Sexy-Woman-of-the-Week (not that Traci isn't) surprise in store – unless you paid attention during the opening credits and saw her name. And speaking of the opening credits, there is one name that practically jumps at you: the mighty Christopher Heyerdahl. Mark Rolston set the bar *very* high as Alastair, and when Andrew Wheeler doesn't measure up, in comes Heyerdahl, saving the day. It is uncanny how he gets every mannerism Rolston gave Alastair exactly the same, completely convincing us that inside the meat suit is the very same demon. Compared to Heyerdahl, every other actor who's inherited the role of a demon (including Genevieve) just doesn't convince. And Alastair is not the only memorable character Heyerdahl has portrayed – two years earlier he was Zor-El in Smallville, and more importantly, from 2006 to two months before this episode aired, he made what first was just a nameless Wraith into the unforgettable Todd the Wraith in Stargate: Atlantis. (Yes, the name *is* silly, but that is part of the character's coolness - he overcomes it!)

Finally, this episode is dedicated to the late, great Kim Manners, who, during his almost 30-year long career as a director (among other roles), gave us classics like The X Files' (no hyphen!) "Humbug" and "War of the Coprophages", plus Supernatural's "No Rest for the Wicked" and "Lazarus Rising". And this does justice to him by being a great, tense 8/10 episode. It doesn't need to be a 9/10 classic, considering it is just a prelude to the astonishing "On the Head of the Pin", coming up next

The Alastair Saga continues.

[TheTominator · 9/10 · 12 May 2010]

When Sam and Dean travel to a small town to investigate the unusual lack of deaths, they decide to become ghosts themselves in order to investigate the town's grim reaper's disappearance. To do that, the brother bring back the lovable blind psychic Pamela, who is for the first time in the series, angry at the Winchesters for bringing her back into the angel war.

This episode, while not particularly scary or particularly humorous, is excellent for it sets up one of the best episodes of the season and brings back two characters, Pamela, and the reaper Tess (season 1/2).

The acting, as expected, is great by both leads and guest stars, but Alexander Gould steals the show for being so good at such a young age.

The centerpiece here, contrary to what one might expect, is not the search for the missing reaper, but the return of the assumed-dead high class demon Alastair, who survived Anna's ascension and is once again trying to break the 66 seals.

Christopher Heyerdahl delivers a hell of a performance as a creepy mean spirited Alastair in both this and the following episode.

Now, what makes this episode so great is the death of Pamela, one of the best characters in the show, and how the writers made her painful death so real for her character. Also, Pamela's warning to Sam makes you really curious to see how his power's awakening will develop. Dean's growing suspicions about Sam's escapes with Ruby also develops after the siren episode, leading to a great opening scene.

Not a bad episode.

[mm-39 · 7/10 · 20 March 2009]

Not a bad episode, but the show is running out of ideas. The storyline is about death taking a holiday in small town America. Why is death taking a time out? Another seal is being broken. I am so tired of the same recurring plot. The producers have to come up with a new storyline. The rest of the story is OK, with a few ideas taken from the movie Ghost. Well directed and acted I found the episode entertaining. However, the ending with another seal being broken was disappointing. The subplot of the personal wedge between Sam and Dean grows. Sam is becoming a new character has his powers grow. I wonder if Dean will have to face Sam about this? Will Sam turn evil? I give this show a 7 out of 10. Good but not great.