The Winchesters Season 1 Episode 8: Richard Speight steals the show in “Hang on to Your Life”

The group is finally back in the habit after the holidays and The Winchesters started off with a bang. As great as the mid-season finale was, it was matched for season 1 episode 8.

The only thing that worries me is how do you rematch that kind of greatness throughout the rest of the season? Any great Supernatural fan knows about the talent of Richard Speight.

Not only did he direct the last episode, but he jumped on the screen to give John, Mary, and the crew one hell of a hard time. The trickster has done his fair share of trickery against Dean and Sam, almost making them look like fools in the main show.

At the start of The Winchesters, it’s not entirely clear if the group was dealing with the trickster in Loki or in Gabriel the archangel. Richard Speight has a way of keeping the audience on the edge of their seats and creating just as much laughter as anger.

You know that he is portraying a bad guy, but you also want to see much more of him. He makes the character so entertaining that you almost don’t want to see him go.

He tricks not only the groups minds but the audience alike.

The Winchesters Season 1 Episode 8 recap – What is the difference between Loki and Gabriel?

If any of you are ever confused about the difference between Loki and Gabriel, Richard does a good way of explaining this to Meg Donnelly (Mary Winchester). They are seen as two separate entities in Supernatural.

To explain it a little more easily, Loki was a demigod that Gabriel eventually killed. Gabriel once saved Loki’s life and the two became friends.

One day Loki gave Gabriel an escape. Because his archangel brothers were fighting, he allowed Gabriel to take his form and be the trickster.

Thus is the reason why, at certain times, Gabriel and Loki can be the same person. This is due to Loki and his sons eventual betrayal of him by selling him to the Prince of Hell Asmodeus.

Ironically Dean helped aid Gabriel in killing Loki. Loki mocked Gabriel as a coward to his very last breath.

While we still don’t know if there will be a The Winchesters season 2, this was a gem of an episode after a slow start to the first half of the season. If Jensen Ackles plans on bringing more blasts from the pasts back before it’s all said and done, I believe a second season will be in the works.

During the episode, Carlos and Lata investigate the death of a musician. A man from Carlos’s past appears and that’s when all the trouble with the trickster begins.

It was a delight to see Richard Speight on screen again and I hope this will allow for more cameo appearances. One thing I didn’t find too believable is a group of youngsters being able to take down the likes of Loki/Gabriel.

He’s just too powerful for rookies.

The Winchesters Season 1 Episode 8 recap – Samuel isn’t everybody’s cup of tea

Samuel is not his biggest fan. The way he talks about Millie’s late husband is pretty arrogant and insensitive.

The two of them should have a lot in common, pertaining to the fact that neither of them wants their children to be hunters. It’s because of her husband, that Samuel is alive after all.

I know Samuel might be going through some things, but his character is very off-putting to me. That’s not even including that he’d been an absentee father, which Mary is still reeling over.

It was Loki’s plan to burn Carlos and his old friend Jericho alive after tattooing them both. Though I do have to say the tattoo of death is one of the coolest tats I’ve ever seen.

Fortunately, they both got away and trapped Loki into the mirror. But I doubt this will be the last time we see the trickster.

And I hope not because it’s such comically entertaining television. Though I would rather see Gabriel, as he is far less brutal to people.

Though it was not abundantly clear which we were getting, Gabriel or Loki, there is a reason for that. Loki and Gabriel both have a sweet tooth, they are broth tricksters, and they of course, carry the same identical features.

So, it is pretty easy to get them confused. In the end we did get to hear the sweet sounds of Carlos’s voice.

His voice has such a crisp and beautiful quality to it. It is, however, too bad we didn’t get to hear a little bit of Richard Speight’s voice, who as many Supernatural fans know, is musically gifted as well.

The Winchesters Season 1 Episode 8 recap – Pride of Nashville

We got some fun references to Richard regarding Nashville throughout the episode, where he is from. That is where he first has his run in with Jericho.

Even the name Jericho is something familiar to him. This is the name of a show he once starred in.

It was a post-apocalyptic drama that centered around a town in Kansas. Ironically the Loki part of this episode took place in Kansas City.

Finally, we got to see Mary and Samuel have some resolution. She got out her feelings of how him leaving affected her.

That was something that she needed to get off her chest in order to move on. I think she still fears he will leave again, but the good thing for her is she has a great group of friends who became her family.

With a support system like that, you can handle anything. It will be interesting to find out how Dean delivered the letter to his father.

Did he travel back in time? Is this another universe?

There is so much left to explain and unfold in the coming episodes. This show is a great insight to the previous universe of Supernatural, but I would like to see more connections made and more storytelling.

All in all, I would call this one of the best episodes of the new series. I look forward to seeing more returns from the cast of Supernatural.

This would really boost the ratings and get fans more invested. The problem with this show is being surrounded by a very young group of characters.

The Supernatural fandom is so big, and they are also a more mature crowd. Another issue is, week to week investigations.

Sometimes the stories seem rushed and predictable. In the end we can pretty much guess what’s coming next.

The group always comes out on top. But there were times in Supernatural where that wasn’t always the case.

We watched Sam and Dean go through a lot of hard times in life and death situations.

What did you think of the episode? Share your thoughts in the comments below!

Don’t miss an all-new episode on January 31 at 9PM EST on The CW.