I'm not above using lolcats to do my talking for me, either.
Sunday, November 20, 2011
Moving Day
I've moved my blog to new digs. Google blogger has been fine, but I wanted a fresh start and new application to challenge myself - to both narrow and expand the scope of my writing (no, really!), and refine what skills I have. I've set up my new blog with WordPress, called geekinthebreeze. Please follow me down the rabbit hole, if you're so inclined. If not, it's been a pleasure.
I'm not above using lolcats to do my talking for me, either.
I'm not above using lolcats to do my talking for me, either.
Saturday, May 21, 2011
I Want My Angel Back
After last week's episode of Supernatural, which was a soaring, sweeping and heart-breaking example of what the show's writers, actors and directors are capable of, I had my doubts that such amazing momentum could continue through the two remaining episodes "Let It Bleed" and "The Man Who Knew Too Much". I hate it when I'm right about things like this. Because I'm still trying to figure things out and nothing much happened that we didn't already know would happen, I'll do quick recaps of both episodes and move on to an extended Question section.
SPOILERS!
"Let It Bleed"
Dean is still angsty about Cas refusing to abandon his deal with Crowley. Bobby tells the boys that Cas stole a Campbell journal from them that contains more clues about how to open Purgatory. Fortunately, Bobby (suspicious bastard) had made a copy, and tries to head Cas off by following the same trail. Meanwhile, Crowley and his demon thugs kidnap Lisa and Ben, increasing Dean's angst by a factor of ten at the very least. The brothers call Balthazar for help and fill him in on Cas' plan. Balthazar zaps away to confirm the facts with Cas and decides to keep helping him anyway. Dean tries to torture Lisa and Ben's location out of a series of demons, and one of them breaks through the Devil's Trap. Cas shows up and kills the demon and asks Dean, once again, to trust him. Dean refuses. Balthazar shows up, having sussed out the location of Lisa and Ben. He takes the Winchesters there but is unable to enter the building because Crowley had thoroughly angel-proofed it. Sam immediately gets knocked out and locked in a closet, and Dean kills some demons and sets Lisa and Ben free - except oh no! Lisa's actually possessed by a demon! She threatens Ben and taunts Dean and hints yet again that Dean is actually Ben's father, though she immediately says "Just kidding!" Dean starts to recite the exorcism ritual and Lisa stabs herself so that she'll die once Dean finishes. He scoops Lisa up, hands Ben a shotgun, and blasts his way out of there, picking Sam up on the way. They rush Lisa to the hospital but she's dying anyway. Cas shows up and apologizes, heals Lisa, and erases any memory of Dean from Lisa and Ben's minds. Oh so sad. Bobby follows a trail of Lovecraft clues to his former blonde professor lover, who is actually some kind of monster from Purgatory. Bobby tells her that she's not safe and that Cas is on his way, but she tells him that she can take care of herself. Cas snatches her easily.
"The Man Who Knew Too Much"
Sam has lost it. The wall came down when Cas touched him, in order to prevent Bobby and the Winchesters from being able to stop him from opening Purgatory (the blonde monster lady told him how, and she died). Now Sam is trapped inside his own mind, surrounded by menacing metaphors and whatnot. Dean is freaking out, but Bobby tells him that this is exactly what Cas wants, so the two of them head out to stop Cas and Crowley. Balthazar betrayed their location to them, even though he was harboring doubts about going against Cas. Cas, holding a jar of blood for the ritual, tells Crowley that once they crack open Purgatory, he's not planning on sharing any of the souls with him. He tells Crowley to flee or die, and Crowley chooses to flee. Balthazar shows up and Cas kills him for his betrayal. Crowley comes back with Rafael, however, having made a new deal. Raf wants the souls from Purgatory, and tells Cas to flee or die. Cas flees, after giving Raf the jar of blood. Crowley and Rafael begin the ritual while Dean and Bobby sneak in the back. They put up a token resistance but Crowley easily subdues them, and continues with the ritual. It doesn't work. Cas shows up, looking very smug. Crowley realizes that Cas must have tricked them and switched jars. Cas is now full of souls, demonstrating this by glowing really brightly. Crowley gets his ass out of there, and Cas snaps his fingers and explodes Rafael. Dean and Bobby cautiously approach Cas and tell him to put the souls back, but Cas refuses (he's totally high as a kite on all these souls). Sam (having killed a few versions of himself in his mind) sneaks up behind him and stabs him with an angel sword, but it doesn't work. Cas claims that he's not an angel anymore - he's a newer, better God, and they'd all better bow down to him before he explodes them, too.
Seriously. That's it. Let's get to the Questions part.
Questions that still need some freaking answers already:
WTF?! (I don't think anything needs to be added to this one.)
So... How about those Heavenly weapons then? That sure turned out to be a major plot point - NOT! We saw two of the weapons and heard vague mentions of others. There was an entire meta-episode dedicated to Balthazar giving those weapons to Cas. They were really talked up - remember when Cas said that whoever had the weapons won the war? Now we get to the season finale and they aren't even mentioned. Look, I'd accept that the weapons were a red herring if the writers had wrapped it all up a little better, but that didn't happen, and so it annoys me.
What about Death? Death was the one who got Sam's soul back and told Dean that "it's all about the souls." And it was. But what does Death care about souls anyway? He's just interested in the transitional period, if I understand correctly. If it was important enough for him to mention, wouldn't it have been important enough for him to show up again at some point? Apparently not.
Really? The key to Purgatory was conveniently contained in Bobby's former lady friend? All it took was some blood and a ritual to open the door? The Lovecraft thing was cool, but really? My disbelief can be suspended no further.
Exactly what was Crowley expecting to get out of a deal with Rafael? Remember the whole Apocalypse thing? How was he expecting to survive if he turned Rafael into a freaking God? He's cagier than that.
Why, oh why did they have to bring up the Ben-might-really-be-Dean's-son thing AGAIN? Hasn't this been asked and answered about a bajillion times?
Speaking of Lisa and Bobby's blonde lady friend, where is the love for any women on this show? You've got poor defenseless Lisa who needs to be rescued, but first, a little slut-shaming! You just can't trust these nasty bitches that sleep with other guys, can you? And stupid blonde monster lady, thinking that she could possibly protect herself, and then spilling her guts like a weak woman would.
Why kill Balthazar? He was entertaining, even though he had almost zero character development, and I would have liked to have seen more of him.
And now we move on to Castiel. Look, I like my characters to have a little ambiguity, and Supernatural usually excels at highlighting ambiguity. What is "good"? What is "evil"? What is "right", and what is "wrong"? Etc., etc., etc. But what I don't like is a fundamental character change within the space of three episodes (at most). The only way I can make sense of this is that the strain of dealing with Crowley and fighting a losing War in Heaven pushed Cas over the edge, and he's now gone completely mad. I'm sure the addition of millions of souls didn't help, either. Whatever it is that is telling Bobby and the Winchesters to bow down, it's not Cas. Not really. Maybe something other than the souls slipped through when Cas did the ritual. Since Supernatural was kind enough to weave H.P. Lovecraft into all of this, I'm just going to cling to my belief that Cas is being possessed by Cthulu until I find out otherwise.
I want my angel back, damnit, and I feel like this whole season has been mis-handled. The writers neglected Cas' character until "The Man Who Would Be King", and then shoe-horned in this major character flip. To me, this speaks of either an inablility or lack of interest in introducing new characters and then keeping them. I'm okay with Cas getting morally gray, but becoming a tyrannical God? I'm not buying it, and if things don't progress to my satisfaction when the seventh season starts next fall, then my love for Supernatural beyond the fifth season will officially be dead.
On the bright side, Burn Notice will start up soon.
Next Season:
Who even knows.
SPOILERS!
"Let It Bleed"
Dean is still angsty about Cas refusing to abandon his deal with Crowley. Bobby tells the boys that Cas stole a Campbell journal from them that contains more clues about how to open Purgatory. Fortunately, Bobby (suspicious bastard) had made a copy, and tries to head Cas off by following the same trail. Meanwhile, Crowley and his demon thugs kidnap Lisa and Ben, increasing Dean's angst by a factor of ten at the very least. The brothers call Balthazar for help and fill him in on Cas' plan. Balthazar zaps away to confirm the facts with Cas and decides to keep helping him anyway. Dean tries to torture Lisa and Ben's location out of a series of demons, and one of them breaks through the Devil's Trap. Cas shows up and kills the demon and asks Dean, once again, to trust him. Dean refuses. Balthazar shows up, having sussed out the location of Lisa and Ben. He takes the Winchesters there but is unable to enter the building because Crowley had thoroughly angel-proofed it. Sam immediately gets knocked out and locked in a closet, and Dean kills some demons and sets Lisa and Ben free - except oh no! Lisa's actually possessed by a demon! She threatens Ben and taunts Dean and hints yet again that Dean is actually Ben's father, though she immediately says "Just kidding!" Dean starts to recite the exorcism ritual and Lisa stabs herself so that she'll die once Dean finishes. He scoops Lisa up, hands Ben a shotgun, and blasts his way out of there, picking Sam up on the way. They rush Lisa to the hospital but she's dying anyway. Cas shows up and apologizes, heals Lisa, and erases any memory of Dean from Lisa and Ben's minds. Oh so sad. Bobby follows a trail of Lovecraft clues to his former blonde professor lover, who is actually some kind of monster from Purgatory. Bobby tells her that she's not safe and that Cas is on his way, but she tells him that she can take care of herself. Cas snatches her easily.
"The Man Who Knew Too Much"
Sam has lost it. The wall came down when Cas touched him, in order to prevent Bobby and the Winchesters from being able to stop him from opening Purgatory (the blonde monster lady told him how, and she died). Now Sam is trapped inside his own mind, surrounded by menacing metaphors and whatnot. Dean is freaking out, but Bobby tells him that this is exactly what Cas wants, so the two of them head out to stop Cas and Crowley. Balthazar betrayed their location to them, even though he was harboring doubts about going against Cas. Cas, holding a jar of blood for the ritual, tells Crowley that once they crack open Purgatory, he's not planning on sharing any of the souls with him. He tells Crowley to flee or die, and Crowley chooses to flee. Balthazar shows up and Cas kills him for his betrayal. Crowley comes back with Rafael, however, having made a new deal. Raf wants the souls from Purgatory, and tells Cas to flee or die. Cas flees, after giving Raf the jar of blood. Crowley and Rafael begin the ritual while Dean and Bobby sneak in the back. They put up a token resistance but Crowley easily subdues them, and continues with the ritual. It doesn't work. Cas shows up, looking very smug. Crowley realizes that Cas must have tricked them and switched jars. Cas is now full of souls, demonstrating this by glowing really brightly. Crowley gets his ass out of there, and Cas snaps his fingers and explodes Rafael. Dean and Bobby cautiously approach Cas and tell him to put the souls back, but Cas refuses (he's totally high as a kite on all these souls). Sam (having killed a few versions of himself in his mind) sneaks up behind him and stabs him with an angel sword, but it doesn't work. Cas claims that he's not an angel anymore - he's a newer, better God, and they'd all better bow down to him before he explodes them, too.
Seriously. That's it. Let's get to the Questions part.
Questions that still need some freaking answers already:
WTF?! (I don't think anything needs to be added to this one.)
So... How about those Heavenly weapons then? That sure turned out to be a major plot point - NOT! We saw two of the weapons and heard vague mentions of others. There was an entire meta-episode dedicated to Balthazar giving those weapons to Cas. They were really talked up - remember when Cas said that whoever had the weapons won the war? Now we get to the season finale and they aren't even mentioned. Look, I'd accept that the weapons were a red herring if the writers had wrapped it all up a little better, but that didn't happen, and so it annoys me.
What about Death? Death was the one who got Sam's soul back and told Dean that "it's all about the souls." And it was. But what does Death care about souls anyway? He's just interested in the transitional period, if I understand correctly. If it was important enough for him to mention, wouldn't it have been important enough for him to show up again at some point? Apparently not.
Really? The key to Purgatory was conveniently contained in Bobby's former lady friend? All it took was some blood and a ritual to open the door? The Lovecraft thing was cool, but really? My disbelief can be suspended no further.
Exactly what was Crowley expecting to get out of a deal with Rafael? Remember the whole Apocalypse thing? How was he expecting to survive if he turned Rafael into a freaking God? He's cagier than that.
Why, oh why did they have to bring up the Ben-might-really-be-Dean's-son thing AGAIN? Hasn't this been asked and answered about a bajillion times?
Speaking of Lisa and Bobby's blonde lady friend, where is the love for any women on this show? You've got poor defenseless Lisa who needs to be rescued, but first, a little slut-shaming! You just can't trust these nasty bitches that sleep with other guys, can you? And stupid blonde monster lady, thinking that she could possibly protect herself, and then spilling her guts like a weak woman would.
Why kill Balthazar? He was entertaining, even though he had almost zero character development, and I would have liked to have seen more of him.
And now we move on to Castiel. Look, I like my characters to have a little ambiguity, and Supernatural usually excels at highlighting ambiguity. What is "good"? What is "evil"? What is "right", and what is "wrong"? Etc., etc., etc. But what I don't like is a fundamental character change within the space of three episodes (at most). The only way I can make sense of this is that the strain of dealing with Crowley and fighting a losing War in Heaven pushed Cas over the edge, and he's now gone completely mad. I'm sure the addition of millions of souls didn't help, either. Whatever it is that is telling Bobby and the Winchesters to bow down, it's not Cas. Not really. Maybe something other than the souls slipped through when Cas did the ritual. Since Supernatural was kind enough to weave H.P. Lovecraft into all of this, I'm just going to cling to my belief that Cas is being possessed by Cthulu until I find out otherwise.
I want my angel back, damnit, and I feel like this whole season has been mis-handled. The writers neglected Cas' character until "The Man Who Would Be King", and then shoe-horned in this major character flip. To me, this speaks of either an inablility or lack of interest in introducing new characters and then keeping them. I'm okay with Cas getting morally gray, but becoming a tyrannical God? I'm not buying it, and if things don't progress to my satisfaction when the seventh season starts next fall, then my love for Supernatural beyond the fifth season will officially be dead.
On the bright side, Burn Notice will start up soon.
Next Season:
Who even knows.
Monday, May 9, 2011
You're Still In Debt, Boys (Ungrateful Dicks)
Having had the weekend to process my feelings about Friday's episode of Supernatural (yes, seriously, it was that good. Anyone who is not currently a fan must Netflix the series immediately. It's all worth it by Season Four), I've decided to compile a list of all of the good things Castiel has done for Sam, Dean and Bobby, and compare it to a list of all the good things that Sam, Dean and Bobby have done for Castiel. I am both a nerd and a fan, so this should not surprise anyone.
I'm doing this because I'm still reeling about how hard the Winchesters are being on Cas, and this is clearly a case of the pot calling the kettle black. Let he who is without sin cast the first stone, and all that. And judging by the comments on io9's recap, I'm not alone in this. I'm hoping that we're left with some feeling of redemption for Cas by the end of the season, because he's certainly proved himself in the past.
Good Things Cas Has Done for the Winchesters:
1. Raising Dean from Hell (Season Four, "Lazarus Rising"). In this episode, angels are introduced as the flip side to the demon coin, and Cas' first appearance couldn't be more badass. He brushes of multiple gunshot wounds and a knife to the heart as if they were nothing, and tells Dean that Heaven has plans for him. And he introduces himself thusly: "I'm the one who gripped you tight and raised you from Perdition."
2. Sending Dean back in time to get the full backstory on Azazel's history with the Winchesters (Season Four, "In the Beginning"). Dean meets his mother, father, and maternal grandparents. The deal Mary was forced to make with Azazel explains a lot, and while it was a painful experience for him, it was still good to know.
3. Cas stops Alastair from killing Dean (Season Four, "On the Head of a Pin"). Alastair broke out of the Devil's Trap with covert assistance from Uriel and beat the tar out of Dean. Cas stabs him before he can finish the job, and gets the tar beat out him, too.
4. Cas gives Dean the means to stop Sam from dealing with Lilith (Season Four, "The Monster at the End of This Book"). Dean is desperate to keep Chuck's prophecy about Sam and Lilith from coming to pass, and Cas gives him a hint (wink wink, nudge nudge) about using an archangel to do it.
5. Cas tries to meet with Dean in order to tell him something important (Season Four, "The Rapture"). This gets his ass dragged back to Heaven by the other angels, where it is implied that they tortured Cas back into obedience.
6. Cas saves Sam and Dean, along with Jimmy's daughter, from demons (Season Four, "The Rapture"). When Cas' vessel, Jimmy, and the Winchesters are cornered by demons, Cas uses Jimmy's daughter as a vessel to save the day.
7. Cas rebels against Heaven at Dean's request, and sends him to Sam in order to prevent him from breaking the final seal, releasing Lucifer (Season Four, "Lucifer Rising"). Sadly, Sam does it anyway.
8. Cas dies trying hold off the archangel, buying time for Dean to stop Sam (Season Four, "Lucifer Rising").
9. Cas rescues Sam and Dean from Zachariah by coming back from the dead and killing two angels (Season Five, "Sympathy for the Devil"). When Cas decides on a course of action, he commits to it. Having come back without knowing exactly how or why, his first instinct is to protect the Winchesters.
10. Cas carves Enochian sigil into the brothers' ribs, thereby hiding them from all angels (Season Five, "Sympathy for the Devil"). A much-needed measure of protection, since Dean is intended to be Michael's vessel and Sam is intended to be Lucifer's.
11. Cas saves Dean from Zachariah, who sent Dean into the future to see the consequences of refusing Michael (Season Five, "The End"). In it, we learn that Dean would become an even bigger asshole and willingly sacrifice Cas and other friends in order to get a shot at Lucifer.
12. Cas tries to rescue the brothers from Gabriel's TV Land, and gives them clues to the Trickster's true identity (Season Five, "Changing Channels"). Since Gabriel is an archangel, he easily thwarts Cas' attempts to save the boys, and sends him somewhere nasty.
13. Cas tracks down Crowley and the Colt (Season Five, "Abandon All Hope..."). Though Cas couldn't retrieve the Colt directly because of Enochian wards on Crowley's house, he led the Winchesters straight to him.
14. Cas is captured by Lucifer and refuses to join him (Season Five, "Abandon All Hope..."). When Cas tries to gather information about the Reapers, he's trapped in holy fire by Lucifer. Lucifer asks him to join up, and Cas flatly refuses, saying that he won't let Lucifer take Sam as a vessel, and that he'd die before helping him.
15. Cas escapes the holy fire and zaps Sam and Dean away (Season Five, "Abandon All Hope..."). Cas breaks free of the holy fire and rescues the boys before Lucifer finishes summoning Death.
16. Cas meets with Anna, who has escaped from Heaven and is out to kill Sam (Season Five, "The Song Remains the Same"). Even though Anna's plan might be workable, Cas refuses to let her kill Sam, staying loyal to his friend.
17. Cas tracks Anna back to 1978 and takes the Winchesters back in time, despite the fact that he's running on his own steam and the trip weakens him considerably (Season Five, "The Song Remains the Same").
18. Cas helps the Winchesters get the story on the effects of Famine (Season Five, "My Bloody Valentine"). He catches a Cupid for some background, helps Dean lock Sam down, and tries to get Famine's ring before he's sidetracked by a tray of raw meat.
19. Cas, still reeling from the news of God's apathy and battling a truly massive hangover, helps the Winchesters kill the Whore of Babylon (Season Five, "99 Problems"). The Whore casts an Enochin spell on him, causing to collapse.
20. Cas drags Dean to Bobby's to keep him from saying yes to Michael (Season Five, "The Point of No Return"), where he also takes off to fight angels and get to resurrected Adam before Heaven does. He finds Dean after he escapes and knocks some sense into him. Then he single-handedly takes out the angels guarding the Beautiful Room to give Sam and Dean the chance to save Adam. He does this by carving the banishing sigil into his chest, and disappears along with the rest of the angels.
21. Cas cuts Pestilence's ring from his finger, using up the last of his angelic power to resist the demon's assault of disease and saving the Winchesters in the process (Season Five, "Two Minutes to Midnight"). He also helps Sam and Bobby prevent the Croatoan virus from being distributed under the guise of a flu vaccine.
22. Cas banishes Adam/Michael with a Molotov cocktail of holy fire, giving Dean the chance to try to talk to Sam/Lucifer (Season Five, "Swan Song"). Lucifer gets pissed about this and explodes him into a million pieces.
23. Cas comes back to life and heals Dean of the serious pounding Lucifer gave him, and brings Bobby back to life as well (Season Five, "Swan Song").
Good Thing the Winchesters Have Done for Cas:
1. Dean hitting the demon Alastair in the head, preventing him from casting a spell on Cas (Season Four, "Heaven and Hell"). Alastair had Cas against the ropes, and would have banished the angel back to Heaven if Dean hadn't beaned the demon in the head.
2. Sam and Dean allow Cas the opportunity to capture Alastair (Season Four, "Death Takes a Holiday"). They didn't know they were doing it, and probably wouldn't have helped him out if they knew, so this barely counts.
3. Dean agrees to torture Alastair for information (Season Four, "On the Head of a Pin"). Though he was dragged into it against his will, and only agrees because Cas told him how much he wished he didn't have to.
4. Sam stops Alastair from sending Cas back to Heaven (Season Four, "On the Head of a Pin"). This was pretty incidental, as Sam was intending to save Dean anyway, and he drank a lot of demon blood to do it.
5. Sam and Dean keep Cas' vessel, Jimmy, alive long enough for him to drop back into him (Season Four, "The Rapture"). Sort of. Sam ruins it by letting Jimmy get away, and Dean's plan to rescue Jimmy's family leads to the brothers' capture as well.
6. Dean inspires Cas to rebel and stop the Apocalypse from happening (Season Four, "Lucifer Rising"). Since this ultimately gave Cas a taste of freedom, I'll add it to this list, even though it also resulted in his death.
7. Dean lets Cas borrow his amulet to aid in his search for God (Season Five, "Good God, Y'All!"). Even though he grumbles and craps on Cas' idea in the process. Cas gives him a little what-for.
8. Dean helps Cas track down and trap Rafael for a little interrogation (Season Five, "Free to Be You and Me"). Sadly, this accomplishes nothing but enlightening us all to what a dick Rafael is.
9. Sam and Dean trap Gabriel and force him to let Cas go (Season Five, "Changing Channels"). Though they first got all the information they could out of Gabriel, they eventually remembered their old buddy Cas.
10. Sam and Dean scrape Cas off the sidewalk after their time-travel and rent him a hotel room in which to recover (Season Five, "The Song Remains the Same"). They also prevent him from falling on the floor when Cas miraculously makes it back to the present.
11. Sam kills Famine, thus freeing Cas from his compulsion to scarf down raw meat (Season Five, "My Bloody Valentine"). So I guess Sam saved Cas from E. coli?
12. Sam and Dean do some recon in Heaven for Cas, since they happen to be dead anyway (Season Five, "Dark Side of the Moon"). They grumble a bit about it, though.
13. Dean kills the Whore of Babylon, supposedly ending the spell she cast on Cas (Season Five, "99 Problems"). He and Sam bring Cas back to the hotel and let him crash there until he recovers.
The Wrap-Up:
These are all just from the fourth and fifth seasons. I could go on to mention all of the things Cas has done for the Winchesters in the sixth season, including raising Sam from the Cage, all on his own (even though he missed Sam's soul, I think we can cut him some slack because of how difficult it was). Cas has basically been at their beck and call all season, and they haven't done much to help him out with his Civil War in Heaven. Yes, Cas has been working with Crowley and keeping it from the Winchesters, but he's trying to keep Rafael from re-starting the Apocalypse. He's protected them without them even knowing it, and they can't even refrain from condemning him from doing the same thing they've ALL done in the past.
So, Dean. Sam. Bobby. Cas is still ahead on the good deeds list, and way far ahead on the "dying for you" list. You all need to grow up.
I'm doing this because I'm still reeling about how hard the Winchesters are being on Cas, and this is clearly a case of the pot calling the kettle black. Let he who is without sin cast the first stone, and all that. And judging by the comments on io9's recap, I'm not alone in this. I'm hoping that we're left with some feeling of redemption for Cas by the end of the season, because he's certainly proved himself in the past.
Good Things Cas Has Done for the Winchesters:
1. Raising Dean from Hell (Season Four, "Lazarus Rising"). In this episode, angels are introduced as the flip side to the demon coin, and Cas' first appearance couldn't be more badass. He brushes of multiple gunshot wounds and a knife to the heart as if they were nothing, and tells Dean that Heaven has plans for him. And he introduces himself thusly: "I'm the one who gripped you tight and raised you from Perdition."
2. Sending Dean back in time to get the full backstory on Azazel's history with the Winchesters (Season Four, "In the Beginning"). Dean meets his mother, father, and maternal grandparents. The deal Mary was forced to make with Azazel explains a lot, and while it was a painful experience for him, it was still good to know.
3. Cas stops Alastair from killing Dean (Season Four, "On the Head of a Pin"). Alastair broke out of the Devil's Trap with covert assistance from Uriel and beat the tar out of Dean. Cas stabs him before he can finish the job, and gets the tar beat out him, too.
4. Cas gives Dean the means to stop Sam from dealing with Lilith (Season Four, "The Monster at the End of This Book"). Dean is desperate to keep Chuck's prophecy about Sam and Lilith from coming to pass, and Cas gives him a hint (wink wink, nudge nudge) about using an archangel to do it.
5. Cas tries to meet with Dean in order to tell him something important (Season Four, "The Rapture"). This gets his ass dragged back to Heaven by the other angels, where it is implied that they tortured Cas back into obedience.
6. Cas saves Sam and Dean, along with Jimmy's daughter, from demons (Season Four, "The Rapture"). When Cas' vessel, Jimmy, and the Winchesters are cornered by demons, Cas uses Jimmy's daughter as a vessel to save the day.
7. Cas rebels against Heaven at Dean's request, and sends him to Sam in order to prevent him from breaking the final seal, releasing Lucifer (Season Four, "Lucifer Rising"). Sadly, Sam does it anyway.
8. Cas dies trying hold off the archangel, buying time for Dean to stop Sam (Season Four, "Lucifer Rising").
9. Cas rescues Sam and Dean from Zachariah by coming back from the dead and killing two angels (Season Five, "Sympathy for the Devil"). When Cas decides on a course of action, he commits to it. Having come back without knowing exactly how or why, his first instinct is to protect the Winchesters.
10. Cas carves Enochian sigil into the brothers' ribs, thereby hiding them from all angels (Season Five, "Sympathy for the Devil"). A much-needed measure of protection, since Dean is intended to be Michael's vessel and Sam is intended to be Lucifer's.
11. Cas saves Dean from Zachariah, who sent Dean into the future to see the consequences of refusing Michael (Season Five, "The End"). In it, we learn that Dean would become an even bigger asshole and willingly sacrifice Cas and other friends in order to get a shot at Lucifer.
12. Cas tries to rescue the brothers from Gabriel's TV Land, and gives them clues to the Trickster's true identity (Season Five, "Changing Channels"). Since Gabriel is an archangel, he easily thwarts Cas' attempts to save the boys, and sends him somewhere nasty.
13. Cas tracks down Crowley and the Colt (Season Five, "Abandon All Hope..."). Though Cas couldn't retrieve the Colt directly because of Enochian wards on Crowley's house, he led the Winchesters straight to him.
14. Cas is captured by Lucifer and refuses to join him (Season Five, "Abandon All Hope..."). When Cas tries to gather information about the Reapers, he's trapped in holy fire by Lucifer. Lucifer asks him to join up, and Cas flatly refuses, saying that he won't let Lucifer take Sam as a vessel, and that he'd die before helping him.
15. Cas escapes the holy fire and zaps Sam and Dean away (Season Five, "Abandon All Hope..."). Cas breaks free of the holy fire and rescues the boys before Lucifer finishes summoning Death.
16. Cas meets with Anna, who has escaped from Heaven and is out to kill Sam (Season Five, "The Song Remains the Same"). Even though Anna's plan might be workable, Cas refuses to let her kill Sam, staying loyal to his friend.
17. Cas tracks Anna back to 1978 and takes the Winchesters back in time, despite the fact that he's running on his own steam and the trip weakens him considerably (Season Five, "The Song Remains the Same").
18. Cas helps the Winchesters get the story on the effects of Famine (Season Five, "My Bloody Valentine"). He catches a Cupid for some background, helps Dean lock Sam down, and tries to get Famine's ring before he's sidetracked by a tray of raw meat.
19. Cas, still reeling from the news of God's apathy and battling a truly massive hangover, helps the Winchesters kill the Whore of Babylon (Season Five, "99 Problems"). The Whore casts an Enochin spell on him, causing to collapse.
20. Cas drags Dean to Bobby's to keep him from saying yes to Michael (Season Five, "The Point of No Return"), where he also takes off to fight angels and get to resurrected Adam before Heaven does. He finds Dean after he escapes and knocks some sense into him. Then he single-handedly takes out the angels guarding the Beautiful Room to give Sam and Dean the chance to save Adam. He does this by carving the banishing sigil into his chest, and disappears along with the rest of the angels.
21. Cas cuts Pestilence's ring from his finger, using up the last of his angelic power to resist the demon's assault of disease and saving the Winchesters in the process (Season Five, "Two Minutes to Midnight"). He also helps Sam and Bobby prevent the Croatoan virus from being distributed under the guise of a flu vaccine.
22. Cas banishes Adam/Michael with a Molotov cocktail of holy fire, giving Dean the chance to try to talk to Sam/Lucifer (Season Five, "Swan Song"). Lucifer gets pissed about this and explodes him into a million pieces.
23. Cas comes back to life and heals Dean of the serious pounding Lucifer gave him, and brings Bobby back to life as well (Season Five, "Swan Song").
Good Thing the Winchesters Have Done for Cas:
1. Dean hitting the demon Alastair in the head, preventing him from casting a spell on Cas (Season Four, "Heaven and Hell"). Alastair had Cas against the ropes, and would have banished the angel back to Heaven if Dean hadn't beaned the demon in the head.
2. Sam and Dean allow Cas the opportunity to capture Alastair (Season Four, "Death Takes a Holiday"). They didn't know they were doing it, and probably wouldn't have helped him out if they knew, so this barely counts.
3. Dean agrees to torture Alastair for information (Season Four, "On the Head of a Pin"). Though he was dragged into it against his will, and only agrees because Cas told him how much he wished he didn't have to.
4. Sam stops Alastair from sending Cas back to Heaven (Season Four, "On the Head of a Pin"). This was pretty incidental, as Sam was intending to save Dean anyway, and he drank a lot of demon blood to do it.
5. Sam and Dean keep Cas' vessel, Jimmy, alive long enough for him to drop back into him (Season Four, "The Rapture"). Sort of. Sam ruins it by letting Jimmy get away, and Dean's plan to rescue Jimmy's family leads to the brothers' capture as well.
6. Dean inspires Cas to rebel and stop the Apocalypse from happening (Season Four, "Lucifer Rising"). Since this ultimately gave Cas a taste of freedom, I'll add it to this list, even though it also resulted in his death.
7. Dean lets Cas borrow his amulet to aid in his search for God (Season Five, "Good God, Y'All!"). Even though he grumbles and craps on Cas' idea in the process. Cas gives him a little what-for.
8. Dean helps Cas track down and trap Rafael for a little interrogation (Season Five, "Free to Be You and Me"). Sadly, this accomplishes nothing but enlightening us all to what a dick Rafael is.
9. Sam and Dean trap Gabriel and force him to let Cas go (Season Five, "Changing Channels"). Though they first got all the information they could out of Gabriel, they eventually remembered their old buddy Cas.
10. Sam and Dean scrape Cas off the sidewalk after their time-travel and rent him a hotel room in which to recover (Season Five, "The Song Remains the Same"). They also prevent him from falling on the floor when Cas miraculously makes it back to the present.
11. Sam kills Famine, thus freeing Cas from his compulsion to scarf down raw meat (Season Five, "My Bloody Valentine"). So I guess Sam saved Cas from E. coli?
12. Sam and Dean do some recon in Heaven for Cas, since they happen to be dead anyway (Season Five, "Dark Side of the Moon"). They grumble a bit about it, though.
13. Dean kills the Whore of Babylon, supposedly ending the spell she cast on Cas (Season Five, "99 Problems"). He and Sam bring Cas back to the hotel and let him crash there until he recovers.
The Wrap-Up:
These are all just from the fourth and fifth seasons. I could go on to mention all of the things Cas has done for the Winchesters in the sixth season, including raising Sam from the Cage, all on his own (even though he missed Sam's soul, I think we can cut him some slack because of how difficult it was). Cas has basically been at their beck and call all season, and they haven't done much to help him out with his Civil War in Heaven. Yes, Cas has been working with Crowley and keeping it from the Winchesters, but he's trying to keep Rafael from re-starting the Apocalypse. He's protected them without them even knowing it, and they can't even refrain from condemning him from doing the same thing they've ALL done in the past.
So, Dean. Sam. Bobby. Cas is still ahead on the good deeds list, and way far ahead on the "dying for you" list. You all need to grow up.
Saturday, May 7, 2011
The Price of Freedom
Last night's episode of Supernatural, "The Man Who Would Be King", set out to accomplish two things:
1. Recap the entire season from Castiel's perspective
2. Explain the development of his character into a new, possibly terminal, arc
Rather than recap this episode in as much detail as I have previously, I'll highlight the main themes and expand on them.
SPOILERS!
God:
After finishing this episode I was left with the impression that our quiet, unassuming angel has been screaming inside for help during the entirety of season six, and has received none. Cas narrates his experience of suddenly being resurrected at the end of the fifth season. He marvels at the fact that the Winchesters, with his and Bobby's help, were able to re-write the ending of the world's oldest story. He recounts what he learned from his interactions with Sam and Dean - he learned to fight, to stand up for himself, and to make his own decisions. Sure, this got him exploded by Sam/Lucifer, but he came back. Cas came back without knowing why, without knowing exactly who brought him back, and without an understanding of what he's supposed to do now. All he has is faith that God recognized his sacrifices and approved of what he'd done. After healing Dean of his injuries and bringing Bobby back to life, Cas fought his way back into Hell to raise Sam alone, because he thought it was right. When he deposited Sam in front of Lisa's house, he admits he should have known something was wrong when Sam walked away from the sight of his brother.
Upon his return to Heaven, Castiel is greeted by some of his fellow angels, who are astonished to see him alive. They ask him what God wants them to do, and he tries to explain his concept of freedom to them. He tells them that they are all free to choose their own paths, but the angels are unable to understand. Angels were made to follow orders, not to make decisions. Cas meets with Rafael at great personal risk, heady with the experience of having survived the unsurvivable. Rafael is unmoved by recent events, and instructs Cas to publicly submit to him and renounce his rebellion so that the rest of the angels remember their place. His first order of business is to release Michael and Lucifer from the Cage, and to fight the Final Battle as they all intended. Cas refuses to submit and defies Rafael right there, and the archangel kicks him into next week. It's abundantly clear that Cas cannot defeat him alone.
It's a cruel God that would put someone like Cas in such a situation, and not give him the means to do anything about it.
Freedom:
Faced with the decision to either submit to Rafael or die by his older brother's hand, Cas considers turning to the only person he can think of for help. He watches Dean rake the leaves in Lisa's yard, invisible, and cannot bring himself to ask more from someone who's already sacrificed so much. Then Crowley appears with a proposition. Crowley doesn't want to lose his new position as King of Hell, and if Rafael succeeds in opening the Cage, that's exactly what will happen. So Crowley invites Cas to draw Heaven into a Civil War to keep Rafael occupied while Crowley searches for Purgatory. Once Purgatory is found, the two of them will split the souls in order to accomplish their respective goals. Crowley tells Cas to capitalize on his apparent status as God's chosen and lead all the angels that would follow him into war.
At first Cas would have none of it - and then Crowley offered him a loan of fifty thousand hellbound souls, giving him enough power to strike a blow against Rafael and deliver an ultimatum to Heaven. So we learn that Cas faked Crowley's death in "Caged Heat", and has given the Winchesters the runaround in their attempts to find the demon now. He listens in on their conversations and hates himself for it. He saves them from Crowley's demon hit squad, and threatens to back out of his deal with Crowley if the Winchesters come to harm.
All this time, Cas is plagued with doubt, constantly questioning himself and pouring out his uncertainty to a cold, unfeeling and unresponsive void.
Family:
Lying is against Cas' nature, and eventually he slips up and gives himself away. And though it was Dean who was asking Sam and Bobby to give the angel the benefit of the doubt, it's Dean who lures him into a trap of holy fire. They demand to know the truth, and as soon as Cas admits that he's been working with Crowley, they don't want to hear any more. Cas tries to explain himself, trying to start from the beginning by telling Sam that he was the one who raised him from Hell. Sam angrily cuts him off, demanding to know whether Cas brought him back soul-less on purpose. Cas is truly hurt that Sam would even think that, and realizes that these mortals could never understand. Their conversation is interrupted by demons closing in on them, and Cas orders them to run. Crowley frees Cas from the holy fire and gleefully remarks on how friends can turn on each other. He even ventures that he and Cas are the new Devil and the new God, working together. Cas vehemently shoots this idea down, and tells him to leave.
Cas tries to reconcile with Dean, slipping past Bobby's ineffective angel wards with ease. Dean tells Cas that he should stop working with Crowley, and Cas attempts to explain, yet again, that if he doesn't defeat Rafael then the Apocalypse will come around again. Dean expands on the idea of how little family he has, and that he thinks of Cas like a brother. He asks him, as a brother, not to do this. Cas doesn't change his mind, believing that this is the only course of action for him. Dean states that he will do what he must to stop him.
Cas finishes his narration, which all along was a prayer - one last prayer - to God, asking him if what he's doing is right. He begs for a sign to tell him, either way...and gets nothing.
Thoughts and Questions:
So all of the forgiveness crap that Dean spouted to Sam and Bobby at Rufus' funeral apparently doesn't apply to Cas. Sam started the Apocalypse - Cas is trying to keep it from happening again. And if Rafael does succed in bringing the Final Battle about, guess who's back on the menu as a vessel. That's right. Sam.
Sam would still be rotting in Hell if it weren't for Cas - and gratitude was not forthcoming.
I call bullshit on Dean's "family first" claim. When Dean says "family first", he means "Sam first". Sam comes first before Bobby, Cas, Lisa and Ben - and Adam. Dean spared exactly one thought for his half-brother this season, even though Adam suffered (and is still suffering) the same fate as Sam. Dean acts as though he's personally betrayed whenever someone he claims as family does something he doesn't like.
Cas rebelled in the fourth season to keep Sam from starting the Apocalypse. It wasn't enough. He died.
Cas banished Michael with holy fire to give Dean the chance to speak to Sam/Lucifer. It wasn't enough. He died.
Cas is dealing with Crowley to keep Rafael from re-starting the Apocalypse. The deal will go from bad to worse. It won't be enough. He's going to die.
In Two Weeks:
We're treated to a double-feature on May 20th. Will Cas succeed and redeem himself?
1. Recap the entire season from Castiel's perspective
2. Explain the development of his character into a new, possibly terminal, arc
Rather than recap this episode in as much detail as I have previously, I'll highlight the main themes and expand on them.
SPOILERS!
God:
After finishing this episode I was left with the impression that our quiet, unassuming angel has been screaming inside for help during the entirety of season six, and has received none. Cas narrates his experience of suddenly being resurrected at the end of the fifth season. He marvels at the fact that the Winchesters, with his and Bobby's help, were able to re-write the ending of the world's oldest story. He recounts what he learned from his interactions with Sam and Dean - he learned to fight, to stand up for himself, and to make his own decisions. Sure, this got him exploded by Sam/Lucifer, but he came back. Cas came back without knowing why, without knowing exactly who brought him back, and without an understanding of what he's supposed to do now. All he has is faith that God recognized his sacrifices and approved of what he'd done. After healing Dean of his injuries and bringing Bobby back to life, Cas fought his way back into Hell to raise Sam alone, because he thought it was right. When he deposited Sam in front of Lisa's house, he admits he should have known something was wrong when Sam walked away from the sight of his brother.
Upon his return to Heaven, Castiel is greeted by some of his fellow angels, who are astonished to see him alive. They ask him what God wants them to do, and he tries to explain his concept of freedom to them. He tells them that they are all free to choose their own paths, but the angels are unable to understand. Angels were made to follow orders, not to make decisions. Cas meets with Rafael at great personal risk, heady with the experience of having survived the unsurvivable. Rafael is unmoved by recent events, and instructs Cas to publicly submit to him and renounce his rebellion so that the rest of the angels remember their place. His first order of business is to release Michael and Lucifer from the Cage, and to fight the Final Battle as they all intended. Cas refuses to submit and defies Rafael right there, and the archangel kicks him into next week. It's abundantly clear that Cas cannot defeat him alone.
It's a cruel God that would put someone like Cas in such a situation, and not give him the means to do anything about it.
Freedom:
Faced with the decision to either submit to Rafael or die by his older brother's hand, Cas considers turning to the only person he can think of for help. He watches Dean rake the leaves in Lisa's yard, invisible, and cannot bring himself to ask more from someone who's already sacrificed so much. Then Crowley appears with a proposition. Crowley doesn't want to lose his new position as King of Hell, and if Rafael succeeds in opening the Cage, that's exactly what will happen. So Crowley invites Cas to draw Heaven into a Civil War to keep Rafael occupied while Crowley searches for Purgatory. Once Purgatory is found, the two of them will split the souls in order to accomplish their respective goals. Crowley tells Cas to capitalize on his apparent status as God's chosen and lead all the angels that would follow him into war.
At first Cas would have none of it - and then Crowley offered him a loan of fifty thousand hellbound souls, giving him enough power to strike a blow against Rafael and deliver an ultimatum to Heaven. So we learn that Cas faked Crowley's death in "Caged Heat", and has given the Winchesters the runaround in their attempts to find the demon now. He listens in on their conversations and hates himself for it. He saves them from Crowley's demon hit squad, and threatens to back out of his deal with Crowley if the Winchesters come to harm.
All this time, Cas is plagued with doubt, constantly questioning himself and pouring out his uncertainty to a cold, unfeeling and unresponsive void.
Family:
Lying is against Cas' nature, and eventually he slips up and gives himself away. And though it was Dean who was asking Sam and Bobby to give the angel the benefit of the doubt, it's Dean who lures him into a trap of holy fire. They demand to know the truth, and as soon as Cas admits that he's been working with Crowley, they don't want to hear any more. Cas tries to explain himself, trying to start from the beginning by telling Sam that he was the one who raised him from Hell. Sam angrily cuts him off, demanding to know whether Cas brought him back soul-less on purpose. Cas is truly hurt that Sam would even think that, and realizes that these mortals could never understand. Their conversation is interrupted by demons closing in on them, and Cas orders them to run. Crowley frees Cas from the holy fire and gleefully remarks on how friends can turn on each other. He even ventures that he and Cas are the new Devil and the new God, working together. Cas vehemently shoots this idea down, and tells him to leave.
Cas tries to reconcile with Dean, slipping past Bobby's ineffective angel wards with ease. Dean tells Cas that he should stop working with Crowley, and Cas attempts to explain, yet again, that if he doesn't defeat Rafael then the Apocalypse will come around again. Dean expands on the idea of how little family he has, and that he thinks of Cas like a brother. He asks him, as a brother, not to do this. Cas doesn't change his mind, believing that this is the only course of action for him. Dean states that he will do what he must to stop him.
Cas finishes his narration, which all along was a prayer - one last prayer - to God, asking him if what he's doing is right. He begs for a sign to tell him, either way...and gets nothing.
Thoughts and Questions:
So all of the forgiveness crap that Dean spouted to Sam and Bobby at Rufus' funeral apparently doesn't apply to Cas. Sam started the Apocalypse - Cas is trying to keep it from happening again. And if Rafael does succed in bringing the Final Battle about, guess who's back on the menu as a vessel. That's right. Sam.
Sam would still be rotting in Hell if it weren't for Cas - and gratitude was not forthcoming.
I call bullshit on Dean's "family first" claim. When Dean says "family first", he means "Sam first". Sam comes first before Bobby, Cas, Lisa and Ben - and Adam. Dean spared exactly one thought for his half-brother this season, even though Adam suffered (and is still suffering) the same fate as Sam. Dean acts as though he's personally betrayed whenever someone he claims as family does something he doesn't like.
Cas rebelled in the fourth season to keep Sam from starting the Apocalypse. It wasn't enough. He died.
Cas banished Michael with holy fire to give Dean the chance to speak to Sam/Lucifer. It wasn't enough. He died.
Cas is dealing with Crowley to keep Rafael from re-starting the Apocalypse. The deal will go from bad to worse. It won't be enough. He's going to die.
In Two Weeks:
We're treated to a double-feature on May 20th. Will Cas succeed and redeem himself?
Saturday, April 30, 2011
Huh. Well That Was Easy
In last night's episode of Supernatural, "Mommy Dearest", our favorite foursome began their quest to hunt down and kill the Mother of All. I predicted that they would fail, and fail miserably. Why? Because it's not even the end of the season yet, and all they've come across is a very brief and very obscure piece of lore that said that the Mother could be burned with Phoenix ashes (which they were barely able to get). Not killed. Not utterly destroyed. Just burned. Let's see how they did.
SPOILERS!
The episode opens with Eve walking into a bar, barefoot and in her skimpy white dress. She brushes the cheek of a guy coming out of the bar (we know that bad things will happen to this dude now). She kisses another guy inside (Arrrgh!) and touches a few more people, and they start turning into monsters and eating each other while Eve sips what we think is a Bloody Mary. Huh.
Dean is busy loading shotgun shells with Phoenix ash, preparing to do battle with Eve. He's skeptical about their effectiveness, since the ash doesn't seem to burn humans. He demonstrates by smearing some on his arm. Sam shrugs and says that it must be one of those things that only works on monsters, like iron.
Sam, Dean and Bobby are coming up empty on their search for Eve, so they decide to call in Castiel for his super special angel searching powers. Cas comes back with a blast from the past, a non-human-eating vampire called Lenore, who we met in the second season along with Gordon. Lenore's nest has abandoned her to obey the call of the wild (aka, Mother), and she is struggling to keep herself from eating humans. In fact, she admits that she's slipped up and fed on human blood. She gives the Winchesters Eve's location and begs them to kill her - Eve's voice is too difficult to resist. Sam and Dean dither about keeping Lenore secure until they take care of the Mother, but Cas promptly destroys her with angel fire and tells them to quit wasting time.
The four of them head to Oregon, glancing nervously around what seems to be a pretty normal town. As they head into a diner for Bobby to do research on and complain about an iPad (PRODUCT PLACEMENT!), Cas discovers that his angel powers have been blocked. He can't zap anywhere, and he can't burn monsters with angel fire. Dean gripes about how useless Cas is without his powers and Cas (understandably) gets sulky and offended. They split up into two teams: Dean and Cas with investigate the office of a doctor who has called in the CDC, while Sam and Bobby go to the doctor's house. Team Dean discovers the body of the guy Eve touched, and Team Sam discover that the doctor has flown the coop - there's no trace of him anywhere. As they head toward the dead guy's house, Cas notices someone exactly like him in the window. Sam and Dean rush in and get the dying man (who is the orignial guy's friend but is now somehow a very sick shapeshifter) to tell them about the bar.
The bar is a complete mess of bodies, full of people with vampire teeth and wraith spikes, culminating in some kinid of new monster that has both. Since Dean discovered this new monster, he calls them the Jefferson Starships (hard to kill, annoying as hell). The police burst in on the four of them surrounded by dozens of bodies. Dean ducks behind the bar in the confusion as the police arrest Sam, Bobby and Cas. Sam sees the security video feed as they're escorted into the police station and freaks out, warning Cas and Bobby that the cops are actually Starships. Dean comes in to save the day, beheading a few cops but leaving the sheriff alive for interrogation. As Bobby puts the squeeze on Sheriff Starship, Sam and Dean clear the building and discover two boys bound and gagged in one of the cells. It turns out that these are the sons of the disappeared doctor and his wife, who have become Starship food. Touched beyond the capacity for rational thought at the sight of two orphaned brothers (Sob!), Sam and Dean take precious time driving the kids fifteen miles out of town to leave them with their uncle. The car is silent, but it's completely obvious that Sam and Dean are completely lost in nostalgia for their "Us Against the World" childhood, and see themselves in these boys.
Back at the police station, Cas is grumbling about wasting time, and Bobby tells him that the Winchesters have always done whatever they wanted to do. Bobby's getting nowhere with Sheriff Starship, so Cas asks him for five minutes alone. Bobby seems a little sickened by the screams coming from the interrogation room, and Sam and Dean get back just in time for Cas to come out, wiping his bloody hands. Cas tells them that Eve is actually holed up in the diner they were in that afternoon, and there's a collective facepalm. The camera pans back to the bloody mess in the interrogation room, and we see that apparently, Cas pulled the Starship's head off with his bare hands. Not so useless now, right Dean?
Sam and Dean come up with a brilliant strategy of attack: Sam and Dean will go into the diner alone, and then if they don't succeed, Cas and Bobby will try it. See? Brilliant. Dean gives everyone a Phoenix bullet, and they head inside. The diner is filled with starships. The waitress comes over to take their order and introduces herself - she's Eve (we couldn't see if she had a nametag, but how awesome would it be if she did?). Cue another facepalm as Sam and Dean realize that she was right under their nose before. Eve explains that she was happy with the status quo - her monsters would turn a few people, a few hunters would kill a few monsters, whatever. But with Crowley torturing and killing monsters to discover the location of Purgatory, she's angry now and just wants to take over the entire world. That's why she developed the Starships. In fact, the Starships are so perfect that not even Sam and Dean realized that they transported one of them out of town, ready to begin the world domination thing. Cue another facepalm.
Eve takes the form of Sam and Dean's mother to highlight their major parental ISSUES. They whine a little about that. She offers them a deal: deliver Crowley to her, and she'll go back home without taking over the world. The brothers are confused - Crowley's dead, right? Eve insists that he's still alive and after monster souls (power source!), and then gloats as some Starships drag in Cas and Bobby. She does some specific gloating to Cas, telling him that because she's older than he is, she knows what makes angels tick, and as long as she's around he'll have no power. She threatens to turn Sam and Dean, to force them to do what she asks anyway. Dean tells her to bite him, and she does. Then she gets all burninated - Dean gloats a little as he explains that he took some of the ashes with a shot of whiskey, so his blood's contaminated with Phoenix ash. Eve dies, the Starships go berserk, and Cas shouts for everyone to close their eyes as he burns them with angel fire.
After the dust settles, so to speak, Cas heals Dean of his Eve bite and zaps them over to the kids' uncle's house so that they can stop the mini-Starships. They discover the body of the uncle (death by children) and the bodies of the kids. There's the smell of sulfur, so they conclude that a demon must have taken care of this somehow. They tell Cas what Eve said about Crowley being alive, and Cas gets huffy, saying that he'll look into it immediately. He vanishes. Bobby wonders aloud if Cas is being straight with them - an angel wouldn't make a "mistake" burning a demon's bones unless he meant to. Dean scoffs at this, but Sam quietly agrees with Bobby. Back at the diner, Cas surveys the carnage as Crowley appears behind him, asking how many times he has to clean up the angel's messes. (Dun dun DUNNNNN!)
Questions that still need answers:
Well, color me surprised. I honestly didn't expect the Phoenix ashes would work, or at least that they wouldn't get the chance to use them effectively. And Eve is dead. After all of that build-up, she goes out like a punk. Huh.
So who exactly is the Big Bad this season? Does this mean it's Rafael? Crowley?
Crowley's back, baby! I can't even tell you how happy this makes me, because I was infuriated by his death in "Caged Heat", and by that entire episode. Also, it makes perfect sense for Cas to be working with Crowley, because they both have the same ultimate goal: keep Lucifer and Michael caged for all eternity. Neither of them want "Apocalypse II: The Armageddoning", and this is the "dirty little secret" that Rachel got all stabby about in the last episode.
So Cas is after souls to defeat Rafael. But how is he going to use them? Does Rafael have access to more? What the Hell is going on?
Next Week:
We find out exactly how hard Cas' life has been since he's had to fight the Civil War in Heaven. Will the Winchesters understand? Probably not.
SPOILERS!
The episode opens with Eve walking into a bar, barefoot and in her skimpy white dress. She brushes the cheek of a guy coming out of the bar (we know that bad things will happen to this dude now). She kisses another guy inside (Arrrgh!) and touches a few more people, and they start turning into monsters and eating each other while Eve sips what we think is a Bloody Mary. Huh.
Dean is busy loading shotgun shells with Phoenix ash, preparing to do battle with Eve. He's skeptical about their effectiveness, since the ash doesn't seem to burn humans. He demonstrates by smearing some on his arm. Sam shrugs and says that it must be one of those things that only works on monsters, like iron.
Sam, Dean and Bobby are coming up empty on their search for Eve, so they decide to call in Castiel for his super special angel searching powers. Cas comes back with a blast from the past, a non-human-eating vampire called Lenore, who we met in the second season along with Gordon. Lenore's nest has abandoned her to obey the call of the wild (aka, Mother), and she is struggling to keep herself from eating humans. In fact, she admits that she's slipped up and fed on human blood. She gives the Winchesters Eve's location and begs them to kill her - Eve's voice is too difficult to resist. Sam and Dean dither about keeping Lenore secure until they take care of the Mother, but Cas promptly destroys her with angel fire and tells them to quit wasting time.
The four of them head to Oregon, glancing nervously around what seems to be a pretty normal town. As they head into a diner for Bobby to do research on and complain about an iPad (PRODUCT PLACEMENT!), Cas discovers that his angel powers have been blocked. He can't zap anywhere, and he can't burn monsters with angel fire. Dean gripes about how useless Cas is without his powers and Cas (understandably) gets sulky and offended. They split up into two teams: Dean and Cas with investigate the office of a doctor who has called in the CDC, while Sam and Bobby go to the doctor's house. Team Dean discovers the body of the guy Eve touched, and Team Sam discover that the doctor has flown the coop - there's no trace of him anywhere. As they head toward the dead guy's house, Cas notices someone exactly like him in the window. Sam and Dean rush in and get the dying man (who is the orignial guy's friend but is now somehow a very sick shapeshifter) to tell them about the bar.
The bar is a complete mess of bodies, full of people with vampire teeth and wraith spikes, culminating in some kinid of new monster that has both. Since Dean discovered this new monster, he calls them the Jefferson Starships (hard to kill, annoying as hell). The police burst in on the four of them surrounded by dozens of bodies. Dean ducks behind the bar in the confusion as the police arrest Sam, Bobby and Cas. Sam sees the security video feed as they're escorted into the police station and freaks out, warning Cas and Bobby that the cops are actually Starships. Dean comes in to save the day, beheading a few cops but leaving the sheriff alive for interrogation. As Bobby puts the squeeze on Sheriff Starship, Sam and Dean clear the building and discover two boys bound and gagged in one of the cells. It turns out that these are the sons of the disappeared doctor and his wife, who have become Starship food. Touched beyond the capacity for rational thought at the sight of two orphaned brothers (Sob!), Sam and Dean take precious time driving the kids fifteen miles out of town to leave them with their uncle. The car is silent, but it's completely obvious that Sam and Dean are completely lost in nostalgia for their "Us Against the World" childhood, and see themselves in these boys.
Back at the police station, Cas is grumbling about wasting time, and Bobby tells him that the Winchesters have always done whatever they wanted to do. Bobby's getting nowhere with Sheriff Starship, so Cas asks him for five minutes alone. Bobby seems a little sickened by the screams coming from the interrogation room, and Sam and Dean get back just in time for Cas to come out, wiping his bloody hands. Cas tells them that Eve is actually holed up in the diner they were in that afternoon, and there's a collective facepalm. The camera pans back to the bloody mess in the interrogation room, and we see that apparently, Cas pulled the Starship's head off with his bare hands. Not so useless now, right Dean?
Sam and Dean come up with a brilliant strategy of attack: Sam and Dean will go into the diner alone, and then if they don't succeed, Cas and Bobby will try it. See? Brilliant. Dean gives everyone a Phoenix bullet, and they head inside. The diner is filled with starships. The waitress comes over to take their order and introduces herself - she's Eve (we couldn't see if she had a nametag, but how awesome would it be if she did?). Cue another facepalm as Sam and Dean realize that she was right under their nose before. Eve explains that she was happy with the status quo - her monsters would turn a few people, a few hunters would kill a few monsters, whatever. But with Crowley torturing and killing monsters to discover the location of Purgatory, she's angry now and just wants to take over the entire world. That's why she developed the Starships. In fact, the Starships are so perfect that not even Sam and Dean realized that they transported one of them out of town, ready to begin the world domination thing. Cue another facepalm.
Eve takes the form of Sam and Dean's mother to highlight their major parental ISSUES. They whine a little about that. She offers them a deal: deliver Crowley to her, and she'll go back home without taking over the world. The brothers are confused - Crowley's dead, right? Eve insists that he's still alive and after monster souls (power source!), and then gloats as some Starships drag in Cas and Bobby. She does some specific gloating to Cas, telling him that because she's older than he is, she knows what makes angels tick, and as long as she's around he'll have no power. She threatens to turn Sam and Dean, to force them to do what she asks anyway. Dean tells her to bite him, and she does. Then she gets all burninated - Dean gloats a little as he explains that he took some of the ashes with a shot of whiskey, so his blood's contaminated with Phoenix ash. Eve dies, the Starships go berserk, and Cas shouts for everyone to close their eyes as he burns them with angel fire.
After the dust settles, so to speak, Cas heals Dean of his Eve bite and zaps them over to the kids' uncle's house so that they can stop the mini-Starships. They discover the body of the uncle (death by children) and the bodies of the kids. There's the smell of sulfur, so they conclude that a demon must have taken care of this somehow. They tell Cas what Eve said about Crowley being alive, and Cas gets huffy, saying that he'll look into it immediately. He vanishes. Bobby wonders aloud if Cas is being straight with them - an angel wouldn't make a "mistake" burning a demon's bones unless he meant to. Dean scoffs at this, but Sam quietly agrees with Bobby. Back at the diner, Cas surveys the carnage as Crowley appears behind him, asking how many times he has to clean up the angel's messes. (Dun dun DUNNNNN!)
Questions that still need answers:
Well, color me surprised. I honestly didn't expect the Phoenix ashes would work, or at least that they wouldn't get the chance to use them effectively. And Eve is dead. After all of that build-up, she goes out like a punk. Huh.
So who exactly is the Big Bad this season? Does this mean it's Rafael? Crowley?
Crowley's back, baby! I can't even tell you how happy this makes me, because I was infuriated by his death in "Caged Heat", and by that entire episode. Also, it makes perfect sense for Cas to be working with Crowley, because they both have the same ultimate goal: keep Lucifer and Michael caged for all eternity. Neither of them want "Apocalypse II: The Armageddoning", and this is the "dirty little secret" that Rachel got all stabby about in the last episode.
So Cas is after souls to defeat Rafael. But how is he going to use them? Does Rafael have access to more? What the Hell is going on?
Next Week:
We find out exactly how hard Cas' life has been since he's had to fight the Civil War in Heaven. Will the Winchesters understand? Probably not.
Monday, April 25, 2011
When Fetish Meets Reality
Who needs a Delorean or a TARDIS when you have an angel in your pocket? Friday's episode of Supernatural, "Frontierland", was another test of Castiel's mad time-traveling skillz and an exploration of shattered illusions. Specifically, Dean's illusions. Jump right in with me, won't you?
SPOILERS!
The episode begins with a high-noon showdown in the Old West, between Dean and some rugged squinty-eyed guy we've never seen before. As the town's clock chimes the hour, the two of them square off and prepare to draw. Cut to the funnest old-timey show title ever, accompanied by a macho Western men's chorus.
48 hours earlier and 150 years later, Sam leads Dean and Bobby to the Campbell family library, which looks pretty abandoned since all of them are now dead. The three of them rifle through the poorly-organized collection of books to try to find a chink in the armor of the Mother of All, who so far has done nothing but send an evil brain slug after them. Not terribly impressive, as Big Bads go, but whatever. Bobby finds an obscure reference to the ashes of a Phoenix being able to burn the Mother, so they get started on tracking down information about a Phoenix. Dean discovers the journal of Samuel Colt (yes, that Colt) which contains a brief reference to the gun killing a Phoenix. Colt thoughtfully provided a date as well, and Dean gets a great idea - why not travel back in time? After all, they already know that a Phoenix will definitely be in Sunrise, Wyoming on March 5, 1856. After Dean fails to sell this idea to Sam and Bobby with a Star Trek IV reference, he prays for Cas.
A new female angel shows up, presumably as a call-waiting service. Her name is Rachel, and she says that she's come on Castiel's behalf. Dean isn't on board with this, and insists on speaking to Cas. Rachel wastes no time in launching a verbal assault, accusing them of calling Cas only when they need something and not being respectful of the fact that the angels are heavily invested in their Civil War (we thought she kind of had a point). Cas pops down and puts a stop to it before things get ugly, and sends Rachel away. She's obviously not pleased that he's taking the time to help the Winchesters, but she vanishes anyway.
As Dean is away on a "supply run", Cas explains to Sam that they will only have 24 hours to play cowboys. Apparently the further back in time they are, the harder it is for Cas to bring them back. If he were to wait longer than 24 hours, they'd likely be stuck in the past. Dean shows up with his hands full of shopping bags. He went to a Western apparel store so that he and Sam could "go native". Sam doesn't want to play dress-up, however, and accuses Dean of having an Old West fetish and having all of Clint Eastwood's movies memorized line-for-line. Dean insists that Sam at least wear the shirt, and he decks himself out in full "Western" gear, complete with poncho. Cas has an awesome "Is it customary to wear a blanket?" line, and then zaps them back in time. He then leaves Bobby, telling him to pray for him in 24 hours so that he can bring the boys back.
In 1856 Sunrise, Wyoming, the Winchesters mosey on into town just in time to witness a hanging. The condemned man tells the judge, sheriff, and a shifty-looking guy that they're all going to burn for this, and then the trap door is opened. Wincing at the brutality of old justice, Sam and Dean talk to the sheriff to see if he knows where Samuel Colt is. After making fun of Dean for being too clean, the sheriff directs them to the saloon owner. Dean is crestfallen when they enter the saloon, which has one or two drunken old prospectors and some tired-looking saloon girls. "This is not awesome," Dean says, and he orders a whiskey for him and a sasparilla for Sam. The saloon owner brings them their drinks and tells them that Colt has a cabin about 20 miles out of town. A saloon girl tries to get friendly with Dean, but he's incredibly turned off by the syphilis sores on her face. He then tries to drink his whiskey and finds that it's just about as smooth as gasoline. Sam smirks as he enjoys his sasparilla.
The judge from the hanging comes into the saloon and goes upstairs with one of the girls, who lets out a blood-curdling shriek after a few minutes. Sam and Dean rush upstairs to find that the judge is now a pile of ashes. The girl swears that the judge-burning culprit is Elias Finch, the man who was hanged. Dean and Sam raise their eyebrows at each other, and go check Finch's grave - which turns out to be empty. The brothers split up - Sam takes a horse to find Samuel Colt, and Dean stays in town so that he can join the Finch-hunting posse.
Back in the present, Rachel summons Cas to an empty warehouse for a chat. She demands to know if the rumors she's been hearing are true - apparently Cas has a "dirty little secret". Cas, terrible liar that he is, gets shifty and uncomfortable, and tells her that he has to defeat Rafael. Rachel tells him that he shouldn't do it this way, and Cas replies that he doesn't have a choice. Rachel whips out her angel sword and stabs Cas in the chest, and he's barely able to keep it from piercing his heart. The two of them duke it out, and though Cas is badly wounded, he uses his angel kung fu to stab Rachel. He stares sadly down at her body framed by ashy shadow wings, and whispers an apology.
Bobby's research is interrupted when Cas crash-lands in his kitchen. Cas waves him off as he crawls toward the fridge and uses the blood from his wound to paint a sigil, then forces himself to get to his feet. "Are we running or fighting?" asks Bobby, and gets his answer as Cas collapses into his arms.
Dean saunters back into the saloon in a brand-new wardrobe, one more suited to the flavor of the town. "I look good," he says, and wonders where the posse is. It turns out that the sheriff has also been burned to ashes, so Dean snags his sheriff star, completing his new ensemble. He goes to the jail to find the shifty-looking guy (from the hanging) terrified for his life. Dean stows him in the jail cell to use him as bait for Phoenix Finch.
Sam reaches Colt's cabin after the gunsmith shoots a few demons, and asks him to come back into town with him. Colt refuses, saying that he's hung up his hunting spurs for good. Sam tells him that he's from the year 2011, and gives him his Blackberry to prove it. Colt is unfazed by this, having seen so much in his lifetime that even a giant with a magic thingamajig is no big thing. Sam yells at him for refusing to help, and demands that Colt hand over the gun.
Cas finally regains consciousness on Bobby's couch - there's only an hour left before he has to retrieve Sam and Dean. Bobby is concerned about how beat the angel looks, and asks him what happened. Cas tells him that Rafael corrupted Rachel, who betrayed and attacked him (liar, liar, pants on fire!). He thanks Bobby for looking out for him - the sigil he painted was an angel-repelling ward. Cas tells Bobby that he's too drained by his injury to bring Sam and Dean back, and that he can't call in another angel to do it. The only way that Cas can regain enough power to get the job done is if Bobby allows him to touch his soul and siphon some of its energy. This must be done carefully, however, or else Bobby could explode.
Phoenix Finch bursts into the jail, demanding that Dean open the cell so that he can get at the shift-looking guy. Dean refuses, and notes that the Phoenix seems to be rendered powerless by iron, which is why he couldn't slip his shackles when he was being hanged. Finch tells him that he was married to a human woman, and that shifty-looking guy had raped her when they came into town. As Finch came to her rescue, shift-looking guy pulled his gun and shot both of them. Of course, being a Phoenix, Finch didn't die, but his wife died in his arms. The shots brought the sheriff, and they charged Finch with the murder and hung him to cover it up - the judge was in on it, too. Dean agrees that all of this is very sad, but he has to kill him anyway. Finch grabs a gun and shoots the shifty rapist guy (yay!), and Dean dives out the window to get away.
Sam somehow makes it back to town with the Colt (making the same trip before noon that took him all night before) and gives it to Dean, who immediately challenges Finch to a showdown. They get all squinty-eyed at each other as the clock chimes. They draw, and Dean kills him, burning the Phoenix to ashes. He races to gather them up as (in the present) Cas re-charges using Bobby's soul power. Cas yanks the Winchesters back before they can get the ashes, however (they cut it really close). Dean demands that Cas send them back, but Sam points out that Cas is completely fried, and Bobby's not doing any better. Suddenly, there's a knock at the door. A delivery man hands Sam a package, which contains a bottle of Phoenix ashes and a note from Samuel Colt, explaining that he got Bobby's address from his Blackberry. The Winchesters are ready to go Eve-hunting.
Questions that still need answers:
It seems as though I was right about souls being a power-source, and since Cas failed at minting souls in the last episode, he must be desperate to gather enough power to carry out his plan to defeat Rafael. Whatever this plan is, it's not something that he feels comfortable about, and his followers probably don't either, judging from Rachel's reaction. So what is the plan, and how is Cas going to use souls to accomplish it?
I really wish that the writers had structured the Phoenix mythology to allow the Winchesters to gather his ashes after a "death", rather than killing him for real with the Colt. After all, the poor guy was just trying to avenge his wife's rape and murder. He didn't seem too much of a monster to me.
Are we really ready to hunt the Mother of All? It seems as though the Winchesters are always willing to rush into anything once they think it has a shot at working. We alert viewers know that it's too early for Eve to be defeated.
Next Week:
The Winchesters, Bobby, and Cas try to kill the Mother of All. We will watch their failure with great interest.
SPOILERS!
The episode begins with a high-noon showdown in the Old West, between Dean and some rugged squinty-eyed guy we've never seen before. As the town's clock chimes the hour, the two of them square off and prepare to draw. Cut to the funnest old-timey show title ever, accompanied by a macho Western men's chorus.
48 hours earlier and 150 years later, Sam leads Dean and Bobby to the Campbell family library, which looks pretty abandoned since all of them are now dead. The three of them rifle through the poorly-organized collection of books to try to find a chink in the armor of the Mother of All, who so far has done nothing but send an evil brain slug after them. Not terribly impressive, as Big Bads go, but whatever. Bobby finds an obscure reference to the ashes of a Phoenix being able to burn the Mother, so they get started on tracking down information about a Phoenix. Dean discovers the journal of Samuel Colt (yes, that Colt) which contains a brief reference to the gun killing a Phoenix. Colt thoughtfully provided a date as well, and Dean gets a great idea - why not travel back in time? After all, they already know that a Phoenix will definitely be in Sunrise, Wyoming on March 5, 1856. After Dean fails to sell this idea to Sam and Bobby with a Star Trek IV reference, he prays for Cas.
A new female angel shows up, presumably as a call-waiting service. Her name is Rachel, and she says that she's come on Castiel's behalf. Dean isn't on board with this, and insists on speaking to Cas. Rachel wastes no time in launching a verbal assault, accusing them of calling Cas only when they need something and not being respectful of the fact that the angels are heavily invested in their Civil War (we thought she kind of had a point). Cas pops down and puts a stop to it before things get ugly, and sends Rachel away. She's obviously not pleased that he's taking the time to help the Winchesters, but she vanishes anyway.
As Dean is away on a "supply run", Cas explains to Sam that they will only have 24 hours to play cowboys. Apparently the further back in time they are, the harder it is for Cas to bring them back. If he were to wait longer than 24 hours, they'd likely be stuck in the past. Dean shows up with his hands full of shopping bags. He went to a Western apparel store so that he and Sam could "go native". Sam doesn't want to play dress-up, however, and accuses Dean of having an Old West fetish and having all of Clint Eastwood's movies memorized line-for-line. Dean insists that Sam at least wear the shirt, and he decks himself out in full "Western" gear, complete with poncho. Cas has an awesome "Is it customary to wear a blanket?" line, and then zaps them back in time. He then leaves Bobby, telling him to pray for him in 24 hours so that he can bring the boys back.
In 1856 Sunrise, Wyoming, the Winchesters mosey on into town just in time to witness a hanging. The condemned man tells the judge, sheriff, and a shifty-looking guy that they're all going to burn for this, and then the trap door is opened. Wincing at the brutality of old justice, Sam and Dean talk to the sheriff to see if he knows where Samuel Colt is. After making fun of Dean for being too clean, the sheriff directs them to the saloon owner. Dean is crestfallen when they enter the saloon, which has one or two drunken old prospectors and some tired-looking saloon girls. "This is not awesome," Dean says, and he orders a whiskey for him and a sasparilla for Sam. The saloon owner brings them their drinks and tells them that Colt has a cabin about 20 miles out of town. A saloon girl tries to get friendly with Dean, but he's incredibly turned off by the syphilis sores on her face. He then tries to drink his whiskey and finds that it's just about as smooth as gasoline. Sam smirks as he enjoys his sasparilla.
The judge from the hanging comes into the saloon and goes upstairs with one of the girls, who lets out a blood-curdling shriek after a few minutes. Sam and Dean rush upstairs to find that the judge is now a pile of ashes. The girl swears that the judge-burning culprit is Elias Finch, the man who was hanged. Dean and Sam raise their eyebrows at each other, and go check Finch's grave - which turns out to be empty. The brothers split up - Sam takes a horse to find Samuel Colt, and Dean stays in town so that he can join the Finch-hunting posse.
Back in the present, Rachel summons Cas to an empty warehouse for a chat. She demands to know if the rumors she's been hearing are true - apparently Cas has a "dirty little secret". Cas, terrible liar that he is, gets shifty and uncomfortable, and tells her that he has to defeat Rafael. Rachel tells him that he shouldn't do it this way, and Cas replies that he doesn't have a choice. Rachel whips out her angel sword and stabs Cas in the chest, and he's barely able to keep it from piercing his heart. The two of them duke it out, and though Cas is badly wounded, he uses his angel kung fu to stab Rachel. He stares sadly down at her body framed by ashy shadow wings, and whispers an apology.
Bobby's research is interrupted when Cas crash-lands in his kitchen. Cas waves him off as he crawls toward the fridge and uses the blood from his wound to paint a sigil, then forces himself to get to his feet. "Are we running or fighting?" asks Bobby, and gets his answer as Cas collapses into his arms.
Dean saunters back into the saloon in a brand-new wardrobe, one more suited to the flavor of the town. "I look good," he says, and wonders where the posse is. It turns out that the sheriff has also been burned to ashes, so Dean snags his sheriff star, completing his new ensemble. He goes to the jail to find the shifty-looking guy (from the hanging) terrified for his life. Dean stows him in the jail cell to use him as bait for Phoenix Finch.
Sam reaches Colt's cabin after the gunsmith shoots a few demons, and asks him to come back into town with him. Colt refuses, saying that he's hung up his hunting spurs for good. Sam tells him that he's from the year 2011, and gives him his Blackberry to prove it. Colt is unfazed by this, having seen so much in his lifetime that even a giant with a magic thingamajig is no big thing. Sam yells at him for refusing to help, and demands that Colt hand over the gun.
Cas finally regains consciousness on Bobby's couch - there's only an hour left before he has to retrieve Sam and Dean. Bobby is concerned about how beat the angel looks, and asks him what happened. Cas tells him that Rafael corrupted Rachel, who betrayed and attacked him (liar, liar, pants on fire!). He thanks Bobby for looking out for him - the sigil he painted was an angel-repelling ward. Cas tells Bobby that he's too drained by his injury to bring Sam and Dean back, and that he can't call in another angel to do it. The only way that Cas can regain enough power to get the job done is if Bobby allows him to touch his soul and siphon some of its energy. This must be done carefully, however, or else Bobby could explode.
Phoenix Finch bursts into the jail, demanding that Dean open the cell so that he can get at the shift-looking guy. Dean refuses, and notes that the Phoenix seems to be rendered powerless by iron, which is why he couldn't slip his shackles when he was being hanged. Finch tells him that he was married to a human woman, and that shifty-looking guy had raped her when they came into town. As Finch came to her rescue, shift-looking guy pulled his gun and shot both of them. Of course, being a Phoenix, Finch didn't die, but his wife died in his arms. The shots brought the sheriff, and they charged Finch with the murder and hung him to cover it up - the judge was in on it, too. Dean agrees that all of this is very sad, but he has to kill him anyway. Finch grabs a gun and shoots the shifty rapist guy (yay!), and Dean dives out the window to get away.
Sam somehow makes it back to town with the Colt (making the same trip before noon that took him all night before) and gives it to Dean, who immediately challenges Finch to a showdown. They get all squinty-eyed at each other as the clock chimes. They draw, and Dean kills him, burning the Phoenix to ashes. He races to gather them up as (in the present) Cas re-charges using Bobby's soul power. Cas yanks the Winchesters back before they can get the ashes, however (they cut it really close). Dean demands that Cas send them back, but Sam points out that Cas is completely fried, and Bobby's not doing any better. Suddenly, there's a knock at the door. A delivery man hands Sam a package, which contains a bottle of Phoenix ashes and a note from Samuel Colt, explaining that he got Bobby's address from his Blackberry. The Winchesters are ready to go Eve-hunting.
Questions that still need answers:
It seems as though I was right about souls being a power-source, and since Cas failed at minting souls in the last episode, he must be desperate to gather enough power to carry out his plan to defeat Rafael. Whatever this plan is, it's not something that he feels comfortable about, and his followers probably don't either, judging from Rachel's reaction. So what is the plan, and how is Cas going to use souls to accomplish it?
I really wish that the writers had structured the Phoenix mythology to allow the Winchesters to gather his ashes after a "death", rather than killing him for real with the Colt. After all, the poor guy was just trying to avenge his wife's rape and murder. He didn't seem too much of a monster to me.
Are we really ready to hunt the Mother of All? It seems as though the Winchesters are always willing to rush into anything once they think it has a shot at working. We alert viewers know that it's too early for Eve to be defeated.
Next Week:
The Winchesters, Bobby, and Cas try to kill the Mother of All. We will watch their failure with great interest.
Monday, April 18, 2011
What Might Have Been
Friday's episode of Supernatural, "My Heart Will Go On" was the perfect back-from-hiatus romp that we so desperately needed. Seriously, this felt like a really long break, and we're impatient to see how the last few episodes of the season go. When we last saw the Winchesters, they were helping Bobby say goodbye to Rufus, who was unnecessarily killed in the last episode. Speaking of people who were unnecessarily killed, we saw a familiar face in this episode - but we'll get to that.
SPOILERS!
The episode begins with our soon-to-be-dead person, Garage Door Guy. We knew immediately that this man would be Garage Door Guy, because the first thing he did was to prop open his garage door with a stick. Never a good sign. He starts fiddling with his Saturday project, and discovers that his beer has somehow translocated itself to another workbench. As he goes for it, he slips on a skateboard and nearly impales his face on some gardening implements. Close call. Then he steps on some golf balls, which causes him to fall on his back, his head in the perfect position to be messily severed from his body by the garage door guillotine. Hence, Garage Door Guy.
The Winchesters warily watch as Bobby leafs through books and pours himself drinks in a flurry of activity. Neither Sam nor Dean seem to be willing to be the first to speak, but after losing a furious but silent game of Rock, Paper, Scissors, Sam wonders aloud if Bobby might possibly think about taking a break anytime soon? Please? Bobby gets all growly and refuses, heading to the kitchen for coffee. The brothers have a whispered discussion on whether or not to bring Bobby along on a job - the death of Garage Door Guy isn't the only strange fatal accident in that area. They try to broach the subject, but Bobby shoots them down and tells them to get the hell out of there. The boys are only too happy to go, and hope that Bobby will start feeling better when "she's" back. Wait, what?
Then we see the Winchesters climb into the car - no, wait! That's not their car! It's a Mustang! A black Mustang with orange racing stripes! Where the hell is the Impala?!
When Sam and Dean roll into Garage Door Guy's hometown, they quickly learn that all of the victims of the strange and deadly accidents are from the same extended family. A quick search of Garage Door Guy's garage yields a strange gold thread. Sam and Dean decide to split up - Sam to do research (like he does!), and Dean to completely freak out a surviving member of Garage Door Guy's extended family.
Meanwhile, in a "Honey, I'm home!" moment, who should walk into Bobby's house but Ellen?! That's right, awesome Ellen, who sacrificed herself with her daughter Jo back in the fifth season! She gives Bobby a quick peck on the cheek and scolds him for not taking care of himself. She busily unpacks some groceries, mentioning in passing that Jo is away on a hunting job (sadly, we don't get to see her). The camera lingers on a photo of Bobby and Ellen, arms wrapped around each other, and we realize (with help from the dialogue, of course) that Bobby and Ellen are - somehow - happily married. Whaaaa?
We see another soon-to-be-dead person, Copy Machine Lady, hard at work in her travel agency office. How do we know this is Copy Machine Lady? Because she dumps a stack of paper on the copier, blatantly wearing a long, flowing scarf. She bustles around, talking on the phone to a prospective traveller to Cuba (Whaaaa?). She finishes up the conversation and rummages in her bag for her car keys. They're nowhere to be found - but then she spots them on the floor behind the copier. As she reaches for them, the inevitable happens, and she is strangled when her scarf is caught by the office machine of death.
Sam calls Ellen when they reach a dead end in the case, and also to make sure that Bobby's all right. She lets them know that Jo's working on a similar case, and has discovered that all of her victims' ancestors all came to America at the same time. On the same ship, in fact. Specifically, the Titanic. Sam and Dean are baffled - what's the big deal with this ship? It was just a big boat that crossed the ocean, just like it was supposed to. They look into the history of the ship, and learn that it had a very close call with an iceberg on its maiden voyage. The alert crewmember who spotted it just in time was a fellow by the name of I.P. Freely. Their suspicions aroused, the Winchesters search for a picture, and see a familiar face looking back at them. It's Balthazar. They perform a summoning ritual lickety split in order to learn why Balthazar went back in time to save a ship.
It turns out that Balthazar didn't take his little field trip back in time in order to save the ship (and the people onboard), but rather to prevent both the movie Titanic and Celine Dion's lucrative and undeserved singing career (this rant is one of the best parts of the episode). Unfortunately, the ripple effect of this massive history retcon is that all of the people who died when the Titanic sank went on to finish their lives and have lots of descendents. Also, the Impala was never made (sob!). Sam and Dean figure out that something is killing all of the Titanic survivors' progeny - about fifty thousand people. They demand that Balthazar go back and sink the boat, but Balthazar tells them that if he does that, history will go back to the way it was, which means that Ellen and Jo will be dead.
Sam and Dean discuss all of this as they walk down the street, where they run into Garage Door Guy's distant lawyer relative - the one Dean freaked out when he told him his life was in danger. They try to warn him, and are barely able to prevent him from being run over by a truck. The guy is still freaked out, however, and in his efforts to get away from the Winchesters, he's hit by a bus. Dean notes with amusement that the bus advertisement is for the guy's law practice, and Sam glares at him in disapproval. Dean says "What? Too soon?" and Sam replies "Yeah, Dean, I think six seconds is too soon." Sam notices a woman watching them from the other side of the street, and they go into a large, empty restaurant kitchen to investigate. Time freezes, and the woman turns on all of the gas burners on the stoves. Dean's flashlight goes out, and he pulls out his lighter instead. Just when our boys are going to be blown to smithereens, Castiel yanks them out of harm's way. He tells them that Fate (one of the three, anyway) is angry about Balthazar's trip to the Titanic, and is trying to put things back into balance by killing all of the people who never should have been born. Dean is pissed that he and Sam are now Fate's targets because of Balthazar, and he tells Cas that he needs new friends. Cas angrily replies that he's trying to keep the ones he has. The angel tells them that the only way for everyone to stay alive (Ellen and Jo, the Titanic progeny, the Winchesters themselves) is to kill Fate. In order to draw her out into the open, they have to tempt her.
Sam and Dean psych themselves up for their Walk of Death. They begin their casual stroll down the street and encounter kids on bikes, large scary dogs, jugglers with knives and fire, etc. They eventually walk directly under a huge container that starts to crash down on them, but time freezes again. Cas and Fate meet and start discussing the situation. Fate is angry that she no longer knows what to do now that the Apocalypse has been averted, and refuses to allow the same kind of confusion in past eras in which the Fates had control. She accuses Cas of trying to "mint souls" for his "war machine" and threatens to kill the Winchesters if he doesn't have Balthazar go back and undo his retcon. Cas agrees, and stops Balthazar from sneaking up on Fate with his angel sword.
The Winchesters wake up in the Impala (Yes! All is as it should be!) to the tune of Celine Dion's "My Heart Will Go On". They look at each other in astonishment, thinking that they shared a very strange dream. Cas appears and tells them that it wasn't a dream, and he let them keep their memory of it so that they would know what he did for them. He tells them that they taught him what freedom was - no destiny, no Fate, no Apocalypse - and that he still believes that it's worth fighting for. He lets them believe that Balthazar really did change history just to prevent a terrible movie and its theme song, though he looks incredibly guilty about it. Sam and Dean decide not to tell Bobby about their experience - now that Ellen has gone back to being dead, there's no need to torture him with what might have been.
Questions that still need answers:
What's the deal with the souls? I'm still holding on to my belief that souls can be used as some sort of power source, and that's why angels and demons have collected them for Heaven and Hell for millennia. But what is Cas planning, that he needs a lot of souls to do it? We know that he's trying to win the War in Heaven, and that if he doesn't, the consequences will be terrible. But he's looking awfully squeamish about the things he's doing to accomplish that. We were extremely happy to see so much of him in this episode, however!
This is the first time we've really started to warm up to Balthazar, if only that it seems we share his taste in movies and music. We know that he's likely to die (Come on. You know it's true. The most entertaining angels always die.), but we're starting to be really sorry about it.
It was a cruel tease to briefly bring Ellen back. She really is an awesome character, and her marriage to Bobby was extremely fitting. We were very annoyed at the weird camera shots during her tearful moment with Bobby, however. Close-ups of the eyes? Really?
Next week:
Sam and Dean ask Castiel to send them back to the Old West to talk to Samuel Colt. Yup. That Samuel Colt. It's going to be awesome!
SPOILERS!
The episode begins with our soon-to-be-dead person, Garage Door Guy. We knew immediately that this man would be Garage Door Guy, because the first thing he did was to prop open his garage door with a stick. Never a good sign. He starts fiddling with his Saturday project, and discovers that his beer has somehow translocated itself to another workbench. As he goes for it, he slips on a skateboard and nearly impales his face on some gardening implements. Close call. Then he steps on some golf balls, which causes him to fall on his back, his head in the perfect position to be messily severed from his body by the garage door guillotine. Hence, Garage Door Guy.
The Winchesters warily watch as Bobby leafs through books and pours himself drinks in a flurry of activity. Neither Sam nor Dean seem to be willing to be the first to speak, but after losing a furious but silent game of Rock, Paper, Scissors, Sam wonders aloud if Bobby might possibly think about taking a break anytime soon? Please? Bobby gets all growly and refuses, heading to the kitchen for coffee. The brothers have a whispered discussion on whether or not to bring Bobby along on a job - the death of Garage Door Guy isn't the only strange fatal accident in that area. They try to broach the subject, but Bobby shoots them down and tells them to get the hell out of there. The boys are only too happy to go, and hope that Bobby will start feeling better when "she's" back. Wait, what?
Then we see the Winchesters climb into the car - no, wait! That's not their car! It's a Mustang! A black Mustang with orange racing stripes! Where the hell is the Impala?!
When Sam and Dean roll into Garage Door Guy's hometown, they quickly learn that all of the victims of the strange and deadly accidents are from the same extended family. A quick search of Garage Door Guy's garage yields a strange gold thread. Sam and Dean decide to split up - Sam to do research (like he does!), and Dean to completely freak out a surviving member of Garage Door Guy's extended family.
Meanwhile, in a "Honey, I'm home!" moment, who should walk into Bobby's house but Ellen?! That's right, awesome Ellen, who sacrificed herself with her daughter Jo back in the fifth season! She gives Bobby a quick peck on the cheek and scolds him for not taking care of himself. She busily unpacks some groceries, mentioning in passing that Jo is away on a hunting job (sadly, we don't get to see her). The camera lingers on a photo of Bobby and Ellen, arms wrapped around each other, and we realize (with help from the dialogue, of course) that Bobby and Ellen are - somehow - happily married. Whaaaa?
We see another soon-to-be-dead person, Copy Machine Lady, hard at work in her travel agency office. How do we know this is Copy Machine Lady? Because she dumps a stack of paper on the copier, blatantly wearing a long, flowing scarf. She bustles around, talking on the phone to a prospective traveller to Cuba (Whaaaa?). She finishes up the conversation and rummages in her bag for her car keys. They're nowhere to be found - but then she spots them on the floor behind the copier. As she reaches for them, the inevitable happens, and she is strangled when her scarf is caught by the office machine of death.
Sam calls Ellen when they reach a dead end in the case, and also to make sure that Bobby's all right. She lets them know that Jo's working on a similar case, and has discovered that all of her victims' ancestors all came to America at the same time. On the same ship, in fact. Specifically, the Titanic. Sam and Dean are baffled - what's the big deal with this ship? It was just a big boat that crossed the ocean, just like it was supposed to. They look into the history of the ship, and learn that it had a very close call with an iceberg on its maiden voyage. The alert crewmember who spotted it just in time was a fellow by the name of I.P. Freely. Their suspicions aroused, the Winchesters search for a picture, and see a familiar face looking back at them. It's Balthazar. They perform a summoning ritual lickety split in order to learn why Balthazar went back in time to save a ship.
It turns out that Balthazar didn't take his little field trip back in time in order to save the ship (and the people onboard), but rather to prevent both the movie Titanic and Celine Dion's lucrative and undeserved singing career (this rant is one of the best parts of the episode). Unfortunately, the ripple effect of this massive history retcon is that all of the people who died when the Titanic sank went on to finish their lives and have lots of descendents. Also, the Impala was never made (sob!). Sam and Dean figure out that something is killing all of the Titanic survivors' progeny - about fifty thousand people. They demand that Balthazar go back and sink the boat, but Balthazar tells them that if he does that, history will go back to the way it was, which means that Ellen and Jo will be dead.
Sam and Dean discuss all of this as they walk down the street, where they run into Garage Door Guy's distant lawyer relative - the one Dean freaked out when he told him his life was in danger. They try to warn him, and are barely able to prevent him from being run over by a truck. The guy is still freaked out, however, and in his efforts to get away from the Winchesters, he's hit by a bus. Dean notes with amusement that the bus advertisement is for the guy's law practice, and Sam glares at him in disapproval. Dean says "What? Too soon?" and Sam replies "Yeah, Dean, I think six seconds is too soon." Sam notices a woman watching them from the other side of the street, and they go into a large, empty restaurant kitchen to investigate. Time freezes, and the woman turns on all of the gas burners on the stoves. Dean's flashlight goes out, and he pulls out his lighter instead. Just when our boys are going to be blown to smithereens, Castiel yanks them out of harm's way. He tells them that Fate (one of the three, anyway) is angry about Balthazar's trip to the Titanic, and is trying to put things back into balance by killing all of the people who never should have been born. Dean is pissed that he and Sam are now Fate's targets because of Balthazar, and he tells Cas that he needs new friends. Cas angrily replies that he's trying to keep the ones he has. The angel tells them that the only way for everyone to stay alive (Ellen and Jo, the Titanic progeny, the Winchesters themselves) is to kill Fate. In order to draw her out into the open, they have to tempt her.
Sam and Dean psych themselves up for their Walk of Death. They begin their casual stroll down the street and encounter kids on bikes, large scary dogs, jugglers with knives and fire, etc. They eventually walk directly under a huge container that starts to crash down on them, but time freezes again. Cas and Fate meet and start discussing the situation. Fate is angry that she no longer knows what to do now that the Apocalypse has been averted, and refuses to allow the same kind of confusion in past eras in which the Fates had control. She accuses Cas of trying to "mint souls" for his "war machine" and threatens to kill the Winchesters if he doesn't have Balthazar go back and undo his retcon. Cas agrees, and stops Balthazar from sneaking up on Fate with his angel sword.
The Winchesters wake up in the Impala (Yes! All is as it should be!) to the tune of Celine Dion's "My Heart Will Go On". They look at each other in astonishment, thinking that they shared a very strange dream. Cas appears and tells them that it wasn't a dream, and he let them keep their memory of it so that they would know what he did for them. He tells them that they taught him what freedom was - no destiny, no Fate, no Apocalypse - and that he still believes that it's worth fighting for. He lets them believe that Balthazar really did change history just to prevent a terrible movie and its theme song, though he looks incredibly guilty about it. Sam and Dean decide not to tell Bobby about their experience - now that Ellen has gone back to being dead, there's no need to torture him with what might have been.
Questions that still need answers:
What's the deal with the souls? I'm still holding on to my belief that souls can be used as some sort of power source, and that's why angels and demons have collected them for Heaven and Hell for millennia. But what is Cas planning, that he needs a lot of souls to do it? We know that he's trying to win the War in Heaven, and that if he doesn't, the consequences will be terrible. But he's looking awfully squeamish about the things he's doing to accomplish that. We were extremely happy to see so much of him in this episode, however!
This is the first time we've really started to warm up to Balthazar, if only that it seems we share his taste in movies and music. We know that he's likely to die (Come on. You know it's true. The most entertaining angels always die.), but we're starting to be really sorry about it.
It was a cruel tease to briefly bring Ellen back. She really is an awesome character, and her marriage to Bobby was extremely fitting. We were very annoyed at the weird camera shots during her tearful moment with Bobby, however. Close-ups of the eyes? Really?
Next week:
Sam and Dean ask Castiel to send them back to the Old West to talk to Samuel Colt. Yup. That Samuel Colt. It's going to be awesome!
Monday, March 28, 2011
Goodbye, Diana
I learned a sad thing yesterday. Diana Wynne Jones, author of many wonderful YA fantasy novels, passed away at the age of 76. She'd been fighting lung cancer for a while, and it eventually got the best of her. I owe her a lot - through her books, she gave me many a happy reading experience, and opened up my mind to many new ideas. I've never read a book of hers that I didn't like, and I haven't even read all of them.
What I loved most about her books is that they were witty, humorous, real, fantastic, and gritty all at once. She didn't shy away from any of the nastier aspects of her stories. She was honest. She was tough. She was sweet, and thoughtful. She pulled no punches, but denied no rewards, either. Her characters are fallible, noble, inadequate, strong, and weak. They are, in fact, real people that just happen to be fictional.
I wish that more people knew Jones' work. I recently contributed two articles to Topless Robot, which were lists of YA fantasy and science fiction novels, respectively. Jones was featured on both of them, which is a testament to her versatility - and my fondness for her writing. It's unfortunate that one rarely sees any of Jones' "deeper tracks" on bookstore shelves - the tendency seems to be to cater to the popularity of Hayao Miyazaki's film adaptation of "Howl's Moving Castle." Both the film and the book are wonderful in their individual ways, but they barely scratch the surface of Jones' prolific history. For my part, my immediate recommendations would be "The Dark Lord of Derkholm" and her Chrestomanci books - those will easily get you hooked into the rest of her books, and you'll be better for it.
It seems trite and insignificant for me to write one single post to honor this amazing woman. It's odd to think about how much I've been influenced by someone I've never met - and now never will. But I would be remiss in failing to acknowledge such a person's passing. Rest in peace, Diana Wynne Jones. Thank you for everything. I'll leave you with a quote that, while not exactly fitting to send her into the void beyond, is a classic distillation of her style:
"I seem to have excaliburated this knife." - Enchanted Glass
What I loved most about her books is that they were witty, humorous, real, fantastic, and gritty all at once. She didn't shy away from any of the nastier aspects of her stories. She was honest. She was tough. She was sweet, and thoughtful. She pulled no punches, but denied no rewards, either. Her characters are fallible, noble, inadequate, strong, and weak. They are, in fact, real people that just happen to be fictional.
I wish that more people knew Jones' work. I recently contributed two articles to Topless Robot, which were lists of YA fantasy and science fiction novels, respectively. Jones was featured on both of them, which is a testament to her versatility - and my fondness for her writing. It's unfortunate that one rarely sees any of Jones' "deeper tracks" on bookstore shelves - the tendency seems to be to cater to the popularity of Hayao Miyazaki's film adaptation of "Howl's Moving Castle." Both the film and the book are wonderful in their individual ways, but they barely scratch the surface of Jones' prolific history. For my part, my immediate recommendations would be "The Dark Lord of Derkholm" and her Chrestomanci books - those will easily get you hooked into the rest of her books, and you'll be better for it.
It seems trite and insignificant for me to write one single post to honor this amazing woman. It's odd to think about how much I've been influenced by someone I've never met - and now never will. But I would be remiss in failing to acknowledge such a person's passing. Rest in peace, Diana Wynne Jones. Thank you for everything. I'll leave you with a quote that, while not exactly fitting to send her into the void beyond, is a classic distillation of her style:
"I seem to have excaliburated this knife." - Enchanted Glass
Saturday, March 5, 2011
Fun With Electricity
Ladies and gentlemen, I give you Supernatural RAW! In this corner, we have Dean Winchester: tough on the outside, vulnerable on the inside, repressing every horrible experience in his life beneath an exterior of machismo and alcoholism. And in this corner, we have Samuel Campbell, grandfather to the Winchesters, father to Mary, and somehow alive again after the Apocalypse with a mission to resurrect his dead daughter, for which he betrayed his grandsons in "Caged Heat".
Okay, so last night's episode, "And Then There Were None" wasn't so much of a smackdown as an opportunity to cut a few characters loose, but let's dive right in anyway.
SPOILERS!
After a recap to remind us all what a bastard Grampa Sam is and how much we hated the episode "Caged Heat", the episode begins with the soon-to-screwed guy, a truck driver filling up at a gas station. He's approached by a barefoot young woman in a white dress, who asks him for a ride. When they get into the cab of the truck, the woman introduces herself as Eve and throws herself at the truck driver. The virtuous driver gently rebuffs her attempts to turn his truck cab into a den of iniquity, and gives her a pamphlet about Jesus. Eve laughs and makes a little speech about fathers that abandon their children and how she, as a mother, would never do that, then jumps on the truck driver and transfers a brain slug monster from her mouth into his ear (EWWW!). Later that night, the truck driver returns to his home and bludgeons his entire family to death with a hammer.
Sam and Dean are hanging out at Bobby's place, tracking some disturbances in the Force by drawing circles on a map. The monsters are becoming restless, and are having their monster frenzies all over the place. Bobby notices that they're tracking along a major highway, however, and he and the Winchesters drive up to investigate. We get to see Bobby in his FBI disguise, with his hair combed and minus his trucker hat. He was actually kind of adorable. The three of them interview the truck driver who killed his family - he says that he blacked out, and remembers nothing about the murders. Just then, there's a flurry of activity in the police station - a guy at the cannery where the truck driver worked had just opened fire on his co-workers. Bobby leaves Sam and Dean to finish the interview, and drives out to see what's going on. At the cannery, he runs into Rufus, who's following the same trail. The two of them examine the bodies of the shooter and his victims and find a mysterious and nasty-smelling black goo in the shooter's ear. It's like nothing they've ever seen before.
The Winchesters join up with Bobby and Rufus to search the cannery, hoping to find whatever it is that is causing people to kill each other. They're surprised to run into Grampa Sam and Cousin Gwen, who are also tracking the monster. Dean immediately goes into smackdown mode, but is prevented from exacting his promised revenge by Sam. Grampa's surprised to see Sam wth his soul, and makes no apologies for what happened before. Sam tells Dean to go for a walk so that the rest of them can discuss the reason they're all here. Dean stomps angrily out of the room, and Gwen follows him. Gramps didn't tell her that he sold the Winchesters out to keep his deal with Crowley, and she wants to know if it's true. Dean confirms that it is, and she apologizes - she wouldn't be working with Gramps if she'd known. Dean accepts her apology and then shoots her in the chest. The gunfire draws the rest of the guys out, and Rufus tries to save Gwen. It's too late, and Dean is nowhere to be found.
When the group of hunters finally find Dean, he's disoriented and has no idea that he'd killed Gwen. Bobby, knowing what's what, gets them all to put their guns into a sack and locks it away. One of them has to have the monster inside them, and there's no way to tell who. They all hang out uneasily, waiting for one of them to snap. It turns out that Gramps is the one with the slug in his head, because he pulls a gun he'd hidden in his belt and makes a break for it. The Winchesters, Rufus and Bobby follow him cautiously, but Sam is seperated from the others during the search. He finds Gramps on his own, and immediately aims his gun, warning Gramps to stay away. Gramps pulls the "You're not going to shoot me - we're family" and the "You're named after me, you know" card, and when that doesn't work he switches to the "Betcha want to know what you did while you were soul-less" play. He doesn't stop advancing on Sam, though, so Sam shoots him in the head. Dean, Rufus and Bobby find him, and cuff his hands behind his back just in case he's got the monster now.
Rufus and Bobby dig into Bobby's bag of tools and come up with a cranial saw so that they can perform a rough autopsy on Gramps - if the slug is still in his brain, they can all go home. Bobby apologizes to Rufus for whatever happened in Omaha, but Rufus tells him that he'll never forgive him for it. Just as they start to cut into Grampa Sam's skull, Gramps comes back to life and throws Rufus into the wall and tries to attack Bobby. In the struggle, Gramps is electrocuted by the sketchy cord to the cranial saw, and the slug oozes out of his ear, leaving Gramps dead as a doornail.
No one saw where the slug went after it dropped out of Grampa's ear, so they decide that if they each subject themselves to an electric shock, it should show where the monster is now. Dean and Sam both touch the live wire to their arms: no monster. Rufus does the same: no monster. Bobby flips out before the wire can touch him and stabs Rufus in the chest. The Winchesters overpower him, though, and duct tape him to a chair. Here, we're treated to a creepy possessed-Bobby scene, where the brain slug basically tells them that the whole reason it started all this was to deliver a message from Eve: we're here and we're coming for you, you're all going to die, blah blah blah. Sam and Dean don't know how to kill the monster without killing Bobby too, and the monster taunts them for it. They decide to electrify him and hope that the monster dies before Bobby.
We're meant to wonder whether Bobby survived, and when we saw the fresh grave with Sam and Dean standing over it we still weren't worried - there were plenty of other bodies to bury. The one in the ground is Rufus, and Bobby comes up with a bottle of whiskey and tells the Winchesters how Rufus helped him when his wife was possessed by a demon. Bobby regrets what happened in Omaha, and Dean tells him that it doesn't matter - family is something that is earned, not something that's decided by blood. He then gives Sam and Bobby a blanket pardon for any bad things they've done in their lives. They're all going to die eventually, he says, and he wants them both to know that everything's forgiven. Even Sam, who started the Apocalypse. On this touching moment, the episode ends.
Questions that still need answers:
So is that it, with Gramps and the rest of the Campbells? Having Gramps come back to life was weird, having his deal with Crowley motivated by wanting to resurrect his daughter was weirder, and the whole "I'm a heartless bastard even though I'm your Grandpa" was weirdest. I'm still confused about this one.
Seriously, Gwen had to die? All people named Winchester or Campbell should just get a restraining order against Sam and Dean, just in case they might be distantly related. Apparently they are allowed no family but each other.
Why did Rufus have to die? He was cool! He brought experience to the table, and to have him killed by possessed-Bobby didn't seem fair, and was unnecessary to the plot.
Who is Eve? Is she Biblical Eve? Because that doesn't make sense - if they were going that route, they should have used Lilith, except OH WAIT - they already did. Come on, writers. What's going on with you? And I'm reaaally tired of the Evil Slut take on bad female characters. Can't they be bad in a straight-forward professional manner? Do they have to be bad through the use of sexual wiles? Is this only possible when the bad character is a male possessing a female, in the case of Rafael and his new vessel? This is tired and overdone, writers. Step it up.
No new episodes until April 15.
Crap. Now I have to wait for more than a month to enjoy the time travelling episode, and to see if Cas is going to get any more screen time.
Okay, so last night's episode, "And Then There Were None" wasn't so much of a smackdown as an opportunity to cut a few characters loose, but let's dive right in anyway.
SPOILERS!
After a recap to remind us all what a bastard Grampa Sam is and how much we hated the episode "Caged Heat", the episode begins with the soon-to-screwed guy, a truck driver filling up at a gas station. He's approached by a barefoot young woman in a white dress, who asks him for a ride. When they get into the cab of the truck, the woman introduces herself as Eve and throws herself at the truck driver. The virtuous driver gently rebuffs her attempts to turn his truck cab into a den of iniquity, and gives her a pamphlet about Jesus. Eve laughs and makes a little speech about fathers that abandon their children and how she, as a mother, would never do that, then jumps on the truck driver and transfers a brain slug monster from her mouth into his ear (EWWW!). Later that night, the truck driver returns to his home and bludgeons his entire family to death with a hammer.
Sam and Dean are hanging out at Bobby's place, tracking some disturbances in the Force by drawing circles on a map. The monsters are becoming restless, and are having their monster frenzies all over the place. Bobby notices that they're tracking along a major highway, however, and he and the Winchesters drive up to investigate. We get to see Bobby in his FBI disguise, with his hair combed and minus his trucker hat. He was actually kind of adorable. The three of them interview the truck driver who killed his family - he says that he blacked out, and remembers nothing about the murders. Just then, there's a flurry of activity in the police station - a guy at the cannery where the truck driver worked had just opened fire on his co-workers. Bobby leaves Sam and Dean to finish the interview, and drives out to see what's going on. At the cannery, he runs into Rufus, who's following the same trail. The two of them examine the bodies of the shooter and his victims and find a mysterious and nasty-smelling black goo in the shooter's ear. It's like nothing they've ever seen before.
The Winchesters join up with Bobby and Rufus to search the cannery, hoping to find whatever it is that is causing people to kill each other. They're surprised to run into Grampa Sam and Cousin Gwen, who are also tracking the monster. Dean immediately goes into smackdown mode, but is prevented from exacting his promised revenge by Sam. Grampa's surprised to see Sam wth his soul, and makes no apologies for what happened before. Sam tells Dean to go for a walk so that the rest of them can discuss the reason they're all here. Dean stomps angrily out of the room, and Gwen follows him. Gramps didn't tell her that he sold the Winchesters out to keep his deal with Crowley, and she wants to know if it's true. Dean confirms that it is, and she apologizes - she wouldn't be working with Gramps if she'd known. Dean accepts her apology and then shoots her in the chest. The gunfire draws the rest of the guys out, and Rufus tries to save Gwen. It's too late, and Dean is nowhere to be found.
When the group of hunters finally find Dean, he's disoriented and has no idea that he'd killed Gwen. Bobby, knowing what's what, gets them all to put their guns into a sack and locks it away. One of them has to have the monster inside them, and there's no way to tell who. They all hang out uneasily, waiting for one of them to snap. It turns out that Gramps is the one with the slug in his head, because he pulls a gun he'd hidden in his belt and makes a break for it. The Winchesters, Rufus and Bobby follow him cautiously, but Sam is seperated from the others during the search. He finds Gramps on his own, and immediately aims his gun, warning Gramps to stay away. Gramps pulls the "You're not going to shoot me - we're family" and the "You're named after me, you know" card, and when that doesn't work he switches to the "Betcha want to know what you did while you were soul-less" play. He doesn't stop advancing on Sam, though, so Sam shoots him in the head. Dean, Rufus and Bobby find him, and cuff his hands behind his back just in case he's got the monster now.
Rufus and Bobby dig into Bobby's bag of tools and come up with a cranial saw so that they can perform a rough autopsy on Gramps - if the slug is still in his brain, they can all go home. Bobby apologizes to Rufus for whatever happened in Omaha, but Rufus tells him that he'll never forgive him for it. Just as they start to cut into Grampa Sam's skull, Gramps comes back to life and throws Rufus into the wall and tries to attack Bobby. In the struggle, Gramps is electrocuted by the sketchy cord to the cranial saw, and the slug oozes out of his ear, leaving Gramps dead as a doornail.
No one saw where the slug went after it dropped out of Grampa's ear, so they decide that if they each subject themselves to an electric shock, it should show where the monster is now. Dean and Sam both touch the live wire to their arms: no monster. Rufus does the same: no monster. Bobby flips out before the wire can touch him and stabs Rufus in the chest. The Winchesters overpower him, though, and duct tape him to a chair. Here, we're treated to a creepy possessed-Bobby scene, where the brain slug basically tells them that the whole reason it started all this was to deliver a message from Eve: we're here and we're coming for you, you're all going to die, blah blah blah. Sam and Dean don't know how to kill the monster without killing Bobby too, and the monster taunts them for it. They decide to electrify him and hope that the monster dies before Bobby.
We're meant to wonder whether Bobby survived, and when we saw the fresh grave with Sam and Dean standing over it we still weren't worried - there were plenty of other bodies to bury. The one in the ground is Rufus, and Bobby comes up with a bottle of whiskey and tells the Winchesters how Rufus helped him when his wife was possessed by a demon. Bobby regrets what happened in Omaha, and Dean tells him that it doesn't matter - family is something that is earned, not something that's decided by blood. He then gives Sam and Bobby a blanket pardon for any bad things they've done in their lives. They're all going to die eventually, he says, and he wants them both to know that everything's forgiven. Even Sam, who started the Apocalypse. On this touching moment, the episode ends.
Questions that still need answers:
So is that it, with Gramps and the rest of the Campbells? Having Gramps come back to life was weird, having his deal with Crowley motivated by wanting to resurrect his daughter was weirder, and the whole "I'm a heartless bastard even though I'm your Grandpa" was weirdest. I'm still confused about this one.
Seriously, Gwen had to die? All people named Winchester or Campbell should just get a restraining order against Sam and Dean, just in case they might be distantly related. Apparently they are allowed no family but each other.
Why did Rufus have to die? He was cool! He brought experience to the table, and to have him killed by possessed-Bobby didn't seem fair, and was unnecessary to the plot.
Who is Eve? Is she Biblical Eve? Because that doesn't make sense - if they were going that route, they should have used Lilith, except OH WAIT - they already did. Come on, writers. What's going on with you? And I'm reaaally tired of the Evil Slut take on bad female characters. Can't they be bad in a straight-forward professional manner? Do they have to be bad through the use of sexual wiles? Is this only possible when the bad character is a male possessing a female, in the case of Rafael and his new vessel? This is tired and overdone, writers. Step it up.
No new episodes until April 15.
Crap. Now I have to wait for more than a month to enjoy the time travelling episode, and to see if Cas is going to get any more screen time.
Saturday, February 26, 2011
Well, At Least They're Talking
Last night's episode of Supernatural, "The French Mistake", chronicled the Winchesters' foray into an alternate universe (which we should probably call the "meta-verse") in which they are actors called Jensen Ackles and Jared Padalecki who star in a TV show called Supernatural. Now, to anyone who's not already a fan of the show, that plot might seem like a massive one-hour exercise in self-gratification for its creators, actors, and crew. But I was optimistic, because previous meta episodes have actually been quite good, and were also well-integrated into the overall plot of their respective seasons. How did this one measure up? Let's find out, shall we?
SPOILERS!
It begins on a dark and stormy night - really. Sam and Dean are in Bobby's library, discussing the weather and the fact that Bobby has gone out to get supplies (we're guessing alcohol of some kind). In a flash of lightning, Balthazar appears and starts rushing around, rifling through Bobby's things and muttering about ingredients for some kind of angel spell. The Winchesters can't really get anything out of him but ramblings about The Godfather, and about how Rafael is finally making his move against Castiel (who is apparently deep underground), and everyone who's ever helped him. Ergo, Balthazar and the Winchesters. At this point, we wondered about Bobby, but apparently he was safe as he was not in the scene, or mentioned at all. Balthazar uses lamb's blood and the crumbled bone of a saint to paint a strange symbol on Bobby's window, and gives Sam what looks like a locker key. A new, grim-looking angel appears (later we learned his name was Virgil, but we didn't catch it at this point) and throws Balthazar against the wall. Balthazar yells at Sam and Dean to run, and uses his angel mojo to fling them through the window. The brothers land on a stunt pad amid pieces of stage glass, and the director (Robert Singer) yells "Cut!" and compliments them on their scene.
Sam and Dean look at each other in confusion - what's going on? Why are they being addressed as "Jared" and "Jensen"? Dean is rushed off to make-up and Jared is flung into a chair and interviewed about the TV show. The two of them meet up later, after Dean is traumatized by the fact that he'd been wearing make-up - oh noes! Apparently they'd both rather face an angelic hitman rather than face that again, so they hold a small prayer meeting to get in touch with Castiel. Further down on the studio lot, they see a familiar figure in a trenchcoat and run towards him, demanding to know what the hell is going on. We (the audience) know immediately that this is Misha Collins, but Misha thinks that the Winchesters are trying to run lines with him. He replies as Castiel, using lines from the script (this is where we find out that the key Balthazar gave them is the key to where he's hidden the Heavenly weapons). Soon Sam and Dean realize that this person isn't Cas, and proceed to make fun of his name in disgust. Misha forces a laugh, thinking that they played a joke on him, and immediately Tweets about it. He Tweets the phrases "Mishamigos" and "J-squared", which was both a little amusing and a lot horrfying (I'm not one for teh Twitter).
Sam and Dean go into Jensen's trailer, where they discover an awesome toy helicopter, a salt-water aquarium, and a computer, which Sam uses to do a search (NOT with Google!) on their new names. They find out about Jensen's time on a soap opera. Dean is flabbergasted and insists that they try to use the same spell Balthazar cast to get back to their own universe. Here, monsters and demons and magic aren't real. There are no hunters. There was no almost-Apocalypse. They try to leave the lot in the Impala, which is one of many stunt cars and runs terribly. A skinny PA runs after them, begging them not to steal the props, and they get a ride from a guy named Carl or Cliff or something. They discover that they're not even in the U.S. anymore - apparently the show is filmed in Canada.
They are dropped off at Jared's house, where they find an alpaca in the backyard, some truly frightening examples of massively narcissistic art, and Jared's wife - the woman who played the demon Ruby in season four. She's off to go to an "otter-adoption" charity event, and Sam and Dean use the power of Jared and Jensen's credit cards to order some saint's bones off of the internet. They have Carl or Cliff drive them to the airport the next morning to accept the shipment, and head to the studio so that they can use the same set to cast the spell. Unfortunately, the director gets them to work before they can cast it, and what follows is a hilarious montage of Jensen Ackles acting like Dean acting like "Jensen Ackles" acting like "Dean", and Jared Padalecki acting like Sam trying like hell to even act. Misha is also in the scene, and his expressions of impatience and frustration are very amusing. During a break, he overhears Sam and Dean discussing their importing of human remains and Tweets that it's some sort of black-market organ or drug thing.
Sam and Dean finally get to cast the spell, and leap through the exact same set window that brought them to the meta-verse in the first place. It doesn't work. Frustrated, they start roaming around - maybe since there's no magic in this meta-verse, the spell won't work from this side. At this point, they notice Virgil skulking around set and immediately set upon him - he's powerless in this meta-verse as well. Virgil gets the key in the struggle. The stunt coordinator and a few of his guys break up the fight, which spurs a conference call between the director and some other guys with Sera Gamble, the current show-runner. This part was really strange.
Later, Misha leaves his trailer to go home, being very rude in passing to the poor skinny PA, and gets into his car. He Tweets, "Did you ever have that feeling that there's someone in the back of your car?" and then Virgil puts a knife to his throat. Misha bursts into tears. We're pretty sure that Virgil was asking him where Sam and Dean were, but whatever the case he forces Misha to drive to some alley somewhere. There, he slits his throat and uses his blood to communicate with Rafael. A homeless man overhears this conversation and lets the Winchesters know (when they show up later) that Rafael will pull Virgil back into their universe in the morning. They plan to intercept him and get the key back before it can get into Rafael's hands (this is the only point in the episode where they exhibit any concern for the real Cas). Unfortunately for them, Virgil is compensating for his lack of power by arming himself Terminator-style, stealing a pump-action shotgun and a handgun from a local store.
The next morning, Eric Kripke rolls in for damage control. He exchanges some insincere "Isn't it awful about Misha?" with Robert Singer, and is excited about working on his current project "Octo-Cobra". Virgil appears, and Kripke approaches him, glad for the chance to resolve the fight-situation. Virgil blows him away, as well as Singer and a few other people. At the set, Sam and Dean ambush him and manage to get the key (I think they may have killed Virgil, too, but I can't remember). All of a sudden, they start to feel Rafael's pull, but it's too late to escape, and the two of them are flung back into their own universe. There, they see Rafael, who has found a new female vessel. Dean taunts him about this, saying "Dude looks like a lady." Rafael's not amused (though we really were!), starts hurting them with his angel powers, and retrieves the key from Sam. Balthazar appears and interrupts him, saying that the key is useless. He needed time to find where the weapons really were, and so sent the Winchesters to the meta-verse not for protection, but as a diversion. The brothers are skeeved. Rafael is too, and prepares to blast Balthazar into oblivion. He's saved by Castiel, who appears like a badass and tells Rafael that he now has the weapons, and the archangel had better skedaddle if he wants to keep on living.
Cas and Balthazar exchange a nod, and Cas takes the Winchesters back to Bobby's. They demand to know what's going on, and why Balthazar used them like that. Cas says that sure, it was Balthazar's idea, but he would have done the same thing. Sam and Dean aren't happy about this, but Cas again tells them that if he loses the war in Heaven, then everyone loses. Everything. They want more details, but Cas vanishes. Sam and Dean have their post-adventure talk, and Dean asks Sam whether he regrets not staying in the meta-verse. Sam says that he doesn't regret it at all, because the two of them aren't even brothers in the meta-verse, and "at least we're talking."
Let us gather our thoughts:
You know when a good friend invites you to dinner with a few more of his/her other friends? You know, in a vague sense, who they are, but you don't know them well at all, and some of them you haven't even met before. So dinner is going well, and the conversation is interesting and engaging for most of the time. But then the conversation turns to "Hey, do you guys remember the time that we did that thing? Remember that guy we met? Remember the stuff that happened? That was hilarious!" And you laugh along with the others, because you can see that it really would be hilarious if you knew what the hell was going on. And on the inside, you feel a little lonely and left out, because no one takes pity on you to either steer the conversation back to familiar ground or at least try to provide an explanation?
That's what it felt like, watching this episode. In previous meta-episodes, like "The Monster at the End of This Book" or "Changing Channels", there were some interesting ideas being explored - like prophecy and fate versus free will. In "The French Mistake" there was only what seemed like a half-hearted conversation between Dean and Singer, about how "you can't make up your own words" or something, and that Dean and Sam mean something to their own universe, even if their lives are crap. If that's what the writers were going for, it just didn't come across as clearly as in previous meta-episodes.
Okay, Supernatural writers. I'm a reasonable person, and I think I've been pretty damn patient for this entire season. At what point are we going to have another episode with real Cas? I'll grant you that Misha had a big part in this episode, but it was Misha, not Cas. At this point I feel driven to do the math, which shouldn't surprise you, as I am a nerd. Observe:
Castiel has been present in six out of fifteen episodes, which is only 40% of the episodes so far this season. But wait! In four of those episodes, his total screen time was for fifteen minutes or less (and fifteen is being generous). So, assuming that each episode is 45 minutes (taking commercial breaks into account), Cas has only had approximately 102 minutes of screen time out of 675 minutes total of season six. That works out to be 15% of season six. 15%! And this math even includes his screen time in "Caged Heat", which I still loathe with a passion and try to pretend never happened. What the hell, writers? Is a freaking Civil War in Heaven not interesting enough to you to give the character a little more time?! Look, I realize that he's not an easy character to use, as evidenced by his "I'm going to find God" thing in season five. But at least he was showing up pretty regularly! I find it extremely disappointing to see Misha Collins' name in the opening credits and know that I'm probably not going to see his freaking character! In the same vein, having scenes take place in Bobby's house and never getting to see Bobby is rude. I hope you do better next time.
Next Week:
The Winchesters and Bobby meet up with Grampa Sam to hunt monsters. Rufus is there, too. Is the moment we've been waiting for regarding a Winchester vs. Campbell smackdown?
SPOILERS!
It begins on a dark and stormy night - really. Sam and Dean are in Bobby's library, discussing the weather and the fact that Bobby has gone out to get supplies (we're guessing alcohol of some kind). In a flash of lightning, Balthazar appears and starts rushing around, rifling through Bobby's things and muttering about ingredients for some kind of angel spell. The Winchesters can't really get anything out of him but ramblings about The Godfather, and about how Rafael is finally making his move against Castiel (who is apparently deep underground), and everyone who's ever helped him. Ergo, Balthazar and the Winchesters. At this point, we wondered about Bobby, but apparently he was safe as he was not in the scene, or mentioned at all. Balthazar uses lamb's blood and the crumbled bone of a saint to paint a strange symbol on Bobby's window, and gives Sam what looks like a locker key. A new, grim-looking angel appears (later we learned his name was Virgil, but we didn't catch it at this point) and throws Balthazar against the wall. Balthazar yells at Sam and Dean to run, and uses his angel mojo to fling them through the window. The brothers land on a stunt pad amid pieces of stage glass, and the director (Robert Singer) yells "Cut!" and compliments them on their scene.
Sam and Dean look at each other in confusion - what's going on? Why are they being addressed as "Jared" and "Jensen"? Dean is rushed off to make-up and Jared is flung into a chair and interviewed about the TV show. The two of them meet up later, after Dean is traumatized by the fact that he'd been wearing make-up - oh noes! Apparently they'd both rather face an angelic hitman rather than face that again, so they hold a small prayer meeting to get in touch with Castiel. Further down on the studio lot, they see a familiar figure in a trenchcoat and run towards him, demanding to know what the hell is going on. We (the audience) know immediately that this is Misha Collins, but Misha thinks that the Winchesters are trying to run lines with him. He replies as Castiel, using lines from the script (this is where we find out that the key Balthazar gave them is the key to where he's hidden the Heavenly weapons). Soon Sam and Dean realize that this person isn't Cas, and proceed to make fun of his name in disgust. Misha forces a laugh, thinking that they played a joke on him, and immediately Tweets about it. He Tweets the phrases "Mishamigos" and "J-squared", which was both a little amusing and a lot horrfying (I'm not one for teh Twitter).
Sam and Dean go into Jensen's trailer, where they discover an awesome toy helicopter, a salt-water aquarium, and a computer, which Sam uses to do a search (NOT with Google!) on their new names. They find out about Jensen's time on a soap opera. Dean is flabbergasted and insists that they try to use the same spell Balthazar cast to get back to their own universe. Here, monsters and demons and magic aren't real. There are no hunters. There was no almost-Apocalypse. They try to leave the lot in the Impala, which is one of many stunt cars and runs terribly. A skinny PA runs after them, begging them not to steal the props, and they get a ride from a guy named Carl or Cliff or something. They discover that they're not even in the U.S. anymore - apparently the show is filmed in Canada.
They are dropped off at Jared's house, where they find an alpaca in the backyard, some truly frightening examples of massively narcissistic art, and Jared's wife - the woman who played the demon Ruby in season four. She's off to go to an "otter-adoption" charity event, and Sam and Dean use the power of Jared and Jensen's credit cards to order some saint's bones off of the internet. They have Carl or Cliff drive them to the airport the next morning to accept the shipment, and head to the studio so that they can use the same set to cast the spell. Unfortunately, the director gets them to work before they can cast it, and what follows is a hilarious montage of Jensen Ackles acting like Dean acting like "Jensen Ackles" acting like "Dean", and Jared Padalecki acting like Sam trying like hell to even act. Misha is also in the scene, and his expressions of impatience and frustration are very amusing. During a break, he overhears Sam and Dean discussing their importing of human remains and Tweets that it's some sort of black-market organ or drug thing.
Sam and Dean finally get to cast the spell, and leap through the exact same set window that brought them to the meta-verse in the first place. It doesn't work. Frustrated, they start roaming around - maybe since there's no magic in this meta-verse, the spell won't work from this side. At this point, they notice Virgil skulking around set and immediately set upon him - he's powerless in this meta-verse as well. Virgil gets the key in the struggle. The stunt coordinator and a few of his guys break up the fight, which spurs a conference call between the director and some other guys with Sera Gamble, the current show-runner. This part was really strange.
Later, Misha leaves his trailer to go home, being very rude in passing to the poor skinny PA, and gets into his car. He Tweets, "Did you ever have that feeling that there's someone in the back of your car?" and then Virgil puts a knife to his throat. Misha bursts into tears. We're pretty sure that Virgil was asking him where Sam and Dean were, but whatever the case he forces Misha to drive to some alley somewhere. There, he slits his throat and uses his blood to communicate with Rafael. A homeless man overhears this conversation and lets the Winchesters know (when they show up later) that Rafael will pull Virgil back into their universe in the morning. They plan to intercept him and get the key back before it can get into Rafael's hands (this is the only point in the episode where they exhibit any concern for the real Cas). Unfortunately for them, Virgil is compensating for his lack of power by arming himself Terminator-style, stealing a pump-action shotgun and a handgun from a local store.
The next morning, Eric Kripke rolls in for damage control. He exchanges some insincere "Isn't it awful about Misha?" with Robert Singer, and is excited about working on his current project "Octo-Cobra". Virgil appears, and Kripke approaches him, glad for the chance to resolve the fight-situation. Virgil blows him away, as well as Singer and a few other people. At the set, Sam and Dean ambush him and manage to get the key (I think they may have killed Virgil, too, but I can't remember). All of a sudden, they start to feel Rafael's pull, but it's too late to escape, and the two of them are flung back into their own universe. There, they see Rafael, who has found a new female vessel. Dean taunts him about this, saying "Dude looks like a lady." Rafael's not amused (though we really were!), starts hurting them with his angel powers, and retrieves the key from Sam. Balthazar appears and interrupts him, saying that the key is useless. He needed time to find where the weapons really were, and so sent the Winchesters to the meta-verse not for protection, but as a diversion. The brothers are skeeved. Rafael is too, and prepares to blast Balthazar into oblivion. He's saved by Castiel, who appears like a badass and tells Rafael that he now has the weapons, and the archangel had better skedaddle if he wants to keep on living.
Cas and Balthazar exchange a nod, and Cas takes the Winchesters back to Bobby's. They demand to know what's going on, and why Balthazar used them like that. Cas says that sure, it was Balthazar's idea, but he would have done the same thing. Sam and Dean aren't happy about this, but Cas again tells them that if he loses the war in Heaven, then everyone loses. Everything. They want more details, but Cas vanishes. Sam and Dean have their post-adventure talk, and Dean asks Sam whether he regrets not staying in the meta-verse. Sam says that he doesn't regret it at all, because the two of them aren't even brothers in the meta-verse, and "at least we're talking."
Let us gather our thoughts:
You know when a good friend invites you to dinner with a few more of his/her other friends? You know, in a vague sense, who they are, but you don't know them well at all, and some of them you haven't even met before. So dinner is going well, and the conversation is interesting and engaging for most of the time. But then the conversation turns to "Hey, do you guys remember the time that we did that thing? Remember that guy we met? Remember the stuff that happened? That was hilarious!" And you laugh along with the others, because you can see that it really would be hilarious if you knew what the hell was going on. And on the inside, you feel a little lonely and left out, because no one takes pity on you to either steer the conversation back to familiar ground or at least try to provide an explanation?
That's what it felt like, watching this episode. In previous meta-episodes, like "The Monster at the End of This Book" or "Changing Channels", there were some interesting ideas being explored - like prophecy and fate versus free will. In "The French Mistake" there was only what seemed like a half-hearted conversation between Dean and Singer, about how "you can't make up your own words" or something, and that Dean and Sam mean something to their own universe, even if their lives are crap. If that's what the writers were going for, it just didn't come across as clearly as in previous meta-episodes.
Okay, Supernatural writers. I'm a reasonable person, and I think I've been pretty damn patient for this entire season. At what point are we going to have another episode with real Cas? I'll grant you that Misha had a big part in this episode, but it was Misha, not Cas. At this point I feel driven to do the math, which shouldn't surprise you, as I am a nerd. Observe:
Castiel has been present in six out of fifteen episodes, which is only 40% of the episodes so far this season. But wait! In four of those episodes, his total screen time was for fifteen minutes or less (and fifteen is being generous). So, assuming that each episode is 45 minutes (taking commercial breaks into account), Cas has only had approximately 102 minutes of screen time out of 675 minutes total of season six. That works out to be 15% of season six. 15%! And this math even includes his screen time in "Caged Heat", which I still loathe with a passion and try to pretend never happened. What the hell, writers? Is a freaking Civil War in Heaven not interesting enough to you to give the character a little more time?! Look, I realize that he's not an easy character to use, as evidenced by his "I'm going to find God" thing in season five. But at least he was showing up pretty regularly! I find it extremely disappointing to see Misha Collins' name in the opening credits and know that I'm probably not going to see his freaking character! In the same vein, having scenes take place in Bobby's house and never getting to see Bobby is rude. I hope you do better next time.
Next Week:
The Winchesters and Bobby meet up with Grampa Sam to hunt monsters. Rufus is there, too. Is the moment we've been waiting for regarding a Winchester vs. Campbell smackdown?
Sunday, February 20, 2011
Supernatural and the Case of the Haunted Kidney
Hmmm... Friday's episode of Supernatural, "Mannequin 3: The Reckoning" was - well, I'm not quite sure what it was. Perhaps by the time I've finished writing the recap, I'll have figured it out.
SPOILERS!
Last week's episode ended with Sam collapsing in a fit of Hell-flashback, and we saw him have a vision of fire burning his face off. This week started with Dean frantically leaning over his brother, who has stopped breathing (at this point, we were thinking that Dean would call Cas for help, but alas, he did not). Sam comes to, however, and brushes it off as no big thing. The two of them discuss it over coffee, with Dean saying "I told you so" and Sam saying "Bite me. You would have done the same thing." Dean stresses the importance of burying the memories of Hell beneath layers of alcoholism and violence - he knows this from experience.
At a small college, a janitor is cleaning up an anatomy lab after hours. He's alone in the room except for a life-size anatomy mannequin, which is creepy. Our feelings of unease are justified when the mannequin becomes animate - after a gash opens up on the janitor's forehead, the mannequin takes a scalpel and slits his throat.
Sam and Dean mosey on into the anatomy lab in their "FBI" suits, and Dean immediately starts taking organs out of the anatomy mannequin and cracking jokes. Sam pulls out their trusty home-made EMF meter, which whirs when it's next to the mannequin.
That night, a security guard at a sewing factory is making his rounds, shining his flashlight at the blank faces of the clothing mannequins in the building. He hears noises and thinks that his friend may be playing a trick on him - we, of course, know that he's just mannequin fodder. He's surrounded by three of them and skewered with a long metal rod.
The Winchesters discover a link between the two victims, which leads them to believe that they've been killed by the same ghost. What's strange about this case is that ghosts usually haunt places or objects, and this one seems to be moving around. The link turns out to be a woman who disappeared earlier that year, who was a co-worker of both the janitor and the security guard when they all worked at the sewing factory. They go to interview the woman's sister, who has nothing to offer them really, except that her sister was shy and socially awkward. And very giving.
Dean gets an urgent call from Ben, who says that Lisa is extremely depressed and won't even leave her room. Sam insists that Dean go to help, assuring him that he can handle this case on his own. Dean reluctantly drives to Lisa's place.
Sam finds out more about the woman who went missing by interviewing the people she used to work with. One guy acts incredibly suspicious, and Sam picks up on it, letting us rest assured that his bullshit detector is working fine. Later that night, the suspicious guy (who we'll call Dick #3) is alone in the factory, and mannequins come after him. Sam jumps in and saves him by keeping the haunted mannequins out of a small room with barriers of salt. He yells at Dick #3 and bullies him into telling the truth about the missing woman - it turns out that he and his dick friends thought it would be funny to trick her into thinking she had a secret admirer. When they set up a meeting between her and her "admirer", she entered the apartment and discovered that her "date" was nothing but a mannequin, and then the three of them jumped out and started laughing at her. When she started to flee in tears, one of the dicks grabbed her arm and she fell, hitting her head against the coffee table. Rather than report it, the dicks dumped her body in the woods. Sam heads out there to salt and burn the bones.
Meanwhile, Dean grimly walks up to Lisa's door, and is surprised when she opens it herself. She's all dressed up, because she's going out on a date. She and Dean fight - probably about Dean leaving them or Lisa telling him not to come back, but the dialogue makes it as clear as mud. Dean talks to Ben, who's angry at him for "walking out on his family". Dean puts on his sad face, but leaves again anyway.
Sam tells Dick #3 that he's in the clear, and the dick goes back to his crummy apartment. There, he starts talking to someone off-camera, saying that they have to leave town as soon as possible. It turns out that he's talking to a sex doll laying on the bed (EWWWWW!!!!). The sex doll becomes animate and kills him.
Sam and Dean reunite and are confused about Dick #3's death - the bones of the ghost were salted and burned, so how was she able to get her revenge on the remaining dick? They go back to her sister's house to see if there are any objects she might be attached to, and find out that the sister has one of her kidneys. That's right folks, a haunted kidney! Sam and Dean are at a loss - they can't destroy the haunted kidney without killing the innocent sister, so they have a short brainstorming session and come up with hoodoo. Just then, Dean's Impala roars to life, and Dean yells at the ghost to "leave my baby out of this." The car zooms toward Dean, who dodges it. Dean is fine, but the Impala drives through a plate glass window, and one of the shards kills the ghost's sister. The ghost is laid to rest as the sister dies.
The brothers have their post-job conversation as Dean repairs the damage done to the Impala. This case doesn't count as a win, but they're still alive. Sam thanks Dean for getting his soul back. The End.
Questions that still need answers:
If you think that my snark is a little less present in this recap, you're absolutely right. This episode was "meh", and it seemed as if even Supernatural's writers thought so, too. It was "filler".
Is this all we're going to see of Sam's Hell problems, or should we expect more?
Is Dean's relationship with Lisa and Ben finally over for honest-to-goodness real this time? We sure hope so, because dragging it out isn't doing anything for his character development, and just pisses us off.
Next week:
We enter the ultimate meta-verse as Sam and Dean are transported to an alternate universe in which they are actors named Jared Padalecki and Jensen Ackles who star in a TV show called Supernatural. This could be really good, or it could be phenomenally bad. Whichever it is, it needs more Cas.
SPOILERS!
Last week's episode ended with Sam collapsing in a fit of Hell-flashback, and we saw him have a vision of fire burning his face off. This week started with Dean frantically leaning over his brother, who has stopped breathing (at this point, we were thinking that Dean would call Cas for help, but alas, he did not). Sam comes to, however, and brushes it off as no big thing. The two of them discuss it over coffee, with Dean saying "I told you so" and Sam saying "Bite me. You would have done the same thing." Dean stresses the importance of burying the memories of Hell beneath layers of alcoholism and violence - he knows this from experience.
At a small college, a janitor is cleaning up an anatomy lab after hours. He's alone in the room except for a life-size anatomy mannequin, which is creepy. Our feelings of unease are justified when the mannequin becomes animate - after a gash opens up on the janitor's forehead, the mannequin takes a scalpel and slits his throat.
Sam and Dean mosey on into the anatomy lab in their "FBI" suits, and Dean immediately starts taking organs out of the anatomy mannequin and cracking jokes. Sam pulls out their trusty home-made EMF meter, which whirs when it's next to the mannequin.
That night, a security guard at a sewing factory is making his rounds, shining his flashlight at the blank faces of the clothing mannequins in the building. He hears noises and thinks that his friend may be playing a trick on him - we, of course, know that he's just mannequin fodder. He's surrounded by three of them and skewered with a long metal rod.
The Winchesters discover a link between the two victims, which leads them to believe that they've been killed by the same ghost. What's strange about this case is that ghosts usually haunt places or objects, and this one seems to be moving around. The link turns out to be a woman who disappeared earlier that year, who was a co-worker of both the janitor and the security guard when they all worked at the sewing factory. They go to interview the woman's sister, who has nothing to offer them really, except that her sister was shy and socially awkward. And very giving.
Dean gets an urgent call from Ben, who says that Lisa is extremely depressed and won't even leave her room. Sam insists that Dean go to help, assuring him that he can handle this case on his own. Dean reluctantly drives to Lisa's place.
Sam finds out more about the woman who went missing by interviewing the people she used to work with. One guy acts incredibly suspicious, and Sam picks up on it, letting us rest assured that his bullshit detector is working fine. Later that night, the suspicious guy (who we'll call Dick #3) is alone in the factory, and mannequins come after him. Sam jumps in and saves him by keeping the haunted mannequins out of a small room with barriers of salt. He yells at Dick #3 and bullies him into telling the truth about the missing woman - it turns out that he and his dick friends thought it would be funny to trick her into thinking she had a secret admirer. When they set up a meeting between her and her "admirer", she entered the apartment and discovered that her "date" was nothing but a mannequin, and then the three of them jumped out and started laughing at her. When she started to flee in tears, one of the dicks grabbed her arm and she fell, hitting her head against the coffee table. Rather than report it, the dicks dumped her body in the woods. Sam heads out there to salt and burn the bones.
Meanwhile, Dean grimly walks up to Lisa's door, and is surprised when she opens it herself. She's all dressed up, because she's going out on a date. She and Dean fight - probably about Dean leaving them or Lisa telling him not to come back, but the dialogue makes it as clear as mud. Dean talks to Ben, who's angry at him for "walking out on his family". Dean puts on his sad face, but leaves again anyway.
Sam tells Dick #3 that he's in the clear, and the dick goes back to his crummy apartment. There, he starts talking to someone off-camera, saying that they have to leave town as soon as possible. It turns out that he's talking to a sex doll laying on the bed (EWWWWW!!!!). The sex doll becomes animate and kills him.
Sam and Dean reunite and are confused about Dick #3's death - the bones of the ghost were salted and burned, so how was she able to get her revenge on the remaining dick? They go back to her sister's house to see if there are any objects she might be attached to, and find out that the sister has one of her kidneys. That's right folks, a haunted kidney! Sam and Dean are at a loss - they can't destroy the haunted kidney without killing the innocent sister, so they have a short brainstorming session and come up with hoodoo. Just then, Dean's Impala roars to life, and Dean yells at the ghost to "leave my baby out of this." The car zooms toward Dean, who dodges it. Dean is fine, but the Impala drives through a plate glass window, and one of the shards kills the ghost's sister. The ghost is laid to rest as the sister dies.
The brothers have their post-job conversation as Dean repairs the damage done to the Impala. This case doesn't count as a win, but they're still alive. Sam thanks Dean for getting his soul back. The End.
Questions that still need answers:
If you think that my snark is a little less present in this recap, you're absolutely right. This episode was "meh", and it seemed as if even Supernatural's writers thought so, too. It was "filler".
Is this all we're going to see of Sam's Hell problems, or should we expect more?
Is Dean's relationship with Lisa and Ben finally over for honest-to-goodness real this time? We sure hope so, because dragging it out isn't doing anything for his character development, and just pisses us off.
Next week:
We enter the ultimate meta-verse as Sam and Dean are transported to an alternate universe in which they are actors named Jared Padalecki and Jensen Ackles who star in a TV show called Supernatural. This could be really good, or it could be phenomenally bad. Whichever it is, it needs more Cas.
Saturday, February 12, 2011
I Know What Replicant Sam Did Last Summer
Wow. Sam Winchester is a bad, bad man without a soul. Last night's episode, "Unforgiven", explored some of soul-less Sam's activities while he was hunting with Grampa Samuel, before he reconnected with Dean at the beginning of season six. So let's see just how naughty he was, shall we?
SPOILERS!
The episode begins with a flashback (we can tell because it was in black and white, with odd camera angles and cuts. Oh - also there was a caption at the bottom of the screen that said "One Year Ago"). Gramps and Sam are in some sort of dark room, and Old Samuel is watching Sam move around the room, firing a handgun. Grampa's flinching every time his grandson pulls the trigger. Then it cuts to the two of them in the van, driving out of a small Rhode Island town in a hurry. They're stopped by one of the town sherriff's deputies, who pulls them over and demands to know where the sherriff is. He addresses them as "Agents", which clues us in on the fact that Gramps and Sam are probably using an FBI cover. The deputy notices that Sam's arm is bleeding, and tells them to get into the back of his patrol car so that he can take them into town for some Q & A sessions. Sam grabs the deputy's gun and then proceeds to beat the shit out of him, leaving him bleeding in the middle of the road (Come on, Sam - you can't even pull him to the side so that no one runs him over?). Gramps and Sam get back in the car and beat a hasty retreat, with Gramps looking visibly shaken over the cold beat-down he just witnessed.
Jumping to the present, Sam and Dean are packing up, preparing to leave another hotel room in another town. Sam's phone does its "bingley bingley bing" thing, and the mysterious text is nothing but coordinates. Using the power of the internet, Sam finds out that the coordinates spell out the location of a town in Rhode Island, where there have been a few recent disappearances. He immediately wants to go check it out, but Dean is reluctant - if it has to do with Sam's past, he wants no part of it. He reminds Sam about the Wall - don't scratch the Wall, Sam! Sam is undeterred, however, so they drive the Impala to Rhode Island. On the way there, Sam sees a billboard which has the town's name on it (and a poorly-drawn octopus, for some reason). He gets a flashback, and realizes that he's been to this town before. Dean notices Sam's reaction and asks him what's wrong. "Nothing," Sam replies, doing the shifty "everything's totally fine and I am absolutely not lying" thing. Dean does the "I can see that you're obviously lying but I'll let it go because you don't want to talk about it right now" grunt. That little exchange is typical of about eighty-nine percent of their communication. It was nice to see it again.
Dean and Sam start their investigation at a nautically-themed restaraunt, where they go over the "Missing Person" flyers - all of the recent ones are women. Dean heads off to visit the "Poop Deck" (I'm not making that up), and Sam is approached by a woman who seems to know him. She calls him "Agent", and seems surprised that Sam doesn't remember her. She re-introduces herself and her husband, then pats his shoulder as they say goodbye. This triggers another flashback - apparently she and Sam had sexy fun time in the bathroom when he was there before. Huh. As Dean comes out of the "Poop Deck", he notices the restaraunt's Wall of Fame for some "eat this and we'll take a Polaroid of you with a pirate hat on"-type contest. His gaze falls on one of the pictures in particular, and he takes it to show his brother - Sam and Gramps are in the background of the pirate-hat contest winner in the photo. To be honest, we were really hoping to see Sam with the pirate hat on.
The Winchesters continue investigating the missing women, and they discover that the reason Sam and Gramps had come before is that there was another round of disappearances - but those missing people were all men. Sam is even more determined to get to the bottom of this, because he realizes that either he failed to do the job the first time around, or he messed up and whatever is kidnapping people is back. Dean is all for putting the town in their rear-view mirror, but Sam refuses to leave. Unfortunately, he meets up with the deputy that he'd introduced to the asphalt, who immediately arrests him and throws him in jail. There, Sam is visited by another woman who seems to know him - but this isn't another former conquest. This woman is the old sherriff's wife. Her name is Brenna. She begs him to tell her what happened to her husband, who has been missing since Sam's first visit. She's not inclined to believe Sam when he tells her that he has no memory of what happened during his first time in town, but he pulls his sad puppy face and she decides to trust him. Brenna lets him out of the cell, and he promises that he will help her find out what happened to the sherriff.
Dean meets up with Sam at Brenna's house - she had her husband's old case files, which they were going over to try to jog Sam's memory or make some kind of connection. He does remember something - the monster that he and Gramps were after was an Arachne. Dean tells Sam that he discovered what all of the missing women have in common - they were all women that Sam slept with while he was there before. Remember the woman from the restaraunt? Yup. She's missing now, too, and Dean is convinced that this whole situation is a trap that someone set for Sam. Sam still refuses to leave, though, and he and Dean return to the hotel room to map out the case. To do this, they used a map and a lot of string (Get it? GET IT?! Arachne = Spiders, Spiders = WEB?!). Sam gets another flashback, a big one this time.
(In black and white) Sam and Gramps are explaining to the sherriff and his wife that they really aren't with the FBI - they're monster hunters. They're filling in the sherriff to get his help with the case. Later, Sam and Gramps are discussing the case over dinner in the restaraunt. The Arachne seems to be taking middle-aged men, and they need to draw it out into the open. Sam is too young, and Gramps is too old, so Sam sets up the sherriff as bait - without his knowledge. Gramps is taken aback by this plan, but Sam assures him that they'll be able to get the monster before anything bad happens to the sherriff. In the background, a pirate hat-wearing contest winner is having his picture taken.
Sam and Gramps stake out the meeting place and see the sherriff arrive. They watch his confusion as he realizes there's no one there to meet him. Well - not no one. The Arachne springs from her hiding place and attacks him, dragging him away before Gramps and Sam can do anything. They follow her to her lair, where they discover the other missing men mummified in spider silk. They realize that the men are all still alive, but have been poisoned by the Arachne. They find the sherriff, who has received the same mummfying-poisoning treatment. At that moment, the Arachne shows up. She attacks Sam and Gramps, who discover that bullets don't kill her. However, a machete slice at the neck works fine - her head drops off and she dies. Sam's arm was injured in the fight, but he's okay enough to stop Gramps from trying to rescue the sherriff. He says that the men are all going to die anyway, and that they should just put them out of their misery. So he shoots the sherriff (but not the deputy! Sorry, I couldn't help it) and the others, then burns the place to the ground.
When Sam snaps out of this flashback, he's horrified by what he did. He and Dean also get a frantic call from Brenna, and when they go to help her, they're ambushed by an Arachne. Not the same Arachne - this is Sherriff Arachne. It turns out that the female Arachne was kidnapping mates and poisoning to turn them into Arachnae, too, so Sam's bullets and pyromaniac skills did nothing to prevent that. All of those men are now Arachnae, and all of the women that Sherriff Arachne kidnapped have now been turned, too. Sam's actions spawned many more monsters than the single Arachne he killed, and Sherriff Arachne is out for revenge. He was the one who sent the text with the town's coordinates, and kidnapped all of the women who Sam had slept with. Fortunately, Dean escapes his spider-silk mummification and cuts the sherriff's head off. Sam tries to apologize to Brenna, which really made us scoff. Really - after setting up someone's husband as spider-bait and then shooting him point blank in the face, not to mention failing to realize that he was turning into a monster, what more is there to say?
Dean and Sam have their post-job discussion in the crappy hotel room as they start packing up. Dean tries to make Sam feel better about the whole situation by telling him that all of the things that happened when Replicant Sam was there before aren't his fault. Sam disagrees with him sharply, saying that it's all him. He goes on to wonder about what else he might have done, but collapses mid-sentence. He starts seizing and having a vision of Hell, where he's trapped in flames and his pretty face burns to ashes.
Questions that still need Answers:
Stop scratching the wall, Sam. Although we weren't terribly impressed with his vision of Hell. When Dean was in Hell, we saw him hanging from meat hooks - there was much blood. Sam's vision of CGI fire eating his face was a little "meh".
We're not sure if we really want the answer to this question, but exactly how does an Arachne "turn" somebody? They referenced "mates", and all of the female Arachne's victims were male. All of Sherriff Arachne's victims were female. This leads us to the disturbing conclusion that spider-monsterism is some sort of horrible sexually-transmitted disease. So - just one more thing to think about before starting a romp with a new partner, okay kids? Stay safe.
How much of Sam is his soul, and how much is not? I think that Sam's right when he says that everything Replicant Sam did is still on him. Remember in the third season when the Trickster killed Dean in order to show Sam what his life would be like once Dean went to Hell? Sam became a cold-hearted bastard, that's what. If you thought it was shocking for Replicant Sam to try to kill Bobby in order to sever all ties with his soul, then what about when the Trickster showed Sam that he'd be willing to go that far to get his brother back? And even though the Trickster did eventually bring Dean back and reset everything from that first day in Mystery Spot, we saw again what Sam is like without Dean at the beginning of the fourth season, when Dean comes back from a four-month stint in Hell. In that time, Sam managed to get involved with a demon, develop his psychic powers, and become addicted to demon blood. So really - Sam seems like he's on the brink of sociopathy, and that his tiny little abused soul is all that keeps him from going into full Terminator mode.
Next Week:
I have two words for you: Haunted. Mannequin. I can't wait!
SPOILERS!
The episode begins with a flashback (we can tell because it was in black and white, with odd camera angles and cuts. Oh - also there was a caption at the bottom of the screen that said "One Year Ago"). Gramps and Sam are in some sort of dark room, and Old Samuel is watching Sam move around the room, firing a handgun. Grampa's flinching every time his grandson pulls the trigger. Then it cuts to the two of them in the van, driving out of a small Rhode Island town in a hurry. They're stopped by one of the town sherriff's deputies, who pulls them over and demands to know where the sherriff is. He addresses them as "Agents", which clues us in on the fact that Gramps and Sam are probably using an FBI cover. The deputy notices that Sam's arm is bleeding, and tells them to get into the back of his patrol car so that he can take them into town for some Q & A sessions. Sam grabs the deputy's gun and then proceeds to beat the shit out of him, leaving him bleeding in the middle of the road (Come on, Sam - you can't even pull him to the side so that no one runs him over?). Gramps and Sam get back in the car and beat a hasty retreat, with Gramps looking visibly shaken over the cold beat-down he just witnessed.
Jumping to the present, Sam and Dean are packing up, preparing to leave another hotel room in another town. Sam's phone does its "bingley bingley bing" thing, and the mysterious text is nothing but coordinates. Using the power of the internet, Sam finds out that the coordinates spell out the location of a town in Rhode Island, where there have been a few recent disappearances. He immediately wants to go check it out, but Dean is reluctant - if it has to do with Sam's past, he wants no part of it. He reminds Sam about the Wall - don't scratch the Wall, Sam! Sam is undeterred, however, so they drive the Impala to Rhode Island. On the way there, Sam sees a billboard which has the town's name on it (and a poorly-drawn octopus, for some reason). He gets a flashback, and realizes that he's been to this town before. Dean notices Sam's reaction and asks him what's wrong. "Nothing," Sam replies, doing the shifty "everything's totally fine and I am absolutely not lying" thing. Dean does the "I can see that you're obviously lying but I'll let it go because you don't want to talk about it right now" grunt. That little exchange is typical of about eighty-nine percent of their communication. It was nice to see it again.
Dean and Sam start their investigation at a nautically-themed restaraunt, where they go over the "Missing Person" flyers - all of the recent ones are women. Dean heads off to visit the "Poop Deck" (I'm not making that up), and Sam is approached by a woman who seems to know him. She calls him "Agent", and seems surprised that Sam doesn't remember her. She re-introduces herself and her husband, then pats his shoulder as they say goodbye. This triggers another flashback - apparently she and Sam had sexy fun time in the bathroom when he was there before. Huh. As Dean comes out of the "Poop Deck", he notices the restaraunt's Wall of Fame for some "eat this and we'll take a Polaroid of you with a pirate hat on"-type contest. His gaze falls on one of the pictures in particular, and he takes it to show his brother - Sam and Gramps are in the background of the pirate-hat contest winner in the photo. To be honest, we were really hoping to see Sam with the pirate hat on.
The Winchesters continue investigating the missing women, and they discover that the reason Sam and Gramps had come before is that there was another round of disappearances - but those missing people were all men. Sam is even more determined to get to the bottom of this, because he realizes that either he failed to do the job the first time around, or he messed up and whatever is kidnapping people is back. Dean is all for putting the town in their rear-view mirror, but Sam refuses to leave. Unfortunately, he meets up with the deputy that he'd introduced to the asphalt, who immediately arrests him and throws him in jail. There, Sam is visited by another woman who seems to know him - but this isn't another former conquest. This woman is the old sherriff's wife. Her name is Brenna. She begs him to tell her what happened to her husband, who has been missing since Sam's first visit. She's not inclined to believe Sam when he tells her that he has no memory of what happened during his first time in town, but he pulls his sad puppy face and she decides to trust him. Brenna lets him out of the cell, and he promises that he will help her find out what happened to the sherriff.
Dean meets up with Sam at Brenna's house - she had her husband's old case files, which they were going over to try to jog Sam's memory or make some kind of connection. He does remember something - the monster that he and Gramps were after was an Arachne. Dean tells Sam that he discovered what all of the missing women have in common - they were all women that Sam slept with while he was there before. Remember the woman from the restaraunt? Yup. She's missing now, too, and Dean is convinced that this whole situation is a trap that someone set for Sam. Sam still refuses to leave, though, and he and Dean return to the hotel room to map out the case. To do this, they used a map and a lot of string (Get it? GET IT?! Arachne = Spiders, Spiders = WEB?!). Sam gets another flashback, a big one this time.
(In black and white) Sam and Gramps are explaining to the sherriff and his wife that they really aren't with the FBI - they're monster hunters. They're filling in the sherriff to get his help with the case. Later, Sam and Gramps are discussing the case over dinner in the restaraunt. The Arachne seems to be taking middle-aged men, and they need to draw it out into the open. Sam is too young, and Gramps is too old, so Sam sets up the sherriff as bait - without his knowledge. Gramps is taken aback by this plan, but Sam assures him that they'll be able to get the monster before anything bad happens to the sherriff. In the background, a pirate hat-wearing contest winner is having his picture taken.
Sam and Gramps stake out the meeting place and see the sherriff arrive. They watch his confusion as he realizes there's no one there to meet him. Well - not no one. The Arachne springs from her hiding place and attacks him, dragging him away before Gramps and Sam can do anything. They follow her to her lair, where they discover the other missing men mummified in spider silk. They realize that the men are all still alive, but have been poisoned by the Arachne. They find the sherriff, who has received the same mummfying-poisoning treatment. At that moment, the Arachne shows up. She attacks Sam and Gramps, who discover that bullets don't kill her. However, a machete slice at the neck works fine - her head drops off and she dies. Sam's arm was injured in the fight, but he's okay enough to stop Gramps from trying to rescue the sherriff. He says that the men are all going to die anyway, and that they should just put them out of their misery. So he shoots the sherriff (but not the deputy! Sorry, I couldn't help it) and the others, then burns the place to the ground.
When Sam snaps out of this flashback, he's horrified by what he did. He and Dean also get a frantic call from Brenna, and when they go to help her, they're ambushed by an Arachne. Not the same Arachne - this is Sherriff Arachne. It turns out that the female Arachne was kidnapping mates and poisoning to turn them into Arachnae, too, so Sam's bullets and pyromaniac skills did nothing to prevent that. All of those men are now Arachnae, and all of the women that Sherriff Arachne kidnapped have now been turned, too. Sam's actions spawned many more monsters than the single Arachne he killed, and Sherriff Arachne is out for revenge. He was the one who sent the text with the town's coordinates, and kidnapped all of the women who Sam had slept with. Fortunately, Dean escapes his spider-silk mummification and cuts the sherriff's head off. Sam tries to apologize to Brenna, which really made us scoff. Really - after setting up someone's husband as spider-bait and then shooting him point blank in the face, not to mention failing to realize that he was turning into a monster, what more is there to say?
Dean and Sam have their post-job discussion in the crappy hotel room as they start packing up. Dean tries to make Sam feel better about the whole situation by telling him that all of the things that happened when Replicant Sam was there before aren't his fault. Sam disagrees with him sharply, saying that it's all him. He goes on to wonder about what else he might have done, but collapses mid-sentence. He starts seizing and having a vision of Hell, where he's trapped in flames and his pretty face burns to ashes.
Questions that still need Answers:
Stop scratching the wall, Sam. Although we weren't terribly impressed with his vision of Hell. When Dean was in Hell, we saw him hanging from meat hooks - there was much blood. Sam's vision of CGI fire eating his face was a little "meh".
We're not sure if we really want the answer to this question, but exactly how does an Arachne "turn" somebody? They referenced "mates", and all of the female Arachne's victims were male. All of Sherriff Arachne's victims were female. This leads us to the disturbing conclusion that spider-monsterism is some sort of horrible sexually-transmitted disease. So - just one more thing to think about before starting a romp with a new partner, okay kids? Stay safe.
How much of Sam is his soul, and how much is not? I think that Sam's right when he says that everything Replicant Sam did is still on him. Remember in the third season when the Trickster killed Dean in order to show Sam what his life would be like once Dean went to Hell? Sam became a cold-hearted bastard, that's what. If you thought it was shocking for Replicant Sam to try to kill Bobby in order to sever all ties with his soul, then what about when the Trickster showed Sam that he'd be willing to go that far to get his brother back? And even though the Trickster did eventually bring Dean back and reset everything from that first day in Mystery Spot, we saw again what Sam is like without Dean at the beginning of the fourth season, when Dean comes back from a four-month stint in Hell. In that time, Sam managed to get involved with a demon, develop his psychic powers, and become addicted to demon blood. So really - Sam seems like he's on the brink of sociopathy, and that his tiny little abused soul is all that keeps him from going into full Terminator mode.
Next Week:
I have two words for you: Haunted. Mannequin. I can't wait!
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