I’m a bit shocked it’s mid-season finale time already. Anybody else? Obviously it’s not really mid-season, we’re only eight episodes in and there will be twenty-three in this season. Regardless, this is the last episode before winter Hellatus. Let’s get to the spoilers.
A quick note first. After discussing on twitter for a bit with other viewers, we had some unanswered questions, particularly about the ending. I’m going to be rewatching while I write this in hopes of answering some of those questions. So this review’ll be a combo of reflection and stream of consciousness.
Opening on the men of the cloth and revealing that Lucifer’s newest vessel was an archbishop reminded me just how fond Lucifer is of doing things just to spite his Father. I found it a real shame these poor fools attempted to exorcise the devil himself. Having no idea what they were up against, they just tried to do the best the could. The problem with that, of course, was it kept Luci one step ahead of the team that could actually do some damage.
Speaking of the team, the other day I read an article Mark Sheppard retweeted about Crowley and how he’s pretty much a good guy at this point. I agree wholeheartedly. This was on display over and over and over during this episode. It began in the autopsy room and was pointed out, sometimes painfully so, at least a half dozen times throughout the episode. Agent Zappa (Castiel’s inept attempts at rock and roll aliases is one of my new favorite running jokes), The Scooby Gang (my new favorite nickname for Team Free Will + 1), Crowley’s knack for information gathering, taking advantage of his teleportation skills.
Does anyone else feel like we’re being set up to lose Crowley? Bets on it being this season. Discussion question: how do you feel about that prospect? The way they’ve taken out his teeth, do you think it’s good to do away with the character? Or does it make you angry we’re most likely going to lose another ally? Personally I love both Crowley and Mark, and I won’t like to see either of them go. Story-wise, however, it makes sense that we lose Crowley. As an ally, he’s too O.P. We already have one overpowered ally in Castiel and let’s be honest. We’d rather keep Cass over Crowley.
Back to the story. So we catch back up with Lucifer and see he’s chosen POTUS as his next vessel. Hence the joke I didn’t get until the episode was over because I’m slow, LOTUS. I don’t know about you, but it hit a little close to home. I hoped it would go full-on Supernatural with a quickness, because I didn’t want to think about politics while watching Supernatural. This show is part of my escapism package. I don’t need real life intruding.
Luckily it did go Supernatural quick enough. Lucifer loves to play in our sandbox, but watching him attempt to be the president was another reminder that he really doesn’t know exactly what he’s doing and he’s not very good at playacting. He’s as bad at presidenting as he is at guitar playing, and that will be the Scooby Gang’s advantage. His joke about nuking whoever it was flew right by me, though, because I was completely distracted by the beautiful set dressing with the flames behind him. I adore the set department on this show. They do so much with so little every single week.
Ah, see, now I understand the Secret Service dude and his surprising amount of knowledge. Luci briefed him on the Winchesters. Again, that was my short attention span working against me. I was too busy admiring the Luci of the week’s acting skills. I enjoyed the LOTUS character, he did a fine job.
But oh, thank Chuck, we got to see a bit of Rowena again this week. Here we find her with another rich man, trying to make a life away from the Scooby Gang. The reunion of Crowley and Rowena was one of the best mother/son reunions I’ve ever ever seen. And this bonding moment between them? Another hint towards us losing Crowley. He has far too many weaknesses.
At any rate, Luci producing a nephilim is something I should have seen coming. We’ve seen one before, if you recall, in season 9, when Metatron tricked Castiel into kicking the angels out of heaven. Its heart was part of the spell. Anyway, I remembered how human it was, how it wasn’t responsible for being what it was, and I applied that to this child. I cannot say I disagreed completely with its mother as she sped away from Cass. As a mother myself, I understand her feelings.
The problem of course, is that this is not just any child. It’s the child of Satan. That WILL come up again.
So at any rate, we’re finally introduced to Ketch, the mysterious BMoL who’s been tracking the Winchesters. Miss Pants Suit with Accent talked about having him eliminate the Winchesters so while they could make friends yet, we can’t trust him entirely. Talking about this character on twitter, someone pointed out that the Winchesters will not be happy to find out about his “clean-up” efforts. My counter to that, however, is that both Sam and Dean have been known to do the same kind of clean-up. Either they’ll convert him to their way of thinking and make friends, or they’ll kill him. It could go either way at this point. The way to Dean’s heart is through pie. Lacking that, it’s a grenade launcher. Sam was also impressed with the toys. This BMoL is probably the most likely to make friends with the boys, being the most like them. He doesn’t care about you, he cares about killing monsters.
So with Ketch’s fancy toy, they get the band back together in order to exorcise the devil. Now this plan is the part of the show that brought up the most sticky questions.
One, why did it have to be Crowley being sent in to extricate the girlfriend? Why couldn’t Castiel do it? There were at least six times in five minutes Cass could have used teleportation and didn’t. Why not?
Why did Castiel leave with the nephilim’s mother and abandon the boys to their own devices? Yeah they can handle themselves under normal circumstances, but these aren’t normal circumstances. This is Lucifer.
Why did that secret service agent recover his memory? What happened there really?
Finally where did Lucifer really go? We, along with Sam, watched his essence go down the vent. That’s not what it looked like last time he was blasted to the Cage. Why didn’t Sam say something? We all know he isn’t contained. He’s still out there, somewhere.
Looks like we’ll be seeing him again.
My answer to at least one question – why did Castiel leave the boys – is that they needed to be captured in order to move the plot forward. Either there was a real purpose, or it was the writers putting the boys where they were supposed to be. I don’t like it being the second one though, because to me that’s a bit of a lazy trick. To advance the plot is fine, but the character motivation seemed questionable. In most cases, the Winchesters would confirm the victim was alive, then scoot the hell out of there. Especially when there’s cops involved. They should have run with Cass. It didn’t make sense.
The rest of the questions should be answered in the next ⅔ of the season.
So welcome to Hellatus. I intend to write weekly blogs while we’re on break until January 26th. Before we return, I’ll go over this half season in depth, plot-wise, talking about where we’ve been and my conjectures about where we’re going. Hope to see you, and enjoy your holiday season!
Bethany A. Perry 