Supernatural 12.19 “The Future” Review

So, Castiel did a thing.

For starters, he pissed me off. But he earned his degree from the Dean Winchester School of Communication, so I can’t really be that mad.

Alright, let me back up. This week’s episode was entirely plot. 100%. And to be honest, it was forty five minutes in and I said to myself, “nothing of note has happened yet.” Now I will admit that on the first watching this week, I was distracted by computer problems. Not my own, but a family member, which is almost just as distressing. And I’m the house IT person by default, so my attention was split.

I saw enough to see Kelly, the mother of Luci’s child, despondent over what was to come. Every time she looks at the child, she knows it’s her child. An innocent. I know that feeling. Everything you do, you do for the little one who has no choice in who it is. Still, I was proud of her resolve. Putting the good of the world above that of not only herself, but her child, that took some real guts. My estimation of her grew because of it. 

As we know, when we’re not watching a monster of the week, the boys are working on the plot. We find Sam, giving the nephilim’s due date for the date of the season finale.

Aside: on which date, we’ll have not one but TWO episodes in one night. I can’t breathe.

And when Castiel shows up, Dean puts it all on the table. He’s pissed. He’s hurt. He’s been betrayed by someone who not only has he put his ass on the line for, just a few weeks ago Castiel told them they were family. But now he’s run off to be with his other family. To Dean, turning your back on family is tantamount to cheating. It’s the ultimate betrayal. It’s untenable.

But Cass apologizes, in his own awkward way. And he and Dean try to fix what he broke.

The angel, however, has his own plans. Always trying to keep Dean and Sam safe, for they are mortals, he deserts them once again. Even though Sam has finally come up with a fantastic plan. Extract the nephilim’s grace. Make it human. I admit, I got a little teary eyed. The Winchesters are such beautiful heroes. They may not be perfect, but they do their best. And their best is nothing short of transcendent. The list about why Dean is my favorite superhero is ever lengthening.

At any rate, Cass goes after Kelly himself, along with two other angels. It was good to see Nathan Mitchell again, as the angel Kelvin. He impressed me with his angelic performance last time, and I wish he’d done more in this episode. As he battled Dagon, Cass took Kelly and ran.

Because though Castiel may have once been a warrior angel, now he’s an honorary Winchester. He can’t kill an innocent, either. He was planning to take her to heaven, however, so they could take care of the problem. But he fell under the spell of the nephilim and its mother.

The nephilim is something I’d like to talk about. It saved Kelly’s life when she tried to kill herself. In point of fact, she did kill herself. It brought her back to life. When their souls touched, she felt its goodness. Its pure heart. I mean, Lucifer was an angel, an archangel, before he was cast down. He was the best and the strongest of them all. And this is his child. It doesn’t have to be the son of the devil. It’s the son of an angel. Now, as we know, in Supernatural land, angels are feathery winged dicks. But still, I almost want to believe Kelly when she says the child is good. And I want the grace removal to work. My caveat to that, however, is that Lucifer is the best when it comes to telling people what they want to hear. His kid definitely inherited that trait. 

I think the grace thing might work, if the Winchesters have a chance to try it. But not until after the nephilim kills Lucifer. Yeah, I’m saying it. I think we’re going to lose Luci for good and all at the end of this season. Hoisted on his own petard, as Gabe would say. Yet I’m not entirely convinced Crowley won’t also be collateral damage. I fear we may lose him. But then, I’ve been afraid of that every single time he’s shown up for like three seasons. That’s my PTSD talking. Thanks, TNG.

So Sam and Dean catch up with Cass, tell him about their plan, and then he runs away again. Granted this time it’s on Kelly, but still. It’s fairly annoying that one week he tells them they’re his favorite things ever, better than his heavenly family, and then he just leaves. Over and over and over again. But at least he’s self aware enough to know it, when he tells her he’s not someone she should put her faith in.

And yet, when push came to shove, he put his big boys pants on, took the power the nephilim granted him, and smote the shit out of that yellow eyed demon with it. 

I don’t know how all this is going to play out but I hate the following:

-Castiel and the Winchesters being separated

-The fact we’re going to lose either Lucifer or Crowley or both

-Not having seen Rowena in weeks and weeks and weeks

I’d also say it’s likely next week is the last episode that’ll keep the BMoL and Lucifer storylines apart. I figure after that they’ll converge for the following three episodes, and the final showdown. I look forward to seeing all that play out.

Notes:

-The Winchester’s “purse dog” hahahahahahaha Lucifer literally gets the best lines.

-Dean keeps the Colt under his pillow. Come on, Sam, did you have to ask?

-Dagon may as well have reached into each and every one of our chests and ripped out our hearts when she destroyed the Colt. That damned gun has been a part of us since the beginning.  

-Next week’s episode was written by Steve Yockey, who is fast becoming one of my favorite new Supernatural writers. What he has to deliver is no doubt fantastic. Can’t wait.

 

A p.s. for last week’s review. When Ketch looked at that photo of Mary and young Dean, he may have just been realizing how old she should be, yet isn’t. And if that’s the case, he no doubt has some questions for her. But he may be conflicted as to what path to take once he discovers the truth. I’m sure he’s thinking pretty hard about the whole thing. Looks like we’re going to find out next week. See you then, family.

(All screenshots/photos property of the CW)