Supernatural 13.1 “Lost and Found” Review

Season thirteen, here we are. The longest running US genre show, and the longest running genre show besides Dr. Who, and we happily welcome the Winchesters back for this groundbreaking season with open arms.

Picking up right where we left off, welcoming Jack to the world and saying goodbye to Castiel, they jumped right in to breaking our hearts. Again. I cried just watching the intro.

Judging from the new title card, I think we know what, or who, the focus of this season will be. 

So why don’t we talk about Jack? Side note, the main character in the trilogy I’m currently working on is named Jack. It’s not a shout-out to Supernatural because I’ve been working on the trilogy for a little over a year. But that makes it a little weird for me that such an obviously important character in my favorite show has the same name as a character who is very, very near and dear to my heart.

At any rate, Alex Calvert stole my heart in this episode. His part cannot be easy. Jack was just born and matured at an incredible rate. He’s still a baby, but at the same time, he’s a teen. He’s impressionable but incredibly powerful. A creature of unfathomable strength, yet ultimately, still just a kid. I can’t imagine how Alex came at this part, but I love what he’s done with it in this episode. I’m looking forward to seeing a lot more from him this season, and it seems the cast and crew agree.

Listening to Jack interact with the sheriff’s son at the station, on the rewatch I realized it’s clear he’s half angel. He has the flat expression they have, and their unique inability to interact like a normal human. Also, he’s only half human, because he can hear the angels talking but it gives him what looks like a killer headache.

I also very much enjoyed guest star Andrea Menard in the role of Sheriff Barker. She and her son were both wonderful. It’s always fun to watch someone new come across the strange and unusual. They both did very well at playing their parts, and I’d really like to see the sheriff again at some point. 

I’d also like to note that angel, the one who talked about “Becky” (guest star Carlena Britch), was a uniquely talented angel. She did such a good job fooling Dean and blending in as a regular human, I thought she was a demon. But of course, as the Winchesters drove away from the fast food joint, I saw Dean had let himself be distracted enough for her to get a tracking spell on Baby’s dusty window.

Did that bug anyone else? How dusty Baby was?

At any rate, I worried the Winchesters were going to lose Jack because of Dean’s shoot-first-question-later attitude. I hate to see him backslide because of what happened to Castiel. He’d been making progress on that front, but it looks like he still needs Sammy to remind him that sometimes, you should talk to the monster instead of kill it. I think Jack can be an asset, if they let him. Over the summer, I held onto the vague hope he could resurrect Cass.

Now we know that’s not true. But I have some lingering questions about Castiel’s death. I spent the summer also in denial. I thought that somehow Alternate Universe (AU from here on) Cass had come through, and that’s who we saw die. But. But. We saw his wings. We had a funeral. When Sam asked if he was really dead, Dean said, “you know he is”. If it weren’t for the funeral, I’d say it was still a possibility the dead one was AU Cass. My hope, while still alive, is slim. So slim.

But was it just me, or did that one angel seem to know something we didn’t? At the beginning of the episode when the two angels were standing over his body? She had some kind of knowing smile and I don’t really know what that was about. So there’s questions still, and knowing Misha is returning, I imagine soon they’ll be answered. I just knew they wouldn’t do it in this episode.

At any rate, Jensen broke all our hearts again. Mine, at least. Twice.

First when he asked for Crowley back.

And second when he watched Castiel’s body burn. I couldn’t even with that hunter’s funeral. I really feel like OUR Castiel is gone. Whatever Cass we get back will be some kind of pale imitation that doesn’t know or love the Winchesters. Lots of Destiel shippers will be very, very sad. I’m not among them, but I feel for them. And I’ll miss Dean’s brother, Castiel.

Great premiere. Did I miss anything? What was your favorite piece? What are you looking forward to? I don’t think Chuck is going to be any help, although I do really, really want Gabriel to come back so he can kill his Bag of Dicks bro.

Additional Notes on Jack:

-Sheriff Barker: What’s your dad’s phone number?

-I find it interesting Jack remembers Dagon dying, and he said, “the universe screamed”. So yeah. That’s not going to come up again. Surely not.

-“My father is Castiel.” 

-Jack can’t be killed by an angel blade. Anyone shocked? Show of hands? No. Me neither.

-So, is Sam his dad now, or…?

 

Rewatching Dean wrap Castiel in his shroud, I bawled my little eyes out.

 

P.s. I don’t much care for the AU concept because I feel like it’s only going to cause trouble for the writers when they don’t bring back whoever it is the fandom is fixating on. But I’ll be interested to see what they do with it otherwise.

 

**all photos/screenshots property of The CW Network**