I didn’t get to watch last week’s Supernatural episode live since I was on a plane flying to Jacksonville for a Supernatural convention when it aired. That meant avoiding spoilers until I finally had a chance to watch, which was well after midnight after the Saturday night concert at the convention, on a friend’s laptop in her hotel room. While we also lettered a sign for a photo op the next day. (Just a typical 2 am at a Supernatural convention…) This was a bit of an unusual episode and not a very emotional one for the most part for us, but it had some lovely moments. Maybe this review won’t be ten pages long like my usual ones though – I hear sighs of relief from out there!
The episode opens with a music video-esque montage of someone we don’t know breaking into Rowena’s apartment and trying to steal her magic supplies. It was well done but it wasn’t Sam or Dean or Cas and it’s the last season so time with them is precious and it went on way too long. At some point my friend Alana announced “oh, she’s gonna die” – and sure enough, she did. Just not quite quickly enough.
Cut to the bunker, Sam on his laptop, wondering if he’s hearing things. Dean in his dead guy robe – and hot dog pajamas because Dean Winchester.
Apparently Dean has been hiding in his room again, this time eating his feelings (and cereal) and escaping by watching the show that reminds him of his childhood, Scooby Doo. He’s still feeling pretty hopeless, locked into what he calls Chuck’s story of “Cain and Abel 2.0” and feeling like he’s just waiting for God to find them and make them kill each other. No wonder he feels so depressed and helpless, when you think of it like that. Sam, on the other hand, keeps researching and keeps trying.
It’s the dynamic of the entire season so far – the Winchesters take turns, one of them hopeless and the other trying to pull them out of it. It’s been the dynamic of the show as well, but now it’s intensified, alternating episode to episode in a way that sort of makes me dizzy.
Sam goes out for a jog (in the beautiful rainy Vancouver weather) and Alana and I stop what we’re doing to appreciate Jared Padalecki’s grace when he’s running.
My friend Alana: It’s like he’s floating!
Seriously, it’s a beautiful thing.
Sam sees his breath and senses something again, and then ghost Eileen shimmers into view with a “Hi, Sam.”
I’m a huge fan of Shoshannah Stern and I loved the character of Eileen so I’m happy to see her. As happens with just about everything this season, we all knew she was coming back. It would have been a wonderful moment if we hadn’t known though. Turns out the hellhounds that killed her dragged her to hell, so she’s back now that Chuck opened up the door. Eileen, as a hunter herself, understands only too well that if she stays as a ghost she’ll go crazy and hurt someone, and she will not go back to Hell, so she asks if Sam and Dean can possibly put in a good word and get her to Heaven.
Dean: Souls from hell can’t go to Heaven. I’m sorry.
Sam bristles, but Dean had to tell her the truth. It’s not like he doesn’t care – he tries to come up with some alternatives, including making a spell for an individual soul catcher that she can stay in safely. Sam agrees to go to Rowena’s apartment to look for the ingredients for the spell, but Dean decides to stay behind.
Dean: You’re like Rowena’s protégé. It’s a milk run.
Sam argues that this is important, that it’s the antidote for that helplessness Dean has been feeling, his contention that nothing matters.
Sam: We can do this. This matters.
Dean: That’s why you’re gonna kick it in the ass.
That has to be a deliberate use of beloved director Kim Manners’ favorite saying, and it made me a little wibbly for a minute there. Only for a minute though, because I was too busy saying nooooo Dean, go with Sam, no good will come of this!
He did not listen.
Sam and ghost Eileen go to Rowena’s apartment. Jared does a fabulous job here, mostly without any dialogue about it, showing us just how much Sam is still devastated by having to kill Rowena. He can barely bring himself to go inside. He’s also empathizing with Eileen, who has just been in hell.
Sam: I went to hell too a while back. You try to forget, but… it gets inside you. Talking helps.
Eileen: I can’t. not yet.
Every time we get some acknowledgement of Sam’s PTSD, I’m grateful. And he’s right, talking does help.
Sam signs to her, and she smiles.
Eileen: I’m impressed.
Sam studied up a bit after he met her, which…. Awwww. Sam Winchester is such a good bean.
They find Rowena’s real stash with ghost Eileen’s help, and it turns out that Rowena kept journals of all her spell work.
Sam’s clearly emotional as he reads one.
Eileen: You miss her.
Sam: I killed her. Her idea. She sacrificed herself to save us…. You ever feel like the punch line to some cosmic joke?
Eileen: Are you kidding?
She tries to hold his hand in sympathy, but of course her hand goes right through his, which is heartbreaking. Shoshannah is so good at showing us Eileen’s emotions, her face so expressive, and you can see that it’s breaking her heart too.
Sam realizes that the spell to bring someone back from the dead and make the spirit flesh is there, and that he can probably finish it.
Sam: Eileen, I can bring you back.
They get back to the Impala and suddenly Sam starts spitting up blood, collapsing to the ground. He pulls a hex bag from the wheel well, but it’s too late, the witches are coming.
Sam (signing to Eileen): My brother!
The witch mom (Keegan Connor Tracy. returning to Supernatural and doing a great job once again) makes clear what we’ve suspected – anyone who steps inside Rowena’s apartment dies. Except Sam! She left everything to him.
Me: Awwww
The witches make a voodoo doll type thing with Sam’s hair and use it to control him. Ouch.
We get yet another sibling parallel of sorts, since younger witch sib Emily actually resents her now dead older sister Jacinda. Sam tries to convince her to give him the resurrection spell ingredients instead of their mom, who will use it to bring Jacinda back, and for a minute it seems to almost work. Jacinda has done some pretty shitty things to her younger sister.
Sam: I get it, I have an older brother. When I was ten he put super glue in my toothpaste.
(I guess that’s why Sam was so pleased with himself when he super glued his brother’s hand to his beer bottle in Season 1)
Unfortunately younger sister Emily decides not to believe Sam.
Just as Sam is forced to gather all the supplies for the witches, it’s big brother to the rescue!
Dean comes in with a witch-killing-bullets-firing gun on the mom witch. Love me some smart Winchesters.
It’s a stand off as Emily squeezes the Sam voodoo doll. Suddenly ghost Jacinda appears and attacks Dean, who’s thrown to the floor.
But ghost Eileen appears just in time and stands between them.
Eileen: Not today, bitch.
Dean: About time.
Eileen gives him a victorious grin. Talk about a badass, I loved that moment!
There’s a fight, Dean manages to shoot Emily, and the mom witch viciously attacks Dean while ghost Jacinda attacks ghost Eileen.
This time it’s little brother to the rescue. As Dean writhes in pain, Sam tackles mom witch and forces some bespelled stuff into her mouth and says the right words and she expires.
I’m liking this Sam as Rowena’s protege thing quite a bit.
Dean jumps up and manages to torch Jacinda’s body, saving Eileen (though it took him so long to light his zippo that all of us watching were screaming at 2 am. Sorry, hotel guests)
Meanwhile, Cas is hanging out in another beautiful part of Vancouver lakeside, going by the name of Clarence and fishing a lot.
Cas: I had a friend who praised fishing for its meditative qualities.
So Cas is also hiding, and also still thinking about his falling out with Dean.
He hears that people in the small town he’s hiding in are missing, and heads to the Sheriff’s office, unable to stay completing out of saving people hunting things. The Sheriff is not exactly forthcoming, and asks to speak to Castiel’s supervisor. That means calling one of Bobby’s OG burner phones, and who has to pick up? Dean of course.
Cas looks like he’d rather call literally anyone but Dean.
Dean: Cas, Sam has been trying to call you. Did you listen to his messages?
(No)
Dean: I don’t know if you care or not, but Chuck is back on the board, so watch yourself.
In other words, Dean may be pissed and Cas may be pissed, but both clearly still care.
Cas goes looking for the missing people, followed by Mellie, the mom of another boy who has just gone missing. I like her, she’s no nonsense and determined to find her son. I think Cas likes her too. She also feels guilty, because she told her son to go out and get some fresh air and he never came back. Cas understands guilt about one’s son and how it feels to lose a child now, and he empathizes with Mellie. As they search, he confides in her a little.
Cas: I needed to step away for a while. My colleagues and I had a falling out with management. And with each other.
He also surprisingly tells her that monsters are real (like Dean abruptly did recently in a different episode) – and then they find Mellie’s son with a broken ankle but otherwise okay after having a run in with a monster. It’s a djinn – and also the cranky sheriff – and he shoots Cas twice, but Cas doesn’t back down. In fact, he gets to say a few very Misha Collins-esque lines.
Cas: It’s always you — you selfish little men in positions of authority. You take what you want, you take who you want. And you believe that your power will protect you. But your power won’t protect you from me.
Badass Cas is my favorite flavor, and he stabs the hell out of the djinn, getting thoroughly bloody in the process. Mellie and her son watch in sort of horror, and I’m reminded that on the day Misha brought his young son West to the set, that scene was being edited and thus up on the screen. Poor West probably had a similar sort of horror expression on his face watching his dad go nuts on some guy.
Cas manages to heal the boy’s ankle, though it clearly takes a lot out of him.
Mellie: It’s a miracle. Were you sent by God?
Everyone watching: Oh hell no.
Cas says no, and that it’s better if he doesn’t tell them too much. The experience has made him rethink his recent decisions though.
Mellie: But you’re leaving?
Cas: If I stay, nothing changes. Time for me to get back in the game.
That small win, and perhaps that moment of letting himself express all the rage he has bottled up over Jack, and Chuck, and Dean, are a pivotal moment for Castiel. His self-imposed break is over.
The penultimate scene was quite beautiful, as Sam attempts Rowena’s spell that couldn’t bring back their mom to bring back Eileen. I wondered at first why he had his back turned as she stepped into the tub, but I should have guessed that for some reason she had to come back naked – I guess it makes sense? Anyway, handy dandy towel and Eileen steps out of the tub, human and alive.
She holds Sam’s hand without it going right through this time, and falls into Sam, who holds her close. She signs a thank you, and as Sam leans down into the hug, Padalecki shows us just how much this moment means to Sam. Sam who has had to kill someone he cared about, and who has never been able to bring anyone back – this time he was able to bring back someone he cares about. It was a healing moment, and an important one for Sam. I took the title to refer to the fact that both the Winchesters and Castiel managed to have a “win” this time, something rare for them recently. Something they desperately needed, and that they needed right now – similar to the “golden hour” in which you can most effectively intervene after a crisis or a trauma. Hopefully it’s enough to bring them all back to life!
That brings us to the last scene, my favorite of the episode.
Later that night, after Eileen is asleep, Sam joins Dean at the map table.
The shadows look like bars, showing us how trapped Dean has been feeling.
He rolls a beer across the table to his brother.
Sam: Eileen’s asleep. She had a big day.
Dean: So did you. You some kinda witch now?
Sam: No, got lucky.
Dean: You did good today, man. I did jack.
Sam: You killed a witch – saved my ass.
Dean: (reluctantly) Yeah, I guess so.
Sam fixes his brother with a meaningful look.
Sam: You’re right, we don’t make the rules, we never have. But that doesn’t mean we can just give up. We have moves to make here. You think Chuck wanted me to shoot him?
Dean: (still struggling) Maybe that was part of the plan. I don’t know what’s him and what’s not and it’s driving me crazy!
Sam: We’ll find a way to beat him. We will. Because we’re the guys who break the rules.
Dean still looks skeptical, though he’s listening to every word Sam says.
Sam: But I can’t do it without you. Just like today I couldn’t do it without you.
Dean looks up.
Sam is dead serious, willing Dean to hear him.
Sam: I need my brother.
The episode ends and I reached for my first tissue of the night. The last scene was beautiful and emotional and rang very true. It was the same dynamic we’ve been seeing repeatedly, but Sam’s plea to his brother at the end may have been the most compelling argument yet. That is something that Dean Winchester cannot ignore, it’s hard wired into him and it’s one of the main reasons I love this show so much. Sam needs him. That means Dean will follow.
Unless we’re going to go against 14.5 seasons of canon, that is. I sincerely hope that’s not the case!
I loved having Shoshannah Stern back on my Show. She made Eileen a character that we cared about, and it was tough to lose her – especially grating to have that loss happen offscreen. Side characters die on Supernatural all the time, and I have no issue with that, but there have been a few that were killed off that were definitely a mistake. Eileen was one of them. She could have remained a fellow hunter and an occasional ally and she was a fan favorite. It was also important to many fans to have representation on their favorite show in such a kickass and inspiring way.
It’s half annoying that Show is trying to make up for its questionable decisions by bringing some of those characters back (Charlie, Bobby, Eileen, Kevin) and half oh fine I just wanted to see them again so okay. In this case, at least they brought back the real Eileen, not some AU version of her who was NOT her at all. I love the friendship between Sam and Eileen, and I hope it stays friendship, because an ongoing romantic relationship in the midst of where they’re at right now seems like a real stretch with only fourteen episodes to go. And for me at least, that’s not the lens through which I watch the show. It’s not that romantic tropes haven’t existed on the show, it’s that romance — narrowly defined — has not been the ongoing driver of the story (yes, Jess and her loss kicked it off, of course). That scene was clearly set up to be romantic – she got out of the tub naked for godsakes – and I love the affection between Eileen and Sam, that’s why I chose those particular caps. It could work at another time, but right now in the story, I’m not so sure. Show doesn’t have a stellar record of pulling off some romances (narrowly defined) in a way that makes sense (Amelia…cough…). As I said before this ETA: Your mileage may vary, of course. Ship if you want! I would never tell anyone which lens to watch a story through, because we all get to watch how we want, that’s what fiction is for and what makes it awesome. I guess we’ll find out where it’s going in the next episode, so stay tuned. I’m just happy to have Shoshannah on my screen again.
There’s trepidation about the next episode, which airs in two weeks after a pause for Thanksgiving here in the US, because despite what Sam said at the end of this episode about them needing each other, the brothers are hunting (or doing something) separately in the next episode. That’s rarely my favorite flavor of Supernatural, especially at this point in its tenure, but I’m staying optimistic that the episode will have a reason for that which makes sense and that it will be a good one. I understand why emotions are running high though – we only have fourteen episodes left with these characters, and it feels vitally important to get what we want most from them in the little bit of time we have left. Nevertheless, I’m trying to stay grounded and savor every moment I have with my favorite fictional characters ever. Fingers crossed!
Caps by kayb625
Gifs by sasquatchandleatherjacket and jaredandjensen
— Lynn
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I was so tired the first time I watched this episode, I totally missed the part about Sam being the only one who could get into Rowena’s apartment and not die. Wow! Very neat though. I enjoy that Rowena thought enough of a “human” to do that. Also means that was her version of a last Will & Testament.
The opening sequence was ok but I would have liked it better with some classic rock music.
Dean calling Sam -Ginger Jr was cute. And Castiel going by Clarence was a very nice callback.
That Djinn was a replacement for Chuck I was thinking and 6 stab wounds? Castiel is angry.
The special effects when Eileen went into the bath water but it didn’t act like water was very smart, although I was confused by the fact (as mentioned) that her clothes were gone when she became human again.
An ok episode but I’m getting more and more worried about the end.
I think everyone is getting more and more worried about the end. If the fandom was sometimes toxic before, it’s magnified now because everyone is consumed with anxiety. I’m trying to take it episode by episode, but it’s hard!
This episode was exactly what I was worried about this season in that it was simply an episode. It wasn’t bad, it wasn’t great, it wasn’t a stand-out – is just was. It existed and it happened.
And, quite honestly, we don’t have time for those episodes this late in the game. Like you said, we only have FOURTEEN episodes left – and this was just a meh episode.
It felt like wasted time. I want Sam & Dean together Sam-&Dean-ing. It’s frustrating how separated on-screen Sam & Dean still are this many episodes in. I’m beginning to realize that this will likely not change for the remainder of the season either – seeing lightning in a bottle wasted like this is such a shame.
I’m trying to lower my expectations so I won’t keep gnashing my teeth wanting more – maybe it’s just knowing we have a limited amount of time that makes the stakes constantly seem so high. There are still moments that make me feel, and in this episode I thought Jared and Shoshannah did a lovely job in their scenes, so there’s that.
We shouldn’t have to lower our expectations (or standards) though. The writers need to step it up this season. They have an amazing cast & amazing crew at their disposable. Bring your “A” game too, writers.
I don’t know if it is just a byproduct of the writers being active on social media or what but it feels like pointing our canon issues or lazy or out-of-character writing is considered so taboo these days – so no one really does.
It’s like we are suppose to accept whatever is presented to us without complaint and be thankful. I want better for my show.
Jared & Shoshannah did do a lovely job but…is what that relationship is really that important this far into the final season? I’d argue, no.
I agree. The relationship between Sam and Eileen is great-he really doesn’t have a lot of friends but really, there’s no time for romance.
Have to say that seeing all these people pop back up feels so much like fan/audience pandering and doesn’t seem to add anything to the main story line.
Maybe there’s a payoff in the end?
“is what that relationship is really that important this far into the final season?”
I think this is one of the reasons the bath tub scene left such a pit of worry in my stomach. Yeah, it was really great having Eileen back, but the *whole episode* practically was Sam and Eileen, with only the barest hint of brother time. And this week’s episode is Sam and Dean split up again, this time Dean being the one to encounter a woman. And I absolutely understand that the Js have reduced shooting schedules, and that means they have to “fill” a certain number of pages with other characters, but IT’S THE LAST SEASON. Why would the writers spend *so much time* on Sam and Eileen’s relationship if it was going to be a one-off, when we’re quickly running out of episodes before the Winchesters are gone from our screens??? It did nothing to advance the core plot or grow the brothers’ relationship, so what was the point?!? Did they learn nothing from last season when they brought Dean back from being possessed because “people hate it when Sam and Dean aren’t together” and then for the majority of the first half of the season the two of them were BARELY on screen together anyway???
I’m certain the Sam / Eileen friendship is part of the bigger plot. Part of the endgame probably a way of moving the story from part a to part b.
This is my gut feeling too. And I don’t want it. We only have 14 episodes left. There is not time for one of the two of them to suddenly develop a deep friendship or whatever with someone else when WE ONLY HAVE 14 EPISODES LEFT. But I can already see them talking about Hell and having dinner together and all kinds of crap that will completely undermine the show, because that’s been Dabb’s M.O. since he got the head writer’s chair.
I hear you . I hope I’m wrong but the warning signs are that the promised “peace” will be for only one Winchester, so I’m trying to not build up my hopes.
I’m not against them finding someone, heck, they deserve a break, but that’s not the nature of this show so to drop hints now isn’t a random act.
If the signs keep pointing that direction I may not be able to finish the series out and will have to imagine it ended with season 5 or 11.
Maybe it’s just another bumpy patch on the road that we can get past. Try to hang in there Mer.
I realized in watching this episode just how little trust I have in Dabb & Co. to give us an ending that doesn’t wreck the show. Because I was enjoying it, truly, deeply, enough that there was a lot I was willing to overlook.
Like the fact that the writers keep forgetting Dean also went to Hell (not begrudging Sam’s time in the cage, it’s just…honestly, after the whole “Sam’s the one upset about seeing Lilith” in the last episode when Lilith *literally* showed up personally to make sure Dean got dragged down by the hellhounds, it’s irritating).
Or the *terrible* music during the fight scene with the witches at the end (seriously, what the fudge was that mess???).
Or the fact that the nearest lake to Lebanon is a half hour drive and doesn’t have trees around it, Sam would have to drive 45 minutes to get to an area like that to run like a beautiful gazelle, which anyone who’s written fanfic set around the bunker would know because trust me, we Google crap like that, and it takes three minutes to type in “nearest lake to Lebanon, KS,” you get three top results (one is a reservoir), and there are pictures so you can see the topography.
Or the fact that for far too long now they have boiled Dean being rightfully in a funk down to “He eats and wanders around in a bathrobe/fun pajamas/snazzy socks.”
Or the fact that Cas is technically married to the queen of the Djinn and should therefore theoretically be able to just order a random Djinn to stop killing people because he’s at the very least a royal consort, if not their king.
Or the fact that I had to question how smart 10 year old Sam was if he couldn’t tell the difference between toothpaste (which is a gel or a paste and definitely colored) and superglue (which is clear and wouldn’t work even if mixed with toothpaste, meaning he must have just straight up put it on his brush and not noticed).
Honestly, I handwaved *all* of that away, because I was really enjoying the writing and the episode and the way everyone was relating to everyone else and the really great chemistry between all the characters and the really solid acting from the guest stars, not to mention the idea that Rowena left *everything* to Sam. That was beautiful and really, genuinely sweet in a show that doesn’t have a whole lot of sweet. I was even happy to see that Cas, who is not a favorite of mine, finally had a *purpose* again.
And then Eileen got out of the bathtub and she was naked and for some reason Sam had a towel for her instead of a robe, which would have provided her with much more modesty, and she clung to him while only wearing a towel and it was just so unnecessarily intimate. I mean, I have a lot of male friends – a lot of very, very close male friends, and I can say with absolute certainty that if any of them were bringing me back to life and didn’t know for sure if I was going to come back fully clothed, they’d have more than a single towel there for me to get into once I got out of the tub. I literally spent days distraught over the idea that they’re going to set up a relationship between Sam and Eileen (because Dabb doesn’t understand the concept of growing a relationship organically and there are still 14 episodes left for him to shoehorn a romance in), and the end of the show will be Sam going off with Eileen and Dean either dead or on his own.
Because they’ve said they’re going back to the roots of the show, and in season 1 Sam never missed an opportunity to tell Dean, “I’m going to leave you.” “This isn’t my life.” “You’re going to have to let me go my own way.” He even said it when Dean had just had a legitimate chick flick moment with him and was clearly emotionally vulnerable and essentially Sam’s response was, “You’re gonna have to get over your abandonment issues.” In season 1 that was understandable, if difficult to watch as someone who found the show in my 30s. Sam was 22-23. He was a kid. He didn’t know he had demon blood in him. His dad was still alive. He had the stupid, romantic notion that a “normal” life was still possible for him. He hadn’t died, Dean hadn’t sold his soul to bring him back, he hadn’t spent a year trying to save his brother from Hell, he thought Azazel was just after their mom, he hadn’t had *any* of the experiences that over the course of the last 15 years have really bound the brothers to each other.
And we played out the idea of Sam having a “normal” life again in season 8, which Jared said was very out of character and he had a problem with. Still, after the dark days of Sam hitting a dog and leaving Dean in Purgatory in favor of living with the worst vet in the country until her husband came back (and then blaming his brother for giving up his “normal life” even though he gave up his “normal life” because THE HUSBAND CAME BACK before he even knew Dean was alive), and Dean giving up the best friend he’s probably ever had because his brother was jealous, Dean proclaimed that his “perfect ending” was Sam living into his eighties and having grandkids because Dean doesn’t see a way out of this for him. And Sam’s, “I can’t do this without my brother” at the end of this episode was so reminiscent of “I see a light at the end of this tunnel and I’ll take you there” during a season of just…terrible angst largely over a woman.
Eileen getting out of the bathtub recolored the whole of the episode for me – the way Sam learned more ASL so he could communicate with her. The little, “I’ve been to Hell, if you ever want to talk about it…” moment, with her saying she can’t yet, implying that she might eventually open up to him. The fact that Dean was specifically distanced from everyone while Sam and Eileen were decidedly paired up. All of it left me with a terrible taste in my mouth, because I *just don’t trust Dabb* to understand what this show is about. Or to care about the characters and the fans. Or to understand how crushing it would be after all these years for the show to end with the Sam and Dean split up, one of them choosing a girl over a brother whose entire life has been devoted to him. It would quite literally ruin the whole series for me. I could never go back and watch Dean sell his soul to bring Sam back, knowing at the end of it Sam was going to ride off into the sunset with someone else. It just…
It would be an awfully good final, “F&%^ you” to the fans he so clearly dislikes if Dabb ended the “epic love story of Sam and Dean” with them essentially getting that “divorce” Dean has been so afraid of for so long. It would completely undo so much growth in their relationship and completely undermine the entire point of the show – that they always choose each other over everything else. And I have absolutely no faith that Dabb wouldn’t do it.
Sure, I’m probably overreacting, and it’s always possible that it was filmed that way precisely as a red herring to make people worry about the brothers splitting up at the end of the series, but if that’s the case? It’s a serious dick move to toy with the audience’s emotions like that when we’re in the last season and we know one of the two main actors was not okay with the ending when he read it. (And I can’t really imagine Jared being okay with it ending with Sam and Dean not together, but that just goes to show you how little faith I have in the writers to give us anything halfway satisfactory that I am *still* desperately worried about this as a possible outcome.)
Sam would have had to be pretty oblivious over his toothpaste. Not only that but SuperGlue will not work if wet or on anything wet.
Right??? It was another little “Dean’s always been a dick” jab that is so prevalent in the Dabb era, and I was STILL willing to overlook it, even though Sam would have had to be a *super* dumb ten year old not to notice his toothpaste wasn’t toothpaste.
Hey! Come join us 30%’ers. The waters fine. The booze free flowing. The match sticks are plentiful and the Andrew Dabb effigy is coming along just fine….
Forget the match sticks, I’m bringing a blow torch to light that sucker up…
I guess that’s my problem too, I don’t have as much faith as I wish I did that the show will come to an end in a way that makes sense and is true to all the characters. I love Eileen and I was so happy to have her back, but I really don’t know if the show will make her journey — all of their journeys — either logical, meaningful or emotionally resonant.
This is *exactly* my problem. Considering Dabb already destroyed Mary as a character (thereby ruining the brothers’ origin story by turning a loving mother who made a really bad deal with a demon into a cold hearted hunter who apparently never stopped and should have at least had basic warding in her house), I have absolutely no reason to believe that whatever ending he’s come up with will make any kind of sense in the long run. He’s already shown that he can’t focus on a main through arc and needs to have five or six things going at any one time like it will somehow distract from the overall worsening quality under his tenure, and he’s already shown that he can’t organically grow characters or relationships. It wouldn’t surprise me in the slightest if he decided, this, the final season, is the one where the boys will finally find someone to love them and split up to live lives that are not psychotically irrationally erotically co-dependent, since he doesn’t seem to 1) understand their relationship or 2) like their relationship.
Plus, it really would be just like Dabb, who demonstrably does not understand how to write female characters in a realistic way, to bring Eileen back (or introduce someone else) just to be reduced to a love interest.
Thr good, the bad and the ugly, in it until the end.
I guess I liked this ep better than everyone else, though yes the opening was way too long and the music was irritating as hell. I loved Eileen and was SO happy she came back: Buckner-Leming were the ones who sent her off which made her death even worse ugh. The first time around, Eileen and he had a sweet friendship but neither of them ever said anything about romance (though I admit I shipped it a little!).
So when Sam said, do you ever feel like the victim of a cosmic joke, and she said “Are you kidding?” and tried to touch his hand…to me it was such a subtle but beautiful acknowledgement of what could have been. Am I the only one who saw it that way? Apparently lol!
And no, I am not really expecting them to let Sam have a love life (time is way too short and that can’t be anyone’s priority), but even the fact that she is alive and they are reunited means the world to me. Beautifully written and acted!
And it was from Meredith Glynn, who also wrote Regarding Dean (one of my all time favorite eps) so no wonder! Love how she threw in her own shout out to that ep with, “witch killing bullets!”
I thought she put her hand through Sams to make a point. Sam was being rather pity partying thinking about himself there, I saw it as she was bringing his attention suffering other than his own? I mean, come on. Eileen’s decaf because her parents were hunters, she was left on her own. She died horribly and was dragged into Hell by the hounds. Was she tortured? How long was she down there Hell vs Earth time? Plus at that moment she didn’t know there was a spell to bring her back. And Sams standing there “woe is me” in front of her. Sam knows what she’s been thru, he just got a little stuck on his own pain for a moment.
Yes, because it’s horrible to be decaf on account of your hunters parents. 😉
I saw Eileen touching Sam’s hand in that moment as, “Uh, same bruh” as well. Because if the hellhounds dragged her down, then we would have to presume she ended up on the rack. The hellhounds only come for people who sell their souls, and they take them to a specific place in Hell where they get to spend eternity being tortured. To me she was definitely conveying, “Pal, I am THE cosmic joke,” to have lost her hearing as an infant because of a supernatural entity and then end up in Hell thanks to a supernatural entity she couldn’t hear.
Yeah, I very Eileen was trying to ground Sam, he was being overly melodramatic .
They have all had a tough time. I liked Rowena a lot, but it’s odd that only Dean is upset about everything, Sam has been more upset about Rowena than his Mom or the fact he’s been jerked around like a puppet.
And as for the pyjama day, totally understand Deans situation. Depression has followed him his pretty much his whole life like a black dog. It takes many forms with him, angry, withdrawn, eating, drinking to excess and so on and currently he’s trying to dig himself out by self comforting, one small victory skewed in Sam’s favour isn’t the lift Dean needs, much as he liked Eileen, all its doing is reminding him of all those he personally cared about who he can never have back. He didn’t begrudge Sam a victory, but it was a hollow one for him and he’s still in pain. I hope the next episode Sam encourages Dean to hunt alone not because of a fall out or because Sam and Eileen are shutting him out, but Sam takes a step back to help him find his own personal and meaningful victory.
Your happiness feels really good, thank you for sharing. I actually liked the episode, partly because I loved having Eileen back and I love Shoshannah and she and Jared were excellent. I just don’t know where we’re going from here – they did so wrong by Eileen the last time, so I don’t have much faith they’ll do right by her this time.
Lynn, I worry the same for Eileen…I would rather they leave her returning storyline at just this ep, if they are thinking of killing her off or some other awful fate AGAIN. I wish i felt I could trust Dabb, but I can’t.
“In other words, Dean may be pissed and Cas may be pissed, but both clearly still care.”
Yes, Dean cares – he warned Cass about Chuck. But Cass? He even said ‘I had a friend’ – in the past tense. Where here is the care?
Castiel has for so long wanted to salvage something of his heavenly world, for something good to come of it that, from the moment he connected to Jack he’s been unable to be swayed and has not been able to listen. Jack became his reason, not unlike a parent, from the time Kelly passed away Castiel chose his surrogate child. It’s understandable in a way, but so very sad he now has no faith in his friend who suffered much because of Chuck. Dean willingly took beatings both for and from Castiel yet remained loyal. Dean served heaven and Chuck in the end giving up his beloved brother to stop the Apocalypse. Cas needs to remember the sacrifices Dean has made and the loyalty he’s shown when no one else would help and perhaps that will help him listen to and understand Dean.
maybe its because said friend sent him down to hell with a demon he knew he despised looking at. Maybe its because said friend told him he was the reason everything went wrong. Maybe it was because said friend didn’t even care that castiel had watched his FATHER kill his son, which in a way is contestable to Mary. Which is worse, your mother dying, or watching your father kill your son? Their levels of grief are similar. Cas has tried to understand dean. “I’ve tried to talk to you, over and over and you just don’t want to hear it.” Where did Dean take beatings FOR cas? I remember Dean beating up cas near to a pulp in season 10 though. When did Dean serve heaven? Or Chuck? Castiel rebelled, losing his family for millions of years to help Dean, so when did Dean serve heaven? Moreover, Dean lost sam, and Cas was the one who tried to rescue him. I know he partially failed, but cas went down into the cage where Micheal and Lucifer resided to try and bring sam back. Maybe Dean needs to realize that he isn’t the only one suffering, and he isn’t even the one suffering the most. Sam had to kill rowena. Cas had to destroy Jack’s body. Sam lost Mary and Cas lost Jack. (And his father in a way).
Dean’s grief is valid, but he needs to understand others. Cas doesn’t owe Dean anything right now.
Cad didn’t “partly fail.” Cas brought Sam back KNOWING he’d left his soul behind and then played dumb about it *for a year*. Meanwhile Sam was off letting Dean get turned into a vampire and trying to murder Bobby while Castiel was literally trying to play God with Crowley. This was after he spent all of season 4 telling Sam he was an abomination before finally letting Sam out of the panic room so Sam could strangle his brother and go start the apocalypse. After Sam got his soul back (thanks to Dean DYING so he could beg Death to bring back Sam’s soul), Cas then broke Sam’s mental wall, leading to a total breakdown that landed Sam in an institution and almost killed him, and spent the better part of a year living in wedding bliss while the boys tried to deal with the Leviathans that – oh, right, CAS let into the world and who ended up killing the closest person to a father they’d had since John died. Not content with having screwed up enough by the end of season 7, he abandoned Dean in Purgatory (straight up abandoned him in a dimension filled with monsters), and the only reason Dean made it back topside was because he met a really awesome and actually trustworthy vampire who understood what friendship is actually supposed to be (and oh yeah, sacrificed himself to get Sam out of Purgatory even though Sam hated him). Cas trusted Metatron and caused the angels to fall, let Lucifer out of the cage again and then claimed it was some kind of team failure even though Sam blatantly said “No” to Lucifer, then repeatedly chose a nephilim over hunanity (and the Winchesters in particular), which culminated in Dean and Sam losing their mother a second time.
And I didn’t even delve into when he threatened to drop Dean back into the pit, threatened to kill Sam if Dean didn’t get him under control, beat Dean to a pulp when Dean was at his lowest point in season 5, then beat him again in season 8 because he trusted the angels (despite knowing since season 5 that he couldn’t trust his brothers and sisters) and got himself mind controlled by Naomi.
By my score card, Dean doesn’t owe Cas a damn thing – not his understanding, not his forgiveness, and certainly not his friendship.
You’re not wrong, Cas is grieving and his grief is valid too, but right now he’s definitely forgetting a lot of what they have been through. For example when Dean fought and took beatings from demons to save Jimmy , his daughter and wife. Dean also stood up for him over the Leviathans when everyone else know things had gone wrong, Dean protected him from the demons when he was Emanuel. Castiel went to Dean when now one else would help with Raphael and Dean helped. I’m not saying their friendship is perfect or that Dean doesn’t make mistakes, everyone in this show is fallible, but Castiel needs to try to remember the good stuff.
Not sure that Castiel has told anyone about his failing powers has he? If so then I must have missed that , so yes perhaps Dean should have tried to check in on him for that, but I thought only we the audience knew that.
I said “I had a friend,” Because Dean made it very clear that he does not care about Castiel. We as the audience know that Dean does, but Cas doesn’t. He thinks their friendship is over. So yes he cares about Dean, but they aren’t friends right now. Would you be friend’s with someone who said that you essentially were the reason everything went wrong? Because that’s basically what Dean said to Cas.
Moreover, Dean hasn’t even told Sam the real reason Cas left. He doesn’t even seem remotely interested in the fact that Cas’ power’s are failing. The only reason he even communicated with Cas was because CAS told the sheriff to call the bunker. Dean didn’t make an attempt to contact Cas.
even when he talked to him, it was still very condescending. “Have you checked your messages?” “Nope.” “right, smart, why would you?” “Look I don’t know if you even care.”
…. where is the care?
Cas’s powers haven’t made any sense or had consistency since Season 8. He has full powers when it’s convenient for the plot. There is no rhyme or reason to when he can heal someone and when he can’t. This changes from episode to episode. I’d love an official explanation of what his powers are because the lack of consistency is annoying.
Dawn, that is literally my #1 complaint about the show. I’ve been ranting about this for years…it’s SO frustrating. I feel like from seasons 1-6 or 7 they used to be more careful with continuity and canon
There’s a reason Gamble tried to kill Cas off. Having a powerful angel in your corner makes hunting monsters super easy. You either need to figure out how to keep him perpetually off doing something else or figure out a reason why he’s not all that powerful anymore. And if you’ve decided he’s not that powerful, someone’s got to keep track of which powers he has and which powers he doesn’t have. They used to at least make up excuses for Cas’ powers being wonky, but under Dabb it’s become, “Cas does/doesn’t have his powers because we need him to be strong/weak in this episode.”
That is exactly the difficulty with Cas as a character. The problem for me is I love Cas-and Misha- and by now I can’t imagine the show without him. But he became like Doctor Who’s sonic screwdriver, which they have had to retire on occasion. Dabb just doesn’t seem to care about the show as much as the fans do, or he thinks we will just swallow whatever inconsistencies the writers spew out.
HA! I never thought of Cas as a sonic screwdriver, but that’s exactly what he is.