13.12 - Various & Sundry Villains (SPOILERS, oh yes!)
Gotta admit, I didn't entirely trust my first, happily squeeful response, so waited until I could re-view. And wow.
Wow.
WOW.
Holy shit, Show. Why can't every SPN episode be this good? We know you can do it, so WHY YOU GOTTA TEASE US THIS WAY?
[SPOILERS out the wazoo -- beware!]The episode opens with local yokel Dale being hexed into committing a crime, then murdered. (I LOVED the super-saturation of the bewitched man's POV -- an excellent touch. After all, when you're in love, everything's brighter and prettier, you know?) After the girls get what they want, there's a cringingly violent kill (sans real-time blood-spatter? SPN, what's gotten into you?)
In the bunker. Sam reads and does his "Sam-thing" and Dean helps. Alas, Latin and French book titles sound much better coming from Sam's mouth than Dean's.
Dean: "We should probably loop Cas at some point ..."
Sam: "We'll fill him in when he calls -- he checks in every day."
"Yeah, with a bunch of questions and no leads."
"I'm sure he is doing the best that he can."
Doesn't exactly sound like the boys are worried sick over him, does it? Certainly not enough to drop Sam into a deep depressive state over "worry." They don't even know that the angel's even in danger, fer cryin' out loud.
Speaking of which, now here's Lucifer and Castiel in demon/angel prison. Dipper!demon drops by to taunt Lucifer and we know where this is going to end, don't we? RIP in advance, Dipper. Shoulda kept your mouth shut.
"Son-of-a-bitch!" sounds much better coming from Dean's mouth than Lucifer's.
Dean gets hexed, though he doesn't seem to possess the super-saturated Technicolor POV that the earlier victim had. Oddly enough, Sam's first up-close view of Dean appears to be oversaturated. Make of that what you will. ;)
Dean's all "full-on twitterpated" after being bewitched, and Sam's expression at learning Dean wants to ask Jamie!witch to MOVE IN WITH THEM. (Also? Bewitched!Dean is adorable.) Brainy!Sam immediately connects Dean's condition to Becky and her love spell, and YAY for hearking back to earlier seasons. \o/
Dean's red & green Christmassy look is yummy. (Oh, to get a present like that under the tree.)
When Sam snatches the car keys out of Dean's reach, the drawn-out "squeak" of Dean's hand on the wooden table could be the wheels of Dean's planned love affair screeching to a halt. Except Dean ain't having it, and Sam ... is hot even when unconscious.
Dean returns with the prize, and Jenny!witch is all: "Where's the car? I wanted the CAARRR! Jenny knows what's important.
SAM TO THE RESCUE! WITH "the carrrr." Dean is offended at the whole gun-pointing thing, and we're treated to a brotherly wrasslin' match, which, yay!
Jenny!witch: "We'd better get out of here in case the one with the hair actually wins." THE ONE WITH THE HAIR, OMG, LOL!
A high-heeled saviortosses a bucket of cold water on the boys' mating dance disrupts the melee and stops the guys damaging each other further. And hey, it's ROWEEEEENNNAAAA!
"Hello, boys."
I'm still not sure whether to be thrilled or annoyed by the classic Crowley line being uttered by a non-Crowley. But it's Rowena, so ... *ponders* (And yeah, Rowena's return was the spoiler that got me so got-damned pissy yesterday. I would have LOVED to have gone into this episode unspoiled, but thanks to Robert Berens' inability to keep a secret and Twitter's "I'm gonna show you everything whether you want to see it or not" policy, that didn't happen. Still bitter? Hells yeah, I am.)
Back in angel prison ...
Castiel: "Stop! I don't want to hear any more of your lies!"
Lucifer: "Oh, this coming from the angel who almost has ME beat in that department -- and that's saying a LOT, pal."
*cough* TRUER WORDS WERE NEVER SPOKEN. And kudos to the writers for bringing it up, because not only has Castiel lied to the boys more than anyone in the history of Supernatural, I'm pretty sure he's killed nearly as many fellow angels as Lucifer, too.
Rowena: "Oh, you Winchesters ... I've changed."
Yeah, and I'm the Easter Bunny. Credit to Sam and Dean for not falling out of their chairs laughing.
Rowena finds out about Crowley's death, and her sorrow is surprising in its depth. "Fergus was my only child ... I'd much rather have a living son than a dead hero." Kind of a fitting epitaph, I think ... and he DID die a hero.
Fifth base. FIFTH BASE. And Dean wants to KNOW. XD It's fairly obvious that Dean would've made a Deal with Rowena -- or the Devil himself -- just to find out about fifth base. Hell, I might make that deal my own self.
The amount of "family" references in this episode was astounding, of Sam and Dean, of Lucifer and Castiel's angelic brotherhood, of Lucifer's clear jealousy of Castiel's relationship with Jack, of sisters Jamie and Jenny (and their willingness to do anything to get their mom back -- a nice parallel to Sam and Dean); of Rowena's sorrow for her lost son, and best of all, Sam and Rowena's unexpected and wonderful emotional alliance. That one made up for a LOT of sins.
Meanwhile, back in prison, Castiel joins forces with the conveniently re-powered Lucifer, killing Dipper to escape. Quelle surprise.
And then came the best part of the episode:
Sam: "Let's say you get the book ... it's not going to change anything. You're still gonna feel ... helpless. What Lucifer did to you --"
Rowena: "I told you, I don't --" Anger. Then, very deliberately: "Before he crushed my skull, Lucifer showed me his face. His true face." She breaks. "I'm scared, Sam. All the time."
Sam: "I've seen it, too. What he really looks like behind -- behind whatever vessel -- " He looks away "Yeah, it still keeps me up at night."
Rowena: "How ... do you deal with it?"
Sam: "I guess I don't deal with it, not really. I, uh -- I pushed it down, and, um, the world kept -- almost ending, and I keep pushing it down, and -- I don't know. I don't really talk about it, not even with Dean. I mean, I -- I could -- you know, he'd listen -- but -- it's not something I'd really -- you know -- how to share."
Holy hell, what a gorgeously visualized scene, and props all around -- to Jared and Ruth for bringing this scene HOME, to director Tapping for the intimate feel of the moment, and to writer Yockey for (a) remembering earlier events and (b) using them to provide such a stunning emotional link between Sam and Rowena.
Which leads us to Dean's interrogation of Brenda -- another of the episode's shining moments. At first, she's skeptical of Dean's rationale for tracking down the witch sisters and the book they stole -- there is some banter about the girls' alleged virtue and intelligence, and then he lets loose with that deadly charm:
Dean: "If it helps, I don't plan on being nice about it when I do find them."
Brenda: "Ooo!" (Brenda immediately writes down their address.) "You gonna be really mean?"
Dean: "Yeah."
Brenda: "'Cause it's about damn time someone was."
Yup. Make HER a Wayward Sister and I might be more interested. ;)
Dean thanks her and leaves. Brenda takes a moment to admire the view. Hells yeah she does.
"Admires the view," indeed. She damn near falls over the counter to keep that fine Winchester chassis in view. Kudos to the actress for her spot-on portrayal of every woman ever mesmerized by that man's bowlegged swagger. Brenda, we salute you. Sing it with me now, "I'm every wo-man ..."
Rowena traps the boys, escapes, finds the girls, is double-crossed, and set upon by their reincarnated zombie-mom. (How Rowena can scurry so nimbly in five-inch heels is pure witchcraft itself. I'm about her height, and used to wear heels like that to appear less Munchkin-like, but running in 'em? Are you insane?)
Dean (watching Sam try to reach hex-bag: "Come on, you're like eight feet tall. You can't reach that?" Seriously. But oh, that boy can stretch, can't he?
Back to Lucifer and Castiel, now outside of Crowley's former lair.
Castiel: "Oh, I trusted you. When we fought the Darkness, and then you betrayed us. And I trusted you -- " (Lucifer tries to stab him.) "Fool me once -- " (he stabs Lucifer) "This is me, learning from my mistakes."
THIS is the speech I can't wait to hear Sam and Dean give to Castiel. With or without the stabbing, I don't care. I just want to hear the boys acknowledge all the times they've been betrayed by Castiel.
Turns out the witch sisters were working for Rowena (no surprise) and, planning to double-cross her (even less surprise), they sic their zombified Mom upon her. The boys arrive just in time to save Rowena's bacon, but ... oh, Dean, why on Earth would you TELL witches about the witch-killing bullets before using them to, yanno, KILL them -- thereby giving said witches the chance to kick your ass? WHYYYY?
That fight scene. : / Witches or no, why can these two big, healthy, strapping Winchesters not easily overpower two stick-thin women? Ah, well, Rowena saves THEIR bacon with her "guard-dog spell" ... at the last minute, turning the girls' fury upon each other. (Am I the only one who thought, had Rowena and Sam not had that heart-to-heart, she might have sicced the girls on Sam and Dean? I don't want to think it, 'cause I like Rowena, but she IS Rowena ... she wants and NEEDS that book, and she's terrified.)
The last conversation between Sam and Dean is another wonder. As Sam told Rowena, Dean listens, yes ... but he doesn't always HEAR.
Sam: "I know what Rowena is dealing with. She's not the only one who -- feels helpless."
Dean: "What do you mean?"
Sam: "Means ... I had a plan. Help Jack, bring Mom back. It wasn't much, but it was something. It kept me from spinning off the rails, but now -- Jack is gone, Mom is still in Hell, basically, and I just -- "
Dean: "We'll figure it out."
Sam: "Dean. We don't have a plan. We don't know what to do, so how--?"
Dean: "I don't know. But we will. You and me."
But Sam's not convinced. Like Rowena, he know that evil will come back and bite them in the ass. And he has seen the true face of evil. With that, Sam heads off to bed. And I could very easily see this being the lead-up to Sam's bedridden self at the beginning of 13.11.
cherie_morte suggested that perhaps TPTB had switched the order of episodes 13.12 and 13.11 to enhance the Wayward Sisters vibe, and I believe she is spot-on, that Sam's "breakdown" would have made MUCH more sense had it come AFTER this episode, as what Lucifer did to Sam in the Cage and afterwards would have had a much more damaging effect to his psyche than anything that's happened with Mary or Jack. Sam has been to Hell. Trapped (twice) in a cage with Lucifer. Has seen Lucifer's actual face, up close and personal. In typical Winchester fashion, Sam repressed it all ... until his confession to Rowena brought all the pain and horror bubbling back to to the surface. Of course he's worried about Jack and Mary -- they're important to him -- but it was his surfacing memories of torment at Lucifer's hand that opened the floodgates to depression.
Cherie was right -- this episode should have come first for Sam's depressed state to ring more truly.
The final Rowena scene was ... intriguing. The spell from the grimoire -- it's a protection spell, yes? Warding (the sounds alone were reminiscent of armor) or something like the Enochian symbols that used to be carved into Sam and Dean's ribs? And those creepy violet-glowing irises, yeesh. I'm not entirely sure that whatever just happened to her is a good thing. But say what you will, electric purple is definitely Rowena's power color. And I still hope that she and Sam band together to kick Lucifer's ass. And make his ass suffer, but good. ;)
Finally, as per Dean Winchester himself, Rowena is The Deadliest Witch in the World™ :DDDDD
Final score - 10/10100 for the Sam/Rowena and Dean/Brenda scenes alone. LOVED it!
Next week ... DANNEEL! I realize that some dislike the guys' spouses, but I ain't one of them. BRING ON SISTER JO!
Wow.
WOW.
Holy shit, Show. Why can't every SPN episode be this good? We know you can do it, so WHY YOU GOTTA TEASE US THIS WAY?
[SPOILERS out the wazoo -- beware!]The episode opens with local yokel Dale being hexed into committing a crime, then murdered. (I LOVED the super-saturation of the bewitched man's POV -- an excellent touch. After all, when you're in love, everything's brighter and prettier, you know?) After the girls get what they want, there's a cringingly violent kill (sans real-time blood-spatter? SPN, what's gotten into you?)
In the bunker. Sam reads and does his "Sam-thing" and Dean helps. Alas, Latin and French book titles sound much better coming from Sam's mouth than Dean's.
Dean: "We should probably loop Cas at some point ..."
Sam: "We'll fill him in when he calls -- he checks in every day."
"Yeah, with a bunch of questions and no leads."
"I'm sure he is doing the best that he can."
Doesn't exactly sound like the boys are worried sick over him, does it? Certainly not enough to drop Sam into a deep depressive state over "worry." They don't even know that the angel's even in danger, fer cryin' out loud.
Speaking of which, now here's Lucifer and Castiel in demon/angel prison. Dipper!demon drops by to taunt Lucifer and we know where this is going to end, don't we? RIP in advance, Dipper. Shoulda kept your mouth shut.
"Son-of-a-bitch!" sounds much better coming from Dean's mouth than Lucifer's.
Dean gets hexed, though he doesn't seem to possess the super-saturated Technicolor POV that the earlier victim had. Oddly enough, Sam's first up-close view of Dean appears to be oversaturated. Make of that what you will. ;)
Dean's all "full-on twitterpated" after being bewitched, and Sam's expression at learning Dean wants to ask Jamie!witch to MOVE IN WITH THEM. (Also? Bewitched!Dean is adorable.) Brainy!Sam immediately connects Dean's condition to Becky and her love spell, and YAY for hearking back to earlier seasons. \o/
Dean's red & green Christmassy look is yummy. (Oh, to get a present like that under the tree.)
When Sam snatches the car keys out of Dean's reach, the drawn-out "squeak" of Dean's hand on the wooden table could be the wheels of Dean's planned love affair screeching to a halt. Except Dean ain't having it, and Sam ... is hot even when unconscious.
Dean returns with the prize, and Jenny!witch is all: "Where's the car? I wanted the CAARRR! Jenny knows what's important.
SAM TO THE RESCUE! WITH "the carrrr." Dean is offended at the whole gun-pointing thing, and we're treated to a brotherly wrasslin' match, which, yay!
Jenny!witch: "We'd better get out of here in case the one with the hair actually wins." THE ONE WITH THE HAIR, OMG, LOL!
A high-heeled savior
"Hello, boys."
I'm still not sure whether to be thrilled or annoyed by the classic Crowley line being uttered by a non-Crowley. But it's Rowena, so ... *ponders* (And yeah, Rowena's return was the spoiler that got me so got-damned pissy yesterday. I would have LOVED to have gone into this episode unspoiled, but thanks to Robert Berens' inability to keep a secret and Twitter's "I'm gonna show you everything whether you want to see it or not" policy, that didn't happen. Still bitter? Hells yeah, I am.)
Back in angel prison ...
Castiel: "Stop! I don't want to hear any more of your lies!"
Lucifer: "Oh, this coming from the angel who almost has ME beat in that department -- and that's saying a LOT, pal."
*cough* TRUER WORDS WERE NEVER SPOKEN. And kudos to the writers for bringing it up, because not only has Castiel lied to the boys more than anyone in the history of Supernatural, I'm pretty sure he's killed nearly as many fellow angels as Lucifer, too.
Rowena: "Oh, you Winchesters ... I've changed."
Yeah, and I'm the Easter Bunny. Credit to Sam and Dean for not falling out of their chairs laughing.
Rowena finds out about Crowley's death, and her sorrow is surprising in its depth. "Fergus was my only child ... I'd much rather have a living son than a dead hero." Kind of a fitting epitaph, I think ... and he DID die a hero.
Fifth base. FIFTH BASE. And Dean wants to KNOW. XD It's fairly obvious that Dean would've made a Deal with Rowena -- or the Devil himself -- just to find out about fifth base. Hell, I might make that deal my own self.
The amount of "family" references in this episode was astounding, of Sam and Dean, of Lucifer and Castiel's angelic brotherhood, of Lucifer's clear jealousy of Castiel's relationship with Jack, of sisters Jamie and Jenny (and their willingness to do anything to get their mom back -- a nice parallel to Sam and Dean); of Rowena's sorrow for her lost son, and best of all, Sam and Rowena's unexpected and wonderful emotional alliance. That one made up for a LOT of sins.
Meanwhile, back in prison, Castiel joins forces with the conveniently re-powered Lucifer, killing Dipper to escape. Quelle surprise.
And then came the best part of the episode:
Sam: "Let's say you get the book ... it's not going to change anything. You're still gonna feel ... helpless. What Lucifer did to you --"
Rowena: "I told you, I don't --" Anger. Then, very deliberately: "Before he crushed my skull, Lucifer showed me his face. His true face." She breaks. "I'm scared, Sam. All the time."
Sam: "I've seen it, too. What he really looks like behind -- behind whatever vessel -- " He looks away "Yeah, it still keeps me up at night."
Rowena: "How ... do you deal with it?"
Sam: "I guess I don't deal with it, not really. I, uh -- I pushed it down, and, um, the world kept -- almost ending, and I keep pushing it down, and -- I don't know. I don't really talk about it, not even with Dean. I mean, I -- I could -- you know, he'd listen -- but -- it's not something I'd really -- you know -- how to share."
Holy hell, what a gorgeously visualized scene, and props all around -- to Jared and Ruth for bringing this scene HOME, to director Tapping for the intimate feel of the moment, and to writer Yockey for (a) remembering earlier events and (b) using them to provide such a stunning emotional link between Sam and Rowena.
Which leads us to Dean's interrogation of Brenda -- another of the episode's shining moments. At first, she's skeptical of Dean's rationale for tracking down the witch sisters and the book they stole -- there is some banter about the girls' alleged virtue and intelligence, and then he lets loose with that deadly charm:
Dean: "If it helps, I don't plan on being nice about it when I do find them."
Brenda: "Ooo!" (Brenda immediately writes down their address.) "You gonna be really mean?"
Dean: "Yeah."
Brenda: "'Cause it's about damn time someone was."
Yup. Make HER a Wayward Sister and I might be more interested. ;)
Dean thanks her and leaves. Brenda takes a moment to admire the view. Hells yeah she does.
"Admires the view," indeed. She damn near falls over the counter to keep that fine Winchester chassis in view. Kudos to the actress for her spot-on portrayal of every woman ever mesmerized by that man's bowlegged swagger. Brenda, we salute you. Sing it with me now, "I'm every wo-man ..."
Rowena traps the boys, escapes, finds the girls, is double-crossed, and set upon by their reincarnated zombie-mom. (How Rowena can scurry so nimbly in five-inch heels is pure witchcraft itself. I'm about her height, and used to wear heels like that to appear less Munchkin-like, but running in 'em? Are you insane?)
Dean (watching Sam try to reach hex-bag: "Come on, you're like eight feet tall. You can't reach that?" Seriously. But oh, that boy can stretch, can't he?
Back to Lucifer and Castiel, now outside of Crowley's former lair.
Castiel: "Oh, I trusted you. When we fought the Darkness, and then you betrayed us. And I trusted you -- " (Lucifer tries to stab him.) "Fool me once -- " (he stabs Lucifer) "This is me, learning from my mistakes."
THIS is the speech I can't wait to hear Sam and Dean give to Castiel. With or without the stabbing, I don't care. I just want to hear the boys acknowledge all the times they've been betrayed by Castiel.
Turns out the witch sisters were working for Rowena (no surprise) and, planning to double-cross her (even less surprise), they sic their zombified Mom upon her. The boys arrive just in time to save Rowena's bacon, but ... oh, Dean, why on Earth would you TELL witches about the witch-killing bullets before using them to, yanno, KILL them -- thereby giving said witches the chance to kick your ass? WHYYYY?
That fight scene. : / Witches or no, why can these two big, healthy, strapping Winchesters not easily overpower two stick-thin women? Ah, well, Rowena saves THEIR bacon with her "guard-dog spell" ... at the last minute, turning the girls' fury upon each other. (Am I the only one who thought, had Rowena and Sam not had that heart-to-heart, she might have sicced the girls on Sam and Dean? I don't want to think it, 'cause I like Rowena, but she IS Rowena ... she wants and NEEDS that book, and she's terrified.)
The last conversation between Sam and Dean is another wonder. As Sam told Rowena, Dean listens, yes ... but he doesn't always HEAR.
Sam: "I know what Rowena is dealing with. She's not the only one who -- feels helpless."
Dean: "What do you mean?"
Sam: "Means ... I had a plan. Help Jack, bring Mom back. It wasn't much, but it was something. It kept me from spinning off the rails, but now -- Jack is gone, Mom is still in Hell, basically, and I just -- "
Dean: "We'll figure it out."
Sam: "Dean. We don't have a plan. We don't know what to do, so how--?"
Dean: "I don't know. But we will. You and me."
But Sam's not convinced. Like Rowena, he know that evil will come back and bite them in the ass. And he has seen the true face of evil. With that, Sam heads off to bed. And I could very easily see this being the lead-up to Sam's bedridden self at the beginning of 13.11.
cherie_morte suggested that perhaps TPTB had switched the order of episodes 13.12 and 13.11 to enhance the Wayward Sisters vibe, and I believe she is spot-on, that Sam's "breakdown" would have made MUCH more sense had it come AFTER this episode, as what Lucifer did to Sam in the Cage and afterwards would have had a much more damaging effect to his psyche than anything that's happened with Mary or Jack. Sam has been to Hell. Trapped (twice) in a cage with Lucifer. Has seen Lucifer's actual face, up close and personal. In typical Winchester fashion, Sam repressed it all ... until his confession to Rowena brought all the pain and horror bubbling back to to the surface. Of course he's worried about Jack and Mary -- they're important to him -- but it was his surfacing memories of torment at Lucifer's hand that opened the floodgates to depression.Cherie was right -- this episode should have come first for Sam's depressed state to ring more truly.
The final Rowena scene was ... intriguing. The spell from the grimoire -- it's a protection spell, yes? Warding (the sounds alone were reminiscent of armor) or something like the Enochian symbols that used to be carved into Sam and Dean's ribs? And those creepy violet-glowing irises, yeesh. I'm not entirely sure that whatever just happened to her is a good thing. But say what you will, electric purple is definitely Rowena's power color. And I still hope that she and Sam band together to kick Lucifer's ass. And make his ass suffer, but good. ;)
Finally, as per Dean Winchester himself, Rowena is The Deadliest Witch in the World™ :DDDDD
Final score - 10/10100 for the Sam/Rowena and Dean/Brenda scenes alone. LOVED it!
Next week ... DANNEEL! I realize that some dislike the guys' spouses, but I ain't one of them. BRING ON SISTER JO!