SPN Rewatch Season 13
Rewatch of Supernatural 2022
Season 13
When I finished rewatching season 12 I wasn’t sure if I’d find season 13 better or worse…
The first half of the season is very good. Jack’s character is very compelling and Alex Calvert plays him perfectly, innocent but with serious potential to go dark side, and Sam and Dean’s reaction to him is very much in character. In fact the season-long arc of the boys’ relationship to each other and the battles they have to fight is satisfyingly written for the most part. Unfortunately the second half of the season becomes a disjointed mess of too many storylines in nearly every episode, and the focus on the mess in the AU world leaves me cold. The writers try to force engagement with the AU characters by giving us AU Bobby and Charlie and Kevin…but they weren’t our Bobby and Charlie and Kevin and I just don’t care about them. We also get multiple redemption arcs-Rowena and Ketch and Lucifer, of which only Rowena’s works for me, and that is because, like Crowley, she’s been around for multiple seasons and we’ve seen her slowly, against her better judgement, become an ally of the boys. I am sure Ketch was brought back because the fans liked him, but his turnaround is absurdly quick (and handled bizarrely as I discuss in his return episode.) As far as Lucifer…in their episode commentaries Buckner and Ross-Leming rave about how they love to write for him and what a tragic character he is…Nope. He’s an irredeemable psychopath and as far as I am concerned he never should have been brought back. His major part in the latter half of the season is a big part of why I don’t like it.
A couple of production notes: maybe it’s been like this all along and I only noticed in this season, but when we watch the ‘Then’ at the start of the episodes the images and the dialog are taken from different scenes. For instance we might get a scene with Jack but the voiceover is Dean talking about him. The other thing I noticed is the fights are definitely more brutal, which is explained by having a new stunt coordinator, Rob Hayter. The fights are also being filmed differently with a kind of speeded-up visual a lot of the time. And it feels like the boys are losing more fights than winning now, unfortunately.
265. Lost and Found (13.01)-W: Dabb/D: Sgriccia
“Nothing Else Matters” by Metallica is perfect for The Road So Far
Sam is dealing with Jack while Dean stares at Cas’ body
Dean’s immediate reaction seeing Jack is to shoot him
Dean has nightmare of Mary burning again-he is so messed up…
Dean’s summary: ‘Let's see, Crowley's dead, Kelly's dead, Cas is... Mom's gone, and apparently, the Devil's kid hit puberty in 30 seconds flat. Oh, and almost killed us’
Dean is unrelenting in believing the devil’s kid must be killed while Sam wants to make a plan, look at options
Dean apparently moved Cas’ body to table in the house before he and Sam took off after Jack
Sam tases Jack in the back and it stops him-assume it worked because Jack didn’t see it coming
Dean doesn’t have time for finesse, lays it out for the sheriff: ‘We kill monsters’
Locked in cell with Jack, Sam diffuses him artfully though we can see Sam is nervous (Putting Dean in that situation would have been a disaster with his current mindset)
Jack says Cas is his father, not interested in Lucifer
Sam has idea that Jack could reopen the rift to save Mom
Angel really beats Sam up but he still has presence of mind to make banishing sigil (without clue whether it would affect Jack)
Dean agrees to take Jack to bunker but only to keep him contained till Dean can figure out how to end him
Flashback to Dean praying to Chuck for help is hard to watch
Dean is sure Lucifer killed Mary
Cas hunter funeral-Sam trying to help Jack process
And of course we see Lucifer not killing Mary in AU yet
This was an A+ episode! Sam and Dean are worlds apart in handling what just happened and it makes sense for each of them to react like that. As I already said, Alex Calvert plays Jack perfectly, we don’t know if he’s good or evil, he’s seemingly an innocent who could go either way. All the supporting characters have distinct personalities. The one question I have is whether Miriam, the drunk woman in the fast food place, was already possessed when we first see her or was she possessed after that scene? If already possessed that was one heck of an act for an angel to put on, they usually don’t have that desire to be creative.
266. The Rising Son (13.02)-W: Buckner & Ross-Leming/D: Wright
Then: Reviews the Princes of Hell
Demons waiting for Lucifer, get Asmodeus
Sam offers to drive-Dean: ‘Do I ever want you to drive?’
Lucifer’s plan is to exchange Mary for Jack
Jack is 3 days, 17 hours, and 42 minutes old-Dean asks when Jack grabs a beer
Love Donatello’s moral compass now that he’s soulless: ‘I ask myself, 'What would Mr. Rogers do?' And as soon as I nail that, I'm usually good’
Donatello doesn’t sense Jack’s power is dark
Dean is absolutely anti-Jack
Jack vanishes because he can’t handle conflict between Dean, Sam, and Donatello
Sam trying to explain Dean to Jack: ‘Dean doesn't hate you…sometimes the wires in Dean's head get crossed and…he gets frustrated, and then he mixes frustration with anger and fear’-Jack: ‘Why would he be afraid?’-Sam: ‘Because Dean feels like it's his job to protect everyone. And right now, we need to protect you. But we also may need to protect people from you’
Sam’s handling of Jack is a real testament to the kind of person Sam is
Asmodeus can shapeshift!
A Nephilim is more powerful than the angel who sired him
Lucifer saves Mary in AU world
Sam gives Dean a pep talk: ‘You thinking that Mom is gone and Cas is gone, and that Jack can't be saved. Dean, after everything we've gone through... We just lost people we love, people who have been in our lives for a long time. Everything's upside-down. I get it. But we've been down before. I mean, rock bottom. And we find a way. We fix it because that's what we do. And Jack wants to do the right thing. Jack's scared to death of who he is, and he's scared of you’
Dean’s throw of angel blade down the hall that nails demon in neck-WOW
Donatello is a human compass to Jack’s power
Asmodeus knows to appeal to Jack by making his task seem heroic
AU Michael meets Lucifer and takes him down via a fist fight?
Jack reacts to Asmodeus hurting Jack’s friends-sign he is one of the good guys???
Sam points out Jack saved them-Dean: ‘No, whatever that was, that was a reflex. It was a sneeze. Maybe next time he sneezes, he kills us’
Dean catches Jack hurting himself and stops him because even though he’s anti-Jack he can’t stand to see anyone self-hurting-Dean: ‘Okay, what the hell? Give me that. You -- Don't be an idiot. Look, A, this is not gonna do anything to you, okay? And B, you-- What the hell?’-Jack: ‘Exactly. What the hell am I? I can't control... whatever this is. I will hurt someone’-Dean: ‘You know, my brother thinks you can be saved’-Jack: ‘You don't believe that’-Dean: ‘…If I'm right... and it comes to killing you... I'll be the one to do it’
Jack continues to be compelling as we worry whether Sam’s right or Dean’s right. Dean is being irrationally hard-nosed that Jack is bad-and yet there was a glimmer of hope he will come around when he stopped Jack hurting himself.
Also amazingly this Buckner/Ross-Leming episode was actually good!
267. Patience (13.03)-W: Berens/D: Singer
Then: Wraith lore
Poor psychic, she seemed like a decent person
Sam gives Jack Kelly’s message to her son
It’s been over a decade since they’ve had contact with Missouri
Dean pissed Sam farmed out Missouri’s request for help to Jody, he goes and leaves Sam with Jack
Dean seeing Jody and Missouri: ‘I’m not sure which one to hug first’
Sam going to train Jack to use his powers-wants him to move the pencil, doesn’t see that pressuring Jack to perform is poor idea
Missouri sends Dean to save her family and faces her death with supreme dignity
Patience has nightmare, downplays it to her dad
Sam is reading a book on gifted children
Poor Jack has his first existential crisis, less than a week old: ‘Mom said I could be good, that I had the choice to be good, that it was up to me. But she's dead because of me. I've only been on Earth for a few days, and I've already hurt people. I've already done bad things. And no matter how hard I try, I can't... I can't do the one good, stupid thing you want me to... So, I must be evil, like Lucifer’
Sam understands: ‘I know what it feels like to feel…there's this darkness inside of you, to be scared of who you are, what you can do….I wanna help you. Because you're not evil, Jack’
Revision of Missouri’s backstory-she was a hunter and raised her son moving around the country; he cut all ties because she didn’t predict his wife was going to die
Wraith kills Jody!-wait, it was a premonition, whew
Poor Jody gets beat up again
The differences between Patience’s vision and what really happened went by awfully fast for me, I didn’t catch the nuances
Dean tells Patience to go for a normal life, Jody says Patience doesn’t have to listen to Dean or her dad, she can choose her own way (parallel to Jack choosing good or evil vs destiny)
Dean and Sam fight over Jack who overhears them-Dean: ‘…See, you think you can use this freak, but I know how this ends, and it ends bad’-Sam: ‘I didn't end bad when I was the 'freak,' when I was drinking demon blood…you could've put a bullet in me. Dad told you to put a bullet in me, but you didn't. You saved me. So help me save him’-Dean: ‘You deserved to be saved. He doesn't’-Sam: ‘Yes, he does…’ -Dean: ‘… I know you think that you can use him as some sort of an interdimensional can opener, and that's fine. But don't act like you care about him, because you only care about what he can do for you…I can hardly look at the kid. 'Cause when I do, all I see is everybody we've lost’
And Cas is in a black place (very effective visual)
Jack’s story, and Sam and Dean’s opposite reactions, are still compelling, even if monster story a little weak
268. The Big Empty (13.04)-W: Glynn/D: Badham
Dead woman kills spouse-case for sure, Sam says to bring Jack
Dean reiterates ‘Mom’s dead, Sam’
Sam asks Dean to give Jack a chance for Sam
Jack, having overheard last ep’s conversation, is upset that Sam only want to use his abilities but Sam apologizes and explains he does care about Jack personally
Suits
Jack: ‘I thought lying was wrong’
Therapy session turns real and Sam admits he is upset Dean had a relationship with Mom that Sam didn’t get to have
Of course Sam goes snooping and finds a tub of guts (which I don’t completely understand why they were in upstairs bathroom, but handwave…)
The Empty’s voice…oh Misha…
Angels and demons go to Empty when dead, neither Death nor God has power there (supposedly)
So monsters can have abusive relationships too (I like Mia and am glad the boys let her go)
Jack tells Dean Sam told him about the plan to rescue their mother-Dean: ‘Well, Sam’s plans don’t always work out’
These shifters can change into someone from just a photo???
“Kelly” to Jack: ‘It doesn't matter what you are. It matters what you do. And even monsters can do good in this world’
Shifter is Dean now-crap
Cas/Empty interludes are annoying
In tight spot Dean needs Jack’s help: ‘Sammy believes in you…’
Jack saves Sam-his powers kick in under extreme emotion
Jack saving Sam causes Dean to change his opinion: ‘You did good today, Jack’
And Dean apologizes to Sam for being a dick lately!
Of course now that Dean is in a slightly better state of mind, Sam is down: ‘What if you’re right? About Mom. What if she is dead, and I’m just in denial?... You’ve been wanting me to admit that since it happened.‘-Dean: ‘I know I have, but don’t say that. I need you to keep the faith, for both of us. ‘Cause right now…I don’t believe in a damn thing’
And Cas got kicked out of the Empty by being stubborn LOL
Interesting case with more character development between the boys and Jack
269. Advanced Thanatology (13.05)-W: Yockey/D: Showalter
This is an awfully long, boring teaser…
Sam okay with leaving Jack alone in bunker now
Suits
Dean talks to the traumatized kid but doesn’t get anywhere
Sam suggests they stop in a strip club and has been trying to be nice to Dean in other ways-Sam: ‘…You said you don't believe in anything, and…That's not you. You…do believe in things. You believe in people. That's who you are. That's what you do. I know you're in a dark place, and I just want to help’-Dean: ‘…I've been down this road before. I fought my way back. I will fight my way back again…Same way I always do -- bullets, bacon, and booze. A lotta booze’
Dean passed out on floor-Sam didn’t hear him come in last night?
Daylight when leaving victim’s house but night when they arrive at haunted building? But it’s close enough for the kid to walk…Though they did take time to change out of suits
Ghosts are stuck in veil? Why not find bodies and burn them? Don’t understand why Dean needed to ‘die’ to get answers
Meet reaper Jessica (who is just annoying throughout the season…)
Poor Sam is frantic when Dean won’t wake up after restorative shot
Billie is the new Death
Dean bargains with Billie to free the ghosts
And we see the depths of Dean’s depression-Billie: ‘You’ve changed. When you bargained with me just now you could’ve asked to go back, to live…That doesn't sound like the Dean Winchester I know and love. The man who's been dead so many times but it never seemed to stick. Maybe you're not that guy anymore, the guy who saves the world, the guy who always thinks he'll win no matter what. You have changed. And you tell people it's not a big deal. You tell people you'll work through it, but you know you won't, you can't, and that scares the hell out of you. Or... am I wrong?’-Dean: ‘What do you want me to say? Doesn't matter. I don't matter…I couldn't save Mom. I couldn't save Cas. I can't even save a scared little kid. Sam keeps trying to fix it, but I just keep dragging him down. So I'm not gonna beg…if it's my time, it's my time’
Billie’s shelf of Dean’s deaths ‘…heart attack, burned by a red-haired witch, stabbed by a ghoul in a graveyard, and on and on…’
Billie says Sam and Dean are important though she’s not happy about it
Dean tells Sam that he saw Billie and she said they have work to do
Dean admits he’s not okay: ‘I’m not okay. I’m pretty far from okay. You know, my whole life, I always believed that what we do was important. No matter what the cost, no matter who we lost, whether it was Dad or Bobby or … And I would take the hit. But I kept on fighting because I believed that we were making the world a better place. And now Mom and Cas… And…I don’t know…I just need a damn win’
Scene lingers on mother crying over body of her son
Cas calls!
I have mixed feelings about this episode…I like the whole Billie/Dean interaction but I am really lost about what the deal was with the ghosts that caused Dean to make the spur-of-the-moment choice to kill himself. It was hard to watch Sam’s reaction, Dean didn’t give a thought to what this would do to his brother, an indication of just how deep he’s sunk.
270. Tombstone (13.06)-W: Perez/D: Lopez-Corrado
Then: Zombies
Episode starts mid-hunt, then goes back 48 hours
How Cas got back: ‘I annoyed an ancient cosmic being so much that he sent me back’
God has no power in The Empty
Jack doesn’t know if he brought Cas back or not
Dean: ‘Alright, well... two salty hunters, one half-angel kid, and a dude that just came back from the dead. Again. Team Free Will 2.0. Here we go’
They are actually carrying suits in travel bags into the hotel room!
Dean suddenly knows cowboy history (just like Sam suddenly was a passionate fan of the football player Brick Holmes back ins season 8…))
Dean still sleeping with gun under pillow
Suits, and Dean wears cowboy hat and cowboy boots
Dean recognizes the outlaw’s face from the tiny traffic cam picture? That’s impressive…
Find ghoul robbing bank-and they talk instead of just shooting him-Aargh!
Jack accidentally kills bank guard-Dean makes Sam take him back to bunker because cops are coming-since when has that ever concerned the boys before?
Cas and Sam trying to console Jack by saying they’ve made mistakes too but he doesn’t buy it
Sarge says he is not planning on bringing the perp in alive, which is fine with Dean, however in the real world that would be a seriously rogue cop
And we are back to the scene at the start of the episode
Jack thinks he is a monster-Dean: ‘No, you're not. I thought you were. I did. But… Like Sam said, we've all done bad. We all have blood on our hands. So if you're a monster, we're all monsters’
Jack afraid he will hurt them so he leaves…but why does he blast them with his powers before leaving when he just said he was afraid of hurting them?
271. War of the Worlds (13.07)-W: Buckner & Ross-Leming/D: Speight
AU Michael is another egomaniac monster
Sam and Dean alert other hunters to look for Jack-presumably not saying he is a Nephilim
Cas is going alone again…will he never learn?
Lucifer pierced by spikes in iron maiden yet his t-shirt is pristine when they bring him out?
AU Kevin is prophet serving Michael
Suits
Ketch???
Lucifer is powerless when he gets back to the real world
So very tired of the ‘villains torturing because they don’t believe victim really doesn’t know’-obviously they think because they would lie in those circumstances that everyone else is lying too
Take Ketch down with tranquilizer dart
This is Ketch’s twin???
Dean does not have a problem beating up Ketch
Sam finds extensive paper trail on Ketch’s ‘twin’ which a) how is he able to get into Kendricks files now and b) since we find out quickly that it really is Ketch, what was the point of having the twin masquerade?
After Mary shot Ketch in the head they dumped his body ‘in the waste canal’-sloppy-but Ketch had a resurrect spell from Rowena
‘Twin’ Ketch says his brother would ‘admit regret to some of the things he did to your family’
Dumah tells Cas angels need Jack to make more angels because they are going extinct
Lucifer saves Cas from angels by faking his power
Why, why, why is Cas listening to Lucifer???
OMG Lucifer, stop talking!
Ketch escapes bunker and saves Sam and Dean from demon trap
Asmodeus smart enough to impersonate Cas on phone to Dean
Ketch is working for Asmodeus
This episode is disjointed and frustrating and is the first really bad one of the season…
272. The Scorpion and the Frog (13.08)-W: Glynn/D: Singer
A demon heist in England
New demon player Barthamus-new King of Crossroads-has a deal for boys: spell to find Jack if they steal something for him-or he will give the spell to Asmodeus
Sam wants to try it
The heist needs the blood of a man who’s been to hell and back-Dean
Sam to Dean at start of heist: ‘Don’t get dead’
Dean tries to bond with the girl Smash over ‘Nerve Damage’ drink: ‘I used to live on that crap when I was a kid. It's, like, 10 times the legal limit of caffeine, right? Didn't know they made that anymore’
Sam’s job is to keep Shrike busy negotiating over selling him the demon blade
When Shrike calls Sam out for being part of the plot to rob him Sam shoots Shrike to no effect-he is immortal on his own property
Dean freaks out at having to put his hand in the mouth of the door lock
Smart Sam comes up with plan to send Shrike through the trap leading to the safe
Shrike has Barthamus’ bones
Boys won’t trade bones for spell so Barthamus threatens Smash
Boys put lighter in with bones and Smash uses it to burn them
Spell scroll burns up with Barthamus-Sam tries to put it out by blowing on it???
Dean is feeling better: ‘We'll figure something else out. And if that doesn't work, then we'll move on to next, and then whatever's after that. We just keep working, 'cause it's what we do’
Definitely a light-hearted episode, which pretty much worked for me.
273. The Bad Place (13.09)-W: Berens/D: Sgriccia
Jack pays artist to dreamwalk, sees the AU world…and then the guy is dead, setting up expectation that Jack killed him
Dean calls Patience for help tracking Jack but she doesn’t answer
Patience’s dad is a jerk
Suits
Sam looks up dreamwalkers in John’s journal
Dean assumes Jack is looking for Lucifer
Kaia is in treatment facility for ODing-she says she needs drugs in order to keep away from the Bad Place (They couldn’t come up with a better name???)
Reference to Trump being president-odd, what happened to President Jefferson Rooney?
Jack shows them Mary in the AU which sends Dean reeling (to Sam): ‘You were right. About Mom. You were right. This whole time, we should've been looking for her…We find her, no matter what it takes’
Jack upset they thought he killed Derek, and he has no interest in finding Lucifer: ‘He's no one to me. You, Castiel -- you're my family’
Patience has vision and defies her dad to warn people-Dad: ‘You go now, you choose that life, you don't come back’
Angels using Kaia to trap Jack
Jack forces angel to kill himself-first deliberate killing
Dean pulls gun on Kaia to get her to cooperate-whoa!!! Dean is really off the rails from the news Mom is alive
Jack helps Kaia see other worlds besides Bad Place
Trapped on old boat by angels, Kaia has idea to portal out
Jack makes it to Mary
Sam and Dean stuck in Bad Place
Patience shows up at Jody’s with warning
Episode kept my interest-anxiety over whether Jack is going good or evil seems to be working out for good.
274. Wayward Sisters (13.10)-W: Berens & Dabb/D: Sgriccia
Then: Flashbacks of Claire, Alex, Donna
Claire takes out werewolf clan, gains entry by posing as delivery person and she shoots the first werewolf through the box she’s carrying-nicely badass
Jody: ‘They (Sam and Dean) were on a hunting trip and I haven’t heard from them in a few days’
Decent good Samaritan calls in unconscious Kaia who is conveniently taken to Sioux Falls Hospital
Alex does autopsy on dead monster from Bad Place
Dean and Sam eating in Bad Place-Sam: ‘…don't tell me it tastes like chicken’-Dean: ‘No, Sam, it's a lizard. It tastes like a lizard’
They have been in Bad Place for 2 days
Poor Jody’s house gets trashed by monsters
Jody calls in Donna for backup, she’s ‘better than the National Guard’
Donna shows gear in trunk-Patience: ‘Why do you have all this?’-Donna: ‘I’m from Minnesota’
Mystery figures takes out the boys, leaves them as offering to monster
Claire and Kaia take boys back to portal-and they all stand around as the mystery figure attacks
The gigantic ‘scary’ monster looks silly-disappointed in effects team
Figure revealed as Bad Place Kaia
I love how the women worked as a team to rescue the boys. This would have been so good as a spin-off, especially compared to the spin-off we got, ‘The Winchesters’…sigh. I wonder if this had gone on if Supernatural’s end would have changed to leave both boys alive so they could make guest appearances for ratings.
275. Breakdown (13.11)-W: Perez/D: Kaderali
Then: Vamps, cure
Mann’s Truck Stop (for Jason Manns)
Truck stop is full of creepy patrons
Sam having trouble sleeping but lays in bed till 10 am
Dean gives Sam pep talk: ‘…when I was broken up, you were there for me. Well, I'm here for you now. And I'm telling you, the only way out of this is through. Now when everything goes to hell, what do we do? We put out heads down and we do the work. We'll find Jack. We'll save Mom, we will. But right now, Donna needs our help’
Suits with overcoats
Doug picks up on Dean saying he’s related to Donna when Dean is trying to finagle FBI agent
Agent Clegg has been chasing this psycho for 12 years
Dean tries CB radio like Dad used to do
Sam nervous about working with FBI
Masked silent butcher monster is really creepy!
Doug asks Dean for relationship advice about Donna
Donna’s interrogation of the preacher is masterful, showing that despite her easy-going manner she is a very sharp cop
Truck stop clerk is scum…and why didn’t the boys pick up that he is a vampire???
Poor Doug gets introduced to ‘monsters are real’ concept by being turned
Agent Clegg is selling body parts to monsters who don’t want to get caught by hunters: ’I sell them people other people won’t miss. And because I do that, I save lives. If my customers didn’t have me… then all those hungry, hungry hippos would be out there huntin’ and killin’. And you couldn’t stop ‘em. No one could. You should be thanking me’
Sam’s heart auctions for $500,000
Clegg points gun at Sam’s head, we hear gunshot-it was Dean to the rescue
Unlike Dean, Doug doesn’t puke after taking the vamp cure
Doug wants no part of being a hunter
Sam tells Donna to let Doug go: ‘He’ll be safer that way’
Sam’s turn to give up: ‘You keep saying I’m in a dark place, but I’m not, Dean. Everything I’m saying is the truth. It’s our lives. And I tried to pretend it didn’t have to be. I tried to pretend we could have Mom back and Cas and - and help Jack. But we can’t. This ends one way for us, Dean. It ends bloody’
This episode was super creepy, both visually and in the storyline!
276. Various & Sundry Villains (13.12)-W: Yockey/D: Tapping
Then: The Black Grimoire
Poor innocent dude at the convenience store
Dean: ‘…So you read, you do your Sam thing…’ LOL
Cas has been checking in daily-except it’s really Asmodeus faking Cas’ voice
Witch sisters know who Dean is…hmmm…
Sam figures Dean is under a spell right away
Sam takes the car keys and Dean says he’ll walk, then when Sam tries to stop him Dean punches Sam and Dean could have taken the keys back, but he walks anyway
Rowena???
Lucifer, shut up
Rowena wants grimoire to protect herself because of trauma from Lucifer
Rowena when she hears Crowley/Fergus is dead: ‘I’d much rather have a living son, even one that hated me, than a dead hero’
Cas gets Lucifer mad so Lucifer can break them out of jail
Rowena offering to make townsfolk tell them where the sisters are-Sam: ‘I’m very sure you can, but I’m also very sure you shouldn’t’
Sam and Rowena share their distress over Lucifer-Rowena: ‘How do you deal with it?’-Sam: ‘I guess I don’t deal with it. Not really. I mean, I pushed it down and…the world kept almost ending, so I keep pushing it down, and I don’t know. I really don’t talk about it, not even with Dean. I mean, I could. You know, he’d listen, but…That’s not something I really know how to share’
So Rowena was working with the sisters to get the grimoire
Sisters are over-the-top-they kill without any conscience but they really just want their mom back
Dean announces they have witch-killing bullets instead of just shooting which gives sisters time to react…sigh
Cas seems to have learned not to work with Lucifer-so Lucifer stabs him
Sam gives Rowena the page from the grimoire, promising that if she goes bad he will end her, but hoping she will make Lucifer suffer
Boys have switched mental places-Dean: ‘You gotta get out of this dark place…whatever’s going on in your head’-Sam: ‘…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. And now… Jack is gone, Mom is still in hell, basically, and I just…’ -Dean: ‘We’ll figure it out’-Sam: ‘…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’
Rowena ominously powers up
Decent mix of comedy and dark, and Rowena is given coherent character development.
277. Devil’s Bargain (13.13)-W: Buckner & Ross-Leming/D: Sanchez
Cas gets to bunker and explains about being prisoner with Lucifer
OMG Lucifer shut up
Decent beggar tries to advise Lucifer and gives him clue to finding an angel
Donatello is bewildered as usual
Suits
Sister Jo has a sweet smile as she’s healing people
Jo not intimidated by Lucifer
Jo: ‘I was a so-so angel but I am an excellent businesswoman’
Boys and Cas run into Ketch while tracking Sister Jo-Cas knocks him out and they put him in the trunk
Sam set an alert for Sister Jo’s credit card-that’s leveling up his computer hacking skills quite a bit
Lucifer brags he’s the King of Lies-except back in season 5 he was very proud of the fact that he never lied, people just misinterpreted his words
Donatello meets Asmodeus-that’s not good (visual Colonel Sanders joke when Asmodeus takes a piece from Donatello’s chicken bucket and throws it away)
Jo picks Lucifer’s side
Ketch saves boys from Lucifer-Sam: ‘How did you get out of the trunk?’-Ketch: ‘I’m Ketch’
Angels fall for Lucifer’s false promises of making more angels and returning their wings
Heaven’s throne room is silly
Archangel blade kills archangel but only when wielded by another archangel
Gabriel!!! But what shape he’s in…
This entire episode is set-up for rest of season. And I am really tired of watching everyone listen to Lucifer…
Fun note-Jensen and Danneel do a commentary for this episode which is a hoot to listen to.
278. Good Intentions (13.14)-W: Glynn/D: Pesce
We finally see what has been happening to Jack in the AU world-he is being mentally manipulated by Zachariah but resisting
Boys have alerted all hunters to look for Lucifer (after BMoL affair they seem to have put together a hunter hotline-this is the third APB they’ve put out: last season for Kelly Kline and this season for Jack and now Lucifer)
Mary was previously in the iron maiden so shouldn’t she have some physical wounds/torn clothes?
Jack is now 6 months old
Mary knows Michael is going to kill her in order to make Jack talk
How convenient that the warding is weak by the window
Donatello flips out from reading demon tablet-sends Dean and Cas to be killed by Gog and Magog and hits Sam over the head
Cas didn’t know Donatello was soulless
When Mary meets AU Bobby she realizes what would have happened in her world if she hadn’t made her deal and Dean and Sam were never born
Cas suggests killing Donatello to trigger next prophet to read demon tablet-boys are appalled
Cas strips the info from Donatello’s mind turning him into a vegetable and is not repentant-ruthless Cas a throwback to when he was first introduced and all about the mission
Jack decides he has to kill Michael-it’s what Sam and Dean would do
Another move-the-plot-along episode
279. A Most Holy Man (13.15)-W: Singer & Dabb/D: Tapping
Theft in Malta monastery
Cas will get fruit from Tree of Life, boys going to buy saint’s blood, go to San Francisco dealer
Suits with overcoats
Sam plays along with Ms. Astor’s flirting to get what they need
She sends them to Mr. Greenstreet in Seattle who proposes they steal something for him from mob boss
Sam not happy about doing Greenstreet’s job
Dean randomly fiirting again, hits on girl who is randomly is reading a book on demons
Dean not cowed by mob boss-Scarpetti: ‘…I feel it’s my duty as a good Catholic to give these beautiful relics a home’-Dean: ‘Well…technically, the relic had a home, and then you had it stolen’
Dean agrees to work for Scarpetti, not really a choice
Dean concerned when Sam hit in head and knocked out again
Fr. Lucca says one can’t use the excuse ‘the world’s not perfect’
Sam wants to get the skull back for Fr. Lucca, talks Dean into it
Fr. Lucca: ‘I believe that all good things are God’s things. And what your brother’s doing, it’s a good thing’-Dean: ‘Or a stupid thing’-Fr. Lucca: ‘…Many times they can be the same’
When guard asks Fr. Lucca what he’s doing he says: ‘Creating a distraction’-to Dean: ‘Lying, it’s a sin’
Explosive gun battle
Sam tired of ‘bouncing from one apocalypse to another,’ wonders if they could ‘really change things…stop all the monsters’-Dean: ‘I have faith’
Another episode that mixes comedy with an interesting plot, and the characters are interesting.
280. Scoobynatural (13.16)-W: Krieg & Adams/D: Winger & Brandt (animation)
Starts with boys fighting giant stuffed dinosaur
Store owner is grateful, Dean takes offer of a reward, picks giant TV
When Sam wonders if there is more to the case-Dean: ‘Be like Elsa, let it go’
The Dean Cave (seriously, with all the crap they’ve been dealing with when did Dean find time and motivation?)
Dean knows the Scooby episode they are in
After finding the first body with everyone in pajamas, they are all suddenly dressed
Velma: ‘Jinkies!’-Daphne: ‘Jeepers!’-Shaggy:’ Zoinks!’-Scooby: ‘Ruh-roh!’-Dean: ‘Son of a bitch!’
Scoobies have existential crisis when learning monsters are real
Dean gets in bleeped F-word
I loved this crazy episode! Sam and Dean were written perfectly in character and the plot actually made sense, albeit a little convoluted with the little boy ghost being forced to be evil. And the real world story tied in seamlessly.
281. The Thing (13.17)-W: Perez/D: Showalter
Then: MoL history
1925 MoL ritual brings down a tentacle-not cool!
Dean puts silly post-it notes on Sam’s back-who is going to see them?
Dean finds clue to Seal of Solomon in MoL Rhode Island chapter house reference
Dean still saying ‘jinkies’ leftover from Scoobynatural episode LOL
MoL symbol has weird eye on it
Cool visual of boys dropping through grate into tunnel
Breaking door in tandem
Dean gives the girl his lavender plaid shirt to wear
Cut to Ketch seeing Asmodeus injecting himself with Gabriel’s grace
When diner attacked the girl saves Dean but Sam is kidnapped
Dean makes Molotov cocktails preparing to get Sam back-but they are never used, so what is the purpose of that scene???
Asmodeus cuts Ketch down to size and taunts him: ‘You work for me. You act like you're this cold-blooded killer. But you know what I see when I look in your eyes? Fear. And regret. And pain…You want redemption, but you ain't never gonna get it…no matter what you do, you’re mine’
This MoL chapter house went rogue when leader tried to summon god from another world to ‘fix’ this one
Dean smart-mouths monster-god
Dean attacked by tentacles-Sam busts in, Dean uses lockpick to get out of chains, pulls the magic necklace from the monster and tosses it to Sam-fast thinking and teamwork!
Thankfully monster-girl was not wearing Dean’s purple shirt when pulled back into her world
Traumatized Gabriel doesn’t want to be rescued
Dean agrees to Ketch’s request for protection over Sam’s objection
Dean says Sam has to stay, he will take Ketch through the rift: ‘…I don’t care if he dies…I know you don’t like this, okay? I don’t expect you to. This is the way it’s gonna be’
Rift was purple when monster opened in in MoL house but is gold again
Another episode I liked-coherent story that took time to unfold. And the whole tentacle thing feels like a subtle nod to all the tentacle fanfic out there…
282. Bring ‘Em Back Alive (13.18)-W: Buckner & Ross-Leming/D: Kaderli
Starts with Dean and Ketch through rift
Ketch owes Mary
AU Charlie
In heaven Jo is disappointed Lucifer isn’t doing great things
Sam offers Gabriel the rest of his grace that wasn’t used in the rift spell
Ketch calls out Dean on Charlie’s rescue being personal
Dean shot by poisoned bullet so Ketch has to save him
Lucifer blah blah blah
Sam gives pep talk/begs Gabriel for help: ‘…I thought I got out. But then.my family needed me. And this is my life. No matter how many times I tried to fight it, this is what I was put here to do. This is where I make the world a better place’
Ketch understands how Dean feels about failing Charlie, has failed others himself: ‘Perhaps rescuing this Charlie will wash some of the stain off my hands’
Surprisingly, Gabriel’s story is plausible
Jo stands up to Lucifer: ‘You can't create anything. You have nothing. You might as well go back to the Cage. And now you don’t have me’-Very surprised he doesn’t kill her!
Bunker warding fails against Asmodeus who brings regular demons with him
Gabriel comes out of it and torches Asmodeus!
Gabriel vanishes out of bunker-rest of the angels have lost wings from the fall and can’t bop around. Can Gabriel do it because he’s an archangel or because he was in hell when the fall happened and wasn’t affected?
Dean loses it when he realizes that because Sam gave Gabriel his remaining grace and Gabriel left they can’t reopen the rift to save Mom and Jack: ‘Every time we get close it always falls apart. Every freakin’ time’
Another episode that is spent basically setting up what happens next. I did like Jo telling Lucifer off, though.
283. Funeralia (13.19)-W. Yockey/D: Lopez-Corrado
Rowena won’t help boys
Boys go after her when they find out she is roasting people
Cas going to heaven-finds angel guarding the gate is drunk, then sits around heaven waiting
Reaper Jessica appears in car, says she is around all the time
Suits with overcoats
Rowena upsetting fate by killing people and their reapers before their time-she is trying to get Death’s attention
Jessica says that Sam is fated to kill Rowena; Dean tells Rowena
Naomi shows up in heaven?!?
There are only 9 angels left in heaven and 1 or 2 on earth (Wait a minute-back in season 9 we learned that reapers are also angels…and the reapers are still out there doing their thing so there have to be more than 9 angels left…pfft, canon, who pays attention to that?)
When heaven shuts down all the souls will return to earth as ghosts (Note: nothing ever comes from this threat in the rest of the series…)
Rowena wants Fergus back
Sam hesitates but then shoots Rowena-but she deflects bullet
Rowena threatens to kill Sam-Billie: ‘…I don’t believe any of us will like what comes next, but I don’t do blackmail so go ahead…I’m curious to see what happens’
Billie is uncharacteristically gentle to Rowena: ‘You were never going to kill him. There was a time you would've, but not now…Sometimes life is unfair, and sometimes we lose things. And sometimes we make mistakes. And some of these things can never be fixed, no matter how powerful you become. Some things just are, and everyone has to live with that’
Dean and Sam tell Rowena they think she can be redeemed
Another filler episode to get the players into position for the finale, though Rowena has been given a better redemption arc than Ketch.
284. Unfinished Business (13.20)-W: Glynn/D: Speight
Boys have been tracing Gabriel for 2 weeks
Jack saved 30 people in AU world
Gabriel goes to boys looking for spare grace
Jack is winning against Michael and thinks he is powerful enough to take him on directly
Dean to Gabriel: ‘Well, we just broke into a junkyard and stuffed the body of a demigod into a car crusher, so I think you owe us some answers’
Gabriel’s backstory for last 7 years actually makes sense
Sam for helping Gabriel get revenge, Dean not but goes along to get Gabriel to help them
AU Kevin is suicide bomber with message from Michael for Jack: ‘Even if you win you still lose’
Dean goes after Loki while Gabriel and Sam fighting henchmen but Loki is a hologram
Loki has daddy issues too (insert eye roll here) and he blames Gabriel for Lucifer killing his father Odin (back in season 5)
Jack having emotional crisis because he couldn’t protect the rest of his group, though he did save Mary
Sam calls Dean out for charging ahead with Loki like he did with going through the rift with Ketch-Dean: ‘I’m not gonna apologize for protecting you…’-Sam: ‘…if something happens we will deal with it together. And if we die? We’ll do that together too’
The cutting back and forth between AU world and the Winchesters’ world was particularly jarring in this episode…which was another one of getting the people in place for the finale…
285. Beat the Devil (13.21)-W: Berens/D: Sgriccia
Starts with a happy ‘everyone is saved’ meal only to dissolve as Sam wakes up
Tired phallic jokes about Gabriel’s grace and the rift
Sam does not want to work with Lucifer
Rowena and Gabriel hook up-precious episode minutes wasted
Lucifer having a pity party
Gabriel and Rowena strong enough to trap Lucifer now?
Rowena: ‘Go save your mom’
Rift puts them in Kentucky, they figure it’s 2 days walk to Dayton where Mom and Jack are
Rowena tells Lucifer that Jack is in AU world and taunts him which allows him to break free, she manages to send him through the rift before he can kill her
Rowena internal debate to stay or go
Dean says that Sam seems lighter now
First time in 13 years that the boys use glowsticks to light the dark…
Vampires get Sam…the blood spurt seems wildly exaggerated to me-would blood actually fountain like that from a neck wound??? Also would starving vampires allow that much blood to escape their victim?
Cas: ‘He’s gone…we don’t have time’ and stops Dean from going after Sam-I have a hard time believing Dean would just take Cas’ word and leave
The devastated look on Dean’s face when he reaches Mary but has lost Sam
Lucifer resurrects Sam so Sam will facilitate Lucifer connecting with Jack-Sam has no choice but to agree or be given to the vampires again
Dean is going back for Sam’s body when Sam walks into camp followed by Lucifer-Sam is clearly ashamed to have given Lucifer a way in
Good moments in this episode: Rowena throwing in with the good guys by staying to keep the rift open after Lucifer escapes and Dean’s face when he has to keep going after losing Sam. The rest of the episode feels like situations being forced into a certain shape to get to the preordained outcome. Also the AU world doesn’t make sense to me, neither the behavior of the inhabitants nor the way time and geography function.
286. Exodus (13.22)-W: Buckner & Ross-Leming/D: Wright
Episode starts where previous one ended
Dean immediately jumps to wanting to kill Lucifer which upsets Jack
Lucifer says he left 31 hours’ worth of grace to power the rift
Dean doesn’t care that Sam had to capitulate to Lucifer
Brother hug
Jack to Lucifer: ‘Why does everyone hate you?’-Lucifer: ‘I have done things that I am not entirely proud of. I have led the occasional soul to ruin. This is true. But, Jack, it’s because humans are so messed up. They’re so willing to be led…. They’re hardwired to fall. And when they do, they need a fall guy’-Can someone please shut him up??? And why doesn’t anyone tell Jack straight out what he did to Sam???
Mary says she is not going back because the AU humans need her-really?
And the storyline jumps the shark when Sam figures they should just take the AU people back to their world, and the AU people have to take a vote, and the plan is for it to be temporary in order to find a way to take out Michael and then send the AU people back…And we all know how that turned out…
25 people will be going back through the rift (I would love to know if there were actually 25 extras involved)
Dean’s anger at Jack talking to Lucifer only pushes Jack more into wanting to talk to Lucifer…sigh
In the middle of time crunch have to rescue Charlie and Ketch
AU Cas has absurd accent and twitch
AU Cas attacks Charlie’s mind like Cas did to the traitor in Mary’s camp…so much for the high moral ground…
Cas kills AU Cas
They have 1 hour and 57 minutes to drive from Dayton back to the rift in Kentucky (which is a 2 1/2 hour drive on the interstate in our world…see previous episode comment about AU world not making sense…)
Jack wants to kill Michael before he leaves-Sam tells him it’s a bad idea but Jack is only dissuaded when Lucifer talks him out of it
So they get to the rift and send people through and then Sam and Dean stand around and watch Michael and Gabriel fight instead of just going through…OMG people, move it!!! You know, if they had just jumped through Gabriel could have made it too and then shut the rift behind them instead of having to die a pointless death
Jack unable to join the celebration in the bunker
Lucifer can give Michael the rift-opening spell
The only two things I can think of to like in this episode are that we finally return to the ‘is Jack going to be good or evil’ question, which was a compelling arc in the first part of the season, and Gabriel telling Lucifer off, for all the good it did. The most upsetting thing about Lucifer is that he believes his own rewrite of the facts. I don’t understand why anyone is a fan of his.
287. Let the Good Times Roll (13.23)-W: Dabb/D: Singer
Sam giving AU refugees a current events primer-AU Bobby recognizes Trump from ‘The Apprentice’-how is it that particular TV program exists in AU world’s wasteland?
It appears a few months have passed since the refugees arrived (based on hells_half_acre’s show timelines on Supernaturalwiki)
Dean, Sam, Cas, and Jack are hunting
According to Bobby: ‘Everyone seems to be settling in okay in town,’ Rowena and Charlie are on a road trip, and Ketch is doing ‘Ketch things’-‘Anyways without an archangel it’s not like we can go back home…’-so everyone’s cool with being brought here under the false assumption they would go back? (Also if everyone is settling in town-guess Sam conjured up a lot of fake identities-why are so many people in the bunker in season 14???)
Here comes the false hope-Dean: ‘…remember when you asked if we could stop…all the evil in the world?...maybe with Jack we can’
Dean gives Jack talk about doing his best but no one’s perfect
Dead Maggie triggers Jack into almost killing store clerk-Dean shoots Jack to stop him
And Michael shows up in our world
Smart Dean grabs holy oil from trunk to slow Michael down
Lucifer shows up to Jack when Jack is beating himself up over hurting people by mistake
Jack was told by Sam that Michael had killed Lucifer-not good idea to lie to Jack, Sam
Lucifer cajoles Jack into leaving the planet with him to have adventures together-Jack just wants one favor before he leaves-for Lucifer to resurrect Maggie
Michael breaks into bunker
Sam prays to Jack as last resort-Jack hears just as he is about to leave with Lucifer
Jack takes down Michael, then Sam tells him that Lucifer killed Maggie-Lucifer denies it but Jack makes him tell the truth: ‘So what? I killed the girl! Big Deal! She’s a human, she doesn’t matter’
When Jack sees Lucifer’s true colors he goes to handle him but Lucifer steals his grace and vanishes-Sam grabs on to Jack and goes with them
Dean in desperation makes a one-time deal to say yes to Michael-but of course Michael has no reason to adhere to it…
Lucifer sets Jack and Sam against each other, dangling the possibility that one of them could still find a way to stop him from destroying the world in the next 10 days
Sam tells Jack to kill him but Jack stabs himself
Dean/Michael makes impressive entrance with angel wings
Less than impressive Michael/Lucifer battle in the air
Lucifer winning but Sam throws Dean the archangel blade-he catches it and stabs Lucifer
Triumphant moment! Sam: ‘He’s dead…you did it’-Dean: ‘No we did it’
And Michael takes Dean over
This was set up so it couldn’t go any other way. Jack’s takedown of Michael and finding the truth about Lucifer was satisfying, as was the moment Sam tossed the archangel blade to Dean and Dean stabs Lucifer. The rest of the episode was painful to watch, especially Dean making the deal with Michael for a one-time possession which everyone knows Michael has no intention of honoring.
Final review: 11 of the first 12 episodes were good/very good. After that…only 4 of the remaining 11 episodes were decent. The ratio of good to poor episodes is actually considerably higher than season 12. It’s just that the last 6 episodes, all focused on the AU world and getting everyone in place for the rescue, were choppy and boring, which is why I remembered the season unfavorably. The question now is how much of the disjointed storytelling and dumb plot from the end of season 13 continues in season 14 besides the Michael issue?
Season 13
When I finished rewatching season 12 I wasn’t sure if I’d find season 13 better or worse…
The first half of the season is very good. Jack’s character is very compelling and Alex Calvert plays him perfectly, innocent but with serious potential to go dark side, and Sam and Dean’s reaction to him is very much in character. In fact the season-long arc of the boys’ relationship to each other and the battles they have to fight is satisfyingly written for the most part. Unfortunately the second half of the season becomes a disjointed mess of too many storylines in nearly every episode, and the focus on the mess in the AU world leaves me cold. The writers try to force engagement with the AU characters by giving us AU Bobby and Charlie and Kevin…but they weren’t our Bobby and Charlie and Kevin and I just don’t care about them. We also get multiple redemption arcs-Rowena and Ketch and Lucifer, of which only Rowena’s works for me, and that is because, like Crowley, she’s been around for multiple seasons and we’ve seen her slowly, against her better judgement, become an ally of the boys. I am sure Ketch was brought back because the fans liked him, but his turnaround is absurdly quick (and handled bizarrely as I discuss in his return episode.) As far as Lucifer…in their episode commentaries Buckner and Ross-Leming rave about how they love to write for him and what a tragic character he is…Nope. He’s an irredeemable psychopath and as far as I am concerned he never should have been brought back. His major part in the latter half of the season is a big part of why I don’t like it.
A couple of production notes: maybe it’s been like this all along and I only noticed in this season, but when we watch the ‘Then’ at the start of the episodes the images and the dialog are taken from different scenes. For instance we might get a scene with Jack but the voiceover is Dean talking about him. The other thing I noticed is the fights are definitely more brutal, which is explained by having a new stunt coordinator, Rob Hayter. The fights are also being filmed differently with a kind of speeded-up visual a lot of the time. And it feels like the boys are losing more fights than winning now, unfortunately.
265. Lost and Found (13.01)-W: Dabb/D: Sgriccia
“Nothing Else Matters” by Metallica is perfect for The Road So Far
Sam is dealing with Jack while Dean stares at Cas’ body
Dean’s immediate reaction seeing Jack is to shoot him
Dean has nightmare of Mary burning again-he is so messed up…
Dean’s summary: ‘Let's see, Crowley's dead, Kelly's dead, Cas is... Mom's gone, and apparently, the Devil's kid hit puberty in 30 seconds flat. Oh, and almost killed us’
Dean is unrelenting in believing the devil’s kid must be killed while Sam wants to make a plan, look at options
Dean apparently moved Cas’ body to table in the house before he and Sam took off after Jack
Sam tases Jack in the back and it stops him-assume it worked because Jack didn’t see it coming
Dean doesn’t have time for finesse, lays it out for the sheriff: ‘We kill monsters’
Locked in cell with Jack, Sam diffuses him artfully though we can see Sam is nervous (Putting Dean in that situation would have been a disaster with his current mindset)
Jack says Cas is his father, not interested in Lucifer
Sam has idea that Jack could reopen the rift to save Mom
Angel really beats Sam up but he still has presence of mind to make banishing sigil (without clue whether it would affect Jack)
Dean agrees to take Jack to bunker but only to keep him contained till Dean can figure out how to end him
Flashback to Dean praying to Chuck for help is hard to watch
Dean is sure Lucifer killed Mary
Cas hunter funeral-Sam trying to help Jack process
And of course we see Lucifer not killing Mary in AU yet
This was an A+ episode! Sam and Dean are worlds apart in handling what just happened and it makes sense for each of them to react like that. As I already said, Alex Calvert plays Jack perfectly, we don’t know if he’s good or evil, he’s seemingly an innocent who could go either way. All the supporting characters have distinct personalities. The one question I have is whether Miriam, the drunk woman in the fast food place, was already possessed when we first see her or was she possessed after that scene? If already possessed that was one heck of an act for an angel to put on, they usually don’t have that desire to be creative.
266. The Rising Son (13.02)-W: Buckner & Ross-Leming/D: Wright
Then: Reviews the Princes of Hell
Demons waiting for Lucifer, get Asmodeus
Sam offers to drive-Dean: ‘Do I ever want you to drive?’
Lucifer’s plan is to exchange Mary for Jack
Jack is 3 days, 17 hours, and 42 minutes old-Dean asks when Jack grabs a beer
Love Donatello’s moral compass now that he’s soulless: ‘I ask myself, 'What would Mr. Rogers do?' And as soon as I nail that, I'm usually good’
Donatello doesn’t sense Jack’s power is dark
Dean is absolutely anti-Jack
Jack vanishes because he can’t handle conflict between Dean, Sam, and Donatello
Sam trying to explain Dean to Jack: ‘Dean doesn't hate you…sometimes the wires in Dean's head get crossed and…he gets frustrated, and then he mixes frustration with anger and fear’-Jack: ‘Why would he be afraid?’-Sam: ‘Because Dean feels like it's his job to protect everyone. And right now, we need to protect you. But we also may need to protect people from you’
Sam’s handling of Jack is a real testament to the kind of person Sam is
Asmodeus can shapeshift!
A Nephilim is more powerful than the angel who sired him
Lucifer saves Mary in AU world
Sam gives Dean a pep talk: ‘You thinking that Mom is gone and Cas is gone, and that Jack can't be saved. Dean, after everything we've gone through... We just lost people we love, people who have been in our lives for a long time. Everything's upside-down. I get it. But we've been down before. I mean, rock bottom. And we find a way. We fix it because that's what we do. And Jack wants to do the right thing. Jack's scared to death of who he is, and he's scared of you’
Dean’s throw of angel blade down the hall that nails demon in neck-WOW
Donatello is a human compass to Jack’s power
Asmodeus knows to appeal to Jack by making his task seem heroic
AU Michael meets Lucifer and takes him down via a fist fight?
Jack reacts to Asmodeus hurting Jack’s friends-sign he is one of the good guys???
Sam points out Jack saved them-Dean: ‘No, whatever that was, that was a reflex. It was a sneeze. Maybe next time he sneezes, he kills us’
Dean catches Jack hurting himself and stops him because even though he’s anti-Jack he can’t stand to see anyone self-hurting-Dean: ‘Okay, what the hell? Give me that. You -- Don't be an idiot. Look, A, this is not gonna do anything to you, okay? And B, you-- What the hell?’-Jack: ‘Exactly. What the hell am I? I can't control... whatever this is. I will hurt someone’-Dean: ‘You know, my brother thinks you can be saved’-Jack: ‘You don't believe that’-Dean: ‘…If I'm right... and it comes to killing you... I'll be the one to do it’
Jack continues to be compelling as we worry whether Sam’s right or Dean’s right. Dean is being irrationally hard-nosed that Jack is bad-and yet there was a glimmer of hope he will come around when he stopped Jack hurting himself.
Also amazingly this Buckner/Ross-Leming episode was actually good!
267. Patience (13.03)-W: Berens/D: Singer
Then: Wraith lore
Poor psychic, she seemed like a decent person
Sam gives Jack Kelly’s message to her son
It’s been over a decade since they’ve had contact with Missouri
Dean pissed Sam farmed out Missouri’s request for help to Jody, he goes and leaves Sam with Jack
Dean seeing Jody and Missouri: ‘I’m not sure which one to hug first’
Sam going to train Jack to use his powers-wants him to move the pencil, doesn’t see that pressuring Jack to perform is poor idea
Missouri sends Dean to save her family and faces her death with supreme dignity
Patience has nightmare, downplays it to her dad
Sam is reading a book on gifted children
Poor Jack has his first existential crisis, less than a week old: ‘Mom said I could be good, that I had the choice to be good, that it was up to me. But she's dead because of me. I've only been on Earth for a few days, and I've already hurt people. I've already done bad things. And no matter how hard I try, I can't... I can't do the one good, stupid thing you want me to... So, I must be evil, like Lucifer’
Sam understands: ‘I know what it feels like to feel…there's this darkness inside of you, to be scared of who you are, what you can do….I wanna help you. Because you're not evil, Jack’
Revision of Missouri’s backstory-she was a hunter and raised her son moving around the country; he cut all ties because she didn’t predict his wife was going to die
Wraith kills Jody!-wait, it was a premonition, whew
Poor Jody gets beat up again
The differences between Patience’s vision and what really happened went by awfully fast for me, I didn’t catch the nuances
Dean tells Patience to go for a normal life, Jody says Patience doesn’t have to listen to Dean or her dad, she can choose her own way (parallel to Jack choosing good or evil vs destiny)
Dean and Sam fight over Jack who overhears them-Dean: ‘…See, you think you can use this freak, but I know how this ends, and it ends bad’-Sam: ‘I didn't end bad when I was the 'freak,' when I was drinking demon blood…you could've put a bullet in me. Dad told you to put a bullet in me, but you didn't. You saved me. So help me save him’-Dean: ‘You deserved to be saved. He doesn't’-Sam: ‘Yes, he does…’ -Dean: ‘… I know you think that you can use him as some sort of an interdimensional can opener, and that's fine. But don't act like you care about him, because you only care about what he can do for you…I can hardly look at the kid. 'Cause when I do, all I see is everybody we've lost’
And Cas is in a black place (very effective visual)
Jack’s story, and Sam and Dean’s opposite reactions, are still compelling, even if monster story a little weak
268. The Big Empty (13.04)-W: Glynn/D: Badham
Dead woman kills spouse-case for sure, Sam says to bring Jack
Dean reiterates ‘Mom’s dead, Sam’
Sam asks Dean to give Jack a chance for Sam
Jack, having overheard last ep’s conversation, is upset that Sam only want to use his abilities but Sam apologizes and explains he does care about Jack personally
Suits
Jack: ‘I thought lying was wrong’
Therapy session turns real and Sam admits he is upset Dean had a relationship with Mom that Sam didn’t get to have
Of course Sam goes snooping and finds a tub of guts (which I don’t completely understand why they were in upstairs bathroom, but handwave…)
The Empty’s voice…oh Misha…
Angels and demons go to Empty when dead, neither Death nor God has power there (supposedly)
So monsters can have abusive relationships too (I like Mia and am glad the boys let her go)
Jack tells Dean Sam told him about the plan to rescue their mother-Dean: ‘Well, Sam’s plans don’t always work out’
These shifters can change into someone from just a photo???
“Kelly” to Jack: ‘It doesn't matter what you are. It matters what you do. And even monsters can do good in this world’
Shifter is Dean now-crap
Cas/Empty interludes are annoying
In tight spot Dean needs Jack’s help: ‘Sammy believes in you…’
Jack saves Sam-his powers kick in under extreme emotion
Jack saving Sam causes Dean to change his opinion: ‘You did good today, Jack’
And Dean apologizes to Sam for being a dick lately!
Of course now that Dean is in a slightly better state of mind, Sam is down: ‘What if you’re right? About Mom. What if she is dead, and I’m just in denial?... You’ve been wanting me to admit that since it happened.‘-Dean: ‘I know I have, but don’t say that. I need you to keep the faith, for both of us. ‘Cause right now…I don’t believe in a damn thing’
And Cas got kicked out of the Empty by being stubborn LOL
Interesting case with more character development between the boys and Jack
269. Advanced Thanatology (13.05)-W: Yockey/D: Showalter
This is an awfully long, boring teaser…
Sam okay with leaving Jack alone in bunker now
Suits
Dean talks to the traumatized kid but doesn’t get anywhere
Sam suggests they stop in a strip club and has been trying to be nice to Dean in other ways-Sam: ‘…You said you don't believe in anything, and…That's not you. You…do believe in things. You believe in people. That's who you are. That's what you do. I know you're in a dark place, and I just want to help’-Dean: ‘…I've been down this road before. I fought my way back. I will fight my way back again…Same way I always do -- bullets, bacon, and booze. A lotta booze’
Dean passed out on floor-Sam didn’t hear him come in last night?
Daylight when leaving victim’s house but night when they arrive at haunted building? But it’s close enough for the kid to walk…Though they did take time to change out of suits
Ghosts are stuck in veil? Why not find bodies and burn them? Don’t understand why Dean needed to ‘die’ to get answers
Meet reaper Jessica (who is just annoying throughout the season…)
Poor Sam is frantic when Dean won’t wake up after restorative shot
Billie is the new Death
Dean bargains with Billie to free the ghosts
And we see the depths of Dean’s depression-Billie: ‘You’ve changed. When you bargained with me just now you could’ve asked to go back, to live…That doesn't sound like the Dean Winchester I know and love. The man who's been dead so many times but it never seemed to stick. Maybe you're not that guy anymore, the guy who saves the world, the guy who always thinks he'll win no matter what. You have changed. And you tell people it's not a big deal. You tell people you'll work through it, but you know you won't, you can't, and that scares the hell out of you. Or... am I wrong?’-Dean: ‘What do you want me to say? Doesn't matter. I don't matter…I couldn't save Mom. I couldn't save Cas. I can't even save a scared little kid. Sam keeps trying to fix it, but I just keep dragging him down. So I'm not gonna beg…if it's my time, it's my time’
Billie’s shelf of Dean’s deaths ‘…heart attack, burned by a red-haired witch, stabbed by a ghoul in a graveyard, and on and on…’
Billie says Sam and Dean are important though she’s not happy about it
Dean tells Sam that he saw Billie and she said they have work to do
Dean admits he’s not okay: ‘I’m not okay. I’m pretty far from okay. You know, my whole life, I always believed that what we do was important. No matter what the cost, no matter who we lost, whether it was Dad or Bobby or … And I would take the hit. But I kept on fighting because I believed that we were making the world a better place. And now Mom and Cas… And…I don’t know…I just need a damn win’
Scene lingers on mother crying over body of her son
Cas calls!
I have mixed feelings about this episode…I like the whole Billie/Dean interaction but I am really lost about what the deal was with the ghosts that caused Dean to make the spur-of-the-moment choice to kill himself. It was hard to watch Sam’s reaction, Dean didn’t give a thought to what this would do to his brother, an indication of just how deep he’s sunk.
270. Tombstone (13.06)-W: Perez/D: Lopez-Corrado
Then: Zombies
Episode starts mid-hunt, then goes back 48 hours
How Cas got back: ‘I annoyed an ancient cosmic being so much that he sent me back’
God has no power in The Empty
Jack doesn’t know if he brought Cas back or not
Dean: ‘Alright, well... two salty hunters, one half-angel kid, and a dude that just came back from the dead. Again. Team Free Will 2.0. Here we go’
They are actually carrying suits in travel bags into the hotel room!
Dean suddenly knows cowboy history (just like Sam suddenly was a passionate fan of the football player Brick Holmes back ins season 8…))
Dean still sleeping with gun under pillow
Suits, and Dean wears cowboy hat and cowboy boots
Dean recognizes the outlaw’s face from the tiny traffic cam picture? That’s impressive…
Find ghoul robbing bank-and they talk instead of just shooting him-Aargh!
Jack accidentally kills bank guard-Dean makes Sam take him back to bunker because cops are coming-since when has that ever concerned the boys before?
Cas and Sam trying to console Jack by saying they’ve made mistakes too but he doesn’t buy it
Sarge says he is not planning on bringing the perp in alive, which is fine with Dean, however in the real world that would be a seriously rogue cop
And we are back to the scene at the start of the episode
Jack thinks he is a monster-Dean: ‘No, you're not. I thought you were. I did. But… Like Sam said, we've all done bad. We all have blood on our hands. So if you're a monster, we're all monsters’
Jack afraid he will hurt them so he leaves…but why does he blast them with his powers before leaving when he just said he was afraid of hurting them?
271. War of the Worlds (13.07)-W: Buckner & Ross-Leming/D: Speight
AU Michael is another egomaniac monster
Sam and Dean alert other hunters to look for Jack-presumably not saying he is a Nephilim
Cas is going alone again…will he never learn?
Lucifer pierced by spikes in iron maiden yet his t-shirt is pristine when they bring him out?
AU Kevin is prophet serving Michael
Suits
Ketch???
Lucifer is powerless when he gets back to the real world
So very tired of the ‘villains torturing because they don’t believe victim really doesn’t know’-obviously they think because they would lie in those circumstances that everyone else is lying too
Take Ketch down with tranquilizer dart
This is Ketch’s twin???
Dean does not have a problem beating up Ketch
Sam finds extensive paper trail on Ketch’s ‘twin’ which a) how is he able to get into Kendricks files now and b) since we find out quickly that it really is Ketch, what was the point of having the twin masquerade?
After Mary shot Ketch in the head they dumped his body ‘in the waste canal’-sloppy-but Ketch had a resurrect spell from Rowena
‘Twin’ Ketch says his brother would ‘admit regret to some of the things he did to your family’
Dumah tells Cas angels need Jack to make more angels because they are going extinct
Lucifer saves Cas from angels by faking his power
Why, why, why is Cas listening to Lucifer???
OMG Lucifer, stop talking!
Ketch escapes bunker and saves Sam and Dean from demon trap
Asmodeus smart enough to impersonate Cas on phone to Dean
Ketch is working for Asmodeus
This episode is disjointed and frustrating and is the first really bad one of the season…
272. The Scorpion and the Frog (13.08)-W: Glynn/D: Singer
A demon heist in England
New demon player Barthamus-new King of Crossroads-has a deal for boys: spell to find Jack if they steal something for him-or he will give the spell to Asmodeus
Sam wants to try it
The heist needs the blood of a man who’s been to hell and back-Dean
Sam to Dean at start of heist: ‘Don’t get dead’
Dean tries to bond with the girl Smash over ‘Nerve Damage’ drink: ‘I used to live on that crap when I was a kid. It's, like, 10 times the legal limit of caffeine, right? Didn't know they made that anymore’
Sam’s job is to keep Shrike busy negotiating over selling him the demon blade
When Shrike calls Sam out for being part of the plot to rob him Sam shoots Shrike to no effect-he is immortal on his own property
Dean freaks out at having to put his hand in the mouth of the door lock
Smart Sam comes up with plan to send Shrike through the trap leading to the safe
Shrike has Barthamus’ bones
Boys won’t trade bones for spell so Barthamus threatens Smash
Boys put lighter in with bones and Smash uses it to burn them
Spell scroll burns up with Barthamus-Sam tries to put it out by blowing on it???
Dean is feeling better: ‘We'll figure something else out. And if that doesn't work, then we'll move on to next, and then whatever's after that. We just keep working, 'cause it's what we do’
Definitely a light-hearted episode, which pretty much worked for me.
273. The Bad Place (13.09)-W: Berens/D: Sgriccia
Jack pays artist to dreamwalk, sees the AU world…and then the guy is dead, setting up expectation that Jack killed him
Dean calls Patience for help tracking Jack but she doesn’t answer
Patience’s dad is a jerk
Suits
Sam looks up dreamwalkers in John’s journal
Dean assumes Jack is looking for Lucifer
Kaia is in treatment facility for ODing-she says she needs drugs in order to keep away from the Bad Place (They couldn’t come up with a better name???)
Reference to Trump being president-odd, what happened to President Jefferson Rooney?
Jack shows them Mary in the AU which sends Dean reeling (to Sam): ‘You were right. About Mom. You were right. This whole time, we should've been looking for her…We find her, no matter what it takes’
Jack upset they thought he killed Derek, and he has no interest in finding Lucifer: ‘He's no one to me. You, Castiel -- you're my family’
Patience has vision and defies her dad to warn people-Dad: ‘You go now, you choose that life, you don't come back’
Angels using Kaia to trap Jack
Jack forces angel to kill himself-first deliberate killing
Dean pulls gun on Kaia to get her to cooperate-whoa!!! Dean is really off the rails from the news Mom is alive
Jack helps Kaia see other worlds besides Bad Place
Trapped on old boat by angels, Kaia has idea to portal out
Jack makes it to Mary
Sam and Dean stuck in Bad Place
Patience shows up at Jody’s with warning
Episode kept my interest-anxiety over whether Jack is going good or evil seems to be working out for good.
274. Wayward Sisters (13.10)-W: Berens & Dabb/D: Sgriccia
Then: Flashbacks of Claire, Alex, Donna
Claire takes out werewolf clan, gains entry by posing as delivery person and she shoots the first werewolf through the box she’s carrying-nicely badass
Jody: ‘They (Sam and Dean) were on a hunting trip and I haven’t heard from them in a few days’
Decent good Samaritan calls in unconscious Kaia who is conveniently taken to Sioux Falls Hospital
Alex does autopsy on dead monster from Bad Place
Dean and Sam eating in Bad Place-Sam: ‘…don't tell me it tastes like chicken’-Dean: ‘No, Sam, it's a lizard. It tastes like a lizard’
They have been in Bad Place for 2 days
Poor Jody’s house gets trashed by monsters
Jody calls in Donna for backup, she’s ‘better than the National Guard’
Donna shows gear in trunk-Patience: ‘Why do you have all this?’-Donna: ‘I’m from Minnesota’
Mystery figures takes out the boys, leaves them as offering to monster
Claire and Kaia take boys back to portal-and they all stand around as the mystery figure attacks
The gigantic ‘scary’ monster looks silly-disappointed in effects team
Figure revealed as Bad Place Kaia
I love how the women worked as a team to rescue the boys. This would have been so good as a spin-off, especially compared to the spin-off we got, ‘The Winchesters’…sigh. I wonder if this had gone on if Supernatural’s end would have changed to leave both boys alive so they could make guest appearances for ratings.
275. Breakdown (13.11)-W: Perez/D: Kaderali
Then: Vamps, cure
Mann’s Truck Stop (for Jason Manns)
Truck stop is full of creepy patrons
Sam having trouble sleeping but lays in bed till 10 am
Dean gives Sam pep talk: ‘…when I was broken up, you were there for me. Well, I'm here for you now. And I'm telling you, the only way out of this is through. Now when everything goes to hell, what do we do? We put out heads down and we do the work. We'll find Jack. We'll save Mom, we will. But right now, Donna needs our help’
Suits with overcoats
Doug picks up on Dean saying he’s related to Donna when Dean is trying to finagle FBI agent
Agent Clegg has been chasing this psycho for 12 years
Dean tries CB radio like Dad used to do
Sam nervous about working with FBI
Masked silent butcher monster is really creepy!
Doug asks Dean for relationship advice about Donna
Donna’s interrogation of the preacher is masterful, showing that despite her easy-going manner she is a very sharp cop
Truck stop clerk is scum…and why didn’t the boys pick up that he is a vampire???
Poor Doug gets introduced to ‘monsters are real’ concept by being turned
Agent Clegg is selling body parts to monsters who don’t want to get caught by hunters: ’I sell them people other people won’t miss. And because I do that, I save lives. If my customers didn’t have me… then all those hungry, hungry hippos would be out there huntin’ and killin’. And you couldn’t stop ‘em. No one could. You should be thanking me’
Sam’s heart auctions for $500,000
Clegg points gun at Sam’s head, we hear gunshot-it was Dean to the rescue
Unlike Dean, Doug doesn’t puke after taking the vamp cure
Doug wants no part of being a hunter
Sam tells Donna to let Doug go: ‘He’ll be safer that way’
Sam’s turn to give up: ‘You keep saying I’m in a dark place, but I’m not, Dean. Everything I’m saying is the truth. It’s our lives. And I tried to pretend it didn’t have to be. I tried to pretend we could have Mom back and Cas and - and help Jack. But we can’t. This ends one way for us, Dean. It ends bloody’
This episode was super creepy, both visually and in the storyline!
276. Various & Sundry Villains (13.12)-W: Yockey/D: Tapping
Then: The Black Grimoire
Poor innocent dude at the convenience store
Dean: ‘…So you read, you do your Sam thing…’ LOL
Cas has been checking in daily-except it’s really Asmodeus faking Cas’ voice
Witch sisters know who Dean is…hmmm…
Sam figures Dean is under a spell right away
Sam takes the car keys and Dean says he’ll walk, then when Sam tries to stop him Dean punches Sam and Dean could have taken the keys back, but he walks anyway
Rowena???
Lucifer, shut up
Rowena wants grimoire to protect herself because of trauma from Lucifer
Rowena when she hears Crowley/Fergus is dead: ‘I’d much rather have a living son, even one that hated me, than a dead hero’
Cas gets Lucifer mad so Lucifer can break them out of jail
Rowena offering to make townsfolk tell them where the sisters are-Sam: ‘I’m very sure you can, but I’m also very sure you shouldn’t’
Sam and Rowena share their distress over Lucifer-Rowena: ‘How do you deal with it?’-Sam: ‘I guess I don’t deal with it. Not really. I mean, I pushed it down and…the world kept almost ending, so I keep pushing it down, and I don’t know. I really don’t talk about it, not even with Dean. I mean, I could. You know, he’d listen, but…That’s not something I really know how to share’
So Rowena was working with the sisters to get the grimoire
Sisters are over-the-top-they kill without any conscience but they really just want their mom back
Dean announces they have witch-killing bullets instead of just shooting which gives sisters time to react…sigh
Cas seems to have learned not to work with Lucifer-so Lucifer stabs him
Sam gives Rowena the page from the grimoire, promising that if she goes bad he will end her, but hoping she will make Lucifer suffer
Boys have switched mental places-Dean: ‘You gotta get out of this dark place…whatever’s going on in your head’-Sam: ‘…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. And now… Jack is gone, Mom is still in hell, basically, and I just…’ -Dean: ‘We’ll figure it out’-Sam: ‘…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’
Rowena ominously powers up
Decent mix of comedy and dark, and Rowena is given coherent character development.
277. Devil’s Bargain (13.13)-W: Buckner & Ross-Leming/D: Sanchez
Cas gets to bunker and explains about being prisoner with Lucifer
OMG Lucifer shut up
Decent beggar tries to advise Lucifer and gives him clue to finding an angel
Donatello is bewildered as usual
Suits
Sister Jo has a sweet smile as she’s healing people
Jo not intimidated by Lucifer
Jo: ‘I was a so-so angel but I am an excellent businesswoman’
Boys and Cas run into Ketch while tracking Sister Jo-Cas knocks him out and they put him in the trunk
Sam set an alert for Sister Jo’s credit card-that’s leveling up his computer hacking skills quite a bit
Lucifer brags he’s the King of Lies-except back in season 5 he was very proud of the fact that he never lied, people just misinterpreted his words
Donatello meets Asmodeus-that’s not good (visual Colonel Sanders joke when Asmodeus takes a piece from Donatello’s chicken bucket and throws it away)
Jo picks Lucifer’s side
Ketch saves boys from Lucifer-Sam: ‘How did you get out of the trunk?’-Ketch: ‘I’m Ketch’
Angels fall for Lucifer’s false promises of making more angels and returning their wings
Heaven’s throne room is silly
Archangel blade kills archangel but only when wielded by another archangel
Gabriel!!! But what shape he’s in…
This entire episode is set-up for rest of season. And I am really tired of watching everyone listen to Lucifer…
Fun note-Jensen and Danneel do a commentary for this episode which is a hoot to listen to.
278. Good Intentions (13.14)-W: Glynn/D: Pesce
We finally see what has been happening to Jack in the AU world-he is being mentally manipulated by Zachariah but resisting
Boys have alerted all hunters to look for Lucifer (after BMoL affair they seem to have put together a hunter hotline-this is the third APB they’ve put out: last season for Kelly Kline and this season for Jack and now Lucifer)
Mary was previously in the iron maiden so shouldn’t she have some physical wounds/torn clothes?
Jack is now 6 months old
Mary knows Michael is going to kill her in order to make Jack talk
How convenient that the warding is weak by the window
Donatello flips out from reading demon tablet-sends Dean and Cas to be killed by Gog and Magog and hits Sam over the head
Cas didn’t know Donatello was soulless
When Mary meets AU Bobby she realizes what would have happened in her world if she hadn’t made her deal and Dean and Sam were never born
Cas suggests killing Donatello to trigger next prophet to read demon tablet-boys are appalled
Cas strips the info from Donatello’s mind turning him into a vegetable and is not repentant-ruthless Cas a throwback to when he was first introduced and all about the mission
Jack decides he has to kill Michael-it’s what Sam and Dean would do
Another move-the-plot-along episode
279. A Most Holy Man (13.15)-W: Singer & Dabb/D: Tapping
Theft in Malta monastery
Cas will get fruit from Tree of Life, boys going to buy saint’s blood, go to San Francisco dealer
Suits with overcoats
Sam plays along with Ms. Astor’s flirting to get what they need
She sends them to Mr. Greenstreet in Seattle who proposes they steal something for him from mob boss
Sam not happy about doing Greenstreet’s job
Dean randomly fiirting again, hits on girl who is randomly is reading a book on demons
Dean not cowed by mob boss-Scarpetti: ‘…I feel it’s my duty as a good Catholic to give these beautiful relics a home’-Dean: ‘Well…technically, the relic had a home, and then you had it stolen’
Dean agrees to work for Scarpetti, not really a choice
Dean concerned when Sam hit in head and knocked out again
Fr. Lucca says one can’t use the excuse ‘the world’s not perfect’
Sam wants to get the skull back for Fr. Lucca, talks Dean into it
Fr. Lucca: ‘I believe that all good things are God’s things. And what your brother’s doing, it’s a good thing’-Dean: ‘Or a stupid thing’-Fr. Lucca: ‘…Many times they can be the same’
When guard asks Fr. Lucca what he’s doing he says: ‘Creating a distraction’-to Dean: ‘Lying, it’s a sin’
Explosive gun battle
Sam tired of ‘bouncing from one apocalypse to another,’ wonders if they could ‘really change things…stop all the monsters’-Dean: ‘I have faith’
Another episode that mixes comedy with an interesting plot, and the characters are interesting.
280. Scoobynatural (13.16)-W: Krieg & Adams/D: Winger & Brandt (animation)
Starts with boys fighting giant stuffed dinosaur
Store owner is grateful, Dean takes offer of a reward, picks giant TV
When Sam wonders if there is more to the case-Dean: ‘Be like Elsa, let it go’
The Dean Cave (seriously, with all the crap they’ve been dealing with when did Dean find time and motivation?)
Dean knows the Scooby episode they are in
After finding the first body with everyone in pajamas, they are all suddenly dressed
Velma: ‘Jinkies!’-Daphne: ‘Jeepers!’-Shaggy:’ Zoinks!’-Scooby: ‘Ruh-roh!’-Dean: ‘Son of a bitch!’
Scoobies have existential crisis when learning monsters are real
Dean gets in bleeped F-word
I loved this crazy episode! Sam and Dean were written perfectly in character and the plot actually made sense, albeit a little convoluted with the little boy ghost being forced to be evil. And the real world story tied in seamlessly.
281. The Thing (13.17)-W: Perez/D: Showalter
Then: MoL history
1925 MoL ritual brings down a tentacle-not cool!
Dean puts silly post-it notes on Sam’s back-who is going to see them?
Dean finds clue to Seal of Solomon in MoL Rhode Island chapter house reference
Dean still saying ‘jinkies’ leftover from Scoobynatural episode LOL
MoL symbol has weird eye on it
Cool visual of boys dropping through grate into tunnel
Breaking door in tandem
Dean gives the girl his lavender plaid shirt to wear
Cut to Ketch seeing Asmodeus injecting himself with Gabriel’s grace
When diner attacked the girl saves Dean but Sam is kidnapped
Dean makes Molotov cocktails preparing to get Sam back-but they are never used, so what is the purpose of that scene???
Asmodeus cuts Ketch down to size and taunts him: ‘You work for me. You act like you're this cold-blooded killer. But you know what I see when I look in your eyes? Fear. And regret. And pain…You want redemption, but you ain't never gonna get it…no matter what you do, you’re mine’
This MoL chapter house went rogue when leader tried to summon god from another world to ‘fix’ this one
Dean smart-mouths monster-god
Dean attacked by tentacles-Sam busts in, Dean uses lockpick to get out of chains, pulls the magic necklace from the monster and tosses it to Sam-fast thinking and teamwork!
Thankfully monster-girl was not wearing Dean’s purple shirt when pulled back into her world
Traumatized Gabriel doesn’t want to be rescued
Dean agrees to Ketch’s request for protection over Sam’s objection
Dean says Sam has to stay, he will take Ketch through the rift: ‘…I don’t care if he dies…I know you don’t like this, okay? I don’t expect you to. This is the way it’s gonna be’
Rift was purple when monster opened in in MoL house but is gold again
Another episode I liked-coherent story that took time to unfold. And the whole tentacle thing feels like a subtle nod to all the tentacle fanfic out there…
282. Bring ‘Em Back Alive (13.18)-W: Buckner & Ross-Leming/D: Kaderli
Starts with Dean and Ketch through rift
Ketch owes Mary
AU Charlie
In heaven Jo is disappointed Lucifer isn’t doing great things
Sam offers Gabriel the rest of his grace that wasn’t used in the rift spell
Ketch calls out Dean on Charlie’s rescue being personal
Dean shot by poisoned bullet so Ketch has to save him
Lucifer blah blah blah
Sam gives pep talk/begs Gabriel for help: ‘…I thought I got out. But then.my family needed me. And this is my life. No matter how many times I tried to fight it, this is what I was put here to do. This is where I make the world a better place’
Ketch understands how Dean feels about failing Charlie, has failed others himself: ‘Perhaps rescuing this Charlie will wash some of the stain off my hands’
Surprisingly, Gabriel’s story is plausible
Jo stands up to Lucifer: ‘You can't create anything. You have nothing. You might as well go back to the Cage. And now you don’t have me’-Very surprised he doesn’t kill her!
Bunker warding fails against Asmodeus who brings regular demons with him
Gabriel comes out of it and torches Asmodeus!
Gabriel vanishes out of bunker-rest of the angels have lost wings from the fall and can’t bop around. Can Gabriel do it because he’s an archangel or because he was in hell when the fall happened and wasn’t affected?
Dean loses it when he realizes that because Sam gave Gabriel his remaining grace and Gabriel left they can’t reopen the rift to save Mom and Jack: ‘Every time we get close it always falls apart. Every freakin’ time’
Another episode that is spent basically setting up what happens next. I did like Jo telling Lucifer off, though.
283. Funeralia (13.19)-W. Yockey/D: Lopez-Corrado
Rowena won’t help boys
Boys go after her when they find out she is roasting people
Cas going to heaven-finds angel guarding the gate is drunk, then sits around heaven waiting
Reaper Jessica appears in car, says she is around all the time
Suits with overcoats
Rowena upsetting fate by killing people and their reapers before their time-she is trying to get Death’s attention
Jessica says that Sam is fated to kill Rowena; Dean tells Rowena
Naomi shows up in heaven?!?
There are only 9 angels left in heaven and 1 or 2 on earth (Wait a minute-back in season 9 we learned that reapers are also angels…and the reapers are still out there doing their thing so there have to be more than 9 angels left…pfft, canon, who pays attention to that?)
When heaven shuts down all the souls will return to earth as ghosts (Note: nothing ever comes from this threat in the rest of the series…)
Rowena wants Fergus back
Sam hesitates but then shoots Rowena-but she deflects bullet
Rowena threatens to kill Sam-Billie: ‘…I don’t believe any of us will like what comes next, but I don’t do blackmail so go ahead…I’m curious to see what happens’
Billie is uncharacteristically gentle to Rowena: ‘You were never going to kill him. There was a time you would've, but not now…Sometimes life is unfair, and sometimes we lose things. And sometimes we make mistakes. And some of these things can never be fixed, no matter how powerful you become. Some things just are, and everyone has to live with that’
Dean and Sam tell Rowena they think she can be redeemed
Another filler episode to get the players into position for the finale, though Rowena has been given a better redemption arc than Ketch.
284. Unfinished Business (13.20)-W: Glynn/D: Speight
Boys have been tracing Gabriel for 2 weeks
Jack saved 30 people in AU world
Gabriel goes to boys looking for spare grace
Jack is winning against Michael and thinks he is powerful enough to take him on directly
Dean to Gabriel: ‘Well, we just broke into a junkyard and stuffed the body of a demigod into a car crusher, so I think you owe us some answers’
Gabriel’s backstory for last 7 years actually makes sense
Sam for helping Gabriel get revenge, Dean not but goes along to get Gabriel to help them
AU Kevin is suicide bomber with message from Michael for Jack: ‘Even if you win you still lose’
Dean goes after Loki while Gabriel and Sam fighting henchmen but Loki is a hologram
Loki has daddy issues too (insert eye roll here) and he blames Gabriel for Lucifer killing his father Odin (back in season 5)
Jack having emotional crisis because he couldn’t protect the rest of his group, though he did save Mary
Sam calls Dean out for charging ahead with Loki like he did with going through the rift with Ketch-Dean: ‘I’m not gonna apologize for protecting you…’-Sam: ‘…if something happens we will deal with it together. And if we die? We’ll do that together too’
The cutting back and forth between AU world and the Winchesters’ world was particularly jarring in this episode…which was another one of getting the people in place for the finale…
285. Beat the Devil (13.21)-W: Berens/D: Sgriccia
Starts with a happy ‘everyone is saved’ meal only to dissolve as Sam wakes up
Tired phallic jokes about Gabriel’s grace and the rift
Sam does not want to work with Lucifer
Rowena and Gabriel hook up-precious episode minutes wasted
Lucifer having a pity party
Gabriel and Rowena strong enough to trap Lucifer now?
Rowena: ‘Go save your mom’
Rift puts them in Kentucky, they figure it’s 2 days walk to Dayton where Mom and Jack are
Rowena tells Lucifer that Jack is in AU world and taunts him which allows him to break free, she manages to send him through the rift before he can kill her
Rowena internal debate to stay or go
Dean says that Sam seems lighter now
First time in 13 years that the boys use glowsticks to light the dark…
Vampires get Sam…the blood spurt seems wildly exaggerated to me-would blood actually fountain like that from a neck wound??? Also would starving vampires allow that much blood to escape their victim?
Cas: ‘He’s gone…we don’t have time’ and stops Dean from going after Sam-I have a hard time believing Dean would just take Cas’ word and leave
The devastated look on Dean’s face when he reaches Mary but has lost Sam
Lucifer resurrects Sam so Sam will facilitate Lucifer connecting with Jack-Sam has no choice but to agree or be given to the vampires again
Dean is going back for Sam’s body when Sam walks into camp followed by Lucifer-Sam is clearly ashamed to have given Lucifer a way in
Good moments in this episode: Rowena throwing in with the good guys by staying to keep the rift open after Lucifer escapes and Dean’s face when he has to keep going after losing Sam. The rest of the episode feels like situations being forced into a certain shape to get to the preordained outcome. Also the AU world doesn’t make sense to me, neither the behavior of the inhabitants nor the way time and geography function.
286. Exodus (13.22)-W: Buckner & Ross-Leming/D: Wright
Episode starts where previous one ended
Dean immediately jumps to wanting to kill Lucifer which upsets Jack
Lucifer says he left 31 hours’ worth of grace to power the rift
Dean doesn’t care that Sam had to capitulate to Lucifer
Brother hug
Jack to Lucifer: ‘Why does everyone hate you?’-Lucifer: ‘I have done things that I am not entirely proud of. I have led the occasional soul to ruin. This is true. But, Jack, it’s because humans are so messed up. They’re so willing to be led…. They’re hardwired to fall. And when they do, they need a fall guy’-Can someone please shut him up??? And why doesn’t anyone tell Jack straight out what he did to Sam???
Mary says she is not going back because the AU humans need her-really?
And the storyline jumps the shark when Sam figures they should just take the AU people back to their world, and the AU people have to take a vote, and the plan is for it to be temporary in order to find a way to take out Michael and then send the AU people back…And we all know how that turned out…
25 people will be going back through the rift (I would love to know if there were actually 25 extras involved)
Dean’s anger at Jack talking to Lucifer only pushes Jack more into wanting to talk to Lucifer…sigh
In the middle of time crunch have to rescue Charlie and Ketch
AU Cas has absurd accent and twitch
AU Cas attacks Charlie’s mind like Cas did to the traitor in Mary’s camp…so much for the high moral ground…
Cas kills AU Cas
They have 1 hour and 57 minutes to drive from Dayton back to the rift in Kentucky (which is a 2 1/2 hour drive on the interstate in our world…see previous episode comment about AU world not making sense…)
Jack wants to kill Michael before he leaves-Sam tells him it’s a bad idea but Jack is only dissuaded when Lucifer talks him out of it
So they get to the rift and send people through and then Sam and Dean stand around and watch Michael and Gabriel fight instead of just going through…OMG people, move it!!! You know, if they had just jumped through Gabriel could have made it too and then shut the rift behind them instead of having to die a pointless death
Jack unable to join the celebration in the bunker
Lucifer can give Michael the rift-opening spell
The only two things I can think of to like in this episode are that we finally return to the ‘is Jack going to be good or evil’ question, which was a compelling arc in the first part of the season, and Gabriel telling Lucifer off, for all the good it did. The most upsetting thing about Lucifer is that he believes his own rewrite of the facts. I don’t understand why anyone is a fan of his.
287. Let the Good Times Roll (13.23)-W: Dabb/D: Singer
Sam giving AU refugees a current events primer-AU Bobby recognizes Trump from ‘The Apprentice’-how is it that particular TV program exists in AU world’s wasteland?
It appears a few months have passed since the refugees arrived (based on hells_half_acre’s show timelines on Supernaturalwiki)
Dean, Sam, Cas, and Jack are hunting
According to Bobby: ‘Everyone seems to be settling in okay in town,’ Rowena and Charlie are on a road trip, and Ketch is doing ‘Ketch things’-‘Anyways without an archangel it’s not like we can go back home…’-so everyone’s cool with being brought here under the false assumption they would go back? (Also if everyone is settling in town-guess Sam conjured up a lot of fake identities-why are so many people in the bunker in season 14???)
Here comes the false hope-Dean: ‘…remember when you asked if we could stop…all the evil in the world?...maybe with Jack we can’
Dean gives Jack talk about doing his best but no one’s perfect
Dead Maggie triggers Jack into almost killing store clerk-Dean shoots Jack to stop him
And Michael shows up in our world
Smart Dean grabs holy oil from trunk to slow Michael down
Lucifer shows up to Jack when Jack is beating himself up over hurting people by mistake
Jack was told by Sam that Michael had killed Lucifer-not good idea to lie to Jack, Sam
Lucifer cajoles Jack into leaving the planet with him to have adventures together-Jack just wants one favor before he leaves-for Lucifer to resurrect Maggie
Michael breaks into bunker
Sam prays to Jack as last resort-Jack hears just as he is about to leave with Lucifer
Jack takes down Michael, then Sam tells him that Lucifer killed Maggie-Lucifer denies it but Jack makes him tell the truth: ‘So what? I killed the girl! Big Deal! She’s a human, she doesn’t matter’
When Jack sees Lucifer’s true colors he goes to handle him but Lucifer steals his grace and vanishes-Sam grabs on to Jack and goes with them
Dean in desperation makes a one-time deal to say yes to Michael-but of course Michael has no reason to adhere to it…
Lucifer sets Jack and Sam against each other, dangling the possibility that one of them could still find a way to stop him from destroying the world in the next 10 days
Sam tells Jack to kill him but Jack stabs himself
Dean/Michael makes impressive entrance with angel wings
Less than impressive Michael/Lucifer battle in the air
Lucifer winning but Sam throws Dean the archangel blade-he catches it and stabs Lucifer
Triumphant moment! Sam: ‘He’s dead…you did it’-Dean: ‘No we did it’
And Michael takes Dean over
This was set up so it couldn’t go any other way. Jack’s takedown of Michael and finding the truth about Lucifer was satisfying, as was the moment Sam tossed the archangel blade to Dean and Dean stabs Lucifer. The rest of the episode was painful to watch, especially Dean making the deal with Michael for a one-time possession which everyone knows Michael has no intention of honoring.
Final review: 11 of the first 12 episodes were good/very good. After that…only 4 of the remaining 11 episodes were decent. The ratio of good to poor episodes is actually considerably higher than season 12. It’s just that the last 6 episodes, all focused on the AU world and getting everyone in place for the rescue, were choppy and boring, which is why I remembered the season unfavorably. The question now is how much of the disjointed storytelling and dumb plot from the end of season 13 continues in season 14 besides the Michael issue?