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Supernatural Season 14


Lisafer

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Season 14, Episode 9, The Spear

Nooooooooo! Michael really did ruin Christmas! Seriously, we have to wait until January 17 after this cliffhanger episode? Dang!

We open in Kansas City, Missouri, to the tune of "Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree," where, judging by the blood and screaming, an office building is being taken over by monsters. A trench-coated werewolf with the most horrible, cheesy, Billy-Bob werewolf teeth bites a man and dumps him down a shaft before going to the executive suite to report to Michael.

Michael is inhabiting a woman's body now. His assistant, werewolf Melanie, brings in two more "volunteers" to Michael: a random werewolf and...Garth. I love his dorky face! Garth says he's got a family, a little girl, and that he's "gotta be on the winning side." Garth is nothing if not true to his friends, so we'll see how this plays out. Michael has big plans for Kansas City.

At the bunker, early in the morning, Jack sits eating Krunch Cookie Crunch in the dark. I love Jack, but the sound of him crunching cereal gives me the urge to kill. Cas comes in and turns on the light. Jack can't sleep, he's too busy worrying. About his mother in heaven, and about Cas' deal with the Empty. Cas tries to reassure him. He says the Empty won't come until he's given himself permission to be happy, and given the state of things on Earth, that may be a very long time. Also, he stole the secret decoder ring from the box of Krunch Cookie Crunch.

Garth, as suspected, is a secret agent for the Winchesters. He's on a phone call to Sam when he gets called away to drink Michael's special concoction of blood and angel grace. 

Ketch calls the boys. He obtained the egg--the hyperbolic pulse generator--that they need to stop Michael, but he was attacked by mercenaries and hid the egg by shipping it priority to the boys in Lebanon. However, it won't arrive until the day after tomorrow, and with Michael planning something in KC, the boys want it now. Poor Ketch looks embarrassed, but he can't do a thing about it.

Garth and the other volunteer are given the potion. Melanie assures Garth that "only about one in seven volunteers explode when they drink it." Garth tries to hide it in his mouth without swallowing, but Michael comes in, and when Garth senses the rising suspicion, he swallows the potion. He powers up and overhears Michael and Melanie discussing Dark Kaia and the spear. Apparently she's near Omaha, hiding out. He also realizes that Michael is planning to have werewolves "turn" all the people of Kansas City. He calls the boys and fills them in.

Cas and Dean go for the spear, while Jack and Sam go to Joplin to track down the egg at the shipping facility. Cas points out that Dean seems happier than normal; apparently they drove all the way to Omaha with a broken tape deck and Dean didn't complain once. Dean says he's feeling good; they got Jack back in a "no-strings-attached-win." Boy, does Cas look guilty when he says that. They search for Kaia, wondering why Michael's minions aren't there already. 

Jack and Sam break into the courier facility in Joplin without too much trouble and carry out the egg. Sam notices a black van parked outside, just before he gets smacked on the back of the head. Jack is dragged away, and Sam sees Michael standing in front of him with the egg in his hands. Sam tries to fight, but it's useless, and Michael melts the egg almost effortlessly.

Dean and Cas can't reach Sam on the phone. Garth calls, but gets caught talking on the phone and has to hang up. Just then, Dean feels Kaia's spear on his back. Kaia says he can't take it from her, but Dean says he's there to ask for it. He tells her what they're facing: that his family will die, that thousands of people will die, unless they can take down Michael. "If you're not going to give it to me, kill me," he says. 

Kaia asks what he will give her in return. What she wants is to go back to the Bad Place--her home--and she says the "special boy" Jack can send her there. And Dean lies like a dog and says of course Jack will do that. I understand why he says it, but it still makes me flinch. Dark Kaia has been given a raw deal all around. She gives Dean the spear, telling him that if he doesn't bring it back, she'll kill him.

Sam calls, panicking, to tell Dean and Cas that Jack's been kidnapped. He doesn't know why Michael didn't kill him, but he's on his way to KC to get Jack. Cas says, "Sam, don't you go in there alone." Of course, we all know how that's going to go...

Jack is dragged before Michael. Michael does the usual bullshit bad-guy talk, trying to convince Jack that they're alike, powerful, far above men and monsters. Jack's not having it, of course.

A trench-coated werewolf sends a newly-turned volunteer out into the city to wait for the evening's signal. Then, seeing a suspicious vehicle in the garage, he approaches it and promptly gets beheaded by Sam. Melanie, in the security office, sees the wolf's dead body, panics, and tries to flee--but meets Sam at the door. Good riddance.

Sam grabs Jack, but they hear footsteps. Garth walks in and says he's fine, but when the three of them get to the garage he doubles over, trying to control himself. Michael's in his head, and he can't fight the urge to kill. He attacks, yelling "I'm sorry!" as he does so. After a brief but violent struggle, Sam chokes him unconscious.

Dean and Cas arrive, and they tie up Garth and put him in the trunk of the Impala. Poor Garth; I hope he makes it. Dean tries to do some fancy flourishes with the spear and fails hilariously. He, Sam, Cas, and Jack realize they're going up against impossible odds, with no chance of surprise or any advantage. "Ode to Joy" plays as they do an awesome slow-mo through the parking garage.

Michael's pouring whiskey and waiting impatiently for the Winchesters. He senses Castiel, finds him, beats him up, and drags him to the executive suite. He squeezes the breath out of Sam and Jack when they try to jump him in the office. Then he turns to find Dean there with the spear. They fight, and it's very cool, but when Dean gets Michael at the point of the spear, his vision goes blurry and he can't move. Sam, Cas, and Jack are shouting at him, but he's helpless. The female body that Michael was possessing falls to the side. 

And Dean, with his back to the room, breaks the spear. Oh, hell. It's obvious what has happened when he turns around, with that familiar cold blue flash of light in his eyes. Michael's back in his favorite vessel. 

Why? Michael's kind enough to explain to the beaten hunters in front of him. Dean was a nuisance. He "wouldn't stop squirming." His love for his family kept him always fighting, always trying to battle Michael. So Michael cooked up a plan to crush Dean so thoroughly that he stopped fighting. And, according to Michael, it's worked. Dean is gone. 

The destruction of the city is about to begin: the werewolves are waiting for the signal. Michael raises his hand and snaps his fingers, and the screen goes black. 

It was a pretty good episode, in my opinion. There were a lot of different threads, but the writers kept the story moving. Always a pleasure to see DJ Qualls in a episode, as well. I'm not surprised that Michael is back in Dean; his release was too easy. However, now there's added angst because Dean has made it clear how painful it was for him to be possessed by Michael. I'm looking forward to the next episode in January!

 

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Supernatural Season 14 Episode 10, Nihilism

 

Wow. This was the darkest, most intense episode we've seen yet during this season of Supernatural, and it upped the stakes in a way that actually makes me nervous. Given how frequently people return from the dead on this show, that's pretty hard to do.

We open in Rocky's Bar, a place so full of callbacks that I'm sure I've missed some: the stuffed squirrel, the "Daphne Loves Fred" carved into the bar, and Pamela Barnes, the dead psychic, looking hot as hell coming through the front door, out of the pouring rain. She's brought Dean his "stupid bag of limes" for the house special. 

A businesswoman in a gray suit comes in and tries to get Dean to sign on the dotted line: she wants him to sell Rocky's, but he's not having it. She leaves, Dean flirts with Pam (who is wearing a T-shirt that says "to Hell and Back:" nice one, writers!), they drink, and slaughter a couple of vampires in a fun slow-mo. We're in a place of pure contentment for Dean.

Back in the office suite, Michael's back in a business suit. He starts slowly killing Sam, Jack, and Cas; but Sam manages to light up some holy oil and throws it on him. Cas makes his move and slaps the supernatural cuffs on Michael, who is taken by surprise. Sam anxiously asks, "Dean?" But Dean's not home right now.

Sirens wail from the streets of Kansas City. Maggie calls; she's bringing a load of hunters in, but there's monsters everywhere. Sam says they need to put Michael in the trunk of the Impala. Jack points out that Garth is in there. Sam hesitates. "It's a big trunk." Hahaha. 

But Michael has already summoned his monsters, and they're pounding on the door of the office suite. Sam hollers for Jessica, the watching Reaper, but her coworker Violet appears. Only Sam can see her, which adds a touch of humor to the desperation. Violet isn't about to help, but she receives a message from above, and suddenly everyone finds themselves in the bunker. Violet says she didn't do it, and vanishes. 

Maggie calls and says the monsters are headed west. Obviously they're coming to the bunker. Michael smiles. "Tonight, everybody dies," he says. "And Sam, the last thing you'll see is this pretty face...as I rip you apart." Ooo, chilling. Nice delivery by Ackles!

Dean is doing shots with Pam again. He's in a loop inside his mind, living the same hour over and over. For a moment, he has deja vu...

Sam is getting out the Men of Letters brain machine to get inside people's heads. He doesn't know what else to do. Michael is trying to break Jack's faith in his friends. It's painful to watch him dig at Jack's insecurities. Cas tells Jack not to believe anything Michael says, but you can see in Jack's face that he's unsure.

Maggie is leading a group of hunters toward the bunker--she tells them they owe it to the Winchesters to help. But the werewolves evade the hunters and get ahead of them in the woods.

Michael starts in on Cas, and Ackles is really flexing his acting muscles here. It's fun to watch; he really does seem like a different person than Dean. Michael says God-Chuck-is a writer, and all the worlds are failed drafts, and that he just moves on because he doesn't care about any of them. Michael's ultimate goal is to catch up to Chuck. Cas asks him what he'll do then. "Even God can die," Michael says.

Cas and Sam get ready to go in Dean's mind. They tell Jack to pray--and make sure nobody kills them. When they enter Dean's mind, it's pitch black and empty. Cas uses angel power to listen to the trauma in Dean's mind: there's an awful lot of it. But Sam has an idea. Maybe Dean isn't trapped in trauma, because that didn't work last time. Maybe he's in a place where he's contented.

Cas listens to the memories of Dean's happiness. Apparently strippers and pie make for some very happy memories...Sam hears Dean talking about Rocky's, and tells Cas to go there because that's not an actual memory. They appear in the bar and Dean greets them with, "Kill a ghoul, get a beer!"

Sam and Cas try to get Dean to listen to them, but Dean's still caught in the loop. He and Pam kill vampires right in front of Sam and Cas, spraying them with blood. Pam says if they're in Dean's mind, Dean should be able to control things. She tells him, "Get me a shot...with your brain." She and Dean snicker. 

But when Sam says something about Pam being blind, Dean has a sudden flash of memory, and when he looks at Pam again, he sees her as blind. When he remembers her death, she vanishes. Cas tries to break through to Dean.

And then Sam says, "Poughkeepsie."

Poor Dean. It sucks to see him dragged out of his happy place. "I remember," he says. 

Somebody starts clapping. It's Michael, of course, at the other end of the bar. "Hey fellas," he says. He starts ripping into Dean, laying bare his darkest emotions and fears. You can see the pain on Dean's face. But Cas breaks in. Something's wrong--Michael is stalling. He's trying to keep them busy while the monsters break into the bunker. 

Sam thinks Michael is all talk inside Dean's brain, that he can't actually do anything--but Michael manages to slap all three of them around pretty good in a knock-down, drag-out fight inside the bar. 

Inside the bunker, one of the hunters reveals that he was turned a few hours back. He left the door open, and werewolves swarm into the bunker. They're winning the fight against the hunters when Jack steps in, yells "No!" and burns the werewolves to dust with his grace. Oh, baby Jack, you'll hurt yourself. On the other hand, what else could he do?

In Rocky's Bar, Michael threatens to leave Dean as shattered flesh and bone if they throw him out of Dean's body. Dean has an idea. "We don't kick him out, we keep him in," he says, grabs Michael, and locks him in the storage room. "My mind, my rules. I got him. I'm the Cage," he says, panting. Dean, honey, this isn't going to work for long.

But it works for now. Everybody wakes up. Cas lays into Jack like any father would for burning off part of his soul. Jack promises not to do it again, but we all know how that works on Supernatural. 

Dean is struggling, looking into the mirror in his room. "It's you. It's all you," he repeats to himself as Michael screams and roars inside his head, pounding on the door and trying to break free. Billie appears. She admits that she was the one who brought everyone to the bunker earlier. But that's not why she's there. She has something to tell Dean.

In the big library where the books of Death are stored, where all the many ways that Dean Winchester could die are written down...all the endings have changed. They now all end the same way: with Michael breaking free and using Dean's vessel to burn the world. 

All the endings except one.

She gives Dean the book. He takes it, looks at it, and looks at her. "What am I supposed to do with this?" he asks helplessly, and Billie replies, "That's up to you."

The episode closes on that ominous note, and I, for one, am left terrified. My first instinct was that the alternate ending was Dean's death by suicide, but judging by the trailer for the next episode, there's more to it than that. I'm pretty sure it involves Dean's death in some way, though, and I don't see how the Winchesters are going to work their way out of this one. I'm getting anxiety just thinking about it. 

Overall solid, dark, tense episode!

Edited by Lisafer
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The parents are due to come back this season... I'm wondering what they've got to do to get dad been in the picture. I haven't been on edge for an episode in a long while, but these have the interest piqued! This has been a good season so far. 

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6 hours ago, Imrlgoddess said:

The parents are due to come back this season... I'm wondering what they've got to do to get dad been in the picture. I haven't been on edge for an episode in a long while, but these have the interest piqued! This has been a good season so far. 

I keep wondering about that. John's whereabouts are unknown at this point, I think. If he's in Hell, he'd be quite a mess by now. But nobody has seen him in Heaven either. Could he be in the Empty somehow, or even in an alternate universe?

Oh, I also can't imagine the awkwardness of John and Mary seeing each other again, since Mary's been sleeping with AU Bobby.

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Tonight's episode: WHAT THE EVER LOVIN BLEEPITY BLANKITY FUCKING BLEEP??? 

Woossaaahhh. On my baby's birthday y'all?? Really?? 

Next week better make sense. They got my nerves bad ?

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Supernatural Season 14, Episode 11, Damaged Goods

I'm...not sure what to think of this episode, so I'll just go ahead and start recapping and see if I can get my thoughts in order here.

Nick has caught the former demon colleague of Abraxas. If we've seen her on the show before, it's been so long that I neither remember nor care. Nick doesn't care either. He wants Abraxas. The demon he's caught gives up the location of the hunter that took down Abraxas, gasping out "Hibbing, Minnesota!" before Nick stabs her in the eye.

At the bunker, Dean's moving fast and quietly, collecting books, work gloves, and tools and stuffing them in his duffel bag before going to check on Sam. He tells Sam that he appreciates how hard he's working on the Michael thing. Sam looks confused, and then downright suspicious and shocked when Dean walks over and gives him an awkward hug before leaving to go see Mary at the cabin. 

Sam's so worried he calls Mary. She's alone at the cabin--Bobby needed space after everything that's happened to him. Nice, writers, clear Bobby out of the way in preparation for John's big return. Sam tells Mary that Dean hugged him. They don't hug each other, he explains while walking through the bunker with his phone: well, they do, but only when it's literally the end of the world. Sam notices things missing...a book on the shelf next to a Holy Bible. He hangs up, looking worried.

Dean is chowing down on burgers with Donna Hanscum. It's cute, but Donna's not fooled. She knows something's wrong, but Dean isn't talking. He hugs her too. Dun dun dunnn...

When Dean arrives at the cabin, he hears gunshots. It's just Mary, blasting pumpkins out back. Mary says if Dean's staying a few days, they should call Sam and have a family reunion. Dean doesn't want Sam there. He wants to spend time with Mary, and he wants her to cook...Winchester Surprise. Mary, horrified, says she can't believe he remembers her cooking that. She can't believe she fed it to him. "It was so greasy," she muses. But she agrees to go get the supplies from the store. And pie, of course!

As soon as Mary hits the road, Dean's in the shed getting ready to work, raising his eyebrows at Donna's porny pictures of mustachioed, shirtless cowboys. But it's all good, she's got 8-tracks, and "No Time" by The Guess Who fills the air as Dean starts measuring, cutting, and welding. How is it that safety goggles make Jensen Ackles even hotter than normal?

Joe, the grocery clerk, waves Mary off with her bags of groceries. A little while later, he's pushing carts in the parking lot when Nick pulls up in a blue van and asks where to find Mary Winchester. Joe doesn't tell her--good man. As soon as Nick drives away, he pulls out his phone and calls somebody.

It's dark now, and Nick is driving a back road when he gets pulled over. Tension mounts as he mutters to himself and waits for the police, palming a paper clip for later use. It's Donna who appears next to the van. "Hiya." "Evening, officer." Oh, hell. Donna slaps Nick up against the van. She knows it's stolen, and Joe the grocery clerk told her that somebody was looking for Mary. She whips out her mobile fingerprint scanner. Uff da! 

Nick uses his paperclip to free himself from the cuffs as Donna whips around with her gun out. They struggle, and it looks like Donna's got it under control, but Nick tases her and escapes.

Dean's got the table set for him and Mary. Mary knows something's up. Sam calls her, panicking, but she says to let her try to talk to Dean. But Sam's already in the car. When he hangs up, he puts his foot down hard on the accelerator. 

Dean's hurting so bad, but trying to cover it up with laughter and stories. He won't tell Mary what's wrong, so when he falls asleep on the couch, Mary sneaks out to the shed. She finds a metal frame, papers, books...and figures out what he's doing. "No, no, no," she whispers, and rushes out of the shed--right into Nick.

Dean wakes up to his phone ringing. Donna says Nick got away, and he's coming for Mary. Dean rushes outside and whips his gun right into Sam's startled face. Mary's gone. 

Nick's got Mary tied up in his van, talking to her, casually, with a huge knife in his hand. He wants Abraxas. Mary finally admits that she didn't kill Abraxas: she's got him in an Enochian box. She agrees to take Nick to the box. They travel to a storage unit outside of Grand Rapids, where NIck avoids a tripwire and forces Mary to show him where the box is hidden. (There's a lot of weird stuff in those storage lockers). Mary points out that he can't talk to Abraxas...she's warded against possession. Nick says he'll improvise. 

Donna, Dean, and Sam get a call about the license plate on the van and head for Grand Rapids. Dean's mad at Sam for trying to help Nick. He says "When people are past the point of saving, maybe you should learn to walk away." We all know that's not about Nick, it's about himself. 

Nick ties up the storage security guard and puts him in a demon trap circle.  He can't get the box open, so he drills a hole in it. Abraxas pops out, possesses the guard, and boy is he creepy and disgusting. He leers at Mary, and tells Nick to kill her if he wants answers about his family. Nick is about to do it when the boys and Donna burst in. Nick sees his chance and breaks the demon circle, allowing Abraxas full power. Abraxas lifts everyone and slams them on the ground. He's a wildly powerful demon. He says he killed Nick's family on orders from Lucifer, as a means of preparing NIck for Lucifer's possession. "You were chosen, but you weren't special. We threw a dart at the phone book," he says, sneering. 

Nick, enraged, stabs Abraxas and kills him. Donna shoots Nick in the leg, and Mary punches him in the head. He's down. 

Donna handcuffs Nick and takes him to the police car. Sam follows and asks Nick why? Why would he do the things he did? Nick says he wanted answers: that Sam would have done the same thing. He says he doesn't need to be fixed: that he was never broken. 

Sam says he's not sorry for Nick. He's sorry for the people Nick killed, the ones whose faces will haunt him every night. "You can burn," he says, in a harsh bitterness that we don't often see from Sam. 

Mary gives Dean an ultimatum: tell Sam what's going on in the shed, or she will. 

So Dean tells Sam. He's building a Ma'lak box, similar to an Enochian box, only big enough to hold a living human. He wants to seal himself in and have his family drop him in the Pacific ocean. Right now I'm totally remembering the episode of Angel where Holtz sank him in the ocean, sealed in a coffin (Tomorrow, 3.22). Spoiler: Angel came back...

Sam is not having this. He's furious that Dean would go on some "sick farewell tour" without telling him what was going on. Dean says he couldn't tell Sam, because Sam was the only person who could talk him out of this plan. And he refuses to be talked out of it, because it's the only way. The brothers face each other across the box. It's Sam who gives in. "All right," he says.

So this wasn't a bad episode. There was so much going on, though, and I feel like Nick's story got rushed. I know some fans are completely sick of him and Lucifer, but I was really enjoying his story. Not to mention, Lucifer has quite possibly awakened from the empty, so I have a feeling he'll be back. When Abraxas said Nick wasn't special, I think that was a lie. It's been shown that other vessels can only contain Lucifer for a short time: Nick was the only one who could hold him with ease. 

From the trailer for the next episode, Cas is not going to be happy about the Ma'lak box either. I know that the whole Destiel thing is not canon, but Dean and Cas have been bonded since they met, to the point where it's totally got a spousal feel. I am praying to Chuck that the writers quit using Cas for a punching-bag and actually give him something to do before Misha Collins gets as frustrated as Mark Sheppard did at the end of Crowley's run.

Interested to see what next week holds, and of course awaiting the 300th episode with bated breath!

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Supernatural Season 14, Episode 12, Prophet and Loss

This was a wreck of an episode that went on and on and then, in true Supernatural style, turned my heart inside out and made me cry in the last five minutes. All its weaknesses are forgiven for that last scene. 

We open to water...the Ma'lak box in the ocean, Dean panicking, holding his phone. "Sam? Sam?" His phone goes dead. "Sammy!" he screams as the screen goes black.

It's a nightmare, of course: I knew that. Dean wakes up as Sam enters his hotel room. His fingernails are bloody; he clawed the wall in his sleep. Sam's talking to him, still trying to convince him that there's another way, that what he's doing is worse than death. Dean knows that. 

Elsewhere, a bound and gagged woman is drowned in a vat of saltwater by a wild-eyed young man who slices marks into her arms and listens to voices in his head. What the hell?

Nick's in a hospital, handcuffed to a bed. A police officer brings him food and assures him that he's going to rot in jail forever. A single tear slides down Nick's cheek. 

Dean and Sam are hauling the Ma'lak box on a trailer. Good luck explaining that if they're pulled over! Dean wants to make sure that Sam is still with him regarding what he's about to do. Sam is not happy. He points out that Dean hasn't even told Jack and Cas. Dean says he can't do big goodbyes. He stops to use the restroom, and Sam calls Cas. He's told Cas everything, and Cas is trying desperately to find a way out, even asking Rowena to work through the entire Book of the Damned twice to make sure. Apparently Rowena has "a remarkable command of profanity."

"If we don't find some way...Dean's gone," Sam says, and hangs up.

The wild-eyed killer has another victim. He's muttering scripture as he cuts his throat and listens to the voices in his head. "I am the Lord," he says. Still don't know what's going on here.

Dean's feeling Michael banging on the door in his head. He starts trying to apologize to Sam for not being the greatest brother. Sam doesn't want to hear deathbed apologies. He gets tears in his eyes. Sam is SO not on board with Dean's plan.

The police officer in charge of Nick is peeking through the door, watching Nick praying in his hospital bed. He thinks Nick is praying to God, but we know better. Nick gets loose and stomps the officer's face in before collecting his belongings and escaping from the hospital.

Sam tells Dean that they should stop and look into a case. Two victims with Enochian words cut into their arms. They stop in and visit the second victim's twin brother, who says "Losing him is like losing a part of myself. I never knew it could be this bad." Sam's looking at Dean the whole time. 

The brother points them to a friend--Tony Alvarez, who apparently became super-religious for unknown reasons and has an Enochian tattoo on his arm. Dean calls Cas to check on the name. Cas gets a little too excited to hear from Dean, and assumes he's given up on his plan. Dean gives Sam a dirty look. "It's Cas. I had to tell him," Sam says. He's right. Dean shouldn't be trying to hide this shit. 

Apparently Tony Alvarez is next in the batting order of prophets. But Donatello's still alive, even though he's in a coma. So why, Dean wonders, is Alvarez off the bench? Sam and Dean break into Tony's house and find that he's been writing Enochian on the walls and taking pictures of his victims. They get a lead on his next move.

Tony's got a victim tied up and is pouring gasoline on him when the boys burst in. Sam punches the prophet, Dean saves the victim. Sam is taking out his anger with some solid punches here! Tony is frantic. When he realizes what he's done, he snatches Dean's gun and shoots himself, leaving me wondering what exactly was the point? 

Cas, on the phone, says there should only be one prophet at a time. But with Donatello between life and death, prophets may be being born prematurely, so to speak. Now I'm remembering Buffy, when she died and the next Slayer activated, causing chaos in the Buffyverse. But if more dysfunctional prophets are born, the whole cycle could repeat. Cas says they know what they need to do.

Nick's breaking into a house--the one his family died in. Cold air surrounds him, the mirror frosts over, and the light flickers. A beautiful woman in a nightgown walks into the room. "Nick?" she says. "Is that you?" he replies. "Yes, Nick!" She's excited, but her smile fades when he says "Lucifer?" "It's Sarah," she tells him. "Your wife."

Sarah's held there by unfinished business. Nick tries to say he's sorry, but he's completely insincere, and Sarah points that out. She's angry. Nick chose Lucifer. She saw it happen after her death. But if he rejects Lucifer, her business will be over and she can leave. She begs Nick to reject Lucifer. 

Nick says he can't. Sarah is angry. "You can't because you ARE him!" she says. "You've doomed yourself!"

"I know," Nick says. He leaves the ghost of his wife standing there and goes away, searching for darkness and for Lucifer. 

At the Happy Daze care facility, Sam and Dean are talking to a doctor about Donatello. He mentions that another doctor has just arrived. It's Cas in a white coat, and boy is he pissed at Dean. He wants to talk about Dean's suicidal mission, but Dean says they can do that later. Cas points out that, according to the plan, there will BE no later. "So then is this goodbye?" he asks. He and Dean both have raw pain on their faces. 

Apparently Donatello has been trying to speak Enochian. That's a change, and Cas says there's a chance of healing him. "If there's a spark--a hope--then I have to try." He glares at Dean. "YOU taught me that." Oooo, snap.

Sam and Dean sit and wait for Cas to do his thing. Sam says he's worried about Donatello: about somebody trapped in his own body, between life and death. We all know he's not really talking about Donatello. They go to see if Cas has succeeded. Something's happening. Donatello opens his eyes. Dean tells him "Welcome back, champ!" Within a short time he's sitting up and having jello. He still doesn't have soul, but as Dean says, nobody's perfect. 

Dean comes out in the darkness to the car, where Sam is waiting with a six-pack of beer. Sam's at his breaking point. He brings up the memories: how he looked up to Dean, literally followed him to Hell and back, and now none of that means anything? Dean is going to leave. He's going to quit. He's going to give up on them, on family, on brotherhood. Sam pushes Dean several times, his voice cracking, tears in his eyes. "Why don't you believe in us?" he says.

Then he punches Dean in the face. 

He tries to punch him again, but Dean, wide-eyed, catches him. "Hey, hey, hey!" he says, blocking the blow and trying to calm his brother down. Suddenly, Sam hugs him tight. "I need you to believe in us," he says, his voice choked with tears.

And standing there, hugging his brother, Dean finally breaks. He's right; Sam is the only one who could ever talk him out of this. "Ok," he says. "Let's go home."

Sam can hardly believe it. Cas, coming out of the care facility, walks up to the brothers and stands there quietly, watching. Dean's voice is breaking too as he agrees to go home. But he wants Sam and Cas to promise him that if the day comes where there's no other choice, that they'll stand behind him. 

Aaaaand now my poor little heart is just going to blow up. "Let's go home," Dean says, and opens the car door. "Don't hit me again, okay?" he says softly to Sam, trying to lighten the mood. Poor Sam. It's really obvious at this point exactly how much strain he's been under, and how much pain he's endured.

They all get in the car, and Baby's headlights fill the screen. 

I haven't been this emotionally torn up by Supernatural in ages. It's gonna take me a minute to recover!

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On 2/1/2019 at 9:56 AM, Lisafer said:

I haven't been this emotionally torn up by Supernatural in ages. It's gonna take me a minute to recover!

They really did slay us a bit with this one.  

After we watched that episode, I went to Mystery Spot cause ya know: Groundhog Day.  The theme in that one really resonated after seeing the latest issue with Dean.  They writers are keeping it consistent but there's a point where we get a little sick of the "there's no other choice but death".  

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1 hour ago, Imrlgoddess said:

They really did slay us a bit with this one.  

After we watched that episode, I went to Mystery Spot cause ya know: Groundhog Day.  The theme in that one really resonated after seeing the latest issue with Dean.  They writers are keeping it consistent but there's a point where we get a little sick of the "there's no other choice but death".  

I consider Mystery Spot to be one of the best Supernatural episodes ever! Funny, offbeat, brotherly, and yet with ever-increasing horror!

I love Supernatural so much, but I hope that it ends before it becomes too played out. Better to end on a high note than for the writers to run out of ideas and lose the heart of Supernatural. I don't ever want it to end on a horrible last season like Scrubs, That 70s Show, Psych, etc. *shudder*

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Supernatural Season 14, Episode 13, Lebanon 

The 300th episode of Supernatural is upon us, and we open to a view of Sam and Dean approaching the barred windows of Precious Pawn. They tell the shop owner that they're "looking for the good stuff" as Dean holds up a huge wad of cash. 

They're not looking for cocaine, of course--they're looking for magical items. The owner takes them into the back, showing them shelves of mysterious objects. Sam picks up a horrid stuffed bear and almost tugs the pull-string on its back. "I wouldn't do that," the owner says. LOL. Dean says they're looking for the skull of Sarah Good, a Salem witch. The shop owner shows them the skull, and says he picked it up for a song in a flea market. Nope, the boys aren't buying the skull or his story. Turns out a lot of this stuff belonged to Bart Kemp, a hunter who got cut in half last week. 

The shop owner knows he's been caught red-handed. He uses a dragon's-blood flamethrower and grabs a huge scimitar that is supposed to cut through anything. He's a second away from slicing Sam when Dean shoots him. "They always talk to much!" Dean observes, looking at Sammy on the floor. They take the magical goods and decide to transport them to the bunker.

In front of the Lebanon Vista Theatre (currently showing Beetlejuice and Hell Hazers) a group of teenagers are discussing the two weird guys with the muscle car, the ones with the weird sidekick in the trenchcoat and the kid with the Bambi look on his face (nice one, writers). One kid in a beanie insists that he heard somebody in the trunk of the car one time. The others are dubious. They're still hanging out when Dean and Sam pull up and park. The kids watch them with suspicious awe. One of the girls leaves, and tells the other one that she'll see her later at "the thing." The blond girl, left alone, smiles at the shiny Impala parked at the curb.

The "Campbell brothers" are heading to the bar for the usual drinks: the bartender knows them well. They start discussing the items that they're bringing back to the bunker: one of them is apparently a John Wayne Gacy cigar case. And, apparently, a pearl that can grant your heart's desire. Sam says this could be what they need to deal with Dean's Michael problem. They're so busy talking that it takes them a second to notice that Baby is no longer sitting at the curb.

They run out of the bar and catch the teenager with the beanie, who looks scared. "I don't want to die!" he says. Sam and Dean are hilariously confused by this. The kid tells them that a new girl, Max, drove off in the car. 

Sam and Dean go to the Post Office, which I've never seen referred to as a "Postal Station" before. Sam tries to ask the clerk whether she has an address for the girl; she gives him stink-eye and asks, "You want me to give you an underaged girl's address?" Dean steps in and sweet-talks her, putting his hand over hers on the counter. Sam looks disgusted, but it works; she tells them where to find Max's mother.

"Imma kill her," says the mom, a waitress at the pizza joint. The cook steps in and tells Sam and Dean that it's "skip day," and the teenagers have played hookey from school for a big party at an abandoned house. It's a small town: he knows what's going on. 

At the party, teenagers and dangerous magic items are scattered everywhere. One of the girls is dangerously close to pulling the string on the stuffed bear when they're distracted by pizza. They go to the front door as a rotting clown hand emerges from the cigar box. 

The kid with the beanie (I never did catch his name) bursts in and says the weird guys are after them. He's brushed off. Meanwhile, another teenager goes to the bathroom and the mirror freezes over right before a clown lunges at him out of the mirror. Sam and Dean pull up in an old truck just as the teenager sprints out of the house saying he was attacked by a clown. The brothers burst into the house with their FBI badges, astonishing the beanie kid. 

After kicking out the teenagers, Sam and Dean realize the cigar box is open. "We should burn that right now," Dean says. Sam dumps it in the fireplace but has trouble with his lighter. Dammit, Sam, after all these years you haven't bought a Zippo? The clown throws Dean across the room. Outside, beanie kid says "screw this," and runs back into the house with the two girls following, just in time to see the clown go up in flames. Naturally Sam and Dean have to give them "the talk," and tell them to keep it secret. 

Back at the bunker, Sam finds the pearl. Dean is ready to use it right away. He takes it in his hand and thinks about getting Michael out of his head. Suddenly the lights go down, the red emergency lights come on, and someone attacks the boys, knocking them down with ease. Dean finds himself at the end of a shotgun while a deep voice says, "Don't you move."

It's a familiar face. "Dad?" Dean says. It's John Winchester. "Dean?" he says. "Sam? What in the hell? Sammy? Aren't you supposed to be in Palo Alto?" The lights are up, and they're all staring at each other. John thinks it's 2003. Although, let me say, the John Winchester before us looks far older and thinner than the one who took down Yellow Eyes. I know it's for TWD, but jeez. It really takes me out of the story.

"I think we summoned you," Sam says. They fill John in over whisky in the kitchen. He's moved by all this, the bunker, the saving the world, God, angels..."I just wish I had been there to see it." The boys are about to tell him about Mary when she walks in.

Even though I'm not that fond of Mary, it's nice to see her be reunited with her love. Like Sam and Dean, we're not supposed to see anything after that first passionate kiss. The boys head out to the hall. Sam is worried. He knows they've screwed something up. Dean doesn't want to think about it. He has the Winchesters all together--what he's been wishing for since four years old. 

After a while, Sam finds John looking at the shelves of books. They talk: John admits that he screwed up with Sam a lot. Sam agrees, but says that when he thinks about John, he doesn't think about the arguments. He thinks about John on the floor of the hospital and how he never got to say goodbye. They both have tears in their eyes. John says, "Son, I am so sorry." In that tearful moment, Sam looks really young, like the almost-child he was back in the day when John was still alive. 

Sam catches up to Dean, heading to town with a shopping list for Winchester Surprise (just what the hell is in this casserole, anyway?) and tells him he's right. They need to enjoy this time with their family. Together the boys go into town. 

But everything is weird. Nobody recognizes them: the bartender, Max, the postal clerk--and Sam sees a WANTED poster of Dean outside the post office. Ooops. He rushes back to Dean. But Dean's been doing a little Googling, and he's found something strange, too: a video of Sam dressed like Bill Gates. Apparently he runs a law firm and loves kale. Heh. Dean's still a hunter, apparently involved in a lot of beheadings. 

Sam says it's a temporal paradox. If they don't fix things, they're going to end up becoming these new versions of themselves--permanently. Dean says he's still cool, but Sam...he makes a grossed-out noise. But what else changed? they wonder. And how are they going to tell their parents that they've got to go back to the way things were?

In a nasty wet alley somewhere, Castiel and Zachariah appear. Things are definitely not right, although Zachariah referring to Castiel as Constantine (and Castiel not getting it) is definitely funny. They go into town, find the pizza place, and demand to know who's been messing with time. The kids from earlier are there, staring in disbelief. Zach says Cas is going to murder them all if they don't tell him what's going on. Castiel goes into the old spiel. "My name is Castiel. I am an angel of the Lord." He powers up. He's definitely pre-Winchester Castiel, if there was any doubt about that. And he's feeling rather murderous.

Dean and Sam burst in, having seen the commotion from across the street. Zach looks at them and realizes that it's the Winchesters who have screwed with time. He starts choking out Sam, while Dean goes toe-to-toe with Cas in a scene reminiscent of the earlier seasons. Cas definitely has the upper hand. Sam whips out an angel blade and kills Zachariah. Wait, wait, wait, won't this screw up the timeline?! Cas tries to kill Dean, but Sam makes a sigil and blows him away. 

The boys make it back to the bunker. Dean tells John what's going on. John takes it well. If the timeline returning to its original course means Mary gets to live again, there's no question that he's going back. I admire that in John Winchester. You always know what he's going to do, because he's a man who lives by a very simple code. Mary, in the kitchen with Sam, is crying. Sam understands, but they have to do it this way.

John tells Dean that he never meant for this to happen. His fight was supposed to end with Yellow Eyes, and Dean was supposed to find peace, have a family. "I have a family," Dean says, and John smiles at him. "I am incredibly proud of you," he says. Aww. We know Dean always needed that.

They all sit down to dinner: the four Winchesters together at last. But everybody looks so sad, until John says they have two choices: to think about what's coming, or to be grateful for what they have right now. "To whatever brought us together," he says, "we owe you one. Amen." "Amen," everybody echoes, and finally the mood lifts. For once in their lives, the boys have their parents. 

Afterwards, washing up, Sam says it's not fair. He's struggling with this. For once, Dean is the one who's accepted it. They could change time, he says, but where does it stop? Should they go back farther and make it so that he and Sam never become hunters at all? He basically says they can't play God. He's good with who he is and who Sam is. 

It's time. John and Mary are holding hands. "I miss you so damn much," John tells Mary. They kiss. He tells Sam and Dean to take care of each other. "I am so proud of you boys." He hugs them both and tells them that he loves them. 

Sam takes the pearl and smashes it. John vanishes, smiling at Mary. Lebanon goes back to normal, and Cas enters the bunker, looking confused when he sees their faces. "What happened?" Well, that will take a few minutes to explain. 

John wakes up in Baby back in 2003. It's wet and rainy outside, and his phone is ringing. "Dean?" he says. "I just had one hell of a dream." He smiles. "No, it was good. I'm on my way back--see you soon." 

Supernatural's 300th episode. Wow. That's an achievement. I love this show so much that I feel bad saying that this episode fell flat for me. It was nice to see the boys get closure, but it was just...nice. I couldn't feel raw emotion like in last week's episode. It was all too smooth, too quick, too here-and-gone. And there were a couple things that really didn't work: John Winchester looking so different, when he was supposed to have been whisked straight from 2003, and the fact that Sam killed Zachariah. Both of these really bothered me. Zachariah being killed should have affected the timeline, shouldn't it? The writers should have sigiled both of them out of there. John Winchester was whisked out of 2003 and somehow turned into a big softy who apologized to his boys and cried with them. I love John Winchester and I understand why he did the things he did in the early seasons, but I don't think he could shed his dickish authoritarian personality that fast, even with his wife around. The most true moment was where he agreed to go back without even thinking about it. That's him all over.

This is just my perception of it, and I could be missing something, but I really didn't enjoy this episode, and I feel bad for not enjoying it! 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Supernatural Season 14, Episode 14, Ouroboros

SON OF A BITCH. That was a wild ride. This episode started out as a sedate monster-of-the-week and ended in a shocking showdown at the bunker.

In Raton, NM, cheerful music plays as a young man cooks dinner, chopping vegetables, tasting sauce, and removing raw liver from the body of a man lying across the counter with his torso peeled open. Hannibal, is that you? (And what would be the repercussions if Hannibal turned out to be a supernatural monster, anyway?) The young man has a snake named Felix; he's carrying the snake and muttering about being interrupted at previous dinners as he pops out one of the dead guy's eyeballs and eats it whole. As soon as he eats the eyeball, he has a vision of Sam and Dean entering the house. Taking his snake and the other eyeball, he leaves.

Fifteen minutes later, Sam, Dean, Cas, and Jack enter the house and find the abandoned body and the pots bubbling on the stove, Jack looks at everything. "He's cooking the body parts again," he says. 

Dean suggests witchcraft. Rowena appears in the doorway and takes exception to his remarks. After all, she provided a tracking spell for the boys to hunt down this killer. It's not her fault that they didn't catch him in time. "Hello, Castiel," she remarks seductively. Castiel gives her an odd look.

Jack finds a snakeskin on the floor. He starts coughing, and everybody stares at him. "There was some pepper on something, I don't know. I'm fine. I'm not dying," he says, annoyed. 

Rowena notices the black lips of the dead man. It might be a clue. She and Sam hole up in a motel room--no, not like that--to do research. She needles Sam, trying to find out why Jack is no longer at death's door and how Dean is managing to hold Michael inside his head.

Dean himself is sitting with Cas in a cafe. Michael is slamming the door inside his head. Castiel is impressed by Dean's willpower, but Dean admits that he has to stay on guard every second, even when he's sleeping. It's on him to handle it, he says. Castiel says, "No, it's on us. We are here to help you." Dean says he appreciates it, but there's always Plan B. "Coffin. Ocean. Done."

In the restaurant bathroom, Jack is coughing hard. Oh my Chuck, he's coughing up blood again. He stares in the mirror and then burns off a little bit of his soul to heal himself. He comes back to the table and says he's fine. Cas says maybe the killer is a human. Jack says even if it's a human, it's a monster. They're discussing when Sam calls and says he has something.

At the motel, Rowena says she thinks the killer is a Gorgon. They found some more deaths, as well, with the same MO. Gorgons are also known to tell fates and glimpse the future...by eating eyes, of course. Since he can "see" hunters, they aren't sure how to catch him. 

The Gorgon, meanwhile, is persuading a trucker to give him a lift. As soon as they're in the truck, he gives the poor guy a poison kiss and eats an eyeball so he can get a vision. When Dean and Cas visit the murder scene in the morning, posing as FBI, there's a note on the body for Dean. Noah, the Gorgon, can see Dean and "the tall man" (hello, Moose) and the redhead chasing him. They're not going to catch him, he says. But there's a fatal flaw: he didn't mention Cas or Jack. He can't see angels or things-close-enough-to-angels, apparently. And that may be just what the hunters need.

Rowena wants some snake antivenom for a magic potion to counteract the Gorgon's poison. There's a hilarious interlude where Sam and Rowena rush into a vet clinic, panicking over their fluffy little dog and having a very realistic marital spat. The dog, left alone in an exam room, turns out to be Jack, who snatches the antivenom and escapes out a side door, no doubt leaving a very confused veterinarian behind. "Just wish I could have got it before she took my temperature," he says, deadpan, leaving Rowena and Sam slightly appalled. 

Rowena noticed that there's some dangerous juju going on with Jack, but Sam still won't tell her what it is. Sam talks to Maggie, who tells him decapitation with a silver blade is the only way to kill these creatures. Rowena does a tracking spell to find the Gorgon, who by this point has caught another victim and is talking and talking until it's a wonder the poor human doesn't just die of boredom. Cas and Jack burst into the house. "I didn't see you coming, but I see you now," Noah says. He fascinates Jack with a creepy tale about a black snake and a hen while Cas helps the victim escape. Then they fight, but the Gorgon poisons Cas and knocks Jack across the room and Sam and Dean burst in.

Noah gets hold of Dean and slams his face repeatedly into a wall. Dean is knocked out stone cold, which is not good considering that Michael is still in his head. The Gorgon grabs his bag and heads for the door, when Jack's arm shoots out and his silver blade slices the monster's head clean off. Jack runs back to Cas and panics because the antivenom isn't working. He heals Cas, oh hell you beautiful child, quit burning your soul away like that. 

Cas can't heal Dean, and they don't want Jack to try. They get Dean back to the bunker, carrying him in and laying him on his bed. Rowena overhears Jack begging to heal Dean, and when she realizes what they did to save Jack, she is less than pleased. Jack goes off to his room, where he's put the snake in a cage. Cas follows him and explains that you can't avoid losing people at some point. Humans burn brightly, but only for a short time. Creatures like Cas and Jack will experience loss. "Then what's the point?" Jack wants to know. "The point is that they were here at all," Cas says, which Jack reasonably points out "sounds awful." He asks Cas what the Gorgon's story about the snake meant. Cas says it's mostly a tale of greed, but also about "being willing to give up the thing you love, in order to kill the thing you hate." Oh, that's going to come back to bite him in the ass, isn't it?

Dean suddenly appears to lose his mind. He's throwing himself around, knocking things down, yelling that he needs to know where "he" is. The door inside his head is broken: Michael's gone. Dean puts his hands over his face. "It's my fault," he keeps saying, when they hear Maggie screaming. 

Michael is loose inside the building, slaughtering hunters. Maggie lets out a final scream and falls to the floor with her eyes burnt out. REALLY, WRITERS? Yet another woman on Supernatural bites the dust?! "Hello, boys," says Rowena...only it's not Rowena.

Michael had caught up to Rowena while she was reading a book and offered to leave her alive if she said yes to his possession. Rowena said she'd live either way, considering that her fate was sealed: she was going to die at Sam Winchester's hands, not his. So Michael said he'd kill everyone in the bunker--the people Rowena cared about, no matter how much she denied caring about them. And, although knowing Michael probably wouldn't keep his end of the deal, Rowena said yes. 

Michael is ready to kill the Winchesters and be done with them, and watch the world burn. He flings them and Cas down and is torturing them when Jack snatches a blade. Michael hits him with a burst of energy, but Jack gathers himself and sends a blast at Michael strong enough to knock him down. Michael is furious. How dare Jack, a child, stand against him? He fires blasts of energy at Jack again and again in a much better battle-scene than, say, Luci vs. Dean...oh, I'm so glad they didn't try the flying thing again. 

Jack has had it with Michael. He closes the gap, saying "I am the son of Lucifer. I am a Hunter. I am a Winchester!" He grabs Rowena and expels Michael, whose essence swirls ominously around Jack's head. Jack says, "You won't hurt anyone ever again," and inhales Michael into his own body.

"Jack?" The Winchesters and Cas are afraid to ask. Jack pauses. "Michael," he says. "He's dead." Jack's eyes light up, and he smiles. "I'm me again," he says simply, and powers up: huge wings spread out across the bunker. 

Oh my Chuck.

Awesome episode! I thought we were getting a monster-of-the-week, and it turned out to be so much more. Michael, as far as we can tell, is really and truly gone. But what is going to happen to Jack? Is he soulless? Has he used Michael's power to repair himself? What's with the wings? So many questions! Also, how did Dean escape the death that was predicted for him if Michael ever got out of the cage? We don't know exactly what the only other alternative was, even now. Personally, I'm wondering if Jack is actually powerful enough to alter fate: as in, his fight with Michael actually changed Dean's future timeline. Anyway, I'm looking forward to having some of these questions answered, and crossing my fingers that Jack doesn't become the Big Bad of next season. Don't treat my sweet baby that way, writers.

 

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I just wanted to pop in and let you know that I've started watching Season One of Supernatural.  I figured if you've lasted for 14 seasons, there must be something to this series!  I just recognized the actress who played Darla on Buffy in the current episode, so that is fun!  Dean needs some faith healing in this episode - hayalaluuia and hayamen (thanks to Bro Gary for the proper lingo).

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6 minutes ago, CTRLZero said:

I just wanted to pop in and let you know that I've started watching Season One of Supernatural.  I figured if you've lasted for 14 seasons, there must be something to this series!  I just recognized the actress who played Darla on Buffy in the current episode, so that is fun!  Dean needs some faith healing in this episode - hayalaluuia and hayamen (thanks to Bro Gary for the proper lingo).

I remember that one. I didn’t have grey hair then!

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On 3/12/2019 at 10:54 PM, CTRLZero said:

I just wanted to pop in and let you know that I've started watching Season One of Supernatural.  I figured if you've lasted for 14 seasons, there must be something to this series!  I just recognized the actress who played Darla on Buffy in the current episode, so that is fun!  Dean needs some faith healing in this episode - hayalaluuia and hayamen (thanks to Bro Gary for the proper lingo).

That is a truly excellent episode! Unfortunately, if you're watching on Netflix, they substituted some generic soundtrack for the Reaper chase sequence, when the original had Don't Fear the Reaper by Blue Oyster Cult synced up just perfectly, doubling the impact of that scene!

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10 minutes ago, Lisafer said:

if you're watching on Netflix, they substituted some generic soundtrack for the Reaper chase sequence, when the original had Don't Fear the Reaper by Blue Oyster Cult synced up just perfectly, doubling the impact of that scene!

Well, heck, I wonder why they did that, since they talk about BOC in the record store (was that another episode -- all a blur, lol).  I am binge watching on Netflix, into Season 2 now, just past the clown and zombie episodes.  Loads of fun!

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53 minutes ago, Lisafer said:

That is a truly excellent episode! Unfortunately, if you're watching on Netflix, they substituted some generic soundtrack for the Reaper chase sequence, when the original had Don't Fear the Reaper by Blue Oyster Cult synced up just perfectly, doubling the impact of that scene!

Does Netflix still edit out Carry On with random music too? That was a travesty! 

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Supernatural Season 14, Episode 15, Peace of Mind

This episode combined funny, sweet, and sad in a soft mix that made a welcome change from last week's shocking conclusion. We start out seeing running legs as a young man sprints past a movie theater ($2 Scooby-Doo matinee, of course), a bowling alley, and a record shop in a strangely 50s setting. He pounds on the door of the local diner. "Sonny?" he calls. Sonny, the blond waitress dressed in pink, opens the door. "Conrad?" They kiss, and have a brief, tense conversation. He's leaving: why, we don't know, but we see him sprinting down a dark road past a billboard labeled "Charming Acres." 

At a refreshingly modern gas station, Conrad bursts in and demands a phone, snatching the clerk's cell and trying to make a call. But he's interrupted by an awful ringing noise that only he can hear--a noise reminiscent of angels trying to communicate. And poor Conrad's head explodes. The clerk peeks around the corner and barfs.

In the bunker, Jack is holding the snake from the last episode. Cas approaches. "How's the snake?" he asks, but we all know he's really asking about Jack himself. And Jack can't tell Cas what's going on, because he doesn't know himself. His powers are back, but as far as his soul: he can't tell.

Dean, in the kitchen, is eating a huge sandwich. He seems to be in better shape than anybody right now, with Michael off his shoulders. Sam is struggling with the loss of his Hunters. He's been on 3 back-to-back hunts and just found another case in Arkansas. Cas volunteers to go with him, hoping that Dean can communicate with Jack and figure out what's going on.

At the gas station near Charming Acres, Agents Scholz and Delp interview the clerk ("Incident? THAT'S what we're calling it?") who directs them to Charming Acres. And Charming Acres is weird...oh hell yeah. As Cas says, it's like he and Sam have stepped into a Saturday Evening Post. (He reads them at night when the Winchesters are asleep; they're very soothing). Cas and Sam stop some passersby: Justin Smith and his "foxy" wife Cindy, on their way to the bake sale in their nice 50s outfits. Justin Smith is rather confused by the "cell phone" in Sam's hand. He follows his wife down the sidewalk, muttering to himself. Cas looks at Sam. "Maybe they're Mormon?" Ahahahaha. 

At the local diner, where the waitress Sonny is attending to the customers and her father, Chip Harrington, is behind the counter, Cas and Sam sit down and find themselves greeted with free (extremely delicious) milkshakes. Chip is also the mayor, and already knows there's a couple of G-Men in town. Didn't Conrad Martin have an "aneurysm or something?" he asks.

"Oh, no," says Cas calmly. "His head exploded." 

Silence falls over the whole diner. "I'm sorry?" Mayor Harrington says.

"Like a ripe melon on the sun."

Oh, Cas. He and Sam leave the diner with the address of the place where Conrad was staying; by the time they arrive, the woman who runs the boarding house already knows they're coming. Definitely weird.

At the bunker, Jack's feeding the snake, but he tells Dean that it's not happy and he doesn't know what to feed it. Dean suggests bacon, of course, and also gets Jack to agree on a little field trip. On the road, he offers Jack two generic snack cakes--angel food and devil's food flavors--and looks alarmed when Jack almost eats the devil's food one before tossing it back and selecting the other. Dean's silent whistle of relief is hilarious.

Mrs. Dowling at the boarding-house shows Cas and Sam Conrad's room. They search it and find a stack of very graphic love letters from Sonny. Sam wants to look into it--tomorrow. He wants to stay overnight. Mrs. Dowling is making pot roast. Sam's sudden infatuation is suspicious, but Cas agrees.

Justin Smith, the cheerful villager, is upset. Memories start flooding back to him. Cellphones: he remembers now. He bought one for his daughter. Horror washes over him as Cindy watches, puzzled. "This is not my house!" he screams, and runs down the sidewalk, pursued by a ringing noise until his head blows up and he collapses. Cindy looks after him, confused.

Cas is not happy when he gets up in the morning and can't find Sam anywhere. Mrs. Dowling offers him johnnycakes, but Cas says "No, I don't eat." That's my Cas, right there. He is quite hilariously irritated by how the townsfolk refer to Sam as "the tall man." Sam's been at the diner, but left when he heard about Justin Smith's demise. Cas tracks him to the Smiths' house; Cindy opens the door, completely unfazed, and offers him a martini. Cas, thinking she doesn't know, tries to tell her that her husband is dead, but she insists her husband is completely fine. Her "husband" walks into the room: it's Sam, or a version of him, with a ponytail, glasses, and a cardigan. A Sam who insists his name is Justin Smith and who absolutely will not tolerate words like "H-E-Double Hockey Sticks" being used in his house. He tosses Cas out indignantly and slams the door.

Dean has taken Jack to see Donatello, the expert in being soulless. Jack and Donny share coffee and talk. It's moving, the way Donatello tries to express the emptiness at the center of himself. He tells Jack that when he needs to "blend in," he asks himself "What would Mr. Rogers do?" because Mr. Rogers is the best man he knows. Jack says that the Winchesters are the best men he knows, so Donatello tells him to use WWWD (what would the Winchesters do?) as his guide. It gives Jack some peace, but slightly ominous music plays in the background as Dean talks to Donatello and glances back at Jack waving happily from the car. Donatello says to Dean, "Jack's probably the most powerful being in the universe. I mean, really...who knows what's going on inside his head."

Cas rushes back to Sonny at the diner to accuse her of being a witch, based on her letters that both professed love for Conrad and urged him to leave town. Sonny says, "It's not me, it's him! He's out of control!" It's her father, who arrives with three other men, including Sam-by-golly-my-name-is-Justin! Somehow, Chip Harrington tapped into a power beyond himself and became able to control minds...and he's been doing it ever since, trying to keep his town the way he wants it. He can't control his own daughter, though. She runs outside and Chip runs after her, while the three men attack Cas.

Cas finally has a good fight scene where he shows what he can do. But when Sam comes after him with an angel blade, Cas tells him to snap out of it. He knows what Sam's feeling. Cas has also lost soldiers and failed as a leader. But to sink into this false happiness now would be to fail those fallen soldiers, to fail his family, to fail Dean. Sam slams the angel blade into the floor next to Cas, and they run outside, where Chip tries to blow them up. "I'm God!" he shouts. Sam replies, "No, we've seen God," and Cas yells, "God has a BEARD!" which ought to be embroidered on something with little flowers around it. Sam's head is about to pop when Sonny screams, "I said STOP!" She takes control of her powers and shuts her father away in his own mind, trapping him in a beautiful happy world.

Dean and Jack make it back to the bunker just ahead of Cas and Sam. Sam is not terribly pleased that Cas told Dean all about the cardigan. When he's alone with his brother, he says he has to push forward, even though right now he hates the bunker. He just needs time. 

Cas softly peeks into Jack's room. He sees Jack talking to the snake. Jack knows the snake is unhappy; that he longs for his old master. He's going to help, just like the Winchesters would. He'll send the snake to his friend...in Heaven. The snake crumbles into dust in Jack's fingers as Cas watches silently from the doorway.

Well, that was interesting. Seems like Jack's interpretation of WWWD is going to be rather unorthodox. Looking forward to what happens next. I'm also very glad that the writers took time to show Sam's pain at losing his fellow Hunters, rather than writing them off with a wave of the hand. Solid episode!

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2 hours ago, CTRLZero said:

Well, heck, I wonder why they did that, since they talk about BOC in the record store (was that another episode -- all a blur, lol).  I am binge watching on Netflix, into Season 2 now, just past the clown and zombie episodes.  Loads of fun!

It's the rights to the song: Netflix doesn't want to pay that much. @Destiny they probably edit out Carry On still; I'm not sure, I have several of the early seasons on DVD to bypass the substitute music issue!

You know Supernatural's "Road So Far" montages? Even though I adore the early seasons, one of the best montages in my opinion was the one they did to "Long Black Road" from American Hustle. It was freaking. on. point!

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1 minute ago, Lisafer said:

It's the rights to the song: Netflix doesn't want to pay that much. @Destiny they probably edit out Carry On still; I'm not sure, I have several of the early seasons on DVD to bypass the substitute music issue!

I bought the first few seasons on iTunes, and those were edited too. I threw an epic bitchfit about it and found an alternative file with the correct music. You CAN'T do a season finale without Carry On. It's just NOT DONE. 

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On 3/12/2019 at 11:00 PM, Destiny said:

I remember that one. I didn’t have grey hair then!

 I started going grey in 1995. I tease my husband that the stress of marrying him made me go prematurely grey. :kitty-wink:

The cougar equation says anybody older than half your age plus seven is not creepy, so since Jensen, Jared, and Misha are all older than 32, I will continue to swoon during scenes where they have to remove their shirts. :bigheart:

@Lisafer, thanks for the recaps! I bingewatch the show on Netflix, so I'm a season behind you, and I like seeing what's ahead. :pb_smile:

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19 minutes ago, Cartmann99 said:

@Lisafer, thanks for the recaps! I bingewatch the show on Netflix, so I'm a season behind you, and I like seeing what's ahead. :pb_smile:

You're very welcome! I have realized that writing recaps is much harder than it looks, but I really like doing it. It gives me a much better grip on the show itself and really teaches me some new things about writing!

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Supernatural Season 14, Episode 16, Don't Go in the Woods

Monster of the week, here we come! This episode was in classic Supernatural style, while managing to tie in to Jack's arc this season. 

In Polk City, IA, at the Big Creek State Park, a couple of teens are hanging out in an old car near the very creepy bathrooms, kissing in the dark. Since this is Supernatural, we already know this isn't going to end well. The teens hear an odd whistling noise, and the boy says he'll check it out--just before his door is yanked open by a cop. "Dad?" the kid says. He's angry and embarrassed; his date, Barbara, goes to the bathroom, saying that Tom and his father need their space. That is one hell of a nasty bathroom, but she chooses a stall and is sitting on the toilet when a huge, goopy claw comes over the door.

Tom and his father are hashing it out by the car when they hear Barbara's scream. The cop dashes into the woods and sees a vague, Sasquatch-like shape before he hears Tom yell from another direction. Poor Tom: he's kneeling over the body of his slaughtered girlfriend.

At the bunker, Sam is on the internet, which he assures Dean is "more than just naked people." "Not my internet," Dean replies, obviously feeling much better since Michael's annihilation. Sam's found a case, and he wants to take Cas, but Dean says Cas has left the bunker for a bit. (I wonder if that has anything to do with Cas seeing Jack kill that snake). Sam suggests taking Jack, but Dean doesn't want him on the case. His powers are unpredictable right now. Dean's right, of course, but he doesn't want to hurt Jack's feelings and tells him they need someone at the bunker. He also gives him a shopping list with beer on it...twice. Jack, who's apparently studying Haitian criminal law on zombie creation, agrees to the request.

When Jack goes down to the store, he runs into the teens from the Lebanon episode. Dammit, I hoped we'd never see those kids again. They invite Jack to come hang out with them later; the girls because they feel sorry for him, and Eliot because he's absolutely fascinated with Jack's knowledge of monsters. (A Ghostfacers reference means this scene wasn't completely wasted!)

Sam and Dean talk to Sheriff Mason, who insists that it was an animal attack, although the girl's body says otherwise with the huge claw marks on her shoulder and arm. Sam does some research and exclaims, "Kohunta!" "Gesundheit," Dean replies. Sam's not sneezing, though: he's discovered some local lore about a monster that roams the local woods and spits up stomach acid out of pure starvation. An old, hungry monster.

Meanwhile, two unfortunate hikers have entered the woods, because apparently wild animals slaughtering teenagers isn't enough to stop them from exercising. The strange whistling is heard again, the hikers see a horrible, goopy figure, and the female hiker runs screaming while the male gets thrown down and splattered with burning stomach acid before getting his head eaten. 

At this point my streaming video cut to an ad for a DQ Chicken Strip Basket. Not a good follow-up.

Tom is talking to his father, begging Chief Mason to let him talk to Barbara's parents. He feels like the whole thing is his fault, and he's not buying the coyote story either. An officer rushes in, saying there's a situation in the woods. "It got someone else, didn't it?" Tom says.

The Winchesters are at the scene, asking the female hiker what she saw. She gives them a vague description and location: a few miles beyond the old Parker Place. Chief Mason storms onto the scene, calls off all the officers in the woods, and shuts everything down while warning the "FBI" not to go near the place. He knows more than he's saying, for sure.

Meanwhile, Jack is hanging out with the teens at the Stokes cabin, asking what the "sats" are that the girls are studying for, and earning a "you were homeschooled, right?" Eliot is studying demons, and Jack tells him that he's killed one before. He starts spilling secrets of the hunting life, showing the teens an angel blade and showing them some fighting moves, but when he throws the blade at a tree and misses, he earns a round of snickers from the gang. 

After nightfall, Dean and Sam go hunting the Kohunta, but they're interrupted by the muzzle of a shotgun pressed to Dean's neck. Sheriff Mason knew they'd be back out there. He has the advantage for approximately sixty seconds before Dean whips around and grabs the shotgun and tells the sheriff to start talking. It's an old legend, the chief confesses. The first white homesteaders in the area, the Parker family, starved to death over a long winter. All except their son Henry, who survived by eating his family but ended up going mad and attacking the local Native tribe. The tribe put a curse on him to roam the forest, starving. Hm. Seems like a bad idea to me, considering the tribe would have been living in that same forest, but whatever. Anyway, apparently legend says it can be killed by a silver blade, which is no problemo for the Winchesters.

Jack has apparently spent quite a bit of time practicing with the angel blade while his new friends play on their phones. Finally, desperate to show what he can do, he powers up and throws it perfectly, astonishing the teens. Still powered, he begins playing with the blade, making it spin back and forth the way he used to do with a pencil. The teens get freaked out, but he doesn't stop, saying he's in control. But he's not really; when Stacy runs forward, the knife stabs her in the gut. Jack is horrified, but manages to pull it out and heal her. He doesn't understand, after he "fixes" things, why the teens immediately reject him and tell him to stay away. Poor Jack. He looks after them with tears in his eyes. 

Sheriff Mason asks Sam and Dean why they don't tell people that monsters are real. He says they could save so many lives. Sam says no. "People die. Even when they know how to fight, people still die." Poor Sam, he's still hurting. They also point out that Sheriff Mason refused to believe the evidence of his own eyes when he saw the Kohunta in the woods, so why would other people believe? While they're talking, Tom calls. He's going into the woods to kill the monster. He hangs up and his father and the Winchesters hurry towards the Parker cabin. 

Tom's throwing meat for the monster, leaving a trail towards the old cabin. He walks right past the Kohunta, lurking in a bush, and he doesn't even see it as it throws him through the wooden door and knocks him out cold. His father bursts in and takes on the monster while Dean throws Tom over his shoulder and carries him to safety.

The sheriff gets bitten and Sam takes over the fight until Dean arrives with a flashlight and lures the beast ever closer to the door, until it's close enough and Sheriff Mason thrusts a silver knife into its heart. The Kohunta melts slowly into a green puddle and disappears. Dean, delighted, says "that was like full-on Raiders!" That's Dean all over. 

When the ambulance is loading up Tom, he asks his father "Did we get it? The coyote?" Sheriff Mason, watching the ambulance drive away, wonders aloud what to tell his son. Dean and Sam suggest telling him the truth, saying he deserves to know.

On the ride home, Sam points out that Dean didn't tell Jack the truth about why he didn't want him on the hunt, and Dean knows Sam is right. When they get home and find Jack reading a huge pile of books, Dean straight-up apologizes and explains to Jack that they're worried about his powers right now. It's really refreshing to see some honesty going on here, given the Winchesters' history of "when in doubt, lie." Jack seems to take it well; when Dean leaves the room, Sam asks if anything happened while they were away, and Jack says no, nothing. His face is an enigma: thoughtful, sad, but with a hint of a smile. 

The episode closes on that expression.

Overall, pretty solid episode, although I freely admit that I really dislike those Lebanon teenagers and would prefer not to see them again! It was very classic monster-of-the-week style, although switching back and forth between Jack and the Winchesters was a bit jarring. Totally happy to see the Winchesters being honest with Jack, though, and I'm left rather nervous about what Jack might be thinking. I really don't want to see him become the Big Bad, although I feel like that's where we're heading...

 

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Jensen, Jared, and Misha just announced in a video that next season (Season 15) will be Supernatural's last. I'm feeling all the feels right now. I knew that it most likely wouldn't be stretched out for more than a couple more seasons, but it's still so hard to accept the end. Even knowing that ending on a high note is better than dragging the show out into tortured infinity, it hurts like hell. 

I'm maybe overemotional about it, but I still remember the first time I saw this show, and the first episode I ever saw (Yellow Fever). I was young, anxious, OCD, and just beginning to come out of fundie-dom then, and Supernatural took hold of my imagination and my heart in a way no show has ever done before or since. 

I'm sure I'm going to bawl like a baby next season. I just hope for an appropriate and satisfying grand finale, and I really wish Jensen, Jared, and Misha the best as they go forward with their lives!

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Lisafer...I saw the news when I got up this morning, and the first person I thought of was you.  

I love the show dearly and I always will...but I'm happy it's ending.  Jensen is 41 and Jared will be 37 this year...they've both developed so much as actors, I'm excited to see what they will do next.  I hope they both consider more movies.  And of course, they're set for money for life, so they can pick and choose what they want to do, whenever they want to do it.  :)

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The writers better give us a really satisfying ending after all these years! :pray:

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