Tonight’s Supernatural was a character deep-dive, of which I am a fan. Like most people I believe the characters make a story interesting, much more so than any sort of convoluted plot. In this episode we got the return of both Donna Hanscum and Jody Mills, and what a pleasant pair those two turned out to be.
The gender diversity was a nice break from the typical Winchesterness of the show, especially as it marches towards the inevitable darksiding of Dean into Mark!Dean. I was really pleased to see Donna’s life and backstory be explored a bit as she is a character that could easily be turned into strict comic relief and I really wanted more for her.
But even as much as I enjoyed the character exploration, I was really disappointed in the overall story arc. Outside of Jody, Donna, Dean, and Sam, the other characters only existed to move plot. The lone exception was Doug, Donna’s douche of an ex-husband, and he was dismissed half-way through and was never seen again. Donna didn’t even learn anything from the incident, which made it doubly bizarre. Or, how about the deputy, who went full-douche when Sam and Dean showed up? He didn’t act like that before; he was a scared, bad-liar puppy until Sam and Dean did their FBI routine and suddenly he’s Mr. Badboy Local Cop. Then he turned out to be an asset, and then we never saw him again.
Also, why not just tell Donna what the heck is going on? They are putting her in danger by not letting her know! Sure, she’s gonna be scrambled eggs when learns about vampires and werewolves but Jesus that’s better than being torn apart because she didn’t know what she was up against! I don’t understand not telling people. Well, I mean, I do; it’s a convenient plot device but it’s a really annoying one too.
I’m also more than a little puzzled at the way the main storyline is progressing. I’m all for subtlety, but the idea that Dean has pushed by the Mark and hasn’t mentioned it to Sam doesn’t really ring true to me. Dean is not dumb enough to not mention to Sam if the Mark was pushing him, but the show apparently thinks he is. Dean knows what he is capable of when he is Mark!Dean or Demon!Dean, and he would never put Sam in that kind of danger if he felt a relapse coming. The moment he felt an itch around the Mark he would’ve told Sam. I really believe that.
No Cas this episode, and he wasn’t missed, but I still don’t really understand how he fits into this season. He’s losing his grace, yeah, but he’s still an angel; he could help the Winchesters and the Winchesters could help him. They’re keeping them separate for reasons unclear and I’m more than bored with trying to guess which well-worn well-tread path they’ll take.
This episode was worth watching if only to see Donna and Jody interact. But it was lacking in a lot of other areas. Next week’s promo looks pretty cool, though, so keep your fingers crossed.
Grade: C+ (like a 79.9)
Photo via The CW
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