Supernatural 5.18 “Point of No Return” (100th Episode) Review

So I guess poor Stewart won’t be doing anything with the internet.

Congratulations to Supernatural for achieving syndication gold – 100 episodes. I’ve only been a fan for about four months, but for those of you who have been there from the beginning, it’s been a hell of a ride, hasn’t it? (And, in some cases, I mean that literally). When I first sat down to watch this episode I didn’t really know what to expect. I knew Adam was coming back, but I wondered whether they would pull out all the stops for this milestone episode. In the end, I can’t say I was surprised. Because this series did what it always does – delivered a terrific episode, milestone or not. In the end, it gave us a mythology-driven episode in a show about two brothers (or, more appropriately now, family).

What was different about this episode was that, in some ways, it almost felt like a story that could have been dragged out over several episodes. The beliefs of the characters shifted so greatly (we went from one extreme to the other with Dean), it’s almost impossible to believe all of this only happened within an hour. It’s that fact, however, that allowed this episode to keep up its fast pace. In the end, we had an episode with virtually no down-time. Every moment was important to the story. And, in the end, the mood shifted from the bleak and depressing atmosphere we’ve had to endure for months to a feeling of hope. Thank God for that.

Break My Heart, Why Don’t Cha?

In an article I recently wrote about my 20 favorite Supernatural episodes, I noted that this show delivers a great many heartbreaking scenes. Forget what I said in that article – no scene in Supernatural has ever been as traumatizing as watching Dean pack in the motel at the beginning of this episode. To see him pack up what was essentially the totality of his life (and his signature items) – his leather jacket, the Impala keys and his pearl-handled gun – freaked me out. I literally thought ‘surely nothing will ever be worse than this’.

Fifteen minutes later, I was proven wrong again. Because then Dean told Sam that he didn’t believe in him anymore during their scene together in Bobby’s panic room and we’ve come a long, horrible way from the pilot episode about a show about two brothers, haven’t we? That was even harder to watch than the boys’individual representations of Heaven.

Of course, while Dean was essentially being held hostage at Bobby’s house in order to ensure that he didn’t get to say yes to Michael, Bobby was the one to put everything in perspective, as he usually does. Much like he did at the end of season 4, Bobby made a speech about family. And he turned the tables on Dean when Dean sullenly told Bobby “you’re not my father”. You know, for a man who lost his wife and never had any children, Bobby seems to understand more about family than almost anyone else on this show.

Jump the Shark Redux

I knew for over a week that the dead Winchester half-brother, Adam, would be making a return appearance. But it was actually cool to see him return.

Adam is definitely not the mild-mannered boy we saw back at the end of season 4 in ‘Jump the Shark'(which makes sense, since that was a ghoul and not Adam at all). In fact, he’s more of a smart-ass like Dean. Poor Sam. Another snarky brother to contend with.

The fact that Adam was resurrected to be Michael’s vessel didn’t sit right with me. Sure, we know that both Michael and Lucifer can possess other vessels, but we’ve seen the fact that Lucifer’s current vessel is deteriorating (because his true vessel is Sam). So, honestly, Dean probably should have put aside his petty jealousy that the angels weren’t fixated on him anymore and realize that the boys upstairs were never really serious about Adam and Michael joining forces (props to Sam for realizing the whole Plan B thing sounded fishy).

What I really want to know is how did Cas know that Adam was being resurrected? My first thought was that God must have notified him about it. We’ve seen that Cas has been slowly losing his connection to Heaven since he rebelled, so it makes sense that perhaps God gave him the heads-up. What does that mean for God’s insistence that he’s going to be hands-off during the Apocalypse? Or is he prepared to help those that help themselves? Or am I completely off with my theory and there’s another explanation that I simply can’t think of right now? Thoughts?

*SQUEE!*

Oh, by the way, did you hear that sound around the 15 minute mark? That was the sound of a million fangirls squealing in glee when Dean told Cas to ‘blow me’.

The Power of Love

We’ve come a long way from Dean being the one who preached about the virtues of family and willing to do whatever it takes to keep his family together. Now it’s Sam who’s pontificating about family and pulling the ‘we’re blood’card.

Was Sam slightly crazy to believe that his brother would make the right choice in the end? Maybe. The truth is, even I believed that Dean was done. In fact, I truly believed that his choice to say yes to Michael was due more to his anger at his brother than born out of any real belief that they had run out of options.

Of course, near the end, came the twist. Possibly the best twist of any episode of Supernatural. A twist accompanied by a Dean Winchester wink. Right when it appeared that all hope was lost – when Sam and Dean had gone to save Adam in the pretty room and Zachariah revealed that Adam’s resurrection was just a trap to get Dean and Dean had agreed to become Michael’s vessel – Dean was unable to overcome his one basic weakness: his family. In the end, Dean wasn’t angry with Sam. Dean loves Sam. And the knowledge of Sam’s faith in Dean (a reversal of roles for these boys), of his love for his brother, of the sight of Sam in pain, managed to overcome Dean’s hopelessness. Then Dean got to smiting some angels – namely, Zachariah – and he and Sam hightailed it out of there. Unfortunately, Adam was left behind.

The final scene in the truck, where Dean explained that it was Sam’s faith in him that convinced him to keep on fighting, gave me a renewed sense of hope. That is what I meant when I said earlier that the episode felt like a story that could have been stretched out (though I’m glad it didn’t, because it made for a memorable episode in the end). We went from Dean’s utter despair to the return of the smart-ass, give-’em-hell Dean Winchester that we all know and love. Our boy is back in the game and he’s ready to fight again.

Shirtless Sacrifice

The fate of both Adam and Cas remain a mystery at this point. Since I’ve grown incredibly fond of Cas, it was sad to see his despair in this episode. More so, it was heartbreaking to see his faith in Dean shaken. Unlike Sam, Cas didn’t believe Dean had the strength to refuse Michael and find another way. Well, I bet someone feels silly now, huh?

It looks like Cas simply managed to beam himself and the other angels he was fighting away somewhere, as opposed to actually killing anyone. Here’s hoping he returns in the next episode.

The fate of Adam is less clear. Will Michael take out his anger on the youngest Winchester brother? Will Adam return to Heaven or will we see him again?

Legal Loopholes

The question is, what happens next? Just as Sam and Dean escaped the angel room, my lawyer brain immediately started shouting ‘but Dean said yes!‘Is he bound now to give his body over to Michael or am I over-thinking this? Does he have to say yes to Michael directly or did this count? I’m sure Michael won’t take what happened lightly and I want to know whether he’ll pursue Dean with even more of a vengeance.

Plus, how the hell are the boys actually going to kill Lucifer and end the Apocalypse? Inquiring minds want to know.

Overall, I loved this episode. It fit in well with the mythology, advanced the storyline, tied up some loose ends and made me smile. Sam and Dean Winchester are going to win. I can feel it.

Stray Thoughts

• The absolute best characterization of Sam and Dean was uttered by Zachariah in this episode. According to him, the eldest Winchester brothers are ‘psychotically, irrationally, erotically co-dependent’. Love it.
• Wow, I’ll never eat a cheeseburger again after seeing Adam throw up blood next to one.
• Dean Winchester in handcuffs – YES!

Email: clarissa @ tvovermind.com

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