At some point, in every relationship of any kind, you come to terms with what you’re dealing with. Whether it’s your partner, or your friend, or the stray dog you picked up on the side of the road, you have to come to grips with what that future means. It’s the key to happy, successful relationships; both parties decide that the better qualities outweigh the worst ones.
I didn’t realize it until this episode, but it’s what has been holding back both the characters on Supernatural and Supernatural itself. It paid lip service to character change and character growth, but Sam and Dean have been Sam and Dean and Crowley has been Crowley and all the rest have been all the rest for a very, very long time.
We open this episode on Crowley expressing himself to his full potential; he keeps his word, does a kindness for this man, and then murdered him and his bodyguards. Crowley is mostly dark, but there is the smallest bit of light peeking out; but he’ll never be good. He’ll never be one of the good guys. The human blood that lightened him up could only go so far. Crowley is who Crowley is, and now we can stop pretending otherwise.
The Winchesters found this out about themselves, as well. Sam and Dean butted heads on whether Castiel should have Lucifer exorcised from within him; Sam believed they should respect his decision, and Dean just wanted him back, period. Sam was right on this occasion; trying to rescue Cas only lead to Cas being captured by Amara, and their near deaths. That’s not to say that Dean is ever going to stop trying to recuse his friends; just that he gets that he doesn’t get to make the decisions for everyone, because they just keep losing that way.
Most importantly, the brothers can stop pretending that they are on the same page all of the time. They’re going to stop pretending to try and change, because they are who they are. That’s a really, really good sign for the show going forward, because the weakest part of every single season for the last seven years has been the Winchester brother angst. It’s almost driven me away numerous times; I was and remain tired of the ping-pong of guilt and forced conflict. They are who they are. Just let them exist as such.
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This was one of the most fun and exciting episodes they’ve ever made. With all of the crap baggage dropped, they could just go to war, and go to war they did. The showdown between Amara and Lucifer was short, but tense; Lucifer used the Horn of Joshua on Amara (in an amazing special effect), and tried to nuke her. But she walked away without a scratch. Amara is so far above what Lucifer can provide, they might as well not be on the same planet. Cas is going to pay the price for trusting the Prince of Darkness, in both blood and guilt, and he might not make it out of this alive. It’s hard to imagine that Cas, going forward, can survive without some major change.
The most interesting aspect of all of this is that we might get a showdown between God and Amara. We might get to see a real heavyweight fight; I almost (almost) feel that the only way that this show can end is with God showing back up. It just makes no sense that he would be gone for this long; it’s not a plot thread that should wash away when Supernatural is all said and done.
I think that, even if it’s just for a episode or two, his reappearance would change the game. Perhaps it signals an all-out war, between two gods, with the Winchesters in the middle. Maybe we’ll get to see them navigating an increasingly hostile Earth. But he has to appear. After this episode, God has to make an appearance.
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I’ve watched this episode three times, and each time I’m as buzzed as I was before. We’re dealing with some serious power here, and that doesn’t even count Rowena, who’s back in the fold. She’ll end up playing an integral role, I’m sure of it; she’s got powerful enough magics to heal Amara, and that might come in handy later on.
This season of Supernatural has been such a revival from the up-and-downs of the past. I can’t wait to see how it all comes to an end.
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