Supernatural had a serious craft problem tonight. This episode was far from the show’s best and made a massive tonal and character shift in a direction that really didn’t make much sense.
I’m not even mad or even a little side-eyed about the idea of ghosts in wifi; really, I’m not. It’s campy and right in line with what the show is about, and if they had done a better job paralleling the overall season arc, I wouldn’t bat an eye. But they shoehorned this big change in Dean’s behavior amongst this already bleh main story, and it just didn’t work.
Dean’s sudden insistence on just giving up and not looking for a cure is ridiculous. It’s 100% ludicrous. He knows better than this; you cannot just let this thing inside you fester and pretend like you can control it. Look at what Sam had to go through with a busted soul. He was literally tortured to insanity and was only brought back because they never gave up looking for a cure. Cas, an angel of the Lord, had to take on his burden to cure him.
So why, with a thousand episodes of evidence to support the ‘never stop looking’ camp, does Dean change his mind? Some may chalk it up to The Mark influencing Dean’s decisions, and that’s possible; but this doesn’t feel like a plot point because they never really set it up. They could be going super subtle, but it just doesn’t fit the style of the show nor does it jive with the way they’ve handled it in the past. The only thing that it could be is that they are trying to extend this out, and that doesn’t make me very happy.
It’s also weird the lessons he learned from what happened in this episode. When he’s talking to the main side character of this episode (not a great part, not much there), he brings up the demons that haunt him. It comes more than a little out of nowhere, especially since he and that girl had zero chemistry, but there is something there to be talked about.
It dovetails nicely with the husband-ghost and his choice to let go. The lesson that Dean took out of it (and implicitly what we’re supposed to get out of it) is that Dean just needs to let go of trying to fight and just accept this for what it is. And that is dumb. That is dumb. Dumb dumb dumb.
You never stop fighting. How does Dean not know this? How? The only thing they can control in this whole horrid universe that they inhabit is their ability to strike back. Sure, they might fail; Sam might spend a thousand HellCage-years getting flayed alive, and Dean might have to survive in the wasteland that is purgatory, but come on, man? That’s all there is! That’s it! No more! If you don’t fight, you lose. You’ll probably die if you’re getting chased by an angry bear, but you’ll DEFINITELY die if you don’t run at all. What is the point of living if you’re going to spend it standing still?
Not only is this a personal issue for me, but I think it goes against the whole message of the show. I get that they’re just setting it up to do their typical twist at the end, but I don’t think this is set up enough. I don’t think this has been a real build-up to this big of a personality change. I don’t buy it.
But anyways.
No Cas tonight, which is a little weird. I know the logistical reasons why he isn’t there, but when he disappears for this long of a stretch, it starts to really look funny. This show has expanded the world a lot this season, and to be honest, I’d rather spend more time with Crowley and his attempts at controlling Hell and his mother, or with Cas dealing with the actual problems of Heaven then dealing with the Sam and Dean shoehorn hour.
But whatever. Supernatural is better than it showed tonight; much, much better. Can’t all be perfect.
Stray Thoughts
– Dean’s ogling of hot college women was more than a little off-putting. I get they’re of age and whatever, but it doesn’t make it any better that a 36-year-old man is ogling potentially 18-24 year olds.
– The word of the day is shoehorn.
[Photo via The CW]
This show is sending mixed messages. Just a few episodes ago, Sam told Dean that he can control the Mark, just like Cain did. It seems that that is what Dean is saying and doing here, but now that’s not a good thing. Dean wasn’t giving up, but he also wasn’t going to spend his entire life and existence to just looking for a way to get rid of the Mark. He wants to actually live his life, not be in a holding pattern, and to him that means to continue to save people.