Initial reaction 13.19: "Funeralia"
Apr. 20th, 2018 03:11 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
THEN: Angels are going extinct. Sam gave Rowena the page from the Black Grimoire, but he will kill her if he has to. Dean killed himself to talk to Billie. (Oh, god, so much "Then," guys. The Husband asked me, halfway through it, if this was a rerun, and I was all, no, the show hasn't even started yet, they're just getting us up to speed.) Jessica the reaper. Billie is Death. Asmodeus was turned into the Extra Crispy recipe by Gabriel, who then defied the puppy dog eyes and abandoned Team Free Will.
NOW: A fancy schmancy art gallery in Portland, Oregon. Rowena is there, looking nice in a pretty black dress. She gets a phone call and answers "hello, boys," and I wonder if she has a special ringtone for the Winchesters (truth is, her ringtone is one of those classic bits of music that you end up only being able to identify as "the theme to Masterpiece Theater" or "the Lone Ranger song" or "that one song from that Bugs Bunny where he's an orchestra conductor" and it's driving me crazy that I can't think of what it's actually called; I'm sure it will come to me as soon as I post this). TFW is requesting her help to "rescue our family and confront the archangel Michael." You know, that's not how I would have put it. I would have told her that Michael is going to turn this world into a dusty/snowy wasteland. Cause Rowena doesn't give a hoot about anyone's family.
Rowena is delighted that Cas is on the call, and calls him "Tweety Pie," which is something that some people call Tweety Bird, though I don't understand why, because his name is clearly Tweety Bird. It just is. (Sidebar: I've made two cartoon references and we haven't even gotten to the title card yet. Don't worry, I won't keep this up.) Cas is flustered by the flirtation, as he always is. Rowena says she'd love to help them, given what "you - Sam - did for me," and Dean looks a little annoyed and Sam looks a little guilty, because we all know what Sam did for her, don't we?
Unfortunately, she's busy with a project of her own right now. Sam finally comments on the background noise and asks if she's at a party, and she says yes, she is, and she's surprised he recognizes party noises, "seeing as how you're all work and no play." Dean brings up the point he should have brought up earlier, about the world being in danger, but Rowena gives him a kiss-off (literally) and hangs up the phone, which she then hands to the man who's been following her around, and is apparently her new minion. (Sidebar: This guy looks like someone, and I can't figure out who.)




Dean is wearing plaid, and Sam isn't. What kind of topsy turvy world is this? Are we in AU Land?
"You know, she's right," says Cas. "You never go to parties." Well, that's not true. They went to a party when Asa Fox died. Come to think of it, maybe that's why they don't go to parties.
Turns out Rowena's "project" involves a woman named Elizabeth Mahler, who isn't particularly amused when Rowena mentions seeing her in the paper, so we can presume it wasn't a story about her recent wedding. And we also learn that Rowena's minion's name is Bernard, and let me point out how much I love the UK pronunciation of BERnard, as opposed to the American pronunciation of berNARD. It's so classy. They do a classy little dance and then Rowena classily sets Elizabeth Mahler on fire using the power of her flashy purple eyes. Thanks to what Sam did for her.
Title card!
Back in the bunker, Dean figures they'll find some way to hunt down Gabriel that doesn't involve Rowena. Cas thinks the angels might be able to help, and Dean's pretty sure that's a bad idea, considering that the angels want to kill him. Dean brings up Donatello and how badly Cas handled that one, but I'm assuming that's not going to be an issue in this episode because it didn't come up in the "Then." Sam wanders in with his tablet, showing Dean a news story about the woman Rowena killed. "Local cops are calling it spontaneous combustion." Oh, you local cops. Sam looks so nice in his black shirt here, guys. But Dean isn't impressed by Sam's physical beauty, and he berates him.
I knew it, I freaking knew it, man. You gave her that page, what did you think was gonna happen?
She wanted to protect herself.
Yeah, by barbecuing someone?
We don't know what this is yet. Maybe she had a reason -
It doesn't matter what the reason is, that's not okay!
Okay. I said if Rowena goes bad again, I'll deal with it. So, I'll deal with it.
You better.
I love Sam's hopeful little dash of denial, suggesting that Rowena might have a good, TFW-approved reason to barbecue someone. I love the way he looks at Dean and then swallows and guiltily looks away. I love lightly angry "I told you so" Dean in his gray henley.



I love a lot about this scene.
Wait a minute. Is Dean wearing Sam's plaid shirt from the last episode? The one that matched Gabriel's room?


Huh. I guess not. Close, though.
Dean then tells Cas that he should "go for it," because apparently his discussion with Sam changed his mind on that one. "Just don't get dead again." Aw.
Cut to Cas at the Stairway to Heaven playground. He's carrying his angel blade openly, which is absolutely something a middle-aged guy wearing a trenchcoat should do at a playground. He yells "hello," which is absolutely what you'd do if you were expecting an attack, and is shushed by someone hiding in the play structure. It's an angel carrying a bottle in a paper bag, and I can't tell if his name is Indra or Andra or Andrew, and none of those makes a lot of sense, so I'm going to call him Drunk!Angel. Because if he's not drunk yet, he's definitely working on it. (We know it's possible, although it took an entire liquor store for Cas.)
Drunk!Angel is all, are we gonna fight? I don't wanna fight. Cas doesn't want to fight etiher, he just wants to get into Heaven, and Drunk!Angel is all, cool, go for it. Cas chastises Drunk!Angel for failing to take his guard responsibilities seriously. Drunk!Angel suggests Cas can claim they fought, and just "angel-blade me right now." Dude has really hit rock bottom. (Sidebar: I don't think angels would refer to their weapons as angel blades, the same way we don't refer to ours as human blades.) Cas asks him what's wrong, and he says "See for yourself" and perches sadly on a little rocking horse as Cas ascends into Heaven. Poor Drunk!Angel. I hope we see him again. I kinda like him. (I also suspect that if we see him again, it will be when he gets angel-bladed, so maybe I hope we don't see him again.)
(Also, he's totally gonna break that rocking horse.)
Cas appears outside Lucifer's empty throne room. He's greeted by Duma and a couple of other angels. He tells her Gabriel is alive, which makes her turn toward one of her backup angels like this is some interesting information that I did not have, and that he needs to find him before AU Michael does. And there's also Lucifer running around, and the missing nephilim, which is information that Duma does have, although Cas wouldn't know that. Then the lights fade, and Duma says maybe she and Cas can help each other.
Impala. Nighttime. The Winchesters cross into Idaho, which means they're more than halfway to Portland (aren't y'all glad I have Mapquest?) and Sam's calling Rowena, but getting no answer. "You know, I don't want to be right about this," says Dean. "But, look, I want the fun, flirty Rowena that mostly helps us. But you gotta be ready, for, not that." Aw. I love that Dean recognizes that she's fun and flirty, but that she's also capable of Really Bad Things. I mean, she did betray his brother and leave him locked in Cage 2.0 with Lucifer. That's not cool.
A voice pipes up from the backseat, and it's not Cas. "Maybe she just has bad cell reception!" Dean slams on the brakes with both feet and the car stops immediately, which The Husband assures me would not happen, but I think he just doesn't know Baby. The brothers turn to look in the back seat, but it's empty. Dean pulls over and they angrily jump out of the car, finding Jessica the Reaper standing in the headlights. "Who are you," Dean says, because he didn't see the "Then" and he's forgotten about her. But he remembers quickly enough, telling Sam she's a reaper who "tried to take me into the light, didn't work out." Jessica reveals that she's been watching them ever since then.
And you've seen, um...
Oh, eveything.
You mean like, everything everything?
I'm especially fond of Sam's impressive... extensive array of hair products. Not to mention the three-day-old bacon cheeseburger in your room. Or the VHS tape hidden under your bed labeled "Sweet Princess Asuka Meets the Tentacles of -"
All right, all right, that's not cool.
Oh, lord, it's not. It's not cool at all. Poor Sam's face, when he realizes they've been watched. He's horrified. When she says "Sam's impressive..." we all know that WHATEVER comes next, it's definitely going to be impressive, because OF COURSE IT IS, but the way Sam looks away and then looks back up at her makes me think he's going to commit hara kiri out of shame. His palpable relief (and annoyance, but definitely relief) when she turns it into a hair joke makes me want to curl into the fetal position on his behalf. I know this is supposed to be just a funny throwaway scene, but Dean's all hey, I'm cool with my media choices, and whatever you've seen, I'm well aware of how impressive it is, but poor Sam is just so violated.



It is SO not cool.
She's here because people in Portland are dying when they haven't been assigned to die, because someone, i.e., Rowena, is powerful enough to do that. Billie expects the Winchesters to fix it, and sent Jessica to offer herself as a resource, if they need help. Sam tells her they don't need her help, and she reminds them that she's around - always - and zaps out. Hmmm. Okay. So there are many different ways any given person could die, but the time of death is fixed? Or is it only Dean Winchester who has an entire shelf of different ways he could die? I mean, I've given up on continuity across all 13 seasons (ha ha, no you haven't, says anyone who reads these recaps) but it was just last season that we saw the huge bookcase of possible deaths for Dean Winchester. Oh well. Carrying on.
Dean is annoyed that Sam dismissed Jessica so quickly, since they might actually need her help. He complains about what Rowena has gotten them into, and stomps back to the car, and Sam does a little guilty back-of-the-head rubbing because obviously the subtext is that Sam has gotten them into it. Aw, Sammy.
Cut to Rowena, moping over a portrait of a small child (young Fergus? or just a random kid?) and complaining that whatever's happening next won't be fun. She dismisses another phone call from Sam and predicts that the Winchesters will be making a personal visit. But no one's going to stop her from "fixing things," since she's "capable of anything now." What are you trying to fix, Rowena? Bernard hands her a martini, and I'm starting to wonder if Bernard is ever going to have any lines.
The Winchesters have arrived at the art gallery where Rowena completed her last project. Considering that the death of Elizabeth Mahler probably happened in the late afternoon or early evening, and Sam read about it in a newspaper, and they drove all night to Portland, it's the day after her death at the absolute earliest. Even that would mean she died in the early afternoon and it hit the paper that evening, which is very unlikely. If Sam was reading a morning paper, it's at least two days later. Which explains why at police cars are still there, and a police photographer is documenting the scene. Because yeah, none of that happens very quickly. The story usually hits the papers first.
Rolling my eyes and carrying on. Sam has hacked into Mahler's email, and he discusses it quite openly in this very acoustically live room full of actual law enforcement personnel. But the guys are in suits and overcoats and you know how I feel about that, so I'm willing to handwave a lot. Mahler was the CFO of a pharmaceutical company that was charged with improperly labeling medications that resulted in patient deaths, but she got off on a technicality. (Sidebar: Is the CFO generally involved in proper labeling? Discuss amongst yourselves.) Dean asks if Sam thinks she deserved to be Extra Crispied, and Sam says (rather defensively) that he's done defending Rowena.
Dean notices a faint burned smudge next to the large burned area where Mahler was. Sam thinks he's seen something like that before, and then shows this to explain that it's the remains of a reaper. Well, that's quite a stretch.



Nope, I don't get the connection at all. But, again, suits and overcoats make it okay.
Dean has an idea, and he pulls Sam outside to call Jessica. Sam asks her if the dead reaper is why she's involved, and she's snarky at first, and then reveals that Rowena is killing reapers when she kills the people they've come to collect, and she's going to throw off fate. The brothers tell her that they've already seen this happen, in reverse, when people who were supposed to die didn't. Ha ha, no they don't, they act like they've never heard of fate or Fate, although they do at least admit they're familiar with the butterfly effect ("Ashton's second best movie"). Jessica tells them that every early death affects other events, and if this goes on too long, they have to "hit the reset button." And the reset button is usually a mass kill-off, like war or plague. I don't understand why killing a lot of people before their time fixes the problems caused by killing a lot of people before their time, but I've never been good at math, so. Let's just enjoy the art instead.



And you know what I'm talking about when I say "art," don't you.
Billie won't stop Rowena herself (or have the reapers stop her) because she wants "clean hands" and won't let the reapers directly interfere. But they can help the Winchesters interfere, apparently. And Sam in particular. Jessica discusses Billie's notebook that describe all the ways a person might die (and I think Dean is a bit proud of his shelf full of them), depending on the choices they make. So I guess your choices do impact the way you die, but not when you die. Which is odd. Carrying on. "But in Rowena MacLeod's notebook," Jessica says, "her death is always the same. She's killed, Sam Winchester, by you."
Duh duh duh!!!!
We cut to Heaven, where Cas is inexplicably alone in Lucifer's throne room. Why did Duma and her minions leave? What is he waiting for? The lights continue to flicker on and off, and he's obviously there alone for a long time, bored out of his mind. Finally Duma shows up with an additional minion and apologizes for making him wait, so I guess what we missed was her saying "Maybe we can help each other, but I've got to go do something first, so stay here." She tells Cas that if he can bring Gabriel back to Heaven, they can help him battle AU Michael and defend earth, and he points out that he was asking for their help finding Gabriel, so this isn't much of a deal. Then a familiar voice says "that's enough, Castiel" and OH MY GOODNESS IT'S NAOMI. "It's not that we won't help you," she says, as we see flashbacks to dental drills and wow, that's unpleasant. "It's that we can't."
Back to the Winchesters, who have determined that Rowena has killed everyone involved in the pharmaceutical company scandal except for the CEO (who is probably more implicated in product labeling than the CFO). Jessica pops up in the back seat again (and Dean's "stop doing that!" is adorable) and informs them that Rowena is killing him even as we speak. Cut to Rowena and Bernard and the CEO, bleeding out from an abdominal wound. When a reaper shows up to collect him, Rowena asks if he has a message for her, and he says "Death doesn't negotiate with witches." Oooh, take that. "We'll see," responds Rowena, and both the CEO and the reaper burst into flames.
When the Winchesters and Jessica show up, it's raining (which means wet Sam! \o/). Sam's phone rings, and it's Rowena, asking if there's any chance the boys are going to just leave her alone. "I trusted you!" says poor Sammy. She doesn't want to discuss it over the phone, but sends them an address to meet. They're sure it's a trap, but they're going to meet her anyway. Rowena puts a few items in her purse and Bernard cracks his knuckles. He's the strong, silent type.
In Heaven, Naomi tells Cas he should have realized a drill to the head wouldn't kill her. He's very, very angry, and she kind of hilariously refuses to apologize. She's been faking her death to give herself time to recuperate, but now she's back because the angels need her. Heaven is powered by angels, and the reason the lights won't stay on is because there are only nine angels left in Heaven, and one or two on earth. Wow. And since Cas is very concerned about his brothers and sisters, he asks who they are. Oh, no wait, he doesn't. but I will. So that's...
1. Lucifer
2. Anael/Jo
3. Duma
4. Naomi
5. Drunk!Angel
6. Cas
7-9. Duma's three unnamed minions
10-11. The one or two on earth
(Does Gabriel count? I'm guessing not.)
No wonder they were willing to accept Lucifer when he said he'd create more angels. That nonsense makes a little more sense now. They still haven't mentioned the L-word to Cas, although Naomi hints at it when she says "the others thought any archangel would do. Long story." This would be a good time for Cas to say "what do you mean, any archangel? what archangel do you have access to?" But he doesn't.
She tells him they can't leave Heaven, because they're all needed to keep it running. And if Cas doesn't find Gabriel, and get more angels made, eventually they will burn out and Heaven will crumble. "And all the souls that have been entrusted to our care will fall back to earth. Picture it, Castiel. Billions and billions of ghosts unleashed upon the earth. All that chaos, all that death." I'm actually surprised that any angels, other than Cas, would care about chaos and death being unleashed upon the earth. (I'm also surprised by Naomi's really cute, super short, platinum blonde hair. It's nice.)
Back to the part we really care about. Rowena and Bernard enter a nice bar, where the guys are sitting with a couple of beers in tall fancy glasses. She says Bernard is "just a precaution," and we're all a little wary, and surely you've got your witch-killing bullets on you, and they don't deny that. Sam asks Rowena if she was playing him all along, and she says no, but once she had her power, she realized she wanted to "right some wrongs." Yeah, she seems like that kind of person. Unscrupulous pharmaceutical companies would naturally be her first target. Neither Sam nor Dean believes that she's "striking a blow for justice," and they ask about the reapers. Oh, yeah, that. She says she's only trying to get Death's attention. (Sidebar: It's interesting that when Rowena wants to talk to Death, she kills reapers, and when Dean wants to talk to Death, he kills himself. Two types of people.) And why does she want to talk to Death? Because she wants her son back. Really? All that, for the son she actually tried to get Sam to kill? Okay.
Well, Crowley's dead, there's no coming back from that.
Oh, is that so, Dean? Are only Winchesters allowed to come back from the dead? The rest of us just have to accept it? I don't think so.
She's got a point!
She doesn't think they can stop her, but Dean tells her they can, because all of her possible deaths involve Sam killing her and Jesus H. Christ, Dean, why would you tell her that? Why would you tell the most powerful witch on earth that if anybody kills her, it's going to be Sam? Don't you think that gives her a tiny little bit of incentive to smash him like a bug right here and now? What were you thinking???
Sam, for his part, looks a little guilty, and says "but it's not gonna happen tonight," as he takes the magic handcuffs out and moves to put them on her. But his hand goes right through her, because she's actually astral projecting from the other end of the room. Which is pretty clever. She fizzes out and they see the actual Rowena scurrying out the door with Bernard.
The guys jump up after her, pulling their guns, and I guess everyone in Portland is so mellow that they don't even care. Bernard hides and lets Sam chase Rowena, then jumps out of hiding to stop Dean. "You know she's controlling your brain," Dean tells him, and Bernard finally speaks. "She's powerful, she's gorgeous, and she's paying me a small fortune. That woman didn't have to cast a spell on me." Well then! Good for you, Bernard. Be your own man. There's a funny bit where the elevator door opens and a couple stares as Bernard and Dean fight to elevator music.
Meanwhile, Rowena rushes outside, past a door and a wall and even a dumpster the same color as the power-glow of her eyes. Sam yells at her to stop. "I get what you're trying to do for Crowley. But you're messing with the machinery of the universe. Death won't give you what you want. You have to stop." She calls him "Samuel" \o/ and says she can't stop, so he'll have to shoot her. And he's obviously not going to. He does NOT want to shoot her, and she knows it. He looks upset and lowers his gun and then raises it again and shoots and, well, that was unexpected.


Aw, Sammy.
But the bullet stops in mid-air, in front of Rowena's raised hand. "You really would have shot me," she says, clearly disappointed. Then she appears behind Sam and says a word that sounds like insomniac and I think oh, she's casting a spell, giving him insomnia so he'll go insane again, that's cool, I can absolutely get behind that. I am so wrong. He just drops to the ground.
Back inside, Jessica shows up and tells Dean that he needs to hurry. He gives us a flash of skin that I really can't cap but I'm sure someone will gif it. They probably already have. He finally manages to choke Bernard unconscious, and Jessica informs us that he was a highly-trained military operative, so good on you, Dean.


All that is good on you. Just saying.
Dean runs outside and finds the alley deserted, and Sam's gun lying on the ground. Jessica shows up, and he yells "where the hell is my brother," and she just looks concerned. Ooooh, that's not good.


Okay, maybe Rowena's eyes are a little more blue-purple, but I still want to believe this is intentional.
We cut to Rowena's hotel room, where Sam is magically bound to a chair. She's surrounding him with candles, obviously planning to perform some kind of magic, and he's trying to talk her out of it. And anxious bound helpless Sam is... well, you know.



One of my very favorite things.
She tells him, with some regret, that if he's dead, Death will have to grant her an audience, and then she yanks open his shirt and FUCK YES I AM 100% BEHIND THIS. He's wearing a black v-neck under his plaid shirt, and you know a couple of days ago, when I said black t-shirts were more of a Dean thing? I'm glad to see Show decided to prove me wrong on that. And right now, let me state for the record that a sex scene with Rowena would also be very much a Dean thing. Very much so. I dare anybody to prove me wrong. Ball's in your court, Show.


Excuse me, I need some alone time.
You know, we've seen Sam snark at people who were preparing to kill him, and we've seen him, this season, just kind of frozen in anticipation of death, but he pleads with Rowena, and it breaks my heart. Is it because he actually cares if he lives or dies now, or is it because she's the one person he thinks he might be able to stop? It has no effect. "What haven't you done for your family? What wouldn't you do? I'm sorry, Sam." She has mixed some kind of potion with her own blood, and I don't know why he wouldn't be just as dead if she simply stabbed him, but am I complaining? Fuck no. She slams her hand on his chest and some kind of power goes through him and blows his hair around and mmmm, that's nice.
And apparently it works, because Billie shows up and Rowena's all, hey girl, I know you! And I had forgotten that Billie had somehow been involved in that ill-fated Cage 2.0 thing. Billie tells her she needs to stop, because she's upsetting the natural order, and though she's been kind of wishy-washy about that in the past, Billie's very into the natural order now that she's been promoted and sees the big picture. Rowena requests her son back and Billie says no and Rowena says I'll kill Sam Winchester and Billie says go ahead, it ain't gonna be pretty but I'm kind of curious to see what happens and y'all, sometimes I forget how truly magnificent Lisa Berry is, so let us take this moment to remember, because damn, girl.



Also magnificent... frightened, helpless Sam. Hi, I have a problem.
(Sidebar: We know what's gonna happen. Dean's gonna show up and he's gonna be pissed.)
Rowena turns back to Sam with her knife and he begs her to stop and says "this is not you," though I can't imagine many things more Rowena, but then he adds "not any more," and oh. Yeah. We want this to be good, fun, flirty, frenemy Rowena. We're all rooting for you, girl.
Rowena says everything that happened to her was because of her choices, but what happened to Fergus was not fair. Then she turns on Billie with all of her power, which knocks Sam and his chair over but also releases him, and does nothing to Billie. "You were never gonna kill him," says Billie. "There was a time you would have, but not now." Well, I hope so. Or do I? I'm conflicted. I like Rowena to be a little bit dangerous. And no matter how much she appreciates Sam helping her, I think she'd still be willing to kill the person fated to kill her, you know?
Billie kindly tells her that sometimes life is unfair, and sometimes we make mistakes. "And some of these things can never be fixed, no matter how powerful you become. Some things just are. And everyone has to live with that." Is Billie hinting at something? She doesn't give Sam a pointed look when she says that, but I think this point might come up again. Rowena asks if Billie's going to take her, and she says no, because Rowena already knows how her story ends, and NOW we get a pointed look at Sam, and poor Sam's all, I defied fate before, I can do it again, give me a little respect, guys.
(Sidebar: What if it's a mercy killing? What if Rowena is ready to go, and Sam does it out of kindness? Discuss amongst yourselves.)


I mean, I'd be okay if this face was the last thing I ever saw. I could live with that kind of fate.
Then Dean bursts in with Jessica and Billie says "Hey Dean, see you again soon" and Dean and I have the very same reaction.

Which is, "what the fuck does THAT mean?"
I mean, that's ominous, guys.
Then Billie zaps out.
Back at the Stairway to Heaven, Naomi bids Cas farewell. She asks him to tell Gabriel what's happening in Heaven if he finds him, and says she'll keep chugging along in Heaven as long as possible, but it may be something that can't be fixed. Oh, just like Billie said! Some of these things can never be fixed! It's a theme! She's closing the Stairway to heaven, so it looks like Cas is locked out. Yep, the symbols in the sandbox are gone. Sad Cas!
Motel aftermath! Sam and Rowena never got off the floor, and Dean has joined them, and they've hit the minibar and I think I could probably watch an entire episode of this.



Dean's still bloody and Sam's still unbuttoned and all is right with the world.
Sam asks Rowena how she feels, and the answer is, not good. Apparently she used up/burned out all her extra power in her attack on Billie?
R: Sam, what have I done?
S: You had a chance to kill me, and you didn't. I'd call that progress.
D: I'd call that a miracle.
S: And you know, what happened with Crowley, that wasn't your fault.
R: He never had a chance.
D: He made his choices. Just like we all do. Look, every one of us has done something that we have to live with, that we're trying to make up for. Every one of us.
I have to give Rowena a lot of respect for not pointing out that Sam also had a chance to kill her, and tried to do it. Awkward.
Sam tells Rowena again that they need her help to save their family, right after he tried not to die to let her save her family, and again, that seems pretty tone-deaf. He does mention the saving-the-world part, but these guys keep leading with their family, as if anyone else cares about that. Dean tells her this is her shot at redemption, and Sam, in the interest of full disclosure, tells her Lucifer is back. Guys, I still love that they bonded over this, I love that they have this history together. I love it so hard. Rowena admits she's scared, but after all, "Lucifer isn't the one who's going to kill me, is he?" Oh, BURN. (Although Lucifer could easily make you wish you were dead, so.)
"You changed other people's fates," Sam says, "maybe we can change yours." You know else has changed their fate, Sam? YOU. You can do this. We don't get Rowena's official answer, but I'm pretty sure she just joined Team Free Will.
SO. Anybody who's read at least half of one of my recaps knows what I loved about this one. The only off note, in my opinion, was Rowena wanting so badly to bring her son back. I guess maybe it's a family trait - Crowley didn't care all that much about Gavin until he was sent back in time to die the way he was meant to. Rowena didn't care about her son until he died. So okay. We'll agree to disagree on that one, Show. And I'm confused about why no one in Heaven will tell Cas about Lucifer, but maybe that's going to be explained. Let us hope.
What did you guys think? And remember, no spoilers in the comments, please!