10.10 Initial reaction: But I'm your dickwad!

[caranfindel]

This episode was kind of meh for me, but it did have some nice moments.

We open with Crowley being murdered by his crew, and as my husband (yes, the husband watched it with me, and that’s a post in and of itself) said, et tu Brute? But it’s a dream/vision prompted by Rowena's hex bag, and it gives us more Crowley/Rowena interaction. And I’m not a fan of that, so let’s move along.

A more interesting dream, or flashback, is Dean remembering his dream/vision and the actual carnage from the last episode. More distressed mirror-gazing, and then he walks in on Sam and Cas discussing his actions. “That was… a massacre. That’s what it was. There’s a time when I was a hunter, not a stone cold killer. (Cue sad music.) You can say it, you’re not wrong. I crossed the line.”

They talk about the need to get rid of the Mark, and someone says “If we had the demon tablet, maybe.” The demon tablet is missing? I honestly don’t remember what happened to the damn thing.

More Rowena. Guthrie is apparently her next target. And he’s stupid enough to deserve it. Yawn. Next.

Back to Cas, at the stairway to heaven, and wait. They’re letting Metatron out on a day pass? Does anyone really think this is going to end well? He ends up chained in the bunker’s dungeon, where he expresses glee that Dean has become a “total foaming-at-the-mouth, balls-out maniac” (and I can't argue with that; it's pretty awesome). It’s nice to see Dean menacing in the background, but the part of this scene that makes my little heart go pitter-patter is angry Sam.

How much do I love angry Sam? So much.

Cas goes back to his seedy hotel and catches Claire packing to leave. More predictable arguing, and they have this conversation about her recently slaughtered father figure:

“A man had you in that room and Randy didn’t make a move to help you.”
“Maybe because he was at gunpoint.”

I can’t help but remember her real father, Jimmy, insisting that Castiel take him as a vessel to spare Claire. That’s what a father does, Claire. He doesn’t trade you for his own life just because he’s being held at gunpoint.

Back to Metatron in the dungeon, and we have this amusing exchange:

“Hold on there, badass. Why just assume I’m not going to be helpful?”
“Because you’re a dickwad”
“But I’m your dickwad.”

Hee! I like that a lot more than I should. I also love this scene immediately after, with Dean and Sam arguing as they walk through the halls of the bunker. I’m sure it’s a challenge to make one or two halls look like an entire underground maze, and it’s something Show does really well, IMHO.

Dean calls Crowley (which requires him to enter three numbers… is Crowley still on his speed dial, or is his number literally 666?) and demands “We need to meet ASAP.” And Crowley simply responds “Where?” Not “Um, no, you threatened to kill me” or “Why would I want to do that?” He’s all, Dean Winchester told me to jump, I’m asking “how high?” Interesting.

Meanwhile, Claire meets up with a couple of losers who spend a lot of time exchanging significant looks. The husband was pretty sure they were demons or something, but they turned out to just be human losers. One of them does say something interesting, though: “Sweetness don’t clean up messes.” I think that’s going to come up again.

Rowena casts a spell to spy on Crowley’s meeting with the Winchesters, and I find the special effects annoying, because they’re unnecessary, and this show has a pretty low special effect budget, so why waste it on this? But I’m soon distracted because WET SAM!!!!

Oh, help me Lord. His hair. I need to watch that again. (Can I get wet angry Sam? Please?)

Rowena then tricks Guthrie into retrieving the Blade and I really couldn’t care less, so, whatever. Back to the bunker, and we have a very nice shot of Cas looking down at the boys from the balcony. Sadly, Sam's hair is dry.

Cas has the really stupid idea of Dean reaching out to Claire, because they’re both so messed up and angry, and they have something in common, because she lost her only friend, and Dean killed her only friend, so maybe they can bond over that. And Dean stupidly agrees. And Cas likes texting. And Sam thinks Dean's worried about losing it. All caught up? Okay then.

More Claire, don't care. Her loser friends offer to teach Dean a lesson, or "maybe something more permanent."

Dean heads down to the dungeon and tries to find out what's next, and Metatron decides to play with him, which turns out to be a big mistake on his part. And as much as I like someone, anyone, beating the crap out of Metatron, it does kind of conflict with what we've been shown before, with angels being more or less impervious to human fists. (Ha ha, continuity.)

"Whatcha doin there, slugger?" Dean lists Metatron's sins, Metatron lists Dean's own, and the beatdown begins. Metatron eggs him on, encouraging his anger (reminiscent of the emperor egging Luke on in Star Wars, no?), pointing out that if he thinks killing humans and demons impacts him, what's going to happen when he attacks the scribe of God, bucko? Sam and Cas figure out what's going on (and run through halls and break down the door \o/) and stop him just in time, but Metatron makes it clear that he's no longer going to be of any assistance on this little project.

"Behold," he says, "the river shall end at the source." What does this mean? Prepare to see it in the "Then" sequence at some point.

Afterward, Sam theorizes that since Cain still has the Mark and he's lived with it for years, maybe there's a part of Dean that wants to give into it, and he has to fight it. And I'm all, what the fuck? Cain still has the Mark? He just shared it with Dean, rather than transferring it to him? Did we know this? Am I the only one who didn't know this? So, that fic I posted yesterday, which was kind of rushed because I was afraid it would be Kripke'd by this episode? Yeah, pretty much. Whatever. Life goes on.

Anyway. Claire interrupts this by calling to set up a meeting. When Dean arrives for the ambush, she's surprised to see her loser friends are planning to attack him with an ax, not just a baseball bat, as if it makes a difference? Like you can't kill someone with a baseball bat? Stupid Claire. But she wants him hurt, not dead, and when she sees what her loser friends are up to, she stops it. Dean disarms the ax man and chops a park bench instead of his neck, and hey, look! Self-control! Woot! Um, Claire? Has it occured to you that you have really bad judgement when it comes to friends?

Then there's a really bad scene with Claire and Cas and I'm going to pretend it didn't happen.

So, I guess I would have been a lot happier if the entire episode consisted of wet Sam angrily trying to stop Dean from beating the crap out of Metatron. But we can't always get what we want.

As always, I'm unspoiled for next week, including the previews. Please don't post any spoilery information in the comments.

Now, if you'll excuse me, I need to look at this again.

Comments

[elwarre.livejournal.com]

I absolutely thought Cain transferred the mark. That seemed to be the whole point? And haven't we heard multiple times that Dean's the only one who can wield the blade, which wouldn't be true if Cain still had the mark, right? As to Metatron meeting Dean's handsome fists, I think(?) there's something about the warding and the chains in that room that makes angels/demons/whateverthefuck more vulnerable. I did find myself wondering just what it takes to make that gracey-blue shine, though. Like, a nosebleed isn't enough. It has to be a cut? With an angel blade maybe? Just die now, metatron. I hate you.

I'm kind of hoping for some oedipal (not explicit, just suggested, like the show does so well) thing between Crowley and Rowena (and I'm totally blaming this on alethiometry), and that he's not just suddenly and inexplicably stupid. We'll see.

[caranfindel.livejournal.com]

I'm glad I'm not the only one confused about the Mark.

[frozen_delight]

I hope wet/angry Sam helped you over the parts of the ep you didn't like - I really loved it, but then I also liked the last one much better than most.

The thing with Cain still having the Mark was a surprise to me too.

Dean calls Crowley (which requires him to enter three numbers… is Crowley still on his speed dial, or is his number literally 666?) and demands “We need to meet ASAP.” And Crowley simply responds “Where?” Not “Um, no, you threatened to kill me” or “Why would I want to do that?” He’s all, Dean Winchester told me to jump, I’m asking “how high?” Interesting.
*loves them to bits*

[caranfindel.livejournal.com]

Wet/angry Sam makes up for anything I didn't like. :-D

[quickreaver.livejournal.com]

Wet Sam was the best takeaway from this ep, but overall, I kinda liked it?

[caranfindel.livejournal.com]

I have to say, it's growing on me. I just thought Claire and Cas were flat, and I'm tired of Rowena. The rest was fantabulous.

[cassiopeia7.livejournal.com]

Heh, we all seem to be in agreement about the delectability of wet!Sam. *nom*

Crowley simply responds “Where?” Not “Um, no, you threatened to kill me” or “Why would I want to do that?” He’s all, Dean Winchester told me to jump, I’m asking “how high?” Interesting.

Wow, that never even struck me, but you are SO right. Crowley's still carrying that torch, methinks. ;)

reminiscent of the emperor egging Luke on in Star Wars

It was actually Return of the Jedi, but still . . . I love you for this reference.

And yup, I also thought that Cain transferred the Mark to Dean. Hmm. I love the smell of retcon in the morning . . .

[caranfindel.livejournal.com]

In my house, "Star Wars" refers to any movie in the franchise, as in one might say "Yoda from Star Wars." So I'm still claiming that one as correct. ;-)

[cassiopeia7.livejournal.com]

LOL, point taken!

*concedes*

[cuddyclothes.livejournal.com]

Great review! We share apathy about Claire. And wet Sam's MINE.

[caranfindel.livejournal.com]

Wet Sam is a gift unto the world. Don't be selfish.

[anactoria.livejournal.com]

Crowley's number is literally 666, I think -- it's what shows up when he keeps calling them in S8, anyway.

I thought Cain had transferred the mark, too. When Metatron said that thing about the 'source' I was so sure that was going to lead into Cain having to take it back. Maybe it dies when he dies, and that's what they needed the first blade for? *speculates pointlessly*

Cas has the really stupid idea of Dean reaching out to Claire, because they’re both so messed up and angry, and they have something in common, because she lost her only friend, and Dean killed her only friend, so maybe they can bond over that. And Dean stupidly agrees.

Ahahaha. I actually really enjoyed this episode, but it did seem rather as though everyone had had an attack of the stupids.

[caranfindel.livejournal.com]

I actually really enjoyed this episode, but it did seem rather as though everyone had had an attack of the stupids.

Or at least a serious case of naïveté.