Initial reaction 11.14: In the flesh

[caranfindel]

THEN: Men of Letters. Time travel. Soul power. Nazis. Casifer. Amara.

NOW: Now is actually 1943. More Nazis. One in particular, who has a secret weapon and a "collaborator" girlfriend who is pretty obviously more into resistance. Like, for example, the resistence of flesh as you plunge a long hairpin into someone's throat. Joke's on you, Nazi bastard. She's Delphine, and she's with the Men of Letters.

Swirly title card of Darkness!

Sam's reading about Nazi archaeologists in the bunker kitchen, and there are two weird things about this scene. One, why would he drag all of those big heavy books into the kitchen, instead of just taking his coffee into the library? And two, when he asks Dean if he knew the Nazis had a branch dedicated to archaeology, why would Dean not say "Of course I know that; I've seen Raiders of the Lost Ark." In fact, this entire episode is begging for Raiders quotes that Just. Don't. Happen.

Little bit of hand porn to get you going. You're welcome.

But I'm getting ahead of myself. Sam expositions on Nazi archaeology while Dean adorably bitches in the background about being out of coffee and sniffs at sour milk, then puts it back in the fridge, because maybe it will get better. Sam has discovered information about a Nazi superweapon called "the Hand of God" believe to contrain traces of God's power. And maybe they can use this against Amara.

I mean, come on, look at this. It's the Ark of the freaking Covenant, people. Dean couldn't pull up a Raiders quote for this?

Unfortunately for the Nazis, it was stolen by a woman named Delphine, the Nazi-stabbing "le femme de lettre" (yeah, I know that's spelled wrong, whatever) we saw earlier. Dean says who knew the MoL had a European chapter, and Sam says we did, remember? Eileen told us? It was in the "Then?" Weren't you paying attention? (No, he doesn't.) Sam finds a report stating Delphine was on a submarine transporting the Hand of God to the bunker, but the submarine, the USS Bluefin (which I don't think was an actual submarine, but apparently was the name of a ship in the Star Trek universe) was sunk by Nazis and never recovered. So Sam decides the HoG is lost, but Dean's not so sure, because they have a secret weapon.

I like this scene. I like that the guys are sitting on the same side of the table - usually when they're at a table, they're on opposite sides. I like the lighting. I like Dean's profile. I like Sam's soft blue plaid shirt and the sound of his voice. Yep. This is a good scene.

Meanwhile, Casifer playing a video game on Crowley's throne. The demons are restless and want leadership, and the only good thing about this scene is this awesome little demon, whose hair is almost as big as she is, and I want more of this angry, kick-ass little chick. I want her to be another Meg - not later-seasons heroic Meg, but early Bad Girl Meg. But I know we'll never see her again. She is going to be this season's Mickey the Gas N Sip clerk. Farewell, Tiny Demon. We hardly knew ye.

Hold me closer, Tiny Demon.

At this point, The Husband wanders into the room and says "oh, yeah, that's right, he's Lucifer now. And they still haven't figured it out?" In the Winchesters' defense, they haven't spend a lot of time with him. Anyway, we learn that Casifer isn't as prepared to defeat Amara as he thought he was. And he has Crowley on a leash, in shabby clothes, and that Crowley's feigning fear but not very well. And then Casifer gets Dean's phone call. Still not a big fan of Casifer, but I do love his growly "hello, Dean."

Next we see him in the war room with the brothers, and now they're on opposite sides of the table, so I'm sure that's going to signify something. And we've still got the cage-like overlay of shadows.

Guys, really. Those shadows are a bad sign.

Casifer says he can go back in time to retrieve the HoG, and Sam's all, wait, you can't even teleport, you don't have wings. Casifer insists time travel is different, and now I'm going to agree with The Husband - it's kind of ridiculous that one or both brothers don't recognize something is weird here. Because if time travel didn't require wings, Cas could have time traveled anywhere he wanted to teleport. "I'll just show up at the bunker five minutes ago. Easy peasy." And if he time traveled without teleporting, wouldn't he just show up in the bunker in 1943? Nope. I can't believe they fell for this. But they did. Sam at least brings up the inherent issues with time travel, but Dean insists they can't accidentally change history because the ship's going down anyway. He'll just zap in, grab the HoG, and zap back out. And now they're on opposite sides of the argument in addition to being on opposite sides of the table. It's going to be him, not them, because Sam has to stay at the bunker. If Dean's "milk run" goes bad, someone's got to be left to fight the darkness, and it can't be Dean because he can't fight Amara. Oh, Dean. Casifer finds all of this delightful. He smacks Dean on the shoulder and Dean finds himself aboard the USS Bluefin. Without Cas. He does manage to subdue a crew member and steal his uniform, including a dorky white hat that I'm not going to screencap. Sorry guys, I feel pretty strongly about this.

Casifer shows up back at the bunker, dripping wet and without Dean. Turns out the sub was warded against angels and he couldn't enter. He's ultra-snarky to Sam and even refers to Dean as "it." Little hint there for you, Sammy.

Come on, Sam. He took off the coat. Doesn't he look darker and more evil now?

Sam gives him the side-eye but then jumps into action mode, looking for ways to remove the angel warding from the outside, and he's trying to reassure Cas that they'll get him back. Oh, Sam. He does find one spell, but is crushed to see they have all the ingredients except one - it requires the power of an archangel. Huh. I guess it would be convenient if they had one of those hanging around. Casifer says he's going to try it anyway, and Sam still doesn't get it, because Cas is barely even a regular angel, let alone archangel-powered.

Also, I find it amusing that the ingredients they already have on hand include a preserved brain and some kind of flattened lizard.

But when Sam catches Casifer putting the spell ingredients together, while continuing to insist he may have enough power to handle the spell, Sam remembers when Cas sent them back in time for phoenix ashes, and used the power of Bobby's soul to bring them back. Casifer says yes, he could do that, but it could be fatal, and of course Sam offers his own soul. Casifer laughs with delight, and then so do I, because shit's finally getting interesting, folks. Casifer refers to Sam as "the girl who kept turning me down for the prom" and realizes he doesn't need to spare Sam any more (so I guess he's happy staying in his current vessel?), so he's going to use his soul, and when Dean comes back "and finds this place decorated with your guts," Casifer will be all, boo hoo, poor Sam, made the sacrifice. So Sam finally realizes who he's dealing with, and then Casifer sticks a hand in him and does the painful bad-touch of Sam's soul, but then Sam collapses to the floor (and yes, we likes that) as Castiel yanks his hand out and starts to take over.

This isn't how you ask a girl to the prom, Lucifer.

Castiel manages to tell Sam that he chose to let Lucifer in because it's the only way to defeat Amara, and he won't eject him because Lucifer's the only one who can get Dean back.

I'm going to skim over the submarine scenes because honestly I'm just not that much into the submarine scenes. Submarines make me anxious. Perhaps for the same reason flying makes me anxious. But the sub doesn't bother Dean, even though he knows it's going down. He finds Delphine and convinces her he's a time-traveling MoL, and there's a cute thing where another crew member tries to make him prove he's from the future by asking him who won the World Series in 1944, and Dean's all, I have no idea. He tells them the sub's going down and they're all going to die, and there's something essentially not-Dean about this, at least to me. I think Dean "no one's killing any virgins" Winchester would have tried to find some way to save the crew, or at least felt really really bad that they were all going to die, but he's actually kind of matter-of-fact about it. Delphine shows him the HoG, and it's an honest-to-God chunk of the Ark of the Covenant (and Dean finally makes a Raiders comment). Dean's seen the warding and he tells Delphine it needs to be removed so he can escape the sub with the HoG, so she scurries about doing that as they're attacked by Nazis. And the last warding is Delphine herself, but before she can get Dean to kill her, they're summoned by Nazis on the radio (the Nazi Delphine killed earlier, in fact, because he was one of the Thule and she didn't burn his body, and damn, this would have been a good episode to bring Aaron Bass and his golem back, wouldn't it?) and given three minutes to surrender or die. Instead Delphine uses the HoG to destroy the Nazi ship, and I guess this is how the Bluefin is destroyed too? But right before it's destroyed, Casifer shows up and zaps Dean away.

Nazis. I hate these guys.

When Dean and Casifer show up back in the bunker, Sam tells him it's not Cas. Casifer pins Dean to the wall while he monologues evilly, but not Sam. I like the way they're mirroring Delphine and Lucifer here - Lucifer has basically been a collaborator, sleeping with the enemy in order to obtain this necessary weapon, and he finds it as repugnant as Delphine did. While he's whining about this Sam sneaks a knife out of his back pocket and creates the angel-banishing sigil to zap him away - but not before Casifer unwraps the HoG and finds it's been used up - a one-hit wonder.

Snakes. Why did it have to be snakes?

After, the guys are on this huge... dock? Pier? Is it supposed to be connected to the bunker somehow? It's a lovely scene.

Yep. Lovely scenery here.

Dean declares they're going to hunt Lucifer and free Cas, but Sam points out that Cas chose this willingly and may not want out, which Dean refuses to consider. Sam asks how Dean accomplished what he did, and he says he was just a witness, and can't talk about it yet, and we're left with sad Dean and his useless (or not? I'm not giving up on it) chunk of the Ark and French resistance music.

Vive la resistance, boys.

Honestly, this one was pretty "meh" for me until the Lucifer reveal. I didn't expect that to happen until later in the season. When I saw this episode was titled "The Vessel," I figured it would be about Cas, but I expected something more like Cas's POV. (And yeah, double meaning, with the submarine being a vessel as well.) I was pleased that Sam did the angel-banishing sigil, because I don't think we've seen it since 9.01, and I hate it when useful weapons and techniques get forgotten (yes, "Christo," I'm looking at you).

And Amara is apparently still weakened from her near-smiting. It's hard to get worked up about the Darkness as a big bad - it seems pretty weak, honestly.

What did you think? Remember, no spoilers in the comments, please!

Comments

[cuddyclothes.livejournal.com]

I loved it, start to finish. Don't faint. Especially on rewatch. I have been wondering why Sam and Dean haven't noticed that Cas isn't Cas. But when do they ever? He's not Cas half the time.

[caranfindel.livejournal.com]

I'm glad you loved it!

[casey679.livejournal.com]

I am of two minds on this episode. A lot of it doesn't hold up to logical checks. On the other hand... I liked it.

Sam, with all the coffee! Being an obsessive researcher and hunting down things that could help. Self-sacrificing brainy geeks are just so goddamn hot. And Dean's snarky "What am I supposed to drink, water?" The appalling state of their kitchen makes me laugh. I keep thinking back to Kevin's quote about Crowley's fake Winchesters - "I don't think on their best day Sam and Dean would go into town and get me a barbecue dinner, not when there are leftover burritos in the fridge."

The whole not-knowing-about-the-European-MoL makes as much sense as not showing Eileen the bunker, given that she's another legacy. But if Eileen stuck around, she'd probably just get killed like almost every non-Winchester hunter, so... I'll focus on the reappearance of the Thule and clamor for more of Aaron-and-his-golem because they were awesome... although if they stuck around, well... wow, look at how pretty the boys look. So pretty.

I was happy to see demons who preferred Lucifer. (You go, angry female demon! You're awesome!) In fact, I would be thrilled to see Lucifer down in Hell permanently... bring back Mark P!) If there's any reason that demons have forgotten how to Evil, it's Crowley. I want Hell to be horrible again (and please, Lucifer, redecorate the place while you're at it. More chains and blood and screaming).

Misha's acting didn't bother me as much this time. He looked less constipated, and a little more comfortable in the role. I would have loved for the boys to pick up on his tells, but Castiel has been off since Rowena's curse, so I'll give them leeway. Jared's acting as Sam becomes suspicious and then figures it out was awesome - his worst nightmare come to life, coupled with the inverse of Chapter 9, where Castiel had proven that Sam could trust him with his soul. Poor Sam. If you didn't look so damn pretty when your heart is breaking, we wouldn't be so happy when you suffered.

Castiel saving Sam was good to see (and probably made a lot of Sastiel fans cheer). And his dedication to saving Dean was nice (and probably made a lot of Destiel fans cheer). But not as much as Sam's dedication to saving Dean made me cheer.

I was okay with Dean not trying to save the sub. If there's one lesson he's learned from time traveling, it's that the past can't be changed – the whole Titanic deal, not to mention being unable to save his mom. And since he's wrestling with having to be on the sidelines against Amara... I buy it. (I don't buy the lack of Raiders references. For shame, Dean!) That said, I loved his absolute I don't give a damn about proving I'm from the future attitude, and how it changed once they connected as two men who have been at war far too long, facing their own imminent demise, and are wondering when it will end and how many of their friends and family it will cost.

And the fight, and afterwards... Sam being smart, and banishing Casifer! Dean, wrestling with feeling helpless. Sam, losing faith in Cas, probably because he knows what it's like after you say yes to Lucifer. Sam, probably knowing that Cas said yes because he was willing to sacrifice himself to save the world even when it looked like a terrible idea, because he did the same thing. Sam, trying to console Dean even though his worst fear is up and walking around again and he's gotta be wondering why he spent all those eternities getting tortured in hell. I'm surprised he's not angry... but then again, after so much fear and despair, maybe that's finally burned out of him.

I am okay with Amara being a little depleted still. She basically survived everything that heaven had to throw at her - there's nothing left right now that can hurt her. Also, this means she's probably going to go eat up angels now to get better, and I am really, really, really down with that. If Lucifer gets rid of all the bureaucrats in Hell and Amara eats up all the bureaucrats in Heaven, maybe we can get some celestial and demonic figures that have half of the malice and threat that we had with Zachariah, Uriel, Alistair and Azazel.

[casey679.livejournal.com]

Also, omg, someone on Tumblr pointed out Sam's hands at the end. He's got the bandage around one, and he's pressing into it with his other, just like he did when he needed to know what was real back in Season 7:

[caranfindel.livejournal.com]

Oh wow...

[casey679.livejournal.com]

FYI, I posted a pic someone made pointing out Sam's hands in the last scene, but LJ tagged it as spam.

Also, was I the only one who thought Lucifer doesn't quite get how humans work... girls turn guys down for the prom, not at the prom!

[caranfindel.livejournal.com]

I just decided I misheard it. :-)

[caranfindel.livejournal.com]

So many good points here. Especially about Dean and the crewman bonding over shared worries. (Sniff)

[freya922.livejournal.com]

I actually loved it. I was super excited about the Indiana Jones connections even if they weren't overtly talking about them. I even thought Delphines nightgown was very similar to that one Marion had on in Raiders. Finally, Lucifer reveals himself, and we get time travel, too.

[caranfindel.livejournal.com]

Oh, it did look like her dress!

[anactoria.livejournal.com]

I feel like a bit of a party pooper here, but I didn't like this one at all. I know, I know, don't look for continuity, that way madness lies, but not Jossing the entirety of S5 doesn't seem like too much to ask. And it annoyed me that Sam didn't figure out Cas wasn't himself until he started full-on evil cackling, and God, I just hope Amara eats Lucifer for breakfast sometime soon so Misha can stop smirking evilly every two seconds, GAH.

Sam and Dean's sad little faces at the end were nice to look at. That was my favourite bit.

[caranfindel.livejournal.com]

Yeah, that's kind of my take. The annoying bits weren't as annoying to me as they were to you, but they were there. And the lovely bits made up for them.

[toratio.livejournal.com]

A minor gripe, especially because Dean is all traumatised etc, but he doesn't even enquire how Sam might be feeling at the end - yeah, okay, people in the sub died blah blah, but, uh, did Sam not spend several hundred years in a Cage with Lucifer? He might be, I don't know, traumatised by seeing him again? Even if Dean had done a "you okay?" I would've been happy. Especially with the people pointing out how Sam was using his hands...

[caranfindel.livejournal.com]

And I wonder if Sam even told him he was physically tortured by Lucifer right before he brought Dean back. Maybe that all happened off camera. :-/

[themegalosaurus.livejournal.com]

I bet Sam wouldn't have said anything of his own volition. Too hard to explain. Especially with all the kind of history between Dean and himself about souls and possession and violation and all that jazz.

Still, I agree that it might have been nice to see Dean ask.

[toratio.livejournal.com]

I'm kind of hoping the next ep might at least have them addressing it. Like they did sort of after Sam was in the Cage. *shrug*

[cuddyclothes.livejournal.com]

Coming back from having to run out earlier.

The submarine stuff resonated with me, in part because I remember what my dad told me about being in the navy in wartime, how hellish and unending it was. He didn't talk to me about it until near the end of his life. He described typhoons and being in a ship that dropped 20 stories straight down in the pitch dark. So when the sailor was talking with Dean about when the war would end, I totally lost it (plus, I saw Das Boot). On rewatch it was even sadder, because I knew at the outset that all of those sailors were going to die. Robert Berens is probably the best writer they have, and he's definitely the best at creating strong female characters. I cried through most of the damn thing, including the end when Dean says, "I did nothing. I was just a witness". SO SAD.

The stuff between Sam and Cas was disjointed. Casifer is making a spell and doesn't need Sam's help, and I didn't understand why he decided to stop what he was doing, which was all-important AND time sensitive, to shove his arm into Sam. As you do. I also felt jilted out of a spell scene.

Nobody mentions the hilarious sight gag of Casifer, soaking wet, clomping down the bunker stairs. That was genius.

I loved Tiny Demon, and that scene didn't work. For one thing, I still can't buy Misha as Casifer. He's just not that good an actor. He's played one character for 7 seasons now. Misha said how hard it was to play Jimmy (for a few scenes!) and that was being a normal person. Mark Pellegrino is a better actor, hands down. And when he brought out Crowley, all I could think of was, "what can you do to me that I don't do to myself every Friday, for kicks?" In other words, bullshit.

But they took all of the cool fun out of Crowley ages ago. Especially this season, he's a dishrag. And Hell is still in the men's room.

[caranfindel.livejournal.com]

And when he brought out Crowley, all I could think of was, "what can you do to me that I don't do to myself every Friday, for kicks?"

Well, he did have Crowley in some awful clothes. I'm sure he wouldn't do that to himself. ;-)

[fanspired]

Not one of Berens best.

[madebyme-x.livejournal.com]

I LOVED this episode, but I dig all the Men of Letters stuff, so time travel and a submarine, and Nazi's, and kick ass Delphine, and a cool 'weapon' - hell yes! It felt refreshing to me to see a different set too, and I think the set/props department etc did such an amazing job with that submarine, and actually the whole cast was awesome too (Delphine was just so cool!)

I can't help but wonder if it's setting things up for the future, a mirror of what we're going to see; 'witness' and helpless Dean, sitting on the sidelines completely powerless and unable to help or save anyone...

[caranfindel.livejournal.com]

I can't help but wonder if it's setting things up for the future, a mirror of what we're going to see; 'witness' and helpless Dean, sitting on the sidelines completely powerless and unable to help or save anyone...

That could definitely be going on! And if it means Sam gets to be the one who saves the day, I'm all for it. But if they make Cas the hero - if they let him undo everything Sam did and then "fix it" - I'm gonna be pissed.