“Supernatural” is serving up one more season break, but tonight delivered a lot of valid information, some classic performances, and gave way to one more mystery.
Our episode begins in the batcave with Sam in a particularly businesslike mood and Dean being spectacularly passive-aggressive in his preoccupation with putting an end to season nine’s quest. Sam has caught a case, but Dean insists that Sam fly solo. How else could he brood and get his secret drunk on? Sam departs to a town where citizens are exhibiting behaviors that are strikingly similar to souless!Sam and finds more history on the Men of Letters in a nunnery, while back home Dean drinks booze from the bottle and stares into space while reminiscing about his most recent decapitation. Enter Crowley, the Oscar to Dean’s Felix, throw in a pinch of historical flashback, stir with some creepy nuns, and now we’re cooking with sulphur.
The “Eddie-Murphy-as-white-Jewish-old-man ‘Ah-haaaahhhh….”
- Sure, there was a slight stray in regards to plot, but finally. Advancement. We received some insight as to Abaddon’s post-Hell-expulsion shenanigans and were educated on her plan for takeover. She holed up in a nunnery because of course that’s where a Knight of Hell would go (what could be more obscene?) and laid low. Erm, low-ish. When Henry Winchester and Josie Sands arrived to investigate strange behaviors, she meat-suited up and hitched a ride back in Josie, destroyed the Men of Letters from within, traveled through a time portal and BLAM, back to the nunnery. Cohesion, bitches. Turns out she had a pretty solid plan: forget campaigns and baby-kissing, Abaddon’s just gonna farm some demons Uruk’hai style. She’s making them by stealing souls and letting the empties simmer.
- And the Crowley plot thickens. What could that little scamp be up to? Crowley invites himself to Dean’s pity party and executes a ruse to test Dean’s, what? Loyalty? Fortitude? He’s up to something, and the show has crafted a nifty little subplot that contributes to the greater mystery. Whatever the test, Dean passed with flying colors and Crowley deems him ready. For what we’re not told, but I suspect Crowley is fixin’ to get more than a mounted ginger head above his throne.
The “Now THAT is How You Bad Guy”
- Have I used that one? No matter. Remember my rant about bad guys trying too hard to be bad guys? Well, tonight’s Mother Superior was an effortless terror. As someone completely outside of Catholic culture, I don’t know if the nun-as-scary-enforcer trope is as effective to someone with actual nun experience, nor do I know if most consider it to be a lazy metaphor for eeeeeeville. I do know that I associate nuns with no-nonsense, rigid adhesion to order, so when you throw in, you know, demon-y stuff, that stoic and unquestioning upholding of law is formidable. And when it’s done well, it just works. And tonight the stars aligned when writing, acting, and directing came together in a perfect embodiment of how I imagine a Knight of Hell would behave.
The “And Speaking of Directing,”
- Tonight marked the directorial debut of everyone’s favorite nutjob cum charity king, Misha Collins. I’ll admit that throughout the episode I had to keep reminding myself to pay attention to the direction, but sitting here typing this out I can only conclude that that’s probably a good thing. There were no gimmicks, no try-hard attempts at a definitive style, just solid command of quiet performances and dusty locations. The episode, without naming a specific point of reference, had an oppressive Fincher-type feel rather than the boisterous monster movie vibe that the show can sometimes give off. I certainly look forward to more directorial efforts from Misha.
I’m still left wondering what’s going on in Angel town, what Metatron is up to, if he thinks of me… The series converged a modest amount of points in the past couple episodes, but I’m not complaining about the quantity when they’ve made so much sense and have advanced the story. Hell, sometimes they just informed – told us where our attentions should go. But the Angels are still out in left field, and I’m hoping there’s a hail Mary play that will tie everything up in a succinct, plausible little bow. And with that sentence I have exhausted every single sports metaphor in my arsenal.
I shit you not friends and neighbors; there is now another two week hellatus to deal with. There are only six more episodes left in season nine (including one that will introduce us to the “Supernatural” spin-off), and thankfully tonight’s episode raised my brows enough to get me excited about how this whole supernatural soup will turn out. I’ll leave you with the Crowley Quip o’ the Week: “Going to water the lily. Wanna cross streams?”