This week we had a monster of the week episode which was
kind of fun. I think that Supernatural
does well to have some of these on a regular basis even if I would call it
filler on most other series. Supernatural
is so damn long – 11 seasons now – and so often uses GREAT BIG META that it
really needs these random monster missions in order to remind us that the
brothers are hunters, to hold on to the core of the show. They are hunters, not
people who come back from the dead so often they could start a thousand new
religions in between saving and imperilling the world. These stories remind us
they are hunters, they are doing good things and are generally out there fighting
the good fight
It leaves me little to say about the plot – the standard happens: monster, red herring, research, kill.
The introduction of Eileen was good – she’s a deaf hunter
who wants to bring down the Banshee who killer her parents (with requisite “revenge
won’t save you” speech which we always always always got. Seriously the genre
needs to just copy and paste that and stop pretending it’s new). She is
physically capable (unusual for any representation of disabled characters), she
is knowledgeable about Banshee ways (she is not only equipped but shows Sam and
Dean some of the skills she has for taking down the Banshee) and she (aided by
Mildred) is the one who actually kills the Banshee. It was also nice to see a
capable, skilled female character who didn’t need to be taught by Sam and Dean
And she lives. Yes I did expect her to become a corpse.
She was a good character, capable and on part with Sam and Dean.
I think Mildred was interesting. In general the media doesn’t
do well with the depiction of a sexual older woman: they’re often shown as pathetic
or comic relief. While I think Mildred was meant to be FUNNY, I don’t think she
was meant to be comic – she was meant to be fun. If we laughed it would be with
her, if she was funny it because she was playing and having fun; and while Dean
started out obviously uncomfortable to begin with, he warmed into it without
him being repelled or horrified.
But the flip side and why I’m uncertain is would this be
seen as fun and cute if she WEREN’T seen as inherently sexless and completely
non-sexually-threatening. If she was seen as a valid sexual person making
advances on someone who was uninterested would it be seen as cute?
We also have Lucifer in Castiel’s body – and my doubts
are settled, he is DEFINITELY pulling this off. Creepy and fun and very
different – he’s doing it well. And, after randomly murdering an angel (who can
tell instantly he’s Lucifer) showing all his very dramatic power. He also uses
his hidden identity to get Dean to admit about the bond with Amarra – and his
attraction (which gets Dean exactly the look he deserves). Lucifel plans to use
Dean as bait, of course.
Throughout the episode we get two main threads – Sam is
all angsty because of what Lucifer said to him, especially the part about abandoning
Dean in Purgatory though Dean is clear he’s over that focusing on his
co-dependent “we’re together now that’s what counts.”
And something is up with Dean – the Banshee only targets “the vulnerable” which apparently includes him.
