We continue much the same as the last episode – Antonia continues
to try and torture Sam into co-operating this time with sexy magic as well as
torture – and it doesn’t work. There’s an impression that lady Antonia thinks that
the American Hunters have been compromised somehow
While Dean and Mary do lots of really touching catching
up while Castiel looks for Sam
And these aren’t bad scenes – in fact Dean and Mary is
touching, sweet and really really really well done. But they’re weird juxtaposed.
Because Dean and Mary have no sense of urgency – I mean, Dean has literally
shelved looking for his brother and decided Castiel will do it. It feels weird
Especially since one undercurrent we get from Mary speaking
to Dean and, later, Sam is the togetherness between them. Mary is continually
curious about why her sons are Hunters – after all, this is a life she wanted
to leave. As she talks to them we get a really powerful sense of how together
they are- Sam talks about hunting as family and Dean says that, other than the
Impala, all they have is each other. But this is the essence of bittersweet –
because their bond is close (unhealthily so as we’ve said many times before)
but they have no life beyond that, few friends, no family, no lives – Hunting has
consumed them. In some ways it really explores WHY they are so unhealthily
obsessed with each other
When they do finally find Sam, Dean tries to play the protective
man bullshit with his mother. She’s unimpressed and insists on going but is
willing to stay outside to humour him while Antonia captures Dean (of course).
Castiel can’t get in because of mega men-of-letters anti-angel wards
We get some more torturing which doesn’t work on Dean any
more than it worked on Sam. Antonia decides to name drop a load of people from
past seasons like a really really cheap clips-episode but other than show she
has Done The Research it doesn’t really go anywhere; she does point out how
educated and intelligent the British men of Letters are, making sure they
control uncouth hunters like Same and Dean. Then Mary shows up.
I have a feeling Mary to the rescue is going to be a
theme this season.
Everyone free and Antonia unconscious it’s time for Mary
to cut out her spleen. This is what I hope was going to happen and you can’t
convince me otherwise
But instead we get Mick. Mick is another British Men of
Letters and he’s totally sorry for Mary’s barbarism (honestly I thought she was
very refined and civilised in her evil sadism which is very British. Well, very
American stereotyped idea of British people anyway) and this has all being a
terrible misunderstanding. Antonia will be taken back to London and
appropriately disciplined while he would totally like to be their bestest
friend. As proof of his good faith he points out he did come into the room
unarmed when everyone is pissed at him – also he took the wards down unleashing
their Nuclear Option Castiel.
Y’know the bad cop, good cop could work but not nearly as
much as introducing themselves politely.
I thought it was a ruse, but when they’re alone we see it’s
partially true. At least, Antonia’s mission was to earn the American hunters’
trust. My she screwed that one up epicly, didn’t she? They do think that there’s
some level of betrayal or taint among American hunters because they’re so bad
at their job but she has decided the solution to that is to just kill them and
the monsters. Mick is keeping that as a last option – and they’re calling in
some ominous guy with a cross tattooed on his hand
Because a notorious hidden killer really needs super
identifying marks
Over to Crowley, they worst happens – he finds Rowena
(she’s currently looking for a successful, stable and short lived husband).
Now I love Crowley. I also love Rowena. I think they’re
excellent, fun, awesome characters who are so much fun and perfectly evil. But
I hate them together. Together everything falls apart in both their stories and
they become just terrible.
Crowley recruits his mother in his plan to take down
Lucifer (now in the body of an aging tragic musician) – namely use her magic to
temporarily paralyse him then throw sulfuric acid in his face so he flees his
vessel then banish him back to his cage
It’s a decent plan, simple, but decent
But doesn’t account for the sheer power of the archangel,
his willingness to stay in a host horrifically injured by acid, heal said host
and then prepare to unleash hell. Crowley, who knows when a plan is going
south, flees leaving Rowena to be captured by Lucifer. This was not how either
of them planned things
