Saturday, December 1, 2018

Supernatural: Season 14, Episode 7: Unhuman Nature




Jack collapsed last episode and his three dads are all panicky about how to help. Castiel tries to use his angelic abilities, but he has no idea what is wrong with Jack or how to fix him

In desperation they take him to a hospital, desperately trying to get through his admissions process when he has no surname, family or officially presence. But medical technology also doesn’t work so well with an ailing Nephilim.

Running out of options, with lots of powerful grief and Dean especially falling apart, they turn to Rowena

I always love a visit from Rowena! She isn’t thrilled about helping a nephilim and especially not the son of Satan - thinking that anything to do with satan is better off dead. But she can’t resist Jack’s innocent charm, even if he does kind of accept she may be right

But even Rowena’s magic doesn’t work. She does diagnose him though - a Nephilim needs grace to live. An Archangel Nephilim needs archangel grace. Which is a problem because all the archangels are dead.

Everyone starts brain storming except Jack - who wants to spend some time living and asks Dean to take him out. Which includes Dean showing him how to drive. Yes, drive his car, his baby; he doesn’t even let Sam do that. I like that a series of 14 seasons can have moments like this that have been so well established - and I like that they didn’t feel the need to make that point in this episode. We have fourteen seasons already we don’t need to make this clear.

They also fish with Jack being all gushy about this because he wants to spend more time with dean while he still has time left

And this whole scene, whole arc, is beautiful - but why Dean? There’s Sam and Castiel saying how hard it is to lose a son, and how this hurts more than their previous losses - but even they are talking about how it hurts Dean especially. I think the habit of Supernatural to focus more on Dean than the others takes something from the show. Especially this where Jack has, if anything, been closer to Sam and even closer to Castiel than Dean.

Castiel thought he had managed to track down Sergei, a shaman, who may be able to help - but only seems to exacerbate the problem. Castiel is duly enraged

But they now have no hope for Jack


And this whole scene has been powerfully acted and highly emotional, I have to applaud

As I do Nick. Nick is hunting for the man who murdered his family. First asking his neighbour, the witness - and torturing him to death

And the priest who heard his confession. All deaths to help him find who killed his family. But he also visibly struggles to restrain himself from killing a woman outside a club as well.

He manages to track down a reporter who points him to the police officer who was at his house on the night his son and wife were killed. A police officer that the witness said entered his home

Finding the now retired officer, Nick restrains him and beats him up - and learns the policeman was possessed by the demon Abraxas. He’s technically innocent - but his body still killed Nick’s family. And Nick brutally beats him to death with a hammer

And his conflict overflows into frantic, torn prayer. Killing the man who killed his family hasn’t quieted his murderous rage as he continually told himself. More, he admits that he loves killing, he wants to keep killing - but he is also torn by guilt and pain. He prays, feverishly, desperately, full of grief and angst… to satan. He wants Lucifer back. He wants to not feel again, to not face consequences or pain or sorrow. He doesn’t want to feel now what he didn’t feel then.

Some terrible black CGI skeleton forms from the blood of his victim…

And while I think this scene was incredibly powerfully acted and deserving of all the praise, except the CGI, I’m not sure how happy I am to have a Lucifer storyline. AGAIN. Though if Jack needs Archangel grace to live, that would be convenient