Supernatural - 6.19 - Mommy Dearest - Recap

Warning - I do not like "Destiel" from the lazy combining of Dean and Castiel's names to the complete character re-writes it presumes. The jokes the writers have included in the last few episodes have gone beyond funny and are now outright irksome to me. Since this is going on my blog and not SpoilerTV, I feel no reason to hold back my feelings on the subject. So, if you are a "Destiel" fan, skip this because I'm frustrated and annoyed and wordy to the tune of a three paragraph rant against "Destiel".

Previously - Crowley tortured creatures and was awesome, Cas burned Crowley's bones, Bobby was infected with the herpes worm, Eve rose and did nothing, Dean and Sam went back to the Wild West for phoenix ashes to kill Eve, they are taking the fight to Eve

Eve heads to the 9th Street Sports Lounge where two locals argue beer prices in matching Bruisers jerseys. She's in her nothing-good-ever-happens-in-a-white-nightie costume complete with blood spot. She signals for a hook up so Bruiser #1 makes a cheesy line about heaven missing an angel. Does that ever work? Eve touches his face and red strands appear on his cheek but disappear as he turns to his friend. "OK Fabio, let's go." You and everyone in the bar should have left earlier. Eve walks in, locks the door, and breaks off the lock and handles. I'd think the Mother of All could magically contain everyone, but okay. A nice guy we'll call Toast asks if Eve is hurt because of the blood stain. Eve approaches which makes Toast and friend nervous, but he still kisses her. His friend sees the red veiny streaks on his face but again they disappear. Friend: "Hey, what the hell." Eve: "I gave him a gift." For future reference Eve, some gifts you should keep to yourself. But no, she gifts others as well by touching their faces. Toast's friend wants to leave but Toast has gone from caring naiveté to hopped up on monster juice psycho. He and the others take out everyone in the bar. Things get bloody from all of the biting and clawing. With Hot Chocolate's "You Sexy Thing" playing in the background, Eve holds a girlie drink and smiles. Glass title card breaks.

At Bobby's, Dean demonstrates how to make phoenix ash bullets. Sam and Bobby join him. Dean's worried there's only 5 bullets and phoenix ash does nothing to him. Sam exposits silver and iron hurt specific supernatural nasties but not humans, so there's hope it isn't a suicide mission. Of course, they have to find Eve first to test that. Bobby's got nothing and suggests Dean pray to Castiel. Dean: "Why's it always got to be me that makes the call huh?" I know, I know. Because the writers are desperately throwing the Castiel/Dean fans a bone since Cas hasn't been on the show much this season. The writers make yet another "Destiel" joke that stopped being funny several episodes ago. At least Dean recognizes Cas has other commitments, which means he may have listened to Rachel last week.

BEGIN DESTIEL RANT - I hate "Destiel" for many reasons. A minor irritation is that when you talk against "Destiel," some people assume you are homophobic and attack you, which makes no sense. I am also against Brennan and Booth getting together in Bones. Does that make me heterophobic too? It's a nonsense argument that ends conversations and keeps people from giving their true opinion. That in turn makes it seem like the small number of "Destiel" fans are actually larger than they are, which leads me to my main problem with "Destiel". Generally I take the Supernatural fandom with a grain of ghost-banishing rock salt. When "Destiel" first became prevalent online, I merely shook my head and rolled my eyes. However, the Supernatural crew has always had a tenuous relationship with its fan base. The same fans that band together and fight to win every online award out there also turn on the PTB with ferocity when they do not like the way the storyline is going. Now to appease the Castiel fanbase, it feels like they are throwing these fans bones everywhere. In fact, Cas' whole storyline feels more like something they added in just to keep Castiel fans happy. I am a big believer that the story should drive the casting not the other way around. Yes, Cas now has a huge role to play in the season's finale but for me angels have been the weakest part of season 6. I hope we are angel-free in season 7.

I was fine when "Destiel" remained an online phenomenon I could ignore, but now it's leaked into my show and I hate that. It's similar to why I usually don't enjoy "meta" episodes either. It takes me out of the story. When a line comes up that I know people will fan-interpret as Cas/Dean love, it pulls me out of the story on screen. Instead I focus on how the Supernatural writers are once again catering to a small portion of the Supernatural audience and I lose what is REALLY happening on the screen. I love being immersed in the Winchester world; it's one of the reasons why this show has been my favorite for 6 years when I usually don't follow a show for more than 4. I feel like a part of the story whether it is a monster of the week or heavy into mytharc. "Destiel" comments take me from that world and place me smack dab into reality again. It's like cold water thrown in my face and I hate that it is happening more and more. It also makes it harder for me to re-immerse myself into the story again.

However the biggest reason why I hate "Destiel" is because it changes a fundamental feature of the characters and smacks of hypocrisy. Let's take arguably TV's current reigning homosexual couple - Kurt and Blaine on Glee. If people started talking about how Kurt really isn't gay but secretly loves Rachel, proving their point by the way they look at each other and that their hands touched, the vast majority would eye roll and head shake at crazy fans. Everyone's free to create any pairing they like on the internet and that goes for "Destiel" too. However, if the writers/producers of Glee wrote hints of this into the show to appease that small section of fans, people would riot. GLAAD would write articles and begin protests. People would argue that sexual preference is biological, not mutable. They would scream that being gay was an essential part of Kurt's identity and to change that changes the character. In short, it would be a mess and bewildering to the vast majority of Kurt fans who enjoy his character as a gay teen. The same thing goes for Supernatural. Dean and Sam's sexual preferences are set and a part of who they are, just like the fact that they are human. Imagine a small group of Supernatural fans decided Sam was a werewolf since he had a fling with Madison and sometimes goes out at night alone. If the show suddenly added one-liners to that effect just to tweak those fans, people would be outraged and confused. There is a place for fan fiction but that place is not on screen. I'm fine with people writing about "Destiel" and dreaming up ways to prove their point as long as it doesn't impact my show. All that does is make me wish for Castiel's death to stop it. END DESTIEL RANT

Back to the plot - Cas returns but can't find Eve either because she's hidden from all angels. I guess Balthy's out of this one. Sam wants someone on the inside of Eve's operation, "something with claws and empathy" like a monster spy. While there aren't many of them, Sam says, "Sure but we've met one or two right?" This makes me happy since we've had some cool one-shot monsters in the past. Plus, I saw the preview. Score! They montage Winchester clan research until Cas brings back…Lenore! It's our friendly cattle blood-sucking vampire from season 2. I loved her. She freaks out and runs from them. I find it refreshing they did not include Lenore in the previouslies so those who didn't want to be spoiled could be surprised. Well, those who saw season 2. Luckily they recap for new viewers, including the death of Gordon Walker (I miss Gordon's crazy black and white viewpoint) to make Lenore trust them. Dean gleefully adds that Sam beheaded Gordon with razor wire. It really was wicked.

Lenore wonders why Cas beamed her to Bobby's so Sam asks about Eve in a quiet, empathetic Sammy way but she still freaks out. She's looking ragged because Mommy Eve keeps whispering in her head, making her insane. It's also robbed her of her nest. Sam compliments her strength to resist feeding but she counters, " Don't look so impressed. I was hiding in a basement. Not exactly Club Med. You don't know how hard it is not to give in. Everyone gives in." She always was a tell the truth kind of vamp. Dean gets to the point, asking if she can use her psychic connection to track Eve. Lenore reminds them that Eve could be eavesdropping on the whole conversation. Bobby: "So we don't have the element of surprise. We're still going in." I wonder about Bobby's complete turnaround on bat-crazy, no shot, fly-by-the-seat-of-your-pants planning. He's usually the voice of patience with these. Lenore can't help. Sam: "Can't or won't?" It's such a SPN question. He appeals to her human-saving nature and she caves. Eve's in Grants Pass, Oregon. Lenore wants a return favor though; she asks them to kill her. Dean suggests she stay in the panic room in Supernatural Witness Protection but she's not worried about safety. She's afraid of feeding off a teenager - AGAIN. Eve's voice proved too strong for her. Sam and Dean wear "don't make us do this" faces, but Castiel shoots light through her and she crumples to the ground dead. Love the special effects; hate that another character I like is dead. Cas: "We needed to move this along." Dean and Sam stare in shock. I laugh at their expressions and wonder where Bobby will bury the body. I'm sure people were shocked and angry Cas killed Lenore, but I agree with him. She asked to die and was tortured into betraying her convictions, so Cas put her out of her misery. It's a similar situation to when Sam shot Madison. Of course Cas has no moral hang-ups about it so we're spared after-guilt and emotional handwringing.

Cas zaps them all to Oregon where things look shockingly normal. "Well, I was expecting more Zombieland less Pleasantville." If I remember right, Pleasantville had zombies too, Dean. Bobby: "Just because it looks quiet don’t mean it is." This should be a hunter motto. Dean calls Cas "Smitey McSmiterson," happy to have a little angel power. It seemed like an odd line at first. However, at Ervin's diner, we find Cas is flying power-free in this town. Eve was ready for him and that's not good for Plan A. Dean calls Cas a "baby in a trench coat" without power but I remember Cas' awesome moves that took down Rachel and others. Cas pouts as Sam says, "You hurt his feelings." Bwah! We all knew that. Bobby barks about an iPad but considering that ancient technology he calls a computer in Weekend at Bobby's, he should be happy to research without dial-up. His only clue is a doctor call to the CDC. It's Ed Bright, formerly known as Bruiser #1. Nice product placement here by the way. They split up.

Dean and Cas check out the doctor's office and Dean tells the lady locking up that Cas is very sick. Cas: "I have a painful burning sensation." You and me both Cas and it isn't acid reflux. It's the feeling of an episode going rapidly downhill. The lady says Dr. SIlver didn't come in that day and tells Cas to get ointment. There's only one solution for this problem lady and it isn't ointment. Dean's suspicious about the doctor's absence the day after calling the CDC so it's breaking and entering time. Cas complains Dean's taking too long to get in and it does seem like Dean and Sam's skills vary depending on the episode. However, Dean notices a blood stain on the shed tile. Inside it's Bruiser's looking particularly ookey wrapped in plastic. Dean: "What kind of doctor calls the CDC and then stashes the gooey corpse in the shed?" Cas doesn't understand anymore than we do. Regardless, it's body burning time.

Meanwhile Bobby and Sam are tracking down Dr. Silver's wife and two sons. The town sheriff stops them and they whip out FBI badges. He calls them on their decidedly un-FBI outfit of jeans, flannel, and Bobby's trucker hat. Sam soft-shoes that they were on another case and got suddenly called to Grants Pass. Bobby questions the sheriff but he's just checking on his absent friend. Bobby says Dr. Silver is missing due to the empty house, no bags and car in driveway. He tells the sheriff to put out an APB and they'll meet him at the station to compare notes. Bobby's better than the brothers at talking his way out of a situation. Sam compliments him for "talking out of your butt." Bobby tells him to hurry "idjit". Two stolen cars later the foursome meet at Bruiser #1's place. Cas asks if Ed has a brother, which isn't as random as it seems since Ed is clearly standing at the window. Sam claims shifter and says Dean and he will go in. The Winchesters make all the decisions tonight. Bobby and Cas should shoot anything that comes out the door with silver bullets. Problem - Cas never needed gun lessons. Dean: "You know who whines. Babies." First off, Cas merely pointed out a critical flaw in the plan. Second, by Dean's definition, out of the four people there, Dean and Sam are the biggest babies of the bunch. It's not called the Winchester Whine for nothing. Let's just name seasons 4 and 5 the Big Boohoo.

Dean bursts down the door and the brothers go in guns blazing only to be stopped by ICK. Several Ed Bright's are lying around in different stages of decay. Dean: "OK. Don't touch anything." You don't have to be a germ-phobe to agree. Sam finds one Ed twitching on a floral chair and they realize Ed #52 is not long for the world. He says he's not Ed and his driver's license informs us he's Marshall, otherwise known as Bruiser #2. Sam downplays his illness to get the information they need and Dean says he's hallucinating the other Ed's because of a fever. Faux-Ed's coughs and spews stuff all over and I'm reminded of the gross-out that was Pestilence. Ugh! Faux-Ed says they went to a bar and met a girl in white. And he dies. That's helpful. Dean's all bothered about the "people waking up shifters" deal and Bobby calls it an infection. "Nobody touched nothing?" Dean: "Oh, I'm bathing in Purell tonight." My skin crawls too Dean. Even one of your skeevy hotels sounds good now. Cas and I wonder why Eve would make baby shifter goo but no one has answers.

They head to the 9th Street Decayed Corpse Lounge and I wonder why this place doesn't smell a mile away. Bobby wonders how it escaped the sheriff's attention this many people were missing. Dean finds vampire teeth and wraith spikes on one corpse and they're all stumped. Dean: "OK, so Eve's making hybrids now!" Pretty smart move on her part. Dean questions what to call them and Bobby says, "Well, congrats, you discovered it; you get to name it." Look it's Biologist Dean. "Jefferson Starships..because they're horrible and hard to kill." Bwah! And now we revoke your naming license. Let's see how many times we say Jefferson Starships tonight. (Apparently a lot since it trended on Twitter Friday.) Sam asks the million dollar question, "Why are all the Starships dead?" Bobby: "Can't say but looks like they all burned up…like a high fever. Like the flu." Dean spouts off about a metabovirus when the police finally show up. Dean hides behind the bar as Sam, Bobby, and Cas are arrested. At the police office, Sam sees a reflection in a mirror and realizes they are all "Jefferson Starships." He head butts the sheriff as Bobby shoves a deputy and Dean slices the head off another in a really cool special effect until you pause at the wrong point and see hinges. Cas takes out Bobby's deputy and right before Dean beheads the sheriff, Sam stops him. He's needed for questioning.

In the interrogation room, Bobby says the sheriff is healthier than the rest. He snarks about vitamins but won't give up Eve's location. Cas looks particularly blood-splattered while Dean and Sam look on until they hear a noise from the back. "More Starships." Nope, two kids remarkably Dean and Sam-like in age difference. Hello Dr. Silver's kids. They ungag Joe and Ryan, who's been mute since taken by cops. Dean squats to their level like he always does when talking to kids. I love that! He tells Joe they will uncuff them after making sure they're not Jefferson Starships. I'm glad they're doing "a few dozen" tests first because this screams trap. "OK let's get started." And we quick cut to Bobby slicing the sheriff. It's jarring and very unsettling. Dean and Sam come out with the "hungry human boys" and question them about Eve. They have no info but the cops said they were food. Fabulous! That won't scar them for life. They mention an uncle 15 miles away and Dean says they will take them there. Cas objects given the whole Eve thing but Dean is adamant. Cas: "Dean, millions of lives are at stake here not just two. Stay focused…There's a greater purpose here." Dean flips. "You know what I'm getting a little sick and tired of the greater purposes, okay. I think what I'd like to do right now is save a couple of kids if you don't mind. We'll catch up." The brothers leave with the kids while Cas mopes. In the car, Joe tells Ryan to sleep and hugs him into his shoulder. The brothers look on and smile, remembering countless times they were in the same situation. It's all nostalgic and sweet, and while I'm happy to trod down memory lane with the brothers, it's odd in the middle of a mytharc episode.

Cas agrees as he stands at a window waiting for them to get back. Bobby says they won't be gone long but Cas quips, "You don't know that. They may find more wayward orphans along the way." Snap! Cas found the sarcasm button. Bobby doesn't find snarky Cas as fun as I do. Cas: "Right, pardon me for highlighting their crippling and dangerous empathetic response with sarcasm." It's air quotes again. (snickers) Anyone else say in their head, "Empathy, Sam. Empathy." Cas huffs that they shouldn't have let them go but Bobby responds, "C'mon. You don't let Sam and Dean Winchester do squat. They do what they gotta. You know that." Bobby refocuses Grumpy Cas on the interrogation. "So we can stand here bellyaching or we can go poke that pig 'til he squeals. Thoughts?" Bwah! Bobby makes all things better. Cas walks back and after a deep sigh Bobby follows. It's hard to be the Gambler when you're putting out fires everywhere. Speaking of, the Silver boys reunite with their uncle and I speculate on what explanation he was given that didn't lead to the police or a psychiatrist. Dean and Sam watch as the uncle hugs the boys tight and I can't help feeling they would have been better off if John found someone to keep them while he obsessed over his crusade. The brothers glance at each other and walk off, another family happily reunited thanks to the Winchesters.

Back in interrogation, nothing happens so Cas asks for 5 minutes alone with the sheriff. He's got serious "get it done" face so Bobby agrees. Screaming ensues and Cas returns with hands stained in blood. Eve's at Ervin's Diner. Bobby looks unsettled about how he got the location. Still when Dean asks questions, Bobby's mum. Dean hands a phoenix ash shell to each of them to better the odds. "Load 'em up. Make 'em count." Dean and Sam are flummoxed about Eve hiding in plain sight, especially since they ate there already. Bobby finally objects to the "go in shooting" plan. "What? Just stroll in. We don't know who's human or who's her?" Dean says Sam and he will go in to draw Eve out. Bobby and Cas can shoot her if they don't. I don't understand why Bobby doesn't protest the brothers against the world, you guys watch the door philosophy coloring this entire episode. It's like the writers are setting up something I just don't get right now. After all, Bobby's the one who said he wasn't "a ditchable Prom date." Bobby: "That's the plan?" Dean: "Yeah, pretty much." Bobby: "Well at least it ain't complicated." Ha! Maybe Dean's time as Sheriff in the old west made him more absolute because he's bordering bossy here. Sam hands a weapon bags to Bobby and they stroll into the diner.

They sit at a counter stool and Sam uses his phone camera to find glowing-eyed Starship shifters all over. Dean: "Is there anybody in this diner that is not a flesh-eating monster?" Sam: "Me and you." Ha! Good to know. They agree to "get the hell outta here" but Eve's served up two specials for them and she doesn't like to be unappreciated. Dean wants to take the fight outside but Starships lock doors, shut blinds, and take their guns. Eve sniffs one. "Phoenix ash. I'm impressed. I bet you had to go a long way for that." Dean: "You have no idea." She says she's a lover not a fighter but Dean rebuts. "No, just to rally every freak on the planet. Bring in con worms and half-a** spidermen and dragons. Really sister? Dragons?" Bwah! That was bizarre. Eve likes the classics and she needed help. Sam sniffs, "With what? Tearing apart the planet?' Eve claims to be misunderstood and I'm hearing the whine of Weepy!Lucifer part 2 coming. Eve liked how things were. A few monsters make monsters. A few hunters kill monsters. Now she channels Death's natural order speech. Dean asks what changed. "My children, no thanks to you, started getting kidnapped and tortured, even my firstborns. I was pushed into this. After all, a mother defends her children." Dean scoffs, "Really? You're going to use the Mother of the Year defense. You?" Eve wants them to understand and….

….turns into Mary Winchester. Dean is far from stoked while Sam grimaces. "She died to protect you, didn't she?" Um, technically yes but that's a whole other article on the de-sainthood of Mary. Eve proclaims to be no different in her love for her children. Dean's had enough and says if she wants to kill them, do it. Eve/Mary rolls her eyes like a thirteen year old and huffs that they don't get it. "You? No, it's Crowley I want dead." The brothers are mystified as "that little Limey mook roasted months ago." E/M insists Crowley's alive. "I see his face through the eyes of every child he strings up and skins. Any idea why he's hurting my babies?" Wait for it folks, because answers are knocking on the door. Dean guesses Purgatory but E/M says he wants souls and Sam asks why. E/M: "Their power you simple little monkey. Fuel. Each soul a beautiful little nuclear reactor. Put them together, you have the sun. Now think what the King of Hell could do with that vast untapped oil well. How powerful he'd be. Now Crowley wants to siphon off my supply and torture my children to do it. OK fine. I'll quit playing nice. I'll turn you all, every soul mine. Let's see how hot his hell burns when everyone comes to me." Thank you Answers. We've been waiting all year for you. The brothers' reactions during this monologue are spot-on. You can feel their surprise and tension. Nice job from Samantha Smith as well. She nailed this one.

Dean reminds her with billions of humans she's got a lot of overtime coming. Eve/Mary says she's in town to build the perfect monster. Sam gets it. "Wait a second. All those things we've been finding.." E/M: "Call it beta testing." Not sure that qualifies as good mothering. Dean: "Well, I think your formula might be a little off. They're imploding all over town." Mary cites scientific defects like it's a faulty car design. "But I eventually got it right." Ha! She seems so proud. Her new monster is "quiet, smart, inconspicuous" and spreads quickly. Plus, it's hunter-detection proof. "And the best part, you've been with it the whole day." Um, they spent the whole day with Cas and Bobby. Cas is an angel so that leaves…..No! It's Ryan. Did not see that one coming but at least the Silver kids segue makes sense now. Dean of course is devastated by the news, but not as much as Uncle Dearest. He finds Joe on the ground neck bitten but is stopped by Bloody-Mouthed Ryan. So much for family reunion. He backs up to find Joe now standing and gets rushed into an uncle sandwich, literally. Blood spatters the family portrait. That's just sad.

Back at the diner, Sam stares in shock while Dean hangs his head. Eve/Mary is huffy they look so glum but attempts to comfort them. "You look upset. If it makes you feel any better, Ryan was bound to work on you. Little wayward orphan like yourselves." She pats their shoulders and pinches Sam's cheek and says they can't do anything about it. She really sucks at comfort, but she does have a plan. She can't find Crowley so if they bring him to her, she'll let the Winchesters live. She acts like this is a special treat so she doesn't know the brothers. They've had far better offers and turned them down. Dean: "Pass." Sam tries to argue but Dean is adamant. "Sam, no. The answer is no." E/M: "You say that like you have another option." In comes Mama's boys with Cas and Bobby in tow. "Well, so much for your Plan B." She explains she's older than Castiel and knows "what makes angels tick." Maybe she can help in next week's episode then. "As long as I'm around, consider yourself unplugged." She winks at Cas before wheedling that the Winchesters should work for her; she'll even let Bobby and Cas live too. Well yippy! Dean: "Alright look. For the last few months we've been working for an evil d**. We're not about to sign up for an evil b**. We don't work with demons. We don't work with monsters. And if that means you've got to kill us, then kill us." Intense Dean makes me happy and nervous. He seems to make Bobby, Sam, and Cas just nervous. (Great reactions and fabulous intensity all around.) E/M suggests she could just turn them and still win. Dean: "Beat me with a wire hanger, the answer's still no." She flies to Dean's side while a Starship grabs Sam. Leaning over Dean's shoulder, she whispers, "Don't test me." Dean: "Bite me." Supernatural has not been this tense all season. I love it.

E/M bites as the others shout for Dean but can't break loose from the Starships. E/M starts to choke as Dean stands up palming his bloody neck. "Phoenix ash. One shell, one ounce of whiskey. Down the hatch. A little musty on the afterburn. Call you later mom." THAT WAS AWESOME!!! It's been too long since they've let Dean be that smart. I sooo didn't know it was coming. Mary fades as Eve shifts back into virgin meat. She coughs up blood and oily water drips from her. As she collapses, Starships attack but Cas has his juice back and light-kills them all. Bobby: "We've got to take you on more monster hunts." Um, please no. With Cas around, it's too easy which makes for a boring show. Find monster. Find Cas. Cas uses angel juice to destroy monster. Not fun. Sam reminds Cas that Dean's still bleeding. Dean: "Yeah, I think she turned me into a Jefferson Starship. Could you clear that up too?" Hey, why didn't you think of that when you were a vampire? Cas cures everything. This time by just touching Dean's shoulder.

Dean wants to go find Ryan right away. He explains that Ryan's a Starship but cuts Cas off before he can rail at him. I think Cas deserves to get a shot in…after they find the kid. He told Dean and Dean didn't listen, even if I agree he was right to take care of the kids first. Cas merely shakes his head and zaps them all to Uncle's house. Dean: "So we kill the Wicked Witch and she still wins. I mean they could have turned half the town by now." Surprisingly no, they're all dead. Demons got them. Everyone seems shocked except Cas. Sam asks what Dean thinks and he says no demon kills monster tweens unless told to, leading credence to Eve's story. Cas asks what he means and Dean informs them that Crowley's alive. Cas protests that he burnt Crowley's bones and since I still believe he's working with Crowley, I'm impressed by his new lying skills. "According to her, Crowley's still water boarding her kids somewhere." Dean says Crowley's crafty but Cas declares angel trumps crafty demon and flies off to look into it. Bobby and Sam walk off and Dean knows something's up. Bobby: "How did Crowley get away? I mean it's not like Cas to make mistakes like that unless..." Dean: "Unless what?" I'm always shocked by how naïve Dean can be about people he trusts. Bobby: "Unless he meant to." Sam slightly nods but Dean falters. He asks if Sam believes it but he doesn't answer, flickering a gaze at Bobby before dropping his head. Dean insists so Sam says, "Look it's probably nothing. It's just…You know, you're right. It's probably nothing." Dean swallows hard but I want to know what Sam was going to say. Does he remember something from before the Great Wall?

We won't know tonight because we're back at the diner to the tune of Miracles by Jefferson Starship. In walks Crowley. (I knew he wasn't dead! I knew they wouldn't send a fabulous character off with a lame death! I knew Cas was working with him! I'm an insufferable know-it-all tonight.) Crowley: "Really Cas. This is getting ridiculous. How many times am I going to have to clean up your messes?" Cas glares at him but you know they've been working together for at least a year, probably since Lucifer was re-caged. And we now know Cas' "dirty little secret" and his "regrettable things" with nary a "Destiel" innuendo around. Yeah!

I like this episode more each time I see it, but it still has huge negatives among the plusses for me. I absolutely hate "Destiel" snippets and I hope these writers either find a funny joke or move off to write somewhere else. I'm sure other CW shows need a little controversy. I hear Gossip Girl has a scandal they can beat into the ground. I'm also tweaked about killing off Eve. Yes, she was a red herring and yes this season is done film noire style, but she was a good character and they are running out of Big Bads with the potential to be big and bad. That's my biggest criticism of season 5 and 6. Neither of them had a villain that was villainous. Lucifer cried through season 5 and Eve, well, if you blinked and you missed her. In an effort to surprise their audience (and many were not fooled by the Crowley-Castiel alliance), they have chopped up the season too much for anyone to actually fear the main mytharc. The only real question that remains is who is the season's real villain - Crowley or Castiel. My bet is on Crowley but I'd love for it to be Cas. Then the entire angel plotline won't feel like filler. They need to throw Sam's soul back into the mix for the next 3 episodes or the heaven civil war won't have anything to do with the Winchesters, making it pointless to me. My final criticism is the music. Yes, I'm repeating myself but they're doing odd things in the background this season. Plus, instead of buying rights to 70's/80's classic rock that first made me a fan, we're stuck with 70's/80's disco and pop. Blondie was perfect in My Heart Will Go On, but do the PTB understand they are making canon a very unusual mix of songs. SPN music purists will have a lot of explaining to do to their friends.

While those are in the negative column, there are lots of positives. First we had definitive answers which was what I wanted most in this episode. I still have questions but they're more specific than "What in Hades is going on?" like it was before. I loved Samantha Smith's monologue because she came off as psycho Texas cheerleader mom instead of whining crybaby loser like Lucifer. It was a strong scene made better by the acting, including great reaction shots by Jensen and Jared. I love how they turned in tandem to follow her as she moved from place to place. It allowed great shots of the two brothers absorbing what she said with the same amount of horror but with subtly different facial expressions. In the end I also liked how they brought Mary back without it being her. I dislike resurrecting characters usually because Supernatural does it so often. This time it really paid off. You could still tell it was Eve but putting a Mary face on her made things delightfully more intense. Best scene in the episode. Letting Dean be crafty and smart instead of just barely making it was another high point. I love Bobby and in no way do I want him to leave the show. (You hear that writers.) But it seems like more often, Bobby finds the answers and scolds them into doing best thing. I love their family unity but sometimes I miss Dean and Sam figuring things out on their own. Tonight Dean clearly came up with his own plan and didn't tell any of them about it. More importantly, it worked! When is the last time the Winchesters saved themselves instead someone else doing it for them? I understand Crowley mopped up the Silver kids mess and to be honest, I'm glad. I hate when Supernatural kills off kids, but if the Winchesters ever have to do it themselves, the fallout will not be pretty. Speaking of Crowley, his return was the best part. He's the snarky demon I love to hate and everything's better with Mark Sheppard. I can't wait to see where it all leads. With luck, Crowley will stay for season 7 since Eve obviously won't. I could handle the Winchesters pursuing him another year.

Screencaps by Home of the Nutty and Supernatural Caps
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