The whole “previously on Supernatural” could just be replaced with my glaring face.
Time for some catch up with the Steyn’s including a
bullied student with a rather awesome come back and the intervention of a family
member being all ominous then hunting down and murdering the teenaged bully.
To the Winchesters building Charlie’s funeral pyre –
flashbacks, angst and manpain for everyone. Things are definitely not good
between the brothers – when Sam begins to say sorry as Charlie’s body burns,
Dean tells him to shut up – and that he got Charlie killed. Sam goes back to
how he did it all for Dean and how they’re brothers and of course he will fight
for him (it’s a nice speech but it has been so often repeated on this show it
may as well be recorded). Dean is not in a forgiving mood – he even says that
Sam should be the one on the pyre. Now the disposable character has been
disposed of, Dean wants the whole book examination shut down. And Dean’s going
to go on a vengeance fuelled vampire, possibly Mark Enabled, but he’s past
caring
Back to the Stynes and bullied teen-Steyn Cyrus feeling
all oppressed by his family’s control, and 1 armed Eldon Styne having to
explain that yes he not only didn’t get the book but he kind of left his arm
behind as well. Ooops, careless! But the Winchesters have a whole cave full of
shiny stuff so he wants to move on past the discarded limbs and focus on
raiding their bunker for the haul. But he’ll need a new arm – which means getting
Cyrus in to slice and dice his bully for spare parts. Cyrus doesn’t want to
(his daddy puts this down to him being “soft” because he’s the baby). Daddy
demands he takes part and slicing and dicing follows
I think, in terms of organ harvesting, them being conscious
to wiggle and scream et al is not the most practical of means.
Eldon gets a new heart and Cyrus is all sad – and Eldon
insists Cyrus come with him.
Dean heads to the Stynes and on the way he gets hassled
and harassed by local cops who arrest him on ridiculous charges before finding
a whole shed load of very real charges in his car (as well as dropping a hint
they were tipped off about him). In the police station Dean decides that the
best way out of this is violence.
A couple of beaten cops later he learns that Monroe Styne (Eldon’s daddy) set the police on him because he’s just that influential. Dean isn’t impressed
He makes his way to the Styne compound and people start
dying. He’s ambushed by Monroe and a whole army of Stynes with guns and they
put a plastic bag over his head (which seems to be a Styne trade mark – I suppose
it doesn’t damage the goods)
He wakes up on the slab and explains the situation – they kill him, he will come back because of the Mark – but as a demon and then he’ll kill them all. They let him go and he’ll be human – so he’ll only kill most of them. Sounds reasonable.
Monroe decides to play operation anyway- Dean warned him.
Dean snaps his bonds and the killing starts. First Eli, then the nurse then
Monroe after a dire prediction of taking “everything” from the patriarch (who
tries to splutter about attacking his home and family).
Because, Eldon, Cyrus and Minion have broken into the
Winchester cave and plan to burn the place.
Without Charlie to torment, Regina contents herself with
poking Castiel before Sam arrives to tell them the news about Charlie damn, if
only they’d thought to tell their teleporting warhead about Charlie BEFORE she
died!). They plan to shut down the whole research per Dean’s wishes and then go
after Dean – except Sam gets the last email Charlie sent including her crack
for the code. Rowena admits they can cure the mark.
Change of plan, cure it back on – and Castiel is
dispatched to make sure Dean doesn’t completely lose it while they arrange that.
He objects but Sam says what I said earlier in the season – it’s Sam’s turn to
throw everything out of the window to save his brother, just as Dean has done
for him several times. Rowena looks ominously smug. She smells weakness and
demands her payment – Sam is desperate and if he wants her help he will do what
she wants now – and kill Crowley.
So Sam lures Crowley into a trap by pretending to be Dean
in trouble and then shooting Crowley with a trapped bullet making him helpless.
He blames Crowley for the Mark of Cain (hmmm yes he certainly helped, but
they were looking for a weapon to take
down Abaddon. Sounds like a scapegoat and a responsibility dodge. Crowley
neither forced nor manipulated them into taking the Mark of Cain –in fact he’s
been quite wary of it for some time).
Once trapped, Sam puts one of Rowena’s hex bags on him so
she can work her mojo. This is long and slow – and Crowley actually claims to
be trying to make Hell a better place. He had the idea that if he “did better”
he would be able to feel again. Sam isn’t impressed and delivers a very 4th-wall-breaking
but excellent rant “you have the suit and the accent and the snark, but you’re
a monster” which is so utterly spot on.
And Crowley’s eyes glow red as he describes how much he’s loved his evil life. He pulls out the bullet and stands up – thanking Sam for reminding him who he is.
Because he may be Crowley with all the fun and snark –
but he IS the King of Hell. He casually burns away Rowena’s hex bag. He taunts Sam
with how utterly easily he could kill Sam – but instead lets him live so Sam
knows he was spared – and so he can go deliver a warning to Rowena (who he,
utterly unnecessarily, calls a “whore.” There are so many insults, why resort
to misogyny? It’s ridiculously unnecessary and lacks his usual elegance and
finesse with insults) who he is now gunning for. He vanishes – and we don’t see
him leave
Sam calls Rowena to tell her that things didn’t quite go
to plan.
Castiel catches up with Dean at the Styne house and calls
Sam – because Dean has left upwards of a dozen dead bodies in his wake so far.
All brutally murdered. Jolly good. And he’s now heading home.
Where Eldon and Cyrus and Minion are preparing their
bonfire of books and Dean’s life despite Cyrus’s objections. Before he drops
the match, Minion staggers in with a knife in his back. Dean is home.
Splattered in blood. Eldon actually taunts him without even thinking about
where all the blood came from
Eldon tries to be all menacing and taunting but Dean
positively radiates badass in how very unimpressed he is by Eldon’s little taunts
nor is he impressed by the many upgrades the Stynes may have – because he’s
gone and killed them all. And he shoots Eldon in the head.
No battle, no fight. Just bang, dead.
Dean points the gun at Cyrus who begs and says how much
he hates his family – showing his lack of stitches. But Dean insists there is
bad in Cyrus’s blood. Cyrus tearfully begs for his life. And Dean shoots him in
the head. And that would be the over-the-edge Mark of Cain, right there
Castiel arrives. Late, again, to ask “what have you done?”
Castiel refuses to leave when Dean tells him too – Cas both calls Dean a
monster and his friend; but Dean is still furious with Castiel as well for
Charlie’s death. And he doesn’t want a spell from the Evil book of Evil because
those spells always come with a terrible cost.
Castiel stops him leaving – because the mark WILL turn
Dean. Maybe it will take centuries, maybe after Sam and nearly everyone Dean
loves are all dead… except Castiel. Castiel will be the one who will have to
watch him “murder the world.” Unwisely, Castiel suggests he’s willing to hurt
Dean to stop him leaving.
Dean attacks Castiel, beating him and throwing him aside
so he can walk out. When Castiel tells him to stop, he turns back and attacks
again – brutally beating Castiel and then taking his angel blade. He prepares
to stab the angel… but kids are one thing, stabbing Castiel is a step too far.
He walks out, Castiel too injured to follow.
Dean leaves and tells Castiel and Sam to stay away
One of the “funnier” elements of Mark of Cain Dean is
that while Sam and Castiel wail about him losing control and going dark, his
behaviour isn’t that much different from what it was. Someone breaks the lights
on his car? Yes, I’d expect violence. In fact, violence has always been fairly
high up Dean’s solution list. And after Charlie was murdered then, yes, I would
expect a killing spree from non-marked Dean. I would expect the bodies piled
high.
What WAS more Mark was not just the obvious death of
Cyrus but also the manner of his death and the death of Eldon – a single bullet
to the head. Not a fight, not a battle – it’s a reminder that the Mark of Cain
is the mark of a killer, a murderer – not a warrior or a soldier. Quick,
simple, brutal death.
I do have to give massive credit to Sam’s rant at Crowley
– because Crowley, his accent, his class and, of course, his amazing snark
quickly made him a fan favourite. And, like many fan favourites, it went a long
way to absolving him for the evil he’s done. He is the KING OF HELL. Crowley
isn’t just a bit naughty, he’s utterly and inexcusably evil. And if Sam kills Crowley,
that doesn’t make SAM the bad guy –and I think that was really necessary to
exposition at this point. Which leads awesomely to Crowley himself reminding us
what he is which is also past needed.
I said that I wasn’t impressed by the Styne family as a
big bad. They could have worked by pushing up the idea of numbers and subtlety
and indirect power – but all the dramatic speeches of their might fall flat
next to the many beasties the Winchesters have faced. Which meant this episode
worked. The Stynes rant on about how superior and amazing they are – and run
slap bang into Dean Winchester with the Mark of Cain and brutally realise there’s
a whole other league of power and evil out there they never even knew existed.
And on top of that, Castiel’s speech about being the last
one who will have to see Dean fall is also powerful – because, when you link it
to Dean’s previous insistence that they kill him before he turns, what he’s
saying is that Dean has demanded Castiel be his executioner. Assuming her
could.
This episode leaves me a little bitter in that I’m still
massively pissed about Charlie – yet at the same time have to say this
particular episode was immensely awesome. On this episode, I have to mark it
high even while the ghost of Charlie freshly joins Kevin
and the legion of other deep
major problems this show has hisses in my ear
Which kind of sums up how I feel about Supernatural in general. I love it and regularly want to smash the whole thing with a hammer.
