So after the wayward
sisters pilots, we’re back to the main cast with a huge flashback that reminded
me of just how much is happening re Lucifer, Jack et al
This week we have a
couple of witch sisters running amok, using love spells to compel men to do
whatever they want (like killing and stealing) and then killing them messily
with hammers. The mundane way of murder helps keep hunters looking the other
way
At the Winchesters,
things are not good. Sam is despairing and bleak, Dean is trying to keep
spirits up. But Dean’s idea of spirits up is just keep plunging on. That’s kind
of what Dean does, kind of what he’s always done. Head down, keep hunting, keep
fighting while he’s all bleak and dark, until finally things come right.
Sometimes because of a plan or idea Sam has - Sam is the research guy. So the
best Dean can do is keep poking Sam into researching since it’s not his forte
while fumbling for a way to keep moving and keep Sam moving. This is not Dean’s
strongpoint
He goes for booze and
is ambushed by those love spell using witches, they whammy him and convince him
to go and get them the Grimoire. The Big Bad Book of Scary Magic they have
hidden in the Bunker.
Dean under a love
spell is surprisingly fun and bright and happy and smily and damn cute. Yes yes
he is.
Sam rather quickly
realises There Is An Issue (because Dean is happy and happy Dean just doesn’t
happen) but that doesn’t stop Dean knocking him out and stealing the book in a
cloud of glee and lovestruck nonsense
Sam follows them when
the sisters plan to apply the hammer to Dean’s head, but Dean instantly turns
on Sam still completely zonked on love. The witches escape and Dean is only
rescued from his enchantment by another witch
Rowena
Yes, ever since we
had the mention of a resurrection spell out there as a get out of death
precaution witches could use, we knew Rowena wouldn’t die. We knew it.
At this point, that
big dramatic cliffhanger in which everyone died has led to Mary surviving,
Lucifer surviving and coming back, Castiel being resurrected, Rowena being
resurrected, no-one really caring about Kelly and only Crowley still being
dead. So far. I’m not convinced he will not return.
Rowena is horrified
to hear that Crowley died, her only son. Sam tries to comfort her that he died
a hero, sacrificing himself for the rest of them: she snaps angrily that she’d
rather have a living son than a dead hero. It’s moving
It’s also clear Rowena
is more than a little traumatised by her own death experience - because Lucifer
didn’t just kill her, he brutally murdered her in a terrible fashion and it
took her a long time to heal. She’s terrified about repeating it and part of
that means she wants the Black Grimoire back. Among the spells in it is one
that will remove a binding put on her powers by the Grand Coven way back in the
day.
The Winchesters
aren’t a fan of working with her obviously but she assures them that her death
experience has changed her. Honest. She’s also very very snarky - and can still
poke the brothers (her calling Dean a “poor sheltered boy” was especially
good). They do bring her investigating since she put a tracking spell on the
book. While Dean goes speaking to the locals (Rowena advises speaking to women
as they’re near certainly not popular with local ladies) Sam babysits Rowena
They pretty much sum
up Rowena when she asks if she can just enslave locals and question them with:
“I’m very sure you
can, but I’m also very sure you shouldn’t.”
“Bless your precious
heart, you just described my entire life.” Which is Rowena in a nutshell
But Sam and Rowena
also share the truth depth of her horror. Like Sam, she has seen Lucifer’s true
face and she has been traumatised to her core by it - she feels completely
helpless and terrified all the time. Sam tries to tell her she will continue to
feel that way no matter how powerful she becomes - how he feels that way all
the time it’s only by keeping moving and focusing on the apocalypse of the day.
Basically he hasn’t dealt with it. And he has no advice for Rowena on how to do
it, only that power won’t fix it.
Dean does find a
woman who hates the witch sisters even more than she loves Dean’s backside and
gives him an address, which he takes back to Rowena and Sam. And Rowena
promptly drops a hex bag freezing them in place so she can go after the book on
her own.
Because she’s still
Rowena
Only Sam managing to
reach the hex bag and Dean burning it gets them free. Yes Sam can reach it, as
Dean points out, he’s 8 foot tall.
The witches are
trying to use the book to resurrect their mother who they love dearly. In fact
they’ve got a really nice supportive family feeling to them which would be much
nicer if it didn’t involve, y’know, murder.
Oh and they’re
working for Rowena. Rowena agreed to cast the spell to resurrect their mother
if they’d get the book. Only they tried to double cross Rowena and instead
raised mother as a magic proof brain eating zombie. Despite this they’re not
willing to turn back to team Rowena again and sick the zombie on her and Rowena
is reduced to panicking screaming and fleeing
C’mon Rowena. The
zombie may be magic proof but you have proven telekinetic abilities and who
knows what else. You can’t throw some furniture at them
The brothers arrive
shortly afterwards and there’s a witch Winchester battle that doesn’t go well
because of the large amounts of impressive combat magic the witches are
packing. They do manage to tell Rowena how to kill a zombie
And No - stop. She is
a centuries old witch who, as she just said, has dealt with more than one
zombie in her time. She’s also not an ananchronism, we’ve seen her engage in
the modern world comfortably more than once. She knows that killing zombies
involves head trauma. My father knows how to kill zombies and he asked me what
“The Walking Dead” is.
But she does it which
then frees her to go magic vs magic with the Junior Witches. The witch sisters
stab each other to death most brutally because Rowena is the most magical one
of them all.
To which Sam and Dean
take the book, though Rowena does make a plea to Sam, she doesn’t try to take
it from them. Oh and she is accused of double crossing them but she points out
she triple crossed so she ended up on their side, all good.
Which could be seen
as a little strange because she just murdered the other two witches so there’s
a fair to decent chance she could take on Sam and Dean. But in a way this is
sort of how Frenemies like Rowena and Crowley enter Dean and Sam’s circle.
They’re definitely evil; but generally prefer not being TOO evil in front of
Sam and Dean. They rarely openly confront Sam and Dean and similarly and
certainly not violently. In general they make killing them, on some level, an
aggressive act on Sam and Dean’s part - not to defend anyone, not to defend
themselves, but to kill the evil one who is sat there with a snarky quip and a
“who me? I’m just a loveable rogue!” look on their face. Also they tend to be
useful and a friendship grows
How close that has
grown becomes apparent when Dean confronts Sam back at the bunker- he let
Rowena tear a page out of the Grimoire. Dean isn’t amused he let Rowena under
his skin but Sam begins to talk about how utterly helpless he feels. Again,
Dean just does a bad job of dealing with this or offering anything like
supportive advice.
Rowena uses the page
to unbind her powers - which looks suitably ominous.
Meanwhile Castiel and
Lucifer are still imprisoned by Asmodeus, the Kentucky Fried Demon Prince.
Lucifer is annoyed because he’s low powered and, as he frequently tells
everyone, he could totally slaughter everyone if he was at full power. As it is
he can’t even get out of his angel prison. He also expects Alternate World
Michael to slaughter them all because that’s what Michael does
His escape plan is to
east Castiel’s grace. Castiel says no. He’s also not riled by the guard. Or by
Lucifer. Or anyone. Castiel’s looking damn centred and rational. He does amuse
himself by expertly poking every single last one of Lucifer’s sore spots with
expert precision. Especially about Jack
This turns out to be
useful because the angrier Lucifer becomes the more of his Grace he’s able to
charge back up and as Castiel works him into a rage he manages to break them
out and Castiel kill their warder (with the angel light touch thing. Which I
can never remember if he has or not because there are a whole lot of times,
like healing, where this magic nuke would be useful and he never uses it. Same
with angels in general in fact - they all tend to fence now when they’re
literally capable of killing with a touch. It was why angels were so damn
scary).
A small army of
demons arrive. And dies. Because Angels are Big Deals. This episode anyway.
They escape and
Lucifer again makes his plea for Castiel to give him Grace - and Castiel stabs
him. Because Castiel has learned all the lessons needed about trusting Lucifer…
I doubt he’s dead. Because I pretty much doubt anyone’s dead on this show
Except Charlie.
Charlie is still dead. Not that I’m bitter.
Rowena’s story is
interesting because in some ways it hasn’t changed. Even before her latest
death experience, Rowena wasn’t necessarily seeking power for power’s sake -
but for security, safety and freedom. Admittedly, part of that was to be free
to be as evil as she wanted to be, but power was always Rowena’s crutch. And
when at the most scared and vulnerable she’s ever felt, of course she’s going
to turn to power again
I said after the
great cliffhanger that
there’s no way this many people are dead for it to be meaningful. I said that a lot of it
would be walked back and I wasn’t overly bothered by that since I liked the
characters and didn’t want any of them to be gone really. But at the same time,
it feels hollow to walk it all back. Mary coming back and Castiel and now
Rowena? A grand finale in which all but the central two characters were killed
was dramatic and horrifying. EVERYONE being back but Crowley (yet?) feels…
cowardly?
