Time for an epic
opening with an epic voice over from Dean about how they are the people who
monsters are afraid of. Which is, yes, kinda epic. But this is Supernatural.
Epic pre-ambles to any kind of find finale need classic rock. It is known. Know
your brand, Supernatural.
So we have a bit of
domestic moment with Jack eating late night cereal and asking Castiel not to
tell his other dad, Sam, who disapproves of high sugar food. Which is kind of
cute and I think a lot more of these would have done a great job of turning
Jack into someone I actually care about rather than that extra who keeps
tagging along for no apparent reason. But really these scene is for Castiel to
remind Jack not to tell anyone about the deal he made with the Empty
We’re already setting
that up for a lot of angst because Dean is so super happy because they managed
to bring Jack back from the dead and nothing went wrong and they didn’t have to
pay a price and everything is awesome
So that’s definitely
going to be future angst. But can I say again that we have another angst or
personal drama moment that is centring on Dean even when this should be more
Cas’s woe. Dean doesn’t have to be the centre of all.
But we’re back on
track with Michael. Naomi has told them where Michael is. Kansas City. And he
has a new body, a woman’s.
And I’m sure there
are many reasons why anyone, let alone an Archangel, would go to Kansas City
I’m sure.
I don’t know what
they are, but I’m sure they exist. Yes.
Sam has also snuck
Garth into Michaels’ orbit. Since
Garth is a werewolf so fits his whole army of monsters thing. Garth hopes to actually not
consume the Michael Blood/Grace potion… which doesn’t go to plan because it’s
hard to deceive an Archangel and he ends up taking the upgrade potion which is
definitely not going to end well.
Between this spying
they know Michael’s plan - send his army into Kansas city and turn every one
there into more monsters. I am sure there are many… sensible reasons to begin
your invasion of North America in Kansas City…
So the counter plan
is to get the angel-killing spear from Dark Kaia (Dean and Castiel on that) and
Ketch has some mystical golden egg which will help imprison Michael which he’s
put in the post. Yes there are convoluted reasons but he still put it in the
post. Sam and Jack are off to collect that.
Predictably it all
goes horribly horribly wrong
To begin with Sam and
Jack are attacked by Michael and it goes horribly wrong because, well, Michael
is an Archangel which makes him pretty unassailable. He knocks Sam out, doesn’t
kill him because… because… the script says so that’s why! He also destroys the
magical egg so that’s out of the picture. Personally I don’t remember the egg
was in the picture so there’s that.
Michael also kidnaps
Jack because he wants Jack to join his fanclub. Since Jack is like three years
old, Michael assumes that after a few millennia of existence Jack will forget
all his affection for humans, his dads et al and join Team Michael. Which… is
perhaps not wrong? I mean living for aeons is going to make it hard to hold on
to the distant memory of his human family. Jack is the closest thing Michael
has to a peer and I think it’s a fascinating element that Michael doesn’t want
to be the only one in charge - he needs a fellow, he wants to have Jack with
him as a companion for the future. He wants to share this newly conquered
world… I mean it’s not like he needs Jack’s power which a) he doesn’t have and
b) Michael has more than enough of his own power. In fact killing the one man
in the world who may become more powerful than him might be a good idea for
Michael.
Dean and Castiel do
find Dark Kaia and her angel killing spear and Dean makes a plea for it. For
once not threatening her but warning her that the whole world risks being
destroyed if Kaia doesn’t give them her spear. Which is nice - but he also lies
to her, agreeing with her that Jack can help send her home without mentioning
that he doesn’t have his power any more
But Castiel notes
that Kaia has changed - she was running from home. She insists that if she’s
going to spend all her life running from monsters she might as well do it back
home where she knows the rules and area but Castiel suspects there’s more.
Sam decides not to
hang around waiting for Dean and Cas to help him rescue Sam and goes to do it
himself - and… does? I mean he literally walks in, kills two vampires
restrain’s a Michael-controlled Garth and then leaves and reunites. Which
feels… rather… easy?
Actually this may not
be bad writing but the point- because as the gang gathers they realise that
they really have no plan. Michael has an army and can sense Castiel coming so
they have no element of surprise either. Clearly a cunning plan is needed.
Or they could just
attack and hope Dean, who has no training in spear fighting, will be able to
stab Michael in the face at some point.
They go with plan B
Oh maybe some Hunters
are fighting his army but they’re just going to launch themselves at Michael
and hope he doesn’t kill them
And he doesn’t - but
only because the script says so. Honestly, Castiel and Sam should definitely be
dead now but Michael continues to be satisfied in knocking them over. I mean he
could even follow his cunning plan and kill them.
His cunning plan? Is
to repossess Dean and break the spear, destroying it’s magic.
The newly repossessed
Michael Dean reminds them that they shouldn’t have just accepted that Michael
let Dean go. Which… to be fair, is really something they should have spent more
time examining. I mean, remember it’s a matter of record that powerful
Archangels like Lucifer and Michael cannot just possess any vessel without that
vessel burning out. Dean is designed to be an uber-Michael vessel. They should
have realised that Michael wouldn’t have just let Dean go because anyone else
except maybe Sam is just a temporary
So, try and follow
this, it turns out that Michael left Dean because Dean was still struggling and
squirming. But by unpossessing him, leaving a back door and then coming back
when Dean is despairing apparently suppressing him
But Dean wasn’t
despairing? We just noted he was actually super up beat? And he just heard that
his struggling was inconveniencing Michael. Dean has been given every reason to
keep fighting and a huge motivational boost so… why? I am not getting this one
at all
This is the midseason
finale and I think the whole half season suffers from a lack of focus,
especially since we’re going for an epic episode here, mid season. It felt like
there was a lot of debate in the writer’s room about where to go from here - or
even that they were thrown a lot of elements from the last season and weren’t
sure what to do with them
I think the most
glaring example of this are the survivors from Apocalypse World. Mary, Charlie
and, of course, Bobby, particularly. And I love Bobby and while I’m deeply wary
about what they may do with Charlie, it gave them a chance to do right with her
after the appalling death of OG Charlie… but the writers seem to have no real
clue what to do with them or even to want them around. So they’re given some
angst and sent on their merry way to join Rowena in her plot box, to come back
whenever needed for a one off. The season opened with Sam leading an army but
now we have scenes of the four core cast completely alone in the Winchester
cave… we also began by naming and introducing some of the various survivors
suggesting that they were going to be developed more but that the writers
changed their minds.
Which is also the
distinct feel I get from Dean being possessed by Michael… they stumbled along
with it for a couple of episodes before moving on and yes we’re returning to
that but there was a weird lull. Then Michael was a kind of lurking threat with
an army of improved monsters… but we kind of forgot about that? I mean I’d
expect some episodes, especially with the army, hunting down more of these but
it seemed more of a background element. And the show still has little idea what
to do with Jack. Then there was the Empty suddenly and it’s like don’t we
already have a big bad this season?
Which made this
finale faintly… out of place. Like “Hey Michael, remember him!”
I’m hoping this is
less a mark of the end of an arc and more the mark of a beginning, coherent
storyline. Or at least some solid monster of the week episodes because, and I
realise I’ve kind of said this a lot since Jack appeared - but it’s become
BLAH. Not bad but not remarkable
