In the world of Supernatural, there are one-off episodes which are usually funny stops in between the myth-heavy arc episodes, there are the myth-arc episodes that carry the storyline throughout the season, and then there are the bridge episodes that carry us from one point to another. The latest episode definitely fell into the bridge category for me.
Note: This recap may contain spoilers!
Bridge episodes are necessary, but they’re not always the easiest to find high points from. Thankfully, we did have a few stand-out moments that were memorable, despite it being almost like three distinct storylines all running parallel to each other. And there was definitely less sex than expected, if the promo ads were anything to go by. Ah, the old redirect. I see what they did there.
First up, there was the Hannah and Cas storyline. Or, I guess it was more like the ending of Hannah’s storyline since she chose to vacate her vessel’s body and return Caroline to her old life. I could never figure Hannah out. On one hand, she was a dedicated soldier who had lost sight of the original mission of protecting humanity. On the other hand, she was constantly trying to woo Cas, and while it was funny to see their awkward relationship proceed I couldn’t help but repeating “they’re essentially brother and sister.” I guess angel incest is okay for primetime, but Winchester incest isn’t? Whatever the reason, Caroline is now back with her husband, Hannah is back in Heaven, and Cas is starting to look up Jimmy’s old life again, which is bound to open the door for some more exploration in the coming episodes. Dear old Cas, he’s flying solo again and probably headed for trouble. Time to call on his friends, the Winchesters.
Not like Sam and Dean aren’t busy themselves. Dean’s apparently gotten himself on a dating app and getting some good hits from lovely ladies. One suggestion I’d give Dean, though, is to not put the location of their top-secret bunker online for anyone to find. It’s a secret for a reason! But his lady isn’t looking for the bunker, she’s looking for some cash. Sad that only a hooker would want to spend the night with the elder Winchester, and with his soul being the price. Dean’s been there, done that, got the t-shirt to show for it. Like his brother, he doesn’t pay for sex, and he certainly doesn’t pay with his soul. Demons should know not to cross the Winchesters by now.
But they couldn’t follow the case of the demons and the eventual witch connection to the end because a certain blast from Dean’s past came back to settle the score. It seems that Cole’s been learning all he can about demons and how to torture them, in preparation for his next showdown with Demon!Dean. Too bad all his holy water tricks don’t work on Human!Dean. It was nice to see Cole back, though, mainly because we got a satisfactory ending to his storyline. His whole life has been focused on his revenge mission, but now when he’s confronted with the truth he’s had to let it go. For myself, if I’ve spent my entire life trying to track down my father’s killer, and the guy tells me Dad was a monster… I’m not sure I’d believe him and let it go as quick as Cole did. I wonder if Cole is going to become a full-fledged hunter now, or if he’s going to try and leave all that behind him. I wouldn’t be against seeing him turn up again.
And their escaped witch had quite a delicious storyline as well. I like Rowena, she’s sassy and take-charge. Her attempts to use the hookers to her advantage was par for the course, and I’m glad she escaped Dean so that we can continue to see her in the plotline. All the way up to the end I couldn’t figure out how Crowley was going to fit into all of this, since his storyline seemed to be off to the side other than getting mad over the brothel. But then his minion captured Rowena, Crowley confronted her, and the truth came out! We always knew Crowley’s mom was a witch, but we just didn’t know which witch she was. Now we see that Rowena’s got more going for her than just a nice accent and some neat tricks. She is the mother of the King of Hell, and she’s just as condescending toward her boy as one would expect. This is going to be interesting! How will Crowley survive the wrath of Mommy Dearest?
So, for the most part there weren’t many “wow” moments, but the end made up for it. Not a bad episode, just more like a bridge one. We have to get from one spot to the other in some fashion. This episode was just that vehicle.
Rating: 3 / 5 Stars
Screencaps by screencappednet
