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Supernatural: The Bad Place

"Where the hell are we?"

Don't get me wrong. (And don't you hate reviews that begin, "Don't get me wrong"?)

So... don't get me wrong. I absolutely love the idea of alternate universes, and Mad Mad world was one of the more intriguing things they did last season. It was what I liked most about Fringe. But did they really just give us the Winchesters stranded in a world with dinosaurs? Seriously? Okay, it was just a huge footprint. Maybe it was just a really big chicken. Wouldn't Evil Colonel Sanders love that?

Here's hoping that we discover in January that Jurassic World is cooler than it looks, and move on to the introduction of dreamwalkers. They've mentioned them before (I think), but we've never actually gotten one before. That's a pretty interesting talent they have. A bit specific, too. I'm a little sad that we only got the interesting Derek Swan and his cool paintings for five minutes and oops, he's dead.

But I'm pleased with Kaia Nieves. So far, I like Kaia better than any of the "Wayward" girls they've introduced so far. I liked the way they introduced her after keeping her face hidden for so long because I was getting really curious about what she looked like. I liked her Spike-like nail polish and her attitude and her interesting, supernaturally-traumatic past. It must suck to be thrown into Mad Max world when she sleeps; it's like being permanently trapped in Nightmare on Elm Street. How handy is that particular skill if she can only transport someone to the Bad Place? It was like other dreamwalkers like Derek were gifted with an unlimited ride bus ticket, but Kaia only had a one-way ticket to Cleveland. Except when Jack is there to give her a nephilim-fueled push, I guess.


I was really pleased that all this time, Jack wasn't busy turning into the satanic Bad Seed – he was trying to redeem his mistakes by searching for a way to help the Winchesters get their mother back. And he actually succeeded. He's right at Mary's feet and will hopefully rescue her immediately, because that hanging iron maiden thing is just too gruesome. I wonder what Mary will think of Jack?

It was just too bad that Dean thought the worst of Jack, that he'd gone nuclear angel and had killed Derek Swan. Jack actually told the boys that Lucifer meant nothing to him, and that the Winchesters and Castiel were his family. I wonder if that will change when Jack actually meets Lucifer? How could it not?

Misjudging Jack wasn't the only Dean-related misbehavior in this episode. He actually pulled a gun on Kaia and kidnapped her, and yes, I get it, he was frantic about Mary after Jack showed him where Mary was and what was happening to her. At least Dean apologized to Kaia later in the episode. Dean also told Sam that Sam had been right all along, which was satisfying. Sometimes Dean's bullheadedness can be frustrating. (And sometimes it can be cute.)

The climactic sigil-breaking fight in the Larson Bros shipyard was cool. I liked everything about it: the angels repeatedly thumping the ground, the melted angel blades, the sigil changing on the wall. So Jack can actually dissolve angels? Or was it his power combined with Kaia's?

We got our much loved Jody Mills, but only briefly. As expected, psychic Patience Turner walked out on her father and went to Jody because Patience kept having Missouri-like visions and knew something bad is coming. I definitely got a Joyce Summers vibe when Patience's father told her if she walked out that door, don't ever come back again.

And we've arrived at the winter hiatus. The next episode, the much anticipated backdoor spinoff "Wayward Sisters," arrives January 18. Will we get the boys in Jurassic World at the same time? Or will we have to wait even longer to find out what happens there?

Bits:

— The title kept reminding me of the Kristen Bell/Ted Danson series airing now, The Good Place.

— Are all dreamwalkers Native American? Derek Swan was Oglala Sioux from the Pine Ridge Reservation, descended from generations of shamans, and I assume Kaia is Native American, too.

— Kaia is still on our earth, isn't she? I got the impression that she was thrown clear when Jack went to Mad Max world and the boys hit the Jurassic?

— Are the angels really on their way out? That would be an interesting way for Supernatural to go.

— This week: Bismarck, North Dakota; the Minneopa Rehab Center in Minnesota; wherever the Larsen Bros Shipyard is; Jody's house in Sioux Falls; Mad Max world; and wherever the boys wound up. We never did get the falls place they mentioned. Maybe next time.

— This episode was very light on the wit for a Supernatural episode, so I'm going to leave out quotes for now and add one when I do a rewatch. Which will probably be in the middle of January, right before the 18th.

I don't know what to rate this episode. What did you guys think? Are you intrigued? Disappointed? Indifferent?

Billie
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Billie Doux has been reviewing Supernatural for so long that Dean and Sam Winchester feel like old friends. Courageous, adventurous, gorgeous old friends.

15 comments:

  1. Right before the shot of Jack lying beside Mary's cage, wasn't there a brief overhead shot of Kaia lying beside a highway? At least, there was a shot of SOMEBODY lying beside a highway...

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  2. I thought she got thrown free and that was her by the highway on our earth. Which makes me wonder, with Jack in Mad Max world and Kaia on our world, how will we ever get the boys back?

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  3. "did they really just give us the Winchesters stranded in a world with dinosaurs? Seriously? Okay, it was just a huge footprint. Maybe it was just a really big chicken. Wouldn't Evil Colonel Sanders love that?"

    My favorite comment so far of this episode.

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  4. I think Dad telling Patience, if you leave don't come back, was supposed to be a echo of John telling Sam the same thing when Sam left for Stanford. Not sure what you meant by the Joyce Summers vibe but then I wasn't a Buffy fan (gasp, I know, it had something to do with absolutely hating SMG as Kendall on All My Children)

    And Dean wasn't the only thinking Jack had headed to the Dark Side. Sam looked pretty sure of it too. Dean essentially kidnapping Kaia did NOT work for me, although I was glad he apologized to her. Yes I get he's going through emotions like popcorn, "Mom's dead. No wait, she's alive! But she's trapped. Oh no, she's in deadly danger!" But even with the fact Kaia wasn't going to be safe ANYWHERE once the angels got on her trail, Dean pulling the gun on her didn't ring true to me. What was he going to do if she called his bluff? Shooting her would be very out of character, as well as defeating the entire purpose of why they needed her. And yes, that was Kaia lying next to the highway. OTOH they didn't show any cars so maybe Mad Max world has old highways? Better than giant chickens. When the camera drew back to show Sam and Dean in the giant uh, claw print, I kept thinking I must have accidently activated my Primeval DVDS.

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  5. i just love the episode, supernatural getting different approaches after all those seasons is proof they can air for much longer!!

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  6. Maybe it's the print of Big Bird and the Winchesters are stranded on Sesame Street.

    Still, thought it was a fun, tense episode, despite the odd ending. I'm with you on liking Kaia. She had a very effective character introduction, which I hope means she'll be recurring for a while.

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  7. I liked the ep. The question is if Jack is stronger than Michael, or vice versa? After all, Jack is a stranger in ApocalypseWorld, just like Lucifer who seemed to have lost a good chunk of his power down there.

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  8. Sue, sorry, we have a lot of Buffy fans here. :) At the end of season two, Buffy's mother threw her out and said almost exactly the same thing Patience's father said. Supernatural often does Buffy homages and in the first few seasons, they had several Buffy guest stars.

    magritte, I think Kaia will be in the "Wayward Sisters" pilot.

    Anonymous, Lucifer lost his power because Michael took part of Lucifer's grace, right? They've also said a couple of times that nephilim are more powerful than their angel parent, so I'm hoping Jack will wipe the floor with Lucifer.

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  9. Mad Max world? I thought it was called Apocalypse World. And I agree that Dean threatening Kaia so directly is way out of character, but is probably meant to show just how thrown Dean is by knowing for sure Mary is alive and being tortured, after refusing to believe it was possible. And I thought we had confirmation Kaia is part of Wayward Sisters. If she was thrown clear, and is still in our world, that paves the way for her to then team up with Jody and Patience. Can't wait for the next ep, we've all built it up so much, I hope it doesn't disappoint!

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  10. On the subject of Dad/Patience: I took that comment differently. I read it as warning that once she started down that road, she would never return than a statement that she would not be welcome to return. It didn't feel like there was the anger behind it that there was with Buffy/Joyce and Sam/John.

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  11. I must be the only one who didn’t care for Kaia.
    Not the character per se, but the actress. She had basically one facial expression throughout the episode. But maybe she will get better with time. I will check out Wayward Sisters anyway.

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  12. I think that Patience's dad was playing the only card he had in order to try to keep him daughter from getting mixed up in the Supernatural where death is all too common. It's understandable considering his mother just died not too long ago as the result of being in the mix but how selfish is it to ask your daughter to live with the knowledge that she could prevent deaths but she should get back to studying for her algebra exam? A tad unbelievable but it was all an excuse to make her wayward.

    One point of correction though, I think that Kaia (my new fav wayward star) was referring to Jurassic World as the Bad Place (and not just a bad movie, hey-oo). When Jack was trying to expand her dreamwalking to other worlds, she focused on the Jurassic World initially and Jack had to nudge her out of it and into the Mad Max world. Plus the scratch marks would be consistent with beasts/dinosaurs/angry giant chickens as opposed to people/angels/demons from Mad Max world.

    I'm not sure I love it but I appreciate them keeping it interesting and I'm looking forward to seeing Jack and Mary vs the devil.

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  13. I have too say I'm really excited for Supernatural after this episose. This is really amazing for a 13 season long show.

    The Winchesters are out of the picture in what I'm assuming is the Bad Place (definately a shout-out to Kristen Bell's show and a much better title at the same time) so that we can get a full 42minute long Wayward Sisters pilot. It looks really promising and with a larger cast (4 girls + Jody and Donna). Fingers crossed that it works ratings wise.

    Jack just played into Evil Michael's hands just like expected. Depending on how many stand-alones they will do I'm sure Michael will use Jack in the 1st episode possible to invade out world.

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  14. My thoughts:
    - Kaia is interesting, more than Patience to me. I like girls with attitude.
    - Patience's Dad quote, for me, was a pretty straight forward quote of John, in reverse. And one of the dumbest things to say to a child. Always leave the door open, damn it! Specially when you just lost your mom and what you did last time you heard from her was hang up on her. You really want to do the same thing with your daughter? The healthy behaviour would have been to go with her, but then, Wayward sisters, right?
    - I think Kaia is on Earth and she will be found by Jody at some point
    - I'm worried about an untrained Jack in Apocalypse!World. Hope his mojo is good.
    - The bad place/jurassic park looked a bit like Purgatory to me. Maybe Dean will have some fun, like when he was on vacation downstairs.
    - If the angels are actually an estinguishing specie, why the hell are they continuing to go after the only 2 humans that keep killing every one of them? Did they learn anything about the Winchesters in the last 9 years? Leave the brothers alone! Just by doing that in the last 4 seasons they would have an army, not a commando troup.

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  15. I liked the episode and I too thought that the guys were in Purgatory, at least Dean knows the territory....Overall, I love where this show is going so far! I hope that Jack gets Mary freed quickly.

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