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Supernatural: Mommy Dearest

Dean: "Well, if she's here, I'm glad we got Smitey McSmiter on our side."

Damn.

Even though I'm not surprised. Castiel has been acting less endearing, a lot less compassionate, and angels are scary, vicious beings, anyway. But I'm definitely bummed that my deadpan cutie pie angel has made some sort of evil deal with the King of Hell. Collateral damage, dead kids, no big, huh? I have a hard time believing Castiel is outright evil, though. Castiel must believe that a bargain with Crowley justifies the means.

At least our favorite genre guest star Mark Sheppard has risen from his grave, and I'm glad. He's a much better villain than the Mother of All, who I'll admit got a lot creepier when she turned into Mary Winchester. Mother was gone pretty quickly, but she played her part. If it hadn't been for her, we wouldn't know that Crowley is still unPurgatoried and Castiel has been corrupted.

I was also happy with the usual fun Supernatural accoutrements. Like naming the monsters "Jefferson Starships." A mouthful, but very funny. The Phoenix ash misdirection was cool, though yucky. And although the denouement with Castiel and Crowley was a downer, I particularly loved seeing Dean, Sam, Bobby and Castiel together for a change. What a team they make. I just hope it's not for the last time.

When Mother of All walked into the bar at the beginning of the episode, we heard the song "You Sexy Thing" with the line "I believe in miracles." In the end, we heard Jefferson Starship singing "If only you believed in miracles, so would I." It was like a musical cue telling us that at the beginning of the episode we believed in Cas, and in the end, we didn't.

It's all about the souls. They're fuel. Is it me, or is this sounding like The Matrix?

Bits and pieces:

— It was nice to see Amber Benson as Lenore again, although she was gone too quickly. Lenore did plead for death, and she was feeding again, but really, Cas. The only being Castiel seems to actually care about is Dean.

— What exactly were the Jefferson Starship monsters?

— Doctor J. Silver? Really?

— Did you notice that the Mother of All in the waitress uniform had a name tag? It was "Angela."

— This week, Grants Pass, Oregon. That jail looked familiar. I'm sure they've filmed there before.

— A few dozen tests? Was Dean kidding? I'm sure they just checked them on video.

— This week's Most Obvious Symbolism was that shot of Castiel from the other side of a set of window blinds. For that matter, if we're talking symbolism, Castiel also spent most of the episode covered in blood.

— You've probably all heard by this time that Supernatural has gotten renewed; there will be a seventh season. Woo hoo! Season six hasn't been my favorite, but I still love this show and I certainly don't want it to end now.

Quotes:

Guy: "Hey. Heaven must be missing an angel."

Dean: "It's not like Cas lives in my ass. The dude's busy. (Castiel appears directly behind him.) Cas, get out of my ass!"
Castiel: "I was never in your..."

Dean: "I was expecting more Zombieland, less Pleasantville."

Bobby: "I asked for a computer."
Sam: "It is a computer."
Bobby: "No. A computer has buttons."
That made me think about Giles and his books and his opinion of that dread machine.

Dean: "Mom's making you limp?"
Castiel: "Figuratively, yes."

Dean: "My friend is very sick."
Castiel: "I have a painful burning sensation."
Which is really sick when you consider what Castiel did to Lenore in this very episode.

Bobby: "This looks like an infection. Nobody touch nothing."
Dean: "Well, I'm bathing in Purell tonight."

Bobby: "Don't get cute."
Castiel: "Right. Pardon me for highlighting their crippling and dangerous empathetic response with (air quotes) sarcasm."
It doesn't help that Castiel was right. I really wanted them to rescue those boys.

Bobby: "Well, at least it ain't complicated."

Dean: "Beat me with a wire hanger. My answer's still no."

Three out of four Jefferson Starships. Okay, maybe two and a half. I wasn't wild to watch it again, mostly for Cas-related reasons,

Billie
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Billie Doux loves good television and spends way too much time writing about it.

19 comments:

  1. As you said Billie....Damn. But this does explain why Castiel did not see that Christian was possessed.

    I am willing to give the Supernatural PTB some leeway with bad Cas, given what an outstanding job they did with DeSouled Sam earlier in the season, but they better start answering things soon!!!!

    Needless to say, super-excited about next week's Cas showcase, written by my favourite Supernatural writer, Ben Edlund(who else)!!!
    '

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  2. I, too, am waiting for next week's episode with great anticipation. A Castiel-centric ep written and directed by Ben Edlund? Friday cannot come soon enough!

    I'm holding out hope that these last few episodes will tie together the many threads from this season, and as much as I hate losing our sweet Castiel, I think it is incredibly interesting to explore the darker side of his character. Angels are dicks, right? And Cas has spent well over a year now fighting the war in angel-land. It makes sense that the events of the past two years and the sudden weight of leading his brothers to wage bloody conflict against each other would change Cas, and not for the better.

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  3. There's reason why, though we see the horrible things he's done without knowing his motives, we still care about and love Cas: it's obvious he's suffering. His conscience is eating him from inside. He makes rationalizations, tells himself he's doing the right thing, but, not so deep down, he knows it's not. And, at the end of the day, I find it much more compelling than the "you're a monster, I have to kill" excuse Dean gave the Phoenix last week.

    And I think "a few dozen tests" were meant to know if the kids were not other kinds of creatures, like shapeshifters, sirens and whatnot.

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  4. I thought this episode was 3/4 Starships.

    I don't get one thing though - if Sam and Dean did several tests on the kids and decided they were human, surely they looked at them on video. When they did the same in the diner, all the Starships showed up. What's up with that? The kids were Starships too right?

    I was a bit disappointed that the Mother of All was killed so easily, by 'pheonix ash' that means nothing to me seeing as how we don't know where the pheonix came from and how the pheonix relates to the mother. Turned a supposedly epic baddie into unappealing monster of the week. If she hadn't changed into Mary I would have given this episode two stars. Mrs Winch was cool :)

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  5. Oh, and another thing. Eve's reasoning for wanting to stir things up was pretty pathetic. The monster torturers Cannot be making that much of an impact. It's not a global scheme, they are presuming making a less than tiny impact on the number of monsters around, and if Eve can see through the eyes of the monsters she surely knew where they were being tortured anyway. Why didn't she just go and kill all the torturers, including Crowley. For that matter, couldn't she influence His thoughts and see through His eyes, since she's also His mother? If so, how could he be hard to find?

    Am I being totally stupid - or is the plot this week Really that paper thin?

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  6. Harry,

    the boys were not exactly starships. Mother was developing the perfect monster, one that could not be detected by any test hunters do, like salt and iron resistance, if eyes flare in video etc. All the others were just prototypes; with the boys, she had achieved that perfection she wanted. They cannot be detected by any tests known.

    Speaking of starships, I was a little worried when Dean name them, because I initially thought he liked them. Dean's taste for music and mine are so similar, I was kind of disappointed. "He likes JS?! They s**k!". Fortunately it was explained soon after.

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  7. Harry, I think that Eve couldn't see through Crowley's eyes, because Crowley is a demon. And demons are Lucifer's children. I think. Angels are god's children, Lucifer made demons and all the other monsters are Eve's children.

    Castiel and Dean have some twisted relationship. It seems like Dean has replaced his father with Cas. I mean, Dean has complete faith in him. And Cas cares about Dean. I don't know why. I like them. But I don't want Castiel to be evil. First part of this episode showed him the way he used to be. The way I like him.

    I liked this episode, but at the same time something still bothered me.

    And I totally knew that this week's rating system was going to be Jefferson Starships. I knew it as soon as Dean named the monsters. I'm a psychic?

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  8. Yeah Jane, Demon's are Lucifer's children. Angels are God's. Eve's all the Monsters. Maybe it's just me, but I thought Dean was great in this episode, and besides Castiel, the brothers relationship was great. I can't complain, Sam and Dean are finally back to normal.
    Yes, I was shocked to see Castiel working with Crowley. It made me think that Sam and Dean would have to kill him, but I guess I'll have to wait until next week.
    Eve talked a lot of junk, and died so easily, and then just like that Cas, and Crowley took out those Jefferson Starships. They planned it from the beginning.
    Overall I liked it better then ep17. I give this episode 3 out 4 Jefferson Starships.

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  9. I liked this one a lot, and personally, I'm thrilled that Cas is in league with Crowley. It may turn out to be the wrong choice, but I'm sure he went into it thinking he was working for the greater good. I don't think he's truly gone "dark side."

    Mostly, I'm just happy to have hope that all the threads this season that have been seemingly short-lived (Crowley and purgatory), forgotten (Robo-Sam and the Wall), hovering in the background (the Angel Civil War), or otherwise mismanaged (the monsters and the Mother of all) may yet come together. If it is all about the souls, then I'm thinking Sam's damaged soul might yet come into play. Fingers crossed!

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  10. I also thought that the mother of all evil plot line was resolved too quickly. when season six started I figured they were going to explain where monsters come from. Now we know they come from Eve but now what?
    I was actually excited when I saw Cas and Crowley in league. This is an interesting plot twists

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  11. Really good episode and Castiel being aligned with Crowley is believable even though is sad because I love Cas. But I´m starting to think that the Mother of All was brought on for distraction. With the boys fighting her, they wouldn´t be looking somewhere else and maybe uncovering some secrets.
    But I am anxious to find out more on the next episode!

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  12. I am disappointed that Eve/Mother Of All's story ended so quickly and easily, she was meant to be one of the biggest threats Sam & Dean had come up against!
    And her death was waaaaay too icky for me

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  13. Castiel working with Crowley is so great. After all Crowley is the most "good" of all demons we've seen. Mark Sheppard playing him does help too.

    Also that revelation ties the season together, it makes sense for Castiel to be behind everything. Can't wait for the last 3 episodes.

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  14. Now this is a collaboration that is going to be interesting to watch! Still not sure what the end game is, and agree with Jess that we have a lot to wind up in three episodes.

    Still -- the writers do keep ramping it up!

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  15. Popcornscoop, I'm very sorry, but I had to delete your comment because it contained a spoiler for another show. It's a spoiler that most people know, of course, but I'd hate to ruin that horrible moment for someone who hasn't seen it yet and doesn't know when to expect it.

    Please feel free to re-post your comment without the spoiler. If you've forgotten what you said, just email me at josie.kafka at gmail.com and I'll send it to you.

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  16. No problem, sorry about that! I guess there isn't really a way to make that point without spoilers. :)

    But anyway, thanks so much for all of the wonderful, insightful reviews!

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  17. Thanks so much for the comment, though, popcornscoop. Love your handle. :)

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  18. Billie I really like your reviews and I started watching SPN about 1 month ago and fell in love nearly finished season 6.

    Like others I do feel Eve was killed rather quickly.

    While she was cool I don't feel she had big impact as she was in 3 episodes and 2 of them barely had any screen time.

    I like the concept that every creature has a starting point and came from her. Yet the characters could have found that out through lore or another hunter it seemed a waste to show her and then kill her really quickly.

    I get she served her purpose letting the boys known Crowley is still alive and what his plan is but again this could have been done in a way that didn't need Eve. They could have found out from a Demon or Cass himself since he is working with Crowley. I still enjoyed having Eve around I just wish it was for longer and had more time with her.

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