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Supernatural: Reading is Fundamental

"That's a lot of fuss over a caveman Lego."

Wow. Lots of exposition. Oddly, I'm okay with that, because we got Castiel back.

Dean and Sam weren't quite ready to accept it. Too much has happened, they just lost Bobby, and they couldn't just enjoy having their friend back. They wanted Castiel to snap out of it, put on his raincoat and help them beat the Leviathans and save the world. Castiel just wasn't interested. He was like a small boy. No, it was like he got rebooted when the God Rock went off, and he went back to an early, innocent, and completely literal Castiel. "Pull my finger." I must have laughed ten times. I particularly loved Castiel making Dean play "Sorry!" with him while they talked about the creation of the universe.


This episode made me realize how much I have missed the angels. There are so few angels left. How do you get new angels? Where is God? We still haven't met God. The "in case of Leviathan emergency" God Rock appeared to be automated; it just went off and chose a Keeper when Dean smashed it out of the clay.

Poor Kevin Tran. Ripped out of "advanced placement" and tossed into an extremely weird and different "advanced placement." He had his future planned out to the minute, but life is what happens when you're busy making other plans. And now he's chow for the chompers? Where are the all powerful archangels when you need them? Oh, wait, that's right, they're all dead or incarcerated. I think. It doesn't seem right that Leviathans are more powerful than angels, does it? It feels like they're screwing with their mythology, actually.

What's up with Meg, and why was she carrying around a gossip magazine? Maybe she just wanted to finish the article she was reading... no, I doubt it. Cas expressed concern for her. He said Meg was full of 'thorny pain.' She was also upset about being left out of the loop, and I sort of can't blame her.

At least now the Winchesters have a recipe for an anti-Leviathan weapon. Of course, they'll have to quest for the ingredients. What would be the point if it were something they could buy at the minimart?

Bits and pieces:

— Meg referred to Sam as Bullwinkle, Dean as Seacrest, and angels as wingnuts.

— Kevin had yellow eyes, like Azazel. I don't seem to remember Chuck having yellow eyes.

— Edgar the Leviathan was back. What's funny is that when we saw him at the beginning of this season, I didn't know the actor (Benito Martinez). In between those appearances and this one, I saw all seven seasons of The Shield.

— Metatron is the scribe of God. If we're not going to meet God, will we meet Metatron?

— This week: Neighbor, Michigan (great name); South Chicago, Illinois; Northern Indiana State Hospital, and the cabin in the woods.

Supernatural was officially renewed! We're getting an eighth season.

Quotes:

Edgar: "Strange, isn't it, that someone would choose to be named 'Dick'?"

Sam: "We broke this thing open last night, every maternity ward within a hundred mile radius got slammed."
That had to be a nod to Jared Padalecki and Genevieve Cortese, whose baby arrived right before this episode was filmed.

Castiel: "Did you know that a cat's penis is sharply barbed along its shaft? I know for a fact that the females were not consulted about that."

Castiel: "This is the handwriting of Metatron."
Sam: "Metatron? You're saying a transformer wrote that?"

Kevin: "I'm in advanced placement! Please don't kill me!"

Castiel: "I was backing the Neanderthals because their poetry was just amazing. It was in perfect tune with the spheres. But in the end, it was you. Homo sapien sapiens. You guys ate the apple, invented pants..."

Dean: "So, Kevin. You can read the chicken scratch on the God Rock, huh?"

Meg: "He says he's surrounded by unhappy dogs. Okay. He's at a dog track in Perth. Yes, they're unhappy because the rabbit's fake."

Kevin: (looking around Rufus's cabin) "This looks like a sex torture dungeon. Is this a sex torture dungeon?"

Castiel: (to Sam) "You seem troubled. Of course, that's a primary aspect of your personality, so I sometimes ignore it."

Castiel: "You know me. Always happy to bleed for the Winchesters."

I loved it the first time through. It was a bit tedious the second time, although maybe I was tired. So how many chicken scratches does that make out of four?

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

9 comments:

  1. Four out of four chicken scratches. Absolutely.

    I could tell from the title that this was an Edlund episode, and it had all of the strengths of some of his best ones (luckily without the meta-ness, which would have ruined the emotional aspects...although Metatron could be a bizarre inside joke).

    I think the Sorry! game was my favorite part. It felt like an extended, bizarre reference to The Seventh Seal. Only with an angel and a much stupider game, which made it perfect.

    This episode might have restored my faith in the show.

    (Also, you finished The Shield! Isn't it great?)

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  2. Cas was hilarious and so very sad. SORRY!? No surprise he chooses that board game to play with Dean and transparently express his sorrow over his role in all the lives that were lost in his ambitious, prideful rise to become God. Cas screwed up, and the childlike angel he's become is the result. He follows bees, a wounded flower child, and feels what he has become is his punishment. He was as sad to watch as he was amusing, and Misha Collins brought that performance home. Kudos! I was also happy to see Rachel Miner doing a much better job this time than last; her impassioned speech to Sam, Dean and Cas after killing the demons and returning to find a Devil's Trap awaiting her was spot on. Great job. Good episode. Eagerly awaiting final two. Love, Robin, columnist, www.moogi.com and Winchester Family Business

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  3. Josie,
    Metatron is the name of an angel. See Wikipedia. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metatron


    Eldritch

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  4. I really loved that Dean gave it two whole seconds of thought when the lightening strikes were warning him to stop hitting the rock. That's our Dean!

    I was as frustrated with Cas as Dean was. Yes Cas, it's good that you're up and Luci-free (I guess) and everything. And I know you can't help the state that you're in but - SNAP OUT IF IT! But I guess you can't right now so I'll try to be patient...

    I liked his little moment with Sam though. Not a lot of Sam this time (real life intrudes) but what we had was memorable/fun. BTW - I didn't know about Metatron either and I'm supposed to be pretty smart. Oh well, can't know everything.

    Meg is so completely not trustworthy. She's an enemy of an enemy at best, but that can also be said for Crowley. So they could end up working with Meg against Crowley and working with Crowley against the Leviathan with the potential drawback of Meg and Crowley mending fences and double crossing them. Now that I think about it that would be kind of cool.

    The Leviathan are starting to remind me of Lor from Star Trek. Created first but became too willful and uncontrollable with the power he had. So he was deactivated and the less powerful, more obedient Data (angels) took his place. A lot if potential there. I still wish they would not wrap up the leviathan this year but I don't think I'm going to get my way on that one.

    Is Kevin supposed to be just a regular prophet like Chuck? Somehow I never pictured Chuck getting his prophet juice from a lightening strike. I liked Kevin well enough but I always wish they could find a character we already know for these plot driving roles instead of plopping in someone new (Brady, Anna.)

    Only watched it once so far and I liked all the pieces but right now it's down a peg from last week at an 8. It did leave me anxious for the next two episodes. Can't wait! Oh and do yourself a favor if you haven't watched the preview for next week - DON'T! One day I'll learn.

    RoseCompose

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  5. It seems that we're finally getting some Steam. Let's hope it holds until the finale.

    You hadn't seen The Shield until now, Billie?. It's a great series. Just the ending, probably the best, most appropriate ending I've ever seen, makes the series a worthwhile one.

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  6. I enjoyed The Shield, and it's undeniably brilliant, a groundbreaker. We watched it beginning to end this winter, although the start of season two almost made me drop it. Hard-hitting police drama is definitely not my usual fare, though, which is why I hadn't seen it until now.

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  7. I'm so glad you caught the Shield. That show is like the perfect TV show- from start to finish. Kind of makes me wish for retro reviews of the shield on the site, although the subject matter makes it difficult to watch for multiple viewings
    On a side note, the creator of that show used to work for Angel and Nash Bridges, shows created by geek Gods Joss Whedon and Carlton Cuse(and also had one Damon Lindelof). I had read somewhere that aspects of the Shield were influenced by how Joss Whedon used to plan stories out on Angel.

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  8. I was a bit disappointed as I found this episode quite dull, actually. Nothing really important happened and it just felt unexciting.
    btw, the actress who plays Meg seems really off and weird looking. I wonder if she´s ill.

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  9. Long discussion of that earlier this season concluded its some kind of medication that she's taking.

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