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Supernatural: Devil May Care

"The king is dead. Long live the queen."

At least the boys are finally getting some use out of their new dungeon.

Abaddon is back! This time with red hair and nudity, and she wants to march into Hell and liberate it from Crowley. I like Alaina Huffman a lot, and was bummed when Abaddon died in last season's finale, so cool. Abaddon is totally diabolical and Crowley needs some serious competition, I say.

Does she have a thing for Dean, or does she just want his body as a vessel? Possibly both. ("Are we gonna fight or make out? Because I'm getting some real mixed signals here.") I'm liking this return to the Michael/Lucifer Winchesters-as-vessels thing. I hope it isn't foreshadowing, though. Especially since Ezekiel already sort of has Sam.

I'm enjoying Jared Padalecki as Ezekiel, and he's doing an excellent Tahmoh imitation. But it was a bit chilling seeing Sam go white eyes and sprout burned shadow wings. And the way Ezekiel just took over when Sam was unconscious was cool, but alarming at the same time. Yes, if "Zeke" hadn't emerged, Sam would have died, but it still felt very wrong that Sam doesn't have a clue that he's possessed. And in the coda, Sam told Dean that he's happy for the first time in forever. That has to be angelic spilloff, doesn't it?

Supernatural has two exceptional leads, but they haven't been as successful in developing continuing supporting characters (with the obvious exceptions of Bobby and Castiel). But Kevin Tran has been with us for nearly two years now, and Crowley for four, if you can believe it. I've grown very fond of Kevin. And it's great that they're doing something so interesting with Crowley.

The title of this episode is "Devil May Care," and the thing is, Crowley really might. He clearly hates being left alone (and the Winchesters know it), and is still haunted by what happened with Sam in the church. I honestly think at times that he's fond of the Winchesters in a twisted sort of way. Something happened between Crowley and Kevin that we didn't see, didn't it? Or did Kevin just give Crowley his jollies by beating him up? Both?

They left Crowley alone for hours, and he didn't escape. Even so, the stupidity of leaving the villain alone should be one of my rules of television, because it's such a clumsy plot device in which the bad guy almost always gets away. Bringing Crowley into the bunker feels like a huge error in judgment. It's inevitable that he will eventually escape, and then what will happen to the bunker when the King of Hell knows where it is?

I enjoyed seeing Kevin pull off "Kevin Solo, FBI supervisor," and I liked that Dean finally told Kevin that he was family and they'd die for him. But what if Linda Tran really is still alive? I did not like Dean just dismissing the possibility, even if he was doing it to protect Kevin. If Linda is still alive, they need to Do Something About It. Supernatural doesn't usually drop plot threads, so I'm betting we're going to get more about this.

And since I'm talking about dropped plot threads, I thought that one big episode misstep was Tracy Bell, the young hunter in the Daisy Dukes and cowboy boots. Her roadside hunter trap was very Buffy-like: pretty young woman, vampire picks her up, she takes him out. But all that angst about Sam's mistake with Lucifer causing the death of her parents, and she was pretty much okay with helping the Winchesters for the rest of the episode. Her story felt unfinished. Maybe they'll bring her back.

Bits:

— No Castiel this week. But we got lots of Crowley and Kevin. And three hunters: Tracy, Irv Franklin, and an unfortunate hunter named Pete.

— In the demon ceremony to resurrect Abaddon, the guy cut his wrist instead of slicing open his hand. See? That's how it's done.

— This week: Eugene, Oregon, and I didn't track the other locations.

— Dean and Sam were agents Stark and Banner. I don't have to explain where those names came from on a site with so many Joss Whedon fans, do I?

Quotes:

Sam: "So Crowley is alive?"
Dean: "Oh, yeah. He's the junk in my trunk."

Kevin: "Dean! You're alive!"
Dean: "Yeah, 'cause you're a crappy shot. Katniss."
Kevin: "Sorry. It's been a bad couple of days. I haven't slept, or eaten. I'm pretty backed up."
Dean: "Okay, over-share."

Crowley: "Torture? Brilliant. Can't wait to see Sam in stilettos and a leather bustier really putting the S-A-M into S & M. Honestly, boys, what are you going to do to me that I don't do to myself just for kicks every Friday night?"

Dean: "He will break. Okay? When he does, we'll hold him down while you knife him. Then we all go out for ice cream and strippers."

Dean: "Check the net for anything angel-y."
Sam: "Or demon-y."
Dean: "Or monster-y or ghost-y. It's going to be a busy year."

Dean: "Yeah, Irv. Fallen angels.
Irv: "That's a wrinkle."
Dean: "Trust me. They're just monsters with good PR."

Dean: "The werewolf Siamese twins?"
Irv: "He told you about that?"
Dean: "Every time he drank Labatt's."

Dean: "So this whole place is poison?" (covers his crotch)

Kevin: "You tortured me."
Crowley: "I torture all my friends. It's how I show love."

Sam: "Are you ready for it? The fallen angels? Abaddon? Cas losing his halo, Crowley in our basement?"
Dean: "Crap. We're living in a friggin' sitcom."

The usual good Supernatural episode. Three out of four bottles of Labatt's Blue, the best beer in the world and the only one I like,

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

12 comments:

  1. Good episode. Really good episode. I had totally forgotten that Sam had an angel inside of him and when Zeke did his thing, I was completely freaked out for a second. I'm a genius, clearly.

    The ending was oddly ominous. Only on this show could the happiness of one of the main characters be a bad thing.

    Abaddon is ridiculously awesome. She's definitely my favorite villain in a while.

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  2. I liked this better than ep 1 of the new season, Billie. check out my full review under Robin's Rambles over at Winchester Family Business. Love, Robin

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  3. What struck me watching this episode was how Dean is becoming the new Bobby. He has a talk with Tracy that presumably sets her straight. He has the talk with Kevin, my favorite part of the episode. He reminds Sam of all the good he has done.

    Interestingly, he referred to both Tracy and Kevin as 'Kid.' Dean is, chronologically, not that much older than either of them. Yet, it is obvious that his years as a hunter are beginning to age him emotionally.

    I hope the writers keep this thread going. It will be interesting, especially when Sam figures out about Zeke.

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  4. Tony Stark (Ironman) and Bruce Banner (The Hulk)

    I didn't care for the Daisy Dukes and Cowboy boots... it's almost a stereotype. (This girl is tougher than she looks, and she's still sexy.)

    I loved Sam going all Angel-y. That was probably my favorite disturbing image.

    Thanks for the lovely posts, folks. I enjoy reading all of them.

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  5. I liked the episode a lot and Jared Padalecki is doing a good job balancing Sam and Ezekiel.

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  6. First of all, Thank you to Billie, for this site. I don't have too many friends who enjoy Supernatural, so I find myself reading your comments and your guest's comments as a substitute for talking with friends about the show. (Interestingly enough, the ones who do like the show are all extremely literate and highly educated.) As for my comments regarding this episode, I LOVE Abaddon! She is definitely one of my all-time favorite villains (the favorite being Crowley!) I wasn't crazy about the Daisy Duke hunter -- just the fact that she's being identified in that manner re-establishes the stereotype. Sam going Angel-y was terrific! I'm so very pleased that the writing is still superb! And again, my sincere thanks to everyone for supplying me with such marvelous thoughts to read between episodes.

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  7. You're so welcome, Anonymous -- welcome to the site!

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  8. Billie, I said the exact same thing about jared mimicking tahmoh. He sounded so much like him. The actress who plays abandon does a good job. I think she looks like a red haired morena baccarin. And have I mentioned how much I love those boys. And Crowley. I adore crowley.

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  9. sunbunny, you're so right, only on this show could happiness be a bad thing!

    And ChrisB, your comment got me thinking, in terms of experience Dean must be about 77 (26 in season one, plus 8 years of show, plus a year with Lisa and a year in Purgatory, plus 40 years in Hell) - but is actually the "youngest" regular, since Sam is over 100 (stuck in the cage) and Castiel literally ancient. No wonder they all 'baby' poor Kevin a bit!

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  10. I want to echo Anonymous and say thank you for this site. I've been working through the seasons and am finally on season nine (it took me about a year), and I always come here for the wonderful discussion after I watch an episode, so, thanks.

    I liked this episode a lot--Abaddon, Crowley in the basement, Kevin-- but I think I need to rewatch it. I missed a lot because the whole time my brain was screaming "NOOO... DEAN IS LYING TO SAM ... NOOO!!" It's possible that I'm overinvested in this show(!)

    Anyway, many thanks for the great reviews.

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