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Supernatural: King of the Damned

"I'm willing to bet there's a smidgeon of humanity in there somewhere."

Crowley has been slowly evolving into a more sympathetic character for quite awhile, and this episode took us the rest of the way. Yes, he's still the King of Hell, but I was actually a little bit moved by the way he calmly admitted and thoroughly described what a terrible father he had once been. When he defied the natural order and saved Gavin's life in the end, I was unsurprised but pleased. The King of Hell was a better father to Gavin than the original Crowley. Fergus. Whatever. It'll be interesting to see the repercussions.

I didn't expect this to be the end of Abaddon. But she had a long, devious, evil run (she was introduced in season eight's "As Time Goes By") and Alaina Huffman looked her absolute best in this episode, didn't she? At least poor Josie is free and at peace now, or I hope she is. Since she sacrificed herself for a Winchester, would she go to Heaven? Wait a minute. Heaven is closed. Are dead people slotted for Heaven just hanging out in Purgatory now?

The length of Abaddon's run made me wonder how long Crowley has been floating around the Supernaturalverse, so I checked. Season Five, "Abandon All Hope." That's five seasons. I didn't realize it had been that long.

I'm ready to admit that the Mark of Cain stuff isn't doing much for me, but I did think it was cool that the First Blade actually did a Jedi into Dean's hand. And I get why Dean didn't tell Sam about the Poughkeepsie warning; Dean was worried that Sam could be used against him. But I get Sam's side of it, too. Dean shut him out again, didn't trust him as a partner, yadda yadda yadda. The Blade is doing something to Dean, and now he calmly refuses to let it go. We all know what Cain did with it. Sam had better look out for himself.

Meanwhile at Rebel Angel Headquarters, Castiel's new knowledge of every book and movie has had some delightful results. I absolutely loved his new HQ with the situation map and the ringing phones and angels scurrying about. And the scene where Dean and Sam interrogated the captured Ezra might be one of my favorite Supernatural scenes ever. I loved how Sam sized Ezra up and figured out how to get him to boast about his relationship with Metatron, and the expressions on the boys' faces as they acted it out. I also loved how skillfully the scene was shot from Ezra's perspective as well as the Winchesters. It was just delightful.


I also enjoyed Castiel's scene with Gadreel, who apparently isn't really bad – he's just misunderstood. (Except that it's impossible for me to forget that he killed our dear Kevin.) Is Gadreel turnable? Metatron has gotten so evil that Gadreel just might be ready. Loved the way the scene in the woods was shot, with the positioning of that gorgeous moss-covered tree. Striking.

Two episodes to go, and so much to do. There's Metatron, of course, who can be taken down by the First Blade and probably will be. There's the secret portable backdoor to Heaven. There's also the ripple effect caused by Gavin's un-death – could that be set-up for next season, even?

(And hey. If they cannot change anything in the past without repercussions, what about Gavin's buddy that Abaddon killed when she took Gavin?)

Finally, there's Crowley himself. He's mellowed a lot, but he's still the King of Hell. What will the boys ultimately do with Crowley, now that they have the means to kill him?

Bits:

— Was that the longest "previously on" ever? They had so much set-up to explain that it gave away a lot of what was going to happen.

— The "Met-man's vision." The first rule of Met Club? You don't talk about Met Club.

— Juliet the Hellhound. Priceless.

— Gavin was cute. Nice performance. It reminded me of chronologically early Highlander flashbacks with Adrian Paul when Duncan MacLeod was still dim and gullible.

— This week: Cleveland, Ohio, and Crowley's penthouse at the Humboldt Hotel. And a flashback to Leith, Scotland in 1723. I was disappointed that we didn't get a Crowley flashback, though. Maybe next time.

— The "Poughkeepsie" thing has to be a tribute to The French Connection, and I probably said that before. Did you ever pick your feet in Poughkeepsie?

Quotes:

Crowley: "You betrayed me? No one in the history of torture's been tortured with torture like the torture you'll be tortured with."

Gavin: (re: the light bulb) "Can you cook a pigeon on it?"
Abaddon: "Not terribly quick, is he?"
Was that perhaps a metaphorical dim bulb?

Gavin: "Holy Mother of God! We're amongst the stars! Are we in Heaven? You must be angels!"
Abaddon and Crowley: (together) "Wow."

Dean: "Just because you're hot for Metatron… or Bieber or Beckham… just 'cause you know everything about them doesn't mean you actually know them."
Was there perhaps an understandable little dig there at rabid Supernatural fans?

Castiel: "I was sure everyone here was loyal, finally united by a common cause."
Dean: "Well, that's the problem, see. You don't think anybody's lying. I think everybody's lying. (Castiel looks at him) It's a gift."

Gavin: (reading the paper) "Some buccaneers beat the saints? Could this be?"

Crowley: "Squirrel, I hope you were nice to your father."
John Winchester broke the rules for Dean, too, like Crowley did for Gavin.

Sam: "The lore all says the same thing. You change any one thing in the past, the ripple effect impacts everything that follows."
Crowley: "Please. No one bends the rules like you two bend the rules."
You know, nine seasons and I'm not sure. Were the boys ever able to change the past? They've gone back more than once, and I don't think they have.

I loved pretty much all of this episode. Does that make it four out of four dim bulbs?

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

9 comments:

  1. A return to form and what a return it was. I love Crowley. Other than the boys, he is my favorite character on the show. He always makes me laugh out loud.

    I was very surprised by Abaddon's death. I thought they would save that for the finale. Still so much road to travel until we hear that Kansas song...

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  2. This felt like the perfect episode. Great main arc stuff, amusing Crowley dialogue, and the Winchesters at their hilarious best interrogating Ezra. I don't think this has been a bad season. The main arc stuff has been decent, it's the stand-alones that have been lacking for me, and this is usually where the show shines. The writers usually go crazy with the scripts and load up the funnies. This season the stand-alones have been merely so-so.

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  3. Really good episode. On the contrary to Billie I like a lot the Mark of Cain stuff. And I loved that all the main players of this story (minus Metatron) were part of this episode. The demise of Abaddon was sudden and unexpected, I also thought they would wait until the finale to kill her.

    The Winchesters' interrogation of Ezra was really hilarious, I couldn't control myself!

    In other news the spin-off was nixed which doesn't make me sad, but also pisses me off that they wasted a whole episode of this season about it...

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  4. I had been getting rather worried about Supernatural this season. There seemed to be minimal focus on the story arc, choosing instead to spend time on stand-alone episodes, back-door pilots, and fraternal bickering. This episode was a breath of fresh air and a reassurance that it was still the show I fell in love with.

    I've always said that in a Crowley vs. Abbadon Hell Political battle my money was on the former. Too bad it wasn't a real bet...

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  5. Now their is a problem about bobbys soul, because he used his son to locate his remains. So maybe Bobby comes back as a demon?

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  6. I was looking forward to this episode but felt slightly cheated. It lacked depth, seemed almost comic bookish. The writing doesn't seem to be as well rounded as previous seasons. Crowley is becoming too weak. I'm beginning to lose interest in him.

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  7. Huh. Usually I share my name with courtly ladies, tragic heroines, occasionally a car, but on Supernatural... I'm a hell-hound. Lovely. ;)

    I agree with Paul - usually I prefer standalones, but they haven't been so good this season - partly due to, as ever, Insufficient Castiel, but they also just haven't worked as well for me. I'm withholding judgement on the brotherly bickering until it's resolved, as much as anything ever is on this show, probably in season 10 (I accidentally typed '19' there, which might be more accurate!).

    I want the Samulet back. If whatever resolution they're working up to - probably next season - involved that coming back, it would be worth it. I don't know why I'm so obsessed with it but still...

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  8. This was a great episode. in captives Kevin did say that people who are meant for heaven are stuck in the veil until heaven reopens

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  9. I liked it, loved Crowley's kid! I like the Cain story for some odd reason. I think because it feels like Dean actually feels able to Do SOMETHING about closing Hell and in away its giving his darker perspective a place to feel empowered..Im not saying as in oh, I'm a super Hero Now, but like Dean said it's giving him a sense of CALM... Almost like the "Calm before the Storm"...Remember as Crowley said it takes an addict to know an Addict... and Dean's better "angels/feels" have been mighty frayed for a long time.. One last point, I found it interesting that Castial feels paranoid and watched, probably is from Metatron but it's good that he's somewhat self aware. Probably effects from when Noami had messed with his head.

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