"When have things ever gone right for us?"
And they're back! For season thirteen. Supernatural has become the Eveready Bunny of genre television.
This premiere was mostly about introducing us to Jack. And fortunately, I like Jack. I like him a lot. He has this sweetness and genuine innocence about him that makes me want to hug him. Even though it seems unlikely on a show like Supernatural where everything eventually goes wrong, would it be possible for Jack to stay good? Wouldn't it be lovely if he were the one to finally defeat Lucifer in a permanent sort of way? It made me go "awwww" when Jack said he was looking for his chosen father... Castiel. I thought Alexander Calvert (Jack) even looks like Misha Collins. Jack acted a bit like Castiel, too. Several of his lines sounded very Castiel-like.
So far, Jack seems to have a wide range of mix and match powers: he can levitate and toss people when he's upset, he can use telekinesis on candy machines and affect the power grid (but a lot of supernatural beings can do that). He can be tazed, and the angel radio voices make him crazy, but the angel blade didn't kill him, and Sam's angel sigil didn't work on him. I like what they're doing with his eyes: they're a gleaming sort of white gold, not like the Princes of Hell and not like Lucifer, whose eyes gleam red. Jack doesn't seem to have wings, which means he can't teleport, right?
And he can't raise the dead, like Chuck, or we wouldn't have gotten that upsetting hunter funeral for Kelly and Castiel. (I particularly liked Sam's paternal moment telling Jack what to say to the dead at a funeral. You say thank you and you're sorry and you hope they're somewhere better. You say goodbye.)
So now Dean and Sam have to reluctantly parent this little orphaned powerhouse. I'm glad that Dean's "I have to kill the monster right the hell now" impulse has been tamped down, at least for a bit. If Jack isn't evil, as I'm hoping, Dean will change his mind. Sam is already giving Jack the benefit of the doubt, which is very like Sam.
(But when a supernatural being asks if you're their father, Sam, you say "Yes!" He wanted to duck imprint on you, Sam!)
It was very like Dean to throw in a lot of threats in his otherwise heart-felt prayer to Chuck, and to end up pummeling the door to the men's room. Clearly, Chuck has reverted back to his hands-off policy and I think he has good reason, but he's resurrected Castiel before. And wouldn't it be logical for him to make an exception to his prime directive in a nephilim situation?
Okay, moving on. I really enjoyed Pirate Pete's Jolly Treats, and Christine Barker, the local sheriff. "Everyone's normal in their own way." Laugh out loud. I enjoyed Dean giving the Sheriff the short version of "the Talk." And the horror movie vibe as the Sheriff was walking down the hall trying to find Jack and Clark that led us to expect that Jack was maybe chowing down on Clark instead of candy. Clark, the butt-obsessed Sheriff's son was also fun. Hope he doesn't die.
The lead angel, Miriam, was also a lot of fun, particularly when she was pretending to be a drunk jonesing for French fries. The fact that they gave her so much screen time was a big clue that she wasn't what she seemed, though. The thing with the French fries reminded me of Ruby and how much she loved them. Maybe an obsession with fried potatoes is a supernatural being thing?
Meanwhile, in Mad Max world, I was totally unsurprised that Lucifer decided to keep Mary alive. It is completely in character for him to take this golden opportunity to torment Sam's mother. Even though it also made sense for Dean to assume that Lucifer immediately killed Mary. Let's hope she's not at Lucifer's mercy for long.
Finally, considering how dead he is, we saw a lot of Castiel in this episode. Even though his body is now ash, we all know he's going to come back somehow. I'm betting that this time Mad Max world might be the source of Castiel's resurrection. But hey, I don't know. Guess we'll see.
Bits:
— The new credit is Jack's glowing eye. (Thank you again, title card wiki page.) "The Road So Far" was set to Metallica's "Nothing Else Matters." Very nice.
— The cast is now listed as Jared Padalecki, Jensen Ackles, Mark Pellegrino, Alexander Calvert and Misha Collins. New cast member Alexander Calvert (Jack) played Lonnie Machin/Anarky on Arrow awhile back. Honestly, I don't remember him that well.
— Jack was "Lost and Found," much like the clothes he ended up wearing.
— Liked what they did with the fingerprint.
— All these years and as often as it has happened, I still hate seeing Dean and Sam getting beaten. And Dean poured straight whiskey over his bloody knuckles. Ow.
— And... "Even Crowley." That gave me a twinge.
— This week: We were still in North Cove, Washington. While on the phone with the Sheriff, Sam said he was Agent Berry. Chuck Berry, I assume?
Quotes:
Dean: "Let's see. Crowley's dead, Kelly's dead, Cas... (pause) Mom's gone, and apparently the devil’s kid hit puberty in thirty seconds flat. Oh, and almost killed us."
Sam: "Yeah, because you tried to shoot him."
Dean: "I tried to shoot the monster, Sam. It's kind of what we do."
Sheriff: "There's no such thing as weird. Everyone's normal in their own way."
Clark: "Look, I'm not judging you. I'm jealous. What are you on?"
Jack: "I'm... on a chair... on the floor... on the planet Earth."
Clark: "You are so stoned, man."
Dean: "You really think that Lucifer Junior's at Pirate Pete's Jolly Treats, that he was like, what, before I destroy the world, let me just grab a bag of curly fries?"
Dean: "I'm gonna call Jody, check in, see if she can't help us put out a nationwide APB on a creepy satanic nudist."
Miriam the angel: "Anyway, Becky was, and I say this in the most feminist, screw the patriarchy way, a giant super bitch."
That thing with the Elsa poster was pretty specific, and Miriam mentioned Becky twice. I wonder if there really was a Becky? Do angels have college roommates?
Clark: "Jack was just hungry. I don't think he's ever had candy before."
Jack: "I like it. I like nougat."
What are the chances that Dean's love of junk food will trump Sam's healthy eating when it comes to Jack? Does nutrition matter for a nephilim?
Good premiere, lots of interesting set-up, I'm definitely on board. Three out of four bags of curly fries,
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.
Loved, loved, loved using the eye for the opening credits!I really will follow the Winchesters anywhere... so thank goodness this was a good place to go. I especially liked when Dean was asking Chuck to resurrect everyone, he said, "even Crowley". Not only do I adore Supernatural, but I'm blown away by how much this show understands its fans and includes what we love and what we're thinking, wishing and hoping, but not in a pandering way... in their own inimitable way.
ReplyDeletei love everything about this season premiere, just hope Jack stays good!!!!
ReplyDeleteWhen Dean was praying I lost it tears and all
ReplyDeleteHe even wanted crowly back which I like d the most cause Dean knew crowly better then everyone
What Supernatural does better than any other show is its season openers. They set up the upcoming season so well almost every time. Sometimes the payoff isn't all you'd like it to be but it's always an A for effort.
ReplyDeleteI kinda liked Jack too. So he's evil or dead.
The sheriff lived so that was nice.
"That thing with the Elsa poster was pretty specific, and Miriam mentioned Becky twice. I wonder if there really was a Becky? Do angels have college roommates?"
ReplyDeleteI assumed it was a memory she adopted from her host body.
I wonder if Miriam was an angel who was being influenced by her host's memories. A strong personality, or one she could have gotten lost in. Could be something worth exploring. The host personality could even take over the angel personality.
ReplyDeleteJack's showing Castiel-like personality might lead be Cas being reincarnated through Jack.
I look forward to seeing how Sam and Dean shape Jack's personality. He's not quite a blank slate, but he's still in a position where he can be influenced. It'd be ironic if the son of Satan was led into temptation.
I wonder why Dean thinks Lucifer would kill Mary. Without Mary he can't count on the Winchesters springing him out of the other dimension. He's not stupid evil after all.
ReplyDeleteCastiel will probably be also a played on the other side, would be nice to see some evil Castiel action. Maybe he'd be a demon there. Would be fun.
Cried and everything was well done.
ReplyDelete