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Supernatural: Funeralia

"What haven't you done for your family? What wouldn't you do?"

Rowena is back. With great power, purple eyes that clash with her hair, and a whole lot of grief.

I'm not surprised that Crowley's death snuck up and hit Rowena pretty hard. She may have tried to kill him a time or two, but it was clear that as evil as they both were, they had a... well, kinda sorta soft spot for each other. And it made sense that Rowena would take all of her considerable power and hurl it right at the being who took Crowley: Death itself, someone the Winchesters happen to know well. And interestingly, someone Rowena doesn't know at all. (Well, she does now.)

Although Rowena was unfairly victimizing reapers who were just doing their frightening little jobs, it was fun that she was also deliberately targeting the executives of a crooked pharmaceutical company. I also enjoyed Rowena and her cute minion Bernard distracting the art gallery with an unexpected tango as well as a little spontaneous combustion. Supernatural just isn't like other shows, is it?

So far, so good. But where this episode ended up surprising me was the fate stuff. When Billie refused to be blackmailed, she seemed curious to see what would happen if Rowena followed through and killed Sam. Is it possible Sam cannot be killed at this point? The Winchesters have died and been resurrected so many times that it's surprising that the possibility of losing them hasn't lost its dramatic power. I mean, I was sitting here actually worried that Rowena would stab Sam, no matter what the metaphysical outcome turned out to be.

But as it turned out, Rowena's books in Death's library say that Sam is the only one fated to kill Rowena. That gave me a frisson of sorts; Sam looked shocked. I don't like the idea of Sam killing Rowena, and Sam didn't like it, either.


Billie actually comforted Rowena, and I hadn't expected that. Billie said gently that life isn't fair, and that some things can never be fixed, no matter how powerful you are. I think that was a great big acknowledgement that Crowley isn't coming back to the series. But just as I was feeling a bit warm and fuzzy about Billie, she went and told Dean that she would "see him soon." Nothing ominous about that, huh? Is Billie still yearning to dump Dean in the Empty the moment she has the chance?

So at any rate, Rowena is in. She's ready for redemption, and she'll help the boys save the world from Alternate Universe Michael. It's too bad Dean already took out her minion Bernard. I liked Bernard.

I didn't like Jessica the reaper, though, materializing in the back seat of the Impala and revealing that she'd been watching them like an invisible babysitter. Actually, she's like a Peeper Reaper, perving on Sam and his... hair care products. Totally unfair.

Meanwhile over in the B plot, Castiel went to Heaven looking for help finding archangel Gabriel, only to discover that the bad news is really, really bad. Apparently, because of the fall and all the other stuff that's happened, there are only maybe a dozen angels still alive, and they can't help fight Michael because they're like little Duracell batteries that keep Heaven running. And if Heaven runs out of power, all of the souls in Heaven will fall back down to earth as ghosts and there will be horrible chaos, much like the Trump administration. We can't have that.

It was a shock to see Naomi alive and well but with white hair; too bad her long absence didn't improve her attitude. She didn't even apologize for all of the terrible things she did to Castiel. She did tell him that "everything ends," though. Even Heaven? I've been kind of hoping that the gates of Hell would eventually close, but Heaven? Again, I'll say we can't have that. What about all of our friends up there? Bobby, Ellen, Jo? Pamela and Ash?

Bits:

— Title musings (which I'm borrowing from our writer Victoria Grossack): turns out "Funeralia" is a very old term for funeral rites, which I assume applies to Rowena and her son Crowley, who have been around for a long time.

— Even though Amanda Tapping recently directed three episodes of Supernatural ("The Future," "Various & Sundry Villains," "A Most Holy Man"), her character Naomi was written out in "Sacrifice," the season eight finale, back in 2013. Time flies when you're on a show that runs forever, huh?

— I love that Castiel still doesn't understand how to use air quotes. And that he was preening just a bit when Rowena called him the handsome angel.

— The headline of the Oregon Tribune made me laugh out loud: "Wealthy Portland Donor Spontaneously Combusts at Modern Art Gallery." Weirdly, it was dated more than a month from now: Thursday, May 24, 2018.

— Sam looks really good in black. Thank you, show.

— This week: The LaVeau Gallery in Portland, Oregon; somewhere in Idaho; and wherever the playground is. Where is the playground?

— Marie Laveau was a famous 18th century practitioner of voodoo, for what it's worth. And Indra, the drunk angel who wasn't bothering to guard the playground was fun.

Quotes:

Castiel: (to Sam) "You know, she's right. You never go to parties."

Castiel: "This would be something of a Hail Mary."
Dean: "Hmm?"
Castiel: "It's a sports term. Like slam dunk, or, ah, ball handler."

Dean: "A rich lady exploded?"
Sam: "Local cops are calling it 'spontaneous combustion,' but pretty much."
Castiel: "That does sound like Rowena."

Dean: "Look, I want the fun, flirty Rowena who mostly helps us, but you gotta be ready for... not that."

Dean: "You mean, like, everything everything?"
Jessica the Peeper Reaper: "I'm especially fond of Sam's impressive... extensive array of hair products. Not to mention the three-day-old bacon cheeseburger in your room. Or the VHS tape hidden under your bed labeled 'Sweet Princess Asuka Meets the Tentacled...'"
Dean: "Okay, all right, that's not cool, okay? That's... first of all, that's a classic. Secondly, the burger's for emergency cases only..."
Sam: "Okay, gross."
Sam's face when he realized Jessica was peeping at him in the nude was priceless.

Jessica: "You ever hear of the butterfly effect?"
Dean: "Ashton's second best movie?"
Geez. What would be his first?

Dean: "Crowley's dead. There's no coming back from that."
Rowena "Is that so, Dean? Are only Winchesters allowed to come back from the dead?"
Well, yeah.

I enjoyed this one, even the uncomfortable combustion bits. Three out of four three-day-old bacon cheeseburgers only for emergencies,

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

7 comments:

  1. I'm guessing Dean liked Dude, Where's My Car? better than The Butterfly Effect. That sounds like Dean.

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  2. I've got two questions.
    Firstly i've been curious since the end of last season as to why Chuck created alternate dimensions. Were they test universe's. Is ours a test universe. As a plotline I enjoy it but everything in the Supernatural universe has been created for a reason (heaven,hell, purgatory) and I don't see the purpose of alternative 'verses.
    Secondly, God's gift to everyone was free will and I'm not sure how that can be reconciled with pre-determination. If four people die at the "wrong" time that's not free will.

    These questions don't stop my enjoyment for the show but nag at me sometimes.

    Bonus question, did I miss something? Where was Lucifer?

    ReplyDelete
  3. With your question about multiverse you touched upon the biggest secret of the next season - appearance of Chuck the 2nd! It stands to reason since we have already had the doubles of Michael, Zachariah, Bobbie etc. How about Amara2? As to God's gift of free will there must have been a catch there. Or Reaper Jessica just wanted the Winchesters in, and overdramatized the situation. And finally, I think that Lucifer is focusing on his plan to find Jack. He's nothing to do on Heaven.

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  4. When Lucifer was in heaven I think there were more angels or maybe I just don't remember enough. I was also puzzle about his current whereabouts.

    But on the bright side the fact that there are like 10 angels left and that Rowena was killing reapers left and right means that the writers re-retconed reapers from being retconned as angels before. :)

    ReplyDelete
  5. I tried to find if this was public or official and my guesses would be Dude Where's my Car also or possibly The Guardian

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  6. I looooved this ep. Rowena has always been a fave, and here she was fantastic. More Rowena please.

    I am really enjoying this season, as I am binging now to catch up. Love the Jack plot. It's not always bringing in a child to the mix is successful but here it works brilliantly.

    Ok, next ep...

    ReplyDelete
  7. Loved the episode! Could go on as usual about being sad for Rowena, etc but the question about free will intrigued me. From what I can remember from church and youth group, God gives us Free Will, however, He has known our destiny before time even began. Which means that he knows who will make it to Heaven and who will make it to Hell. This begs the question, how is free will possible, when our destiny is already known? I think that we do have free will and although our fates are already known, their not known by us, the individual. So that means it's both a beginning and ending in a way. So perhaps this is what the writers are striving for with the other worlds episodes.

    ReplyDelete

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