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Supernatural: Back and to the Future

"So you and me versus every soul in Hell? I like those odds."

Maybe it's final season malaise, but I wasn't sure how I felt about this one. I really don't like the idea that all the good the boys did for the past fifteen years is being reversed. Even if it was only the Ghostpocalypse. Two or three billion ghosts?

Although we only saw a few of them. The woman in white from the pilot episode, except they couldn't get Sarah Shahi because she's too famous now. John Wayne Gacy as a clown from the episode "Lebanon;" was he the most recent ghost they destroyed? Bloody Mary from season one, too. Lizzie Borden? And who was the other tall, burned guy? Harlan must be a pretty tiny town for them to evacuate it so quickly. For a moment, I thought Sam and Castiel were doing the house-to-house all by themselves.

Belphegor the demon, who is amusingly defiling Jack's corpse – why is he being so helpful? It can't just be because he's crushing on Dean, which was quite funny. Those spells Belphegor came up with seemed pretty powerful for a demon who was supposedly just a clock-puncher in Hell. Belphegor must be important. Either that, or they're just giving Alexander Calvert someone to play who is Jack's direct opposite. (Loved the sunglasses.)

I do like the idea that God has abandoned the world that the Supernaturalverse inhabits, that Dean and Sam are no longer the stars of Chuck's favorite show. Has Chuck truly bailed? If the Winchesters win this one, if they manage to close the door to Hell, perhaps, as they once planned, does that mean that the boys can finally save the world? Is that where this is going?



But I don't think Chuck is done. When Castiel touched the wound on Sam's shoulder, Sam flashed to himself in a red light doing something evil. Apparently, Chuck left something awful inside of Sam. Shades of old Yellow Eyes in the pilot, huh?

Bits:

-- This season's title card is actually somewhat hideous. What is it? (And here's a link to a wiki page with every Supernatural title card.)


— "Then" was set to Bob Seger's "The Famous Final Scene." How appropriate.

— I loved Dean and Sam and the Knock Knock joke. Maybe because I always love reminders that Dean pretty much raised Sam.

— Belphegor the demon saw Dean put the "Equalizer" in the glove box. Not smart, Dean. Couldn't you at least have locked it in the trunk with the devil's trap?

— Even after standing up to the zombie/ghost/pocalypse together, Dean is still being short and angry with Castiel. Come on, Dean. It's the final season. Don't be mad at Castiel for being Castiel.

— A couple of Buffy references: the thing about the Hellmouth, and Sam telling the woman and her little girl that he was "just a guy," like Buffy was "just a girl" in her final season. (See the quotes section below.)

— This week: Harlan, Kansas. The FBI jackets were smart. No need for fed suits.

— In this week's hair report, is Jared's fluffier? Or was that just me?

Quotes:

Dean: (to Castiel) "Can you smite your way out of here?"
That struck me funny. Maybe it's just the word 'smite.'

Dean: "Chuck, man, I knew it. I knew he would do something like this. He's always so squirrelly, you know, with the robe and the beard, and the smile that's like half nice, half I'm gonna rip your throat out, oh let me play you a song…"

Sam: "So we are..."
Belphegor: "The Winchesters. I know. I read the papers."
Dean: "You have newspapers in Hell?"
Belphegor: "Yeah, the wi-fi sucks. Anyway, I'm guessing this whole Hellmouth thing is kind of, uh, you?"
Castiel: "No. It was God."
Belphegor: "Yeah, sure. (pause) Oh, you're serious."

Dean: (on the phone) "Yeah. God. No, no. Rowena, we need your help, so move your ass. What? No, I'm not… move your exquisite ass, please."

Woman: "How?"
Castiel: "I'm an angel."
Woman: "And the clown was…"
Sam: "A ghost."
Woman: "And you're…"
Sam: "Just a guy."
Castiel: "Sam?"
Sam: "Yeah, I'm good. Like, when I shot God…"
Woman: "I'm sorry… when you shot God?"
Castiel: "It's a long story."

Dean: "So you and me versus every soul in Hell? I like those odds."
Sam: "Yeah. Me, too."
Dean: "Well, you know what that means."
Sam: "We got work to do."
I loved that callback to the pilot episode, the shot from the inside of the Impala's trunk.

As always, I'm on board, especially since this is The End. While I'm not happy with this souls-from-hell thing, it could very well be better than it seems at first. What did you guys think?

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

10 comments:

  1. Hi Billie - great review. Final season. Jeez.

    Yeah, it's tough to know how to feel about this one, and how are they going to go about this whole situation? Hopefully it'll do everyone justice. I did enjoy this episode though, the dynamics were as good and fraught as always. I loved that they found a way for Alexander Calvert to stick around. Loved the quick one-second flashback to the pilot episode with the trunk closing at the end. And the knock knock joke.

    I rather thought the title card was the Empty goo, but I'm not sure why it would be burning? The scene with Castiel and the bullet in Sam flashing to something possibly evil made me super nervous though. I really hope they don't go that road.

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  2. The title card reminded me of Dean’s amulet. If this season is all about bringing back the past then that made sense to me.

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  3. As much as I love the new Jack, I was also immediately suspicious of his powers. Since when do demons have all these magic spells at their disposal? Especially an ordinary one, as he described himself.

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  4. Regarding the title card, I got an impression of a mouth with lots of teeth - maybe they're going for a lovecraftian, eldritch-horror type vibe? Anyways, i thought it was weird, but I did like it better than last season's.
    As for Belphegor, you don't generally get demos with names like that unless they're major players in hell. Compare names like "Ruby" and "Crowley", both relatively normal names for demons who didn't start out as anyone special, with names like "Ramiel", "Azazel", "Abbadon", "Lillith", "Asmodeus". That was an immediate warning sign for me that Belphagor was not who he said he was, and was probably way more powerful than he appeared to be. The fact that he knew all those spells just reinforced that.

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  5. I think this could be a reboot for the series( all the souls being release from hell) and then SPN could have more seasons, but anyway is a pretty good idea and i love the premiere specially the final scene!!

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  6. Belphegor was one of the seven princes of hell, nice touch with the comment about the rock that looked like a giant penis, he originated as the father of God, maybe that is where his powers came from.
    Check out the link in Wikipedia for more info:

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Belphegor

    Personally I really liked this episode, it was over before I realsied which is always a good sign.
    Looking forward to episode 2. :)

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  7. "Belphegor the demon, who is amusingly defiling Jack's corpse – why is he being so helpful? It can't just be because he's crushing on Dean"

    What I got was that he really loved his job (torturing souls), but he can't do that anymore as they all escaped.

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  8. I think the "stuff" from the title card is supposed to be this black goo from the empty

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  9. What did you think about Belphegor mentioning Michael in the Cage? I wonder if we'll FINALLY see Adam/Michael again!

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  10. Anonymous, Yes! I should have mentioned it in my review -- I went woo hoo! Michael and Adam! Bout time, but of course, it's the final season, now or never.

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