Hola, Mishamigos! It's that time of the year again, and Supernatural is back with another season, that looks - as opposed to the name of the song in the Road So Far recap - like one hell of a ride. Wow, I missed this show. Lots of stuff went down, and we've only just begun! So let's meet the new boss...
Good God, Ya'll!
As usual, the show delivers another awesome rock-recapping of last season's events. We had a season of Alphas, Campbells and Braedens, but it all came down to Cas absorbing the souls from Purgatory and becoming the new God.
Now, before the season started, I thought maybe we'll actually get to see God, the actual God, because...I mean, if I was God and some angel of Thursday declared himself the new me, I'd be pretty pissed. But I guess, as Zachariah said in the season 4 finale, God has really left the building. Hell, he let the apocalypse happen, so what's an impostor, right?
So Cas asks the guys to bow down and profess they're love, which Bobby does. Understandable. Being destroyed doesn't sound fun. But then Cas regrets. He wants to be worshiped, loved. Not feared. Sam starts talking, but gets interrupted.
"Sam, you have nothing to say to me, you stabbed me in the back."
Would it be too obvious if I write LITERALLY? it will? well too bad, I just did.
Cas keeps talking about how disappointed he is from the boys, and warns them not to try to rise against him. He also refuses to "repair" Sam, since they tried to stop him from becoming a douchebag. He poofs away, and Sam stumbles down and cuts himself after having some flashbacks from hell.
It's a minor detail, but I just found it curious - Why show him cutting his hand? Is there some significance to it? Did Jared have an accident on set and they used some hand-double to fit it in? Is it just there? To be continued...
Cas beams up to heaven, and starts telling the other angels that he is the new God, and all of those who supported Raphael back in the day are basically doomed. The camera zooms out to reveal that, well, apparently all of heaven supported Raphael...No love for Cas.
BOOM! New title card! I'm gonna go out on a limb here and guess that's not ink. Do our new baddies bleed black? Some people say it's that black goo stuff seen at No Exit, After School Special, And Then There Were None, etc. Anyway, it's awesome. Me likey.
Déjà Vu
Back in Bobby's place, Dean is starting to fix the precious Impala after the backflip it took in the finale. He discusses with Bobby about how to find Cas, which is obviously pretty impossible. I'm pretty sure God won't be found unless he wants to be.
Sam wakes up, and this makes me think about Like A Virgin, where he woke up after getting his soul back. That scene was all hugging and emotional, whereas this one is pretty casual, like he woke up from a nap or something. He tells Dean he's fine, which we know Dean doesn't believe from the jump, but he doesn't say a thing yet. After Dean leaves, Sam's Hell-sense begins to tingle, but he doesn't see anything...
What Religion?
Meanwhile, a priest is preaching something about Hollywood and Lady Gaga (She really does need to shut up), when Cas bursts in and chokes him for lying in his name. Yup, God no longer works in mysterious ways, folks. He just storms into churches and chokes people. Cas trips as he starts hearing creepy voices. He leaves, but not before making the most awesome church window ever.
In Bobby's basement, Sam is getting something, when suddenly the basement turns INTO A GIANT MEAT PLANT! NOOOO! Ok, I guess it's supposed to be hell. Hey, they gotta save budget for other cool stuff. Luckily, Bobby comes to call Sam, and he snaps back to reality.
Boy, Cas was busy. Mostly with killing religious leaders and motivational speakers plus dismembering the KKK. Sam again suggests they try to talk some sense into him, but Dean refuses and says the time for words is over.
Hell of A Time
Aaaaand scene to a trailer covered with protective sigils. The inhabitant of this trailer is a black-wearing booze-loving demon we all know. The former king of Hell is just getting comfy when God comes to visit. Wow, that's a weird thing to write. Crowley is sure Cas is there to smite him, but the megalomaniac angel has other plans. He will give Crowley his job back, but will keep track of the soul flow.
"So what you're saying is Hell is being downsized."
-"I would've done away with it completely, but I need a threat to hold over my enemies."
That's kinda funny. Can you imagine Cas going to the pit like "Hey guys, I'm the new God, and I'm making some changes, including removing this place from existence, so….yeaaaah." What would happen to all the residents of Hell? Would they go to heaven? Would they just vanish?
Due to lack of option, Crowley accepts Cas's offer, and the latter vanishes after his hand starts melting. I've always said, Cas and Batman should have a competition to see who's better at vanishing when people are looking away for a sec.
Meanwhile, Sam is minding his own business when another hallucination begins. This time, a chain comes down from the ceiling and yanks him up by the throat, but he wakes up after a few moments. Damn, these things are getting worse and worse…
He goes to the garage and hears Dean telling Bobby he doesn't think Sam's fine (Duh). Dean says the reason is that they never "catch a break". Well Dean, if you did, the show would get kind of boring (See – Lisa). Even though he hears this, Sam tells them again he's fine. He then asks Dean if there isn't anything to use to stop Cas.
This felt kinda out-of-character to me. I mean, a few scenes ago you wanted to talk to the guy, and you're going full-on offense? That's kind of a big change… But Sam does tell them the bodies keep stacking, so maybe he decides to do it for all the potential dead people. What a sweetheart.
Deathly Hallows
Dean suggests calling Crowley. And he doesn't react well to their "invitation". They ask him for a spell to bind Death. Now, this is another pretty weird thing.
Death was first released by Lucifer, who bound him to do his will for the apocalypse and all, but Death teamed up with the brothers to lock Lucifer away so he'll be free again. Now, I guess Death didn't like being bound, so why not track and destroy every trace of the binding spell as soon as he was free? If he can kill God, how hard can doing that be? Was he positive that no one would try it again? Did he hide it, but Crowley found it anyway? Did he think no one actually owned a crystal-thingy?
Cas is doing his second good thing (After healing lepers in India or something) and restores a blind man's vision. Nice try, Cas. You're still a power-hungry douche to us. Cas begins to have marks on his face as well, plus he hears the voices again, which appear to be the souls inside of him, and they want out. (The "other cool stuff" I said they were saving budget for earlier – this is an example).
The first time he heard the voices, a few seconds before I realized it's the souls, I thought maybe it was people. You know that scene in Bruce Almighty, after he becomes God and starts hearing people's prayers and it drives him crazy? At first, I thought it was something like that – Cas is hearing prayers because he's the new God. But nah, it's the souls. Though it would've been cool if that happened.
Back to the episode. Crowley mails the guys the spell they need, but there's something they don't have – an act of God, AKA perfectly crystallized sand. Bobby tracks down an owner of one of those things, and they hit the road to find it. (Come on, show! After being fixed for half an episode, this is all we see of the Impala driving? The post-fixing scene in season 2's Bloodlust with Back In Black in the background was way cooler).
After getting to the guy's house, knocking out a cop and tying up the house's residents, the gang finds the crystal and begins the ceremony. In that family's house (What? They're not gonna drive 9 hours back and do it at Bobby's). The house begins to shake and crack, and at first it seems nothing happened. Until…
God VS Death, Round 1(?)
Welcome back, Julian Richings! Man, I love Death. Don't wanna meet him, though. He's one creepy dude. Dean offers him some pickle chips (Silly Dean, you should've brought Pizza!) but Death cuts straight to the chase, telling them he assumes they called him to fix Sam's hallucinations. Whoops. Dean and Bobby both give Sam the "we'll-talk-about-this-later" look. But come on, guys. You knew he wouldn't be OK. Is it really that surprising?
They tell Death they want him to get rid of Cas, which he told Dean he will do someday back in season 5. Death asks them why he should obey them.
"Because…We said so…And we're the boss of you. Respectfully."
Jensen's acting in this whole scene is really great, but he delivers that line perfectly – ballsy, but also terrified as hell.
Cas appears and looks both shocked and surprised about how far they went in attempt to kill him. He says he must regretfully kill them, but Dean reminds him he can't, because Death is their bitch. Death says Cas looks mutated, and warns him he won't be able to fix it, because what he absorbed from purgatory wasn't only souls, but also the first beasts that walked the earth – Leviathans.
Cas has heard enough, and he and Death begin some divine cock-fight about who's more powerful and who's gonna kill who first. Dean interrupts them and tells Death to finish Cas. Just as he is about to, Cas releases him from his binds – much to the horror of everyone - but decides to poof away.
Even God Knows Politicians Are Evil
He goes to a senator's office, who he believes is abusing her power. I love how Cas just walks into places, telling people he's God, like it's obvious. Dean mentioned earlier that there's some of the old Cas left in him, and I think that the naïve part also stayed.
Back in the house, the gang asks Death for help again to defeat Cas. Death says they had enough time to stop Cas from getting to where he is now, and it's their fault it's happening. Sam says that Death must care a bit about the people on Earth.
"You know, I really don't."
Haha, ouch. Sorry, humans, Death cares only for Numero Uno. Eventually, Death decides to help them anyway, since he's angry with Cas's arrogance. He says he will arrange another eclipse (Yeah, he can do that) so they can re-open purgatory and make Cas put the souls back. It will happen on Sunday, 3:59 AM (Damn, sucks to be up in such an hour. But the world is at stake, so…)
Cas wakes up in a pool of blood and finds out he massacred all of the people in the senator's office. Well, it wasn't really him, something possessed him, probably a Leviathan. Guess this is their idea of fun. I like them already.
Me Love You Long Time
At Bobby's, Dean tells Sam he's already given up on the plan, because making Cas even come to the place AND putting back the souls seems impossible. He also confronts him about the hallucinations.
"I gotta find out from Death?!"
That sounds funny. Like a mother asking her kid about a bad thing he did which she heard from someone else.
Sam says he didn't tell Dean because he can't help him. Ouch. Very brotherly of you, Sam. But his excuse is pretty accurate – After the betrayal by Cas and the wrecked Impala, Dean was so depressed Sam didn't wanna make him deal with this too. Dean sticks to his decision to do nothing but eating, drinking, and watching Asian cartoon porn. Sounds good to me.
Dean finds a video of Cas from the senator's office. He's talking to someone, then after being possessed, looks at the camera with a creepy grin and the feed dies. Going back to his original plan, Sam walks outside and prays for Cas to come to them and get help. He returns inside, and Dean offers him a drink while executing his plan.
"Only if you turn that off."
Well said, Sam, well said. They sit down to drink WHEN CAS APPEARS!
Before The Devil Knows- Oh Crap, He's Here!
(Little thing I noticed, this episode had a lot of blood – Sam cutting his hand, Dean cutting his arm for the ceremony, all those dead people at the office, and now blood-covered Cas. And there's even more blood coming with the purgatory sigil. Bloody hell.)
The gang goes with Cas to…Crowley's old hideout (Thanks, SN Wiki! I didn't remember what that purgatory-door place was) and starts preparing it while Sam goes to get the blood. Cas apologizes to Dean, but neither of them are comforted. Sam finds the blood but runs into LUCIFER!
Welcome back, Mark Pellegrino! Wow, I didn't notice his name at the credits, so this was without doubt the Holy Crap! moment of the episode for me. I'm kinda sorry for people who did notice it and got the surprise ruined. He should've asked to remove his credits, like Mark Sheppard did in season 6. That would've totally blown people's minds.
Lucifer drops a possible game-changing bomb on Sam – He never left the cage, and everything he's seeing so far is one big hallucination. Which means the entire season 6 and this episode aren't real. I would rather think Lucifer is BSing, and just trying to drive Sam insane by deceiving him (Which is supported by next week's promo).
Meet The New-New Boss
Dean goes to find Sam, but he vanished. Now they're really messing with our heads. Which is awesome, and leaves a "where-the-hell-is-Sam" cliffhanger. Dean grabs the blood, and they begin the ritual. Cas belly-vomits the souls back to purgatory and collapses. For a few moments it seems like he's dead (Dean raises an interesting question – Do angels actually breathe?) but he revives shortly.
Cas apologizes again and promises to redeem himself. Suddenly, he's getting all shaky again. Apparently, the Leviathans held on and remained inside him. Uh oh. By the way, kudos to Misha for the sudden creepy voice change.
"Cas, he's….He's gone. He's dead. We run the show now."
Wow, is it just me, or did Misha just channel Heath Ledger? That was some creepy Joker shit right there. He then throws Dean and Bobby on tables. So much for redemption. "This is going to be so much fun," he says, followed by a creepy laugh, as brown vein-things appear on his face.
THE END
Rating – 11 Fried pickle chips out of 10
That's it?! NO! I want more! I NEED MORE!
A-hem. Wow, this episode was mind-blowing! A series classic, and easily the best premiere ever! This was the guest-filled beginning of a wild roller coaster ride that is season 7. As long as they can keep out boring relationship storylines, I see a bright future for this season.
We now know the Big Bad for the next while – Leviathans. In definition, they're biblical sea monsters (Livyatan in Hebrew is Whale), but will they all be sea-related? I don't think so, but we'll have to wait and…sea!......*chirp chirp*
There's also a little analogy – In the season 6 finale, Cas was standing as the new God, with the boys at his mercy. Now they're standing there again – minus Sam – in his mercy, only this time, he's a Leviathan. Will he be as merciful as God-Cas was? Or does he have different plans? Bottom line, how will they get out of this one?
I have two theories – 1. Cas will manage to regain control for long enough to save them somehow. 2. Cas's vessel will explode, releasing all of the Leviathans to the world. It was said that the next episode will be Misha's last appearance for now. I hope it won't be his last.
Now Sam – Where the hell did he go? Is Lucifer right and he's still in Hell? That doesn't make any sense. Did he slip out of there? And if so, where to, and why? Also, while talking to Lucifer, he was still in the storage room. So how did the jar get to the middle of the hallway? The possibilities are various here, so I don't really know what to think.
See ya next week!
Some nice quotes:
"What a brave little ant you are."
"So are you fixin' her or primal screaming?"
"He was young…And sexy. He had a raincoat."
"What do you think he's gonna do when he finds out we've been conspiring?....You DO wanna conspire, don’t you?"
"Excuse me, you got any Grey Poupon?"
"I found the God-thingy."
"Sorry, Death. This isn't what it seems." (Plus almost every line from that scene)
"Too late!"
I don't know if they've actually stated that Misha won't be back after episode 2 - I kinda got the impression they were just being very coy about when and where he might reappear.
ReplyDeleteEither way, I'd like to think they're just messing with us (as per usual) and Cas will be back. I'm sure he's still in there somewhere.
I loved the episode - my only tiny complaint was the lack of a great Impala return scene
Good article. Oh, BTW the black goo was ectoplasm.
ReplyDeleteGreat recap!
ReplyDelete"It's a minor detail, but I just found it curious - Why show him cutting
his hand? Is there some significance to it? Did Jared have an accident
on set and they used some hand-double to fit it in? Is it just there? To
be continued..."
I thought the same as you, maybe Jared did have and accident, we'll see.
How good is Dean at repairing cars? How many times did he fixed the Impala?!
Yeah, I was expecting the Impala post-fixing scene too...
I love Death, and also love how scared is Dean around him. The Cas/Death scene was great.
"Annoying little protozoos, aren't they?"
Unfortunally I did see the name of Mark Pellegrino in the credits, they should leave that until the end for episodes like this, still it was good to see Mark again.
Leviathans...are we talking living spaceships like in Farscape? :)Anyway, it was a great premiere, one of the best, I hope they can keep an interesting story line this season.
Oops forgot to mention that I liked your observation about Sam cutting his hand it probably will have some significance
ReplyDeleteThey said he won't be a regular anymore. He's already appearing under "special guest star". I think and hope he will show up again after ep 2, but something tells me it's not gonna be soon :(
ReplyDeleteThanks. And yeah, I looked it up on SN Wiki :P But why ectoplasm...
ReplyDeleteFantastic recap... thanks!
ReplyDeleteGreat recap
ReplyDeleteCurious about the whole hand cutting thing too.
I don't think its the last we've seen of Misha but I do think as with all the other 'big bads' on the show he will and should be used sparingly. I also think it would be better to keep his appearances as a surprise rather than announcing every episode he's going to be in before hand it'll just add to the suspense and threat level.
As for Castiel I have no idea and I don't really care either way.
It's mice to actually have an actual threat to the boys again this season, the Levithians seem like they're going to be an intelligent sort of baddie, hitting the boys in ways we've never seen before.
I thought the cast were all brilliant as usual. It was awesome to have MP back I was not expecting him this soon but my God the man does creepy so well. I'm desperate to know what happened to Sam and how they're going to help him and solve the whole hallucination/broken wall issue within the first few episodes because at the moment it seems like it cant be done without making it some kind of cop out? I get where Dean is at the moment doesn't make it any less annoying but its understandable, I just hope he does have a turning point for the better in episode 4 and doesn't slip towards season 5 Dean whom I just did not like.
Overall a very good start to the season so well done team, after season 6 I thought I would never be this excited for the next episode again.
Blood is part of the life force and if you leave your blood behind somewhere, then someone can use it to control you or get to you somehow.
ReplyDeleteReally good recap. On the question on the voices, I agree that the second time it was definitely the monster souls, but the first time Cas heard them in the church, they were calling his name, not in a threatening way but like they knew him. I had a crazy thought that maybe angels go to Purgatory when they die, and it was some of his old friends inside him trying to reach him. My thought when I first saw the scene was that it was God calling him.
ReplyDeleteI thought ectoplasm was a residual from ghosts. Hmmmm.
ReplyDeleteBesides the Bible, ancient lore does not have Leviathans as sea creatures. I see them more as something similar to a dragon or basilisk. There were supposedly two created but two could not be allowed in the world at the same time. They would destroy the world if there were two. It's an interesting concept. Leviathans are supposed to be incredibly intelligent. It's going to be difficult for Sam and Dean because the Leviathans would most likely know everything Cas knows, including how dangerous the boys are.
ReplyDeleteI felt that the voices changed. The first voice may have been God. To me, God is around but He has always allowed free will. Lucifer and the demons were kicked out of Heaven Michael and his army. Michael can defeat Lucifer. It is prophesied that he will. God is probably watching all of this. Someone has been resurrecting the boys and CAs. It certainly wasn't anyone in Heaven or Hell, unless God never went far. After all, He is a spirit and supposed to be omnipresent. He may be around, watching the events until He deems it time to step in. His ways are not our ways. It's an interesting enigma.
ReplyDeleteI think you hit it on the nose with Basilisk. I don't believe Leviathans need a vessel. They'll most likely destroy Jimmy if they don't vacate. It would be something cool if they were strictly "off-camera". Shadows, light, quick glimpses, movement, etc that we see until the end when the baddie is revealed.
ReplyDeleteGreat write up. Thanks. There is as near consensus as I have ever seen in the SPN fandom that this was a great ep. So wth happened to the ratings? This ep deserved so much better.
ReplyDeleteWe need a huge promo effort from all SPN fans to encourage everyone we can possibly persuade to watch next week. And 'yes' I know that only those with Nielson boxes actually count, but raising awareness about how great this season of SPN is looking in particular, and that the CW still exists as a network in general will eventually have an effect on the measured ratings.
Sadly these ratings were more indicative of the state of the CW than of the popularity of SPN. Their ratings are way down across the board. Even at the low level of the prelims for ep 1 SPN was the 4th highest rated show on the CW after TVD, Ringer and TSC. But the latter 2 are on a rapid downward trajectory, and only beat us by a tiny margin.
Bigger cable networks are picking up the better shows. Criminal Intent was picked up by USA for one season I believe and I recall something coming over from one of the Big Three. I don't know how much water the Nielsens hold anymore. I've NEVER heard of anyone that had a box or knew of anyone that did. Maybe FX or TNT would step in for a season eight or possibly nine?
ReplyDeleteGood point about free will. Your post got me wondering if Cas had really died again in this ep but was brought back by God again.
ReplyDeleteHere's my take on Dean's behavior based on working in the mental health arena:
ReplyDeleteEmotional resilience is best learned as a child, and, while John taught his boys many useful things, emotional resilience wasn't one of them. It can be learned as an adult if we're willing to put in the time and effort (supposing we see our need for it in the first place), and we can pick up some useful tools along the way without realizing it. But what little Sam and Dean have learned goes out the window when they are under extreme pressure. This happens to even the most well-adjusted of us - we regress despite our 'knowing' how to deal with the crisis. There's a great quote which relates specifically to grief, but which I think applies to any extreme stress:
"Sorrow makes us all children again - destroys all differences of intellect. The wisest know nothing." Ralph Waldo Emerson.
I think this what happens to Dean (and also Sam to some extent) especially when he has issues/concerns etc about his brother, and now he's out of his depth with Cas too. While I find it a little irritating, I also think it fits with how Dean's character has been written. It's not that he hasn't evolved over the years, he just hasn't learned to deal with stress in a healthy manner. And let's face it - there are many of us who revert to an old 'script' when life gets tough.
That's my long winded ramble over for today - I may well be talking out of a hole in my head, but I thought I'd put my two cents worth out there. :)
very true but like I said I understand where he is right now doesnt mean I like it, lets just hope things get better for him so they can get better for us. Since the show is pretty much told through Dean's eyes/POV too much angst IMO will just drag it down which for me was one of the reasons season 5 didnt work.
ReplyDeleteI actually think a lot fans have been a bit harsh on their assessment of Dean in the first episode, a lot of Dean girls felt like he was again written too OOC but I though he was just right given what he's been through and what we know is coming up for him in the future. He has to be at breaking point by episode 4 for his story to work.
Agreed.
ReplyDeleteIMO the whole, "I'm going to stuff my pie hole. I'm going drink. And I'm going to watch some Asian cartoon porn and act like the world's about to explode", is classic Dean when he's stressed. (Which is 98% of the time LOL)
I wondered about TNT picking it up. The syndication has been very successful for them, and they promote it heavily. Not sure what the precident is though for picking up such an old show. But I'd love to think they would do it if the CW folded.
ReplyDeleteEven though it was great seeing Mark Pellegrino again, I'm not sure he was the best choice for appearing as Lucifer in this episode. After all, Nick (seemingly) died, and even before he died his skin was almost coming off of him. He didn't appear to be in the best of conditions. On top of that, Sam is Lucifer's destined vessel, not Nick. So when Pellegrino first showed up, I thought we were seeing Nick rather than Lucifer. It was only a moment later when he admitted to being Lucifer that I realized the intent.
ReplyDeleteStill, if we are to believe even for a second that Sam is actually still in the cage, Lucifer should have been portrayed by Sam or a very disfigured Nick (because that's more likely how he would have appeared in the cage to Sam mid-hallucination). Having him portrayed by an undisfigured Nick just doesn't make sense, IMO.
And outright telling Sam that he's still in hell and everything he's experienced post Season 5 seems like possibly the worst way to try convince him that he's still in hell. Showing up and asking him questions that lead him to the conclusion that he's still in hell would have made the "reveal" much more poignant and potentially believable, IMO.
I thought it made sense, One, because i'm pretty sure that Sam thinks of Lucifer in Nick's meatsuit, I mean, body. Not his own. and it is an halucination. Two, even when we are sure that it's not an halucination, for the sake of the exercise, lets presume not. Sam's still in the cage, but he is obviously is hallucinating his surroundings and everyone on it. So lucifer also would appear in any form, and he is prideful, maybe vane.
ReplyDeleteI've watched this episode three times now. I really wish Misha would be back forever. The boys could always use an Angel on their side. It was an awesome return. Couldn't ask for better.
ReplyDeleteAnd I have already watched it five times, more than any other single episode, apart from "No Rest For The Wicked".
ReplyDeleteYou have a great
ReplyDeletewebsite here, thanks for sharing.
We had like 1 minute of our real adored Cass, and then Bum! He is bad again... I mean, not just himself. I am gonna miss him, I love the Winchester brothers but I think my favorite character was I-dont-understand-sarcasm-Casstiel. I have to say, though, that Misha's actuation deserves a 10...with that creepy voice and stares, its quite obvious that Cass isn't in the vessel anymore. Anyway, I am happy that our Casstiel is not the bad bad guy who they have to kill in the 7 season, levithants in Cass body, ok (its not him) or The Devil is back...(Not out of the cage, apparently, but more like he returned to be a pain in the ass for Sam and Dean, on Hell or on Earth)
ReplyDeleteLove the quote about: God was young and... sexy. He wear a raincoat.