Supernatural 9.22 "Stairway to Heaven" Review: Turn About And No Fair Play

     This week’s episode of Supernatural, “Stairway to Heaven,” was written by Andrew Dabb and directed by Guy Norman Bee. Bee is one of my favorite directors, and he does his usual terrific job, delivering a well paced episode with some really great performances. He has a great eye for what Supernatural viewers want to see. Dabb, on the other hand, is one of my least favorite writers, and this episode will go down as one of my least favorite yet.

    I can’t begin to discuss the things that I liked about the episode without first addressing the complete disaster Dabb made of Tessa (Lindsey McKeon). The last time we saw her – and remember we’ve seen her several times over the years – “In My Time of Dying,” “Death Takes a Holliday,” and “Appointment in Samarra” – she has always been a reaper – NOT an angel as she appears to be in this episode. In past episodes, Tessa could only be seen by those who were dead or very close to dead as she was beyond the veil. Suddenly, she has a corporeal form? And the most glaring hole in this whole mess? If Tessa, a mere reaper, is distressed by the screaming of the souls locked out of heaven, what does Death think of it? For that matter, Death would be very put out to have had Tessa killed or made a pawn of Metatron’s (Curtis Armstron).

    In general, I’ve never cared for Dabb’s characterization of the brothers. Dean (Jensen Ackles) generally comes across as a blood-thirsty, not very smart, goon while Sam (Jared Padalecki) is a broody, petulant teenager. While the Mark can be held responsible for some of those traits in Dean, the exaggerated characterization is simply Dabb’s vision.

    Once again, as in recent episodes, I felt that the tone of the episode was uneven. Some of the scenes just felt like the show wasn’t taking itself seriously anymore, such as Metatron’s planted heaven. The show has always been able to blend humor with horror seamlessly, but that ease seemed lacking in this episode. Metatron has come to simply be the angelic version of Crowley (Mark Sheppard), but Crowley was better written to be funny, sarcastic, and menacing. Maybe it is the sweater that’s the problem.

    The episode does showcase that Dean is really feeling the effects of the Mark now. He seems to be loathe to leave the Blade behind even when Sam cautions him that they really don’t know enough about the Blade other than they know that magic of this kind always comes with a high price. We see that Dean isn’t sleeping, and Sam tells Cas (Misha Collins) that Dean seems amped up. Cas remarks that Dean seems even more violent than usual. In fact, while Dean does get physical in the interrogation of Dr Flagstaff (Kaaren de Zilva), he doesn’t actually harm her. He doesn’t actually kill Tessa – she essentially drives the Blade into herself – and Dean doesn’t appear to take any pleasure in that kill. He certainly doesn’t act like he’s taking a hit of something intoxicating as it’s seemed at other times he’s used the Blade.

    Sam does have to pull Dean out of the angel crowd when Dean starts enumerating Cas’s prior misdeeds in front of them. On the other hand, we also know that the angels are completely aware of all of Cas’s past deeds, and Dean has never been the master of tact. The fact that Cas can fight is one of the reasons the angels wanted to follow him in the first place. When Sam pulls them all into Cas’s office, he tells Dean to stow his baggage. We know that Dean was deeply hurt by Cas’s betrayal, but it seemed they had gotten over it before this. Dean does stow his baggage, and in fact, shows compassion for Cas later in the episode. Dean doesn’t show as much compassion for Sam, however, telling him that until Metatron is dead, they aren’t in a partnership, it’s a dictatorship. At which point, Sam flounces off to his bedroom – really?

    Metatron continues to write his own story, this time flipping the script. We see Metatron trying on a trench coat that looks suspiciously like Cas’s. We learn later that Gadreel (Tahmoh Penikett) is the one to have recruited Tessa and the other bombers, but Tessa tells Dean that it was Cas who told her she was strong and gave her a purpose to die. So, was Tessa lying or did Metatron appear to them as Cas? Metatron asks Gadreel why Cas is so popular. He doesn’t understand the “lovefest” over him. He also bemoans that he never thought Cas would actually be good at leading an army. I really liked how much Penikett reminded me of Cas in this episode. He completely misses the nuances of “give me a second” for which Metatron chastises him for being such an angel. It felt very much as if he’d just hit his stride with Gadreel only for us to lose him.

    It seemed pretty obvious to me that Metatron himself was behind the bombings and suicides. Metatron also changes up his favorite metaphor – everything is like writing – to it’s all a game. They are playing checkers while he’s playing Monopoly. Angels like rules that they can rely upon, however. Metatron really is used to dealing with angels who don’t really like free will – it’s one way for him to undermine Cas after all. He may know the story but not appreciate how much Sam and Dean – and Cas – Team Free Will – don’t play by any set of rules.

    Metatron does plant the seed of doubt in Cas’s followers. It’s interesting that they are more interested in Cas lying about his stolen grace than where he actually got it. And is it really a lie if the subject never came up? However, it would seem to be more troubling that Cas killed an angel to get it. Regardless, Hannah (Erica Carroll) asks Cas for proof that they should follow him. Cas tells them to name it, and they tell him to punish Dean. We’ve seen that the angels have been banding against Dean since he interrogated Dr Flagstaff. Even in the interrogation she tells him that she hates men like him. Dean tells her “there are no men like me” which is true at this point except for Cain. When Sam and Cas return from looking for Josiah (Vaughn Jones), they find the angels have handcuffed Dean to a chair and duct taped his mouth shut for killing Tessa– after a struggle to do so as evidenced by Dean’s bloody nose. In the end, even though Cas takes the angel blade from Hannah, he can’t hurt Dean. And that’s the thing that really convinces Dean that Cas has been telling the truth about the suicide bombers.

    Sam and Cas go after Josiah the mole. Dean sends Sam to help Cas, though Cas at first thinks it’s because Dean doesn’t trust him. However, this really seemed a bit pointless in the end – though it provided a nice showcase for Cas’s new pop culture savvy. It was nice to see Sam and Cas working together. It’s funny when neither of them can open the door and then they work together with Cas finding and translating the Enochian riddle and Sam solving it. Hilarious – Why was 6 afraid of 7. Because 7 ate (8) 9. The best part is easily Cas drawing the parallel to the Gates of Durin in The Lord of the Rings. This is closely followed by the “only the penitent may pass” Indiana Jones and The Last Crusade reference.

    They find Josiah badly burned but he refuses to let Cas heal him. He accuses Cas of playing at being noble and playing at being one of them. This is a nice echo of Metatron’s playing metaphor. Josiah says he can’t see an angel staring back at him from Cas’s eyes. Is Cas’s grace that low? He did think he could heal Josiah after all and that would have needed quite a bit of grace. Regardless, Josiah’s rejection is the beginning of the end.

    There are some good performances in this episode, especially from Misha Collins, Jensen Ackles, Jared Padalecki and Tahmoh Penikett. Penikett is great as his facial expression slowly changes so that he looks like there’s a bad smell in the room every time he’s with Metatron. Collins is terrific in this episode as Cas moves through a myriad of emotions. He’s very much the reluctant leader and is still constantly looking for Dean’s approval. It’s nice to see that Sam and Cas now have a more supportive relationship. They had a definite comfort with each other in the car scene. I also loved Sam likening Cas to either a rock star or Elrond - another Lord of the Rings reference. Cas is also crushed by the loss of his followers, but he also remains determined to right his mistake with Metatron. Loved the scene between Dean and Cas at the end. It’s telling, however, that even as he tells Cas he believes him and smiles, the smile doesn’t reach his eyes.

    The final scene has strong performances by all four actors, but especially Ackles and Penikett. Gadreel confirms that the bombers were Metatron’s and tries to offer his help. He tells them that he knows he’s made mistakes but they all have. His earnestness is almost painful to watch. The most shocking part of the entire episode is when Dean goes to shake Gadreel’s hand – the universal gesture of peace – and then blindsides him with the First Blade, slashing his chest open – and possibly killing him.

    Dean had sworn to kill Gadreel, but he forfeits a real chance to get the best of Metatron here as he is completely subsumed by his bloodlust. Sam and Cas have to hold him back and he looks and sounds more like an out of control hellhound than the Dean we know. The question has to be raised now as to whether there is any way for Sam or Cas to really control Dean – or if he can even control himself.

    There were other nice moments in the episode such as when Sam and Dean arrive at the crime scene to find that their new aliases are Spears and Aguilera. Cas is so proud of himself for having noticed they like to use rock stars and actually having the knowledge to play into that... Unfortunately, Cas still has no taste in music... or at least not classic rock. I'm always going to appreciate a Deathstar reference. While I didn’t much care for the “Bowling for Followers” segment – Bowling for Dollars was a longstanding show on television that ran from 1972 – 2008 – Tyrus calling Metatron a nerd is a nice shout out to Armstrong’s part in Revenge of the Nerds.It's also hard to be in a bowling alley and not think of The Big Lebowski. And Tyrus seemed like a dude determined to abide.

    For me this was a disappointing episode. The season was supposed to bring the brothers back together in a more mature relationship, and they seem farther apart than ever with only one episode to go – and we all know it’s going to end on a horrible cliffhanger. At least we do know that Misha Collins has signed on as a regular for next season – and hopefully he’ll be a more regular presence than he was this season. What did you think of the episode? Were you bothered by the inconsistencies with past episodes, or am I making too much out of that? Do you think Sam will be able to keep Dean under control? Do you think Castiel’s grace will hold out – at least until the end of the season? Let me know your thoughts in the comments below!