“Supernatural” Episode 250. Way to emphasize the number with a great episode. It’s pretty dark, emotional and has lots of that creepy, gloomy ambiance many fans have been looking for. Not sure if it’s my eyes or the tones of the backgrounds reflected earlier seasons. Fans wanted dark woods; we got dark woods. We wanted that gloomy almost rainy atmosphere reminiscent of Twilight where vamps can roam freely in the daytime, we got it, and we’re looking forward to more. Now if you haven’t watched this episode yet and don’t want to get spoiled, stop now, or hold your peace and keep reading.
Episode 250 also gives us probably two of the greatest Supernatural quotes of all time with its powerful script; one from Dean Winchester and one from Castiel.
“You know this world, this sad, doomed little world, it needs you. It needs every last Winchester it could get and I will not let you die. I won’t let any of you die. And I won’t let you sacrifice yourselves. You mean too much to me, to everything. Yeah, you made a deal. You made a stupid deal, and I broke it… You’re welcome.”
— Castiel
Now that was pretty powerful especially if you watched the episode in full and watched most of the series. Castiel and Crowley are part of the family now and won’t go away anytime soon. Cas has been around since season four, and unlike Game of Thrones, a fan favorite in this show cannot die unless he/she really, really, really, really has to. Bobby and Charlie, we miss you. Cas/Misha has an untold number of fans among the SPN Family. Not that we’re saying we want Castiel gone, the angel/demon business has yet to come to a final conclusion with Lucifer getting put back in the cage and the Nephilim issue getting resolved. Plus, that ominous cosmic scale consequence of Castiel breaking a Winchester deal. More on that later.
This episode also tried to answer the biggest critique of the previous episode, LOTUS. That was when Castiel left the boys to their own devices leading to their capture by presidential security. Of course, Cas was told to take Kelly to a safe place, only to stupidly lose her in the end of the episode. Cas apologized to Mary for the misstep and got grilled for it. Him not being able to help the Winchesters immediately can be explained but losing Kelly and not being able to find her is strange. Not to mention easily getting pummeled by Ms. Watt. Cas has his mojo back. He’s a somewhat depowered angel but how far does his powers go? Misha’s probably been asked this question by fans at various cons already. One can imagine his answer would be, is how the writers want him to be.
In Marvel, Doctor Strange reached the level where he can probably solve most of the world’s problems and mystically solve big threats with an incantation or two like that time when he made the world forget the Sentry existed because the Sentry’s his evil side Void almost destroyed the Earth. That’s some very high level of magic right there that worked for decades. But if Doctor Strange can do such things, we wouldn’t need the Avengers now would we? So writers have to carefully craft stories involving him so people wouldn’t need to ask that question.
As for Castiel, he couldn’t find the Winchesters for weeks because of that brand he put on the brothers way back so that they won’t be detectable by any angel including himself. How Gadreel found Dean in Season 9 when he was in prayer is a minor plot hole, or maybe angels can find them when invoked through prayer. That then introduces a major hole in this episode because both brothers haven’t considered praying to Cas. But one can always argue that Cas is too broken to hear any prayers. As for the Kelly and her Nephilim, the other angels may not be too forthcoming as to the Nephilim’s location or that a Nephilim is not detectable to ordinary angels.
Maybe we can leave it at that for a while but hopefully, the writers can be more consistent with how they handle this broken angel. And speaking of broken, why didn’t God set him straight? Again, because Cas cannot be the show’s deus-ex-machina for all the Winchester problems.
Speaking of Winchester problems, that Winchester deal Cas broke was when Dean made a blood pact with the reaper Billie which supposedly shouldn’t be broken because of cosmic consequences. Billie helped the brothers out of the Site 94 (according to the BMOL) facility by temporarily killing them in exchange for one Winchester at the stroke of midnight. Always Keep Fighting Jared Padalecki says, even if there’s only one brother left. The deal says one Winchester, so Mary offers herself for her boys. But before Mary could kill herself, Cas kills Billie with his angel blade leading him to say one of his more dramatic quotes above. Breaking this deal could lead to another major consequence for the brothers and the world as far as any messed up Winchester deal goes.
Speaking of quotes, there’s a reason the show was titled First Blood. If I’m correct, this is kind of an homage to the first Rambo film where the hunters become the hunted.
“What we have here is a failure to communicate… ‘Cause were not trapped here with you; you’re trapped out here with us.”
— Dean Winchester
The Winchesters deal with monsters of the night with supernatural powers like superhuman strength, increased senses and agility so specially trained soldiers aren’t much of a problem. Another cool quote is when they leave the injured and unarmed government team who asked them who they were.
“We’re the guys that saved the world.”
— Sam Winchester
Leaving the team alive opens the brothers to another loose end with the government which is thankfully resolved thanks to Mr. Ketch, the BMOL’s one-man cleanup crew. It’s a tragedy really but it had to be done. That step really showed the sinister side of the British Men of Letters. Overall, the episode was quite great and worthy of its milestone of 250.