The third episode of “Supernatural’s” fifteenth and final season in some ways felt like the first – the first of this season that really felt like my Show. Written by Robert Berens and directed by “Supernatural” veteran director Charles Beeson, it was a rollercoaster of a story that had me on the edge of my seat (literally) and then all out sobbing (also literally). Sometimes it seems masochistic to say, but this is what I want from my Show – I want to FEEL. And damn, did I ever feel during this episode! All the kudos to Berens, Beeson, set dec wizard Jerry Wanek, Adam Williams and his VFX crew, and the incredible actors who brought this episode to life. And made me cry so much.
After watching it live last night, I picked up my good friend Nightsky from the Winchester Family Business at the airport this morning and we decided to do a rewatch together – and to just blog our reactions real time. So here are our thoughts – and feelings, lots of feelings – about ‘The Rupture.’ Don’t worry, I had the tissues ready.
The Road So Far pops up onscreen. Here we go, folks!
Seriously?
Lynn: Argh I have to sit through some of that ridiculous second episode again. Do not want.
Nightsky: I thought it was a little spoilery that they included the clip that Sam has to be the one who kills Rowena. As if fandom has forgotten that??
Lynn: Seriously.
Ghost guy from last week appears onscreen.
Nightsky: ARGH
Lynn: SAME
Then we were off with episode 3. We start off with an interesting new hunter.
Please Stop The Optimism
Nightsky: I like that they pulled in other hunters since they’re not the only hunters in the country.
Lynn: And she had some personality too. She was sassy.
Then our heroes (and heroine) set off to try a new spell from Rowena, who has changed into a frankly amazing pink dress. Rowena is oddly optimistic about the chances of success.
Lynn: Oh no Rowena, stop with the optimism, it never ends well on “Supernatural”!
Nightsky: I appreciated the consistency that they referred back to how they left those people back at the gym with the reference to the anxious townspeople though.
Lynn: Continuity FTW!
Ghosts are flying up out of the huge crack as our heroes walk by.
Nightsky: Where were these ghosts for the past three days? Late to the party? The doors of hell open and it takes you three days to get out?
Lynn: I’m totally confused by these souls/ghosts. Why do some of them have to possess bodies and others just show up looking like they did in life, like Jack the Ripper or the woman in white? I don’t get it.
We had no answer.
Rowena and her pink dress are beautiful in the creepy crypt, though. Just sayin.
They barricade themselves in. Banging starts on the door.
Nightsky: Okay, why are ghosts now banging on the door? They just were strolling through the cemetery like they were on their way to high tea, totally unconcerned.
Lynn: I got nothin’.
Rowena starts her incantation as Sam, Dean, Castiel and Belphagor look on.
Violet
Lynn: I wonder if this is the scene where she accidentally said “vulva” and J2M cracked up. (Turns out it was the next scene with all of them and Ruth doing an incantation)
Nightsky: Berens was so proud of that pink dress. At first I thought it was an odd choice for a red head, but in that scene her eyes glow pink and the ghost attacks on the wall glow pink as her spell works and maybe that was a nice tip of the hat that this was a woman doing this.
Lynn: Her eyes were totally violet.
Nightsky: Totally pink.
Still Friends
Yes, we’re still friends. There are too many ghosts for Rowena’s power to hold and she collapses on the floor, gasping.
Rowena: We’re all going to die!
And that was just the beginning of the episode!
Rowena asks for a drink and Sam solicitously offers her water.
Rowena: A REAL drink.
Dean shrugs like, I got nothin’.
Sam looks at Dean like oh come on, I KNOW you have a flask. Dean tries to avoid, but Sam gives him that I’m-your-brother-and-I-know-you look until Dean reluctantly hands it over.
Brother Moment
Lynn: I love this brother moment! That was so Sam and Dean.
Belphagor is snarky as ever about Rowena’s spell not working. Rowena, for her part, is just totally feeling hopeless, her earlier optimism crushed.
Nightsky: The quote, when Rowena says “they’re so angry and those walls will fall and nothing on the earth will stop it” – to me, that’s foreshadowing Dean’s anger. She felt the rage of these ghosts and how they were trying to break through walls. Dean has built a wall around himsself with all his rage, so that was a parallel for me, and how painful it was for her to feel someone else’s rage when it’s that hurtful.
Lynn: Just how Castiel will be so hurt later. Ooooh nice parallel. I don’t know if these things are really in the writer’s conscious mind though – or does it just become clear later but it was there subconsciously?
Nightsky: if they’re a good writer, there should be multiple levels in their writing, so you can pull those threads out.
Lynn: This one has those layers, I think.
Dean immediately jumps to a determination to fight, refusing to consider it hopeless.
Dean: We’re not just gonna give up, that’s not who we are!
Pause
We paused the playback as Dean says that and Sam puts a hand out to his brother as he listens.
Nightsky: To me, that was Sam accepting Dean unconditionally. Dean has to attack the situation and Sam knows that about Dean, so Sam is allowing Dean to be himself but he is also saying I’m interceding between you and the world right now because you’re not seeing that Rowena can’t do any more this second. He was protecting Rowena and also respecting Dean. And I’ve never seen Sam do that before, say basically stop. And Dean listened and took his lead.
Lynn: I feel like this season, they’re really leaning into Sam as a leader. Even in the first episode, at the end it’s Sam taking care of Dean when Dean is spiraling into hopelessness, Sam is the one who gives him what he needs and reassures him. Now it’s Sam again assessing the entire situation and trying to take care of everyone, both his brother and Rowena. And Dean once again listens. He’s looking up at Sam and I don’t just mean physically.
Brother Understanding
Nightsky: He’s looking to Sam and he takes Sam’s lead, and Sam doesn’t reproach him in any way.
Lynn: He understands his brother so well at this point and I am here for it. Then he gives Dean a reassuring pat on the chest, and then goes to Rowena.
Nightsky: And then Dean looks down at Rowena and realizes he has missed her pain. Sam is all compassion here and Dean is all action.
Lynn: And that’s so them, their different ways of coping.
Nightsky: And later they emphasize that when Sam says “I feel like I should be out there on the front lines” and Rowena says no, what you’re doing is just as important. He needs to be told that.
Lynn: Both are important, and maybe that’s why the Winchesters balance each other out so perfectly.
Dean arms up, spare bullets draped across his shoulder ala Jus In Bello, saying he’s not gonna give up.
Dean: I’m not gonna sit in this crypt and wait for the walls to come down…. No, we’re gonna end this Sam, like you said. We’re gonna be free.
Angry, Not Freaked
Lynn: See?? Dean did hear what Sam said in episode one and he did remember it. That’s why that scene in episode 2 where he seems to never have had that pivotal conversation with Sam was so jarring. Now he’s back to remembering that talk and being influenced by it.
Nightsky: Maybe they did film them out of order.
Lynn: (makes noises of frustration)
Sam is empathic but calm, saying I’m freaked too.
Dean: Oh I’m not freaked, I’m angry!
He’s as bitter as we are about Chuck’s manipulations and he doesn’t have a clue what to do and he’s just stewing in it.
Nightsky: Threads readers will recognize the theme of everyone trying to get in the last word, and now Dean just said I’ll be damned if I’ll let a glorified fanboy get the last word.
Sam: Right.
He’s clearly worried about his brother and about Rowena and about everything though.
Meanwhile, Cas and Belphagor are arguing outside.
Bel to Cas: You can’t even look at me.
Nightsky: OMG did you catch that? That’s exactly what Cas says to Dean at the end.
Lynn: OMG you’re right!
Cas is getting a clue that Belphagor isn’t who he says he is.
Bel: That’s the longest you’ve ever looked me in the eyes.
Cas: You don’t have any eyes!
Misha Nails It
Misha Collins nailed Castiel’s annoyed deadpan I’ve-had-it-with-you attitude perfectly.
Lynn and Nightsky: lol
Nightsky: Also we’re back to not looking me in the eyes as a theme.
Lynn: Ooooh
Belphagor brings up Lilith’s crook (Dean: slash horn) as a way of controlling the demons. Cas is skeptical but the Winchesters want to go after it and Rowena volunteers to slam the door shut behind them with a spell of her own.
Assistant Samuel
Rowena: And I’ll need an assistant. Dibs on Samuel.
Sam: What?
Rowena: You’re as close to a seasoned witch as we’ve got.
Lynn: What did you think of that?
Nightsky: I was trying to wrack my brain if Sam had done any witchcraft. I took it as he pays attention to books and Latin and he’s comfortable reciting Latin so he’d be able to do that whole spiel that he memorized by looking at the book.
Lynn: That makes sense. I mean, I love the idea of Sam as a witch, but I was like huh?
Rowena: And we need someone close to the edge to serve as a fulcrum, as a carrier – I light the fuse of the bomb, they toss it in.
Nightsky: That’s perfect as a descriptor for Dean, he’s close to the edge. But as a fulcrum, as a balance – what worlds will he have to be the balance between? In this case it’s between Earth and Hell, but it sounds like he’ll need to serve as the fulcrum between other worlds as well.
Rowena: Whoever does this, they’ll be unprotected. No salt circles, all manner of angry spirits all up in their grill.
The camera has been on Dean as Rowena speaks, who listens with a smirk on his face looking so very very Dean Winchester.
Dean: Sounds like fun.
Nightsky: Up in his grill, that reminds me of the Impala. You think of Dean, you think of Baby.
Belphagor refuses to go to hell alone and demands protection.
Dean: Yeah, Cas will go.
When Castiel looks up taken aback, Dean dismisses it: You’ve been to hell before.
No Choice
Cas : Sounds like I don’t have a choice.
Dean: Good. Great. Go Team.
Lynn: Ouch. A pointed reference to the current state of Team Free Will.
Nightsky: I thought it was very interesting that Dean volunteered Cas, threw him in harm’s way, and Castiels’ next words were ‘it sounds like I don’t have a choice.’ Right back to the whole free will debate. It was almost like Dean wished that Cas would go there and get hurt. Maybe Dean was mad enough that he thought that would make him happy.
Lynn: I don’t know, but I do think he’s entirely focused on what they’re trying to do and willing to put Cas in harm’s way to do it. And he’s angry. So angry.
There’s a jump to Ketch in the hospital recovering from his gunshot wounds, climbing out of bed against doctor’s orders and insisting “I have friends who need my help.”
You Had One Job
Unfortunately, the demon Ardat shows up and they have one of those sort of inexplicably physical demon fights but she does prevail so that makes more sense.
Ardat: You had one job…
Nightsky: hehehe, you had one job…
Ardat: I think you’re protecting humans. And you won’t give them up – at any price?
Ketch: Not at any price.
Nightsky: That was a hero’s death, his voice cracked when he said it. He knew what that meant.
Lynn: I know a lot of fans are not on board for turning Ketch into a hero, but that was at the very least a heroic last moment.
Nightsky: His death shocked me, I didn’t see that coming. OMG wait a minute, I didn’t notice that the first time – she pulls his heart out but it’s still connected, so he can see it still beating but know he’s doing to die?
Lynn: Yep. Ewww
Nightsky: OMG
Lynn: David Haydn-Jones did an amazing job. Look at his face as he stares at his own heart, so brave but so shocked and so dismayed. God, this was a brutal scene. Well done Bobo and Davey, but ARGH.
Ouch
Ardat snaps it off and he falls dead, for real clearly.
Nightsky: I wonder if that was a bit of foreshadowing, that we’re all about to get our hearts ripped out.
Lynn: Ouch. Also we got cheated out of seeing a bit more of David Haydn-Jones considering he’s having a fight in a hospital gown. Just sayin.
Meanwhile, Belphagor and Castiel stand on the edge of the hell rupture.
Bel: Funny, your friends didn’t seem to think twice about putting you in danger.
Poor Cas just takes it, looking increasingly resigned.
Bel: What is it, Cas, this seething animosity?
Castiel: Every second in your presence is intolerable.
Once again a foreshadowing of the later painful conversation with Cas and Dean.
Cas: How do we get down there?
Bel: I don’t see any stairs…
Castiel stares at Bel with absolute disdain for a few seconds, then unceremoniously pushes him in.
Going To Hell
Lynn: HAHAHAHAHAHAHA OMG I loved that moment.
Nightsky: Berens tweeted that he wrote that into the script as a gag and was so happy they left it in.
Once again Misha nailed it.
Guest hunter brings Rowena her supplies “for the ginger”. Heh. She’s sassy.
Meanwhile, Ardat steals Ketch’s phone and texts Dean.
Lynn: I kinda don’t think Dean would have fallen for this so easily. Why did he have to give away the entire plan in a text message? I wonder why the bad guys don’t kill people and then steal their phones to text more often? Hmm. Okay, handwave.
Castiel and Belphagor go to hell, which is a beautiful Jerry Wanek set with great VFX.
Boy’s Got An Agenda
Nightsky: It looked like the proper grandeur and lighting etc of hell, as opposed to that awful throne room we were subjected to for years.
Belphagor literally pushes Cas into the room where the crook might be and we really feel for Cas at this point. They run into another demon and Castiel hauls off and kills him the second they know he doesn’t have the crook, his patience clearly at an end.
Lynn: Alex Calvert is brilliant here. He’s changed Belphagor from a snarky likable harmless seeming low rank demon to a menacing, totally in charge demon who clearly has an agenda and has no qualms about ordering Castiel around.
Nightsky: When Belphagor says “good thing I brought you,” you realize he knew that box was in Enochian. That was the first time you realize he’s not an innocent ally.
Lynn: Boy’s got an agenda. Which we always kinda suspected.
Bel: Sam and Dean seem to be coming around, I think I’m growing on them. Like a cancer.
Cas: You’re not growing on anyone. Sam and Dean are just using you. Don’t mistake that for caring about you because I can assure you, they don’t.
Bel: You learn that the hard way?
More pointed foreshadowing of Dean and Castiel’s later conversation.
Nightsky: Cas was revealing what he actually feels now, the realization he’s coming to.
Lynn: Ouch. Really, ouch.
Going through a rewatch frame by frame has its benefits. As Cas knelt down to read the Enochian, he’s in the exact position and angle as the three statues behind him are in, of the demon supplicants. They’re deliberately framed by director Charles Beeson in the doorway so you can see that Castiel has taken that same supplicating position.
Lynn: God damn I love this Show.
The fandom had been given a few teasing comments about one of the cast doing some singing on this episode, which had everyone speculating and anticipating. It turns out it’s Cas having to sing the Enochian incantation – but we only got to hear the first note and the last!
Berens assured us they made Misha sing the whole thing and if that isn’t on the last gag reel, we will have been really cheated.
Back to Dean standing on the literal edge. Back to the wall.
Lynn: My god he’s gorgeous. Um, sorry.
Sam looks toward the door.
Sam: I just feel like I should be out there fighting.
Surprise!
Rowena: Dean’s doing his part, you do yours.
Lynn: Sam and Dean are used to fighting side by side, this is hard for Sam.
Nightsky: Threads people, they keep talking about shots – the long shot, our one shot, five times in this episode, reminding us that Sam’s gun shot is important.
Surprise Ardat! Throwing a monkey wrench in the crook heist.
Nightsky: I’m not sure of the prupose of Ardat. She says ‘you don’t even know what he is.’ They emphasized that again this week. But then he’s killed, so what was the purpose of that? Both of them die.
Lynn: I thought the same exact thing.
Nightsky: Ardat seemed almost like the good guy here. It seemed too important to go nowhere.
Lynn: I wondered about the foreshadowing in episode one, when Ketch shows up to take out a demon that poses a huge threat and it turns out to be Belphagor. The Winchesters just take Belphagor’s side without giving Ardat any credence, but that struck me as odd. Now we see that it wasn’t the smartest decision they’ve made.
Nightsky: Another thread last week was power, and all this about thrones and ruling are setting us up for a ruler of hell to come back into the picture.
Lynn: For sure. No spoilers, but for sure.
After killing Ardat to stop her from telling Castiel more about who he is, Belphagor insists to Castiel that he’s not trying for the throne, as Cas confronts him.
Not the throne — but to absorb all those souls and be a god!
Lynn: It’s a striking parallel to when Cas was Godstiel, when he swallowed all the Leviathans and had all that power and eventually became not a god but more like pure evil.
Nightsky: And it’s a parallel to what eventually happens to Rowena, who also swallows essentially pure evil.
Castiel realizes that Belphagor has been playing them all along, as Bel stands framed by the lit doorway, clearly the one in power, Cas is thrown back into shadows with the other supplicants.
Siphoning
Belphagor starts to siphon the souls in, while up above Rowena and Sam link hands to start the spell and Dean crouches with his back to a gravestone next to the edge, and we are all on the edge of our seats.
Sam keeps worrying about Dean, distracted and looking toward the door. Rowena keeps calling him back gently.
Nightsky: Rowena here is compassionate toward Sam just as he was compassionate toward her at the start.
As the horn blares and souls stream in, Dean jumps up and tosses the glowing bomb in.
Nightsky: Why did he throw it in before all the souls were in and before Cas was out?
Lynn: Because he had to throw it while it was glowing, I think?
Meanwhile, down in hell Castiel whales on Belphagor, knocking his sunglasses off, pummeling him repeatedly, his rage overflowing. Finally, Belphagor calls out to him in jack’s voice, saying “It’s me, Jack.” But Cas doesn’t fall for it, his eyes glow blue and he smites Belphagor so thoroughly that he’s just a burnt husk of a being, even the sunglasses turned to ash.
Digging Deep
Nightsky: Cas had to dig deep to get that much power, it seems. He really really wanted to do that. I think maybe he’s losing his power because he’s losing his heart, he’s losing his connection to Sam and Dean and what he cares about. But he cares about this.
Lynn: I thought maybe he was losing his power because God is losing his power and the angels are somehow connected to him.
Nightsky: My theory is metaphorical, yours is literal.
Who will be right? (Most likely neither of us lol)
Lynn: Castiel looks so broken after, looking up in despair, the bars above him seemingly keeping him caged in his sadness. It’s a beautiful shot, but so sad.
Nightsky: That was very heroic of Castiel. He saw that the threat was like he was as Godstiel, and like Lucifer wanted to be, a new god, and he knew he had to stop it. It was very heroic and instead he got dumped on for doing it.
Dean immediately calls Sam, saying it doesn’t feel right.
Something Isn’t Right
Rowena knows something isn’t right too. She makes a decision without telling Sam, and as he watches in confusion and alarm, she stabs herself and pulls out the last resurrection sachet. And we all have a VERY bad feeling about this.
Rowena: Magic can do anything, Samuel. Can contain anything. I can soak them up for a time, if I pay the price. Death is an infinite vessel.
Lynn: And at this point I was screaming NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
Sam tries to argue her out of it, saying no, but Rowena is insistent.
Rowena: Yes, Samuel. To perform the spell, I have to die. And it has to be you who kills me.
Sam still says no, looking distraught at just the thought of taking her life.
Kill Me Samuel
Rowena: I believe in prophecy and magic.
Sam fights her, tries to pull the knife away, and she keeps pulling it back and you can SEE how much Sam is suffering, in pain, not wanting to do it. Ruth Connell and Jared Padalecki were off the charts amazing, making us all feel every ounce of what the characters on the screen were feeling.
Nightsky: What’s so compelling about this scene is that Ruth maintains and continually increases the emotional intensity and pulls Jared into the moment so he literally can be Sam, transformed from not understanding to acting. She’s the one that escalated the emotional intensity the whole time even when he didn’t understand, she had to carry that whole scene as she convinced Sam of the tragedy of what had to happen.
Lynn: Absolutely. This is a master class, Ruth Connell.
Nightsky: She did what she did for magic, for what she cares about.
Lynn: Not even for the people she cares about, but for what’s important to her.
Rowena: Do it, kill me Samuel!
She lays her hand on his cheek, gently reassuring.
Rowena: I know we’ve gotten quite fond of each other. But will you let the world die — let your brother die — just so I can live?
Sam leans in, murmurs “No”.
Lynn: OMG stop, this scene was so perfect and so perfectly done. Just as you think Sam is saying no to refuse to do it, and he leans in and pulls her into a hug and you realize…. (starts sobbing all over again for real)
Nightsky: It was so compassionate, so she wouldn’t have to feel the excruciating last seconds of anticipating her death.
Rowena falls into Sam’s embrace and the knife slides into her as she clings to him, and Charles Beeson gives us a close up of her face, in agony, and of Sam’s face, in equal agony. He’s crying; she’s crying.
Lynn: I’m crying.
That’s My Boy
Rowena grabs his chin, stabs the knife in deeper and twists it brutally, ensuring that she will die.
She looks him in the eye, no judgment, only pride.
Rowena: That’s my boy.
Outside at the rupture, Cas comes back and encounters Dean, who asks what the hell happened.
Lynn: Why doesn’t Cas explain? He just says he killed Belphagor but not WHY so, of course, Dean jumps to the most negative conclusion.
Goodbye Boys
Nightsky: I hate that! And he lets people assume the worst. He allowed Dean to jump to conclusions.
Nightsky: What’s interesting here is that Dean is clueless about what Castiel has just been through, and also what Sam has just been through. He doesn’t know about the emotional agony of both his partners. They thought he’d have the hardest job, and he ended up having the easiest.
Rowena staggers outside toward the edge, bleeding, souls rushing into her. She looks back at Sam, a little smile on her face.
Rowena: Goodbye, boys.
Swan Song
Lynn: Exactly what her son said to the Winchesters. That killed me. And she throws herself into the gap, her own Swan Song.
Lynn: (is crying for real all over again)
Nightsky: She stood on the edge of a pit of hell and allowed herself to fall in, in the same way. It’s interesting that when Cas ingested all the souls, it was through his mouth. Rowena, a woman, pulls them into her abdomen, where she bleeds.
Lynn: I saw this as a parallel to Mary’s original death on the ceiling with the bloody gash across her abdomen and Jess too.
Lynn: OMG I just realized something. Samantha Smith has said that the dress Mary was originally wearing was not white – it was pink. Just like Rowena’s dress is now as she dies.
That Music
Nightsky: That music too…very Scottish highlands music.
Lynn: Which made me cry even harder, because it seemed like a goodbye and a tribute to Ruth as much as to Rowena.
Believe it or not, after all this, the episode isn’t done with us yet. Then come two very important, very emotional scenes.
Sam sits alone in his room at the bunker, barefoot, looking devastated. Vulnerable. Dean knocks on his door.
Dean: How you holding up?
Sam doesn’t answer, just asks how the town is doing, gets some small satisfaction out of hearing things are okay now.
Dean: They found Ketch. Dead.
Sam: What? How?
Dean: Bad. Probably a demon.
Nightsky: Dean was very considerate here, how he told Sam about Ketch’s death. But he didn’t let him process, immediately tried to cheer him up. He didn’t take a beat for poor Ketch. And I was thinking, Ketch’s death would have been the climax of an episode if it wasn’t the last season. But the poor guy got overshadowed by Rowena’s death, which then got overshadowed by Team Free Will breaking up.
Lynn: That was my problem with Kevin’s goodbye too, which got overshadowed by the 9876 other things that were happening.
Sam sighs.
We Did It
Dean tries to cheer him up: We did it though, man. God threw one last apocalypse at us and we beat it.
Lynn: At this point I was going OMG this is heartbreaking, they think this is over. It’s only episode 3, boys!
Nightsky: I thought Jared’s acting in this scene was brilliant. He shows us the full weight of everything that happened, whereas Dean is hiding or repressing or ignoring the weight of what has happened. He only wants to see the good.
Lynn: Even the blocking, Sam sitting down, barefoot, vulnerable, his head bent, the weight of all that’s happened visible on him. And Dean standing, casual – even wearing a Henley – but also holding himself back, contained, his hands folded in front of him, his ankles crossed. Only wanting to cheer Sam up, not to acknowledge his own anger and grief.
Didn’t Have A Choice
Dean: You didn’t have a choice. What you did. Rowena. You didn’t have a choice.
Sam: I know.
The Scottish music plays and Lynn’s eyes fill up again.
Nightsky: He can recognize that for Sam, that he didn’t have a choice, but not for Castiel. Of course he doesn’t really know all the facts. My guess is that Sam explained and Cas never did.
Lynn: He’s his own worst enemy when it comes to communication.
Dean pours himself a drink, emblematic of his attempts to push down his emotions. Cas asks how Sam is, and Dean admits “not great.” There’s tension, as Dean takes a drink and keeps his head held high, defensive.
Face Off
The two face off, a table between them, as Cas says he’s sorry about Rowena.
Dean: You’re sorry. Why didn’t you just stick to the damn plan?
Cas: The plan changed. Something went wrong, you know this. Something always goes wrong.
Dean: Yeah and why does that something always seem to be you?
Cas: You used to trust me, give me the benefit of the doubt. Now you can barely look at me.
Nightsky: The key point is, Dean doesn’t give Cas the benefit of the doubt, even though he just did with Sam.
Lynn: It’s a testament to how angry Dean truly is at Cas, and how much he blames him for the death of his mother, even if that’s not entirely logical.
They face off, and Dean really does have a hard time looking at Cas. His eyes are steely, walled off.
Cas: I’ve tried to talk to you, over and over, and you don’t want to hear it. I’m dead to you. You still blame me for Mary.
Dean doesn’t deny it.
Cas: Jack’s dead, Chuck’s gone, you and Sam have each other. I think it’s time for me to move on.
Nightsky: Whoa, that’s the family theme music.
Lynn: Oh yeah, you didn’t notice that? Way to stomp our hearts out, Show.
Nightsky: I was too busy saying, you didn’t even say goodbye to Sam!
Lynn: I know, poor Sam.
Nightsky: He lost Rowena, and Ketch, and Cas, and now what, just suck it up?
Nightsky: They’ve been building up to this rupture, or this rift between Dean and Cas, since Jack was conceived really.
Lynn: Yeah, they didn’t agree on any of it.
Nightsky: Cas chose Jack over Dean and Sam.
Lynn: And Dean at least has never completely gotten over that.
Nightsky: Cas exercised his own free will and Dean didn’t like that. I think his departure has been a long time coming and I’m glad Cas stood up for himself. I think Dean needs to understand, just like Dean had to accept that Sam can make his own choices and has grown into an adult with different opinions, Dean needs to accept that Castiel has grown into enough of a “human” to have his own free will and make different choices.
Lynn: This episode, in particular, was hard to watch, as Cas seemed to absorb hit after hit — from Dean, from Belphagor, and to grow more and more despondent about his place in life and in his found family. I think that’s why it felt like a bit of a relief when he did make the decision to leave and carried through with it.
Nightsky: it was very painful to watch and I hope they don’t stay apart for too long. This episode also cleared the way for Jack to come back as himself, and maybe for Rowena to come back in a new role, and for Castiel to take on a new role because his prior reasons for living are all gone.
Lynn: I’m assuming Alex Calvert will be back and soon, and I can only hope that this isn’t the last we’ve seen of Rowena since it’s only 3 episodes in. On the other hand, Rowena’s death and this episode were amazing. I can’t imagine any other send-off for the character that would be better.
Nightsky: All of them were heroes. Ketch died a heroic death, Rowena died a heroic death, Sam was heroic in killing Rowena, Castiel was heroic in stopping Belphagor, and Dean did his part by tossing the bomb. Toss it in, BOOM, just like Rowena said.
Lynn: In a sense, Dean really was the fulcrum, the one in the middle who facilitates the action. The catalyst for Cas exercising his free will and making his own choice to be independent and to figure out what is meaningful for him. For Sam, when he provides the means for Sam to forgive himself for his part in Rowena’s death so he can move ahead. For Rowena, by being the one who volunteers to be in the middle, to stand on the edge and toss the bomb in.
So that was episode 3.
Nightsky: The episode was brilliantly written and acted but it was also brilliantly directed and staged and lit and set.
Lynn: I complained about the first two episodes being so brightly lit in the middle of suburbia, which just didn’t work for me. This looked like “Supernatural” – and had so much more impact lit the way it was.
Nightsky: I think this will be among the series’ best episodes.
Lynn: Well, if that whole ripping the heart out of Ketch thing was supposed to be a metaphor, it sure as hell worked. I don’t know if I’ve ever cried that hard on rewatch!
Jensen Ackles has said that he was hit hard by the scene where Castiel leaves, that watching Misha walk away reminded him that they will all be leaving for real before long. There will be goodbyes. I felt a similar rush of emotion when I realized we were saying goodbye to Rowena, and that she wouldn’t be the last. And again when it was Ketch’s turn to die. Everything feels different this season because we can’t say “oh they’ll probably be back a few seasons from now.” Sooner or later – if not now, then soon – the deaths will stick. The characters we so love will be gone.
I needed a few more tissues as I wrote this up.
Nightsky: You don’t think Ketch will go to hell though, do you? And then if Rowena’s down there…
Me: Oh…..
Okay, we’ll have to see how that one turns out.
And now it’s time for Lynn and Nightsky to go have some Philly cheesesteaks and cheese fries and calm ourselves down once again after “Supernatural.” Do we hope that next week is less of a rollercoaster with not so many FEELINGS? Oh hell no! Bring it, Show!
Frustratingly, “Supernatural” 1504 Proverbs 17.3 won’t be airing until November 7 so we have to stew for another week.