Lots of big players in this one! Pretty much all of our main cast came out to play and cause havoc, and the result was a lot of fun, and pretty intense to boot. We're going in to a mini-hiatus, with the next episode coming back at the end of the month. I'm glad to get some good A-plot stuff thrown in before the break.
Cons:
That all being said, I will admit a certain amount of frustration with this episode's main story. After everything was said and done, we got no closer to solving the Amara problem here. The only thing we learned is that Lucifer, armed with a Hand of God, is not enough to take Amara out by himself. And didn't we already know that? Since everybody was here and ready to rumble, I might have expected a bit more progress to be made. At the very least, it might have been nice if we'd gotten one more piece of the puzzle in terms of how to actually take Amara down.
On a more nit-picking note, there was one line of Dean's that I really, really hated. As I'll mention towards the end of this review, this episode was very Destiel-ish. I've noticed this really gross tendency to include awkward out of place reminders of Dean's heterosexuality whenever we're getting too close to Dean getting emotional over Cas. In this one, Sam points out that Cas wanted Lucifer to posses him, and maybe they should respect his wishes. Dean says that sometimes he wants a girl wearing a Zorro mask to slap him when they're in bed, but that doesn't make it a good idea. It was just such a weirdly crass line that it stood out to me. A sloppy piece of writing to make it into the final cut. I would love to see more examples of Dean having a healthy emotional/sexual response to women. That would be fine with me. Great, even. I want to see Dean branch away from having Sam be his only emotional anchor. On a personal level, I'd love for him to turn to Cas. But if it's somebody else, cool. Just maybe round it out and make it a more interesting part of his character, instead of periodically shoving a reminder down our throats that Dean likes having sex with women.
Pros:
Rowena is back! I wanted to be annoyed that she survived, since death on this show has become a virtual non-issue, but the draught of female characters just made me happy to see another lady back in the mix. And I always thought Rowena had been prematurely disposed of. There's just so much more you can do with her character! Here, we see her helping Amara to regain her full strength. She's playing the odds, hoping that Amara will be able to do away with Lucifer and create a new world order. Rowena wishes to be at her side when she does this. Later, however, upon seeing that Crowley and the Winchesters possess the Horn of Joshua (another Hand of God), she switches sides again and tries to play on Team Lucifer. When that appears to fail, she fades into the background to suck up to the winning side another day. I loved Rowena's shifting alliances, and how you're never quite sure what her motivations are for anything, beyond simple self-preservation. When she uses her powers to spy on Crowley and decides not to fill Amara in on what's going on, it adds a whole other level of tension and intrigue to the story.
Meanwhile, Crowley gets his hands on the Horn of Joshua and kills the guy who helped him find it, bringing back to mind the more ruthless and efficient Crowley of old. When he meets up with the Winchesters, however, he reverts back into a bit of a petulant child, and the three men argue in circles over what their next move should be. Crowley wants to use the Horn to lure Lucifer, and then trap him back in the Cage immediately. Sam and Dean both think that Lucifer is their only shot of taking out Amara. Dean wants to exorcise Lucifer from Cas and put him in a new vessel before they have him go after Amara, while Sam thinks that Cas' vessel might be better than most for the job, and besides - Cas wanted this. They argue in circles, taking up a good chunk of the episode, until finally Crowley wins by refusing to hand over the Horn of Joshua unless the Winchesters agree to trap Lucifer straight away. With Rowena's help, they spring their trap.
I loved the scenes with the Winchesters and Crowley, because they really played up how ridiculous their relationship is. Crowley offers to hand over the Horn of Joshua, but Sam and Dean both just keep staring at him, finally saying "If?" in unison. They've worked with Crowley long enough to know there's always a catch. There was also the fact that both Winchesters were indecently amused at Crowley's suffering when he told them about the way he'd been treated under Lucifer's regime. The different arguments at play here were also very fascinating. Crowley hasn't had to deal much with Amara at full strength. His attempts to control her proved unsuccessful, but as far as he knows, Amara doesn't have a reason to mess with him just yet. Lucifer, however, is an immediate problem. Sam and Dean are scared of Lucifer, yes, but as long as they know what he's after, he's less of a problem for them. What do they care of Crowley has been ousted from his throne, as long as Lucifer's attention is on destroying Amara?
While all of this has been going on, Casifer is up in Heaven, rallying the very terrified angelic troops. When Amara's power is restored by Rowena, she tests it by sending a blast of power to Heaven to scare everybody, which only serves to enforce Lucifer's power upstairs - as he tells the others, they need him. They are clearly powerless without the help of an Archangel. Misha Collins is just phenomenal in these scenes. He really hams it up as Lucifer, and it works beautifully. I think my favorite part was when he was giving all these cheesy motivational comments to everybody, like asking if they had worked out lately, or saying that he always had room for a "go getter" on his team. And then he helpfully tells one of the angels to get a move on and get on board with the plan, because "he who hesitates disintegrates." That was hilarious!
Then there's the showdown. As Lucifer maintains control of the body, Dean tries to break through to Cas. When it seems clear that Cas isn't expelling Lucifer, Crowley ends up joining the party in the vessel, duking it out with Lucifer inside Cas' head, while the latter just sits there, firmly entrenched in the recesses of his own mind. I loved the fight inside the vessel, as Cas sits on the sidelines and Mark Pellegrino and Mark Sheppard bang each other up. I loved seeing Mark Pellegrino again, even if it was for a very short period of time. More of him, please! How cute is it that Cas uses the Bunker as his safe zone inside his head? He hangs out in the kitchen, away from all the chaos. I also love that Crowley goes into Cas' vessel. It's sort of a brave thing to do, if you think about it. He has selfish reasons for wanting Lucifer gone, but still. He jumps into the melee and tries to fight Lucifer off so Cas can get away. I love it!
We must also discuss the very Destiel-ish vibes this episode was giving off. Dean has a one-track mind during this whole episode: Save Cas. He knows that Lucifer is the best chance to defeat Amara, but he doesn't want to risk losing Cas in the struggle. Lucifer mocks Dean for caring so much for Cas, imitating his voice pleading for Cas to kick Lucifer out. Ouch, ouch, ouch. And Sam knows how hard this is for Dean too. He really acknowledges that this is more difficult for Dean than it is for him, since Cas and Dean are so close. Sam is all for letting Cas make his own decisions about this, but he also understands why Dean can't just sit back and watch Cas in pain. The best moment is toward the very end, when Amara shows up and Lucifer attempts to defeat her. When the Horn of Joshua fails, Amara has Lucifer in her clutches. Dean looks at the two of them and calls out one final time: "Cas?" This entire season has been emphasizing the weird connection between Dean and Amara. And yet here, with Amara right in front of him, all he can do is think about Cas.
Amara decides the best way to get God's attention will be to torture Lucifer, since God ostensibly still cares about his once-favorite son. I'm not sure if that argument is a good one, but it fits with the idea of Amara being willing to blast through anything to get what she wants, which is basically just an audience with her dear brother. I can't wait to see the showdown between God and Amara. If we were in any doubt that God would be reappearing on this show, it's gone now. He's definitely going to be showing up at some point soon, and I can't wait. But poor Cas! If Lucifer is getting tortured by Amara, I'm sure our poor little angel friend is feeling it as well. Come on, Cas! Snap out of it and fight back!
Sam and Dean have a very, very distressing conversation as this episode comes to a close. Sam apologizes to Dean for wanting to let Cas take on Amara, but Dean says no - they've agreed to let each other make decisions without interfering. This harkens back to the long-held policy that the Winchesters are supposed to let each other die without interfering. Obviously we just saw last episode that Dean isn't willing to truthfully follow that policy. And when it comes right down to it, I'm not convinced that Sam is really over his codependency issues either. This is so going to come to a head in the finale. Somebody, whether it be Cas or one of the Winchesters, is going to have to confront the ultimate sacrifice. I can't wait to see that play out! The nice thing about this show is that even though we've seen this scenario before, the characters are strong enough that I'm still interested to see what else they can do with it!
At the end of the day, this episode didn't really do much to push the main plot forward. At most, it eliminated one of the possibilities for dealing with Amara, and I guess that's good... it means we don't have to waste our time thinking that Lucifer can handle this on his own. I wanted a bit more, but that doesn't mean I'm unhappy with what I got. I can't wait for the finale of this season. If this episode is any indication, it's going to be a doozy.
8/10
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