Supernatural: Good Intentions (13x14)

Cas... oh my God.

Cons:

I could have used a bit more development of the apocalypse world. When Mary and Jack were taken in by Bobby to join a group of humans fighting for survival, I got really excited. But we don't take any time to get to know any of the other people at this camp. So when the angels attack and all hell breaks loose, we don't really have an emotional investment in anybody but Jack, Mary, and Bobby. It's a small thing that would have made a strong part of the episode even stronger.

Similarly, there's the stuff with Zachariah torturing Jack with false memories and all of that... I guess I just wish that all of these people popping up in the alternate universe felt more closely connected to the characters we knew back in earlier seasons. This Zachariah does not feel like another version of the same Zachariah. Ditto Michael. Ditto Kevin when we saw him a while back. Maybe it's a nitpick.

Pros:

But if we're starting with the apocalypse world story, I've got to say that on the whole, I was very happy with what we got. Jack is such a sweetheart, and it was nice to see him and Mary bond. Mary is very practical and resigned about what her ultimate fate is likely to be, but she hates that Jack will be put through such an ordeal. I love the fact that she's willing to do whatever it takes to protect him, and consequently protect the world she knows from the evils of the world she's trapped in. We also get some lovely development of Mary's character. We all know that the reason this apocalypse world exists is because Sam and Dean were never born and were thus unable to stop Michael and Lucifer the first time around. But what we now learn is the tipping point: in this reality, Mary decided not to make a deal to bring John back to life. After Dean's speech to Mary last season, and after everything she has struggled with, this is a big moment. She has blamed herself for the suffering of her children, but now she sees what the world would look like if she had made a different call. It doesn't absolve her of Sam and Dean's suffering, but it shows that where Winchesters and Campbells are concerned, there's always a greater cause.

Bobby is excellent. He's still pretty much Bobby-like, but he's a bit less acerbic and a bit more stoic and serious. It makes sense, given the world he lives in. I love the fact that he recognized Mary instantly, and remarks that Mary Campbell saved his life on numerous occasions. I'm just so tickled by the thought of a world where Mary didn't die young, even if the world she wound up in was pretty horrible.

Turning to the main plot... wow. This is where the episode really impressed me. It was heavily focused on Cas, in a way that pushed his character development in an interesting direction. The plot is fairly basic: Donatello tricks Cas and the Winchesters into thinking he's found out how to open a portal to the other world, sending Cas and Dean on a wild goose chase. He then goes crazy and attacks Sam, and we learn the truth: because Donatello is soulless, the angel tablet has corrupted him. Cas uses his angel powers to extract the real spell to open the portal from Donatello, leaving him brain dead. Which... is a concerning thing to do on multiple levels.

Cas has been through some serious shit, and I'm very pleased that we seem to be addressing that in some meaningful way. He talks to Dean about why he was brought back from the dead, and doesn't seem satisfied by Dean's adorable and love-struck response that Jack brought Cas back because "we needed you." We see that when Dean's life is threatened by Donatello, Cas goes into a whole different mode. He tells the prophet that he won't let anybody hurt the people he loves. And he... well, as he puts it, he does what he needed to do. Whatever it takes. Sam and Dean are a little bit concerned about this extreme turn, but surely they both must realize that they've done far worse to save each other in the past. I think there's this weird blind-spot they both have when it concerns each other, but with Cas they can see the unhealthiness of this attitude, even if Cas does have "good intentions."

There are so many layers here, as well. Think about it - Cas says that Donatello should be put out of his misery because he's soulless, but Sam once spent a year and a half sans soul, and it was Cas' fault, in some ways. Dean points out that Sam's soul ended up being retrievable, but Cas and Sam are right when they point out that the same is not true for Donatello. I'm not really sure what the answer is when talking about the morality of killing someone who doesn't have a soul. Donatello was soulless but not inhuman, if that paradox even makes sense.

Lots of good Cas and Dean content here. I loved their little adventure to kill the two warriors. Cas translating for Dean was pretty hilarious, as were the two warriors deciding that Cas and Dean are "equally pretty." I love that Dean checks up on Cas to ask how he's doing after returning from the dead, and I love that Cas is in a weird place because of it - as would make sense, given what he's been through. They both fight light bad-asses, and then we've got the scene where Dean is being suffocated by Donatello's magic, and Cas immediately rushes downstairs to get to him, touching his arm even as Dean is saying he's okay. Actually, just to spotlight that moment, it was really well-acted from all three of the boys. Sure, Sam and Dean nearly die on a regular basis, but for whatever reason I could really feel how scared they all were.

I think I'll wrap it up there. We're getting closure to the inevitable family reunion. All I can say is: maybe it'll stick this time? I understand that for various scheduling and contract reasons, characters like Cas, Mary, and Jack can't be in every episode. But can we please have a stretch of time where the five of them all live in the bunker together, and if we don't see them in an episode, we just hear about how Cas and Mary went off on a hunt as a favor to a friend, or Jack is busy with Cas practicing his powers back at the bunker while the Winchesters go on a hunt? Just... let them have domestic bliss, even if we can't see it very much? Please!

9/10