Supernatural: The Great Escapist (8x21)

I have so many feelings right now. This episode... it just... my darling Castiel... in so much pain... I feel like I'm going to be rambling a lot as I write this, and for that I apologize.

So, plot-wise this episode kicked some ass. It brought everything forward with big leaps and bounds, and it's setting up the end of the season wonderfully. I've seen promos so I know that Crowley has a lot to do with the third trial, but I'm just excited to know what it is: curing a demon. This is going to be intense! I hope Sammy can pull it off!

Basically, the episode started for Sam and Dean with them believing that Kevin was dead. Their reactions were amazingly sad, but thank goodness Kevin's not really gone. Without Kevin, the Winchesters hunt down Metatron to ask about the third trial. Metatron manages to save Kevin from Crowley and crew, and thus the boys are reunited with their prophet. Meanwhile, Cas has been on the run from Naomi. She catches up with him, though, but before she can do much, Crowley steps in and with the help of a traitor angel, takes Cas away. He then pulls the angel tablet out of Cas' stomach which was seriously gross, and then Cas gets away and ends up in the middle of the road, severely injured. The episode ended with the Winchesters finding him.

I think this plot is stellar because we have our team together, now: Kevin, Cas, Sam, and Dean. Hopefully they can kick some ass together in the next few episodes. It pushes things forward in meaningful ways while not killing the suspense too quickly.

I was going to start by listing my complaints about the episode before I got into all the things I loved, but in all honesty I can think of nothing wrong with this episode. It just seriously made me happy the whole way through and I can't think of one thing I would change. I mean... I guess I always want more fallout, but this episode was so important with setting up the pieces that I don't mind it at all as a sort of "Act 1" for all the stuff that's to follow. I think this may be the first review I've written where I literally have nothing to complain about. Yes! I'm very excited to list all of the things I adored.

Kevin. Kevin the bad-ass. Kevin is one of the best things about this show. I loved how he figured out that Sam and Dean weren't really Sam and Dean, and so he made the demons go pick food up for him. What an awesome human being. Kudos to Jensen and Jared, here, too, for playing Sam and Dean just the tiniest bit... off, so we knew it wasn't them. Kevin's conversation with Crowley was chilling, and I absolutely adored the little look on his face when he told Sam and Dean that he hadn't told Crowley the third trial. He is so precious, and he looked so proud of himself. Osric Chau's performance was absolutely amazing. The way he freaked out on the video, and then later with his smug reactions to Crowley's anger. I just died watching him. Amazing.

Castiel. Misha Collins is definitely one of my favorite people of all time. He is such a beautiful, stunning actor, truthfully. It was really clever how he hid from Naomi by using a restaurant chain, and it was so chilling to see all the slaughtered people in the restaurant. His reaction, just saying "no" over and over, actually made me tear up a bit. You could just see his heart break as Naomi snapped the neck of that one girl, and he's just so angry that an angel could do something like that. He also is only just beginning to realize the extent to which Naomi has controlled him and manipulated his actions. A member of Team Free Will realizing just how much he hasn't had that. It was really powerful. "How many times have you torn into my head and washed it clean?" Naomi says that Cas has never done quite what he was told, which I loved to hear. It's like he was always destined to be different from other angels. And look how well he's done!

He was seriously bad ass in this episode. He pulled a bullet out of his own stomach and stuck it into another angel's brain with his hands. It was intense. There was also this moment that I think gets overlooked a bit: Cas tells Crowley that he won't tell him where the tablet is, and Crowley says "I know." Even Crowley knows that he's not going to be able to torture Cas into talking. Castiel is just amazing. So is Misha. I really loved his character in this episode.

And then there's Crowley. I don't know if there are words to express how much I love Mark A. Sheppard in this role. He kills it every time. I loved when he was helping coach the demons on how to play the Winchesters. "I was born to direct." He said he could have played Dean himself if he hadn't been so busy running things, and I'll admit I really wanted to see that. His reaction to Kevin's calm demeanor was hilarious. "So... my demons were too polite?" "Yeah." "Well, I'll be a son of a whore."

And I've saved Sam and Dean for last, because I always have so much I want to say about these two. I feel like I always praise Jensen Ackles' acting, and he totally deserves it this week too, but more than anything I want to express my adoration for Jared this week. His portrayal of Sam as the trials continue to make him weaker and weaker... it's unbelievable. He is doing such an astounding job, I don't even know if I have words to describe it. The opening scene was adorable, as Dean tried to take care of Sam but he wouldn't let him. Dean made soup, Sammy! Your big brother is seriously terrified right now. It's breaking my heart. "You gotta let me take care of you, man!"

Then there's Sam's delirious rambling about a fart-y donkey in the Grand Canyon, and his weird over-hyped insistence that they hunt down Metatron. He seems like he's high or drunk or just completely losing his mind with exhaustion. It's hilarious but heartbreaking at the same time. I really loved this exchange in particular: "And you think this Metatron is hiding out in the mountains with a bunch of Indians?"  "Yeah! Yeah, I do. You're not... you're not really supposed to say Indians... It's... we should go." "You're delirious!"

Seriously fantastic acting from Jared when he passed out. His eyes rolled back in his head and it looked actually real. And then there's his reaction when he's in the ice water. I just... I don't even know what to say. He did such an amazing job. I really wish we could have seen Dean's reaction to finding Sam on the floor with a 107 degree fever. He must have been seriously panicked, trying to maneuver him into the ice water like that. Jensen is doing such a good job of playing Dean as restrained yet still terrified.

We have to talk about Sam's declaration about how he's always thought he wasn't pure, but how the trials are purifying him. Holy God. My heart breaks a lot when watching this show, but this one was pretty darn bad. I was so upset! 

Then there's Metatron. I adore the fact that when a guy with a gun shows up, it's Dean's instinct to throw his arm out to protect Sam. I don't know if someone told Jensen to do that or if he was just so in character that he did it automatically, but either way it was a golden moment. Sam also had a hilarious line: "You really haven't heard of us? What kind of angel are you? We're the freakin' Winchesters!" I was really happy to see Sam and Dean get pissed at Metatron for the fact that he basically abandoned everyone. But then he sort of made up for it by rescuing Kevin, and hopefully they've got a serious ally for the future.

There's another rather underrated moment that I want to briefly touch on. Now that we know the third trial is curing a demon, the Winchesters are all set to get started on that. What I loved was the way Dean talked about it. They were in the Impala, and Dean says something to the effect of: "okay, cool, I don't know how we're going to do this, but if we do, you're going to get better, right?" It's not that Dean doesn't care about slamming the gates of hell. He just cares about Sammy's health more. Dean is the best big brother anyone could ask for.

There are so many other things I could say about this episode, but I don't want to write forever and ever, so I think I'll wrap up now. Flawless episode. Or, as close to flawless as I can think of. For the first time since I started writing reviews, I'm giving an episode...

10/10